XLI.
Rursum Seianus non iam de matrimonio sed altius metuens tacita suspicionum, vulgi rumorem, ingruentem invidiam deprecatur. ac ne adsiduos in domum coetus arcendo infringeret potentiam aut receptando facultatem criminantibus praeberet, huc flexit ut Tiberium ad vitam procul Roma amoenis locis degendam impelleret. multa quippe providebat: sua in manu aditus litterarumque magna ex parte se arbitrum fore, cum per milites commearent; mox Caesarem vergente iam senecta secretoque loci mollitum munia imperii facilius tramissurum: et minui sibi invidiam adempta salutantum turba sublatisque inanibus veram potentiam augeri. igitur paulatim negotia urbis, populi adcursus, multitudinem adfluentium increpat, extollens laudibus quietem et solitudinem quis abesse taedia et offensiones ac praecipua rerum maxime agitari.
41.
Sejanus wrote once again, no longer about the marriage, but from deeper concerns: he was trying to have Tiberius take no account of the unspoken suspicions, the people’s idle talk, the growing unpopularity of which he was the target. But to avoid both impairing his influence by shutting his doors to petitioners and offering more ammunition to his detractors, he embraced the idea of encouraging Tiberius to retire to an easy life in some pleasant place distant from Rome. He expected considerable advantage from the plan: the way to the palace would be under his control and he would be the arbiter of much of the correspondence, in great part passing through his hands, for the service was carried out by soldiers. Later Tiberius, as he aged and was softened by a retired life, would more easily entrust to him the responsibilities of power. Furthermore, public odium against him would be lessened once he put a stop to the comings and goings of visitors. With the appearance of power being removed, real power would increase. Consequently, he gradually began to exclaim against the turmoil of the city, the madding crowds, and the herds of petitioners, and to praise to the sky a quiet life and solitude, thanks to which tedium and vexation are kept at bay to make time for concerns of a higher order.
XLII.
Ac forte habita per illos dies de Votieno Montano, celebris ingenii viro, cognitio cunctantem iam Tiberium perpulit ut vitandos crederet patrum coetus vocesque quae plerumque verae et graves coram ingerebantur. nam postulato Votieno ob contumelias in Caesarem dictas, testis Aemilius e militaribus viris, dum studio probandi cuncta refert et quamquam inter obstrepentis magna adseveratione nititur, audivit Tiberius probra quis per occuitum lacerabatur, adeoque perculsus est ut se vel statim vel in cognitione purgaturum clamitaret precibusque proximorum, adulatione omnium aegre componeret animum. et Votienus quidem maiestatis poenis adfectus est: Caesar obiectam sibi adversus reos inclementiam eo pervicacius amplexus, Aquiliam adulterii delatam cum Vario Ligure, quamquam Lentulus Gaetulicus consul designatus lege Iulia damnasset, exilio punivit Apidiumque Merulam quod in acta divi Augusti non iuraverat albo senatorio erasit.
42.
It came about that at the time of the trial of Votienus Montanus, a man of high talent, Tiberius, who was already considering it, decided to stop attending the meetings of the senate, where harsh words, often true, were openly flung at him. What happened is this: Votienus was charged with using offensive language against Caesar and one of the witnesses, a military man named Aemilius, in his well-meaning eagerness to tell all he knew in the case, was repeating word by word what the defendant had said, and though the assembly raised a chorus of protest, he struggled on with earnest perseverance to the end. So, Tiberius upon hearing all the foul language Rome directed at him behind his back, flew into a rage, shouting he was going to prove his detractors wrong either at once or in the course of the judicial inquiry. It was with great effort that he regained control over himself with the help and prayers of friends and the blandishments of the entire assembly. Votienus, of course, was found guilty of treason, and Tiberius now adopted with a vengeance the severity against anyone accused that people charged him with. Aquilia, denounced for adultery with Varius Ligus, was punished with exile, even though the consul-elect Lentulus Gaetulicus had proposed a milder sentence under the Julian Law. He also struck Apidius Merula off the senate registry for not swearing loyalty to the acts of the divine Augustus.
XLIII.
