A slight delay ensued and Libo committed suicide, whereupon the emperor passed judgment upon his behavior, though he was dead, gave his money to the accusers, and had sacrifices voted for his overthrow, not only for his own sake, but for the sake of Augustus and of the latter’s father Julius, as had occasionally been decreed in past times.

Though he took such action in the case of this man, he administered no rebuke at all to Vibius Rufus, who used Caesar’s chair (the one on which the latter was always accustomed to sit and on which he was slain).  Rufus did this regularly, besides having Cicero’s wife as his consort, and prided himself on both achievements, evidently thinking that he would become an orator by means of the wife or a Caesar by means of the chair.  For this, as I have stated, he received no censure; indeed, he became consul.

Tiberius was, moreover, forever in the company of Thrasyllus and made some use of the mantic art every day, becoming himself so proficient in the study that when he was once bidden in a dream to give money to a certain person, he comprehended that a deceitful spirit had been called up before him and he put the man to death.  Likewise, in the case of all the rest of the astrologers and magicians and those who practiced divination in any other way whatever, he had the foreigners executed and banished all such citizens as still at that time after the previous decree, by which it had been forbidden to engage in any such business in the City, were accused in court of employing the art.

To such of them as obeyed immunity had been granted.  In fact, all the citizens would have been acquitted even contrary to his wish, had not a certain tribune prevented it.  Here one could catch a glimpse of the democratic constitution, inasmuch as the senate, approving the course of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, overcame Drusus and Tiberius and was itself subdued by the tribune.

[-16-] These affairs were settled in this way.  Certain men who had been quaestors the previous year were sent out to the provinces, since those who were quaestors at the time proved too few for them.  This was done again and again, as often as it was found necessary.

Many of the public documents had either perished utterly or had faded during the lapse of time.  Three senators were therefore elected to copy off what was extant and to look up the rest.—­Assistance was given in several conflagrations not only by Tiberius but also by Livia.

The same year a certain Clemens, who had been a slave of Agrippa and resembled him to a certain extent, pretended to be he.  He went to Gaul and won the attachment of many there, and later of many in Italy.  Finally he marched upon Rome with the avowed intention of recovering the dominion of his grandfather.  Many of the inhabitants of the city were thrown into confusion at this, and not a few joined his cause.  Tiberius, however, got him in his hands by a clever device and through the agency of certain persons who pretended to sympathize with the upstart.  Then he tortured the prisoner in order to learn something about his fellow conspirators, but when the victim uttered not a word the emperor asked him:”  How did you get to be Agrippa?” And he replied:  “In the same way as you got to be Caesar.”