He likewise sustained by gratuities, the
dignity of some necessitous Senators: hence it was the more wondered,
that he received with haughtiness and repulse the petition of Marcus
Hortalus, a young man of signal quality and manifestly poor.
dignity of some necessitous Senators: hence it was the more wondered,
that he received with haughtiness and repulse the petition of Marcus
Hortalus, a young man of signal quality and manifestly poor.
Tacitus
Piso would not be mollified by the
importunity of his friends; and hence at last the Empress ordered the
payment of the money claimed by him. This was the issue of the affair:
by it, Piso lost no renown; and it signally increased the credit of
Tiberius. The power, however, of Urgulania was so exorbitant to the
State, that she disdained to appear a witness in a certain cause before
the Senate: and, when it had been always usual even for the Vestal
Virgins to attend the Forum and Courts of Justice, as oft as their
evidence was required; a Praetor was sent to examine Urgulania at her
own house.
The procrastination which happened this year in the public affairs, I
should not mention, but that the different opinions of Cneius Piso and
Asinius Gallus about it, are worth knowing. Their dispute was occasioned
by a declaration of Tiberius; "that he was about to be absent," and it
was the motion of Piso, "that for that very reason, the prosecution
of public business was the rather to be continued; since, as in the
Prince's absence, the Senate and equestrian order might administer
their several parts, the same would redound to the honour of the
Commonwealth. " This was a declaration for liberty, and in it Piso had
prevented Gallus, who now in opposition said, "that nothing sufficiently
illustrious, nor suiting the dignity of the Roman People, could be
transacted but under the immediate eye of the Emperor, and therefore the
conflux of suitors and affairs from Italy and the provinces must by
all means be reserved for his presence. " Tiberius heard and was silent,
while the debate was managed on both sides with mighty vehemence; but
the adjournment was carried.
A debate too arose between Gallus and the Emperor: for Gallus moved
"that the magistrates should be henceforth elected but once every five
years; that the legates of the legions, who had never exercised the
Praetorships, should be appointed Praetors; and that the Prince should
nominate twelve candidates every year. " It was not doubted but this
motion had a deeper aim, and that by it the secret springs and
reserves of imperial power were invaded. But Tiberius, as if he rather
apprehended the augmentation of his power, argued "that it was a heavy
task upon his moderation, to choose so many magistrates, and to postpone
so many candidates. That disgusts from disappointments were hardly
avoided in yearly elections; though, for their solacement, fresh hopes
remained of approaching success in the next; now how great must be the
hatred, how lasting the resentment of such whose pretensions were to be
rejected beyond five years? and whence could it be foreseen that, in
so long a tract of time, the same men would continue to have the
same dispositions, the same alliances and fortunes? even an annual
designation to power made men imperious; how imperious would it make
them, if they bore the honour for five years! besides, it would multiply
every single magistrate into five, and utterly subvert the laws which
had prescribed a proper space for exercising the diligence of the
candidates, and for soliciting as well as enjoying preferments. "
By this speech, in appearance popular, he still retained the spirit
and force of the sovereignty.