Auditae dehinc Lacedaemoniorum et Messeniorum legationes de iure templi Dianae Limnatidis, quod suis a maioribus suaque in terra dicatum Lacedaemonii firmabant annalium memoria vatumque carminibus, sed Macedonis Philippi cum quo bellassent armis ademptum ac post C. Caesaris et M. Antonii sententia redditum. contra Messenii veterem inter Herculis posteros divisionem Peloponnesi protulere, suoque regi Denthaliatem agrum in quo id delubrum cessisse; monimentaque eius rei sculpta saxis et aere prisco manere. quod si vatum, annalium ad testimonia vocentur, pluris sibi ac locupletiores esse; neque Philippum potentia sed ex vero statuisse: idem regis Antigoni, idem imperatoris Mummii iudicium; sic Milesios permisso publice arbitrio, postremo Atidium Geminum praetorem Achaiae decrevisse. ita secondum Messenios datum. et Segestani aedem Veneris montem apud Erycum, vetustate dilapsam, restaurari postulavere, nota memorantes de origine eius et laeta Tiberio. suscepit curam libens ut consanguineus. tunc tractatae Massiliensium preces probatumque P. Rutilii exemplum; namque eum legibus pulsum civem sibi Zmyrnaei addiderant. quo iure Vulcacius Moschus exul in Massiliensis receptus bona sua rei publicae eorum et patriae reliquerat.
43.
After all this, the audience was granted to delegations from the Lacedaemonians and Messenians about the respective rights of ownership of the temple of Diana Limnatis. The first based their claim on their historical records and poems and asserted that the temple had been consecrated by their ancestors on the territory they occupied and which was taken from them by Philip the Macedon during the war they fought with him but was returned to them by a decree of Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. The Messenians countered by pointing to the ancient division of the Peloponnese among the descendants of Hercules: to their king had been assigned the district of Denthalia, within which the temple stood. Evidence of the fact were ancient inscriptions both on stone and bronze and if testimonials from history and poetry were needed, they had quite a number of them on their side, all more authentic than those of the Lacedaemonians. They also said that Philip’s decision was not a victor’s abuse of power but an act of justice: king Antigonus and the Roman general Mummius gave the same judgment, the city of Miletus, called in to arbitrate, confirmed it, and, finally, Atidius Geminus, the governor of Achaia, approved it. Thus, the dispute was decided in favor of the Messenians. Later, the inhabitants of Segesta petitioned for the restoration of Venus’ temple on Mount Eryx, fallen into disrepair. About its origins, they called to mind celebrated traditions that pleased Tiberius, who gladly undertook the work, in view of his kinship with the goddess. Next, a request from the people of Massilia was debated in the senate in regard to Volcatius Moschus, a man banished to that city, of which he had become a citizen and to which he left all his wealth. The Senate validated his will on the precedent set by Publius Rutilius who, also an exile, had been accepted as a citizen by the city of Smyrna.
XLIV.
Obiere eo anno viri nobiles Cn. Lentulus et L. Domitius. Lentulo super consulatum et triumphalia de Getis gloriae fuerat bene tolerata paupertas, dein magnae opes innocenter partae et modeste habitae. Domitium decoravit pater civili bello maris potens, donec Antonii partibus, mox Caesaris misceretur. avus Pharsalica acie pro optumatibus ceciderat. ipse delectus cui minor Antonia, Octavia genita, in matrimonium daretur, post exercitu flumen Albim transcendit, longius penetrata Germania quam quisquam priorum, easque ob res insignia triumphi adeptus est. obiit et L. Antonius, multa claritudine generis sed improspera. nam patre eius Iullo Antonio ob adulterium Iuliae morte punito hunc admodum adulescentulum, sororis nepotem, seposuit Augustus in civitatem Massiliensem ubi specie studiorum nomen exilii tegeretur. habitus tamen supremis honor ossaque tumulo Octaviorum inlata per decretum senatus.
44.
Two men of noble lineage passed away this year, Gnaeus Conelius Lentulus and Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. Distinguished by the consulate and the triumphal insignia for his campaign against the Geti, Lentulus won also renown for the fortitude with which he bore his poverty and, later, for his modesty when great wealth came to him, all of it honorably acquired. Domitius inherited fame from his father, who had held dominion of the sea during the civil war until he joined first Antony’s party and then Octavian’s. His grandfather had fallen in the battle of Pharsalus in defense of the senatorial class. As to himself, he was chosen to be the husband of Antonia minor, Octavia’s daughter, and later led an army across the Elbe river, farther into Germany than any Roman before him, an exploit for which he received a triumphal distinction. Lucius Antonius, the scion of an illustrious but hapless family, also died that same year. When he was no more than a boy, his father paid with his life for the adultery with Julia, and he himself was relegated by Augustus to Massilia, though the pretext of his studies in that city served as cover for what was in effect a banishment. He was, however, given a solemn funeral and his ashes were brought to the burial mound of the Octavii.
