The History of Rome: Rise and Fall of the Empire. John Bagnell Bury
there is little to praise, in his government in the early years of his reign. This was not due to the Princeps. It was partly due to well-trained ministers, to Seneca and Burrus especially; but it was also due to the excellence of the machine which Caesar the Dictator and Augustus had set worn. It was perhaps as well that the political views of the ministers were strictly limited by the system of Augustus. They did not introduce any new idea into the government. It was a more serious defect that their activity was mainly confined to the interests of the capital. They concerned themselves less with the welfare of the provinces. It must be admitted, however, that they appointed able officers to the commands on the frontiers.
The revival of the power of the senate in Nero’s early years has been already noticed. In 56 A.D. the management of the aerarium was transferred from the quaestors to two prefects, of praetorian standing, who were to be appointed by the Emperor and hold office for three years. This perhaps served to give the Emperor more control over the money which the fisc advanced to the aerarium. In the same year the tribunes were deprived of their rights of intercession and inflicting fines. It was probably in this reign that the independence of the senate was diminished by the Emperor’s extension of the right of commendation to the consulate, which had hitherto been exempted from this influence. But the most serious aggression of Nero against the senate, was his appropriation of the right of issuing copper coinage, which had hitherto been reserved for the senate. He also entertained the idea of abolishing the senatorial privilege of holding the high commands in the provinces and armies, in fact of abolishing the senate altogether, and carrying on the business of the state by means of the knights and freedmen. In the field of civil legislation several useful measures were passed, among which may be mentioned that which forbade the exhibitions of gladiators and beasts in the provinces.
In provincial administration the reign of Nero was marked by numerous processes for extortion, both in senatorial and in imperial provinces, instituted by the subjects against their governors. Cestius Proculus, accused by the Cretans, was acquitted. P. Celer, proconsul of Asia, died before his case was decided. Tarquitius Priscus, accused by Bithynia, was condemned; and Pedius Blaesus, accused by Cyrenaica, was degraded from the senate. In the imperial provinces, Cossutianus Capito was prosecuted by Cilicia, and condemned, but pardoned by Nero, owing to the influence of his father-in-law Tigellinus. Sardinia accused Vipsanius Laenas and obtained his condemnation; but Eprius Marcellus, accused by Lycia, was acquitted. Some of these processes came before the senate, others before the Emperor. In 57 A.D. an edict was issued, forbidding provincial governors and procurators to exhibit spectacles. Many had been in the habit of doing this, in order to reconcile the people to their unjust administration. These facts prove that the subjects were still exposed to injustice from their governors, and also that under Nero they were encouraged to complain.
A new procuratorial province was created, Pontus Polemoniacus; and Alpes Cottix was placed under procurators. The districts of the Cottian and the Maritime Alps had been Romanized since their pacification under Augustus, and now received the ius Latinum. Possibly the Pennine Alps also became a procuratorial province as early as Nero. The preservation of the Latin nationality occupied the serious attention of the government; new blood was imported into Italy from the provinces; and a considerable number of towns were colonized, including Antium, Beneventum, Capua, Tarentum, Nuceria, Puteoli. The progress of Roman civilization in Spain is shown by the fact that the three legions placed there by Augustus were reduced under Nero to two. It has been already mentioned that Nero gave the Greeks their freedom. As this act deprived the senate of a province, he made up the loss to the aerarium by transferring to the senate the imperial province of Sardinia and Corsica.
In the middle of Nero’s reign an important colonization took place in Moesia, which was constantly threatened by invasions of barbarians from the north, and seems to have suffered from depopulation. The legatus, Tiberius Plautius Silvanus Aelianus, settled 100,000 inhabitants of the land beyond the Danube in the Moesian territory. They were obliged to pay a certain tribute and also doubtless to perform military service in case of need. He also extended the sphere of Roman influence on the north shore of the Euxine by annexing to the Empire the town of Tyras. The advance of Roman arms in Britain has already been related. The war for Armenia and the rebellion in Judea will be described in subsequent chapters.
The project of an overland water-route from the Mediterranean to the North Sea was proposed by Lucius Vetus, the legatus of Upper Germany (55-56 A.D.). It was merely required to cut a canal connecting the Arar (the Saône), with the Mosella. Thus ships might sail up the Rhone, turn into the Arar at Lugudunum, reach the Mosella by the projected channel, and descend the Mosella into the Rhine. But the jealousy of Aelius Gracilis, the legatus of Belgica, frustrated the execution of this plan, which would have necessitated the bringing of the legions of Germany into Belgica. Gracilis frightened Velus by suggesting that the Emperor would be annoyed at the undertaking of such a large work by a subject.
In the Lower province some trouble was caused by the eastern Frisians, who were independent, whereas the western Frisians were tributary. Emboldened by the long peace, they migrated with all their people to the bank of the Old Rhine and established themselves in unoccupied lands reserved for pasturing the beasts which supplied the Roman troops with food. Their leaders—we cannot properly speak of kings—were Verritus and Malorix. They had built their houses, sowed the fields, and were using the soil as their own, when the legatus Dubius Avitus, threatened to attack them unless they either returned to their old abodes or obtained from the Emperor a grant of land. Verritus and Malorix preferred the second alternative, and went themselves to Rome to beg Caesar for the boon. They were obliged to wait some days on Nero’s pleasure, and spent the time in seeing the sights of Rome. They were shown Pompey’s theatre, in order that they might apprehend the greatness of the people. They took their seats among the general public, and as they could not appreciate the entertainment, they asked questions about the places assigned to the various ranks—the fourteen Benches of the knights, and the orchestra where the senators sat. Observing some persons in foreign dress among the senators, and learning that they were the envoys of nations, who were distinguished by their bravery and friendship to Rome, they exclaimed that the Germans were excelled by none in valor or loyalty, and took their seats among the senators. The incident was good-naturedly received by the spectators, who regarded it as an example of old-fashioned impulsiveness. The result of the embassy was that the two chieftains received Roman citizenship, but their nation was commanded to evacuate the territory which they had occupied. They refused to obey, and it was necessary for some auxiliary cavalry to drive them out.
But no sooner were the Frisians ejected than the same lands were seized by another and more powerful people the Ampsivarii, who lived in the neighborhood of the Amisia, and were driven out of their territory by the Chauci. The cause of these homeless exiles, seeking a new habitation, was pleaded by Boiocalus, an old man who was influential among these nations and loyal to Rome. On the occasion of the Cheruscan revolt in the disastrous year 9 A.D. he had been imprisoned by Arminius, and had since then served under Tiberius and Germanicus. But Avitus refused to accede to the request, and the Ampsivarians called on the Bructeri, Tencteri, and other tribes to help them to take by force what the Romans refused to give. Avitus sent a message to Curtilius Mancia, who had succeeded Vetus as legatus of Upper Germany, requesting him to make a hostile demonstration beyond the Rhine; and he himself promptly invaded the land of the Tencteri and threatened to exterminate them if they associated themselves with the Ampsivarians. The Bructeri were scared in the same way; and the Ampsivarians were then isolated and forced to retreat. Wandering as outcasts from one territory to another, received now as friends and now as foes, their entire youth was finally slain, and those who could not right were divided as booty.
Chapter XVIII.
The Wars for Armenia, Under Claudius and Nero
The struggle between Rome and Parthia for the possession of Armenia, was renewed in the reign of Claudius. This struggle was perpetually being decided and perpetually recurring. The Romans were determined to keep their hold over a country which was a ground of vantage for either realm against the other; while the Parthian monarchs tried, whenever they got