 book 11 part a of the annals by Publius Cornelius Tacitus this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Claude Banta the annals by Publius Cornelius Tacitus translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderieb book 11 AD 47 to 48 part a during the reign of Claudius translators note the four following books and the beginning of book 11 which are lost contained the history of a period of nearly 10 years from AD 37 to AD 47 these years included the reign of Chia Caesar Caligula the son of Germanicus by the elder Agrippina and the first six years of the reign of Claudius Chia Caesar's reign was three years ten months and eight days in duration Claudius Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus the brother of Germanicus succeeded him at the age of 50 and reigned from AD 41 to AD 54 the 11th book of the annals opens with the 7th year of Claudius's reign the power of his wife Messalina was then at its height she was it seems jealous of a certain Popea Sabina who was mentioned in book 13 as having surpassed in beauty all the ladies of her day this Popea was the daughter of the Popea Sabinas alluded to in book 6 and the mother of the more famous Popea afterwards the wife of the Emperor Nero Messalina contrived to involve this lady and her lover the larious Asiaticus in a ruinous charge Asiaticus had been twice consul once under Chia Caesar a second time under Claudius in AD 46 he was rich as well as noble the 11th book as we have it begins with the account of his prosecution by means Missalina who with the help of Lucius Vitellius Vitellius father of the Vitellius afterwards emperor affected his ruin Messalina believed that the larious Asiaticus who had been twice consul was one of Popea's old lovers at the same time she was looking greedily at the gardens which Lucullus had begun and which Asiaticus was now adorning with singular magnificence and so she suborned Suilius to accuse both him and Popea with Suilius was associated so Sibius tutor to Britannicus who was to give Claudius and apparently friendly warning to beware of a power and wealth which threatened the throne Asiaticus he said had been the ringleader in the murder of a Caesar and then had not fear to face an assembly of the Roman people to own the deed and challenge its glory for his own thus grown famous in the capital and with the renown widely spread through the provinces he was planning a journey to the armies of Germany born at Vienna and supported by numerous and powerful connections he would find it easy to rouse nations a lie to his house Claudius made no further inquiry but sent Crispinus commander of the Praetorians with troops in hot haste as though to put down a revolt Crispinus found him at bay loaded him with chains and hurried him to Rome no hearing before the senate was granted him it was in the emperor's chamber in the presence of Messalina that he was heard there Suilius accused him of corrupting the troops of binding them by bribes and indulgences to share in every crime of adultery with Popea and finally of unmanly vice it was at this last that the accused broke silence and burst out with the words question thy own son Suilius they will own my manhood then he entered on his defense Claudius he moved profoundly and he even drew tears from Messalina but as she left the chamber to wipe them away she warned Vitellius not to let the man escape she hastened herself to affect Popea's destruction and hired agents to drive her to suicide by the terrors of a prison Caesar meanwhile was so unconscious that a few days afterwards he asked her husband Scipio who was dining with him why he sat down to table without his wife and was told in reply that she had paid the debt of nature when Claudius began to deliberate about the acquittal of Asiaticus Vitellius with tears in his eyes spoke of his old friendship with the accused and of their joint homage to the Emperor's mother Antonia he then briefly reviewed the services of Asiaticus to the state his recent campaign in the invasion of Britain and everything else which seemed likely to win compassion and suggested that he should be free to choose his death Claudius's reply was in the same tone of mercy some friends urged on Asiaticus the quiet death of self-starvation but he declined it with thanks he took his usual exercise then bathed and dined cheerfully and saying that he had better have fallen by the craft of Tiberius or the fury of Chia Caesar than by the treachery of a woman and the shameless mouth of Vitellius he opened his veins but not till he had inspected his funeral pyre and directed its removal to another spot lest the smoke should hurt the thick foliage of the trees so complete was his calmness even to the last the senators were then convoked and Suillius proceeded to find new victims in two nights of the first rank who bore the surname of Petra the real cause of their destruction was that they had lent their house for the meetings of Nestor and Popeia but it was a vision of the night that was the actual charge against one of them he had it was alleged beheld Claudius crowned with a garland of wheat the ears of which were turned downwards and from this appearance he foretold scanty harvests some said that it was a vine reef of which the leaves were white which he saw and that he interpreted it to signify the death of the emperor after the turn of autumn it is however beyond dispute that in consequence of some dream whatever it was both the man and his brother perished fifteen hundred thousand cester seas and the decorations of the prayer leadership were voted to crispiness Vitellius bestowed a million on Sosibius for giving Britannicus the benefit of his teaching and Claudius that of his councils I may add that when Scipio was called on for his opinion he replied as I think what all men think about the deeds of popeia suppose me to say what all men say a graceful compromise this between the affection of the husband and the necessities of the senator Suellius after this plied his accusations without cessation or pity and his audacity had many rivals by assuming to himself all the functions of laws and magistrates the emperor had left exposed everything which invited plunder and of all articles of public merchandise nothing was more venal than the treachery of advocates thus it happened that one Sammias a Roman knight of the first rank who had paid four hundred thousand cester seas to Suellius stabbed himself in the advocate's house on ascertaining his collusion with the adversary upon this following the lead of Silius console elect whose elevation and fall I shall in due course relate the senators rose in a body and demanded the enforcement of the Sincian law an old enactment which forbade any one to receive a fee or a gift for pleading a cause when the men at whom this strong censure was leveled loudly protested Silius who had a quarrel with Suellius attacked them with savage energy he cited as examples the orders of old who had thought fame with posterity the fairest recompense of eloquence and apart from this he said the first noble accomplishments was debased by sorted services and even good faith could not be upheld in its integrity when men looked at the greatness of their gains if lawsuits turned to no one's profit there would be fewer of them as it was quarrels accusations hatreds and wrongs were encouraged in order that as the violence of disease brings fees to the physician so the corruption of the forum might enrich the advocate they should remember Caius Assini and Missala and in later days Aruntius and Eserninius men raised by a blameless life and by eloquence to the highest honors so spoke the console elect and others agreed with him a resolution was being framed to bring the guilty under the law of extortion when Suellius and Kosotianus and the rest who saw themselves threatened with punishment rather than trial for their guilt was manifest gathered round the emperor and prayed forgiveness for the past when he had not it is sent they began to plead their cause who they asked can be so arrogant as to anticipate in hope and eternity of renown it is for the needs and the business of life that the resource of eloquence is acquired thanks to which no one for want of an advocate is at the mercy of the powerful but eloquence cannot be obtained for nothing by that affairs are neglected in order that a man may devote himself to the business of others some support life by the profession of arms some by cultivating land no work is expected from anyone of which he has not before calculated the profits it was easy for a sinious and Missala enriched with the prizes of the conflict between Anthony and Augustus it was easy for Aruntius and Eserninius the heirs of wealthy families to assume grand heirs we have examples at hand how great were the fees for which Publius Clodius and Cius Curia were want to speak we are ordinary senators seeking in the tranquility of the state for none but peaceful gains you must consider the plebeian how he gains distinction from the gown take away the rewards of a profession and the profession must perish the emperor thought that these arguments though less noble were not without force he limited the fee which might be taken to ten thousand cestrices and those who exceeded this limit were liable to the penalties of extortion about this same time Mithridates of whom I have before spoken as having ruled Armenia and having been in prison by order of Kaya Caesar made his way back to his kingdom at the suggestion of Clodius and in reliance on the help of far Samanis this far Samanis who was the king of the Iberians and Mithridates his brother now told him that the Parthians were divided and that the highest questions of empire being uncertain lesser matters were neglected go Tarsis among his many cruelties had caused the death of his brother Artebanis with wife and son hence his people feared for themselves and sent for Vardani's ever ready for daring achievements Vardani's traversed three hundred and seventy five miles in two days and drove before him the surprised and terrified go Tarsis without moments delay he seized the neighboring governments solutia alone refusing his rule rage against the place which indeed had also revolted from his father rather than considerations of policy made him embarrass himself with the siege of a strong city which the defense of a river flowing by it with fortifications and supplies had thoroughly secured go Tarsis meanwhile aided by the resources of the Dahi and her canyons renewed the war and Vardani's compelled to raise the siege of solutia and camped on the plains of Bactria then it was that while the forces of the east were divided and hesitated which side they should take the opportunity of occupying Armenia was presented to Mithridates who had the vigorous soldiers of Rome to storm the fortified heights while his Iberian cavalry scoured the plane the Armenians made no resistance after their governor to Monax had ventured on a battle and had been routed Cotes king of lesser Armenia to whom some of the nobles inclined to cost some delay but he was stopped by a dispatch from Claudius and then everything passed into the hands of Mithridates who showed more cruelty than was wise in a new ruler the party in princes however just when they were beginning battle came to a sudden agreement on discovering a plot among their people which go Tarsis revealed to his brother at first they approached each other with hesitation then joining right hand they promised before the altars of their gods to punish the treachery of their enemies and to yield one to the other Vardani's seemed more capable of retaining rule go Tarsis to avoid all rivalry retired into the depths of Hurcania when Vardani's returned Solucia capitulated to him seven years after its revolt little to the credit of the Parthians whom a single city had so long defied he then visited