That same
year also brought fresh sorrow to the emperor by being fatal to one of the
twin sons of Drusus equally too by the death of an intimate friend. This
was
DEATHS IN IMPERIAL CIRCLE |
Lucilius Longus, the
partner of all his griefs and joys, the only senator who had been the
companion of his retirement in
Rhodes. And so,
though he was a man of humble origin, the Senate decreed him a censor's
funeral and a statue in the
forum of Augustus at the public expense.
Everything indeed was as yet in the hands of the Senate, and consequently
Lucilius Capito, procurator of
Asia, who was
impeached by his province, was tried by them, the emperor vehemently
asserting "that he had merely given the man authority over the slaves and
property of the imperial establishments; that if he had taken upon himself
the powers of a prætor and used military force, he had disregarded his
instructions; therefore they must hear the provincials." So the case was
heard and the accused condemned. The cities of
Asia,
gratified by this retribution and the punishment inflicted in the previous
year on Caius Silanus, voted a temple to Tiberius, his mother, and the
Senate, and were permitted to build it. Nero thanked the Senators and his
grandfather on their behalf, and carried with him the joyful sympathies of
his audience, who, with the memory of Germanicus fresh in their minds,
imagined that it was his face they saw, his voice they heard. The youth too
had a modesty and a grace of person worthy of a prince, the more charming
because of his peril from the notorious enmity of Sejanus.
