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Lucius Aelius Sejanus

"The rise and fall of Sejanus," says Tacitus in one of his most characteristic sentences, "were equally disastrous to the commonwealth of Rome." Aelius Sejanus was a Tuscan by birth. He obtained in his youth a commission in the Praetorian Guard, and rose from post to post till he became chief-in-command, first as his father's colleague and then alone. It was he who made the Praetorians the formidable force that many a time in after years gave the Empire at its will. He collected its scattered regiments into one corps, and gave it a camp outside the walls. He spared no pains to make himself the idol of the troops, not only in Rome, but in the provinces, and he succeeded so well, that his bust was commonly placed beside the Emperor's at headquarters to be common objects of veneration.

During the consulship of Rubellius Geminus and Fusius, who bore the same surname, died, in an advanced old age, the emperor's mother Livia, styled Julia Augusta. Tiberias, from the day of his accession to the imperial dignity, considered his mother as a woman of a politic and artificial character, proud, fierce, and overbearing; in appearance, plotting to aggrandise her son; in secret, wishing for nothing so much as to gratify her own ambition. She lived three years after Tiberius retired to the isle of Capreie.

From this time may be dated the era of a furious, headlong, and despotic government. The rage of Tiberius knew no bounds. While his mother lived his passions were rebuked, and in some degree controlled. He had been from his infancy in the habit of submitting to her judgment; and to counteract her authority was more than Sejanus dared to undertake. By the death of Livia all restraint was thrown off. The prince and his minister broke out with unbridled fury.

The fathers sat in profound silence, covered with astonishment. At length that class of men, who by fair and honorable means had nothing to hope, seized the opportunity to convert to their own private advantage the troubles and misfortunes of their country. The leading members of the senate, particularly the magistrates, remained in a state of doubt and perplexity. They saw no ground for proceeding in a business of so high a nature, communicated indeed with acrimony, but wanting precision, and ending abruptly, without any clear or definite purpose.

The fathers, at all times pliant and obsequious, were in this juncture more willing than ever to debase themselves by every act of mean servility. Sejanus knew the inmost secrets of the prince, and the deep resentments that lay concealed, and nourished venom in his heart. Sure of a complying senate, he grew more aspiring, yet not bold enough to strike the decisive blow. His strength had hitherto lain in fraud and covered stratagem, and, having made an experiment of his talents, he resolved to proceed by the same insidious arts.

To the great loss of the literary world, the evil fate that attended the works of Tacitus is felt in this place, at a point of time when an important scene is to be opened; a scene in which Tiberius and Sejanus were the chief actors, each with the darkest policy contriving the other's ruin. The art of gradually unfolding the characters of men, in a course of action, was the talent of Tacitus, beyond any historian of antiquity; but the rest of the transactions of the present year of Rome 782, all of 783, and the greatest part of 784, perished in the confusion of barbarous times. It is to be lamented that Sejanus has been snatched away from Tacitus, that is, from the hand of justice.

Sejanus is represented without any principle of conscience, ambitious, and a contemner of all religion, with the power and providence of the gods. His fall, therefore, considered as a punishment for his neglect of the gods, must naturally insinuate, that obedience to them is the only foundation of happiness; and that lawless and irregular ambition is constantly attended with destruction.

Drusus and Caius (surnamed Caligula), as soon as their brother Nero was banished, were considered by Sejanus as the two remaining props of the empire. Drusus stood nearest to the succession, and for that reason was the most obnoxious. Seduced by the arts of Sejanus, and farther incited by his own inordinate ambition, that unhappy prince had joined in the conspiracy against his brother Nero; but what he thought would contribute to his elevation became the fatal cause of his ruin.

Sejanus grew intoxicated with his good fortune: he saw the imperial dignity tottering on the head of an aged prince, and not likely to be better supported by Caligula, a young man as yet unequal to the cares of empire. He thought himself near the summit of his ambition; but, to ensure success, resolved to plan his measures with care and circumspection.

Honors, dignities, all employments and places of trust, were granted at his will and pleasure, and to none but men ready to co-operate in his worst designs. The minister, thus supported, stood but one remove from the sovereign power; but his elevation placed him on the edge of a precipice, from which his fall would inevitably be sudden and terrible.

