90 



at a period, when, according to the received opinion, he had lost all the 

 fictitious %'irtues of his earlier years, had abandoned all cares of state, 

 and had given himself up to the unbridled enjoyment of the lowest 

 appetites. Who is the prince on a European throne in our own days, 

 who could afford, or would labour all his life long, to be able to afford 

 assistance on such a scale to liis suffering subjects ? 



Were we more perfectly acquainted with the detail of the adminis- 

 tration of Tiberius, we should find the same spirit pervading the whole." 

 We should discover that, he was ready to assist individuals as well as 

 masses, and yet, what is eminently characteristic of his temper, we 

 should see, that it was never from ostentation, but from conviction and 

 sense of duty, that he granted or withheld his assistance. Thus we are 

 informed, that he gave large sums to senators, who had fallen into 

 unmerited distress and poverty, and sternly refused the same boon to 

 others, who, without deserving it, clamoured for his bounty. (Tac. 

 Ann. i. 75 ; Suet Tib. 48.) One case is so much in point, as showing 

 the Emperor's discrimination, his fearlessness in challenging discon- 

 tent and obloquy, and his readiness to speak his mind distinctly, that 

 I cannot refrain from giving the naiTative of Tacitus. (Annal. ii. 37, 38.) 



One Marcus Hortalus, who had received from Augu-stus, ] ,000,000 

 sesterces, to support the senatorial dignity, but had again come 

 to poverty under his successor, so far forgot the pride of a Roman 

 senator and the dignity of a freeman, that, digressing from the course 

 of the debate in the assembled senate, he addressed a most abject 

 petition to Tiberius, imploring him to have pity on him and his four 

 children, and not to allow such a gi'eat and glorious family as his to 

 fall into utter wretchedness. The senate, as Tacitus states, seemed 

 inclined to favour the petitioner ; but Tiberius perceiving this gave 

 vent to his just indignation in the following words : "If all the indigent 

 were to come here and to clamour for money for their children, the 

 public resources would soon fail, and yet these men would not be 

 satisfied ; and surely our ancestors have not sanctioned the practice of 

 free debate in the senate, that we should bring forward here our private 

 business and wants, to cast odium on the senate and the prince, 

 whether they refuse or allow such applications for assistance. It is 

 not a request, but an impudent demand, out of time and unexpected, 

 for a man, to interrupt our discussions, to recount the number and age 

 of his children, to do violence to the kind disposition of the senate, as 

 well as to myself, and as it were to break open the public treasuiy by 



" lu a season of dearth be fixed the price of com at a low figure, and paid the difl'erence 

 to the dealers (Tac. Ann. ii. 87). During a monetary crisis he lent the sum ©f 100,000,000 

 sesterces (^£800,000), for three years without interest. 



