Chap. 46.] 
THE MISFORTUNES OF AUGUSTUS. 
197 
respecting the intentions of Marcellus ; the disgraceful hanisli- 
ment, as it were, of Agrippa;^^ the many plots against liis 
life;^^ the deaths of his own children/^ of which he was 
accused, and his heavy sorrows, caused not merely by their 
loss the adultery^^ of his daughter, and the discovery of her 
parricidal designs; the insulting retreat of his son-in-law, 
!N"ero f'^ another adultery, that of his grand-daughter ; to 
^6 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 Eoman people, and it is not improbable that Augustus may 
have become suspicious or jealous of him ; his decease took place in his 
twentieth year. 
^"^ To Mitylene. This refers to the jealousy between Marcellus and his 
brother-in-law, M. Yipsanius 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 Eome, but stopped at Mitylene, and left the government of 
Syria to his legatus. Upon the death of Marcellus, Agrippa returned to 
Home. 
1^ Dion Cassius mentions three conspiracies, the first by Fabius Csepio 
and Mursena, a second, of which he does 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 whicli 
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. 
~i 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 Ehodes, 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. 
