No More Learning

To this
grove another sort of reverence is also paid. No one enters it otherwise
than bound with ligatures, thence professing his subordination and
meanness, and power of the Deity there. If he fall down, he is not
permitted to rise or be raised, but grovels along upon the ground. And
of all their superstition, this is the drift and tendency; that from
this place the nation drew their original, that here God, the supreme
Governor of the world, resides, and that all things else whatsoever
are subject to him and bound to obey him. The potent condition of the
Semnones has increased their influence and authority, as they inhabit an
hundred towns; and from the largeness of their community it comes, that
they hold themselves for the head of the Suevians.

What on the contrary ennobles the Langobards is the smallness of their
number, for that they, who are surrounded with very many and very
powerful nations, derive their security from no obsequiousness or
plying; but from the dint of battle and adventurous deeds. There follow
in order the Reudignians, and Aviones, and Angles, and Varinians, and
Eudoses, and Suardones and Nuithones; all defended by rivers or forests.
Nor in one of these nations does aught remarkable occur, only that they
universally join in the worship of _Herthum_; that is to say, the Mother
Earth. Her they believe to interpose in the affairs of men, and to visit
countries. In an island of the ocean stands the wood _Castum_: in it
is a chariot dedicated to the Goddess covered over with a curtain, and
permitted to be touched by none but the Priest. Whenever the Goddess
enters this her holy vehicle, he perceives her; and with profound
veneration attends the motion of the chariot, which is always drawn by
yoked cows. Then it is that days of rejoicing always ensue, and in all
places whatsoever which she descends to honour with a visit and her
company, feasts and recreation abound. They go not to war; they touch
no arms; fast laid up is every hostile weapon; peace and repose are
then only known, then only beloved, till to the temple the same priest
reconducts the Goddess when well tired with the conversation of mortal
beings. Anon the chariot is washed and purified in a secret lake, as
also the curtain; nay, the Deity herself too, if you choose to believe
it. In this office it is slaves who minister, and they are forthwith
doomed to be swallowed up in the same lake. Hence all men are possessed
with mysterious terror; as well as with a holy ignorance what that must
be, which none see but such as are immediately to perish. Moreover this
quarter of the Suevians stretches to the middle of Germany.

The community next adjoining, is that of the Hermondurians; (that I may
now follow the course of the Danube, as a little before I did that of
the Rhine) a people this, faithful to the Romans. So that to them alone
of all the Germans, commerce is permitted; not barely upon the bank of
the Rhine, but more extensively, and even in that glorious colony in the
province of Rhoetia. They travel everywhere at their own discretion and
without a guard; and when to other nations, we show no more than our
arms and encampments, to this people we throw open our houses and
dwellings, as to men who have no longing to possess them. In the
territories of the Hermondurians rises the Elbe, a river very famous and
formerly well known to us; at present we only hear it named.

Close by the Hermondurians reside the Nariscans, and next to them the
Marcomanians and Quadians. Amongst these the Marcomanians are most
signal in force and renown; nay, their habitation itself they acquired
by their bravery, as from thence they formerly expulsed the Boians. Nor
do the Nariscans or Quadians degenerate in spirit. Now this is as it
were the frontier of Germany, as far as Germany is washed by the Danube.
To the times within our memory the Marcomanians and Quadians were
governed by kings, who were natives of their own, descended from the
noble line of Maroboduus and Tudrus. At present they are even subject to
such as are foreigners. But the whole strength and sway of their king
is derived from the authority of the Romans. From our arms, they rarely
receive any aid; from our money very frequently.

