Tiberius (Suetonius)

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	Tiberius Author: Suetonius	Translator: Alexander Thomson
29	Atque haec eo notabiliora erant , quod ipse in appellandis uenerandisque et singulis et uniuersis prope excesserat humanitatis modum . dissentiens in curia a Q . Haterio : ' ignoscas ,' inquit , ' rogo , si quid aduersus te liberius sicut senator dixero .' et deinde omnis adloquens : ' dixi et nunc et saepe alias , p . c ., bonum et salutarem principem , quem uos tanta et tam libera potestate instruxistis , senatui seruire debere et uniuersis ciuibus saepe et plerumque etiam singulis ; neque id dixisse me paenitet , et bonos et aequos et fauentes uos habui dominos et adhuc habeo .'	These things were so much the more remarkable in him, because, in the respect he paid to individuals, or the whole body of the senate, he went beyond all bounds. Upon his differing with Quintus Haterius in the senate-house, "Pardon me, sir," he said, "I beseech you, if I shall, as a senator, speak my mind very freely in opposition to you." Afterwards, addressing the senate in general, he said: "Conscript Fathers, I have often said it both now and at other times, that a good and useful prince, whom you have invested with so great and absolute power, ought to be a slave to the senate, to the whole body of the people, and often to individuals likewise: nor am I sorry that I have said it. I have always found you good, kind, and indulgent masters, and still find you so."
30	Quin etiam speciem libertatis quandam induxit conseruatis senatui ac magistratibus et maiestate pristina et potestate . neque tam paruum quicquam neque tam magnum publici priuatique negotii fuit , de quo non ad patres conscriptos referretur : de uectigalibus ac monopoliis , de extruendis reficiendisue operibus , etiam de legendo uel exauctorando milite ac legionum et auxiliorum discriptione , denique quibus imperium prorogari aut extraordinaria bella mandari , quid et qua forma regum litteris rescribi placeret . praefectum alae de ui et rapinis reum causam in senatu dicere coegit . numquam curiam nisi solus intrauit ; lectica quondam intro latus aeger comites a se remouit .	He likewise introduced a certain show of liberty, by preserving to the senate and magistrates their former majesty and power. All affairs, whether of great or small importance, public or private, were laid before the senate. Taxes and monopolies, the erecting or repairing edifices, levying and disbanding soldiers, the disposal of the legions and auxiliary forces in the provinces, the appointment of generals for the management of extraordinary wars, and the answers to letters from foreign princes, were all submitted to the senate. He compelled the commander of a troop of horse, who was accused of robbery attended with violence, to plead his cause before the senate. He never entered the senate-house but unattended; and being once brought thither in a litter, because he was indisposed, he dismissed his attendants at the door.
31	quaedam aduersus sententiam suam decerni ne questus quidem est . negante eo destinatos magistratus abesse oportere , ut praesentes honori adquiescerent , praetor designatus liberam legationem impetrauit . iterum censente , ut Trebianis legatam in opus noui theatri pecuniam ad munitionem uiae transferre concederetur , optinere non potuit quin rata uoluntas legatoris esset . cum senatus consultum per discessionem forte fieret , transeuntem eum in alteram partem , in qua pauciores erant , secutus est nemo . Cetera quoque non nisi per magistratus et iure ordinario agebantur , tanta consulum auctoritate , ut legati ex Africa adierint eos querentes , trahi se a Caesare ad quem missi forent . nec mirum , cum palam esset , ipsum quoque eisdem et assurgere et decedere uia .	When some decrees were made contrary to his opinion, he did not even make any complaint. And though he thought that no magistrates after their nomination should be allowed to absent themselves from the city, but reside in it constantly, to receive their honours in person, a praetor-elect obtained liberty to depart under the honorary title of a legate at large. Again, when he proposed to the senate, that the Trebians might have leave granted them to divert some money which had been left them by will for the purpose of building a new theatre, to that of making a road, he could not prevail to have the will of the testator set aside. And when, upon a division of the house, he went over to the minority, nobody followed him. All other things of a public nature were likewise transacted by the magistrates, and in the usual forms; the authority of the consuls remaining so great, that some ambassadors from Africa applied to them, and complained, that they could not have their business dispatched by Caesar, to whom they had been sent. And no wonder; since it was observed that he used to rise up as the consuls approached, and give them the way.
