“Let our book be concluded with a prayer. O Jupiter Capitolinus, O Jupiter Stator! O Mars Gradivus, author of the Roman home! O Vesta, guardian of the eternal fire! O all ye deities who have exalted the present magnitude of the Roman Empire to a position of supremacy over the world, guard, preserve, and protect, I entreat and conjure you, in the name of the commonwealth, our present state, our present peace (our present prince)! And when he shall have completed a long course on earth, grant him successors to the remotest ages, and such as shall have abilities to support the empire of the world as powerfully as we have seen him support it!”[g] These words of the fawning courtier require no comment, unless it be to note that such are often the materials from which the historian is supposed to extract truthful estimates of men and events. Fortunately, in the present instance, the more trustworthy accounts of Tacitus and Suetonius have also come down to us--the former, however, not quite intact. THE FALL OF SEJANUS [Sidenote: [31 A.D.]] Sejanus had thus ruled for more than three years at Rome with power nearly absolute, when (31) Tiberius made him his colleague in the consulate--an honour observed to be fatal to every one who had enjoyed it. In fact the jealous tyrant, who had been fully informed of all his actions and designs,[14] had secretly resolved on his death; but fear, on account of Sejanus’ influence with the guards, and his uncertainty of how the people might stand affected, prevented him from proceeding openly against him. He therefore had recourse to artifice, in which he so much delighted. At one time he would write to the senate, and describe himself as so ill that his recovery was nearly hopeless; again that he was in perfect health, and was about to return to Rome. He would now praise Sejanus to the skies, and then speak most disparagingly of him; he would honour some and disgrace others of his friends solely as such. In this way both Sejanus himself and all others were kept in a state of the utmost uncertainty. Tiberius further bestowed priesthoods on Sejanus and his son, and proposed to marry his daughter to Drusus, the son of Claudius, the brother of Germanicus; yet at the same time, when Sejanus asked permission to go to Campania, he desired him to remain where he was, as he himself would be coming to Rome immediately.