Nor less powerful are the several people beyond them; namely, the
Marsignians, the Gothinians, the Osians and the Burians, who altogether
enclose the Marcomanians and Quadians behind. Of those, the Marsignians
and the Burians in speech and dress resemble the Suevians. From the
Gallic language spoken by the Gothinians, and from that of Pannonia by
the Osians, it is manifest that neither of these people are Germans; as
it is also from their bearing to pay tribute. Upon them as upon aliens
their tribute is imposed, partly by the Sarmatians, partly by the
Quadians. The Gothinians, to heighten their disgrace, are forced to
labour in the iron mines. By all these several nations but little level
country is possessed: they are seated amongst forests, and upon
the ridges and declivities of mountains. For, Suevia is parted by a
continual ridge of mountains; beyond which, live many distinct nations.
Of these the Lygians are most numerous and extensive, and spread into
several communities. It will suffice to mention the most puissant; even
the Arians, Helvicones, Manimians; Elysians and Naharvalians. Amongst
the Naharvalians is shown a grove, sacred to devotion extremely ancient.
Over it a Priest presides apparelled like a woman; but according to
the explication of the Romans, 'tis _Castor_ and _Pollux_ who are here
worshipped. This Divinity is named _Alcis_. There are indeed no images
here, no traces of an extraneous superstition; yet their devotion is
addressed to young men and to brothers. Now the Arians, besides their
forces, in which they surpass the several nations just recounted, are
in their persons stern and truculent; and even humour and improve their
natural grimness and ferocity by art and time. They wear black shields,
their bodies are painted black, they choose dark nights for engaging in
battle; and by the very awe and ghastly hue of their army, strike the
enemy with dread, as none can bear this their aspect so surprising and
as it were quite infernal. For, in all battles the eyes are vanquished
first.

Beyond the Lygians dwell the Gothones, under the rule of a King; and
thence held in subjection somewhat stricter than the other German
nations, yet not so strict as to extinguish all their liberty.
Immediately adjoining are the Rugians and Lemovians upon the coast of
the ocean, and of these several nations the characteristics are a round
shield, a short sword and kingly government. Next occur the communities
of the Suiones, situated in the ocean itself; and besides their strength
in men and arms, very powerful at sea. The form of their vessels varies
thus far from ours, that they have prows at each end, so as to be always
ready to row to shore without turning nor are they moved by sails, nor
on their sides have benches of oars placed, but the rowers ply here and
there in all parts of the ship alike, as in some rivers is done, and
change their oars from place to place, just as they shift their course
hither or thither. To wealth also, amongst them, great veneration is
paid, and thence a single ruler governs them, without all restriction of
power, and exacting unlimited obedience. Neither here, as amongst other
nations of Germany, are arms used indifferently by all, but shut up and
warded under the care of a particular keeper, who in truth too is always
a slave: since from all sudden invasions and attacks from their foes,
the ocean protects them: besides that armed bands, when they are not
employed, grow easily debauched and tumultuous. The truth is, it suits
not the interest of an arbitrary Prince, to trust the care and power of
arms either with a nobleman or with a freeman, or indeed with any man
above the condition of a slave.

Beyond the Suiones is another sea, one very heavy and almost void
of agitation; and by it the whole globe is thought to be bounded and
environed, for that the reflection of the sun, after his setting,
continues till his rising, so bright as to darken the stars. To this,
popular opinion has added, that the tumult also of his emerging from
the sea is heard, that forms divine are then seen, as likewise the rays
about his head. Only thus far extend the limits of nature, if what fame
says be true. Upon the right of the Suevian Sea the AEstyan nations
reside, who use the same customs and attire with the Suevians; their
language more resembles that of Britain. They worship the Mother of the
Gods. As the characteristic of their national superstition, they wear
the images of wild boars. This alone serves them for arms, this is the
safeguard of all, and by this every worshipper of the goddess is secured
even amidst his foes. Rare amongst them is the use of weapons of iron,
but frequent that of clubs. In producing of grain and the other fruits
of the earth, they labour with more assiduity and patience than is
suitable to the usual laziness of Germans. Nay, they even search the
deep, and of all the rest are the only people who gather _amber_. They
call it _glasing_, and find it amongst the shallows and upon the very
shore. But, according to the ordinary incuriosity and ignorance of
Barbarians, they have neither learnt, nor do they inquire, what is
its nature, or from what cause it is produced. In truth it lay long
neglected amongst the other gross discharges of the sea; till from our
luxury, it gained a name and value. To themselves it is of no use: they
gather it rough, they expose it in pieces coarse and unpolished, and for
it receive a price with wonder. You would however conceive it to be a
liquor issuing from trees, for that in the transparent substance are
often seen birds and other animals, such as at first stuck in the soft
gum, and by it, as it hardened, became quite enclosed. I am apt to
believe that, as in the recesses of the East are found woods and groves
dropping frankincense and balms, so in the isles and continent of the
West such gums are extracted by the force and proximity of the sun; at
first liquid and flowing into the next sea, then thrown by the winds
and waves upon the opposite shore. If you try the nature of amber by
the application of fire, it kindles like a torch; and feeds a thick and
unctuous flame very high scented, and presently becomes glutinous like
pitch or rosin.