the strongest governments and was eager to recover Armenia but was stopped by Vibious Marces governor of Syria who threatened war meanwhile go Tarsis who repented of having relinquished his throne at the solicitation of the nobility to whom subjection is a special hardship in peace collected a force Vardani's marched against him to the river Charinda a fierce battle was fought over the passage Vardani's winning a complete victory and in a series of successful engagements subduing the intermediate tribes as far as the river Cindy's which is the boundary between the Dahi and the Aryans there his success is terminated the Parthians victorious though they were rebelled against distant service so after erecting monuments on which he recorded his greatness and the tribute won from peoples from whom no Araskid had won it before he returned covered with glory and therefore the more haughty and more intolerable to his subjects than ever they arranged a plot and slew him when he was off his guard and intent upon the chase he was still in his first youth and might have been one of the illustrious few among aged princes had he sought to be loved by his subjects as much as to be feared by his foes the murder of Vardani's through the affairs of Parthia into confusion as the people were in doubt who should be summoned to the throne many inclined to go tarsis some to meher datis a descendant of fratis who was a hostage in our hands finally go tarsis prevailed established in the palace he drove the Parthians by his cruelty and profligacy to send a secret entity to the roman emperor that meher datis might be allowed to mount the throne of his ancestors it was during this consulship in the 800th year after the foundation of Rome and the 64th after their celebration by augustus that the secular games were exhibited i say nothing of the calculations of the two princes which i have sufficiently discussed in my history of the emperor domitian for he also exhibited secular games at which indeed being one of the priesthood of the 15 and prayer at the time i specially assisted it is in no boastful spirit that i mention this but because this duty has immemorially belonged to the college of the 15 and the prayers have performed the chief functions in these ceremonies while claudius sat to witness the games of the circus some of the young nobility acted on horseback the battle of trey among them was britannicus the emperor son and lucius domitius who became soon afterwards by adoption heir to the empire with the surname of nero the stronger popular enthusiasm which greeted him was taken to presage his greatness it was commonly reported that snakes had been seen by his cradle which they seemed to guard a fabulous tale invented to match the marvels of other lands nero never a disparager of himself was want to say that but one snake at most had been seen in his chamber something however of popular favor was bequeathed to him from the remembrance of germanicus whose only male descendant he was and the pity felt for his mother agrippina was increased by the cruelty of mesalina who always her enemy and then more furious than ever was only kept from planning an accusation and suborning informers by a new and almost insane passion she had grown so frenetically enamored of kaia cilius the handsomest of the young nobility of rom that she drove from his bed junia selana a high-born lady and had her lover holy to herself cilius was not unconscious of his wickedness and his peril but a refusal would have ensured destruction and he had some hope of escaping exposure the prize too was great so he consult himself by awaiting the future and enjoying the present as for her careless of concealment she went continually with a numerous retinue to his house she haunted his steps showered him on wealth and honors and at last as though empire had passed to another the slaves the freedmen the very furniture of the emperor were to be seen in the possession of the paramour claudius meanwhile who knew nothing about his wife and was busy with his functions as censor published edicts severely rebuking the lawlessness of the people in the theater when they insulted kaia's pomponious an ex-consul who furnished verses for the stage and certain ladies of rank he introduced to a law restraining the cruel greed of the usurers and forbidding them to lend at interest some's repayable on a father's death he also conveyed by an aqueduct into rome the waters which flow from the hills of simberwa and he likewise invented and published for use some new letters having discovered as he said that even the greek alphabet had not been completed at once it was the egyptians who first symbolized ideas and that by the figure of animals these recordings the most ancient of all human history are still seen engraved on stone the egyptians also claim to have invented the alphabet which the finitions they say by means of their superior seamanship introduced into greece and of which they appropriated the glory giving out that they had discovered what they had really been taught tradition indeed says that cadmus visiting greece in a finnishin fleet was the teacher of this art to its yet barbarous tribes according to one account it was circrops of athens or linus of thebes or palmades of argos intrusion times who invented the shapes of 16 letters and others chiefly simnades added the rest in italy the atrarians learnt them from demiratus of Corinth and the aborigines from the arcadian avander and so the latin letters have the same form the oldest greek characters at first two our alphabet was scanty and additions were afterwards made following this precedent claudius added three letters which were employed during his reign and subsequently disused these may still be seen on the tablets of brass set up in the squares and temples on which new statutes are published claudius then brought before the senate the subject of the college of haru spices that as he said the oldest of italian sciences might not be lost through negligence it had often happened in evil days for the senate that advisors had been summoned at whose suggestions ceremonies had been restored and observed more duly for the future the nobles of uturia whether of their own accord or at the instigation of the roman senate had retained this science making it the inheritance of distinct families it was now less cellously studied through the general indifference to all sound learning and to the growth of foreign superstitions at present all is well but we must show gratitude to the favor of heaven by taking care that the rights observed during times of peril may not be forgotten in prosperity a resolution of the senate was accordingly passed charging the pontiffs to see what should be retained or reformed with respect to the haru spices it was in the same year that the shuruski asked rome for a king they had lost all their nobles in their civil wars and there was left but one scion of the royal house italicus by name who lived at rome on the father's side he was descended from flavus the brother of arminius his mother was a daughter of catumeres chief of the shati the youth himself was of distinguished beauty a skillful horseman and swordsman both after our fashion and that of his country so the emperor made him a present of money furnished him with an escort and made him enter with a good heart on the honors of his house never before he said had a native of rome no hostage but a citizen gone to mount a foreign throne at first his arrival was welcome to the germans and they crowded to pay him court for he was untainted by any spirit of faction and showed the same hardy goodwill to all practicing sometimes the courtesy and temperance which can never offend but often are those excesses of wine and lust in which barbarians delight he was winning fame among his neighbors and even far beyond them when some who had found their fortune in party feuds jealous of his power fled to the tribes on the border protesting that germany was being robbed of her ancient freedom and that the might of rome was on the rise is there really they said no native of this country to fill the place of king without raising the son of the spy flavus above all his fellows it is idle to put forward the name of arminius had even the son of arminius come to the throne after growing to manhood on a hostile soil he might well be dreaded corrupted as he would be by the bread of dependence by slavery by luxury by all foreign habits but if italicus had his father's spirit no man be it remembered had ever waged war against his country and his home more savagely than that father by these and like appeals they collected a large force no less numerous were the partisans of italicus he was no intruder they said on an unwilling people he had obeyed a call superior as he was to all others in noble birth should they not put his valor to the test and see whether he showed himself worthy of his uncle arminius and his grandfather catamaris he'd need not blush because his father had never relinquished the loyalty which with the consent of the germans he had promised to rome the name of liberty was a lying pretext in the mouths of men who base in private dangerous in public life had nothing to hope except from civil discord the people enthusiastically applauded him after a fierce conflict among the barbarians the king was victorious subsequently in his good fortune he fell into a despot's pride was dethroned was restored by the help of the lango bardi and still in prosperity or adversity did mischief to the interests of the shuruskin nation it was during the same period that the show see free as it happened from dissension at home and emboldened by the death of sankininius made while corbelo was on his way an inroad into lower germany under the leadership of ganascus the man was of the tribe of the conin fates had served long as our auxiliary had then deserted and getting some light vessels had made peratical descents especially on the coast of gall inhabited he knew by a wealthy and unwarlike population corbelo meanwhile entered the province with careful preparation and soon winning a renown of which that campaign was the beginning he brought his triremes of the channel of the rine and the rest of his vessels of the estuaries and canals to which they were adapted having sunk the enemy's flotilla driven out ganascus and brought everything into good order he restored the discipline of former days among legions which had forgotten the labors and toils of the soldier and delighted only in plunder no one was to fall out of the line no one was to fight without orders at the outposts on guard in the duties of day and of night they were always to be under arms one soldier it was said had suffered death for working at the trenches without his sword another for wearing nothing as he dug but his poignard these extreme and possibly false stories at least had their origin in the general's real severity we may be sure that he was strict and implacable to serious offenses when such sternness in regard to trifles could be believed of him the fear thus inspired variously affected his own troops and the enemy our men gained fresh valor the barbarians felt their pride broken the frisians who had been hostile or disloyal since the revolt which had been begun by the defeat of lucius or pronius gave hostages and settled down on territories marked out by corbelo who at the same time gave them a senate magistrates and a constitution that they might not throw off their obedience he built a fort among them while he sent envoys to invite the greater xiaosi to submission and to destroy ganascus by stratagem this stealthy attempt on the life of a deserter and a traitor was not unsuccessful nor was it anything ignoble yet the xiaosi were violently roused by the man's death and corbelo was now sowing the seeds of another revolt thus getting a reputation which