For two of his [39]friends, Mecænas and M. Vipsanius Agrippa, he had a [40]particular [41]esteem above all others; the [42]former was a great [43]patron of [44]learning and [45]learned men. Augustus made Agrippa his [46]son-in-law, by [47]marrying his daughter Julia to him, whom he had by Scribonia. She had children, C. and L. Cæsars, Agrippa Posthumus, Agrippina married to Germanicus, Drusus’s son, Livia’s [48]grandson, and Julia, whom Æmilius married. He took Livia, when she was [49]big with child, by her former [50]husband Tiberius Nero, by whom he had no [51]issue, though she had by Nero, Tiberius, who was emperor afterwards, and Drusus who [52]died in Germany.
Tiberius having gotten the [53]tribunitial [54]power for five years, was [55]sent to [56]settle the [57]affairs of Armenia. Soon after he [58]retired to Rhodes, where, for fear of [59]falling under the [60]displeasure of his [61]step-sons, he [62]continued seven years. But the [63]occasion of his [64]retirement was his [65]aversion for his wife Julia, who [66]spent her time in all [67]manner of [68]debauchery. Augustus, upon a [69]discovery of her [70]pranks, [71]banished her.
The [72]age of this emperor [73]produced several great [74]men: amongst the [75]Greeks [76]Dionysius Halicarnassensis and [77]Nicholas Damascenus were [78]famous for their [79]talents in writing [80]history; and amongst the [81]Latins [82]Cornelius Nepos, Atticus’s [83]son-in-law, and Sallust, who died four years before the [84]battle of Actium. In this age lived likewise those [85]celebrated [86]poets, [87]Virgil, [88]Horace, [89]Ovid, [90]Tibullus, and [91]Propertius.
Augustus died at Nola, in Campania, in the 14th year of [92]Christ, and the 76th year of his age, having [93]held the empire by himself, from the death of M. Antony, forty-three years; he was an [94]excellent [95]prince, and [96]necessary for those times.
He was [97]succeeded by Tiberius, a prince of a [98]savage [99]disposition, and [100]given up to all manner of debauchery; he was the son of Livia by Nero. He [101]dissembled his [102]vices at the [103]beginning of his reign with [104]wonderful [105]art, through fear of Germanicus, his brother’s son, whom he had [106]adopted at the [107]command of his [108]father-in-law. For, as he [109]gained a great [110]reputation by his [111]virtues and [112]exploits in war, he was [113]looked upon with a [114]jealous eye, as [115]fitter for the empire than himself. He [116]removed him from Germany where he had [117]wonderful [118]success against the enemy, into the [119]East, to [120]fight against the Parthians, in the year 769, having sent at the same time Cn. Piso into Syria, between whom and Germanicus was a [121]mortal enmity. Wherefore Germanicus died, not without the [122]suspicion of having been [123]poisoned by him, for which being [124]prosecuted at Rome by Agrippina, the wife of Germanicus, he [125]prevented his [126]sentence by a [127]voluntary death.
[128]Ælius Sejanus, a Roman [129]knight, was afterwards [130]raised by Tiberius, who after a great many [131]wicked [132]actions, [133]aiming now at no less than the empire itself, was, by a [134]letter of Tiberius to the senate, [135]thrown from the [136]top of all his [137]grandeur, and died by the [138]hand of an [139]executioner, with all his [140]family, in the 18th year of Tiberius.
About the 18th year of his [141]reign, he [142]retired to Caprea, an [143]island on the [144]coast of Campania, with a [145]design of never returning to the town, where he [146]privately [147]wallowed in all manner of [148]debauchery, and died in the 23rd year of his reign, to the great [149]joy of every one, being then in the 78th year of his age.
[150]Jesus Christ, the son of God, was [151]born of the [152]Virgin Mary, in the reign of Augustus, and [153]crucified in that of Tiberius, being then thirty-three years of age.
Caius Cæsar Caligula, so [154]called from a [155]shoe [156]worn by the [157]soldiery, which, when a boy, he [158]wore in the camp, [159]succeeded Tiberius, being the son of Germanicus and Agrippina, the daughter of M. Agrippa and Julia. He was [160]entered into the five and twentieth year of his age. Great was the joy of the people upon his first [161]accession to the [162]throne, and no less were their [163]hopes that he would be [164]like Germanicus his father, who is said to have been [165]possessed of all the good [166]qualities of [167]body and [168]mind. And indeed as the worst of princes frequently [169]begin well, he gave many [170]signs of his [171]moderation and [172]regard to the good of the public. But soon after, as if he had [173]put off all [174]humanity, he [175]outstripped the most savage [176]creatures in [177]cruelty; and having made sad [178]havoc among all [179]ranks and [180]degrees of men, he [181]killed likewise Macro, [182]commander of the [183]prætorian [184]bands, by whose [185]means he had been made emperor. He also [186]committed [187]crimes with his sisters. Having in a year’s time [188]exhausted [189]immense [190]treasures that had been [191]left by Tiberius, he [192]fell to [193]proscribing and [194]plundering. Among other proofs of his cruelty, he was [195]heard to say, I [196]wish the Roman people had but one [197]neck. In all his [198]buildings, or public [199]works, he [200]effected what was [201]looked upon to be impossible. He [202]ordered himself to be [203]worshipped as a god throughout the [204]world, and [205]temples to be [206]erected to him. At last, he was slain by Chærea Cassius, [207]tribune of a [208]cohort of his [209]guards, and some others, who had [210]entered into a [211]plot against him, after he had [212]reigned three years, ten months, and eight days, and [213]lived twenty-nine years.