264 The Empire. R 0 
duty, Germanicus erected a bridge over the Rhine, and 
marched across with 12,000 legionaries, 26 cohorts of allies,’ 
and about 2400 cavalry. There he fell in with the Marsi, 
and surprising them in the midst of a festivity and debauch, 
he slaughtered the whole army, and laid waste the country 
for filty miles round with fire and sword. He next entered 
the country of the Cotti, and having, after some resistance, 
burnt their villages and towns, he destroyed their capital and 
returned to the Rhine. 
Germanicus was now called to oppose the army of 
Arminius, who had cut to pieces the Romans under Varus. 
Having marched against them while besieging Segestes, an 
ally of the Romans; he routed their forces, and took many 
prisoners, among whom was Thusneldis, the wife of Arminius, 
whom he had carried off against the will of her father 
Segestes. Enraged at the loss of one to whom he was deeply 
attached, Arminius arrayed all the neighbouring kingdoms 
against the Romans. In this war various battles were fought, 
in which both parties were successful by turns. But the 
Romans had gained so few advantages, that they retired into 
winter quarters. 
In his next expedition, for which he had made vast pre¬ 
parations, Germanicus was more successful. He marched 
against Arminius, who was encamped on the opposite bank 
of the Weser; and who had resolved to dispute the passage 
of the river. Cariovalda, the leader of the Batavian auxiliaries, 
crossed the river, and was slain in an ambuscade, which had 
been laid for him by the enemy. Stertinius and iEmilius, 
having hastened to the assistance of the Batavians, Germani¬ 
cus in the mean time passed the river, and defeated the Ger¬ 
mans with such slaughter, that the country for ten miles 
round was covered with arms and with dead bodies. After 
another victory, Germanicus put an end to the campaign. 
He sent some of his legions into winter quarters by land, while 
he embarked with the rest in order to return by sea ; but a 
violent storm arising, his fleet, of a thousand vessels, was 
dispersed in all directions. Some of them were swallowed up 
in - the ocean, others were dashed against the rocks, while' 
many were driven to distant and barren shores, where the 
men either died of hunger, or protracted a miserable existence, 
by feeding on- the flesh of the dead horses which had been 
thrown overboard, to lighten the sinking vessels. Many of 
the troops, however, were saved, and a considerable number 
of the ships recovered ; those who had been driven on the 
coast of Britain having , been generously sent back. After 
several other successful expeditions against the Germans, 
Germanicus was recalled by Tiberius. He was afterwards 
appointed along with Piso to the government of Syria, but 
he died of poison, which was supposed to have been ad¬ 
ministered to him by his colleague. Tiberius punished Piso 
with death, but it is .said that the act for which it was in¬ 
flicted relieved him from a rival whom he feared. 
Tiberius now threw off the mask which the dread of 
Germanicus seems to have compelled him to wear. He 
diminished the authority of the senate, as well as the liberties 
of the people. He assumed to himself 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 iuto the 
confidence of Tiberius. He made him captain of the- 
praetorian guards; and no sooner did Sejanus find himself 
m this situation of power and influence than he began to 
aspire to the sovereignty. After debauching Livia, Drusus’s 
wife, he prevailed upon her to remove her husband by slow 
poison. Finding it difficult to make any attempt on the 
children of Germanicus, both from the chastity of their 
mother, and the fidelity of their governors, he conceived the 
deep plan of removing Tiberius from the city, by w hich he 
might have more frequent opportunities of carrying on his 
designs. Tiberius’s love of indolence and licentiousness of 
every kind led him to prefer a country life, remote from 
business and from observation. Sejanus artfully represented 
to him the dangers and troubles which might arise from the 
seditious temper oi the Roman populace; and havingalready 
experienced the fatigues of attending the senate, the • emperor 
M E, The Empire.,. 
retired into Campania, under the pretence of dedicating 
temples to Jupiter and Auglistus. He varied his-residence 
from one place to another; but he dwelt principally in the 
island of Caprasa, on the coast ofj Campania, where he buried 
himself in the most unlawful and infamous pleasures. To. 
his other vices he added those of gluttony and drunkenness; 
and the power of drinking off five bottles of wine at a sitting, 
was deemed a qualification for thepraetorship. As he became 
more adandoned, he became more cruel and suspicious. 
Spies and informers were placed in every society ; and this 
machinery was skilfully directed to his own purposes by 
Sejanus, who wrought upon the emperor’s fears. The sons 
of Germanicus alone stood in the way of Sejarms’s ambition. 
He contrived to render them obnoxious to the emperor by 
stories of their ambition ; while he frightened 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 unexampled. He enjoyed the entire confidence 
of Tiberius, and possessed omnipotent power over the senate. 1 
Statues 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 eleva¬ 
tion 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 honours, 
and made him his colleague in the consulship; and while he 
commanded the senate to put him in prison, he ordered 
soldiers to guard him, and prepared ships to favour his 
escape. The senate, however, went beyond 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 ac¬ 
complices of St janus, and he ordered all the accused- to be 
put to death without examination. Out.of twenty senators- 
whom he elected as his council. Ire 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 all 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 di-tressed-at these encroachments upon his power;' 
he named Caligula his successor, and retired to Misenum,- 
where he one day fell into a succession of fainting fits, which 
all around him believed would prove fatal. His favourite’ 
Macro, looking for new honours, advised Caligula to secure • 
the succession. The court congratulated Caligula, the 
preetorian soldiers acknowledged him, and the multitude had 
added their applause, when the unexpected recovery of- 
Tiberius struck terror and alarm into all patties. Sorrow for ■ 
the dying emperor again sat on every countenance. Caligula, 
expected to exchange an empire for a grave; when 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, A. D. 37. 
In the 18th year of the reign of Tiberius, our Saviour 
suffered.crucifixion under Pontius Pilate, the Roman gover¬ 
nor of Jerusalem, who is said to have sent to Tiberius an ac- - 
count 