many liked but of which many thought ill why men asked was he irritating the foe his disasters will fall on the senate if he is successful so famous a hero will be a danger to peace and a formidable subject for a timid emperor claudius accordingly forbade fresh attacks on germany so emphatically as to order the garrisons to be withdrawn to the left bank of the rine end of book 11 part a book 11 part b of the annals by pubulius cornelius tacitus this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org recording by claud banta the annals by pubulius cornelius tacitus translated by alfred john church and william jackson brodrieb book 11 ad 47 to 48 part b during the reign of claudius corbelo was actually preparing to encamp on hostile soil when the despatch reached him surprised as he was and many as were the thoughts which crowded on him thoughts of peril from the emperor of scorn from the barbarians of ridicule from the allies he said nothing but this happy the roman generals of old and gave the signal for retreat to keep his soldiers free from sloth he dug a canal of 23 miles in length between the rine and the muse as a means of avoiding the uncertain perils of the ocean the emperor though he had forbidden war yet granted him triumphal distinctions soon afterwards curtius rufus obtained the same honor he had opened mines in the territory of the mariasi for working certain veins of silver the produce was small and soon exhausted the toil meanwhile on the legions was only to a loss while they dug channels for water and constructed below the surface works which are difficult enough in the open air worn out by the labor and knowing that similar hardships were endured in several provinces the soldiers wrote a secret despatch in the name of the armies begging the emperor to give an advanced triumphal distinctions to one to whom he was about to entrust his forces of the birth of curtius rufus whom some affirm to have been the son of a gladiator i would not publish a falsehood while i shrink from telling the truth on reaching manhood he attached himself to a quaster to whom africa had been allotted and was walking alone at midday in some unfrequented arcade in the town of ardu metham when he saw a female figure of more than human stature and heard a voice though rufus aren't the man who will one day come into this province as pro console raised high in hope by such a presage he returned to roam where through the lavish expenditure of his friends and his own vigorous ability he obtained the quaster ship and subsequently in competition with well-born candidates the prayatorship by the vote of the emperor tiberius who threw a veil over the discredit of his origin saying curtius rufus seems to me to be his own ancestor afterwards throughout a long old age of surly psychopancy to those above him of arrogance to those beneath him and of moroseness among his equals he gained the high office of the consul ship triumphal distinctions and at last the province of africa there he died and so fulfilled the presage of his destiny at roam meanwhile without any motive then known or subsequently ascertained neus nonius a roman knight was found wearing a sword amid a crowd who were paying their respects to the emperor the man confessed his own guilt when he was being torn in pieces by torture but gave up no accomplices perhaps having none to hide during the same consul ship publius dolabella proposed that a spectacle of gladiators should be annually exhibited at the cost of those who obtained the quaster ship in our ancestors days this honor had been a reward of virtue and every citizen with good qualities to support him was allowed to compete for office at first there were no distinctions even of age which prevented a man in his early youth from becoming a consul or a dictator the quaasters indeed were appointed while the king still ruled and this the revival by brutus of the lex courata plainly shows the consuls retained the power of selecting them till the people bestowed this office as well as others the first so created were valerious potitus and amelius mammarchus 63 years after the expulsion of the tarkins and they were to be attached to the war department as the public business increased two more were appointed to attend to affairs at roam this number was again doubled when to the contributions of italy was added the tribute of the provinces subsequently silla by one of his laws provided that 20 should be elected to fill up the senate to which he had entrusted judicial functions these functions the knights afterwards recovered but the quaster ship was obtained without expense by merit in the candidates or by the good nature of the electors till at dola bella's suggestion it was to speak put up to sail in the consul ship of olas fatilius and lucius vipstanus the question of filling up the senate was discussed and the chief men of gallia comata as it was called who had long possessed the rights of allies and of roman citizens sought the privilege of obtaining public offices at roam there was much talk of every kind on the subject and it was argued before the emperor with vehement opposition italy it was asserted is not so feeble as to be unable to furnish its own capital with a senate once our native born citizens suffice for peoples of our own kin and we are by no means dissatisfied with the roam of the past to this day we cite examples which under our old customs the roman character exhibited as to valour and renown it is a small thing that the veneti and ensubres have already burst into the senate house unless a mob of foreigners a troop of captives so to say is now forced upon us what distinctions will be left for the remnants of our noble houses or for any impoverished senators from latium every place will be crowded with these millionaires whose ancestors of the second and third generations at the head of hostile tribes destroyed our armies with fire and sword and actually beseeched the divine julius adelisia these are recent memories what if there were to rise up the remembrance of those who fell in roam citadel and at her altar by the hands of these same barbarians let them enjoy indeed the title of citizens but let them not vulgarize the distinctions of the senate and the honors of office these and like arguments failed to impress the emperor he at once addressed himself to answer them and thus harangued the assembled senate my ancestors the most ancient of whom was made at once a citizen and a noble of roam encourage me to govern by the same policy of transferring to this city all conspicuous merit wherever found and indeed i know as facts that the juliai came from alba the carun sani from kimarium the porcy from tusculum and not to inquire too minutely into the past that new members have been brought into the senate from yaturia and lucania and the whole of italy that italy itself was at last extended to the alps to the end that not only single persons but entire countries and tribes might be united under our name we had unshaken peace at home we prospered in all our foreign relations in the days when italy beyond the po was admitted to share our citizenship and when enrolling in our ranks the most vigorous of the provincials under color of settling our legions throughout the world we recruited our exhausted empire are we sorry that the balbi came to us from spain and other men not less illustrious from narbonne gall their descendants are still among us and do not yield to us in patriotism what was the ruin of sparta and athens but this that mighty as they were in war they spurned from them as aliens those whom they had conquered our founder romulus on the other hand was so wise that he fought as enemies and then hailed as fellow citizens several nations on the very same day strangers have reigned over us that freedmen's sons should be entrusted with public offices is not as many wrongly think a sudden innovation but was a common practice in the old commonwealth but it will be said we have fought with the senons i suppose that the volcy and akiyé never stood in a ray against us our city was taken by the galls well we also gave hostages to the atruscans and passed under the yoke of the samnites on the whole if you review all our wars never has one been finished in a shorter time than that with the galls thenceforth they have preserved an unbroken and loyal peace united as they now are with us by manners education and intermarriage let them bring us their gold and their wealth rather than enjoy it in isolation everything senators which we now hold to be of the highest antiquity was once new plebeian magistrates came after patrician latin magistrates after plebeian magistrates of other italian peoples after latin this practice too will establish itself and what we are this day justifying by precedence will be itself a precedent the emperor's speech was followed by a decree of the senate and the edui were the first to obtain the rights of becoming senators at rome this complement was paid to their ancient alliance and to the fact that they alone of the galls cling to the name of brothers of the roman people about the same time the emperor enrolled in the ranks the patricians such senators as were of the oldest families and such as had had distinguished ancestors there were now but scanty relics of the greater houses of romulus and of the lesser houses of lucius brutus as they had been called and those who were exhausted which the dictator caesar by the casian law and the emperor augustus by the sanian law had chosen into their place these acts as being welcome to the state were undertaken with hearty gladness by the imperial censor anxiously considering how he was to rid the senate of men of notorious infamy he preferred a gentle method recently devised to one which accorded with the sternness of antiquity and advised each to examine his own case and seek the privilege of laying aside his rank permission he said would be readily obtained he would publish in the same list those who had been expelled and those who had been allowed to retire that by this confounding together of the decision of the censors and the modesty of voluntary resignation the disgrace might be softened for this the consul vip stanus moved that claudius should be called father of the senate the title of father of the country had he argued been indiscriminately bestowed new services ought to be recognized by unusual titles the emperor however himself stopped the consul's flattery as extravagant he closed the lustrum the census for which gave a total of five million nine hundred eighty four thousand and seventy two citizens then two ended his blindness as to his domestic affairs he was soon compelled to notice and punish his wife's infamies till he afterwards craved passionately for an unhallowed union mesalina now grown wary of the very facility of her adulteries was rushing into strange accesses when even cilius either threw some fatal infatuation or because he imagined that amid the dangers which hung over him danger itself was the best safety urged the breaking off of all concealment they were not he said in such an extremity as to have to wait for the emperor's old age harmless measures were for the innocent crime once exposed had no refuge but in audacity they had accomplices in all who feared the same fate for himself as he had neither wife nor child he was ready to marry and to adopt britannicus mesalina would have the same power as before with the additional advantage of a quiet mind if only they took claudius by surprise who though unsuspicious of treachery was hasty in his wrath the suggestion was coldly received not because the lady loved her husband but from a fear that cilius after attaining his highest hopes would spurn an adulterous and soon estimate at its true value the crime which in the midst of peril he had approved but she craved the name of wife for the sake of the