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1These are the stories, then, that have been handed down about Tiberius. His successor was Gaius, the son of Germanicus and Agrippina, who was also known, as I have stated, by the names of Germanicus and Caligula. Tiberius, to be sure, had left the empire to his grandson Tiberius as well; 2but Gaius sent his will to the senate by Macro and caused it to be declared null and void by the consuls and the others with whom he had arranged matters beforehand, on the ground that the testator had not been of sound mind, as shown by the fact that he had permitted a mere boy to rule over them, who did not yet possess the right even to enter the senate. 3Thus Gaius at the time promptly deprived the lad of the throne, and later, in spite of having adopted him, he put him to death. It availed naught that Tiberius in his will had expressed the same purpose in a number of ways, as if this would lend it some force, nor yet that it had all been read at this time by Macro in the senate. But, of course, no injunction can have any weight against the ingratitude or the might of one’s successors. 4Thus Tiberius suffered the same treatment that he had accorded to his mother, with this difference only, that, whereas he had discharged none of the obligations imposed by her will in the case of anybody, his bequests were paid to all the beneficiaries except his grandson. This, in particular, made it perfectly plain that the whole fault found with the will had been invented on account of the lad. 5Gaius, it is true, need not have published it, as he surely was not unacquainted with the contents; but inasmuch as many knew what was in it, and it seemed probable that he himself in the one case or the senate in the other would be blamed for its suppression, he chose rather to have it overthrown by the senators than to keep it concealed.
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