On all points
but one the defence broke down. That he had tampered with the soldiers, that
his province had been at the mercy of the vilest of them, that he had even
insulted his chief, he could not deny. It was only the charge of poisoning
from which he seemed to have cleared himself. This indeed the prosecutors
did not adequately sustain by merely alleging that at a banquet given by
Germanicus, his food had been tainted with poison by the hands of Piso who
sat next above him. It seemed absurd to suppose that he would have dared
such an attempt among strange servants, in the sight of so many bystanders,
and under Germanicus's own eyes. And, besides, the defendant offered his
slaves to
the torture, and
insisted on its application to the attendants on that occasion. But the
judges for different reasons were merciless, the emperor, because war had
been made on a province, the Senate because they could not be sufficiently
convinced that there had been no treachery about the death of Germanicus.
At the same time shouts were heard from the people in front of the
Senate House, threatening violence if he escaped the verdict of the
Senators. They had actually dragged Piso's statues to the
Gemonian stairs,
and were breaking them in pieces, when by the emperor's order they were
rescued and replaced. Piso was then put in a litter and attended by a
tribune of one of the prætorian cohorts, who followed him so it was
variously rumoured, to guard his person or to be his executioner.