XLV.
Isdem consulibus facinus atrox in citeriore Hispania admissum a quodam agresti nationis Termestinae. is praetorem provinciae L. Pisonem, pace incuriosum, ex improviso in itinere adortus uno vulnere in mortem adfecit; ac pernicitate equi profugus, postquam saltuosos locos attigerat, dimisso equo per derupta et avia sequentis frustratus est. neque diu fefellit: nam prenso ductoque per proximos pagos equo cuius foret cognitum. et repertus cum tormentis edere conscios adigeretur, voce magna sermone patrio frustra se interrogari clamitavit: adsisterent socii ac spectarent; nullam vim tantam doloris fore ut veritatem eliceret. idemque cum postero ad quaestionem retraheretur, eo nisu proripuit se custodibus saxoque caput adflixit ut statim exanimaretur. sed Piso Termestinorum dolo caesus habetur; quippe pecunias e publico interceptas acrius quam ut tolerarent barbari cogebat.
45.
During the same consulate, a brutal crime was perpetrated in Nearer Spain by a farm laborer from the town of Termes. He attacked without warning the provincial governor, Lucius Calpurnius Piso, while he traveled without escort, the country being at peace. He murdered him with a single blow, then fled at top speed on horseback. Upon reaching a densely wooded ravine, he abandoned his horse and escaped pursuit across the craggy, rugged country, but his luck soon ran out. In fact, his horse was recovered, then was taken through the neighboring hamlets to discover whose animal it was. That led to the capture of the assassin, who on being subjected to questioning under torture in order to have him reveal his accomplices, he blurted out loudly in his native speech that the questioning was wasted labor. His associates, he cried, had nothing to fear: they might be standing there watching, but no pain would induce him to reveal anything. The following day, as he was hustled back for more questioning, he suddenly shook himself loose from the grasp of the guards and rammed his head against a stone wall, dying instantly. Yet the general belief was that a plot hatched by the people of Termes was responsible for Piso’s death, the reason being that he had been rigorous beyond barbarian endurance in exacting repayment of money that local people had seized and was then owed to the public funds of the community.
XLVI.
Lentulo Gaetulico C. Calvisio consulibus decreta triumphi insignia Poppaeo Sabino contusis Thraecum gentibus, qui montium editis incultu atque eo ferocius agitabant. causa motus super hominum ingenium, quod pati dilectus et validissimum quemque militiae nostrae dare aspernabantur, ne regibus quidem parere nisi ex libidine soliti, aut si mitterent auxilia, suos ductores praeficere nec nisi adversum accolas belligerare. ac tum rumor incesserat fore ut disiecti aliisque nationibus permixti diversas in terras traherentur. sed antequam arma inciperent, misere legatos amicitiam obsequiumque memoraturos, et mansura haec si nullo novo onere temptarentur: sin ut victis servitium indiceretur, esse sibi ferrum et iuventutem et promptum libertati aut ad mortem animum. simul castella rupibus indita conlatosque illuc parentes et coniuges ostentabant bellumque impeditum arduum cruentum minitabantur.
46.
Lentulus Gaetulicus and Gaius Calvisius being the new consuls for the year, triumphal insignia were decreed to Poppaeus Sabinus for reining in the sedition of the Thracian tribes settled high up in the mountains. The way of living of these people was primitive, which made them fiercer and all the more intractable. The reason for their rebellion, apart from their difficult temper, was the refusal to comply with the levies and to furnish their best men to our armies. Even obedience to their own kings was not to be counted on if they disapproved; any troops they sent would have to be under the command of their tribal leaders and strictly for operations against their neighbors. A rumor had spread that their men would be separated, mingled with those of other nations, and sent to faraway places. Before resorting to arms against the Romans, however, they sent envoys who were to attest their friendship and obedience, together with the promise never to alter their loyalties, provided they were not importuned with new demands. But if the Roman intention was to impose slavery on them, as if they were a vanquished people, they said they had arms, young men, and the resolve to fight or die for liberty. They called attention to their fortified places on the rocky heights of the mountains, wither they had secreted their parents and wives, and held out the menace of a war bristling with difficulties, hazardous, and bloody.
