第162章 A.D.48-54(5)

Narbon Gaul, for its special reverence of the Senate, received a privilege.Senators belonging to the province, without seeking the emperor's approval, were to be allowed to visit their estates, a right enjoyed by Sicily.Ituraea and Judaea, on the death of their kings, Sohaemus and Agrippa, were annexed to the province of Syria.

It was also decided that the augury of the public safety, which for twenty-five years had been neglected, should be revived and henceforth observed.The emperor likewise widened the sacred precincts of the capital, in conformity with the ancient usage, according to which, those who had enlarged the empire were permitted also to extend the boundaries of Rome.But Roman generals, even after the conquest of great nations, had never exercised this right, except Lucius Sulla and the Divine Augustus.

There are various popular accounts of the ambitious and vainglorious efforts of our kings in this matter.Still, I think, it is interesting to know accurately the original plan of the precinct, as it was fixed by Romulus.From the ox market, where we see the brazen statue of a bull, because that animal is yoked to the plough, a furrow was drawn to mark out the town, so as to embrace the great altar of Hercules; then, at regular intervals, stones were placed along the foot of the Palatine hill to the altar of Consus, soon afterwards, to the old Courts, and then to the chapel of Larunda.The Roman forum and the Capitol were not, it was supposed, added to the city by Romulus, but by Titus Tatius.In time, the precinct was enlarged with the growth of Rome's fortunes.The boundaries now fixed by Claudius may be easily recognized, as they are specified in the public records.

In the consulship of Caius Antistius and Marcus Suilius, the adoption of Domitius was hastened on by the influence of Pallas.Bound to Agrippina, first as the promoter of her marriage, then as her paramour, he still urged Claudius to think of the interests of the State, and to provide some support for the tender years of Britannicus."So," he said, "it had been with the Divine Augustus, whose stepsons, though he had grandsons to be his stay, had been promoted; Tiberius too, though he had offspring of his own, had adopted Germanicus.Claudius also would do well to strengthen himself with a young prince who could share his cares with him."Overcome by these arguments, the emperor preferred Domitius to his own son, though he was but two years older, and made a speech in the senate, the same in substance as the representations of his freedman.It was noted by learned men, that no previous example of adoption into the patrician family of the Claudii was to be found; and that from Attus Clausus there had been one unbroken line.

However, the emperor received formal thanks, and still more elaborate flattery was paid to Domitius.A law was passed, adopting him into the Claudian family with the name of Nero.Agrippina too was honoured with the title of Augusta.When this had been done, there was not a person so void of pity as not to feel keen sorrow at the position of Britannicus.Gradually forsaken by the very slaves who waited on him, he turned into ridicule the ill-timed attentions of his stepmother, perceiving their insincerity.For he is said to have had by no means a dull understanding; and this is either a fact, or perhaps his perils won him sympathy, and so he possessed the credit of it, without actual evidence.

Agrippina, to show her power even to the allied nations, procured the despatch of a colony of veterans to the chief town of the Ubii, where she was born.The place was named after her.Agrippa, her grandfather, had, as it happened, received this tribe, when they crossed the Rhine, under our protection.

During the same time, there was a panic in Upper Germany through an irruption of plundering bands of Chatti.Thereupon Lucius Pomponius, who was in command, directed the Vangiones and Nemetes, with the allied cavalry, to anticipate the raid, and suddenly to fall upon them from every quarter while they were dispersed.The general's plan was backed up by the energy of the troops.These were divided into two columns; and those who marched to the left cut off the plunderers, just on their return, after a riotous enjoyment of their spoil, when they were heavy with sleep.It added to the men's joy that they had rescued from slavery after forty years some survivors of the defeat of Varus.

The column which took the right-hand and the shorter route, inflicted greater loss on the enemy who met them, and ventured on a battle.With much spoil and glory they returned to Mount Taunus, where Pomponius was waiting with the legions, to see whether the Chatti, in their eagerness for vengeance, would give him a chance of fighting.

They however fearing to be hemmed in on one side by the Romans, on the other by the Cherusci, with whom they are perpetually at feud, sent envoys and hostages to Rome.To Pomponius was decreed the honour of a triumph; a mere fraction of his renown with the next generation, with whom his poems constitute his chief glory.

At this same time, Vannius, whom Drusus Caesar had made king of the Suevi, was driven from his kingdom.In the commencement of his reign he was renowned and popular with his countrymen; but subsequently, with long possession, he became a tyrant, and the enmity of neighbours, joined to intestine strife, was his ruin.Vibillius, king of the Hermunduri, and Vangio and Sido, sons of a sister of Vannius, led the movement.Claudius, though often entreated, declined to interpose by arms in the conflict of the barbarians, and simply promised Vannius a safe refuge in the event of his expulsion.