No More Learning

They will do
abundant right to my memory, if they believe me to have been worthy of
my ancestors; watchful of the Roman state; unmoved in perils, and in
maintaining the public interest, fearless of private enmities. These
are the temples which in your breasts I would raise; these the fairest
portraitures, and such as will endure. As to temples and statues of
stone, if the idol adored in them comes to be hated by posterity, they
are despised as his sepulchres. Hence it is I here invoke the Gods,
that to the end of my life they would grant me a spirit undisturbed, and
discerning in duties human and divine: and hence too I here implore our
citizens and allies, that whenever my dissolution comes, they would
with approbation and benevolent testimonies of remembrance, celebrate
my actions and retain the odour of my name. " And thenceforward he
persevered in slighting upon all occasions, and even in private
conversation, this divine worship of himself. A conduct which was by
some ascribed to modesty; by many to a conscious diffidence; by others
to degeneracy of spirit. "Since the most sublime amongst men naturally
covet the most exalted honours: thus Hercules and Bacchus amongst the
Greeks, and with us Romulus, were added to the society of the Gods:
Augustus too had chosen the nobler part, and hoped for deification: all
the other gratifications of Princes were instantly procured: one only
was to be pursued insatiably; the praise and perpetuity of their name.
For by contemning fame, the virtues that procure it, are contemned. "

Now Sejanus, intoxicated with excess of fortune, and moreover stimulated
by the importunity of Livia, who, with the restless passion of a woman,
craved the promised marriage, composed a memorial to the Emperor.
For, it was then the custom to apply to him in writing, though he were
present. This of Sejanus was thus conceived: "That such had been towards
him the benevolence of Augustus; such and so numerous, since, the
instances of affection from Tiberius, that he was thence accustomed,
without applying to the Gods, to carry his hopes and prayers directly
to the Emperors: yet of them he had never sought a blaze of honours:
watching and toils like those of common soldiers, for the safeguard
of the Prince, had been his choice and ambition. However what was most
glorious for him he had attained; to be thought worthy of alliance with
the Emperor: hence the source of his present hopes: and, since he had
heard that Augustus, in the disposal of his daughter, had not been
without thoughts even of some of the Roman knights; he begged that if a
husband were sought for Livia, Tiberius would remember his friend; one
whose ambition aimed no higher than the pure and disinterested glory of
the affinity: for that he would never abandon the burden of his present
trust; but hold it sufficient to be, by that means, enabled to support
his house against the injurious wrath of Agrippina; and in this he only
consulted the security of his children. For himself; his own life would
be abundantly long, whenever finally spent in the ministry of such a
Prince. "

For a present answer, Tiberius praised the loyalty of Sejanus;
recapitulated cursorily the instances of his own favours towards him,
and required time, as it were for a thorough deliberation. At last he
made this reply: "That all other men were, in their pursuits, guided by
the notions of convenience: far different was the lot and situation of
Princes, who were in their action to consider chiefly the applause and
good liking of the public: he therefore did not delude Sejanus with
an obvious and plausible answer; that Livia could herself determine
whether, after Drusus, she ought again to marry, or still persist his
widow, and that she had a mother and grandmother, nearer relations and
more interested to advise.
He would deal more candidly with him: and
first as to the enmity of Agrippina; it would flame out with fresh fury,
if by the marriage of Livia, the family of the Caesars were rent as
it were into two contending parties: that even as things stood, the
emulation of these ladies broke into frequent sallies, and, by their
animosities, his grandsons were instigated different ways. What would be
the consequence, if, by such a marriage, the strife were inflamed? For
you are deceived, Sejanus, if you think to continue then in the same
rank as now; or that Livia, she who was first the wife of the young
Caius Caesar, and afterwards the wife of Drusus, will be of a temper
to grow old with a husband no higher than a Roman knight: nay, allowing
that I suffered you afterwards to remain what you are; do you believe
that they who saw her father, they who saw her brother, and the
ancestors of our house, covered with the supreme dignities, will ever
suffer it? You in truth propose, yourself, to stand still in the same
station: but the great magistrates and grandees of the state, those very
magistrates and grandees who, in spite of yourself, break in upon
you, and in all affairs court you as their oracle, make no secret
of maintaining that you have long since exceeded the bounds of the
Equestrian Order, and far outgone in power all the confidants of my
father; and from their hatred to you, they also censure me. But still,
Augustus deliberated about giving his daughter to a Roman knight. Where
is the wonder, if perplexed with a crowd of distracting cares, and
apprised to what an unbounded height above others he raised whomsoever
he dignified with such a match, he talked of Proculeius, and some like
him; remarkable for the retiredness of their life, and nowise engaged
in the affairs of state? But if we are influenced by the hesitation of
Augustus, how much more powerful is the decision; since he bestowed his
daughter on Agrippa, and then on me? These are considerations which in
friendship I have not withheld: however, neither your own inclinations,
nor those of Livia, shall be ever thwarted by me. The secret and
constant purposes of my own heart towards you, and with what further
ties of affinity, I am contriving to bind you still faster to me; I at
present forbear to recount. Thus much only I will declare, that there is
nothing so high but those abilities, and your singular zeal and fidelity
towards me, may justly claim: as when opportunity presents, either in
Senate, or in a popular assembly, I shall not fail to testify. "

In answer to this, Sejanus no longer soliciting the marriage, but filled
with higher apprehensions, besought him "to resist the dark suggestions
of suspicion; to despise the pratings of the vulgar, nor to admit the
hostile breath of envy. " And as he was puzzled about the crowds which
incessantly haunted his house; lest by keeping them off he might
impair his power; or by encouraging them, furnish a handle for criminal
imputations; he came to this result, that he would urge the Emperor out
of Rome, to spend his life remote from thence in delightful retirements.
From this counsel he foresaw many advantages: upon himself would depend
all access to the Emperor; all letters and expresses would, as the
soldiers were the carriers, be in great measure under his direction; in
a little time, the Prince, now in declining age, and then softened by
recess, would more easily transfer upon him the whole charge of the
Empire: he should be removed from the multitude of such as to make their
court, attended him at Rome; and thence one source of envy would be
stopped. So that by discharging the empty phantoms of power, he should
augment the essentials. He therefore began by little and little to rail
at the hurry of business at Rome, the throng of people, the flock of
suitors: he applauded "retirement and quiet; where, while they were
separate from irksome fatigues, nor exposed to the discontents and
resentments of particulars, all affairs of moment were best despatched. "

Next were heard ambassadors from the Lacedaemonians and Messenians,
about the right that each people claimed to the Temple of Diana
Limenetis; which the Lacedaemonians asserted to be theirs, "founded
in their territory, and dedicated by their ancestors," and offered as
proofs the ancient authority of their annals, and the hymns of the old
poets.