1. Tacitus, Annals, 3.18.2, 3.66-3.69, 4.14.1-4.14.3, 4.15.2-4.15.3, 4.70.3-4.70.4, 11.11.3, 12.61.2, 12.64.1, 14.5.1, 14.12.1-14.12.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •silani, c. silanus (proconsul of asia) Found in books: Shannon-Henderson (2019) 175, 302| 3.66. Paulatim dehinc ab indecoris ad infesta transgrediebantur. C. Silanum pro consule Asiae repetundarum a sociis postulatum Mamercus Scaurus e consularibus, Iunius Otho praetor, Bruttedius Niger aedilis simul corripiunt obiectantque violatum Augusti numen, spretam Tiberii maiestatem, Mamercus antiqua exempla iaciens, L. Cottam a Scipione Africano, Servium Galbam a Catone censorio, P. Rutilium a M. Scauro accusatos. videlicet Scipio et Cato talia ulciscebantur aut ille Scaurus, quem proavum suum obprobrium maiorum Mamercus infami opera dehonestabat. Iunio Othoni litterarium ludum exercere vetus ars fuit: mox Seiani potentia senator obscura initia impudentibus ausis propolluebat. Bruttedium artibus honestis copiosum et, si rectum iter pergeret, ad clarissima quaeque iturum festinatio extimulabat, dum aequalis, dein superiores, postremo suasmet ipse spes antire parat: quod multos etiam bonos pessum dedit, qui spretis quae tarda cum securitate praematura vel cum exitio properant. 3.67. Auxere numerum accusatorum Gellius Publicola et M. Paconius, ille quaestor Silani, hic legatus. nec dubium habebatur saevitiae captarumque pecuniarum teneri reum: sed multa adgerebantur etiam insontibus periculosa, cum super tot senatores adversos facundissimis totius Asiae eoque ad accusandum delectis responderet solus et orandi nescius, proprio in metu qui exercitam quoque eloquentiam debilitat, non temperante Tiberio quin premeret voce vultu, eo quod ipse creberrime interrogabat, neque refellere aut eludere dabatur, ac saepe etiam confitendum erat ne frustra quaesivisset. servos quoque Silani ut tormentis interrogarentur actor publicus mancipio acceperat. et ne quis necessariorum iuvaret periclitantem maiestatis crimina subdebantur, vinclum et necessitas silendi. igitur petito paucorum dierum interiectu defensionem sui deseruit, ausis ad Caesarem codicillis quibus invidiam et preces miscuerat. 3.68. Tiberius quae in Silanum parabat quo excusatius sub exemplo acciperentur, libellos divi Augusti de Voleso Messala eiusdem Asiae pro consule factumque in eum senatus consultum recitari iubet. tum L. Pisonem sententiam rogat. ille multum de clementia principis praefatus aqua atque igni Silano interdicendum censuit ipsumque in insulam Gyarum relegandum. eadem ceteri, nisi quod Cn. Lentulus separanda Silani materna bona, quippe Atia parente geniti, reddendaque filio dixit, adnuente Tiberio. 3.69. At Cornelius Dolabella dum adulationem longius sequitur increpitis C. Silani moribus addidit ne quis vita probrosus et opertus infamia provinciam sortiretur, idque princeps diiudicaret. nam a legibus delicta puniri: quanto fore mitius in ipsos, melius in socios, provideri ne peccaretur? adversum quae disseruit Caesar: non quidem sibi ignara quae de Silano vulgabantur, sed non ex rumore statuendum. multos in provinciis contra quam spes aut metus de illis fuerit egisse: excitari quosdam ad meliora magnitudine rerum, hebescere alios. neque posse principem sua scientia cuncta complecti neque expedire ut ambitione aliena trahatur. ideo leges in facta constitui quia futura in incerto sint. sic a maioribus institutum ut, si antissent delicta, poenae sequerentur. ne verterent sapienter reperta et semper placita: satis onerum principibus, satis etiam potentiae. minui iura quotiens gliscat potestas, nec utendum imperio ubi legibus agi possit. quanto rarior apud Tiberium popularitas tanto laetioribus animis accepta. atque ille prudens moderandi, si propria ira non impelleretur, addidit insulam Gyarum immitem et sine cultu hominum esse: darent Iuniae familiae et viro quondam ordinis eiusdem ut Cythnum potius concederet. id sororem quoque Silani Torquatam, priscae sanctimoniae virginem, expetere. in hanc sententiam facta discessio. | 3.66. Then, step by step, they passed from the degrading to the brutal. Gaius Silanus, the proconsul of Asia, accused of extortion by the provincials, was attacked simultaneously by the ex-consul Mamercus Scaurus, the praetor Junius Otho, and the aedile Bruttedius Niger, who flung at him the charge of violating the godhead of Augustus and spurning the majesty of Tiberius, while Mamercus made play with the precedents of antiquity â the indictment of Lucius Cotta by Scipio Africanus, of Servius Galba by Cato the Censor, of Publius Rutilius by Marcus Scaurus. Such, as all men know, were the crimes avenged by Scipio and Cato or the famous Scaurus, the great-grandsire of Mamercus, whom that reproach to his ancestors dishonoured by his infamous activity! Junius Otho's old profession had been to keep a school; afterwards, created a senator by the influence of Sejanus, by his effrontery and audacity he brought further ignominy, if possible, upon the meanness of his beginnings. Bruttedius, amply provided with liberal accomplishments, and bound, if he kept the straight road, to attain all distinctions, was goaded by a spirit of haste, which impelled him to outpace first his equals, then his superiors, and finally his own ambitions: an infirmity fatal to many, even of the good, who, disdaining the sure and slow, force a premature success, though destruction may accompany the prize. 