⚫ armies and all the provinces as emperor; but yet did not ⚫ call himself so, though that, with other titles, had been given him by a decree.'

6

(3.) There is a particular fact related of Tiberius by several historians, said to be done by him when prince, which yet must have been done before Augustus died. Pliny says, that Tiberius was much given to drinking: And that it was thought, that for this reason Lucius Piso had been chosen by him to be præfect of Rome, because he had continued two days and two nights drinking with him, when prince.' Suetonius says; That Tiberius, in his first campaigns, was much reflected on for his excess in drinking; and that afterwards, when prince, in the very time of the correction of the public manners, he spent a 'night and two days in eating and drinking with Pompo'nius Flaccus and Lucius Piso; to the former of which he gave immediately the province of Syria, and to the other the præfecture of the city.'e

It may be worth while to observe with Pagi, that these two writers, who tell us the story of this drunken bout of Tiberius, and the consequences of it, seem not to have had their accounts from one and the same source. They differ from each other in two or three particulars: one says, that this piece of excess lasted two days and two nights;' the other, 6 one night and two days.' Pliny mentions only the preferment of Piso; Suetonius adds that of Flaccus also; but they both agree in saying, that Tiberius was then prince,' and Suetonius adds a very particular circumstance as to the time, that it was during the correction of the public manners; which may very naturally lead us to what he had said of the law passed, that Tiberius should govern the provinces jointly with Augustus, and make the census with him, one part of which at Rome was the correction of man

ners.

και ες τα εθνη, παντα, ως αυτοκρατωρ, ευθυς απο της Νωλης επέτειλε, μη λεγων αυτοκρατωρ ειναι ψηφισθεν γαρ αυτῳ και μετα των αλλων ονομάτων, ουκ Edεžaro. Dio. 1. lvii. p. 602. D.

d-Tribus congiis (unde et cognomen illi fuit,) epotis uno impetu, spectante miraculi gratiâ Tib. principe, in senectâ jam severo atque etiam sævo alias, sed ipsâ juventâ ad merum pronior fuerat: eaque commendatione credidere L. Pisonem urbis Romæ curæ ab eo delectum, quod biduo duabusque noctibus perpotationem continuâsset apud ipsum jam principem. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xiv. cap. 22. e In castris tiro etiam tum, propter nimiam vini aviditatem, pro Claudio Caldius, pro Nerone Mero vocabatur. Postea princeps in ipsâ publicorum morum correctione cum Pomponio Flacco et L. Pisone noctem continuumque biduum epulando potandoque consumpsit: quorum alteri Syriam provinciam, alteri præfecturam urbis confestim detulit. Suet. in Tib. cap. 42.

But we must inquire somewhat more particularly into the time of this act of intemperance: it may be easily inferred from Tacitus, who relating the affairs of the year in which Domitius Enobarbus and M. Furius Camillus were consuls, sc. A. U. 785, A. D. 32, says: Then Piso had the honour of a public funeral by decree of the senate, having behaved in his office to general satisfaction for twenty ' years.' If we go back twenty years, we are brought to the 12th year of the christian æra, and the 765th of the city, in which year, according to Tacitus, Piso must have been præfect of Rome, which is two years before the death of Augustus.

There are however some objections to this story, which must be considered before we leave it. Several learned men would read in Tacitus X. instead of XX. but to this Pagi's reply is sufficient, that this emendation is without the authority of any manuscripts. It is likewise objected, that Pomponius Flaccus was not præfect of Syria till long after the year of the city 765; consequently, neither was Piso then made præfect of Rome. Dr. Pagi allows very readily, that Pomponius did not at this time go præfect into Syria; but then he gives several instances of men who have been nominated governors of provinces, who yet never went into them; one is Elius Lamia, who by this very same emperor had been nominated præfect of the same province likewise, namely, of Syria, but yet never went thither. The fact is taken notice of by Tacitus and 'Dio; which last observes, that this was a common practice with Tiberius. Tacitus has mentioned another like instance in the reign of Nero.m

k

Another objection against Piso's being made præfect of f Dein Piso viginti per annos pariter probatus, publico funere ex decreto senatûs celebratus est. Tacit. Ann. 1. vi. cap. 11.

Lipsius in loc. Noris. Cenot. Pis. Diss. ii. p. 324.

Sed hoc amplius ex Suetonio colliges, factum Pisonem præfectum, sub idem tempus quo Pomponius Syriæ prætor. Ille autem Syriæ non ante annum 773 præponi potuit: (Mæsiam enim provinciam administrabat, A. 772. uti ex Tacit. lib. ii. clarum :) non ergo tot annos Piso præfectus urbi. Lipsius ubi supra; vid. etiam Norisium ibid. A. Chr. 11. n. v.

