A Smaller History of Rome Part 22

In his domestic life Augustus was singularly unfortunate. Livia, his wife, for whom he entertained a sincere affection, was a person of strong intellect and various accomplishments; but she was descended from the Claudian family, and inherited all the pride, ambition, and love of political intrigue which marked the descendants of Appius Claudius. She was also married to a Claudius, and thus her two sons by her first husband, Tiberius and Drusus, were even more than herself Claudians. On them all Livia's affections were fixed; to secure their aggrandizement she hesitated at no effort and no crime; and when Drusus died, her son Tiberius, who resembled his mother in disposition, became the chief object of her regard. Her husband and his family wore looked upon with jealousy and dislike, and the darkest suspicions were aroused at Rome by the death, one by one, of every person who stood between Tiberius and the throne.

Livia had no child by her second marriage, and the only heir of Augustus was Julia, the daughter of his former wife, Scribonia. Julia was beautiful, intelligent, and highly educated; and Augustus, who was strongly attached to his own family, looked upon his daughter with singular affection and pride. He hoped to see her grow up pure, wise, and discreet--a new Lucretia, the representative of the ideal Roman matron; and he early accustomed Julia to practice moderation in dress, to spend hours at the spinning-wheel, and to look upon herself as destined to become the model and example of Roman women.

Julia was first married to her cousin Marcellus, the son of Octavia, a young man of excellent character, whom Augustus adopted, and probably destined as his successor; but, in B.C. 23, Marcellus died, amid the sincere grief of all the Romans. Marcellus has been made immortal by a few touching lines of Virgil.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Gold coin of Agrippa, with head of Augustus.]

Not long after, Augustus married Julia to his friend Agrippa, and they had five children--three sons, Caius, Lucius, and Agrippa Postumus, the latter being born after the death of his father, and two daughters, Julia and Agrippina. These children were now the hope of the people and the emperor, and objects of jealousy and dislike to Livia and Tiberius.

In B.C. 12 Agrippa died. Augustus then prevailed upon Tiberius to divorce his own wife, to whom he was sincerely attached, in order to marry Julia. Their union was an unhappy one, and, after living together for about a year, they separated forever.

The conduct of Julia, in fact, had long been marked by gross immoralities, and Augustus alone was unconscious of her unworthiness. He refused to believe that his daughter, whom he had destined to become an example of purity, had so deceived and dishonored him. At length, however, he became convinced of her guilt, and banished her (B.C. 2) to the island Pandataria (Santa Maria), off the coast of Campania, where she was treated with just severity. Her daughter Julia, who had shared in her excesses, was also sent into exile.

Meanwhile Caius and Lucius Caesar both died suddenly. Caius was sent to the East in B.C. 1, to improve himself in military affairs, and there died, A.D. 3, from the effects of a wound given him by an a.s.sa.s.sin.

Lucius, the younger, having gone on a mission to Spain in A.D. 2, fell sick and died at Ma.s.silia. About this time Tiberius had been recalled from Rhodes and intrusted with the chief care of public affairs. It was believed at Rome that Livia and her son had removed the two Caesars by poison and a.s.sa.s.sination.

All happiness must now have fled from the breast of the emperor. He still, however, attended carefully to the duties of his station. In A.D.

4 he adopted Tiberius, together with Agrippa Postumus; Tiberius was obliged at the same time to adopt Germanicus, the eldest son of his brother Drusus. In A.D. 7 Augustus was induced to banish Agrippa Postumus, who proved unworthy of his favor, to the island of Planasia, and this act was ratified by a decree of the Senate; it was thought, however, that Livia was again the cause of this unnatural act. In A.D. 8 the poet Ovid was banished for some unknown crime.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Medal of Agrippina, showing the Carpentum, or chariot, in which the Roman ladies were accustomed to ride.]

It was in the year 5 or 7 B.C., for the true date is unknown, that Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, was born at Bethlehem, in Judea.

In A.D. 14, Augustus, aided by Tiberius, took a census--the third during his reign. His health, which had always been delicate, now rapidly declined. He had long borne with patience the infirmities of old age, and he now retired to Nola, where he died, August 19, A.D. 14, in the same room where his father had died before him. It is said that as he was dying he exclaimed to those around him, "Have I not acted my part well? It is time for the applause."

He was seventy-six years old. His subjects lamented his death with sincere grief, since they had felt the happy effects of his care. His funeral rites were performed in great solemnity; his body was burned on the Campus Martius, and his ashes were placed in the splendid mausoleum which he had built for himself and his family. The Senate ordered him to be numbered among the G.o.ds of Rome.

