The Reign of Tiberius, Out of the First Six Annals of Tacitus; / With His Account of Germany, and Life of Agricola

by Cornelius Tacitus

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. "It had been in truth taken from them by the superior force of Philip of Macedon, when at war with him; but restored afterwards by the judicial decision of Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony." The Messenians, on the contrary, pleaded, "the ancient partition of Peloponnesus amongst the descendants of Hercules; whence the territory where the temple stood, had fallen to their king; and the monuments of that allotment still remained, engraven in stone and old tables of brass; but, if the testimony of histories and poets were appealed to; they themselves had the most and the fullest. Nor had Philip, in his decision, acted by power, but from equity: the same afterwards was the adjudgment of King Antigonus; the same that of the Roman commander Mummius. Thus too the Milesians had awarded, they who were by both sides chosen arbitrators: and thus lastly it had been determined by Atidius Geminus, Praetor of Achaia." The Messenians therefore gained the suit. The citizens also of Segestum applied on behalf of "the Temple of Venus on Mount Eryx; which fallen through age, they desired might be restored." They represented the story of its origin and antiquity; a well-pleasing flattery to Tiberius; who frankly took upon himself the charge, as kinsman to the Goddess. Then was discussed the petition from the citizens of Marseilles; and what they claimed, according to the precedent of Publius Rutilius, was approved: for Rutilius, though by a law expelled from Rome, had been by those of Smyrna adopted a citizen: and as Volcatius Moschus, another exile, had found at Marseilles the same privilege and reception, he had to their Republic, as to his country, left his estate.

During the same Consuls, a bloody assassination was perpetrated in the nethermost Spain, by a boor in the territory of Termes. By him, Lucius Piso, Governor of the Province, as he travelled careless and unattended, relying on the established peace, was surprised, and despatched at one deadly blow. The assassin however escaped to a forest, by the fleetness of his horse; and there dismissed him: from thence travelling over rocks and pathless places, he baffled his pursuers: but their ignorance of his person was soon removed; for his horse being taken and shown through the neighbouring villages, it was thence learned who was the owner; so that he too was found; but when put to the rack to declare his accomplices, he proclaimed with a mighty and assured voice, in the language of his country, "that in vain they questioned him; his associates might stand safely by and witness his constancy: and that no force of torture could be so exquisite as from him to extort a discovery." Next day as he was dragged back to the rack, he burst with a vehement effort from his guard, and dashed his head so desperately against a stone, that he instantly expired. Piso is believed to have been assassinated by a plot of the Termestinians; as in exacting the repayment of some money, seized from the public, he acted with more asperity, than a rough people could bear.

In the Consulship of Lentulus Getulicus and Caius Calvisius, the triumphal ensigns were decreed to Poppeus Sabinus for having routed some clans of Thracians, who living wildly on the high mountains, acted thence with the more outrage and contumacy. The ground of their late commotion, not to mention the savage genius of the people, was their scorn and impatience, to have recruits raised amongst them, and all their stoutest men enlisted in our armies; accustomed as they were not even to obey their native kings further than their own humour, nor to aid them with forces but under captains of their own choosing, nor to fight against any enemy but their own borderers. Their discontents too were inflamed by a rumour which then ran current amongst them; that they were to be dispersed into different regions; and exterminated from their own, to be mixed with other nations. But before they took arms and began hostilities, they sent ambassadors to Sabinus, to represent "their past friendship and submission, and that the same should continue, if they were provoked by no fresh impositions: but, if like a people subdued by war, they were doomed to bondage; they had able men and steel, and souls determined upon liberty or death." The ambassadors at the same time pointed to their strongholds founded upon precipices; and boasted that they had thither conveyed their wives and parents; and threatened a war intricate, hazardous and bloody.

Sabinus amused them with gentle answers till he could draw together his army; while Pomponius Labeo was advancing with a legion from Moesia, and King Rhoemetalces with a body of Thracians who had not renounced their allegiance. With these, and what forces he had of his own, he marched towards the foe, now settled in the passes of the forest: some more bold presented themselves upon the hills: against the last, the Roman general first bent his forces in battle, and without difficulty drove them thence, but with small slaughter of the Barbarians, because of their immediate refuge. Here he straight raised an encampment, and with a stout band took possession of a hill, which extended with an even narrow ridge to the next fortress, which was garrisoned by a great host of armed men and rabble: and as the most resolute were, in the way of the nation, rioting without the fortification in dances and songs, he forthwith despatched against them his select archers. These, while they only poured in volleys of arrows at a distance did thick and extensive execution; but, approaching too near, were by a sudden sally put in disorder. They were however supported by a cohort of the Sigambrians, purposely posted by Sabinus in readiness against an exigency; a people these, equally terrible in the boisterous and mixed uproar of their voices and arms.

