“But is not an emperor free, O noble man?” asked the cunning minister.
“Free!” exclaimed the emperor, in a tone of mockery. “The name of emperor is high-sounding; but a hollow ball will make more noise than a solid one. Ah, Sejanus, the criticisms that are made and the satire that circulates against me, the discontent of my relatives, and the unrest of the people in Rome, all affect me, so that I am deprived of all rest. My palace has become the abode of lamentations. The air murmurs complaints. The footsteps on the marble floors echo sighs. The curtains between the rooms, like funeral robes, drop from their folds oppressive rustlings. My bed groans. My crumpling pillow burns my head like a feverish hand. Free? Is the emperor free? Ah, I must live away from those who know me!”
“Thou art all-powerful, O Tiberius. Who dares prevent thee from the full indulgence of thy will?”
“’Tis not that which troubles me, O faithful Sejanus. Where can I behold the face of one who loves me? My mother hates me. Drusus hates me. The she-wolf, Agrippina, and her whelps also hate me. There is not one who trusts me, not one who looks upon me with love. But I care not! Ha, ha! I care not!”
There was no mirth in these ejaculations; they were full of bitter irony.
“Tell me, O good Tiberius, why hast thou become so embittered?”
“Ah, Sejanus, my mother has but shortly left me. Her words were burdened with hateful censure. For years has she cherished letters written to her by the Divine Augustus. To-day, in rage, she gave them me. Here on the floor are the words of invective he wrote her about me. He calls me ‘a thorn in his flesh,’ ‘a canker feeding on his happiness’—ye gods! and I, like a whipped boy, heard the abuse without raising a hand! My mother never loved me. Nay, all the gradations of the word hate express the regard she has always had for me. To-day she parted from me forever.”
“Thy mother is aged and—”
“Ay, aged,” interposed Tiberius; “but her mind is clear. Then Drusus hates me because I trust thee.”
“Full well do I know his hatred,” assented Sejanus.