monstrous infamy that last source of delight to the reckless she waited only till claudius set out for austia to perform a sacrifice and then celebrated all the solemnities of marriage i am well aware that it will seem a fable that any persons in the world could have been so obtuse in a city which knows everything and hides nothing much more that these persons should have been a consul elect and the emperor's wife that on an appointed day before witnesses duly summoned they should have come together as if for the purpose of legitimate marriage that she should have listened to the words of the bridge groom's friends should have sacrificed to the gods have taken her place among a company of guests have lavished her kisses and caresses and past the night in the freedom which marriage permits but this is no story to excite wonder i do but relate what i have heard and what our fathers have recorded the emperor's court indeed shuddered its powerful personages especially the men who had much to fear from a revolution from secret whisperings they passed to loud complaints when an actor they said imprudently thrust himself into the imperial chamber it certainly brought scandal to the state but we were a long way from ruin now a young noble of stately beauty of vigorous intellect with the near prospect of the consul ship is preparing himself for a loftier ambition there can be no secret about what is to follow such a marriage doubtless there was thrill of alarm when they thought of the apathy of claudius of his devotion to his wife and of the many murders perpetrated at mesalina's bidding on the other hand the very good nature of the emperor inspired confident hope that if they could overpower him by the enormity of the charge she might be condemned and crushed before she was accused the critical point was this that he should not hear her defense and that his ears should be shut even against her confession at first calistas of whom i have already spoken in connection with the assassination of kaius cesar narcissus who had contrived the death of apias and paulis who was then in the height of favor debated whether they might not by secret threats turn mesalina from her passion for cilius while they concealed all else then fearing that they would be themselves involved in ruin they abandoned the idea paulis out of cowardice and calistas from his experience in a former court remembering that prudent rather than vigorous councils ensure the maintenance of power narcissus persevered only so far changing his plan as not to make her aware beforehand by a single word what was the charge or who was the accuser then he eagerly watched his opportunity and as the emperor lingered long at ostia he sought to of the mistresses to whose society claudius was especially partial and by gifts by promises by dwelling on the power increased by the wise fall he induced them to undertake the work of the informer on this calpurnia that was the woman's name as soon as she was allowed a private interview through herself at the emperor's knees crying out that mesalina was married to cilius at the same time she asked clio patra who was standing near her and waiting for the question whether she knew it clio patra nodding ascent she begged that narcissus might be summoned narcissus intrigued pardon for the past for having concealed the scandal while confined to a vedius or a plautius even now he said he would not make charges of adultery and seem to be asking back the palace the slaves and the other belongings of imperial rank the cilius might enjoy only he must give back the wife and annul the act of marriage do you know he said of your divorce the people the army the senate saw the marriage of cilius acted once or the new husband his master of rome claudius then summoned all his most powerful friends first he questioned terrianus superintendent of the corn market next lucius gata who commanded the praetorians when they confessed the truth the whole company clamored in concert that he must go to the camp must assure himself of the praetorian cohorts must think of safety before he thought of vengeance it is quite certain that claudius was so overwhelmed by terror that he repeatedly asked whether he was indeed in possession of the empire whether cilius was still a subject meselina meanwhile more wildly profligate than ever was celebrating in mid-autumn a representation of the vintage in her new home the presses were being trodden the vats were overflowing women girt with skins were dancing as bacchanal's dance in their worship or their frenzy meselina with flowing hair shook the thyrsus and cilius at her side crowned with ivy and wearing the booskin moved his said to some lascivious chorus it is said that one vetius valens climbed a very lofty tree in sport and when they asked him what he saw replied a terrible storm from austia possibly such appearance had begun possibly a word dropped by chance became a prophecy meanwhile no mere rumor but messengers from all parts brought the news that everything was known to claudius and that he was coming bent on vengeance meselina upon this went to the gardens of lucullus cilius to conceal his fear to his business in the forum the other guests were flying in all directions when the centurions appeared and put everyone in irons where they found them either in public streets or in hiding meselina though her peril took away all power of thought promptly resolved to meet and face her husband a course in which she had often found safety while she bade britannicus and octavia hasten to embrace their father she besought vividia the eldest of the vestial virgins to demand audience of the supreme pontiff and to beg for mercy meanwhile with only three companions so lonely did she find herself in a moment she traversed the whole length of the city and mounting on a cart used to remove garden refuse proceeded along the road to austia not pitied so overpoweringly hideous were her crimes by a single person there was equal alarm on the emperor's side they put but little trust in gata who commanded the pretorians a man swayed with good cause to good or evil narcissus in concert with others who dreaded the same fate declared that the only hope of safety for the emperor lay in his transferring for that one day the command of the soldiers to one of the freedmen and he offered to undertake it himself and that claudius might not be induced by lucius vitellius and largesa sena to repent while he was riding into rome he asked and took a seat in the emperor's carriage it was currently reported in after times that while the emperor broke into contradictory exclamations now in veying against the infamies of his wife and now returning in thought to the remembrance of his love and of his infant children vitellius said nothing but what audacity what wickedness narcissus indeed kept pressing him to clear up his ambiguities and let the truth be known but still he could not prevail upon him to utter anything that was not vague and susceptible of any meeting which might be put on it or upon largesa sena to do anything but follow his example and now meselina had presented herself and was insisting that the emperor should listen to the mother of octavia and britannicus when the accuser roared out at her the story of sillius and her marriage at the same moment to draw caesars eye away from her he handed him some papers which detailed her debaucheries soon afterwards as he was entering rome his children by meselina were to have shown themselves had not narcissus ordered their removal vividia he could not repel when with a vehemently indignant appeal she demanded that a wife should not be given up to death without a hearing so narcissus replied that the emperor would hear and that she should have an opportunity of disproving the charge meanwhile the holy virgin was to go and discharge her sacred duties all throughout claudius preserved a strange silence vitelius seemed unconscious everything was under the freedman's control by his order the paramours house was thrown open and the emperor conducted thither first on the threshold he pointed out the statue of sillius's father which a decree of the senate had directed to be destroyed next how the heirlooms of the neroes and the drussey had been degraded into the price of infamy then he led the emperor furious and bursting out in menace into the camp where the soldiers were purposely assembled claudius spoke to them a few words at the dictation of narcissus shame indeed checked the utterance even of a righteous anger instantly there came a shout from the cohorts demanding the names of the culprits and their punishment brought before the tribunal sillius sought neither defense nor delay but begged that his death might be hastened a light courage made several nights of the first rank desirous of a speedy doom titius proclas who had been appointed to watch mesalina and was now offering his evidence veteus volans who confessed his guilt together with pompeus ubricas and sofleus trogas from among her accomplices were ordered to execution desius calpereanus too commander of the watch silpiceus rufus who had the charge of the games and juncus virgilianus a senator were similarly punished menester alone occasioned a pause rending off his clothes he insisted on claudius looking at the scars of his stripes and remembering his words when he surrendered himself without reserve to mesalina's bidding the guilt of others had been the result of presence or of large promises his of necessity he must have been the first victim had sillius obtained empire caesar was touched by his appeal and inclined to mercy but his freedmen prevailed on him not to let any indulgence be shown to a playa when so many illustrious citizens had fallen it mattered not whether he had sinned so greatly from choice or compulsion even the defense of traulus montanas a roman knight was not admitted a young man of pure life yet of singular beauty he had been summoned and dismissed within the space of one knight by mesalina who was equally capricious in her passions and dislikes in the case of cilius saisonius and plautius lateranus the extreme penalty was remitted the ladder was saved by the distinguished services of his uncle the former by his very vices having amid that abominable throng submitted to the worst degradation mesalina meanwhile in the gardens of lukalis was struggling for life and writing letters of entreaty as she alternated between hope or rid fury in her extremity it was her pride alone which forsook her had not narcissus hurried on her death ruin would have recoiled on her accuser claudius had returned home to an early banquet then in softened mood when the wine had warmed him he bade someone go and tell the poor creature this is the word they say he used to come the morrow and plead her cause hearing this seeing too that his wrath was subsiding and his passion returning and fearing in the event of delay the effect of approaching night and conjugal recollections narcissus rushed out and ordered the centurions and the tribunes who were on guard to accomplish the deed of blood such he said was the emperor's bidding evidus one of the freedmen was appointed to watch and complete the affair hurrying on before with all speed to the gardens he found mesalina stretched upon the ground while by her side sat lepida her mother who though estranged from her daughter in prosperity was now melted to pity by her inevitable doom and urged her not to wait for the executioner life she said was over all that could be looked for was honor in death but in that heart utterly corrupted by profligacy nothing noble remained she still prolonged her tears and idle complaints till the gates were forced opened by the rush of the newcomers and there stood at her side the tribune sternly silent and the freedmen overwhelming her with the copious insults of the servile tongue then for the first time she