[Illustration:  Depositing the ashes of a member of the imperial family in a Roman columbarium.]

After the death of Drusus, therefore, a reconciliation became possible in the family of the Caesars.  The latent rivalry between the families of Tiberius and Germanicus was extinguished.  Indeed, even in the midst of the tears shed for the early death of Drusus, a gleam of concord seems to have shone down upon the house desolated by many tragedies, while Sejanus, whose power depended upon the strife of the factions, was for a moment set aside and driven back into the shadows.  But it was not to continue long; for soon the flames of discord broke out more violently than ever.  Whom shall we blame, Sejanus or Agrippina?  Tacitus says that it was the fault of Sejanus, whom he accuses of having tried to destroy the descendants of Germanicus, in order to usurp their place:  but he himself is forced to admit in another passage (Annals iv., 59) that virtually a little court of freedmen and dependents gathered about Nero, the leader of the sons of Germanicus, urging him on against Tiberius and Sejanus, and begging him to act quickly.  “This,” they said, “is the will of the people, the desire of the armies.  Nor would Sejanus, who was even then making light of the patience of the old man and of the dilatoriness of the youth, have dared to resist him.”  From such speeches it is only a short step to plans for rebellion and conspiracy.  In all probability the blame for this later and more bitter dissension must, as usually happens, be divided between the two factions.  The party of Agrippina, emboldened by its good fortune and by the weakness of Tiberius, was, after the death of Drusus, conscious of its own supremacy.  Its members had only a single aim; even before it was possible they wished to see Nero, the first-born son of Germanicus, in the position of Tiberius.  They therefore took up again their struggles and intrigues against Tiberius, and attempted to incite Nero against the emperor.  But this time Sejanus was blocking their pathway.  The death of Drusus had even further increased the trust and affection which the emperor had for his assistant, and he was henceforth the only confidant and the only friend of the emperor; a war without quarter between him and Agrippina, her sons and the party of Germanicus, was inevitable.  And Sejanus opened the action by attempting to exclude from the magistracy and from office all the friends of Agrippina and all the members of the opposing faction.  At this time it was difficult to arrive at any of the more important offices without being recommended to the senate by the emperor, against whose choice the senate no longer dared to rebel; since the emperor was held responsible for the conduct of the government, it was only just that he should be allowed to select his more important collaborators.  Sejanus was therefore able, by using his influence over Tiberius, to lay a thousand difficulties and obstacles in the way of even the