32	corripuit consulares exercitibus praepositos , quod non de rebus gestis senatui scriberent quodque de tribuendis quibusdam militaribus donis ad se referrent , quasi non omnium tribuendorum ipsi ius haberent . praetorem conlaudauit , quod honore inito consuetudinem antiquam rettulisset de maioribus suis pro contione memorandi . quorundam illustrium exequias usque ad rogum frequentauit . Parem moderationem minoribus quoque et personis et rebus exhibuit . cum Rhodiorum magistratus , quod litteras publicas sine subscriptione ad se dederant , euocasset , ne uerbo quidem insectatus ac tantum modo iussos subscribere remisit . Diogenes grammaticus , disputare sabbatis Rhodi solitus , uenientem eum , ut se extra ordinem audiret , non admiserat ac per seruolum suum in septimum diem distulerat ; hunc Romae salutandi sui causa pro foribus adstantem nihil amplius quam ut post septimum annum rediret admonuit . praesidibus onerandas tributo prouincias suadentibus rescripsit boni pastoris esse tondere pecus , non deglubere .	He reprimanded some persons of consular rank in command of armies, for not writing to the senate an account of their proceedings, anc for consulting him about the distribution of military rewards; as if they themselves had not a right to bestow them as they judged proper. He commended a praetor, who, on entering office, revived an old custom of celebrating the memory of his ancestors, in a speech to the people. He attended the corpses of some persons of distinction to the funeral pile. He displayed the same moderation with regard to persons and things of inferior consideration. The magistrates of Rhodes, having dispatched to him a letter on public business, which was not subscribed, he sent for them, and without giving them so much as one harsh word, desired them to subscribe it, and so dismissed them. Diogenes, the grammarian, who used to hold public disquisitions at Rhodes every sabbath-day, once refused him admittance upon his coming to hear him out of course, and sent him a message by a servant, postponing his admission to the nexth seventh-day. Diogenes afterwards coming to Rome, and waiting at his door to be allowed to pay his respects to him, he sent him word to come again at the end of seven years. To some governors, who advised him to load the provinces with taxes, he answered, "It is the part of a good shepherd to shear, not flay, his sheep."
33	Paulatim principem exeruit praestititque etsi uarium diu , commodiorem tamen saepius et ad utilitates publicas proniorem . ac primo eatenus interueniebat , ne quid perperam fieret . itaque et constitutiones senatus quasdam rescidit et magistratibus pro tribunali cognoscentibus plerumque se offerebat consiliarium assidebatque iuxtim uel exaduersum in parte primori ; et si quem reorum elabi gratia rumor esset , subitus aderat iudices que aut e plano aut e quaesitoris tribunali legum et religionis et noxae , de qua cognoscerent , admonebat ; atque etiam , si qua in publicis moribus desidia aut mala consuetudine labarent , corrigenda suscepit .	He assumed the sovereignty by slow degrees, and exercised it for a long time with great variety of conduct, though generally with a due regard to the public good. At first he only interposed to prevent ill management. Accordingly, he rescinded some decrees of the senate; and when the magistrates sat for the administration of justice, he frequently offered his service as assessor, either taking his place promiscuously amongst them, or seating himself in a corner of the tribunal. If a rumour prevailed, that any person under prosecution was likely to be acquitted by his interest, he would suddenly make his appearance, and from the floor of the court, or the praetor's bench, remind the judges of the laws, and of their oaths, and the nature of the charge brought before them. He likewise took upon himself the correction of public morals, where they tended to decay, either through neglect, or evil custom.
34	ludorum ac munerum impensas corripuit mercedibus scaenicorum recisis paribusque gladiatorum ad certum numerum redactis . Corinthiorum uasorum pretia in immensum exarsisse tresque mullos triginta milibus nummum uenisse grauiter conquestus , adhibendum supellectili modum censuit annonamque macelli senatus arbitratu quotannis temperandam , dato aedilibus negotio popinas ganeasque usque eo inhibendi , ut ne opera quidem pistoria proponi uenalia sinerent . et ut parsimoniam publicam exemplo quoque iuuaret , sollemnibus ipse cenis pridiana saepe ac semesa obsonia apposuit dimidiatumque aprum , affirmans omnia eadem habere , quae totum . Cotidiana oscula edicto prohibuit , item strenarum commercium ne ultra Kal . Ian . exerceretur . consuerat quadriplam strenam , et de manu , reddere ; sed offensus interpellari se toto mense ab iis qui potestatem sui die festo non habuissent , ultra non tulit .	He reduced the expense of the plays and public spectacles, by diminishing the allowances to actors, and curtailing the number of gladiators. He made grievous complaints to the senate, that the price of Corinthian vessels was become enormous, and that three mullets had been sold for thirty thousand sesterces: upon which he proposed that a new sumptuary law should be enacted; that the butchers and other dealers in viands should be subject to an assize, fixed by the senate yearly; and the aediles commissioned to restrain eating-houses and taverns, so far as not even to permit the sale of any kind of pastry. And to encourage frugality in the public by his own example, he would often, at his solemn feasts, have at his tables victuals which had been served up the day before, and were partly eaten, and half a boar, affirming, It has all the same good bits that the whole had." He published an edict against the practice of people's kissing each other when they met; and would not allow new year's gifts to be presented after the calends [the first] of January was passed. He had been in the habit of returning these offerings four-fold, and making them with his own hand; but being annoyed by the continual interruption to which he was exposed during the whole month, by those who had not the opportunity of attending him on the festival, he returned none after that day.