understood her fate and put her hand to a dagger in her terror she was applying it ineffectually to her throat and breast when a blow from the tribune drove it through her her body was given up to her mother claudius was still at the banquet when they told him that mesalina was dead without mentioning whether it was by her own or another's hand nor did he ask the question but called for the cup and finished his repast as usual during the days which followed he showed no sign of hatred or joy or anger or sadness in a word of any human emotion either when he looked on her triumphant accusers or on her weeping children the senate assisted his forgetfulness by decreeing that her name and her statues should be removed from all places public or private to narcissus were voted the decorations of the quaster ship a mere trifle to the pride of one who rose in the height of his power above palas and calistas end of book 11 book 12 part one of the annals by pubulus conelius tacitus this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by felipa the annals by pubulus conelius tacitus translated by alfred john church and william jackson broadrib book 12 ad 48 to 54 part one claudius's freedmen choose his niece agrippina as his wife the destruction of mesalina shook the imperial house for a strife arose among the freedmen who should choose a wife for claudius impatient as he was of a single life and submissive to the rule of wives the ladies were fired with no less jealousy each insisted on her rank beauty and fortune and pointed to her claims to such a marriage but the keenest competition was between lolia paulina the daughter of marcus lolius in ex-concel and julia agrippina the daughter of germanicus calistus favored the first palas the second ilia paitina however of the family of the tuberones had the support of narcissus the emperor who inclines now one way now another as he listened to this or that advisor summoned the disputants to a conference and bad them express their opinions and give their reasons narcissus dwelt on the marriage of years gone by on the tie of offspring for paitina was the mother of antonia and on the advantage of excluding a new element from his household by the return of a wife to whom he was accustomed and who would assuredly not look with a step mother's animosity on britannicus and octavia who were next in her affections to her own children calistus argued that she was compromised by her long separation and that were she to be taken back she would be supercilious on the strength of it it would be far better to introduce a lolia for as she had no children of her own she would be free from jealousy and would take the place of a mother toward her stepchildren palas again selected agrippina for special commendation because she would bring with her germanicus his grandson who was thoroughly worthy of imperial rank the scion of a noble house and a link to unite the descendants of the claudian family he hoped that a woman who was the mother of many children and still in the freshness of youth would not carry off the grandeur of the caesars to some other house this advice prevailed backed up as it was by agrippina's charms on the pretext of her relationship she paid frequent visits to her uncle and so won his heart that she was preferred to the others and though not yet his wife already possessed a wife's power for as soon as she was sure of her marriage she began to aim at greater things and planned an alliance between demitius her son by knaeus aina barbus and octavia the emperor's daughter this could not be accomplished without a crime for the emperor had betrothed octavia to lucius silanus a young man otherwise famous whom he had brought forward as a candidate for popular favor by the honor of triumphal distinctions and by a magnificent gladiatorial show but no difficulty seemed to be presented by the temper of a sovereign who had neither partialities nor dislikes but such as was suggested and dictated to him vitalius accordingly who used the name of censor to screen a slave's trickeries and looked forward to new despotisms already impending associated himself in agrippina's plans with a view to her favor and began to bring charges against silanus whose sister junior calvina a handsome and lively girl had shortly before become his daughter-in-law here was the starting point for an accuser vitalius put an infamous construction on the somewhat unconscious though not criminal love between the brother and sister the emperor listened for his affection for his daughter inclined him the more to admit suspicions against his son-in-law silanus meanwhile who knew nothing of the plot and happened that year to be pride or was suddenly expelled from the senate by an edict of vitalius though the role of senators had been recently reviewed and the lustrum closed claudius at the same time broke off the connection silanus was forced to resign his office and the one remaining day of his prior to ship was conferred on eprius marcellus in the year of the consulship of chaius pompaeus and quintus veranius the marriage arranged between claudius and agrippina was confirmed both by popular rumour and by their own illicit love still they did not yet dare to celebrate the nuptials in due form for there was no precedent for the introduction of a niece into an uncle's house it was positively incest and if disregarded it would people feared issue in calamity to the state these scruples ceased not till vitalius undertook the management of the matter in his own way he asked the emperor whether he would yield to the recommendations of the people and to the authority of the senate when claudius replied that he was one among the citizens and could not resist their unanimous voice vitalius requested him to wait in the palace while he himself went to the senate protesting that the supreme interest of the commonwealth was at stake he begged to be allowed to speak first and then began to urge that the very burdensome labours of the emperor in a worldwide administration required assistance so that free from domestic cares he might consult the public welfare how again could there be a more virtuous relief for the mind of an imperial censor than the taking of a wife to share his prosperity and his troubles to whom he might entrust his inmost thoughts and the care of his young children unused as he was to luxury and pleasure and won't from his earliest youth to obey the laws vitalius having first put forward these arguments in a conciliatory speech and met with decided acquiescence from the senate began afresh to point out that as they all recommended the emperor's marriage they ought to select a lady conspicuous for noble rank and purity herself to the mother of children it cannot he said belong a question that agrippina stands first in nobility of birth she has given proof to that she is not barren and she has suitable moral qualities it is again a singular advantage to us due to divine providence for a widow to be united to an emperor who has limited himself to his own lawful wives we have heard from our fathers we have ourselves seen that married women were seized at the caprice of the caesars this is quite alien to the propriety of our day rather let a precedent be now set for the taking of a wife by an emperor but it will be said marriage with a brother's daughter is without a novelty true but it is common in other countries and there is no law to submit it marriages of cousins were long unknown but after a time they became frequent custom adapts itself to expediency and this novelty will hereafter take its place among recognized usages there were some who rushed out of the senate passionately protesting that if the emperor hesitated they would use violence a promiscuous throng assembled and kept exclaiming that the same too was the prayer of the roman people claudius without further delay presented himself in the forum to their congratulations then entering the senate he asked from them a decree which should decide that for the future marriages between uncles and brothers daughters should be legal there was however found only one person who desired such a marriage a lady a severus a roman knight who as many said was swayed by the influence of agrippina then came a revolution in the state and everything was under the control of a woman who did not like mesolina insult Rome by loose manners it was a stringent and so to say masculine despotism there was sternness and generally arrogance in public no sort of immodesty at home unless it conduced to power a boundless greed of wealth was veiled under the pretext that riches were being accumulated as a prop to the throne on the day of the marriage silanus committed suicide having up to that time prolonged his hope of life or else choosing that day to heighten the popular indignation his sister calvina was banished from italy claudius further added that sacrifices after the ordinances of king tullius and atonements were to be offered by the pontiffs in the grove of diana amid general ridicule at the idea devising penalties and propitiations for incest at such a time agrippina that she might not be conspicuous only by her evil deeds procured for aneas senica a remission of his exile and with it the pritorship she thought this would be universally welcome from the celebrity of his attainments and it was her wish too for the boyhood of demitious to be trained under so excellent an instructor and for them to have the benefit of his councils in their designs on the throne for senica it was believed was devoted to agrippina from a remembrance of her kindness and an enemy to claudius from a bitter sense of wrong it was then resolved to delay no longer memius polio the consul-elect was induced by great promises to deliver a speech praying claudius to betrove octavia to demitious the match was not unsuitable to the age of either and was likely to develop still more important results polio introduced the motion in much the same language as vitelius had lately used so octavia was betrothed and demitious besides his previous relationship became now the emperor's affianced son-in-law and an equal of britannicus through the exertions of his mother and the cunning of those who had been the accusers of mesalina and feared the vengeance of her son about the same time an embassy from the Parthians which had been sent as i have stated to solicit the return of mehedates was introduced into the senate and delivered a message to the following effect they were not they said unaware of the treaty of alliance nor did their coming imply any revolt from the family of the azerkids indeed even the son of von ones fraates grandson was with them in their resistance to the despotism of gothazis which was alike intolerable to the nobility and to the people already brothers relatives and distant kin had been swept off by murder after murder wives actually pregnant and tender children were added to gothazis victims while slothful at home and unsuccessful in war he made cruelty a screen for his feebleness between the Parthians and ourselves there was an ancient friendship founded on a state alliance and we ought to support allies who are our rivals in strength and yet yielded to us out of respect king's sons were given those hostages in order that when pathia was tired of home rule it might fall back on the emperor and the senate and receive from them a better sovereign familiar with roman habits in answer to these and like arguments claudius began to speak of the grandeur of Rome and the submissive attitude of the Parthians he compared himself to the divine augustus from whom he reminded them they had sought a king but omitted to mention Tiberius though he too had sent them sovereigns he added some advice for mehedates who was present and told him not to be thinking of a despot and his slaves but rather of a ruler among fellow citizens and to practice clemency and