410 



ROMAN EMPIRE. 



Roman 



Empire. 



A. D. 20. 



Sejanus 

 aims at the 



administered to him by his colleague. As the army of 

 Germanicus had offered to raise him to the empire, an 

 honour which he had the virtue to decline, Tiberius 

 had always viewed him with a jealous eye ; and though 

 he punished Piso with death, he yet felt that the act 

 for which it was inflicted had relieved him from a rival 

 whom he feared. 



Tiberius therefore threw off the mask which the 

 dread of Germanicus seems to have compelled him to 

 weax-. He diminished the authority of the senate, as 

 well as the liberties of the people. He assumed to him- 

 self even the right of interpreting and of enforcing the 

 laws. In this state of affairs, Sejanus, by birth a 

 Volscian, but possessed of the rank of a Roman knight, 

 had insinuated himself into the confidence of Tiberius. 

 He made him captain of the Praetorian guards ; and no 

 sooner did Sejanus find himself in this situation of power 



A. D. 87. 



sovereignty, and influence than he began to aspire to the sovereignty. 

 After debauching Livia, Drusus's wife, he prevailed up- 

 on her to remove her husband by slow poison. Finding 

 it difficult to make any attempt on the children of Germa- 

 nicus, both from the chastity of their mother and the fide- 

 lity of their governors, he conceived the deep plan of 

 removing Tiberius from the city, by which he might 

 have more frequent opportunities of carrying on his 

 designs. Tiberius's love of indolence and licentious- 

 ness of every kind led him to prefer a country life, re- 

 mote from business and from observation. Sejanus art- 

 fully represented to him the dangers and troubles which 

 might arise from the seditious temper of the Roman po- 

 pulace ; and having already experienced the fatigues of 

 attending the senate, the emperor retired into Cam- 

 pania, under the pretence of dedicating temples to Ju- 

 piter and Augustus. He varied his residence from one 

 place to another; but he dwelt principally in the island 

 of Caprsea, on the coast of Campania, where he buried 

 himself in the most unlawful and infamous pleasures. 

 In the sixty-seventh year of his age, this bloated volup. 

 tuary, covered with ulcers, bent down and reduced to 

 a shadow by dissipation, collected around him the dregs 

 and outcasts of society, who could minister to his bru- 

 tal appetites. To his other vices he added those of 

 gluttony and drunkenness ; and the power of drinking 

 off five bottles of wine at a draught was deemed a qua- 

 lification for the pi-Eetorship. As he became more aban- 

 doned, he became more cruel and suspicious. Spies and 

 informers were placed in every society; and this machine- 

 ry was skilfully directed to his own purposes by Seja- 

 nus, who wrought upon the emperor's fears. The sons of 

 Germanicus alone stood in the way of Sejanus's ambi- 

 tion. He contrived to render them obnoxious to the 

 emperor by stories of their ambition ; while he fright- 

 ened them in return by reports of cruelties which were 

 intended against them. He succeeded at last in getting 

 the two princes, Nero and Drusus, declared enemies to 

 the state, and afterwards starved to death in a prison. 

 From that hour the rise of this favourite was unexam- 

 pled. He enjoyed the entire confidence of Tiberius, 

 and possessed omnipotent power over the senate. Sta- 

 tues without number were erected to him, crowds of 

 idolaters offered incense at his shrine ; and never was 

 there a despot with more absolute authority, or more 

 the object of dread, than Sejanus. The rapidity of his 

 rise, and the elevation to which he had attained, seem 

 to have been designed as a contrast to the precipitancy 

 of his degradation, and the depth of his fall. He was 

 at once accused of treason by Satrius Secundus, and 

 the accusation was seconded by Antonia, the mother of 

 Germanicus. Tiberius was satisfied of its truth; but, 



destitute of courage, he still pretended to entertain for 

 him his usual respect. He even granted him new ho- 

 nours, and made him his colleague in the consulship ; 

 and while he commanded the senate to put him in pri- 

 son, he ordered soldiers to.guard him, and prepared ships 

 to favour his escape. The senate, however, went be- 

 yond their orders, and consigned him to execution. 

 He was now deserted by all. The people loaded him 

 with insults and execrations, and after his execution, 

 his body was dragged through the streets, and his 

 whole family put to death. 



This event seems to have roused in Tiberius a passion 

 for executions. He filled the prisons with the supposed 

 accomplices of Sejanus, and he ordered all the accused to 

 be put to death without examination. Out of twenty se- 

 nators whom he elected as his council, he put to death 

 sixteen ; and he at last seems to have inflicted tortures 

 and even death for his own amusement. While the 

 tyrant was thus glutting himself with Roman blood, 

 and feasting his eyes on the torments and agonies of 

 his victims, the provinces of his empire were left under 

 the protection of avaricious lieutenants, who were 

 more intent upon the accumulation of wealth than 

 anxious for the safety of the state. The barbarians 

 harassed the provinces on al! sides. The Dacians and 

 Sarmatians seized upon Moesia; the Germans desolated 

 Gaul ; and Armenia fell under the dominion of the 

 King of Parthia. Though sunk in vice and pleasures, 

 the monster yet seems to have been distressed at these 

 encroachments upon his power ; and it is said, that in 

 one of these fits of distraction he was heard to wish, 

 that heaven and earth might perish when he died. 

 Forsaken by his appetites, insensible to the stimulants 

 even of the worst vices, and debilitated by their too 

 frequent applications, Tiberius felt that his dissolution 

 was approaching ; and he is said to have named Cali- 

 gula his successor, in the hope that the enormity of his 

 crimes might blot out the recollection of his own. 

 This detestable motive, which human nature shudders 

 in recording, has perhaps been invented by his ene- 

 mies ; but, on the other hand, history has informed us, 

 that Tiberius was heard to avow, that Caligula possess- 

 ed all the vices of Sylla without his virtues ; that he 

 was a serpent that would sting the empire, and a Phae- 

 ton that would set the world in flames. 



Though Tiberius thus made some preparation for 

 his departure from the world, he yet strove to conceal 

 the symptoms of its rapid approach. He sought in a 

 change of place to keep down the feelings which ha- 

 rassed him. Having at last settled at the promontory 

 of Misenum, his infirmities increased, and he one 

 day fell into a succession of fainting fits which all a- 

 round him believed would prove fatal. His favourite 

 Macro, looking for new honours, advised Caligula to se- 

 cure the succession. The court congratulated Cali- 

 gula, the Praetorian soldiers acknowledged him, and 

 the multitude had added their applause, when the un- 

 expected recovery of Tiberius struck terror and alarm 

 into all parties. Sorrow for the dying emperor again 

 sat on every countenance. Caligula, as if moonstruck, 

 expected to exchange an empire for a grave ; wheu 

 Macro again converted his mourning into joy by 

 smothering the dying emperor with pillows, or, as 

 others say, by cutting him off with poison. Thus was 

 terminated the base career of Tiberius, in the 78th 

 year of his age, and the 22d of his reign. 



During the latter days of Tiberius, the vices which 

 degraded the sovereign, extended their pollutions over 

 all classes of the population. Pleasures which were 



Roma* 

 Empire. 



Execution 

 of Sejanus, 

 A. D. 31. 



Cruelties of 

 Tiberias. 



Murder o{ 

 Tiberius. 

 A. D. 37. 