He likewise sustained by gratuities, the
dignity of some necessitous Senators: hence it was the more wondered,
that he received with haughtiness and repulse the petition of Marcus
Hortalus, a young man of signal quality and manifestly poor. He was
the grandson of Hortensius the Orator; and had been encouraged by
the deified Augustus, with a bounty of a thousand great sestertia,
[Footnote: £8333. ] to marry for posterity; purely to prevent the
extinction of a family most illustrious and renowned. The Senate were
sitting in the palace, and Hortalus having set his four children before
the door, fixed his eyes, now upon the statue of Hortensius, placed
amongst the orators; then upon that of Augustus; and instead of speaking
to the question, began on this wise: "Conscript Fathers, you see there
the number and infancy of my children; not mine by my own choice, but in
compliance with the advice of the Prince: such too was the splendour of
my ancestors, that it merited to be perpetuated in their race; but for
my own particular, who, marred by the revolution of the times, could not
raise wealth, nor engage popular favour, nor cultivate the hereditary
fortune of our house, the fortune of Eloquence: I deemed it sufficient
if, in my slender circumstances, I lived no disgrace to myself, no
burden to others. Commanded by the Emperor, I took a wife; behold
the offspring of so many Consuls; behold the descendants of so many
Dictators! nor is this remembrance invidiously made, but made to move
mercy. In the progress of your reign, Caesar, these children may arrive
at the honours in your gift; defend them in the meantime from want:
they are the great-grandsons of Hortensius; they are the foster sons of
Augustus. "
The inclination of the Senate was favourable; an incitement this to
Tiberius the more eagerly to thwart Hortalus. These were in effect his
words: "If all that are poor recur hither for a provision of money to
their children, the public will certainly fail, and yet particulars
never be satiated. Our ancestors, when they permitted a departure from
the question, to propose somewhat more important to the State, did not
therefore permit it, that we might here transact domestic matters, and
augment our private rents: an employment invidious both in the Senate
and the Prince; since, whether they grant or deny the petitioned
bounties, either the people or the petitioners will ever be offended.
But these, in truth, are not petitions; they are demands made against
order, and made by surprise: while you are assembled upon other affairs,
he stands up and urges your pity, by the number and infancy of his
children; with the same violence, he charges the attack to me, and as
it were bursts open the exchequer; but if by popular bounties we exhaust
it, by rapine and oppression we must supply it. The deified Augustus
gave you money, Hortalus; but without solicitation he gave it, and on
no condition that it should always be given: otherwise diligence will
languish; sloth will prevail; and men having no hopes in resources
of their own, no anxiety for themselves, but all securely relying on
foreign relief, will become private sluggards and public burdens. " These
and the like reasonings of Tiberius were differently received; with
approbation by those whose way it is to extol, without distinction,
all the doings of Princes, worthy and unworthy; by most, however, with
silence, or low and discontented murmurs. Tiberius perceived it, and
having paused a little, said "his answer was particularly to Hortalus;
but if the Senate thought fit, he would give his sons two hundred great
sestertia each. " [Footnote: £1666. ] For this all the Senators presented
their thanks; only Hortalus said nothing; perhaps through present awe,
or perhaps possessed, even in poverty, with the grandeur of his ancient
nobility.
importunity of his friends; and hence at last the Empress ordered the
payment of the money claimed by him. This was the issue of the affair:
by it, Piso lost no renown; and it signally increased the credit of
Tiberius. The power, however, of Urgulania was so exorbitant to the
State, that she disdained to appear a witness in a certain cause before
the Senate: and, when it had been always usual even for the Vestal
Virgins to attend the Forum and Courts of Justice, as oft as their
evidence was required; a Praetor was sent to examine Urgulania at her
own house.
The procrastination which happened this year in the public affairs, I
should not mention, but that the different opinions of Cneius Piso and
Asinius Gallus about it, are worth knowing. Their dispute was occasioned
by a declaration of Tiberius; "that he was about to be absent," and it
was the motion of Piso, "that for that very reason, the prosecution
of public business was the rather to be continued; since, as in the
Prince's absence, the Senate and equestrian order might administer
their several parts, the same would redound to the honour of the
Commonwealth. " This was a declaration for liberty, and in it Piso had
prevented Gallus, who now in opposition said, "that nothing sufficiently
illustrious, nor suiting the dignity of the Roman People, could be
transacted but under the immediate eye of the Emperor, and therefore the
conflux of suitors and affairs from Italy and the provinces must by
all means be reserved for his presence. " Tiberius heard and was silent,
while the debate was managed on both sides with mighty vehemence; but
the adjournment was carried.