35	matronas prostratae pudicitiae , quibus accusator publicus deesset , ut propinqui more maiorum de communi sententia coercerent auctor fuit . eq ( uiti ) R ( omano ) iuris iurandi gratiam fecit , uxorem in stupro generi compertam dimitteret , quam se numquam repudiaturum ante iurauerat . feminae famosae , ut ad euitandas legum poenas iure ac dignitate matronali exoluerentur , lenocinium profiteri coeperant , et ex iuuentute utriusque ordinis profligatissimus quisque , quominus in opera scaenae harenaeque edenda senatus consulto teneretur , famosi iudicii notam sponte subibant ; eos easque omnes , ne quod refugium in tali fraude cuiquam esset , exilio adfecit . senatori latum clauum ademit , cum cognosset sub Kal . Iul . demigrasse in hortos , quo uilius post diem aedes in urbe conduceret . alium e quaestura remouit , quod uxorem pridie sortitionem ductam postridie repudiasset .	Married women guilty of adultery, though not prosecuted publicly, he authorised the nearest relations to punish by agreement among themselves, according to ancient custom. He discharged a Roman knight from the obligation of an oath he had taken, never to turn away his wife; and allowed him to divorce her, upon her being caught in criminal intercourse with her son-in-law. Women of ill-fame, divesting themselves of the rights and dignity of matrons, had now begun a practice of professing themselves prostitutes, to avoid the punishment of the laws; and the most profligate young men of the senatorian and equestrian orders, to secure themselves agairist a decree of the senate, which prohibited their performing on the stage, or in the amphitheatre, voluntarily subjected themselves to an infamous sentence, by which they were degraded. All those he banished, that none for the future might evade by such artifices the intention and efficacy of the law. He stripped a senator of the broad stripes on his robe, upon information of his having removed to his gardens before the calends [the first] of July, in order that he might afterwards hire a house cheaper in the city. He likewise dismissed another from the office of quaestor, for repudiating, the day after he had been lucky in drawing his lot, a wife whom he had married only the day before.
36	externas caerimonias , Aegyptios Iudaicosque ritus compescuit , coactis qui superstitione ea tenebantur religiosas uestes cum instrumento omni comburere . Iudaeorum iuuentutem per speciem sacramenti in prouincias grauioris caeli distribuit , reliquos gentis eiusdem uel similia sectantes urbe summouit , sub poena perpetuae seruitutis nisi obtemperassent . expulit et mathematicos , sed deprecantibus ac se artem desituros promittentibus ueniam dedit .	He suppressed all foreign religions, and the Egyptian and Jewish rites, obliging those who practised that kind of superstition, to burn their vestments, and all their sacred utensils. He distributed the Jewish youths, under the pretence of military service, among the provinces noted for an unhealthy climate; and dismissed from the city all the rest of that nation as well as those who were proselytes to that religion, under pain of slavery for life, unless they complied. He also expelled the astrologers; but upon their suing for pardon, and promising to renounce their profession, he revoked his decree.