Upon the Suiones, border the people Sitones; and, agreeing with them in
all other things, differ from them in one, that here the sovereignty is
exercised by a woman. So notoriously do they degenerate not only from
a state of liberty, but even below a state of bondage. Here end the
territories of the Suevians.

Whether amongst the Sarmatians or the Germans I ought to account the
Peucinians, the Venedians, and the Fennians, is what I cannot determine;
though the Peucinians, whom some call Basstarnians, speak the same
language with the Germans, use the same attire, build like them, and
live like them, in that dirtiness and sloth so common to all.
Somewhat they are corrupted into the fashion of the Sarmatians by the
inter-marriages of the principal sort with that nation: from whence
the Venedians have derived very many of their customs and a great
resemblance. For they are continually traversing and infesting with
robberies all the forests and mountains lying between the Peucinians
and Fennians. Yet they are rather reckoned amongst the Germans, for
that they have fixed houses, and carry shields, and prefer travelling
on foot, and excel in swiftness. Usages these, all widely differing from
those of the Sarmatians, who live on horseback and dwell in waggons.
In wonderful savageness live the nation of the Fennians, and in beastly
poverty, destitute of arms, of horses, and of homes; their food, the
common herbs; their apparel, skins; their bed, the earth; their only
hope in their arrows, which for want of iron they point with bones.
Their common support they have from the chase, women as well as men;
for with these the former wander up and down, and crave a portion of
the prey. Nor other shelter have they even for their babes, against the
violence of tempests and ravening beasts, than to cover them with the
branches of trees twisted together; this a reception for the old men,
and hither resort the young. Such a condition they judge more happy than
the painful occupation of cultivating the ground, than the labour of
rearing houses, than the agitations of hope and fear attending the
defence of their own property or the seizing that of others. Secure
against the designs of men, secure against the malignity of the Gods,
they have accomplished a thing of infinite difficulty; that to them
nothing remains even to be wished.

What further accounts we have are fabulous: as that the Hellusians and
Oxiones have the countenances and aspect of men, with the bodies and
limbs of savage beasts. This, as a thing about which I have no certain
information, I shall leave untouched.





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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Reign of Tiberius, Out of the First Six
Annals of Tacitus, by Tacitus

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
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Title: The Reign of Tiberius, Out of the First Six Annals of Tacitus

Author: Tacitus

Editor: Arthur Galton

Translator: Thomas Gordon


Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7959]
This file was first posted on June 5, 2003
Last Updated: May 30, 2013

Language: English


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THE REIGN OF TIBERIUS, OUT OF THE FIRST SIX ANNALS OF TACITUS

WITH HIS ACCOUNT OF GERMANY, AND LIFE OF AGRICOLA

By Tacitus

Translated By Thomas Gordon

And Edited By Arthur Galton







"Alme Sol, curru nitido diem qui
Promis et celas, aliusque et idem
Nasceris, possis nihil urbe Roma
Visere maius. "



