Roman History, 58.22

Cassius Dio  translated by Earnest Cary

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22For his course in these matters Tiberius received praise, and especially because he would not accept numerous honours that were voted to him because of these acts. But the sensual orgies which he carried on shamelessly with persons of the highest rank, both male and female, brought him ill repute. 2For example, there was the case of his friend Sextus Marius. Imperial favour had made this man so rich and so powerful that once, when he was at odds with a neighbour, he invited him to be his guest for two days, on the first of which he razed the man’s villa level with the ground and on the next rebuilt it on a larger and more elaborate scale; 3and then, when the other could not guess who had done it, Marius admitted his responsibility for both achievements and added significantly: “This shows you that I have both the knowledge and the power to repel attacks and also to requite kindness.” When this Marius, now, had sent away his daughter, a strikingly beautiful girl, to a place of refuge, in order to prevent her from being outraged by Tiberius, he was charged with having criminal relations with her himself, and because of this he perished together with his daughter. 4All this brought disgrace upon the emperor, and his connexion with the death of Drusus and Agrippina gave him a reputation for cruelty. Men had been thinking that all the previous action against these two was due to Sejanus, and had been expecting that now their lives would be spared; so, when they learned that they, too, had been murdered, 5they were exceedingly grieved, partly because of the deed itself and partly because, so far from depositing their bones in the imperial tomb, Tiberius ordered their remains to be hidden so carefully somewhere underground that they could never be found. Besides Agrippina, Munatia Plancina was slain; up to this time, it would appear, Tiberius, though he hated her (not on account of Germanicus, but for another reason), nevertheless had permitted her to live, in order to prevent Agrippina from rejoicing at her death.

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