105 



that, tboiigb Libo was more foolish than guilty, there was no course 

 open for Tiberius but to investigate the case, and to show his determi- 

 nation of punishing all similar attempts of a treasonable character. 



A still more atrocious case of treachery than that of Catus took place 

 in the fourteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, during the ascendancy 

 of Sejauus. (Tac. Ann. iv. 68-70 ; Dion Cassius 53, 1.) Four 

 senators of Prsetorian rank, desirous to obtain the consulship through 

 the influence of that powerful favourite, resolved to gain his 

 favour by conspiring to ruin Titius Sabinus, who was obnoxious to 

 him as a faithful adherent of the house of Germanicus. Latiaris 

 one of the infamous conspirators, wormed himself into the intimacy 

 and confidence of the unsuspecting Sabinus, by inveighing against the 

 tyranny of Tiberius and lamenting the sad fate of Aggrippina and her 

 children. By degrees he elicited similar complaints from Sabinus. 

 The plot promised to succeed. One day he brought Sabinus to his 

 house under the pretext of communicating important news. His three 

 fellow conspirators lay liiding and listening between the roof and the 

 ceiling. The conversation revealed sufficient matter for an impeach- 

 ment of high treason. It seems that some plan of assassinating 

 Tiberias was discussed or mentioned. This was of course fatal to the 

 unhappy Sabinus, who was no sooner impeached than convicted and 

 sent to be executed. 



It is impossible to say, how far Sabinus was really guilty of high 

 treason. Perhaps his offence did not amount to more than discontent. 

 At any rate the mode in which he was brought within the provisions 

 of the law covered his vile accusers with everlasting infamy, nor is it 

 creditable to Tiberius to have listened to evidence so disgracefully 

 obtained. 



The remaining cases"" are either doubtful or unimportant. The 

 melancholy fate of Nero and Drusus, the two eldest sons of Germa- 

 nicus, is involved in impenetrable obscurity, nor can any light be thrown 

 on the general administration of justice from the terrible reaction after 

 the fall of Sejanus. It must be borne in mind, that the overthrow of 

 Sejanus and his adherents was nothing less than a civil war anticipated 

 by one party before the other was prepared. The voice of justice was 

 drowned in the din of the wholesale massacres, which disgraced the 

 streets of Rome. But we have already hinted, that the descriptiona 

 of those scenes, given especially by Suetonius, are greatly exaggerated, 

 and it is probable, that after the first outbreak was over, the stream of 

 justice gradually subsided into its old channels. Indeed we hear of 

 regular trials not long after this period, and one of them is that of the 



'" Sco Rein Rcem. Criminalrecht. p. 660 ff' 



