Drusus ; and with her assistance poisoned her husband. The
sons of Germanicus, with the exception of Caius, who was
yet a child, were likewise despatched in a cruel manner. The
influence of Sejanus over Tiberius increased every day, and he
contrived to inspire his imperial friend with sufficient con-
fidence to go to the island of Capreae. While Tiberius was
there indulging in his lusts, Seianus remained at Rome and
governed as his vicegerent. The city saw the emperor only
from time to time. Prosecutions were now instituted against
all persons of any consequence at Rome; the time when
Tiberius left the capital is the beginning of the fearful annals
of his reign, for which he deserves to be held up to mankind
as the very pattern of a tyrant. The lists of persons con-
demned to death contained all men of any importance, though
all were not equally respectable. Much of the iniquity now
perpetrated must be ascribed to Tiberius himself, but much
also to Sejanus: the banishment of Agrippina was his work,
but her last tortures and death belong to the period subsequent
to the fall of Sejanus. IIis tyrannical proceedings continued
for a number of years, until at length he himself incurred the
suspicion of Tiberius, and that not without good reasons: for
there can be no doubt that Sejanus, to say the least, was only
waiting for the death of his master, in order to raise himself
to the throne with the help of the praetorians. Tiberius
had conferred upon him such extraordinary favours and dis-
tinctions, that the same homage was paid to him as to the
emperor himself.

But 'it now happened that a man still more abject than
Sejanus found his way to the heart of Tiberius. Virtue and
intellect could not have shaken Sejanus, but a man worse even
than he, succeeded; this was Macro, who had none of the
great qualities of Scjanus, but only analogous vices: he it was
who brought about the downfall of Sejanus. Tiberius pre-
tended to apprehend a conspiracy, in consequence of which
he wished to return to Rome. He arrived, however, only in
the neighbourhood of the city, convoked a meeting of the
senate, and gave orders to arrest Sejanus. The plan was
arranged with great cunning. The letter in which he sent
this command to the senate was a verbosa et grandis epistola;
while hearing it read the senators were prepared for something
extraordinary, there being in it some hits at Sejanus. It con-

eluded with the command to arrest him. Macro had been made
praefectus vigilum, who were the gens-d’armes of the city, and
had surrounded the senate-house with his troops. Sejanus was
seized; and the senators, who had that same morning cringed
before him, now rose, loudly declaring him guilty of the
crimen majestatis, and insisted upon his immediate execution,
fearing lest his praetorian cohorts should hear of what was
going on. He Wasimmediately strangled, and no one thought of
avenging him. Tiberius’ thirst for blood now satiated itself
in the persecution of the followers and friends of Sejanus;
but others too were persecuted. The butchery at Kome even
increased; and those who had formerly been persecuted for
being honest men were less safe after the fall of Sejanus than
before. Macro ruled just as tyrannically, exercised the same in-
fluence over the disgusting old man, and was just as faithless to
him as his predecessor had been. Caius Caesar, the son of Ger-
manicus, commonly known by the name of Caligula, formed
with Macro a connexion of the basest kind, and promised him
the high post of praefectus praetorio, if he would assist him in
getting rid of the aged monarch. Tiberius was at the time
severely ill at a villa near cape Misenum. He fell into a state
of lethargy, and everybody believed him to be dead. He came
to life again however; on which he was suffocated, or at least
his death was accelerated in some way, for our accounts differ
on this point. Thus Tiberius died in the twenty-third year
of his reign, A.D. 37, at the age of 78.

LECTURE CXIIL

Germanicus and Agrippina had left behind them six children,
three sons and three daughters. Two of their sons, had been
murdered in the reign of Tiberius ; Caius, the youngest, who is
known by his surname, Caligula, was the only survivor. He
was not born at Treves or anywhere in our neighbourhood;
Suetonius has satisfactorily proved from public documents that
he was born at Antium¹; but he was sent into the camp of his

¹ Sueton. Calig. 8.

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