He afterwards pitched his camp nearer to the enemy; having in his former entrenchments left the Thracians, whom I have mentioned to have joined us. To them too was permitted "to lay waste, burn, and plunder; on condition that their ravages were confined to the day; and that, at nights, they kept within the camp, secure under guard." This restriction was at first observed; but, anon lapsing into luxury, and grown opulent in plunder, they neglected their guards, and resigned themselves to gaiety and banquetting, to the intoxication and sloth of wine and sleep. The enemy therefore apprised of their negligence, formed themselves into two bands; one to set upon the plunderers; the other to assault the Roman camp, with no hopes of taking it; but only that the soldiers alarmed with shouts and darts, and all intent upon their own defence, might not hear the din of the other battle: moreover to heighten the terror, it was to be done by night. Those who assailed the lines of the legions were easily repulsed: but, the auxiliary Thracians were terrified with the sudden encounter, as they were utterly unprepared. Part of them lay along the entrenchments; many were roaming abroad; and both were slain with the keener vengeance, as they were upbraided "for fugitives and traitors, who bore arms to establish servitude over their country and themselves."

Next day Sabinus drew up his army in view of the enemy, on ground equal to both; to try, if elated with their success by night, they would venture a battle: and, when they still kept within the fortress, or on the cluster of hills, he began to begird them with a siege; and strengthening his old lines and adding new, enclosed a circuit of four miles. Then to deprive them of water and forage, he straitened his entrenchment by degrees, and hemmed them in still closer. A bulwark was also raised, whence the enemy now within throw, were annoyed with discharges of stones, darts, and fire. But nothing aggrieved them so vehemently as thirst, whilst only a single fountain remained amongst a huge multitude of armed men and families: their horses too and cattle, penned up with the people, after the barbarous manner of the country, perished for want of provender: amongst the carcasses of beasts lay those of men; some dead of thirst, some of their wounds; a noisome mixture of misery and death; all was foul and tainted with putrefaction, stench, and filthy contamination. To these distresses also accrued another, and of all calamities the most consummate, the calamity of discord: some were disposed to surrender; others proposed present death, and to fall upon one another. There were some too who advised a sally, and to die avenging their deaths. Nor were these last mean men, though dissenting from the rest.

But there was one of their leaders, his name Dinis, a man stricken in years, who, by long experience, acquainted with the power and clemency of the Romans, argued, "that they must lay down their arms, the same being the sole cure for their pressing calamities;" and was the first who submitted, with his wife and children to the conqueror. There followed him all that were weak through sex or age, and such as had a greater passion for life than glory. The young men were parted between Tarsa and Turesis; both determined to fall with liberty: but Tarsa declared earnestly "for instant death; and that by it all hopes and fears were at once to be extinguished;" and setting an example, buried his sword in his breast. Nor were there wanting some who despatched themselves the same way. Turesis and his band stayed for night: of which our General was aware. The guards were therefore strengthened with extraordinary reinforcements: and now with the night, darkness prevailed, its horror heightened by outrageous rain; and the enemy with tumultuous shouts, and by turns with vast silence, alarmed and puzzled the besiegers. Sabinus therefore going round the camp, warned the soldiers, "that they should not be misguided by the deceitful voice of uproar, nor trust to a feigned calm, and thence open an advantage to the enemy, who by these wiles sought it; but keep immovably to their several posts; nor throw their darts at random."

Just then came the Barbarians, pouring in distinct droves: here, with stones, with wooden javelins hardened in the fire, and with the broken limbs of trees, they battered the palisade: there with hurdles, faggots and dead bodies, they filled the trench: by others, bridges and ladders, both before framed, were planted against the battlements; these they violently grappled and tore, and struggled hand to hand with those who opposed them. The Romans, on the other side, beat them back with their bucklers, drove them down with darts, and hurled upon them great mural stakes and heaps of stones. On both sides were powerful stimulations: on ours the hopes of victory almost gained, if we persisted; and thence the more glaring infamy, if we recoiled: on theirs, the last struggle for their life; most of them, too, inspired with the affecting presence of their mothers and wives, and made desperate by their dolorous wailings. The night was an advantage to the cowardly and the brave; by it, the former became more resolute; by it, the latter hid their fear: blows were dealt, the striker knew not upon whom; and wounds received, the wounded knew not whence: such was the utter indistinction of friend and foe. To heighten the general jumble and blind confusion, the echo from the cavities of the mountain represented to the Romans the shouts of the enemy as behind them: hence in some places they deserted their lines, as believing them already broken and entered: and yet such of the enemy, as broke through, were very few. All the rest, their most resolute champions being wounded or slain, were at the returning light driven back to their fort; where they were at length forced to surrender; as did the places circumjacent of their own accord. The remainder could then be neither forced nor famished; as they were protected by a furious winter, always sudden about Mount Haemus.