CONTENTS


INTRODUCTION

THE ANNALS, BOOK I

THE ANNALS, BOOK II

THE ANNALS, BOOK III

THE ANNALS, BOOK IV

THE ANNALS, BOOK V

THE ANNALS, BOOK VI

A TREATISE OF THE SITUATION, CUSTOMS, AND PEOPLE OF GERMANY

THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE SITUATION, CLIMATE, AND
PEOPLE OF BRITAIN




INTRODUCTION


"I am going to offer to the publick the Translation of a work, which,
for wisdom and force, is in higher fame and consideration, than almost
any other that has yet appeared amongst men:" it is in this way, that
Thomas Gordon begins The Discourses, which he has inserted into his
rendering of Tacitus; and I can find none better to introduce this
volume, which my readers owe to Gordon's affectionate and laborious
devotion. Caius Cornelius Tacitus, the Historian, was living under those
Emperors, who reigned from the year 54 to the year 117, of the Christian
era; but the place and the date of his birth are alike uncertain, and
the time of his death is not accurately known. He was a friend of the
younger Pliny, who was born in the year 61; and, it is possible,
they were about the same age. Some of Pliny's letters were written to
Tacitus: the most famous, describes that eruption of Mount Vesuvius,
which caused the death of old Pliny, and overwhelmed the cities of
Pompeii and of Herculaneum. The public life of Tacitus began under
Vespasian; and, therefore, he must have witnessed some part of the reign
of Nero: and we read in him, too, that he was alive after the accession
of the Emperor Trajan. In the year 77, Julius Agricola, then Consul,
betrothed his daughter to Tacitus; and they were married in the
following year. In 88, Tacitus was Praetor; and at the Secular Games of
Domitian, he was one of the _Quindecimviri_: these were sad and solemn
officers, guardians of the Sibylline Verse; and intercessors for the
Roman People, during their grave centenaries of praise and worship.

_Quaeque Aventinum tenet Algidumque,
Quindecim Diana preces virorum
Curet; et vobis pueorum amicas
Applicet aures. _

From a passage in "The Life of Agricola," we may believe that Tacitus
attended in the Senate; for he accuses himself as one of that frightened
assembly, which was an unwilling participator in the cruelties of
Domitian. In the year 97, when the Consul Virginius Rufus died, Tacitus'
was made _Consul Suffectus_; and he delivered the funeral oration of his
predecessor: Pliny says, that "it completed the good fortune of Rufus,
to have his panegyric spoken by so eloquent a man. " From this, and from
other sayings, we learn that Tacitus was a famous advocate; and his
"Dialogue about Illustrious Orators" bears witness to his admirable
taste, and to his practical knowledge of Roman eloquence: of his own
orations, however, not a single fragment has been left. We know not,
whether Tacitus had children; but the Emperor Tacitus, who reigned in
275, traced his genealogy to the Historian. "If we can prefer personal
merit to accidental greatness," Gibbon here observes, "we shall esteem
the birth of Tacitus more truly noble than that of Kings. He claimed his
descent from the philosophic historian, whose writings will instruct the
last generations of mankind. From the assiduous study of his immortal
ancestor, he derived his knowledge of the Roman Constitution and of
human nature. " This Emperor gave orders, that the writings of Tacitus
should be placed in all the public libraries; and that ten copies should
be taken annually, at the public charge. Notwithstanding the Imperial
anxiety, a valuable part of Tacitus is lost: indeed we might argue, from
the solicitude of the Emperor, as well as from his own "distinction,"
that Tacitus could not be generally popular; and, in the sixteenth
century, a great portion of him was reduced to the single manuscript,
which lay hidden within a German monastery. Of his literary works, five
remain; some fairly complete, the rest in fragments. Complete, are "The
Life of Julius Agricola," "The Dialogue on Orators," and "The Account
of Germany": these are, unfortunately, the minor works of Tacitus. His
larger works are "The History," and "The Annals. " "The History" extended
from the second Consulship of Galba, in the year 69, to the murder of
Domitian, in the year 96; and Tacitus desired to write the happy times
of Nerva, and of Trajan: we are ignorant, whether infirmity or death
prevented his design. Of "The History," only four books have been
preserved; and they contain the events of a single year: a year, it is
true, which, saw three civil wars, and four Emperors destroyed; a year
of crime, and accidents, and prodigies: there are few sentences more
powerful, than Tacitus' enumeration of these calamities, in the opening
chapters. The fifth book is imperfect; it is of more than common
interest to some people, because Tacitus mentions the siege of Jerusalem
by Titus; though what he says about the Chosen People, here and
elsewhere, cannot be satisfactory to them nor gratifying to their
admirers. With this fragment, about revolts in the provinces of Gaul
and Syria, "The History" ends. "The Annals" begin with the death of
Augustus, in the year 14; and they were continued until the death of
Nero, in 68. The reign of Tiberius is nearly perfect, though the fall
of Sejanus is missing out of it. The whole of Caligula, the beginning of
Claudius, and the end of Nero, have been destroyed: to those, who know
the style of Tacitus and the lives and genius of Caligula and Nero, the
loss is irreparable; and the admirers of Juvenal must always regret,
that from the hand of Tacitus we have only the closing scene, and not
the golden prime, of Messalina.