A debate too arose between Gallus and the Emperor: for Gallus moved
"that the magistrates should be henceforth elected but once every five
years; that the legates of the legions, who had never exercised the
Praetorships, should be appointed Praetors; and that the Prince should
nominate twelve candidates every year. " It was not doubted but this
motion had a deeper aim, and that by it the secret springs and
reserves of imperial power were invaded. But Tiberius, as if he rather
apprehended the augmentation of his power, argued "that it was a heavy
task upon his moderation, to choose so many magistrates, and to postpone
so many candidates. That disgusts from disappointments were hardly
avoided in yearly elections; though, for their solacement, fresh hopes
remained of approaching success in the next; now how great must be the
hatred, how lasting the resentment of such whose pretensions were to be
rejected beyond five years? and whence could it be foreseen that, in
so long a tract of time, the same men would continue to have the
same dispositions, the same alliances and fortunes? even an annual
designation to power made men imperious; how imperious would it make
them, if they bore the honour for five years! besides, it would multiply
every single magistrate into five, and utterly subvert the laws which
had prescribed a proper space for exercising the diligence of the
candidates, and for soliciting as well as enjoying preferments. "
By this speech, in appearance popular, he still retained the spirit
and force of the sovereignty.
He likewise sustained by gratuities, the
dignity of some necessitous Senators: hence it was the more wondered,
that he received with haughtiness and repulse the petition of Marcus
Hortalus, a young man of signal quality and manifestly poor. He was
the grandson of Hortensius the Orator; and had been encouraged by
the deified Augustus, with a bounty of a thousand great sestertia,
[Footnote: £8333. ] to marry for posterity; purely to prevent the
extinction of a family most illustrious and renowned. The Senate were
sitting in the palace, and Hortalus having set his four children before
the door, fixed his eyes, now upon the statue of Hortensius, placed
amongst the orators; then upon that of Augustus; and instead of speaking
to the question, began on this wise: "Conscript Fathers, you see there
the number and infancy of my children; not mine by my own choice, but in
compliance with the advice of the Prince: such too was the splendour of
my ancestors, that it merited to be perpetuated in their race; but for
my own particular, who, marred by the revolution of the times, could not
raise wealth, nor engage popular favour, nor cultivate the hereditary
fortune of our house, the fortune of Eloquence: I deemed it sufficient
if, in my slender circumstances, I lived no disgrace to myself, no
burden to others. Commanded by the Emperor, I took a wife; behold
the offspring of so many Consuls; behold the descendants of so many
Dictators! nor is this remembrance invidiously made, but made to move
mercy. In the progress of your reign, Caesar, these children may arrive
at the honours in your gift; defend them in the meantime from want:
they are the great-grandsons of Hortensius; they are the foster sons of
Augustus. "
The inclination of the Senate was favourable; an incitement this to
Tiberius the more eagerly to thwart Hortalus. These were in effect his
words: "If all that are poor recur hither for a provision of money to
their children, the public will certainly fail, and yet particulars
never be satiated. Our ancestors, when they permitted a departure from
the question, to propose somewhat more important to the State, did not
therefore permit it, that we might here transact domestic matters, and
augment our private rents: an employment invidious both in the Senate
and the Prince; since, whether they grant or deny the petitioned
bounties, either the people or the petitioners will ever be offended.
But these, in truth, are not petitions; they are demands made against
order, and made by surprise: while you are assembled upon other affairs,
he stands up and urges your pity, by the number and infancy of his
children; with the same violence, he charges the attack to me, and as
it were bursts open the exchequer; but if by popular bounties we exhaust
it, by rapine and oppression we must supply it. The deified Augustus
gave you money, Hortalus; but without solicitation he gave it, and on
no condition that it should always be given: otherwise diligence will
languish; sloth will prevail; and men having no hopes in resources
of their own, no anxiety for themselves, but all securely relying on
foreign relief, will become private sluggards and public burdens. " These
and the like reasonings of Tiberius were differently received; with
approbation by those whose way it is to extol, without distinction,
all the doings of Princes, worthy and unworthy; by most, however, with
silence, or low and discontented murmurs. Tiberius perceived it, and
having paused a little, said "his answer was particularly to Hortalus;
but if the Senate thought fit, he would give his sons two hundred great
sestertia each. " [Footnote: £1666. ] For this all the Senators presented
their thanks; only Hortalus said nothing; perhaps through present awe,
or perhaps possessed, even in poverty, with the grandeur of his ancient
nobility.