justice which barbarians would like them more for being unused to them then he turned to the envoys and bestowed high praise on the young foster son of Rome as one whose self-control had hitherto been exemplary still he said they must bear with the caprices of kings and frequent revolutions were bad Rome sated with her glory had reached such a height that she wished even foreign nations to enjoy repose upon this cias cassius governor of Syria was commissioned to escort the young prince to the bank of the affrates cassius was at that time pre-eminent for legal learning the profession of the soldier is forgotten in a quiet period and peace reduces the enterprising and indolent to inequality but cassius as far as it was possible without war revived ancient discipline kept exercising the legions in short used as much diligence and precaution as if an enemy were threatening him this conduct he counted worthy of his ancestors and of the cassian family which had won renown even in those countries he then summoned those at whose suggestion a king had been sought from Rome and having encamped at Zoigma where the river was most easily affordable and awaited the arrival of the chief men of Parthia and of Akbaris king of the Arabs he reminded me had artis that the impulsive enthusiasm of barbarians soon flags from delay or even changes into treachery and that therefore he should urge on his enterprise the advice was disregarded through the perfidy of akbaris by whom the foolish young prince who thought that the highest position merely meant self-indulgence was detained for several days in the town of Edessa although a certain Karenes pressed them to come and promised easy success if they hastened their arrival they did not make for Mesopotamia which was close to them but by a long detour for Armenia then ill suited to their movements as winter was beginning as they approached the plains wearied with the snows and mountains they were joined by the forces of Karenes and having crossed the river Tigris they traversed the country of the Adiabene whose king Izates had avowedly embraced the alliance of Mejadates though secretly and in better faith he inclined to Gotazes in their march they captured the city of Ninos the most ancient capital of Assyria and a fortress historically famous as the spot where at the last battle between Darius and Alexander the power of Persia fell Gotazes meanwhile was offering vows to the local divinities on a mountain called Sambulos with special worship of Hercules who at a stated time bids the priests in a dream equip horses for the chase and place them near his temple when the horses have been laden with quivers full of arrows they scour the forest and at length return at night with empty quivers panting violently again the god in a vision of the night reveals to them the track along which he roamed through the woods and everywhere slaughtered beasts are found Gotazes his army not being yet in sufficient force made the river Korma a line of defense and though he was challenged to an engagement by taunting messages he contrived delays shifted his positions and sent emissaries to corrupt the enemy and bribe them to throw off their allegiance is artis of the adiabene and then acbarus of the Arabs deserted with their troops with their countrymen's characteristic fickleness confirming previous experience that barbarians prefer to seek a king from Rome than to keep him Mehadat is stripped of his powerful auxiliaries and suspecting treachery in the rest resolved as his last resource to risk everything and try the issue of a battle nor did Gotazes who was emboldened by the enemy's diminished strength refuse the challenge they fought with terrible courage and doubtful result till Karenes who having beaten down all resistance had advanced too far was surprised by a fresh detachment in his rear then Mehadat is in despair yielded to promises from parakeas one of his father's adherents and was by his treachery delivered in chains to the conqueror Gotazes taunted him with being no kinsmen of his or of the azerkids but a foreigner and a roman and having cut off his ears but him live a memorial of his own clemency and a disgrace to us after this Gotazes fell ill and died and Vonone's who then ruled the Medes was summoned to the throne he was memorable neither for his good nor bad fortune he completed a short and inglorious reign and then the empire of Parthia passed to his son Vologesis. Mithridati's of Bosporus meanwhile who had lost his power and was mere outcast on learning that the roman general Didius and the main strength of his army had retired and that Cotis a young prince without experience was left in his new kingdom with a few cohorts under Julius Aquila a roman knight disdaining both roused the neighbouring tribes and drew deserters to his standard at last he collected an army drove out the king of the Dandaradai and possessed himself of his dominions when this was known and the invasion of Bosporus was every moment expected Aquila and Cotis seeing that hostilities had been also resumed by Zorsines king of the Syracchi distrusted their own strength and themselves too sought the friendship of the foreigner by sending envoys to Eunones who was then chief of the Adorsi there was no difficulty about alliance when they pointed to the power of Rome in contrast with the rebel Mithridati's it was accordingly stipulated that Eunones should engage the enemy with his cavalry and the Romans undertake the siege of towns then the army advanced in regular formation the Adorsi in the van and the rear while the center was strengthened by the cohorts and native troops of Bosporus with roman arms thus the enemy was defeated and they reached Sosa a town in Dandaraca which Mithridati's had abandoned where it was thought expedient to leave a garrison as the timber of the people was uncertain next they marched on the Syracchi and after crossing the river Panda besieged the city of Uspe which stood on high ground and had the defense of wall and fossils only the walls not being of stone but of hurdles and wicker work with earth between were too weak to resist an assault towers were raised to a greater height as a means of annoying the besieged with brands and darts had not nights stopped the conflict the siege would have begun and finished within one day next day they sent an embassy asking mercy for the freeborn and offering ten thousand slaves as it would have been inhuman to slay the prisoners and very difficult to keep them under guard the conquerors rejected the offer preferring that they should perish by the just doom of war the signal for massacre was therefore given to the soldiers who had mounted the walls by scaling ladders the destruction of Uspe struck terror into the rest of the people who sought safety impossible when they saw how armies and ramparts heights and difficult positions rivers and cities alike yielded to their foe and so Zorcine's having long considered whether he should still have regard to the fallen fortunes of Mithridati's or to the kingdom of his fathers and having at last preferred his country's interests gave hostages and prostrated himself before the emperor's image to the great glory of the roman army which all men knew to have come after a bloodless victory within three days march of the river Taneus in their return however fortune was not equally favorable some of their vessels as they were sailing back were driven on the shores of the towery and cut off by the barbarians who slew the commander of a cohort and several centurions meanwhile Mithridati's finding arms an unavailing resource considered on whose mercy he was to throw himself he feared his brother Qotis who had once been a traitor then become his open enemy no roman was on the spot of authority sufficient to make his promises highly valued so he turned to you known is who had no personal animosity against him and had been lately strengthened by his alliance with us adapting his dress and expression of countenance as much as possible to his present condition he entered the palace and throwing himself at the feet of you known is he exclaimed Mithridati's whom the romans have sought so many years by land and sea stands before you by his own choice deal as you please with the descendant of the great achaemenis the only glory of which enemies have not robbed me the great name of Mithridati's his reverse his prayer full of dignity deeply affected you known is he raised the suppliant and commended him for having chosen the nation of the adorci and his own good faith in suing for mercy he sent at the same time envoys to Caesar with a letter to this effect that friendship between emperors of Rome and sovereigns of powerful peoples was primarily based on a similarity of fortune and that between himself and Claudius there was the tie of a common victory wars had glorious endings whenever matters were settled by an amnesty the concords or senors had on this principle been deprived of nothing for Mithridati's as he deserved heavier punishment he asked neither power nor dominions only that he might not be led in triumph and pay the penalty of death Claudius though merciful to foreign princes was yet in doubt whether it were better to receive the captive with the promise of safety or to claim his surrender by the sword to this last he was urged by resentment at his wrongs and by thirst for vengeance on the other hand it was argued that it would be undertaking a war in a country without roads on a harbourless sea against warlike kings and wandering tribes on a barren soil that a weary disgust would come of tardy movements and perils of precipitancy that the glory of victory would be small while much disgrace would ensue on defeat why should not the emperor seize the offer and spare the exile whose punishment would be the greater the longer he lived in poverty moved by these considerations Claudius wrote to Unones that Mithridati's had certainly merited an extreme and exemplary penalty which he was not wanting in power to inflict but it had been the principle of his ancestors to show as much forbearance to a supliant as they showed persistence against a foe as for triumphs they were one of nations and kings hitherto unconquered after this Mithridati's was given up and brought to Rome by Junius Chilo the procurator of Pontus there in the emperor's presence he was said to have spoken too proudly for his position and words uttered by him to the following effect became the popular talk I have not been sent but have come back to you if you do not believe me let me go and pursue me he stood too with fearless countenance when he was exposed to the people's gaze near the rostra and a military guard to Chilo and Aquila were voted respectively the consular and praetorian decorations in the same consulship Agrippina who was terrible in her hatred and detested lolia for having competed with her of the emperor's hand planned an accusation through an informer who was to tax her with having consulted astrologers and magicians and the image of the clarion Apollo about the imperial marriage upon this Claudius without hearing the accused first reminded the senate of her illustrious rank that the sister of Lucius Volusius was her mother Cotta Messolinas her granduncle Memius Regulus formerly her husband for of her marriage to Chius Caesar he purposely said nothing and then added that she had mischievous designs on the state and must have the means of crime taken from her consequently her property should be confiscated and she herself banished from Italy thus out of immense wealth only five million sistercies were left to the exile Calpurnia too a lady of high rank was ruined simply because the emperor had praised her beauty in a casual remark without any passion for her and so Agrippina's resentment stopped short of extreme vengeance a tribune was dispatched to lolia who was to force her to suicide next