« Dio 57.17 | Dio 57.18 | Dio 57.19 | About This Work »
18Germanicus, having acquired a reputation by his campaign against the Germans, advanced as far as the ocean, inflicted an overwhelming defeat upon the barbarians, collected and buried the bones of those who had fallen with Varus, and won back the military standards.
2The senate urged upon Tiberius the request that the month of November, on the sixteenth day of which he had been born, should be called Tiberius; but he replied: “What will you do, then, if there are thirteen Caesars?”
3Later, when Marcus Junius and Lucius Norbanus assumed office, an omen of no little importance occurred on the very first day of the year, and it doubtless had a bearing on the fate of Germanicus. The consul Norbanus, it seems, had always been devoted to the trumpet, and as he practised on it assiduously, he wished to play the instrument on this occasion, also, at dawn, when many persons were already near his house. 4This proceeding startled them all alike, just as if the consul had given them a signal for battle; and they were also alarmed by the falling of the statue of Janus. They were furthermore disturbed not a little by an oracle, reputed to be an utterance of the Sibyl, which, although it did not fit this period of the city’s history at all, was nevertheless applied to the situation then existing. 5It ran:
“When thrice three hundred revolving years have run their course, Civil strife upon Rome destruction shall bring, and the folly, too, Of Sybaris . . .”Tiberius, now, denounced these verses as spurious and made an investigation of all the books that contained any prophecies, rejecting some as worthless and retaining others as genuine.
6At the death of Germanicus Tiberius and Livia were thoroughly pleased, but everybody else was deeply grieved. He was a man of the most striking physical beauty and likewise of the noblest spirit, and was conspicuous alike for his culture and for his strength. Though the bravest of men against the foe, he showed himself most gentle with his countrymen; 7and though as a Caesar he had the greatest power, he kept his ambitions on the same plane as weaker men. He never conducted himself oppressively toward his subjects or with jealousy toward Drusus or in any reprehensible way toward Tiberius. 8In a word, he was one of the few men of all time who have neither sinned against the fortune allotted to them nor been destroyed by it. Although on several occasions he might have obtained the imperial power, with the free consent not only of the soldiers but of the people and senate as well, he refused to do so. 9His death occurred at Antioch as the result of a plot formed by Piso and Plancina. For bones of men that had been buried in the house where he dwelt and sheets of lead containing curses together with his name were found while he was yet alive; and that poison was the means of his carrying off was revealed by the condition of his body, which was brought into the Forum and exhibited to all who were present. 10Piso later returned to Rome and was brought before the senate on the charge of murder by Tiberius himself, who thus endeavoured to clear himself of the suspicion of having destroyed Germanicus; but Piso secured a postponement of his trial and committed suicide.
11Germanicus at his death left three sons, whom Augustus in his will had named Caesars. The eldest of these, Nero, assumed the toga virilis about this time.
« Dio 57.17 | Dio 57.18 | Dio 57.19 | About This Work »