Extremo anni [A. U. 786. A. D. 33.] Mors Ælii Lamiæ funere censorio celebrata, qui administrandæ Syriæ imagine tandem exsolutus, urbi præfuerat. Tacit. Ann. 1. vi. c. 27. 1 Τοντε Πείσωνα τον πολιαρχον τελευτησαντα δημοσια ταφη ετίμησε, και Λουκιον (legendum Λαμιον, id est, Lamiam) αντ' αυτό ταμιαν ανθείλετο, ὃν προπαλαὶ τῇ τρατια (legendum Συριᾳ. Muretus in Tacit. Ann. vi.) προςαξας κατείχεν εν Ρώμη τούτο δε και εφ' ἑτερων πολλων εποιεί, εργῳ μεν, μηδενος αυτών δεόμενος, λόγῳ δε δη, τιμαν αυτές v. Dio, lib. lviii. p. 633. D.

m

Syria P. Anteio destinata, et variis mox artibus elusus, ad postremum in urbe retentus est. Tacit. Ann. I. 13. cap. 22.

the city, A. U. 765, is this: Suetonius says, that this excess of Tiberius was committed during the public correction of manners; by which he has been supposed to refer to Tiberius's being made censor with Augustus. But cardinal Noris objects, that the census was not made by Augustus, A. U. 765, but 767; and he is of opinion, that the public 'correction of manners,' which Suetonius here speaks of, intends the edicts which Tiberius published against luxury, A. U. 775. For my own part, I cannot see but that the words of Suetonius may very well refer to the time in which Tiberius was decreed censor with Augustus, which might be done, A. U. 765; though the census was not made, or at least not finished, till the year 767.

But that this correction of manners,' which Suetonius here speaks of, is not that which he has himself mentioned in another place, and which Tacitus says was made, A. U. 775, may be made evident from two or three passages, not particularly insisted on by Pagi. Seneca says, that Tiberius gave secret directions of importance to Piso, when he went into Campania, at which time there were divers uneasinesses and discontents in the city. This journey of Tiberius was made in the beginning of the year before that, in which the edicts were published for the suppressing of luxury, namely, in the year of the city 774, as appears from Tacitus. It is plain therefore, that Piso was præfect of Rome in 774, and in the very beginning of it; and it may be supposed, that Tiberius had had considerable experience of Piso's fidelity and ability in that post before that, since he relied upon him in a very critical conjuncture.

Cardinal Noris objects farther: It is true Tiberius had

Sed Suetonius si censorem Tiberium significaret, annum U. C. 767. designåsset, quo ipsa publicorum morum correctio a censoribus peracta est. Itaque designat tempus, quo Tiberius publicis edictis urbano luxui modum ponebat, A. U. 775. ibid. p. 324. vid. eund. p. 329. • In Tib. cap. 34.

P Caius Sulpicius, D. Haterius, consules sequuntur. Inturbidus externis rebus annus domi suspectâ severitate adversum luxum. Ann. lib. iii. cap. 52.

L. Piso, urbis custos, ebrius, ex quo semel factus est, fuit, majorem partem noctis in convivio exigebat: usque in horam sextam fere dormiebat: hoc erat ejus matutinum. Officium tamen suum, quo tutela urbis continebatur, diligentissime administravit. Huic et Divus Augustus dedit secreta mandata, cum illum præponeret Thraciæ, quam perdomuit, et Tiberius proficiscens in Campaniam, cum multa in urbe et suspecta relinqueret et invisa. Seneca, ep. 83. Sequitur Tiberii quartus, Drusi secundus consulatus. Ejus anni principio Tiberius, quasi firmandæ valetudini, in Campaniam concessit: longam et continuam absentiam paulatim meditans. Tacit. Ann. lib. iii. cap. 31.

r

• His accedit, Tiberium in provinciis biennio ante mortem Augusti imperium obtinuisse; intra urbem vero non habuisse, nisi jus intercedendi ob tribuniciam potestatem. Quare unus Augustus urbis præfecti designandi potestatem habebat. Noris. ibid p. 324.

proconsular power in the provinces two years before Augustus's death: all the authority he had in the city was owing to his tribunician power, but that included only a right of interceding or forbidding, but could not give the power of appointing a præfect.

I think it is undoubted, that Tiberius might call the senate by virtue of the tribunician power, and it is likely do several other things: but there is no need of contending about this point. Perhaps Tiberius did not nominate and appoint Piso præfect of the city; he might however recommend him so effectually to Augustus, his colleague, that he might appoint him. Pagi observes, that Pliny, speaking of this matter, uses the word choosing, not appointing."

I imagine, that this fact is now cleared up and vindicated against the several objections which have been made to it; and that Piso was appointed or chosen to be præfect of the city of Rome by Tiberius, then prince,' two years before the death of Augustus, namely, in A. U. 765.