on the prosecution of the Bithynians Cadius Rufus was condemned under the law against extortion Nabon Gaul for its special reverence of the senate received a privilege senators belonging to the province without seeking the emperor's approval were to be allowed to visit their estates a right enjoyed by Sicily Itureia and Judea on the death of their kings Sohamus and Agrippa were annexed to the province of Syria it was also decided that the augury of the public safety which for 25 years had been neglected should be revived and henceforth observed the emperor likewise widened the sacred precincts of the capital in conformity with the ancient usage according to which those who had enlarged the empire were permitted also to extend the boundaries of Rome but Roman generals even after the conquest of great nations had never exercised this right except Lucius Sulla and the divine Augustus there are various popular accounts of the ambitious and vanglorious efforts of our kings in this matter still I think it is interesting to know accurately the original plan of the precinct as it was fixed by Romulus from the ox market where we see the brazen statue of a bull because that animal is yoked to the plough a furrow was drawn to mark out the town so as to embrace the great altar of Hercules then at regular intervals stones were placed along the foot of the Palatine hill to the altar of Consus soon afterwards to the old courts and then to the chapel of La Runda the Roman forum and the capital were not it was supposed added to the city by Romulus but by Titus Taceus in time the precinct was enlarged with the growth of Rome's fortunes the boundaries now fixed by Claudius may be easily recognized as they are specified in the public records end of book 12 part 1 book 12 part 2 of the annals by Publius Cornelius Tacitus this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Philippa the annals by Publius Cornelius Tacitus translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Broderib book 12 AD 48 to 54 part 2 Claudius's son Britannicus supplanted by Agrippina's son Nero in the consulship of Caius Anticius and Marcus Suilius the adoption of Demitius was hastened on by the influence of Palas bound to Agrippina first as the promoter of her marriage then as her paramour he still urged Claudius to think of the interests of the state and to provide some support for the tender years of Britannicus so he said it had been with the divine Augustus whose step-sons though he had grandsons to be his stay had been promoted Tiberius too though he had offspring of his own had adopted Germanicus Claudius would also do well to strengthen himself with the young prince who could share his cares with him overcome by these arguments the emperor preferred Demitius to his own son though he was but two years older and made a speech in the senate the same in substance as the representations of his freedmen it was noted by learned men that no previous example of adoption into the patrician family of the Claudii was to be found and that from Atas Clausus there had been one unbroken line however the emperor received formal thanks and still more elaborate flattery was paid to Demitius a law was passed adopting him into the Claudian family with the name of Nero Agrippina too was honoured with the title of Augusta when this had been done there was not a person so void of pity as not to feel keen sorrow at the position of Britannicus gradually forsaken by the very slaves who waited on him he turned into ridicule the ill timed attentions of his stepmother perceiving their insincerity for he is said to have had by no means a dull understanding and this is either a fact or perhaps his perils won him sympathy and so he possessed the credit of it without actual evidence Agrippina to show her power even to the allied nations procured the dispatch of a colony of veterans to the chief town of the Ubi where she was born the place was named after her a gripper her grandfather had as it happened received this tribe when they crossed the Rhine under our protection during the same time there was a panic in upper Germany through an eruption of plundering bands of chat I there upon Lucius Pompeonius who was in command directed the Vangiones and Nemetes with the allied cavalry to anticipate the raid and suddenly to fall upon them from every quarter while they were dispersed the general's plan was backed up by the energy of the troops these were divided into two columns and those who marched to the left cut off the plunderers just on their return after a riotous enjoyment of their spoil when they were heavy with sleep it added to the men's joy that they had rescued from slavery after forty years some survivors of the defeat of a virus the column which took the right hand and the shorter route inflicted greater loss on the enemy who met them and ventured on a battle with much spoil and glory they returned to Mount Taunus where Pompeonius was waiting with the legions to see whether the chat I in their eagerness for vengeance would give him a chance of sighting they however fearing to be hemmed in on one side by the Romans on the other by the Cherusci with whom they are perpetually at feud sent envoys and hostages to Rome to Pompeonius was decreed the honor of a triumph a mere fraction of his renown with the next generation with whom his poems constitute his chief glory at this same time Vanius whom Drusus Caesar had made king of the Suevi was driven from his kingdom in the commencement of his reign he was renowned and popular with his countrymen but subsequently with long possession he became a tyrant and the enmity of neighbors joined to intestine strife was his ruin Vibilius king of the Hemonduri and Vangio and Cedo sons of a sister of Vanius led the movement Claudius though often entreated declined to interpose by arms in the conflict of the barbarians and simply promised Vanius a safe refuge in the event of his expulsion he wrote instructions to Publius Atelier's history governor of Pannonia that he was to have his legions with some picked auxiliaries from the province itself encamped on the riverbank as a support to the conquered and a terror to the conqueror who might otherwise in the elation of success disturb also the peace of our empire for an immense host of liggy with other tribes was advancing attracted by the fame of the opulent realm which Vanius had enriched during thirty years of plunder and of tribute Vanius his own native force was infantry and his cavalry was from the Iazages of Samatia an army which was no match for his numerous enemy consequently he determined to maintain himself in fortified positions and protract the war but the Iazages who could not endure a siege dispersed themselves throughout the surrounding country and rendered an engagement inevitable as the liggy and Hermunduri had there rushed to the attack so Vanius came down out of his fortresses and though he was defeated in battle notwithstanding his reverse he won some credit by having fought with his own hand and received wounds on his breast he then fled to the fleet which was awaiting him on the Danube and was soon followed by his adherents who received grants of land and were settled in Pannonia Zangio and Cedo divided his kingdom between them they were admirably loyal to us and among their subjects whether the cause was in themselves or in the nature of despotism much loved while seeking to acquire power and yet more hated when they had acquired it meanwhile in Britain Publius Ostorius the proprietor found himself confronted by disturbance the enemy had burst into the territories of our allies with all the more fury as they imagined that a new general would not march against them with winter beginning and with an army of which he knew nothing Ostorius well aware that first events are those which produce alarm or confidence by a rapid movement of his light cohorts cut down all who opposed him pursued those who fled and lest they should rally and so an unquiet and treacherous peace might allow no rest to the general and his troops he prepared to disarm all whom he suspected and to occupy with encampments the whole country to the Avon and Seven the Isenai a powerful tribe which war had not weakened as they had voluntarily joined our alliance or the first to resist at their instigation the surrounding nations chose as a battlefield a spot walled in by a rude barrier with a narrow approach impenetrable the cavalry through these defenses the roman general though he had with him only the allied troops without the strength of the legions attempted to break and having assigned their positions to his cohorts he equipped even his cavalry for the work of infantry then at a given signal they forced the barrier routing the enemy who were entangled in their own defenses the rebels conscious of their guilt and finding escape barred performed many noble feats in this battle Marius Ostorius general's son won the reward for saving a citizen's life the defeat of the Isenai quieted those who were hesitating between war and peace then the army was marched against the kanji their territory was ravaged spoiled taken everywhere without the enemy venturing on an engagement or if they attempted to harass our march by stealthy attacks their cunning was always punished and now ostorius had advanced within a little distance of the sea facing the island hibernia when feuds broke out among the brigantes and compelled the general's return for it was his fixed purpose not to undertake any fresh enterprise till he had consolidated his previous successes the brigantes indeed when a few who were beginning hostilities had been slain and the rest pardoned settled down quietly but on the silures neither terror nor mercy had the least effect they persisted in war and could be quelled only by legions encamped in their country that this might be the more promptly affected a colony of a strong body of veterans was established at camel adunum on the conquered lands as a defense against the rebels and as a means of imbuing the allies with respect for our laws the army then marched against the silures and naturally fierce people and now full of confidence in the might of caracticus who by many an indecisive and many a successful battle had raised himself far above all the other generals of the britains inferior in military strength but deriving an advantage from the deceptiveness of the country he at once shifted the war by a stratagem into the territory of the order visis where joined by all who dreaded peace with us he resolved on a final struggle he selected a position for the engagement in which advance and retreat alike would be difficult for our men and comparatively easy for his own and then on some lofty hills wherever their sides could be approached by a gentle slope he piled up stones to serve as a rampart a river too of varying depth was in his front and his armed bands were drawn up before his defenses then to the chieftains of the several tribes went from rank to rank encouraging and confirming the spirit of their men by making light of their fears kindling their hopes and by every other warlike incitement as for caracticus he flew hither and thither protesting that that day and that battle would be the beginning of the recovery of their freedom or of everlasting bondage he appealed by name to their forefathers who had driven back the dictator Caesar by whose valour they were free from the roman axe and tribute and still preserved in violet the persons of their wives and of their children while he was thus speaking the host shouted applause every warrior bound himself by his national oath not to shrink from weapons or wounds such enthusiasm confounded the roman general the river too in his face the rampart they had added to it the frowning hilltops the stern resistance and masses of fighting men everywhere apparent daunted him but his soldiers insisted on