No More Learning

" Of Plancina he said
nothing.

Tiberius, upon this, cleared the young man of any crime as to the
civil war: he alleged "the orders of his father, which a son could not
disobey. " He likewise bewailed "that noble house, and even the grievous
lot of Piso himself, however deserved," For Plancina he pleaded with
shame and guilt, alleging the importunity of his mother; against whom
more particularly the secret murmurs of the best people waxed bitter and
poignant. "Was it then the tender part of a grandmother to admit to her
sight the murderess of her grandson, to be intimate with her, and to
snatch her from the vengeance of the Senate? To Germanicus alone was
denied what by the laws was granted to every citizen. By Vitellius
and Veranius, the cause of that prince was mourned and pleaded: by the
Emperor and his mother, Plancina was defended and protected. Henceforth
she might pursue her infernal arts so successfully tried, repeat
her poisonings, and by her arts and poisons assail Agrippina and her
children; and, with the blood of that most miserable house, satiate the
worthy grandmother and uncle. " In this mock trial two days were wasted;
Tiberius, all the while, animating the sons of Piso to defend their
mother: when the pleaders and witnesses had vigorously pushed the
charge, and no reply was made, commiseration prevailed over hatred. The
Consul Aurelius Cotta was first asked his opinion: for, when the Emperor
collected the voices, the magistrates likewise voted. Cotta's sentence
was, "that the name of Piso should be razed from the annals, part of
his estate forfeited, part granted to his son Cneius, upon changing that
name; his son Marcus be divested of his dignity, and content with fifty
thousand great sestertia, [Footnote: £42,000. ] be banished for ten
years: and to Plancina, at the request of Livia, indemnity should be
granted. "

Much of this sentence was abated by the Emperor; particularly that of
striking Piso's name out of the annals, when "that of Marc Anthony, who
made war upon his country; that of Julius Antonius, who had by adultery
violated the house of Augustus, continued still there. " He also exempted
Marcus Piso from the ignominy of degradation, and left him his whole
paternal inheritance; for, as I have already often observed, he was to
the temptations of money incorruptible, and from the shame of having
acquitted Plancina, rendered then more than usually mild. He likewise
withstood the motion of Valerius Messalinus, "for erecting a golden
statue in the Temple of Mars the Avenger;" and that of Caecina Severus,
"for founding an altar to revenge. " "Such monuments as these," he
argued, "were only fit to be raised upon foreign victories; domestic
evils were to be buried in sadness.
" Messalinus had added, "that to
Tiberius, Livia, Antonia, Agrippina and Drusus, public thanks were to be
rendered for having revenged the death of Germanicus;" but had omitted
to mention Claudius. Messalinus was asked by Lucius Asprenas, in the
presence of the Senate, "Whether by design he had omitted him? " and then
at last the name of Claudius was subjoined. To me, the more I revolve
the events of late or of old, the more of mockery and slipperiness
appears in all human wisdom and the transactions of men: for, in popular
fame, in the hopes, wishes and veneration of the public, all men were
rather destined to the Empire, than he for whom fortune then reserved
the sovereignty in the dark.

A few days after, Vitellius, Veranius and Servaeus, were by the Senate
preferred to the honours of the Priesthood, at the motion of Tiberius.
To Fulcinius he promised his interest and suffrage towards preferment,
but advised him "not to embarrass his eloquence by impetuosity. " This
was the end of revenging the death of Germanicus; an affair ambiguously
related, not by those only who then lived and interested themselves in
it, but likewise the following times: so dark and intricate are all
the highest transactions; while some hold for certain facts, the most
precarious hearsays; others turn facts into falsehood; and both are
swallowed and improved by the credulity of posterity. Drusus went now
without the city, there to renew the ceremony of the auspices, and
presently re-entered in the triumph of _ovation_. A few days after died
Vipsania his mother; of all the children of Agrippa, the only one who
made a pacific end: the rest manifestly perished, or are believed to
have perished, by the sword, poison, or famine.

The qualifying of the Law Papia Poppaea was afterwards proposed; a law
which, to enforce those of Julius Caesar, Augustus had made when he was
old, for punishing celibacy and enriching the Exchequer. Nor even by
this means had marriages and children multiplied, while a passion to
live single and childless prevailed: but, in the meantime, the numbers
threatened and in danger by it increased daily, while by the glosses and
chicane of the impleaders every family was undone. So that, as before
the city laboured under the weight of crimes, so now under the pest of
laws. From this thought I am led backwards to the first rise of laws,
and to open the steps and causes by which we are arrived to the present
number and excess; a number infinite and perplexed.

The first race of men, free as yet from every depraved passion, lived
without guile and crimes, and therefore without chastisements or
restraints; nor was there occasion for rewards, when of their own accord
they pursued righteousness: and as they courted nothing contrary to
justice, they were debarred from nothing by terrors. But, after they
had abandoned their original equality, and from modesty and shame to do
evil, proceeded to ambition and violence; lordly dominion was introduced
and arbitrary rule, and in many nations grew perpetual. Some, either
from the beginning, or after they were surfeited with kings, preferred
the sovereignty of laws; which, agreeable to the artless minds of men,
were at first short and simple.