V.6
. . . . Quattuor et quadraginta orationes super ea re habitae, ex quis ob metum paucae, plures adsuetudine . . . . . . ‘mihi pudorem aut Seiano invidiam adlaturum censui. versa est fortuna et ille quidem qui collegam et generum adsciverat sibi ignoscit: ceteri quem per dedecora fovere cum scelere insectantur. miserius sit ob amicitiam accusari an amicum accusare haud discreverim. non crudelitatem, non clementiam cuiusquam experiar sed liber et mihi ipsi probatus antibo periculum. vos obtestor ne memoriam nostri per maerorem quam laeti retineatis, adiciendo me quoque iis qui fine egregio publica mala effugerunt.’
V.6
. . . . . forty-four speeches were given on the matter, a few suggested by fear, most by the ingrained habit of servility . . . . . . “I thought it would bring me shame and ill will to Sejanus. Fortune has reversed herself and even the man who had elected him as his partner and son-in-law now forgives himself and the others who but yesterday paid court to him in their abasement, now assail him with vicious malevolence. It is not for me to decide who is more to be pitied, the man who is accused on account of his friendship or he who accuses a friend. I shall not make any trial of either the cruelty or the clemency of anyone, but being free and at peace with my conscience, I will pre-empt the peril that threatens me. Please remember me with joy, not with sorrow, and count me among the fortunate men who, by an honorable death, have escaped the afflictions of our country.
V.7
Tunc singulos, ut cuique adsistere, adloqui animus erat, retinens aut dimittens partem diei absumpsit, multoque adhuc coetu et cunctis intrepidum vultum eius spectantibus, cum superesse tempus novissimis crederent, gladio quem sinu abdiderat incubuit. neque Caesar ullis criminibus aut probris defunctum insectatus est, cum in Blaesum multa foedaque incusavisset.
V.7
Then he passed part of the day entertaining any of his friends who wanted to converse with him or taking leave of those having a mind to depart. The circle about him was still numerous and all attentively watched his face showing no signs of fear. While they thought that much time remained before the supreme act, he fell on a sword kept hidden in the folds of his toga and died. Tiberius refrained from hounding him after his death, whereas he had previously made Blaesus the target of venomous charges and reproaches.
V.8
Relatum inde de P. Vitellio et Pomponio Secundo. illum indices arguebant claustra aerarii, cui praefectus erat, et militarem pecuniam rebus novis obtulisse; huic a Considio praetura functo obiectabatur Aelii Galli amicitia, qui punito Seiano in hortos Pomponii quasi fidissimum ad subsidium perfugisset. neque aliud periclitantibus auxilii quam in fratrum constantia fuit qui vades extitere. mox crebris prolationibus spem ac metum iuxta gravatus Vitellius petito per speciem studiorum scalpro levem ictum venis intulit vitamque aegritudine animi finivit. at Pomponius multa morum elegantia et ingenio inlustri, dum adversam fortunam aequus tolerat, Tiberio superstes fuit.
V.8
Next, the cases of Publius Vitellius and of Pomponius Secundus were heard. The first was charged by the prosecutors of having offered the keys of the military treasury as well as funds belonging to the army and under his control as prefect, to those who supported the overthrow of the regime. The other was accused by Considius, a former praetor, of being an intimate friend of Aelius Gallus, who, upon the execution of Sejanus, had sought the gardens of Pomponius as the safest place where to find refuge. The brothers of the accused came courageously forward to provide bail, the only assistance Vitellius and Pomponius could find in their great peril. Not much later, after frequent postponements of the trial, Vitellius, who found the alternations of fear and hope unbearable, asked for a scribing knife he said he needed to write and, having made with it a slight incision in his vein, bled to death, victim of deep prostration. On the other hand, Pomponius, a man of great culture and eminent gifts, bore his misfortunes with equanimity and survived Tiberius.
V.9
Placitum posthac ut in reliquos Seiani liberos adverteretur, vanescente quamquam plebis ira ac plerisque per priora supplicia lenitis. igitur portantur in carcerem, filius imminentium intellegens, puella adeo nescia ut crebro interrogaret quod ob delictum et quo traheretur; neque facturam ultra et posse se puerili verbere moneri. tradunt temporis eius auctores, quia triumvirali supplicio adfici virginem inauditum habebatur, a carnifice laqueum iuxta compressam; exim oblisis faucibus id aetatis corpora in Gemonias abiecta.