37	In primis tuendae pacis a grassaturis ac latrociniis seditionumque licentia curam habuit . stationes militum per Italiam solito frequentiores disposuit . Romae castra constituit , quibus praetorianae cohortes uagae ante id tempus et per hospitia dispersae continerentur . Populares tumultus et ortos grauissime coercuit et ne orerentur sedulo cauit . caede in theatro per discordiam admissa capita factionum et histriones , propter quos dissidebatur , relegauit , nec ut reuocaret umquam ullis populi precibus potuit euinci . cum Pollentina plebs funus cuiusdam primipilaris non prius ex foro misisset quam extorta pecunia per uim heredibus ad gladiatorium munus , cohortem ab urbe et aliam a Cotti regno dissimulata itineris causa detectis repente armis concinentibusque signis per diuersas portas in oppidum immisit ac partem maiorem plebei ac decurionum in perpetua uincula coiecit . aboleuit et ius moremque asylorum , quae usquam erant . Cyzicenis in ciues R . uiolentius quaedam ausis publice libertatem ademit , quam Mithridatico bello meruerant . Hostiles motus nulla postea expeditione suscepta per legatos compescuit , ne per eos quidem nisi cunctanter et necessario . reges infestos suspectosque comminationibus magis et querelis quam ui repressit ; quosdam per blanditias atque promissa extractos ad se non remisit , ut Marobodum Germanum , Rhascuporim Thracem , Archelaum Cappadocem , cuius etiam regnum in formam prouinciae redegit .	But, above all things, he was careful to keep the public peace against robbers, burglars, and those who were disaffected to the government. He therefore increased the number of military stations throughout Italy; and formed a camp at Rome for the praetorian cohorts, which, till then, had been quartered in the city. He suppressed with great severity all tumults of the people on their first breaking out; and took every precaution to prevent them. Some persons having been killed in a quarrel which happened in the theatre, he banished the leaders of the parties, and the players about whom the disturbance had arisen; nor could all the entreaties of the people afterwards prevail upon him to recall them. The people of Pollentia having refused to permit the removal of the corpse of a centurion of the first rank from the forum, until they had extorted from his heirs a sum of money for a public exhibition of gladiators, he detached a cohort from the city, and another from the kingdom of Cottius; who concealing the cause of their march, entered the town by different gates, with their arms suddenly displayed, and trumpets sounding; and having seized the greatest part of the people, and the magistrates, they were imprisoned for life. He abolished everywhere the privileges of all places of refuge. The Cyzicenians having committed an outrage upon some Romans, he deprived them of the liberty they had obtained from their good services in the Mithridatic war. Disturbances from foreign enemies he quelled by his lieutenants, without ever going against them in person; nor would he even employ his lieutenants, but with much reluctance, and when it was absolutely necessary. Princes who were ill-affected towards him, he kept in subjection, more by menaces and remonstrances, than by force of arms. Some whom he induced to come to him by fair words and promises, he never would permit to return home; as Maraboduus the German, Thrascypolis the Thracian, and Archelaus the Cappadocian, whose kingdom he even reduced into the form of a province.
38	Biennio continuo post adeptum imperium pedem porta non extulit ; sequenti tempore praeterquam in propinqua oppida et , cum longissime , Antio tenus nusquam afuit , idque perraro et paucos dies ; quamuis prouincias quoque et exercitus reuisurum se saepe pronuntiasset et prope quotannis profectionem praepararet , uehiculis comprehensis , commeatibus per municipia et colonias dispositis , ad extremum uota pro itu et reditu suo suscipi passus , ut uulgo iam per iocum ' Callippides ' uocaretur , quem cursitare ac ne cubiti quidem mensuram progredi prouerbio Graeco notatum est .	He never set foot outside the gates of Rome, for two years together, from the time he assumed the supreme power; and after that period, went no farther from the city than to some of the neighbouring towns; his farthest excursion being to Antium, and that but very seldom, and for a few days; though he often gave out that he would visit the provinces and armies, and made preparations for it almost every year, by taking up carriages, and ordering provisions for his retinue in the municipia and colonies. At last he suffered vows to be put up for his'good journey and safe return, insomuch that he was called jocosely by the name of Callipides, who is famous in a Greek proverb, for being in a great hurry to go forward, but without ever advancing a cubit.
39	sed orbatus utroque filio , quorum Germanicus in Syria , Drusus Romae obierat , secessum Campaniae petit ; constanti et opinione et sermone paene omnium quasi neque rediturus umquam et cito mortem etiam obiturus . quod paulo minus utrumque euenit ; nam neque Romam amplius rediit et paucos post dies iuxta Tarracinam in praetorio , cui Speluncae nomen est , incenante eo complura et ingentia saxa fortuito superne dilapsa sunt , multisque conuiuarum et ministrorum elisis praeter spem euasit .	But after the loss of his two sons, of whom Germanicus died in Syria, and Drusus at Rome, he withdrew into Campania; at which time opinion and conversation were almost general, that he never would return, and would die soon. And both nearly turned out to be true. For indeed he never more came to Rome; and a few days after leaving it, when he was at a villa of his called the Cave, near Terracina, during supper a great many huge stones fell from above, which killed several of the guests and attendants; but he almost hopelessly escaped.
