Chap. 46.] THE MISFORTUNES OF AUGUSTUS. 197 



respecting the intentions of Marcellus ; 16 the disgraceful banish- 

 ment, as it were, of Agrippa; 17 the many plots against his 

 life; 18 the deaths of his own children, 19 of which he was 

 accused, and his heavy sorrows, caused not merely by their 

 loss ; 20 the adultery 21 of his daughter, and the discovery of her 

 parricidal designs; the insulting retreat of his son-in-law, 

 Nero ; 22 another adultery, that of his grand- daughter ; 23 to 



16 M. Claudius Marcellus, the son of Octavia, sister of Augustus. He 

 was adopted by Augustus. Tacitus seems to hint that he was greatly be- 

 loved by the Roman people, and it is not improbable that Augustus may 

 have become suspicious or jealous of him ; his decease took place in his 

 twentieth year. 



17 To Mitylene. This refers to the jealousy between Marcellus and his 

 brother-in-laV, M. Vipsanius Agrippa. Pliny probably uses the term 

 '* pudenda," implying that Augustus showed neither firmness nor gratitude 

 on this occasion ; for anxious, at any cost, to prevent these differences, he 

 sent Agrippa, against his will, as proconsul to Syria ; immediately on which 

 Agrippa left Rome, but stopped at Mitylene, and left the government of 

 Syria to his legatus. Upon the death of Marcellus, Agrippa returned to 

 Rome. 



18 Dion Cassius mentions three conspiracies, the first by Fabius Caepio 

 and Muraena, a second, of which he aoes not name the authors, and a 

 third by Cornelius Cinna. 



19 Said in allusion to the suspicious deaths of his grandchildren Lucius 

 and Caius, the children of his daughter Julia by Agrippa. They were 

 probably removed by the criminal acts of Livia ; but some historians have 

 hinted that Augustus was privy to their destruction, the object of which 

 was to remove all obstacles that lay in the way of Tiberius to the throne. 



20 Implying that he was conscience-stricken at his share in their death, 

 as well as struck with sorrow and remorse. 



21 She was his only child ; Scribonia was her mother. She was first 

 married to her cousin Marcellus ; on his death to L. Vipsanius Agrippa, 

 and after his decease to Tiberius Nero, the son of Livia. Her profligacy 

 was universally known, and Augustus did not scruple to enlarge upon it 

 before the senate ; but Pliny is the only writer who states that she con- 

 templated an attempt on the life of his father ; though Suetonius says 

 that she became, at a late period of her reign, an object of interest to those 

 who were disaffected. Julia was first banished to Pandataria, off the coast 

 of Campania, and then to Rhegium, which she was never allowed to leave. 

 Her death took place A.D. 14. 



22 Tiberius Nero, afterwards emperor. Pliny here alludes to his re- 

 tirement to Rhodes, where he remained seven years. Tacitus represents 

 that his chief reason for leaving Rome was to escape the society of his 

 wife Julia, who treated him with the utmost contempt, and whose licen- 

 tious life was not unknown to him. During this retreat he devoted him- 

 self to the study of astrology. He left Rome without the consent of Au- 

 gustus, who was equally unwilling to allow of his return. 



23 Julia, one of the daughters of Julia and Agrippa, and the wife of L. 