XLVII.
At Sabinus, donec exercitus in unum conduceret, datis mitibus responsis, postquam Pomponius Labeo e Moesia cum legione, rex Rhoemetalces cum auxiliis popularium qui fidem non mutaverant, venere, addita praesenti copia ad hostem pergit, compositum iam per angustias saltuum. quidam audentius apertis in collibus visebantur, quos dux Romanus acie suggressus haud aegre pepulit sanguine barbarorum modico ob propinqua suffugia. mox castris in loco communitis valida manu montem occupat angustum et aequali dorso continuum usque ad proximum castellum quod magna vis armata aut incondita tuebatur. simul in ferocissimos, qui ante vallum more gentis cum carminibus et tripudiis persultabant, mittit delectos sagittariorum. ii dum eminus grassabantur crebra et inulta vulnera fecere: propius incedentes eruptione subita turbati sunt receptique subsidio Sugambrae cohortis, quam Romanus promptam ad pericula nec minus cantuum et armorum tumultu trucem haud procul instruxerat.
47.
Sabinus, however, returned mild answers until he had assembled all his forces and after Pomponius Labeo came with a legion from Moesia and Rhoemetalces with auxiliary troops contributed by those of his subjects who had remained loyal to him, he advanced upon the enemy with the new arrivals added to the strength already available to him. The rebels were already drawn up in the narrow and densely forested mountain valleys. Some more audacious were spotted on the crests of the heights, whom Sabinus, marching in battle order, had little difficulty in dispersing, albeit with little enemy blood lost, as the foe had but a short distance to run in order to find cover. After building entrenchments for a camp, with a sizable force he occupied the level narrow ridge of the mountain, which extended unchanged to the next rebel stronghold, manned by a strong contingent of regular soldiers alongside irregular combatants. Against the most spirited among them, who defiantly indulged in warlike dancing and singing before their ramparts, after the fashion of these people, he despatched a select body of archers, who from a distance scored many hits without loss to themselves, but on approaching nearer, they were thrown into confusion by an unexpected sortie. The intervention of a cohort of the Sugambri, which Sabinus had stationed nearby, ready and eager for a good fight — and not less fearsome than the enemy on account of their own clamor from the jarring noise of arms and loud chanting –rescued them from their peril.
XLVIII.
Translata dehinc castra hostem propter, relictis apud priora munimenta Thraecibus, quos nobis adfuisse memoravi. iisque permissum vastare, urere, trahere praedas, dum populatio lucem intra sisteretur noctemque in castris tutam et vigilem capesserent. id primo servatum: mox versi in luxum et raptis opulenti omittere stationes, lascivia epularum aut somno et vino procumbere. igitur hostes incuria eorum comperta duo agmina parant quorum altero populatores invaderentur, alii castra Romana adpugnarent, non spe capiendi sed ut clamore, telis suo quisque periculo intentus sonorem alterius proelii non acciperet. tenebrae insuper delectae augendam ad formidinem. sed qui vallum legionum temptabant facile pelluntur; Thraecum auxilia repentino incursu territa, cum pars munitionibus adiacerent, plures extra palarentur, tanto infensius caesi quanto perfugae et proditores ferre arma ad suum patriaeque servitium incusabantur.
48.
The camp was then moved closer to the enemy and the Thracian auxiliaries helping us, as I mentioned, were left behind in the previous encampment. They were given permission to ravage, burn, and pillage, provided they kept the raids to daylight hours and spent the night safely and alertly inside the camp. These instructions were at first followed to the letter, but soon they abandoned themselves to pleasure-seeking. Sated with loot, they ignored watch duty in favor of wild feasting and drunken bouts until they dropped to the ground senseless. The enemy learned of their negligence and formed themselves into two attack groups, one to engage the plunderers, the other to assault the Roman entrenchments, not in the hope of taking them, but to prevent the Romans — in the turmoil of battle and with each man preoccupied with his own safety – from hearing the tumult of the other engagement. Although the darkness of night was chosen to spread more panic, the attack on the camp was easily repulsed, but our Thracian auxiliaries, terrified by the unexpected onslaught, some surprised while lying under the rampart and most scattered outside the camp in search of plunder, were massacred with outright savagery, all the more so in that they were seen as renegades and traitors, who had carried arms to enslave themselves and their native land.
