Memoirs of the Court of Augustus, by Thomas Blackwell. London, 1760, 3 vols. 4to. divided into fifteen books. The last vol. was published after the death of the author, by Mr. Mills. The last two books of this prolix work contain a description of the contemporary affairs of Augustus; the others go back to earlier times. A just appreciation of Augustus requires a previous critical examination of the sources from which Suetonius has drawn the materials for his biography.
Histoire des triumvirats augmentée de l'histoire d'Auguste, par Larry. Trevoux, 1741, 4 parts, 8vo. The last part of this simple narrative contains the history of Augustus from the death of Catiline.
August 14, 19—March 16, 37.
Changes in the constitution:
power of the comitia reduced;
despotism introduced by the judicia majestatis;
degraded character of the senate.
10. The reign of Tiberius Claudius Nero, or, as he was called after his adoption, Augustus Tiberius Cæsar, from his fifty-sixth to his seventy-eighth year, changed rather the spirit than the form of the Roman constitution. He succeeded quietly to the vacant throne at Rome, although the legions in Pannonia, and still more in Germany, felt that they could make emperors. Under him the comitia, or assemblies of the people, were reduced to a mere shadow; as he transferred their duties to the senate, which also became the highest tribunal for the state crimes of its own members: this assembly, however, had now been so much accustomed to obey the will of the prince, that everything depended on his personal character. Tiberius founded his despotism upon the judicia majestatis, or accusations of high treason, now become an engine of terror, the senate also sharing his guilt with a pusillanimity and servility which knew no bounds. This degraded assembly, indeed, from the moment that it ceased to be the ruling authority of a free state, necessarily became the passive instrument of the most brutal tyranny. Notwithstanding the military talents and many good qualities of Tiberius, his despotic character had been formed long before his fifty-sixth year, when he mounted the throne; although exterior circumstances prevented him from entirely throwing off the mask which he had hitherto worn.
The foundation of the judicia majestatis, which soon became so terrible by the unfixed state of crime, had been laid during the reign of Augustus by the lex Julia de majestate, and the cognitiones extraordinariæ, or commissioners appointed to take cognizance of certain crimes; it was, however, the abuse of them by Tiberius and his successors, which rendered them so dreadful.
Ruin of Germanicus and his family.
12. The principal object of Tiberius's suspicion, and therefore of his hate, was Germanicus, a man almost adored by the army and the people. This brave general he soon recalled from Germany, and sent into Syria to quell the disorders of the east. After having successfully put an end to the commotions which called him there, he A. C. 19. was poisoned by the contrivances of Cn. Piso and his wife; and even that did not shelter the numerous family which he left behind, with his widow Agrippina, from persecution and ruin.
The expeditions of Germanicus in the east not only gave a king to Armenia, but also reduced Cappadocia and Commagene to Roman provinces, A. C. 17.
Histoire de Cæsar Germanicus, par M. L. D. B. [EAUFORT]. à Leyden, 1741. An unpretending chronological narrative.
L. Ælius Sejanus, the cruel minister of Tiberius;
23—31.
Tiberius retires to Capreæ, 26.
Fall of Sejanus attended with great carnage, 31.
Tiberius becomes a despotic monster.