XXI.
Actum dehinc de Calpurnio Pisone, nobili ac feroci viro. is namque, ut rettuli, cessurum se urbe ob factiones accusatorum in senatu clamitaverat et spreta potentia Augustae trahere in ius Vrgulaniam domoque principis excire ausus erat. quae in praesens Tiberius civiliter habuit: sed in animo revolvente iras, etiam si impetus offensionis languerat, memoria valebat. Pisonem Q. Granius secreti sermonis incusavit adversum maiestatem habiti, adiecitque in domo eius venenum esse eumque gladio accinctum introire curiam. quod ut atrocius vero tramissum; ceterorum, quae multa cumulabantur, receptus est reus neque peractus ob mortem opportunam. relatum et de Cassio Severo exule, qui sordidae originis, maleficae vitae, sed orandi validus, per immodicas inimicitias ut iudicio iurati senatus Cretam amoveretur effecerat; atque illic eadem actitando recentia veteraque odia advertit, bonisque exutus, interdicto igni atque aqua, saxo Seripho consenuit.
21.
Next, the senate dealt with the case of Calpurnius Piso, a man of noble birth and uncompromising spirit. As I reported earlier, he had denounced in the senate the machinations of the informers and expressed his intention to retire from Rome in protest. Braving the displeasure of the Augusta, he had dragged her protegee Urgulania into court from the imperial palace itself. Tiberius at the time reacted with egalitarian composure, but deep in his rancorous heart, the memory was strong, even if the initial smart had meanwhile lessened its sting. The accuser was Quintus Granius who charged him of having had private talks disrespectful of the emperor’s majesty, adding that he kept poison in his house and came to the curia armed with a sword. This last accusation was ignored as simply too dreadful to be true, but on the other counts, that kept piling up on him in large numbers, he was arraigned for trial, which in view of his timely death never took place. A report on Cassius Severus, already exiled, was also heard. Mean as to origin and malevolent as to conduct, he had procured himself so many enmities with his mordant oratory as to be confined to Crete by a sworn decree of the senate. In Crete he persisted in his ways and attracted on himself such resentment on the part of new as well as of old enemies, that his property was confiscated and he was condemned to pass the rest of his days on rocky Serifos.
XXII.
Per idem tempus Plautius Silvanus praetor incertis causis Aproniam coniugem in praeceps iecit, tractusque ad Caesarem ab L. Apronio socero turbata mente respondit, tamquam ipse somno gravis atque eo ignarus, et uxor sponte mortem sumpsisset. non cunctanter Tiberius pergit in domum, visit cubiculum, in quo reluctantis et impulsae vestigia cernebantur. refert ad senatum, datisque iudicibus Vrgulania Silvani avia pugionem nepoti misit. quod perinde creditum quasi principis monitu ob amicitiam Augustae cum Vrgulania. reus frustra temptato ferro venas praebuit exolvendas. mox Numantina, prior uxor eius, accusata iniecisse carminibus et veneficiis vaecordiam marito, insons iudicatur.
22.
Approximately in the same period of time, for unknown reasons, the praetor Plautius Silvanus threw his wife Apronia down headforemost from the bedchamber. Dragged before the emperor by her father Lucius Apronius, he gave muddled replies about being asleep himself and unaware of things while his wife ended her life. Without hesitating Tiberius betook himself to the house of Plutius and examined the bedroom, in which traces of struggle indicative of violence and resistance were still apparent. The matter was referred to the senate and judges appointed. Urgulania, Silvanus’ grandmother, however, sent her grandson a dagger and the gesture was interpreted as a nudge from Tiberius himself, given the close friendship between the Augusta and Urgulania. The accused tried in vain to use the weapon, then opted to have his veins opened. Soon after, Silanus’ first wife Numantina, accused of being the cause of her ex-husband’s madness through magic formulas and potions, was declared innocent.
XXIII.
Is demum annus populum Pomanum longo adversum Numidam Tacfarinatem beilo absolvit. nam priores duces, ubi impetrando triumphalium insigni sufficere res suas crediderant, hostem omittebant; iamque tres laureatae in urbe statuae et adhuc raptabat Africam Tacfarinas, auctus Maurorum auxiliis qui, Ptolemaeo Iubae filio inventa incurioso, libertos regios et servilia imperia bello mutaverant. erat illi praedarum receptor ac socius populandi rex Garamantum, non ut cum exercitu incederet, sed missis levibus copiis quae ex longinquo in maius audiebantur; ipsaque e provincia ut quis fortunae inops, moribus turbidus, promptius ruebant, quia Caesar post res a Blaeso gestas quasi nullis iam in Africa hostibus reportari nonam legionem iusserat, nec pro consule eius anni P. Dolabella retinere ausus erat iussa principis magis quam incerta belli metuens.
23.
