The man who coöperated with him and helped him in all his undertakings with the utmost zeal was Lucius Aelius Sejanus, a son of Strabo, and formerly a favorite of Marcus Gabius Apicius,--that Apicius who so surpassed all mankind in voluptuous living that when he had once desired to learn how much he had already spent and how much he still had, on finding that two hundred and fifty myriads were left him became grief-stricken, feeling that he was destined to die of hunger, and took his own life. This Sejanus, accordingly, at one time shared his father's command of the Pretorians. After his father had been sent to Egypt, and he obtained entire control, he made the force more compact in many ways, gathering within one fortification the cohorts, which had been separate and apart from one another like those of the night guardsmen. In this way the entire body could receive the orders speedily and they were a source of terror to all, because they were within one fortification. This was the man whom Tiberius, because of the similarity of their characters, took as his helper, elevating him to prætorial honors, which had never yet been accorded to any of his peers; and he made him his adviser and assistant in all matters. [In fine, he changed so much after the death of Germanicus that whereas previously he was highly praised, he now attracted even greater wonder.] [A.D.21 (a. u. 774)] [-20-] When Tiberius began to hold the consular office in company with Drusus, men immediately began to prophecy destruction for Drusus from this very circumstance. For there is not a man who was ever consul with Tiberius that did not meet a violent death, but in the first place there was Quintilius Varus, and next Gnæus Piso, and then Germanicus himself, who perished violently and miserably. The emperor was evidently doomed to cause such ruin throughout his life: Drusus, his colleague at this time, and Sejanus, who subsequently participated in the office, also came to grief. While Tiberius was out of town, Gaius Lutorius Priscus,[4] a knight, who took great pride in his poetic talents and had composed a notable funeral oration over Germanicus for which he had received considerable money, was charged with having composed a poem upon Drusus also, during the latter's illness. For this he was tried in the senate, condemned and put to death. Now Tiberius was vexed, not because the man had been punished, but because the senators had inflicted death upon any one without his approval. He therefore rebuked them and ordered a decree to be issued to the effect that no person condemned by them be executed within ten days, nor the document applying to his case be made public before the same time. This was to ensure the possibility of his learning their decrees in advance even while absent and of rendering a final decision on such matters. [A.D. 22 (_a. u._ 775)]