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However, Sejanus did not so far
favour Drusus, but that against him too he was even then ripening the
studied measures of future destruction; as he knew him to be violent,
and thence more obnoxious to snares.

In the end of the year departed these eminent persons; Asinius Agrippa,
of ancestors more illustrious than ancient, and in his own character
not unworthy of them: and Quintus Haterius, of a Senatorian family, and
himself, while he yet lived, famous for eloquence: but the monuments
of his genius, since published, are not equally esteemed. In truth,
he prevailed more by rapidity than accuracy: insomuch that, as the
elaborate compositions of others flourish after them; so that enchanting
melody of voice in Haterius, with that fluency of words which was
personal to him, died with him.

In the Consulship of Marcus Licinius and Lucius Calpurnius, the casualty
of an instant, its beginning unforeseen, and ended as soon as begun,
equalled in calamity the slaughter and overthrow of mighty armies. One
Atilius had undertaken to erect an amphitheatre at Fidena, [Footnote:
Castel Giubileo, near Rome. ] there to exhibit a combat of gladiators:
he was of the race of freedmen, and as he began it from no exuberance of
wealth, nor to court popularity amongst the inhabitants, but purely
for the meanness of gain, he neither established solid foundations, nor
raised the timber-work with sufficient compactness. Thither thronged
from Rome those of every sex and age, eager for such shows; as during
the reign of Tiberius they were debarred from diversions at home; and,
the nearer the place, the greater the crowds: hence the calamity was the
more dreadful; for, as the theatre was surcharged with the multitude,
the structure burst, and sinking violently in, while its extremities
rushed impetuously out, huge was the press of people, who intent upon
the gladiators within, or gathered round the walls, were crushed by the
deadly ruin, and even buried under it. And verily, they who in the first
fury of the havoc were smitten with final death, escaped as far as in
such a doleful disaster they could escape, the misery of torture: much
more to be lamented were those, who bereft of joints and pieces of their
body, were yet not forsaken of life; those who by day could with their
eyes behold their wives and children imprisoned in the same ruins; and
by night could distinguish them by their groans, and howlings.

Now others from abroad excited by the sad tidings, found here their
several sorrows: one bewailed his brother, one his kinsman, another his
parents: even they whose friends or kindred were absent on a different
account, were yet terrified: for, as it was not hitherto distinctly
known upon whom the destruction had lighted, the dread was widened by
uncertainty. When the ruins began to be removed, great about the dead
was the concourse of the living; frequent the kisses and embraces
of tenderness and sorrow: and even frequent the contention about the
propriety of the dead; where the features distorted by death or bruises,
or where parity of age or resemblance of person, had confounded the
slain, and led into mistakes their several claimers. Fifty thousand
souls were destroyed or maimed by this sad stroke: it was therefore
for the future provided by a decree of Senate, "that no man under the
qualification of four hundred thousand sesterces, [Footnote: £3,300. ]
should exhibit the spectacle of gladiators; and no amphitheatre should
be founded but upon ground manifestly solid. " Atilius was punished with
exile. To conclude; during the fresh pangs of this calamity, the doors
of the Grandees were thrown open; medicines were everywhere furnished;
they who administered medicines, were everywhere employed to attend:
and at that juncture the city though sorrowful of aspect, seemed to
have recalled the public spirit of the ancient Romans; who, after great
battles, constantly relieved the wounded, sustained them by liberality,
and restored them with care.

The public agonies from this terrible blow, were not yet deadened, when
another supervened; and the city felt the affliction and violence of
fire, which with uncommon rage utterly consumed Mount Caelius.
"It was a
deadly and mournful year," they said, "and under boding omens the
Prince had formed the design of his absence. " It is the way this of
the multitude; who to malignant counsels are wont to ascribe events
altogether fortuitous. But the Emperor dissipated their murmurs, by
bestowing on each sufferer money to the value of his sufferings: hence
he had the thanks of men of rank, in the Senate; and was by the populace
rewarded with applauses, "for that without the views of ambition,
without the application of friends, he had of his own accord even sought
out the unknown, and by his bounty relieved them. " It was likewise moved
and decreed in Senate, "that Mount Caelius should be for the future
styled _Mount Augustus_, since there the statue of Tiberius, standing
in the house of Junius the Senator, escaped unhurt in the flames,
though devouring all round them:" it was remembered, that the same rare
exemption had formerly happened to Claudia Pulchra; that her statue
being twice spared by the fury of fire, had thence been placed and
consecrated by our ancestors in the Temple of the Mother of the Gods.
Thus sacred were the Claudian race, and dear to the deities; and
therefore the place, where the Gods had testified such mighty honour
towards the Prince, ought to be dignified with consecration.

It will not be impertinent to insert here, that this mount was of old
named _Querquetulanus_, from a grove of oak which grew thick upon it. It
was afterwards called _Mount Caelius_, from Caeles Vibenna, who having
led to Rome a body of Tuscan auxiliaries, was presented with that
settlement by Tarquinius Priscus, or some other of our kings; for in
this particular, writers differ: about other circumstances there remains
no dispute; that these forces were very numerous, and extended their
dwellings all along the plain below, as far as the Forum. Hence the
_Tuscan Street_, so called after these strangers.

Tiberius, having dedicated the temples in Campania; though he had by
an edict warned the public, "that none should interrupt his quiet;"
and though soldiers were posted to keep off all confluence from the
neighbouring towns; nevertheless, hating the towns themselves, and
the colonies, and every part in the continent, imprisoned himself in
Capreae, [Footnote: Capri. ] an island disjoined from the point of the
Cape of Surrentum by a channel of three miles. I should chiefly believe
that he was taken with its solitude, as the sea above it is void of
havens, as the stations for the smallest vessels are few and difficult,
and as none could put in unperceived by the Guards. The genius of
the climate is mild in winter, from the shelter of a mountain which
intercepts the rigour of the winds: its summers are refreshed by gales
from the west; and the sea open all round it, makes a delightful view:
from thence too was beheld a most lovely landscape, before the eruptions
of Mount Vesuvius had changed the face of the prospect. It is the
tradition of fame that the Greeks occupied the opposite region, and
that Capreae was particularly inhabited by the Teleboi. However it were,
Tiberius then confined his retirement to twelve villas, their names
famous of old and their structure sumptuous. And the more intent he had
formerly been upon public cares, he became now so much the more buried
in dark debauches, and resigned over to mischievous privacy: for, there
remained still in him his old bent to suspicions, and rash faith in
informers; qualities which even at Rome Sejanus had always fostered, and
here inflamed more vigorously; his devices against Agrippina and Nero
being no longer a secret. About them guards were placed, by whom every
petty circumstance, the messages they sent or received, their visits and
company, their open behaviour, their private conversation, were all as
it were minuted into journals: there were others, too, instructed to
warn them to fly to the armies in Germany; or that embracing the statue
of the deified Augustus in the great Forum, they would there implore the
aid and protection of the Senate and People of Rome.