That year also finally saw the end of the conflict of Rome with the Numidian Tacfarinas. Until then Roman commanders would not pursue this adversary any further once they felt they had accomplished enough to deserve the triumphal insignia. Already there were three statues crowned with laurels in the city, though Tacfarinas continued to plunder the province of Africa, now reinforced with the help sent by the Mauri, who because of the rather tenuous rule of their young king Ptolemy, Juba’s son, had embraced war in preference to being bossed around by the freedmen and slaves of the monarch. Tacfarinas had the king of the Garamantes as receiver of his plunder and a partner in his forays, not to the extent of intervening with his army, but by sending small bodies of light troops, whose numbers became magnified by rumor in the course of their long journey from Libya. Inside the province itself, anyone penniless or disaffected rushed eagerly to join the rebels, also because Tiberius had ordered the repatriation of the Ninth legion, under the mistaken impression that after Blaesus’ successes almost no enemy remained in Africa. Publius Dolabella, the governor of the year, had not dared to keep back the legion, fearing the emperor’s order more than the hazards of war.
XXIV.
Igitur Tacfarinas disperso rumore rem Romanam aliis quoque ab nationibus lacerari eoque paulatim Africa decedere, ac posse reliquos circumveniri, si cuncti quibus libertas servitio potior incubuissent, auget viris positisque castris Thubuscum oppidum circumsidet. at Dolabella contracto quod erat militum, terrore nominis Romani et quia Numidae peditum aciem ferre nequeunt, primo sui incessu solvit obsidium locorumque opportuna permunivit; simul princpes Musulamiorum defectionem coeptantis securi percutit. dein quia pluribus adversum Tacfarinatem expeditionibus cognitum non gravi nec uno incursu consectandum hostem vagum, excito cum popularibus rege Ptolemaeo quattuor agmina parat, quae legatis aut tribunis data; et praedatorias manus delecti Maurorum duxere: ipse consultor aderat omnibus.
24.
Thus, Tacfarinas spread the rumor that other nations were also actively engaged in tearing the Roman empire apart, therefore that the Romans were in the process of withdrawing from Africa, and that any remaining troops might be entrapped if all men who loved liberty more than bondage would assist in the enterprise. He increased his forces, built a camp, and lay siege to the town of Thubuscum, but Dolabella, after collecting what soldiery was available, first raised the siege by merely marching against it — thanks both to the terror inspired by the Roman name and the incapacity of the Numidians to sustain the shock of Roman infantry — then reinforced suitable locations with defensive works. Meanwhile he had some leaders of the Musulamii beheaded for courting rebellion. Following that, since experience with Tacfarinas’ tactics had demonstrated the futility of using a single incursion of heavily armed troops in fighting a nomadic adversary, he summoned king Ptolemy and his forces and organized four attack columns, assigning them to legates and tribunes. Mauri were also selected to lead raiding parties, Dolabella himself being on hand to guide and supervise every operation.
XXV.
Nec multo post adfertur Numidas apud castellum semirutum, ab ipsis quondam incensum, cui nomen Auzea, positis mapalibus consedisse, fisos loco quia vastis circum saltibus claudebatur. tum expeditae cohortes alaeque quam in partem ducerentur ignarae cito agmine rapiuntur. simulque coeptus dies et concentu tubarum ac truci clamore aderant semisomnos in barbaros, pracpeditis Numidarum equis aut diversos pastus pererrantibus. ab Romanis confertus pedes, dispositae turmae, cuncta proelio provisa: hostibus contra omnium nesciis non arma, non ordo, non consilium, sed pecorum modo trahi occidi capi. infensus miles memoria laborum et adversum eludentis optatae totiens pugnae se quisque ultione et sanguine explebant. differtur per manipulos, Tacfarinatem omnes notum tot proeliis consectentur: non nisi duce interfecto requiem belli fore. at ille deiectis circum stipatoribus vinctoque iam filio et effusis undique Romanis ruendo in tela captivitatem haud inulta morte effugit; isque finis armis impositus.
25.
Not much later news came that the Numidians had set up their tents near a dilapidated fortress known as Auzea, which themselves had previously set on fire, a place they trusted for being surrounded by vast woodlands. Without delay, Dolabella quickly hurries off a force of fast-moving cohorts and cavalry without revealing the objective. As day dawned, amid loud shouting and the deafening blare of trumpets, they fell on the Numidians, still half asleep, their horses either tied up or grazing dispersedly in the fields. On the Roman side, the infantry kept closed ranks, the squadrons were fully deployed, ready for the assault. On the other side, the enemy were caught by surprise, unarmed, disorganized and without guidance. They were run over, swept away, butchered or captured like so much cattle. The Roman soldiers, exasperated by the memory of so much labor, sated themselves with blood and vengeance over those who had so often cheated them of the desired final battle. The order was circulated among the maniples that Tacfarinas, known to everyone after so many clashes, was to be the target of each soldier, since no rest was to be expected except by the destruction of the leader. Tacfarinas, his bodyguards all slain about him, his son captive, the Romans flooding in from every side, threw himself on the spears of the attackers, thus avoiding captivity by a death that had cost us so much blood. So ended the war.