XLIX.
Postera die Sabinus exercitum aequo loco ostendit, si barbari successu noctis alacres proelium auderent. et postquam castello aut coniunctis tumulis non degrediebantur, obsidium coepit per praesidia quae opportune iam muniebat; dein fossam loricamque contexens quattuor milia passuum ambitu amplexus est; tum paulatim ut aquam pabulumque eriperet contrahere claustra artaque circumdare; et struebatur agger unde saxa hastae ignes propinquum iam in hostem iacerentur. sed nihil aeque quam sitis fatigabat, cum ingens multitudo bellatorum imbellium uno reliquo fonte uterentur; simulque armenta, ut mos barbaris, iuxta clausa egestate pabuli exanimari; adiacere corpora hominum quos vulnera, quos sitis peremerat; pollui cuncta sanie odore contactu.
49.
On the following morning, Sabinus exhibited his forces in the open ground, in case the rebels might be tempted to engage in battle, encouraged by the success of the previous night. On seeing that they kept to their fortified camp and to the neighboring heights, he undertook a siege by means of a series of fortified positions, which he reinforced as circumstances dictated, then connected them with a long ditch, provided with a parapet, for a circuit of four miles around the enemy stronghold. Next, little by little he contracted his lines to deny the enemy access to water and forage. An earthwork was raised from which stones, spears, and incendiary darts could be thrown at the rebels, now within range. Yet nothing like thirst harassed the besieged, given the vast multitude of fighting men and non-combatants, now relying on a single source of water. Livestock, locked up within the fort side by side with humans (in keeping with barbarian practice) perished from lack of fodder. Bodies of men, who had died of wounds and thirst, lay beside them: all were tainted by the corruption, the stench, and the contagion of death.
L.
Rebusque turbatis malum extremum discordia accessit, his deditionem aliis mortem et mutuos inter se ictus parantibus; et erant qui non inultum exitium sed eruptionem suaderent. neque ignobiles tantum his diversi sententiis, verum e ducibus Dinis, provectus senecta et longo usu vim atque clementiam Romanam edoctus, ponenda arma, unum adflictis id remedium disserebat, primusque secum coniuge et liberis victori permisit: secuti aetate aut sexu imbecilli et quibus maior vitae quam gloriae cupido. at iuventus Tarsam inter et Turesim distrahebatur. utrique destinatum cum libertate occidere, sed Tarsa properum finem, abrumpendas pariter spes ac metus clamitans, dedit exemplum demisso in pectus ferro; nec defuere qui eodem modo oppeterent. Turesis sua cum manu noctem opperitur haud nescio duce nostro. igitur firmatae stationes densioribus globis; et ingruebat nox nimbo atrox, hostisque clamore turbido, modo per vastum silentium, incertos obsessores effecerat, cum Sabinus circumire, hortari, ne ad ambigua sonitus aut simulationem quietis casum insidiantibus aperirent, sed sua quisque munia servarent immoti telisque non in falsum iactis.
50.
To their misery, dissention, the ultimate calamity, added itself. Some were prepared to surrender, others to die by mutually inflicted wounds. There were also those who advised to sally forth and not to leave their death unavenged. Not only the common people but also the leaders held opposing views, an example being Dinis, a seasoned warrior of advanced years, who, knowing from long experience both the strength and the leniency of the Roman people, insisted that their only option was to lay down their arms. First, among his people, he gave himself up to the victor, together with his wife and children, followed by those whose age and sex made them unfit for war or those to whom life was dearer than glory. The young men were divided between Tarsa and Turesis, both resolved not to survive their freedom. Tarsa was for an immediate death, for cutting short all hopes and fears, and set the example by plunging a sword into his chest. Others imitated him, but Turesis and his men waited for the night. Sabinus, who knew of his plan, reinforced every post with more men. Darkness came and with it a savage storm. The enemy raised a tumultuous din at one moment, at another they maintained an ominous silence, a tactic that greatly unsettled the besiegers. Sabinus walked among the soldiers keeping their courage up, earnestly urging them not to be fooled by the strange sounds or the puzzling silences of a perfidious foe. Each man was to stay at his post and not waste missiles on imaginary targets.