eum adpropinquare supremis tali modo compertum. Erat medicus arte insignis, nomine Charicles, non quidem regere valetudines principis solitus, consilii tamen copiam praebere. Is velut propria ad negotia digrediens et per speciem officii manum complexus pulsum venarum attigit. Neque fefellit: nam Tiberius, incertum an offensus tantoque magis iram premens, instaurari epulas iubet discumbitque ultra solitum, quasi honori abeuntis amici tribueret. Charicles tamen labi spiritum nec ultra biduum duraturum Macroni firmavit. Inde cuncta conloquiis inter praesentes, nuntiis apud legatos et exercitus festinabantur. Septimum decimum kal. Aprilis interclusa anima creditus est mortalitatem explevisse ; et multo gratantum concursu ad capienda imperii primordia Caius Caesar egrediebatur, cum repente adfertur redire Tiberio vocem ac visus vocarique qui recreandae defectioni cibum adferrent. Pavor hinc in omnes, et ceteri passim dispergi, se quisque maestum aut nescium fingere; Caesar in silentium fixus a summa spe novissima expectabat. Macro intrepidus opprimi senem iniectu multae vestis iubet discedique ab limine. Sic Tiberius finivit, octavo et septuagesimo aetatis anno.

LI. Pater ei Nero et utrimque origo gentis Claudiae, quamquam mater in Liviam et mox Iuliam familiam adoptionibus transierit. Casus prima ab infantia ancipites; nam proscriptum patrem exul secutus, ubi domum Augusti privignus introiit, multis aemulis conflictatus est, dum Marcellus et Agrippa, mox Gaius Luciusque Caesares viguere; etiam frater eius Drusus prosperiore civium amore erat. Sed maxime in lubrico egit accepta in matrimonium

Iulia, inpudicitiam uxoris tolerans aut declinans. Dein Rhodo regressus vacuos principis penates duodecim annis, mox rei Romanae arbitrium tribus ferme et viginti obtinuit. Morum quoque tempora illi diversa egregium vita famaque, quoad privatus vel in imperiis sub Augusto fuit; occultum ac subdolum fingendis virtutibus, donec Germanicus ac Drusus superfuere; idem inter bona malaque mixtus incolumi matre; intestabilis saevitia, sed obtectis libidinibus, dum Seianum dilexit timuitve. Postremo in scelera simul ac dedecora prorupit, postquam remoto pudore et metu suo tantum ingenio utebatur.

NOTES.

CHAPTER I.

I. Cn. Domitius.] This Cn. Domitius (Ahenobarbus) was the father of the Emperor Nero by the younger Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus. He was himself great-nephew to Augustus.

2. Camillus Scribonianus.]

Scribonianus afterwards raised a revolt in Dalmatia against Claudius (Scriboniani contra Claudium incepta simul audita et coercita, Hist. 1. 89); a futile effort chiefly notable for the episode of Caecina Paetus and his wife Arria (Plin. Ep. III. 7).

3. Praelegebat.] 'Sailed along the shore.' The Emperor did not leave his ship except to visit spots close to his route. He sailed up the Tiber, his nearest approach to the city being to land at the gardens of Caesar (juxta Tiberim hortis). These were some distance from Rome. Horace, Sat. 1. 9. 18, Trans Tiberim longe cubat.'

4. Saxa.] The rocks of Capreae. See c. 21, Saxis domus imminet.

CHAPTER II.

1. Recens.] An anti-classical and post-Augustan word. An Augustan writer would have used nuper.

2. Livia.] She was the sister of Germanicus and had been the wife of Drusus, son of Tiberius, and was supposed to have been privy to the murder of her husband by Sejanus.

The account of her death came within one of the lost portions of the Annals. Dion Cassius says that the Emperor would have spared her life for her mother Antonia's sake, avrǹ dè ǹ ̓Αντωνία ἑκοῦσα λιμῷ τὴν θυγατέρα ἐξώλεσε.

3. Sententiae.] 'Proposals in the Senate.'

4. Bona Seiani......referret.] The aerarium was the treasury of the State, the fiscus the Emperor's private purse. Both were so absolutely in the power of the Emperor that it could not be said to matter if any fund was transferred from one to the other.

5. Scipiones &c.] Such men as the Scipios, &c.'

6. Per deridiculum.] 'By way of a farce.' Of course the feeling was not expressed. The absurdity of the proposal lay in the fact well known to every one that Tiberius would never again visit Rome.

7. Orabat.] He was for begging.'

8. Epistulae.] It is not clear whether this is a reference to the letter (the verbosa et grandis epistula of Juvenal, x. 71) in which Tiberius denounced Sejanus to the Senate, or to another despatched shortly before this occurrence, when the Emperor was about to make the journey described in c. I. Orelli seems to be right in preferring the latter.

9. Honoribus......e magistratibus.] 'Were they to be men who had held the highest offices, or aspirants to office; simple senators or magistrates?'

10. Verbis moderans.] 'restrained in his language.'

II. Abolitionem.] The proposal was not to be merely rejected; it was to be erased from the books; a distinct censure on its author.

12. Suadere.] The historical infinitive.

CHAPTER III.

1. Iunium Gallionem.] This was not the Gallio of Acts xviii. 12, but probably his father by adoption.

2. Quatuordecim ordinibus.] The fourteen benches of the Knights.' A centurio primipilaris became an eques when his term of service had expired. Gallio seems to have proposed the extension of the privilege to all time-expired privates of the force. These privates were of course of higher standing than the ordinary legionary.

3. Velut coram rogitans.] Using the oratio recta, which would be very unusual in a letter.

5. Prorsus.] 'in fact,' ironical.

6. Seiani.] Sejanus had unquestionably tampered with the Praetorians, hoping to seat himself on the throne by their aid. Hence this furious anger on the part of the Emperor against Gallio.

8. Incusabatur.] 'It was ill-naturedly said of him that, &c.

9. Toleraturus.] A use of the participle not unlike the Greek.

IO. Custoditur domibus magistratuum.] This was called libera custodia. Ulpian, quoted by Orelli, mentions four kinds of restraint. The prisoner was either (1) committed to prison, (2) handed over to a single soldier, (3) released on bail, or (4) put into the charge of the magistrates.

II. C. Caesari. Commonly known as Caligula, Tiberius' successor, the third son of Germanicus. He and his elder brother Drusus were (see c. 23) now the sole male descendants of Augustus.

12. Decernebatur.] was being decreed against [and would have been],' a not unfrequent use of the imperfect.

13. Indicium professus.] Volunteered a disclosure,' as we say 'turned Queen's evidence.'

CHAPTER IV.

1. Ut rettuli.] (IV. 68-71.) Titius Sabinus was one of the victims of Sejanus, and is described as having fallen a sacrifice to his loyalty to the memory of Germanicus.

2. Primus luendae poenae.] The first to pay the penalty.'

3. Consules prioris anni.] These were L. Fulcinius Trio and P. Memmius Regulus. There is a brief mention of this quarrel in the chapter with which the fragment of the fifth book breaks off. It arose out of the matter of Sejanus.