But before I quite leave this story, I would strengthen the argument founded upon it by a remark or two upon the title of prince, given here to Tiberius by Pliny and Suetonius.

It is well known, that prince was the soft title which Augustus chose, rather than that of king or dictator. This title therefore, when used absolutely, is equivalent to emperor and Dio says, that Tiberius had the title of emperor given him by a decree before Augustus died, as has been observed already. Moreover this title of emperor is frequently given by Roman and Greek authors to Titus and Trajan, on account of their tribunician and proconsular power which they enjoyed, the former in the lifetime of his father Vespasian, the latter of Nerva. Pagi thinks, this title of emperor which was given to these colleagues in the empire, was founded particularly on the perpetual proconsular power in all the provinces. But, however that be, it is certain they are often called emperors. Josephus, in his description of Vespasian's and Titus's triumph at Rome,

Vid. Usser. Ann. A. M. 4015 et 4017.

W

Eâque com-
Vid.

mendatione credidere L. Pisonem urbis Romæ curæ ab eo delectum. Pagi, Critic. ad An. Ch. 11. n. 4.

Qui cuncta discordiis civilibus fessa, nomine principis, sub imperium accepit. Tacit. Ann. lib. i. cap. 1. Non regno tamen neque dictaturâ, sed principis nomine constitutam rempublicam. Id. ibid. cap. 9.

Titus enim, quemadmodum et ante eum Tiberius, ac post eum Trajanus, imperii collega fuit, ideoque imperatoris titulo exornatus. Imperii collega tribuniciâ potestate et imperio proconsulari donabantur, ratione cujus imperatores nuncupati. Pagi, A. D. 71. n. 3. in Crit. ad Bar.

emperors lodged the Pliny the elder, in his Titus, written before

after the Jewish war, says, That the night before near the temple of Isis. dedication of his Natural History to the death of Vespasian, calls Titus emperor more than once. Philostratus says, that Titus was declared emperor at Rome, and admitted to equal power in the government with his father. It is in vain therefore to say, that Titus was called emperor in his father's lifetime, purely on account of his having been saluted emperor by his soldiers in the camp, or in the sense in which this word was used under the commonwealth; since Philostratus says, he was declared emperor at Rome; moreover Capitolinus calls Vespasian and Titus princes without any distinction. All these passages thus laid together may satisfy us, that prince and emperor are equivalent in these writers; and that Tiberius had a right to the title of prince, even during the lifetime of Augustus, after he was made his colleague in the empire. I shall refer the reader to but one passage more, in which Pliny the younger assures us, that Trajan was declared emperor by Nerva in his lifetime; and it seems very strongly to support Pagi's opinion, that the title of emperor given to these colleagues was founded rather on their proconsular empire than their tribunician power.

(4.) There are two or three verses of Dionysius the geographer, which Pagi esteems a very remarkable testimony to the proconsular empire of Tiberius. It appears from the two last of these verses, that in Dionysius's time Rome was governed by more than one prince. It has been ques

* Εκει γαρ ανεπαύοντο της νυκτος εκείνης οἱ αυτοκρατορες Joseph. de Bell. lib. vii. cap. 5. p. 1305. v. 2.

y Jucundissime imperator-Sciantque omnes quam ex æquo tecum vivat imperium. Triumphalis et censorius tu, sexiesque consul, ac tribuniciæ potestatis particeps. Plin. in Præfat. Αναῤῥηθεις και αυτοκρατωρ εν τη Ρώμη, και αριςειων αξιωθεις τέτων, απηει μεν ισομοιρησων της αρχής τῳ TаTO K. T. X. Cumque imperator Romæ esset appellatus, omnibus ornatus dignitatibus, Romam iter ingressus, ut patris collega fieret. Philost. Vit. Apollonii, lib. vi. cap. 30. p. 269. Lipsiæ, 1709. a Avus Annius

Rufus, item consul et præfectus urbi adscitus in patricios a principibus Vespasianio et Tito censoribus. In Marc. Antonin. Philos.

b Simul filius, simul Cæsar, mox IMPERATOR, et consors tribuniciæ potestatis, et omnia pariter et statim factus es, quæ proxime parens verus tantum in alterum filium contulit. Plin. Paneg. c. 8.

• Εκ Διος Αυσονίηες αει μεγα κοιρανέοντες,

A Jove Ausonii semper longe lateque dominantes.
̔Ρωμην τιμηεσσαν, εμων μεγαν οικον ανακτών,

Μητέρα πασαων πολίων, αφνειον εδεθλον,

v. 78.

355.

356.

De amne Tiberi loquitur; aitque, Qui amabilem secat in duas partes Romam, Romam honorabilem: meorum magnam domum Principum vel Dominorum. Dionys. Orbis Descript.