The works of Tacitus are too great for a Camelot volume; and, therefore,
I have undertaken a selection of them. I give entire, "The Account of
Germany" and "The Life of Agricola": these works are entertaining, and
should have a particular interest for English readers. I have added to
them, the greater portion of the first six books of "The Annals"; and
I have endeavoured so to guide my choice, that it shall present the
history of Tiberius. In this my volume, the chapters are not numbered:
for the omission, I am not responsible; and I can only lament, what I
may not control. But scholars, who know their Tacitus, will perceive
what I have left out; and to those others, who are not familiar with
him, the omission can be no affront. I would say briefly, that I
have omitted some chapters, which describe criminal events and legal
tragedies in Rome: but of these, I have retained every chapter, which
preserves an action or a saying of Tiberius; and what I have inserted
is a sufficient specimen of the remainder. I have omitted many chapters,
which are occupied with wearisome disputes between the Royal Houses
of Parthia and Armenia: and I have spared my readers the history of
Tacfarinas, an obscure and tedious rebel among the Moors; upon whose
intricate proceedings Tacitus appears to have relied, when he was at a
loss for better material. To reject any part of Tacitus, is a painful
duty; because the whole of him is good and valuable: but I trust, that I
have maintained the unity of my selection, by remembering that it is to
be an history of Tiberius.

Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar, the third master of the Roman world,
derived his origin, by either parent, from the Claudian race; the
proudest family, and one of the most noble and illustrious, in the
ancient Commonwealth: the pages of Livy exhibit the generosity, the
heroism, and the disasters, of the Claudii; who were of unequal fortune
indeed, but always magnificent, in the various events of peace and
war. Suetonius enumerates, among their ancestral honours, twenty-eight
Consulships, five Dictators, seven Censorial commissions, and seven
triumphs: their _cognomen_ of Nero, he says, means in the Sabine tongue
"vigorous and bold," _fortis et strenuus_; and the long history of the
Claudian House does not belie their gallant name. Immediately after the
birth of Tiberius, or perhaps before it, his mother Livia was divorced
from Claudius, and married by Augustus: the Empress is revealed
mysteriously and almost as a divine being, in the progress of "The
Annals. " The Emperor adopted the offspring of Claudius: among the
Romans, these legal adoptions were as valid as descent by blood; and
Tiberius was brought up to be the son of Caesar. His natural parts were
improved and strengthened, by the training of the Forum and the camp.
Tiberius became a good orator; and he gained victory and reputation, in
his wars against the savages of Germany and Dalmatia: but his peculiar
talent was for literature; in this, "he was a great purist, and affected
a wonderful precision about his words. " He composed some Greek poems,
and a Latin Elegy upon Lucius Caesar: he also wrote an account of his
own life, an _Apologia_; a volume, which the Emperor Domitian was
never tired of reading. But the favourite pursuit of Tiberius was Greek
divinity; like some of the mediaeval Doctors, he frequented the by-ways
of religion, and amused his leisure with the more difficult problems in
theology: "Who was Hecuba's mother? " "What poetry the Sirens chaunted? "
"What was Achilles' name, when he lay hid among the women? " The writings
of Tiberius have all perished; and in these days, we have only too much
cause to regret, that nothing of his "precision" has come down to us.
The battles of Tiberius are celebrated in the Odes of Horace: one of the
Epistles is addressed to him; and in another, written to Julius Florus,
an officer with Tiberius, Horace enquires about the learned occupations
of the Imperial cohort.