In appearance Augustus was of middle stature, his features regular, and his eyes of uncommon brilliancy. He was a tolerable writer, and capable of distinguishing literary merit; his chosen friends were all men of letters; and his fame with posterity rests, in a great degree, upon that circle of poets, historians, and eminent scholars by whom he was surrounded. The Augustan Age, indeed, forms one of the most remarkable periods in the history of the human intellect.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Medal of Augustus, showing the myrtle crown, or Corona ovalis.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Medal of Nero, showing an Organ and a sprig of Laurel, probably designed as a prize medal for a musician.]

CHAPTER XL.

FROM THE ACCESSION OF TIBERIUS, A.D. 14-37, TO DOMITIAN, A.D. 96.

A feeling resembling loyalty had grown up at Rome toward the family of Augustus, and no one ventured to dispute the claim of Tiberius to the throne. Livia, however, who had attended the death-bed of the emperor, concealed his death until her son arrived, and then proclaimed, at the same moment, the death of Augustus and the accession of his successor.

The first event of the new reign was the a.s.sa.s.sination of Agrippa Postumus, grandson of Augustus, and, according to the modern rule of descent, the proper heir to the throne. The guilt of this act was shared between Tiberius and his mother, who were also accused of having hastened the death of Augustus.

Tiberius summoned the Senate to a.s.semble, announced the death of the emperor, and pretended a wish to be relieved from the cares of empire; the Senate, however, refused to accept his feigned resignation, and he yielded to their wishes. This body now became the chief source of legislation. Tiberius took away from the people the power of making laws and of electing magistrates. The _senatus consulta_, or decrees of the Senate, were made the source of law, without any authority from the Comitia. The Senate selected the Consuls from four candidates presented to them by the emperor, and thus the last trace of the popular power pa.s.sed away.

Meanwhile two mutinies occurred among the soldiers, which seemed at first to threaten a change in the government. The legions of Pannonia, complaining of long service and indifferent pay, rose against their commander Blaesus, but were induced to return to their duty by Drusus, the son of Tiberius. A more important insurrection broke out among the legions of the Rhine, who sought to prevail upon Germanicus, the son of Drusus, to accept the imperial crown. Germanicus, however, who was adorned with many n.o.ble qualities, refused to yield either to their entreaties or their threats. Agrippina, his wife, with the infant Caius, joined Germanicus in imploring the soldiers not to forget their duty; and they at length relented, and even gave up their leaders.

Germanicus had now deserved the hatred of the jealous and treacherous Tiberius. He was beloved by the people and the army, was frank, generous, and brave; he had married Agrippina, the daughter of Julia and Agrippa, and was the adopted son of the emperor himself. His mind had been highly cultivated, and he excelled in all elegant exercises. He seems, in fact, to have been one of the n.o.blest of the Romans.

In A.D. 14 he led an army across the Rhine, but the next year planned a more important expedition, in which he defeated the Germans under Arminius, and buried the remains of the army of the unfortunate Varus under an earthen mound. His third campaign was still more successful. In A.D. 16 he gained an important battle in the valley of the Weser, and recovered the last of the eagles lost by Varus.

Tiberius, jealous of his fame, now recalled him, and resolved that the limits of the empire should not be enlarged. In A.D. 17 Germanicus triumphed, surrounded in his chariot by his five sons. The same year he was sent to the East to settle the affairs of the Eastern provinces.

Meanwhile a war broke out in Germany between Arminius and Marboduus.

Drusus was sent thither to contrive the destruction of both leaders, which he seems to have effected, since Marboduus was driven to seek protection from the Romans, while the brave Arminius was soon after slain by the hands of his fellow-Germans.

Germanicus, in A.D. 18, visited Athens, sailed up the Nile the same year, and then, having returned to Syria, died of poison administered to him by Cn. Piso, a friend of the Empress Livia. His death excited great grief at Rome, where he was buried with solemnity in A.D. 20. Piso, meanwhile, being tried before the Senate, and finding himself about to be condemned, sought a voluntary death.

Tiberius was cold and unpopular in his manners, awkward and even timid in his carriage, but a master of dissimulation. The only person of whom he stood in awe was his mother Livia; but he lived in constant fear of insurrection. The Lex Majestas, which he enlarged and enforced with unusual severity, was now the source of great evil to his country. This law defined treason against the emperor. Tiberius made it include words as well as acts, and thus he who spoke lightly of the emperor's person or authority might be punished with death.

