The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 06 : $b the early Roman Empire
History
The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 06 : $b the early Roman Empire
World history
Seius Strabo, who had been made one of the prefects of the prætorian
cohorts by Augustus, had a son, who, having been adopted by one of the
Ælian family, was named in the usual manner L. Ælius Sejanus. This
young man, who was born at Vulsinii in Tuscany, was at first attached
to the service of Caius Cæsar, after whose death he devoted himself to
Tiberius; and such was his consummate art, that this wily prince, dark
and mysterious to all others, was open and unreserved to him. Sejanus
equalled his master in the power of concealing his thoughts and designs;
he was daring and ambitious, and he possessed the requisite qualities for
attaining the eminence to which he aspired; for though proud he could
play the flatterer; he could and did assume a modest exterior, and he had
vigilance and industry, and a body capable of enduring any fatigue.
[Sidenote: [14-24 A.D.]]
When Drusus was sent to quell the mutiny of the Pannonian legions,
Sejanus, whom Tiberius had made colleague with his father Strabo in the
command of the prætorians, accompanied him as his governor and director.
Strabo was afterwards sent out to Egypt, and Sejanus was continued in
the sole command of the guards; he then represented to Tiberius how much
better it would be to have them collected into one camp instead of being
dispersed through the city and towns, as they would be less liable to
be corrupted, would be more orderly, and of greater efficiency if any
insurrection should occur. A fortified camp was therefore formed for
them near the Viminal Gate, and Sejanus then began to court the men, and
he appointed those on whom he could rely to be tribunes and centurions.
While thus securing the guards, he was equally assiduous to gain
partisans in the senate, and honours and provinces only came to those
who had acquired his favour by obsequiousness. In all these projects he
was unwittingly aided by Tiberius, who used publicly to style him “the
associate of his labours,” and even allowed his statues to be placed and
worshipped in temples and theatres, and among the ensigns of the legions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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