camp near at hand; but for a Tiberius, who possessed no attractive qualities, and who was, perhaps, as much disliked by the citizens as he was feared by the nobles, such a bulwark may have been indispensable.
Plots, or the suspicion of them, thickened very soon after the reins of government were placed in the hands of Sejanus. The upper classes, who looked on the Claudian prince as a supplanter of the Julian line, yet more deeply resented the intrusion of one whom they regarded as an upstart—the obscure offspring of a borough town (municipalis), having no ancestral claims on their respect, and whose family name had never been inscribed on the calendar of consuls (Fasti). Like the favorite counsellor of Augustus, Sejanus came of an old Etruscan house; but Mæcenas had never risen above the rank of a knight, and was modest in his demeanour and habits of life. On the contrary, the man whom Tiberius delighted to honor was notorious for his arrogance, and the higher he rose in public rank or imperial favor, the more he was fawned upon and hated. When Cæsar indeed proclaimed the virtues of this lucky adventurer, who would dare to call them in question? In everything the emperor, now advanced in years, weary of public business, and conscious that he was detested by a majority of the Roman citizens, gave way to Sejanus. The weak bent to the strong will—the man who could rise no higher to the man who was still climbing up ambition's ladder. So ostentatious was his favor, perhaps, for a while, so sincere his friendship, that, in his speeches and letters to the senate, Tiberius frequently made honorable mention of Sejanus. He was his guide, his other self, in the government of the empire. Careless of public