XXVI.
Dolabellae petenti abnuit triumphalia Tiberius, Seiano tribuens, ne Blaesi avunculi eius laus obsolesceret. sed neque Blaesus ideo inlustrior et huic negatus honor gloriam intendit: quippe minore exercitu insignis captivos, caedem ducis bellique confecti famam deportarat. sequebantur et Garamantum legati, raro in urbe visi, quos Tacfarinate caeso perculsa gens set culpae nescia ad satis faciendum populo Romano miserat. cognitis dehinc Ptolemaei per id bellum studiis repetitus ex vetusto more honos missusque e senatoribus qui scipionem eburnum, togam pictam, antiqua patrum munera, daret regemque et socium atque amicum appellaret.
26.
Tiberius rejected Dolabella’s petition for triumphal insignia, as a concession to Sejanus in order not to obscure the glory of his uncle Blaesus; but the denial did not, on one side, bring greater notoriety to Blaesus, and on the other added to the glory of Dolabella, since with a smaller army he had secured the honor of ending the war, in the process capturing important prisoners and removing Tacfarinas. In addition, envoys of the Garamantes followed him to Rome, something rarely seen in the city. Their nation, deeply dismayed by the end of Tacfarinas, but denying complicity in his crimes, had sent them to give satisfaction to the Roman people. After this, one of the senators was sent to present Ptolomaeus, whose loyalty was again confirmed by this war, with an ancient distinction, an ivory scepter, and an elaborately ornated robe — both gifts of the senate by traditional usage — and to hail him with the name of the king, of an ally, and of a friend.
XXVII.
Eadem aestate mota per Italiam servilis belli semina fors oppressit. auctor tumultus T. Curtisius, quondam praetoriae cohortis miles, primo coetibus clandestinis apud Brundisium et circumiecta oppida, mox positis propalam libellis ad libertatem vocabat agrestia per longinquos saltus et ferocia servitia, cum velut munere deum tres biremes adpulere ad usus commeantium illo mari. et erat isdem regionibus Cutius Lupus quaestor, cui provincia vetere ex more calles evenerant: is disposita classiariorum copia coeptantem cum maxime coniurationem disiecit. missusque a Caesare propere Staius tribunus cum valida manu ducem ipsum et proximos audacia in urbem traxit, lam trepidam ob multitudinem familiarum quae gliscebat immensum, minore in dies plebe ingenua.
27.
That summer a providential circumstance suppressed just in time a servile war threatening to spread throughout Italy. Titius Cortisius, a former praetorian guard, organized the revolt first by clandestine meetings in Brundisium and nearby towns, then by posting public proclamations that incited the rough and savage slaves of the distant backwoods to gain their liberty. At that moment, as if sent by the gods, three biremes, employed to protect the commercial traffic in those waters, came into the harbor. The quaestor Cutius Lupus, to whom had been allotted, in keeping with tradition, the jurisdiction over the pasture lands, was also on hand, and he relied on the contingent of marines in the ships to disperse the throng of insurgents, moments ahead of the start of the revolt. The tribune Statius, despatched in a hurry by Tiberius with a sizable force, brought Curtisius and the more virulent of the conspirators to Rome, the city being already in a great panic on account of the massive multitude of slaves increasing beyond measure, while the free-born populace grew smaller by the day.
XXVIII.
Isdem consulibus miseriarum ac saevitiae exemplum atrox, reus pater, accusator filius (nomen utrique Vibius Serenus) in senatum inducti sunt. ab exilio retractus inluvieque ac squalore obsitus et tum catena vinctus pater oranti filio comparatur. adulescens multis munditiis, alacri vultu, structas principi insidias, missos in Galliam concitores belli index idem et testis dicebat, adnectebatque Caecilium Comutum praetorium ministravisse pecuniam; qui taedio curarum et quia periculum pro exitio habebatur mortem in se festinavit. at contra reus nihil infracto animo obversus in filium quatere vincla, vocare ultores deos ut sibi quidem redderent exilium ubi procul tali more ageret, filium autem quandoque supplicia sequerentur. adseverabatque innocentem Cornutum et falso exterritum; idque facile intellectu si proderentur alii: non enim se caedem principis et res novas uno socio cogitasse.
28.