From this law grew up the Delatores, or informers, persons who made it their chief occupation to denounce those who were obnoxious to the emperor. The informers soon grew numerous: some of them were persons of high rank, who sought to display their eloquence, and to win the favor of the emperor, by denouncing his opponents in envenomed rhetoric, while others were common spies. No man's life was safe at Rome from this moment, and the purest and wisest citizens were exposed to the attacks of an infinite number of delators. Tiberius encouraged the informers.

aelius Saturninus was flung from the Tarpeian Rock for a libel upon the emperor. Sila.n.u.s was banished for "disparaging the majesty of Tiberius."

Tiberius, who professed to imitate the policy of Augustus in every particular, seems to have governed with firmness and ability. He improved the condition of the provinces, restrained the avarice of the provincial governors, maintained good order in the capital, and strove to check the growth of luxury; but the morals of the capital were now hopelessly depraved, and the vice and corruption of the whole world flowed into the streets of Rome.

aelius Seja.n.u.s, the Praefect of the Praetorians, had long been the friend and chief adviser of the emperor. He was cruel, unscrupulous, and ambitious--the proper instrument of a tyrant. In A.D. 21 an insurrection broke out in Gaul, which was scarcely subdued when the Germans rose against the Romans. The Gauls, too, led by Sacrovir, a Druid, who exercised a superst.i.tious influence over his countrymen, once more rebelled. Drusus, who had been made Consul with his father, was sent against them, and reduced them to subjection. The Druid Sacrovir burned himself in a house to which he had fled. In A.D. 22 Drusus received the tribunitian power. He was the only son of Tiberius, and was married to Livia, or Livilla, as she was sometimes called.

Seja.n.u.s had now conceived a design which led him to resolve upon the destruction of all the imperial family, since he himself began to aspire to the throne; and the elevation of Drusus filled him with disgust. In A.D. 23 he prevailed upon Tiberius to remove all the Praetorian Guards, about nine or ten thousand in number, to a camp near the city. He appointed their officers, won the soldiers with bribes and flatteries, and thus believed he had gained a sure support.

Drusus stood in his path, and he resolved to destroy him. He won the affections of Livilla, and prevailed upon her to poison her husband. The unhappy prince died in 23. Tiberius received the news of his son's death with a composure almost incredible. He told the Senate, who put on mourning robes, that he had given himself to his country. A splendid funeral procession was prepared for Drusus, in which the statues of Attus Clausus, the Sabine chief, the founder of the Claudian Gens, and of aeneas, and the Alban kings, were carried side by side, thus recalling the memories of the early regal dynasty, as well as of the severe founders of the Republic.

Agrippina, the widow of Germanicus, together with her numerous family, next aroused the hostility of Seja.n.u.s, and he resolved upon their destruction. In A.D. 25 he proposed for the hand of Livilla, but Tiberius refused to sanction the connection. In A.D. 26 eleven cities contended for the privilege of making Tiberius their tutelar deity, but he declined this honor. Soon after, the emperor, as if anxious to escape from the sarcasms and the scandal of Rome, retired from the city, accompanied by a single Senator, Cocceius Nerva, and at length, in A.D.

27, hid himself in the island of Capreae, on the coast of Campania. Here he built twelve villas in different parts of the island, and lived with a few companions, shut out from mankind. No one was allowed to land upon the sh.o.r.es of Capreae, and even fishermen who broke this rule through ignorance were severely punished. Every day, however, dispatches were brought from the continent, and he still continued to direct the affairs of his vast empire.

Seja.n.u.s was left to govern Rome, but frequently visited the Emperor at his island. In A.D. 29, Livia, the widow of Augustus, died, at the age of eighty-six years, having retained her powerful intellect and her love of political intrigue to the close of her life. It is said that her private charities were great, and that she remained faithful to the memory of her imperial husband. The family of Germanicus, meanwhile, were crushed by the arts of Seja.n.u.s. In A.D. 29 Tiberius directed the Senate to banish Agrippina and her son Nero, and they were confined separately upon two barren islands. Drusus, the second son, was soon after imprisoned; while Caius, the youngest, by his flatteries and caresses, preserved the favor of Tiberius, and was admitted into Capreae.

The emperor now began to doubt the fidelity of his chosen friend Seja.n.u.s, although their statues had been placed together in the Temple of Friendship on the island; and he sent a letter to the Senate in which he denounced him as a traitor. Such was the end of a guilty friendship.

