A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

acitus,
_
Annals, i.
Tacitus,
Annals, i. 13.
On pensioning
spendthrift
senatorial
families.
Tacitus, Annals,
ii. 38,
quoting a
Speech of
Tiberius.
The speech
of a senator
was not
hmited to the
subject before
the
house.
476 The Founding of the Principate
empire and his distrust of himself.
"Only the intellect of
the divine Augustus," he said, "is equal to such a burden.
Called as I have been by him to share his anxieties, I have
learned by experience how exposed to fortune's caprices is
the task of universal rule. Consequently a state which
has the support of so many great men should not put
everything on one alone; for many by uniting their efforts
will more easily discharge public functions." There was
more grand sentiment than good faith in such words. . . .
The senators, however, whose only fear was lest they
might seem to understand him, burst into complaints,
tears, and prayers.
Wearied at last by the assembly's clamorous entreaties
and by the urgent demands of individual senators, he
gradually gave way, though he would not admit that he
was undertaking the imperial rule, but yet ceased to
refuse it.
IX, Administration of Tiberius
" If all poor men begin to come here and to beg money
for their children, individuals will never be satisfied, and
the state will be bankrupt. Certainly our ancestors did
not grant the privilege of occasionally proposing amendments
or suggesting, in our turn for speaking, something
for the general advantage in order that we might in this
house increase our private business and property, thereby
bringing odium on the Senate and on princes whether
they concede or refuse their bounty. In fact, it is not a
request, but an importunity, as utterly unreasonable as
it is
unforeseen, for a senator, when the house has met on
other matters, to rise from his place and, pleading the
number and age of his children, put a pressure on the
delicacy of the Senate, then transfer the same constraint