battle claiming that valour could overcome all things and the prefects and tribunes with similar language stimulated the ardour of the troops ostorius having ascertained by a survey the inaccessible and the assailable points of the position led on his furious men and crossed the river without difficulty when he reached the barrier as long as it was a fight with missiles the wounds and the slaughter fell chiefly on our soldiers but when he had formed the military testudo and the rude ill-compacted fence of stones was torn down and it was an equal hand to hand engagement the barbarians retired to the heights yet even there both light and heavy armed soldiers rushed to the attack the first harassed the foe with missiles while the latter closed with them and the opposing ranks of the britains were broken destitute as they were of the defense of breast plates or helmets when they faced the auxiliaries they were felled by the swords and javelins of our legionaries if they wheeled round they were again met by the sabers and spears of the auxiliaries it was a glorious victory the wife and daughter of caracticas were captured and his brothers too were admitted to surrender there is seldom safety for the unfortunate and caracticas seeking the protection of cartes mandua queen of the brigantes was put in chains and delivered up to the conquerors nine years after the beginning of the war in britain his fame had spread thence and traveled to the neighbouring islands and provinces and was actually celebrated in italy all were eager to see the great man who for so many years had defied our power even at Rome the name of caracticas was no obscure one and the emperor while he exalted his own glory enhanced the renown of the vanquished the people were summoned as to a grand spectacle the praetorian cohorts were drawn up under arms in the plain in front of their camp then came a procession of the royal vassals and the ornaments and neck chains and the spoils which the king had won in wars with other tribes were displayed next were to be seen his brothers his wife and daughter last of all caracticas himself all the rest stooped in their fear to abject supplication not so the king who neither by humble look nor speech sought compassion when he was set before the emperor's tribunal he spoke as follows had my moderation in prosperity been equal to my noble birth and fortune I should have entered this city as your friend rather than as your captive and you would not have disdained to receive under a treaty of peace a king descended from illustrious ancestors and ruling many nations my present lot is as glorious to you as it is degrading to myself I had men and horses arms and wealth what wonder if I parted with them reluctantly if you romans choose to lord it over the world does it follow that the world is to accept slavery what I to have been at once delivered up as prisoner neither my fall nor your triumph would have become famous my punishment would be followed by oblivion whereas if you save my life I shall be an everlasting memorial of your clemency upon this the emperor granted pardon to caracticus to his wife and to his brothers released from their bonds they did homage also to agrippina who sat near conspicuous on another throne in the same language of praise and gratitude it was indeed a novelty quite alien to ancient manners for a woman to sit in front of roman standards in fact agrippina boasted that she was herself a partner in the empire which her ancestors had won the senate was then assembled and speeches were delivered full of pompous eulogy on the capture of caracticus it was as glorious they said as the display of cyphax by scipio of or of persies by lucius paulus or indeed of any captive prince by any of our generals to the people of rome triumphal distinctions were voted to ostorius who thus far had been successful but soon afterwards met with reverses either because when caracticus was out of the way our discipline was relaxed under an impression that the war was ended or because the enemy out of compassion for so great a king was more ardent in his thirst for vengeance instantly they rushed from all parts on the camp prefect and legionary cohorts left to establish fortified positions among the celures and had not speedy sucker arrived from towns and fortresses in the neighbourhood our forces would then have been totally destroyed even as it was the camp prefect with eight centurions and the bravest of the soldiers were slain and shortly afterwards the foraging party of our men with some cavalry squadrons sent to their support was utterly routed ostorius then deployed his light cohorts but even thus he did not stop the flight till our legions sustained the brunt of the battle their strength equalised the conflict which after a while was in our favour the enemy fled with trifling loss as the day was on the decline now began a series of skirmishes for the most part like raids in woods and marathas with encounters due to chance or to courage to mere heedlessness or to calculation to fury or to lust of plunder under directions from the officers or sometimes even without their knowledge conspicuous above all in stubborn resistance were the celures whose rage was fired by words rumoured to have been spoken by the roman general to the effect that as the suganbri had been formally destroyed or transplanted into gall so the name of the celures ought to be blotted out accordingly they cut off two of our auxiliary cohorts the rapacity of whose officers let them make incautious forays and by liberal gifts of spoil and prisoners to the other tribes they were luring them too into revolt when ostorius worn out by the burden of his anxieties died to the joy of the enemy who thought that a campaign at least though not a single battle had proved fatal to a general whom none could despise the emperor on hearing of the death of his representative appointed aulus didius in his place that the province might not be left without a governor didius though he quickly arrived found matters far from prosperous for the legion under the command of man lius valens had meanwhile been defeated and the disaster had been exaggerated by the enemy to alarm the new general while he again magnified it that he might win them all glory by quelling the movement or have a fairer excuse if it lasted this loss too had been inflicted on us by the celures and they were scouring the country far and wide till didius hurried up and dispersed them after the capture of caracticus the newtius of the begantis as i've already mentioned was preeminent in military skill he had long been loyal to roam and had been defended by our arms while he was united in marriage to the queen cartis mandua subsequently a quarrel broke out between them followed instantly by war and he then assumed a hostile attitude also towards us at first however they simply fought against each other and cartis mandua by cunning stratagems captured the brothers and kinsfolk of the newtius this enraged the enemy who was stung with shame at the prospect of falling under the dominion of a woman the flower of their youth picked out for war invaded her kingdom this we had foreseen some cohorts were sent to her aid and a sharp contest followed which was at first doubtful but had a satisfactory termination the legion under the command of caesius nasica fought with the similar result for didius burdened with years and covered with honors was content with acting through his officers and merely holding back the enemy these transactions though occurring under two proprietors and occupying several years i have closely connected less if related separately they might be less easily remembered i now return to the chronological order in the fifth consulship of tiberius claudius with sextius cornelius or fetus for his colleague nero was prematurely invested with the dress of manhood that he might be thought qualified for political life the emperor willingly complied with the flatteries of the senate who wished nero to enter on the consulship in his 20th year and meanwhile as consul elect to have pro consular authority beyond the limits of the capital with the title of prince of the youth of rome a donative was also given to the soldiery in nero's name and presence to the city populace at the games too of the circus which were then being celebrated to win for him popular favor britannicus will the dress of boyhood nero the triumphal robe as they rode in the procession the people would thus behold the one with the decorations of a general the other in a boy's habit and would accordingly anticipate their respective destinies at the same time those of the centurions and tribunes who pitied the lot of britannicus were removed some on false pretexts others by way of a seeming compliment even of the freedmen all who were of incorruptible fidelity were discarded on the following provocation once when they met nero greeted britannicus by that name and was greeted in return as domicius agrippina reported this to her husband with bitter complaint as the beginning of a quarrel as implying in fact contempt of nero's adoption and a cancelling at home of the senate's decree and the people's vote she said too that if the perversity of such malignant suggestions were not checked it was issue in the ruin of the state claudius enraged by what he took as a grave charge punished with banishment or death all his son's best instructors and set persons appointed by his stepmother to have the care of him still agrippina did not yet dare to attempt her greatest scheme unless lucius gatea and rufius crispiness were removed from the command of the praetorian cohorts for she thought that they cherished mesalina's memory and were devoted to her children accordingly as the emperor's wife persistently affirmed that faction was rife among these cohorts through the rivalry of the two officers and that there would be stricter discipline under one commander the appointment was transferred to burrus afranius who had a brilliant reputation as a soldier but knew well to whose wish he owed his promotion agrippina too continued to exalt her own dignity she would enter the capital in a chariot a practice which being allowed of old only to the priests and sacred images increased the popular reverence for a woman who up to this time was the only recorded instance of one who an emperor's daughter was sister wife and mother of a sovereign meanwhile her foremost champion vitelius in the full tide of his power and in extreme age so uncertain of the fortunes of the great was attacked by an accusation of which junius lupus a senator was the author he was charged with treason and designs on the throne the emperor would have lend a ready ear had not agrippina by threats rather than in treaties induced him to sentence the accuser to outlawry this was all that vitelius desired several prodigies occurred in that year birds of evil omen perched on the capital houses were thrown down by frequent shocks of earthquake and as the panic spread all the week were trodden down in the hurry and confusion of the crowd scanty crops too and consequent famine were regarded as token of calamity nor were there merely whispered complaints while Claudius was administering justice the populace crowded round him with a boisterous clamour and drove him to a corner of the forum where they violently pressed on him till he broke through the furious mob with the body of soldiers it was ascertained that Rome had provisions for no more than 15 days and it was through the signal bounty of heaven and the mildness of the winter that its desperate plight was relieved and yet in past days italy used to send supplies for the legions into distant provinces and even now it is not a barren soil which causes distress but we prefer to cultivate africa and egypt and trust the life of the roman people to ships and all their risks end of book 12 part 2