Still, in the same year, we saw an appalling specimen of the moral squalor and of the cruelty of the age, a father being called before the senate with the son as his accuser, both bearing the same name, Vibius Serenus. The father, drawn forcibly back from exile covered in rags and filth, and now bound in chains, was placed in opposition to his son who pleaded against him, in the role of both accuser and witness. Dressed in fine clothes and wearing a jovial mien, the young man testified that his father had plotted to subvert the prince and had sent emissaries to Gaul to stir up rebellion. Likewise, he maintained that the man who had financed the undertaking was the ex-praetor Caecilius Cornutus, who, overcome by anxiety and convinced that being suspected meant death, preceded the sentence by suicide. Quite different was the reaction of the accused, who undismayed and shaking his chains under his son’s nose, was calling on the gods of vengeance to allow him at least to be sent back into exile, where he could live far away from aberrations of that kind, and also to give his son the punishment that one day was coming to him. He kept repeating that Cornutus was innocent and the terrified victim of lies. That would become easily apparent, he said, if others were questioned, for he, Serenus, would obviously not have considered murdering Tiberius and starting a revolution with one single accomplice.
XXIX.
Tum accusator Cn. Lentulum et Seium Tuberonem nominat, magno pudore Caesaris, cum primores civitatis, intimi ipsius amici, Lentulus senectutis extremae, Tubero defecto corpore, tumultus hostilis et turbandae rei publicae accerserentur. sed hi quidem statim exempti: in patrem ex servis quaesitum et quaestio adversa accusatori fuit. qui scelere vaecors, simul vulgi rumore territus robur et saxum aut parricidarum poenas minitantium, cessit urbe. ac retractus Ravenna exequi accusationem adigitur, non occultante Tiberio vetus odium adversum exulem Serenum. nam post damnatum Libonem missis ad Caesarem litteris exprobraverat suum tantum studium sine fructu fuisse, addideratque quaedam contumacius quam tutum apud auris superbas et offensioni proniores. ea Caesar octo post annos rettulit, medium tempus varie arguens, etiam si tormenta pervicacia servorum contra evenissent.
29.
In response, the young Serenus cited the names of Gnaeus Lentulus and of Seius Tubero, to the great discomfort of Tiberius in seeing that two prominent citizens and intimate friends of his were being accused of armed rebellion and of subversion of the state. At any rate, the two men (Lentulus extremely advanced in years, Tubero in very poor health) were quickly exonerated. The slaves of the elder Serenus were subjected to torture to extract evidence against him, but their depositions were anything but favorable to the accuser, who, driven to frenzy by remorse and terrified by the outcry of the populace promising him the horrors of the dungeon, the Tarpeian rock, or the fate reserved to parricides, fled from Rome. He was summarily haled back from Ravenna and obliged to continue the prosecution, Tiberius making no mystery of his unrelenting aversion towards the exile. Indeed, after Libo’s trial, in a letter to him, Serenus had expressed his disappointment that only his efforts in that trial had remained unrewarded and had added remarks too audacious for the sensitive ears of a prince disposed to take offense. Tiberius exhumed that old grudge eight years later, charging other trespasses committed in the interim, even though the obstinacy of the slaves under torture confuted him.
XXX.
Dictis dein sententiis ut Serenus more maiorum puniretur, quo molliret invidiam, intercessit. Gallus Asinius cum Gyaro aut Donusa claudendum censeret, id quoque aspernatus est, egenam aquae utramque insulam referens dandosque vitae usus cui vita concederetur. ita Serenus Amorgum reportatur. et quia Cornutus sua manu ceciderat, actum de praemiis accusatorum abolendis, si quis maiestatis postulatus ante perfectum iudicium se ipse vita privavisset. ibaturque in eam sententiam ni durius contraque morem suum palam pro accusatoribus Caesar inritas leges, rem publicam in praecipiti conquestus esset: subverterent potius iura quam custodes eorum amoverent. sic delatores, genus hominum publico exitio repertum et ne, poenis quidem umquam satis coercitum, per praemia eliciebatur.
30.
Soon after, when the view was expressed in the senate that Serenus should be punished in the way prescribed by ancient custom, Tiberius was against it, intending to lessen public hostility to the verdict. He likewise rejected Asinius Gallus’ proposal of confining Serenus to the island of Gyarus or of Donusa, both islands having no water and, as he said, there being no point in safeguarding life without provision for its sustenance. Consequently, the exile was sent back to Amorgus and since Cornutus had committed suicide, it was proposed to abolish the reward claimed by the informants whenever a man accused of treason chose to end his life before the conclusion of the trial. The motion was about to be adopted, when Tiberius openly took the side of the informers and with brusque assertiveness, quite unusual for him, objected that the laws would no longer be respected and the state be brought to the brink of disaster. It was preferable, he said, to subvert the laws rather than remove their defenders. So it was that the informers, a spawn of rascals called into existence for the ruin of the country and never kept in check by penalties, were now being encouraged by rewards.