40	Peragrata Campania , cum Capuae Capitolium , Nolae templum Augusti , quam causam profectionis praetenderat , dedicasset , Capreas se contulit , praecipue delectatus insula , quod uno paruoque litore adiretur , saepta undique praeruptis immensae altitudinis rupibus et profundo mari . statimque reuocante assidua obtestatione populo propter cladem , qua apud Fidenas supra uiginti hominum milia gladiatorio munere amphitheatri ruina perierant , transiit in continentem potestatemque omnibus adeundi sui fecit : tanto magis , quod urbe egrediens ne quis se interpellaret edixerat ac toto itinere adeuntis submouerat .	After he had gone round Campania, and dedicated the capitol at Capua, and a temple to Augustus at Nola, which he made the pretext of his journey, he retired to Capri; being greatly delighted with the island, because it was accessible only by a narrow beach, being on all sides surrounded with rugged cliffs, of a stupendous height, and by a deep sea. But immediately, the people of Rome being extremely clamorous for his return, on account of a disaster at Fidenae, Where upwards of twenty thousand persons had been killed by the fall of the amphitheatre, during a public spectacle of gladiators, he crossed over again to the continent, and gave all people free access to him; so much the more, because, at his departure from the city, he had caused it to be proclaimed that no one should address him, and had declined admitting any persons to his presence, on the journey.
41	Regressus in insulam rei p . quidem curam usque adeo abiecit , ut postea non decurias equitum umquam supplerit , non tribunos militum praefectosque , non prouinciarum praesides ullos mutauerit , Hispaniam et Syriam per aliquot annos sine consularibus legatis habuerit , Armeniam a Parthis occupari , Moesiam a Dacis Sarmatisque , Gallias a Germanis uastari neglexerit : magno dedecore imperii nec minore discrimine .	Returning to the island, he so far abandoned all care of the government, that he never filled up the decuriae of the knights, never changed any military tribunes or prefects, or governors of provinces, and kept Spain and Syria for several years without any consular lieutenants. He likewise suffered Armenia to be seized by the Parthians, Mcesia by the Dacians and Sarmatians, and Gaul to be ravaged by the Germans: to the great disgrace, and no less danger, of the empire.
42	ceterum secreti licentiam nanctus et quasi ciuitatis oculis remotis , cuncta simul uitia male diu dissimulata tandem profudit : de quibus singillatim ab exordio referam . in castris tiro etiam tum propter nimiam uini auiditatem pro Tiberio ' Biberius ,' pro Claudio ' Caldius ,' pro Nerone ' Mero ' uocabatur . postea princeps in ipsa publicorum morum correctione cum Pomponio Flacco et L . Pisone noctem continuumque biduum epulando potandoque consumpsit , quorum alteri Syriam prouinciam , alteri praefecturam urbis confestim detulit , codicillis quoque iucundissimos et omnium horarum amicos professus . Cestio Gallo , libidinoso ac prodigo seni , olim ab Augusto ignominia notato et a se ante paucos dies apud senatum increpito cenam ea lege condixit , ne quid ex consuetudine immutaret aut demeret , utque nudis puellis ministrantibus cenaretur . ignotissimum quaesturae candidatum nobilissimis anteposuit ob epotam in conuiuio propinante se uini amphoram . Asellio Sabino sestertia ducenta donauit pro dialogo , in quo boleti et ficedulae et ostreae et turdi certamen induxerat . nouum denique officium instituit a uoluptatibus , praeposito equite R . T . Caesonio Prisco .	But, having now the advantage of privacy, and being remote from the observation of the people of Rome, he abandoned himself to all the vicious propensities which he had long but imperfectly concealed, and of which I shall here give a particular account from the beginning. While a young soldier in the camp, he was so remarkable for his excessive inclination to wine, that, for Tiberius, they called him Biberius; for Claudius, Cal-, dius; and for Nero, Mero. And after he succeeded to the empire, and was invested with the office of reforming the morality of the people, he spent a whole night and two days together in feasting and drinking with Pomponius Flaccus and Lucius Piso; to one of whom he immediately gave the province of Syria, and to the other the prefecture of the city; declaring them, in his letterspatent, to be ' very pleasant companions, and friends fit for all occasions." He made an appointment to sup with Sestius Gallus, a lewd and prodigal old fellow, who had been disgraced by Augustus, and reprimanded by himself but a few days before in the senate-house; upon condition that he should not recede in the least from his usual method of entertainment, and that they should be attended at table by naked girls. He preferred a very obscure candidate for the quaestorship, before the most noble competitors, only for taking off, in pledging him at table, an amphora of wine at a draught. He presented Asellius Sabinus with two hundred thousand sesterces, for writing a dialogue, in the way of dispute, betwixt the truffle and the fig-pecker, the oyster and the thrush. He likewise instituted a new office to administer to his voluptuousness, to which he appointed Titus Caesonius Priscus, a Roman knight.