3.67. The number of the accusers was swelled by Gellius Publicola and Marcus Paconius, the former the quaestor of Silanus, the latter his legate. No doubt was felt that the defendant was guilty on the counts of cruelty and malversation; but there were many additional circumstances, which would have imperilled even the innocent. Over and above the array of hostile senators were the most fluent advocates of all Asia, selected, as such, to press the charge; and to these was replying a solitary man, devoid of forensic knowledge, and beset by that personal fear which enfeebles even professional eloquence: for Tiberius did not scruple to injure his case, by word, by look, by the fact that he himself was most assiduous in his questions, which it was permissible neither to refute nor to elude, while often an admission had to be made, lest the sovereign should have asked in vain. Further, to allow the examination of his slaves under torture, they had been formally sold to the treasury-agent; and, lest a single friend should come to his help in the hour of peril, charges of treason were subjoined â a binding and inevitable argument for silence. He requested, therefore, an interval of a few days, and threw up his defence, first hazarding a note to the Caesar in which he had mingled reproaches with petitions. 3.68. Tiberius, in order that the measures he was preparing against Silanus might come with the better grace through being supported by a precedent, ordered the bill in which the deified Augustus had indicted Volesus Messala, another proconsul of Asia, to be read aloud, together with the decree registered against him by the senate. He then asked Lucius Piso for his opinion. After a long preface devoted to the sovereign's clemency, he declared for the outlawry of Silanus from fire and water and his relegation to the isle of Gyarus. So, too, the others; with the exception of Gnaeus Lentulus, who moved that, so far as the property of Silanus had been derived from his mother, it should, as she came of the Atian house, be treated as distinct from the rest and restored to his son. 3.69. Tiberius approved; but Cornelius Dolabella, to pursue the sycophancy further, proposed, after an attack on Silanus' character, that no man of scandalous life and bankrupt reputation should be eligible for a province, the decision in such cases to rest with the emperor. "For delinquencies were punished by the law; but how much more merciful to the delinquent, how much better for the provincial, to provide against all irregularities beforehand!" The Caesar spoke in opposition:â "True, the reports with regard to Silanus were not unknown to him; but judgments could not be based on rumour. Many a man by his conduct in his province had reversed the hopes or fears entertained concerning him: some natures were roused to better things by great position, others became sluggish. It was neither possible for a prince to comprehend everything within his own knowledge, nor desirable that he should be influenced by the intrigues of others. The reason why laws were made retrospective towards the thing done was that things to be were indeterminable. It was on this principle their forefathers had ruled that, if an offence had preceded, punishment should follow; and they must not now overturn a system wisely invented and always observed. Princes had enough of burdens â enough, even, of power: the rights of the subject shrank as autocracy grew; and, where it was possible to proceed by form of law, it was a mistake to employ the fiat of the sovereign." This democratic doctrines were hailed with a pleasure answering to their rarity on the lips of Tiberius. He himself, tactful and moderate when not swayed by personal anger, added that "Gyarus was a bleak and uninhabited island. Out of consideration for the Junian house and for a man once their peer, they might allow him to retire to Cythnus instead. This was also the desire of Silanus' sister Torquata, a Vestal of old-world saintliness." The proposal was adopted without discussion. |
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