100 



noble lady, Apuleia Yarilia, the grand niece of Augustus. The 

 charges are again of two kinds ; first libellous expressions regarding 

 Augustus, Livia, aiid Tiberius ; secondly adultery. It is worth while 

 to observe, how Tiberius treated these charges. He first waived all 

 inquiry into offences against himself, and after having taken the 

 opinion of Livia, into those also against her. The words spoken to 

 blacken the memory of Augustus, he at first desired to see punished, 

 but in the end he forgave them also ; for the crime of adultery he 

 deprecated a very severe punishment, and limited it to banishment 

 from Rome. 



These then are the formidable dimensions to which the law of high 

 treason had now grown. 



Omitting a few irrelevant cases (Tac. Ann. iii. 38), the next 

 trial in order of time is that of the unfortunate poet C. Lutorius 

 Priscus (Tac. Ann. iii. 49, 51). He had written a poem on the 

 death of Germauicus, for which he had received a sum of money 

 from Tiberius. Now he was accused of having composed a 

 similar poem to lament the death of Drusus, who was very iU, but 

 recovered. This imaginary anticipation of the death of the imperial 

 prince was proclaimed to be a heinous offence by his accuser, and in 

 the absence of Tiberius he was condemned to death by the senate, in 

 ■which tliere were only found two men bold enough to record a dis- 

 sentient vote. The cruel sentence was at once carried into execution. 

 This was done no doubt as a show of zeal and loyal attachment to the 

 reigning house. But wlieu Tiberius heard of these proceedings, he 

 blamed the senate for their undue zeal and haste, and to prevent the 

 recurrence of similar acts, he caused a resolution to be adopted, that in 

 future ten days should elapse between the passing of a sentence and 

 its execution. This is a satisfactory proof, that the servile adherents 

 of the ruling potentate were more vehement and unforgiving in their 

 political animosities than their master, a phenomenon by no means 

 rare or exceptional in history, ancient or modern. 



The next case is again introduced by Tacitus (Tac. Ann. iii. 66), with 

 one of those short, bitter, stinging remarks, which warp from the very 

 beginning the judgment of an incautious reader. " Gradually," he says, 

 •' disgraceful scenes gave place to cruelty." Let us see, who was the 

 innocent victim now. C. Silanus, the Proconsul of Asia, a senatorial 

 province," was accused of extortion by the inhabitants of the country, 

 he had plundered. The charge of high treason was added, but the 

 trial, which seems to have been a very important one, turned entirely 



'"In which, as we have seen above, tliere was morescope for raalversatiou Ihun in those 

 provii'i'es, which were umler tlie immeJUile coutrul uf the Emperor. 