Seja.n.u.s was flung into the Mamertine Prison, and there strangled. The people threw his body into the Tiber, A.D. 31. Great numbers of his friends or relatives perished with him, and a general ma.s.sacre filled Rome with terror. He was succeeded in his power by Sertorius Macro, who had aided in his destruction.

Tiberius, meanwhile, seems to have become a raging madman. He put to death his niece Agrippina, with her two children, and ruled over the Senate with pitiless cruelty. His companion, Cocceius Nerva, filled with melancholy at the misfortunes of his country, resolved upon suicide; nor could all the entreaties or commands of Tiberius prevail upon him to live. In A.D. 35 Tiberius made his will, dividing his estate between Caius, the youngest son of Germanicus, and Tiberius Gemellus, the son of the second Drusus. Macro, probably fearing the fate of Seja.n.u.s, had formed a close intimacy with Caius, and they now planned the death of the emperor, whose feeble health, however, since he was near seventy-seven years of age, promised Rome a speedy deliverance. Tiberius died March 16, A.D. 37, Macro, it is said, having smothered him with a pillow.

If we may trust the account of the Jew Philo, he left the empire in a prosperous condition. His cruelty, in fact, seems to have been exercised upon the great and the rich, while the people lived in security. His administration may be said to have been a fortunate one. His character and his crimes disgrace human nature.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Reverses of Roman bra.s.s Coins, showing Galleys.]

REIGN OF CAIUS CALIGULA, A.D. 37-41.--Caius Caesar, known as Caligula, was the son of Germanicus and Agrippina, and men fondly hoped that he had inherited the virtues of his father, whom he resembled in his personal appearance. The soldiers proclaimed him emperor, and the Senate and the people acknowledged him with unfeigned joy. He was now twenty-five years of age, and his first acts were generous and humane.

He recalled many exiles, abolished various taxes, and gratified the people with spectacles and gifts. He also buried the remains of his mother and brother, who had died in exile, with decent solemnity.

But, having been seized with a severe illness after he had reigned eight months, upon his recovery his mind seemed to have been fatally injured.

He abandoned himself to cruelty and l.u.s.t; he surpa.s.sed the vices of Tiberius; and at length, declaring himself to be a G.o.d, would often go through the streets of Rome dressed as Bacchus, Venus, or Apollo: he compelled the people to worship him, and made the wealthiest citizens his priests. He even conferred the consulship on his favorite horse.

His boundless wastefulness soon consumed the public treasures, and he was forced to resort to every kind of extortion to obtain money. Having exhausted Rome and Italy, in A.D. 39 he led a large army across the Alps for the purpose of plundering Gaul, where the richest citizens were put to death and their property confiscated. He was a.s.sa.s.sinated in his palace January 24, A.D. 41.

REIGN OF TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS DRUSUS NERO, A.D. 41-54.--The Emperor Claudius was the son of Drusus and Antonia, and the brother of Germanicus. He was fifty-one years old when, after the murder of Caligula, the Praetorian Guard raised him to the throne. His health had always been delicate, his mind feeble, and he had never taken any part in public affairs. His first acts were popular and mild, but, having fallen under the control of his wife Messalina, who was a monster of wickedness, he put to death many of the best of the Romans. When, however, Messalina ventured to marry C. Silius, a young Roman knight, Claudius directed her execution. He then married his niece Agrippina, who prevailed upon him to set aside his son Britannicus, and to adopt her own son Nero, who was now destined for the throne. Nero was educated by the philosopher Seneca, together with Burrus Afranius, praefect of the Praetorians. Claudius, however, becoming suspicious of the designs of his wife, she resolved upon his death. Locusta, a noted poisoner, was hired to prepare a dish of poisoned mushrooms, of which Claudius ate: but the poison not proving fatal, the physician Xenophon forced a larger quant.i.ty into his throat, and he died October 13, A.D. 54.

Claudius was fond of letters, and wrote memoirs of his own time and histories in Greek of Etruria and of Carthage. He also made various useful laws, and carried out several public works of importance. He completed the Claudian aqueduct, begun by Caligula, and built a fort and light-house at Ostia, and a tunnel from Lake Lucinus to the River Liris.

_Colonia Agrippina_ (Cologne) was raised by his orders to the most important military station in Lower Germany.

In A.D. 43 a Roman army invaded Britain. Claudius himself entered that country soon after, and returned to Rome to triumph. But Vespasian, afterward emperor, together with his son t.i.tus, overran Britain, defeated Caractacus, the brave British chieftain, and sent him and his family prisoners to Rome. Claudius, pleased with his manly conduct, gave him his liberty.