V.9
Soon after it was resolved to eliminate the children of Sejanus, even though the people’s anger was by now dissipating and the majority was assuaged by the executions already carried out. So, the children were taken to prison, the boy conscious of his fate, but the girl so unaware that she kept asking what she had done, where she was being taken, and promising that she would not behave badly again and that she could be punished using the rod, as is done with children. The historians of that age relate that, since the execution of a virgin by an order of the triumvirs had never been heard of before, the girl was raped by the headsman, the noose lying next to her. Both children were then strangled and their bodies, ever so young, were thrown down the Gemonian staircase.
V.10
Per idem tempus Asia atque Achaia exterritae sunt acri magis quam diuturno rumore, Drusum Germanici filium apud Cycladas insulas mox in continenti visum. et erat iuvenis haud dispari aetate, quibusdam Caesaris libertis velut adgnitus; per dolumque comitantibus adliciebantur ignari fama nominis et promptis Graecorum animis ad nova et mira: quippe elapsum custodiae pergere ad paternos exercitus, Aegyptum aut Syriam invasurum, fingebant simul credebantque. iam iuventutis concursu, iam publicis studiis frequentabatur, laetus praesentibus et inanium spe, cum auditum id Poppaeo Sabino: is Macedoniae tum intentus Achaiam quoque curabat. igitur quo vera seu falsa antiret Toronaeum Thermaeumque sinum praefestinans, mox Euboeam Aegaei maris insulam et Piraeum Atticae orae, dein Corinthiense litus angustiasque Isthmi evadit; marique alio Nicopolim Romanam coloniam ingressus, ibi demum cognoscit sollertius interrogatum quisnam foret dixisse M. Silano genitum et multis sectatorum dilapsis ascendisse navem tamquam Italiam peteret. scripsitque haec Tiberio neque nos originem finemve eius rei ultra comperimus.
V.10
At approximately the same time, Asia and Greece were thrown into alarm by a serious but temporary rumor that Drusus, Germanicus’ son, had been seen in the group of the Cyclades and then on the mainland. Indeed, there was a young man not dissimilar in age to Drusus, whom some of the emperor’s former slaves made semblance to recognize and around whom they grouped themselves to trick others into joining them. The new converts, ignorant of the scheme, were drawn by the fame of the youngster’s name and by the love of anything new and marvelous that characterises the Greeks. In their minds, Drusus had escaped from his dungeon and was on his way to the armies of his father, planning to invade Egypt and Syria. The fiction gained acceptance as soon as it was invented, its inventors being the first to believe. Already young men volunteered on every side, already the impostor was receiving public homage of all kind that filled him with joy for the present and unfounded hope for the future, when rumor of the affair reached the ears of Poppaeus Sabinus, occupied at that moment in Macedonia, but in charge also of the province of Achaia. Eager to ascertain in person whether the rumor was true or false, he proceeded rapidly past the bay of Torone and Thermae, the island of Euboea in the Aegean sea, the Piraeus and the coast of Attica, and finally reached the isthmus of Corinth and the Ionian sea. Arriving at Nicopolis, he entered the Roman colony and there at last he was informed that the man, on being more closely questioned, had revealed being the son of Marcus Silanus and that, having lost many of his followers, had boarded a ship with the intention, so it seemed, of going to Italy. Sabinus sent an account of these things to Tiberius, but, as to the rest, I have not been able to discover anything more about the end of this story.
V.11
Exitu anni diu aucta discordia consulum erupit. nam Trio, facilis capessendis inimicitiis et foro exercitus, ut segnem Regulum ad opprimendos Seiani ministros oblique perstrinxerat: ille nisi lacesseretur modestiae retinens non modo rettudit collegam sed ut noxium coniurationis ad disquisitionem trahebat. multisque patrum orantibus ponerent odia in perniciem itura, mansere infensi ac minitantes donec magistratu abirent.
V.11
Towards the end of the year, disaccord erupted between the consuls, one that had been growing for a long time. In fact, Lucius Fulcinius Trio, an extremely litigious man familiar with forensic clashes, had attacked Publius Memnius Regulus, implying that he had not been sufficiently energetic in pursuing Sejanus’ accomplices. Regulus, quiet and unassuming until provoked, not only gave Trio the lie, but also wanted to have him investigated for involvement in Sejanus’ conspiracy. Many of the senators were urging them to compose their differences before they dragged them to their ruin, but they remained bitter enemies, exchanging threats until the end of their term of office.