101 



is banished to the Island of Poutia. Drusus is likewise accused before 

 the senate, and declared an enemy of his country. His long imprison- 

 ment in a dungeon of the imperial palace, his mad ravings of revenge 

 and despair, registered day after day by appointed watchers, and after 

 his horrible death by starvation, recited in the senate by order of 

 Tiberius, form one of the most gloomy and revolting pictures of that 

 wretched age. To rrhat extent these two youths were guilty we cannot 

 now presume to decide. The narrative of Tacitus is here interrupted 

 by a great blank. No doubt Sejanus had his hand in exaggerating 

 and perhaps prompting the offences they committed. There can be no 

 doubt, however, that Tiberius considered them guilty, and in punishing 

 them felt not less afflicted than Augustus did in banishing his profligate 

 daughter Julia, and his riotous grandson Agrippa Posthumus. Surely 

 Tiberius deserves our commiseration and not our censure. In punish- 

 ing the offences of his grand-nephews he could have no sinister motives, 

 for there can be no doubt that he at one time loved them and wished 

 to secure them the right of succession. He continued his favour uuin- 

 teiTuptedly to their brother Caius, who, unfortunately for Rome, became 

 his successor, and by his follies and crimes has contributed as much 

 as his infamous sister Agrippina to cause us to suspect the virtue of 

 the children of Germanicus. 



Chapter VT. 



In the twelfth year of his reign Tiberius left Rome never to return. 

 Delaying for a while on the smiling coast of Campania, he finally 

 selected the small island of Caprese for his permanent abode. Here 

 he lived in strict seclusion for the rest of his reign, surrounded only by 

 a few trusted friends, among whom Sejanus unfortunately still held 

 the most prominent position. What was the cause of this retirement 

 was a matter of doubt and speculation even in antiquity. The male- 

 volent spirit so actively at work to suggest the worst motives for all his 

 actions has put several constructions upon this step, all alike condem- 

 natory. The most futile charge is that preferred by the uncritical 

 Suetonius, that the Emperor had at last resolved to give himself up to 

 sloth and idleness. He did not know the nature of that imperious 

 spirit who could entertain such a supposition. It is, moreover, suffi- 

 ciently established by satisfactory evidence that Tiberius never ceased to 

 take an active interest and share in the government, that he remained 

 in constant communication with Rome, and decided the most important 

 matters himself almost to the very last day of his life. His active 

 mind, accustomed and able to rule mankind, could never subside in 

 indifference or sloth. 