Honors, dignities, all employments and places of trust, were granted at his will and pleasure, and to none but men ready to co-operate in his worst designs. The minister, thus supported, stood but one remove from the sovereign power; but his elevation placed him on the edge of a precipice, from which his fall would inevitably be sudden and terrible.

Tiberius conversed in private with Sejanus: he perused his countenance: he explored his secret thoughts, and from what he saw and heard drew his own conclusions. A penetrating observer of mankind, he knew that prosperity is the surest discoverer of the human heart. He resolved therefore to ply Sejanus with marks of the warmest affection ; he lavished his favors on him with unbounded generosity; he praised his unremitting labors in the service of his prince; and, to put him off his guard, determined to overwhelm him with a load of grandeur.

Sejanus, amidst all the dignities so liberally heaped on him, little suspected an underplot to work his ruin. He continued with every mark of a fawning spirit to ingratiate himself with the emperor; he was the sole fountain of court favor; he looked down with contempt on the young Caligula; and of the twinborn sons of Drusus, the one who still survived was too young to alarm his jealousy. He received the homage of his creatures; he distributed presents with magnificence, and still took care to keep the prince immersed in luxury. Tiberius saw, with inward pleasure, the towering spirit of the consul elect. Increasing honors, he had no doubt, would unprovide his mind, and in a short time produce the genuine features of his character. Tiberius had regular intelligence of all that passed; but the time was not arrived when the secrets of that dark designing mind were to transpire. He lay in wait for farther particulars.

Tiberius was willing to let Sejanus, by his acts of cruelty, provoke the ill-will of the people. Sejanus began to open his eyes, and to see at length a reverse of fortune. He found that he had been the bubble of a politic prince, who had been during his whole life exercised in the arts of dissimulation, and was grown a perfect master in the arts of deceit and cruelty. The young Caligula was, in appearance, high in favor with his grandfather; and the hearts of the people were at all times ready to espouse the family of Germauicus.

Jesus of Nazareth was crucified under the rule of Sejanus' prefect, Pontius Pilate, a fact which was known by the Roman historian, Tacitus.

Sejanus resolved to retrieve his loss, and by one vigorous effort to decide the fate of empire. He called together his friends and followers; he paid court to such as seemed disaffected; he held forth rewards and promises; and, having increased the number of his partisans, formed a bold conspiracy, resolved by any means to seize the sovereign power. A powerful league was formed with astonishing rapidity; and great numbers of all descriptions, senators, as well as military men, entered into the plot.

The fatal day arrived, namely, the fifteenth before the calends of November. Early in the morning, by order of Regulus, a report was spread that letters were arrived at Rome, in which the emperor signified his intention to associate Sejanus with himself in the tribuuitian power. The senate was summoned to meet in the temple of Apollo, near the imperial palace. Sejanus attended without delay. A party of the pretorians followed him. Macro met him in the vestibule of the temple.

Those who a little time before congratulated Sejanus on his new dignities began to shun him as they would a contagion. The conclusion of the letter was like a stroke of thunder. The emperor ordered two senators who had joined in the conspiracy to be put to death, and Sejanus to be thrown into prison. Sejanus kept his seat like a man benumbed, senseless, stupified with amazement. His friends deserted him on every side. He remained in confusion, pale and trembling; left in solitude.

The downfal of Sejanus filled the city with exultation. The populace, who worshipped him in the hour of prosperity, rejoiced to see the sad catastrophe to which he was now reduced. They followed in crowds, rending the air with shouts, and pouring forth a torrent of abuse and scurrilous language. With one voice Sejanus was condemned to die, and the sentence was executed without delay. He was strangled in the prison.

The populace were no less inflamed against the creatures of Sejanus. They seized on all who had been instruments of his cruelty, and, executing the summary justice of an enraged multitude, glutted their thirst of blood.

With respect to Sejanus, it is impossible to acquit Tiberius of blame. If he was deceived in his favourite he must have been willing to be deceived. He conferred on Sejanus a position as great as had been held by Agrippa during the reign of Augustus, and the minister was actually, and all but formally, joint emperor. Of the administrative ability of Sejanus there can be no question; but the charm and secret of his power lay in the use he made of those apprehensions of personal danger which seem never to have been absent from his master's mind. The growth of "delation," the darkest shadow that lies on the reign, was mainly a consequence of the supremacy and tht arts of Sejanus.