Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/1098

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loc cit.
loc cit.

1080 DRUSUS. of the objects of his restless and self-sufficient spi- rit to become the arbiter of parties, and he acted trom immediate impulses, without considering nicely i.he result of his conduct. There was deep mean- ing in the witticism of Granius, the public crier, •who, when Drusus sainted him in the ordinary l)hrase, " Quid agis, Grani ? " asked in repl}-, " Immo vero, tu Druse, quid agis?" (Cic. pro Plane. 14.) To conciliate the people, Dnisus renewed several of the propositions and imitated the measures of the Gracchi. He proposed and carried laws for the distribution of corn, or for its sale at a low price, and for the assignation of public land {L'ges f'nimentariae, agrariae^ Liv. Epit. Ixxi.). The es- tiiblishment of several colonies in Italy and Sicily, which had long been voted, was now eftected. (Appian, de Bell. Civ. . 35.) Nothing could sur- pass the extravagance of the largesses to whicli he persuaded the senate to accede. (Tac. Ann. iii. 27.) lie declared that he had been so bountiful, that nothing was left to be given, by anj' one else, but air and dirt, "coelum aut coenura." {De Vir. III. 66; Flor. iii. 17.) It was probably the exhaus- tion of the public treasury produced by such lavish expenditure that induced him to debase the sil- ver coinage by the alloy of one-eighth part of brass. (Plin. //. A, xxxiii. 18.) Presumptuous, arrogant, and rash, he assumed a station to which he was not entitled by authority and experience, notwithstanding the splendour of his birth and the power of his eloquence. But his energy went far (as energy like his always will do) in silencing oppo- sition, and begetting submission to his will. Once, when the senate invited his attendance at their place of meeting, he -sent a message in answer :

  • ^ Let them come to me — to the Curia Hostilia,

near the Rostra," and they were so .abject as to obey. (Val. Max. ix. .5. Cum senatus ad eum mi9iss(?t, ut in Curiam veniret. 'Quare non potius,' inquit, * ipse in Hostiliam, propinquiun Rostris, id est, ad me venit y This passjige is remarkable for the opposition between Curia and Hostilia; whereas it is ordinarily stated that, in classical writers. Curia, without more, denotes the Curia Hostilia.) Such conduct naturally produced a reaction of feeling among some proud nuMi, who had a high Sense of their own importance, saw the false posi- tion in which their party was placed, and disliked piishing effrontery. In Cicero {de Oral. iii. 1, 2) we find a description of a scene full of turbulence and indecorum, where Philippus, the consul, in- veighs against the senate, while Drusus and the orator Crassus withstand him to the face. From the knovn politics of the persons concerned, this scene is exceedingly difficult to explain ; but we believe that it occurred at a period in the career of Dnisus when he had not yet identified himself with the formidable cabals of the Latins and Ita- lians, and when, in spite of his popular measures, he still retained the confidence of the senate, from his resistance to the equites. We believe that the haughty Philippus upbraided the senate for their complaisance to Drusus in favouring the plebs, and that it was the unmeasured rebuke of the aristocrat u-hich roused the esprit de corps of the senator Crassus. We know from other sources that Phi- lippus opposed the passing of the agrarian laws of Drusus, and internipted the tribune while he was liaranguing the assembly ; whereupon Drusus sent DRUSUS. one of his clients, instead of the regular viator, to arrest the consul. (Val. Max. ix. 5. § 2 ; Florus, iii. 17, and Auct. de Vir. III. vary slightly from each other and from Valerius Maxinuis.) This order was executed with extreme violence, and Philippus was collared so tightly, that the blood started from his nostrils ; upon which Drusus, taunting the luxurious epicurism of the consul, cried out, " Psha ! it is only the gravy of thrushes." (Schottus, ad Auct. de Vir. III. 66.) Having thus bought over the people (who used to rise and shout when he appeared), and having, by promising to procure for them all the rights of citizenship, induced the Latini and Italic socii to assist him, Drusus was able, by force and intimi- dation, to carry through his measures concerning the judicia ( " legem judiciariam pertulit^' Liv. J£pU. Ixxi.). Some writers, following Liv. Epi/, Ixxi., speak of his sharing the judicia between thr senate and the equites ; but his intention seems to have been entirely to transfer the judicia to the senate ; for, without any positive exclusion of the equites and lower orders, as long as senators were eligible, it is probtible that no names but those of senatoi-s would be placed by the praetors upon the lists of judices. (Puchta, Insl'dutionen., i. § 71.) We accept the circumstantial statement of Appian {D. C. i. ."Jo), according to which the law of Drusus provided that the senate, now reduced below the regular number of 300, should be reinforced by the introduction of an equal number of new mem- bers selected from the most distinguished of the equites ; and enacted that the senate, thus doubled in mmiber, should possess the judicia. The law seems to have been silent .as to .any express exclu- sion of the equites; but it might be implied from its language that such exclusion was contemplated, and, so far as its positive enactment referred to the new members, they were entitled to be placed on the list of judices, qua 8en.ators, not qxux equites. Nor w.as there any prospective regulation for sup- plying from the equestrijin order vacancies in the judicial lists. To this part of the law w.as added a second part, appointing a commission of inquiry into the bribery and corruption which the equites had practised while in exclusive possession of the judici.a. (Appian, I.e.; compare Cic. pro Rabir. Post. 7, pro CI mid. 56.) After Dnisus had so far succeeded, the reaction set in rapidly and strongly. The Romans, who were usually led as much by feeling as by calcula- tion, required to be m.an.aged with peculiar tact and delicacy; but Drusus had a rough way of going to work, which, even in the moment of suc- cess, set in array against him the vanity and pre- judices of public men ; and in his measures them- selves there appeared to be a species of trimming, which, while it seemed intended to displease none, was ultimately found to be imsatisfactory to all. It maybe th.at he was actuated by a single-minded desire to do equal justice to .all, and to remedy abuses wherever they might lurk, careless of the offence which his reforms might give ; but even his panegyrists among the ancients do not view his character in this light. Whatever else were his motives (and we believe them to have been complex — multa farie m^liebatur), he appeared to be the slave of m.any masters. Mob-popularity is at best but fleeting, and those of the people who h.ad not been favoured with the distriljiition of lands were discontented at the luck of their mor**