_Quid studiosa Cohors operum struit? Hoc quoque curo. _

It was from his commerce with the Ancients, as I always think, that
George Buchanan derived his opinion, strange to modern ears, that "a
great commander must of necessity have all the talents of an author. "
Velleius Paterculus, who served with Tiberius in his campaigns, tells us
of his firm discipline, and of his kindness to the soldiers.

The Caesars Caius and Lucius, grandsons of Augustus, Marcellus his
nephew, and Drusus the brother of Tiberius, all died: they died young,
rich in promise, the darlings of the Roman People; "Breves et infaustos
Populi Romani amores;" and thus, in the procession of events, Tiberius
became the heir. "The Annals" open with his accession, and Tacitus has
narrated the vicissitudes of his reign. Velleius Paterculus has written
its happier aspects: he describes how the "Pax Augusta," the "Roman
Peace," delivered every quarter of the world from violence. He
celebrates the return of Justice and prosperity, of order, of mild and
equable taxation, of military discipline and magisterial authority. It
is like the Saturnian Reign, which Virgil sings in the Eclogue "Pollio. "
The first action of Tiberius was to canonise his father, and Augustus
was translated to the banquet of the Gods:

_Quos inter Augustus recumbens,
Purpureo bibit ore nectar. _

Augustus was his great example; "he not only called him, but considered
him, divine;" "non appelavit eum, sed facit Deum. " The Latin of
Paterculus is here so elegant and happy, that, for the pleasure of the
learned, I transcribe it: for others, I have already given something
of the sense. "Revocata in forum fides; submota e foro seditio, ambitio
campo, discordia curia: sepultaeque ac situ obsitae, justitia, aequitas,
industria, civitati, redditae; accessit magistratibus auctoritas,
senatui majestas, judiciis gravitas; compressa theatralis seditio;
recte faciendi, omnibus aut incussa voluntas aut imposita necessitas.
Honorantur recta, prava puniuntur. Suspicit potentem humilis, non timet.
Antecedit, non contemnit, humiliorem potens. Quando annona moderatior?
Quando pax laetior? Diffusa in Orientis Occidentisque tractus, quidquid
meridiano aut septentrione finitur, Pax Augusta, per omnes terrarum
orbis angulos metu servat immunes. Fortuita non civium tantummodo, sed
Urbium damna, Principis munificentia vindicat. Restitutae urbes
Asiae: vindictae ab injuriis magistratuum provinciae. Honor dignis
paratissimus: poena in malos sera, sed aliqua. Superatur aequitate
gratia, ambitio virtute: nam facere recte cives suos, Princeps optimus
faciendo docet; cumque sit imperio maximus, exemplo major est. "

Tiberius reigned from the year 14, to the year 37. He died in the villa
of Lucullus, and he was buried in the mausoleum of the Caesars. The
manner of his death is variously related: Tacitus gives one account;
Suetonius, another. According to the last writer, he died like George
II. , alone, having just risen from his bed; and he was thus found by
his attendants: "Seneca cum scribit subito vocatis ministris, ac nemine
respondente, consurrexisse; nec procul a lectulo, deficientibus viribus,
concidisse. " Tiberius was tall, and beautiful. Suetonius tells us of
his great eyes, which could see in the dark; of his broad shoulders,
his martial bearing, and the fine proportion of his limbs: he describes,
too, the unusual strength of his hands and fingers, especially of the
left hand. His health was good; because, from his thirtieth year, he
was his own physician. "Valetudine prosperrima usus est, tempore quidem
principatus paene toto prope illesa; quamvis a trigesimo aetatis anno
arbitratu eam suo rexerit, sine adjutamento consiliove medicorum. " The
Emperor Julian describes him "severe and grim; with a statesman's care,
and a soldier's frankness, curiously mingled:" this was in his old age.

