JUVENAL, SATIRE X
he condemned? Who informed against him? What was the evidence, who the witnesses, who made good the case?"—"Nothing of the sort; a great and wordy letter came from Capri."[1]—"Good; I ask no more."
72And what does the mob of Remus say? It follows fortune, as it always does, and rails against the condemned. That same rabble, if Nortia had smiled upon the Etruscan,[2] if the aged Emperor had been struck down unawares, would in that very hour have conferred upon Sejanus the title of Augustus. Now that no one buys our votes, the public has long since cast off its cares; the people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions and all else, now meddles no more and longs eagerly for just two things—Bread and Games!
81"I hear that many are to perish."—"No doubt of it; there is a big furnace ready."—"My friend Brutidius[3] looked a trifle pale when I met him at the Altar of Mars. I tremble lest the defeated Ajax should take vengeance for having been so ill-defended."[4]—"Let us rush headlong and trample on Caesar's enemy, while he lies upon the bank!"—"Ay, and let our slaves see us, that none bear witness against us, and drag their trembling master into court with a halter round his neck."
88Such was the talk at the moment about Sejanus; such were the mutterings of the crowd. And would you like to be courted like Sejanus? To be as rich
- ↑ Tiberius was living in grim solitude in his rock fortress on the island of Capreae when he sent to the Senate the famous letter—the verbosa et grandis epistola—which hurried Sejanus to his doom on the 18th of October, A.D. 29. (The passage in Tacitus which described the whole event is unfortunately lost; but the fine account of Dion Cassius is given in my Annals of Tacitus, vol. i. pp. 341–353 — G. G. R.).
- ↑ Sejanus was a native of Volsinii in Etruria; Nortia was the Etruscan Goddess of Fortune.
- ↑ A famous orator.
- ↑ Apparently Ajax here stands for Tiberius, who, it is thought, may revenge himself by punishing those who have not sufficiently guarded his person.