_Down the pale cheek, long lines of shadow slope;
Which years, and curious thought, and suffering give. _

At Rome, is a sculpture of Tiberius; he is represented young, seated,
crowned with rays, exceedingly handsome and majestic: if the figure were
not known to be a Caesar, the beholder would say it was a God.

There is another personage in "The Annals," whose history there is
mutilated, and perhaps dissembled; of whose character my readers may
like to know something more, than Tacitus has told them: I mean Sejanus,
a man always to be remembered; because whatever judgment we may form
about his political career, and on this question the authorities are
divided, yet it is admitted by them all, that he introduced those
reforms among the Praetorian Cohorts, which made them for a long time,
proprietors of the throne, and the disposers of the Imperial office. To
this minister, Paterculus attributes as many virtues as he has bestowed
upon Tiberius: "a man grave and courteous," he says, "with 'a fine
old-fashioned grace'; leisurely in his ways, retiring, modest; appearing
to be careless, and therefore gaining all his ends; outwardly polite and
quiet, but an eager soul, wary, inscrutable, and vigilant. " Whatever he
may have been in reality, he was at one time valued by Tiberius. "The
whole Senate," Bacon says, "dedicated an altar to Friendship as to a
Goddess, in respect of the great Dearness of Friendship between them
two:" and in the Essay "Of Friendship," Bacon has many deep sentences
about the favourites of Kings, their "Participes Curarum. " I would
summon out of "The Annals," that episode of Tiberius imprisoned within
the falling cave, and shielded by Sejanus from the descending roof.
"Coelo Musa beat:" Sejanus has propitiated no Muse; and although
something more, than the "invida taciturnitas" of the poet, lies heavy
upon his reputation, he shall find no apologist in me. But over against
the hard words of Tacitus, it is only fair to place the commendations
of Paterculus, and even Tacitus remarks, that after the fall of Sejanus,
Tiberius became worse; like Henry VIII. , after the fall of Wolsey. Livia
and Sejanus are said by Tacitus, to have restrained the worst passions
of the Emperor. The two best authorities contradict one another; they
differ, as much as our political organs differ, about the characters of
living statesmen: and who are we, to decide absolutely, from a distance
of two thousand years, at our mere caprice, and generally without
sufficient evidence, that one ancient writer is correct; and another,
dishonest or mistaken? This is only less absurd, than to prefer the
groping style and thoughts of a modern pedant, usually a German as
well, to the clear words of an old writer, who may be the sole remaining
authority for the statements we presume to question; or for those
very facts, upon which our reasonings depend. And how easy it is to
misunderstand what we read in ancient histories, to be deceived by the
plainest records, or to put a sinister interpretation upon events, which
in their own time were passed over in silence or officially explained
as harmless! Let me take an illustration, of what I mean, from something
recent. Every one must remember the last hours of the Emperor Frederick:
the avenues to his palace infested by armed men; the gloom and secrecy
within; without, an impatient heir, and the posting to and fro of
messengers. We must own, that the ceremonials of the Prussian Court
departed in a certain measure from the ordinary mild usage of humanity;
but we attributed this to nothing more, than the excitement of a
youthful Emperor, or the irrepressible agitation of German officials.
But if these events should find a place in history, or if the annals of
the Kings of Prussia should be judged worth reading by a distant Age;
who could blame an historian for saying, that these precautions were not
required for the peaceful and innocent devolution of the crown from a
father to his son. Would not our historian be justified, if he referred
to the tumults and intrigues of a Praetorian election; if he compared
these events to the darkest pages in Suetonius, or reminded his
readers of the most criminal narratives in the authors of the "Augustan
History"?