Next followed Tiberius's
fourth, Drusus's second con-
TIBERIUS RETIRES TO CAMPANIA |
sulship, memorable from the fact that
father and son were colleagues. Two years previously the association of
Germanicus and Tiberius in the same honour had not been agreeable to the
uncle, nor had it the link of so close a natural tie.
At the beginning
of this year Tiberius, avowedly to recruit his health, retired to
Campania, either as a gradual preparation for long and
uninterrupted seclusion, or in order that Drusus alone in his father's
absence might discharge the duties of the consulship. It happened that a
mere trifle which grew into a sharp contest gave the young prince the means,
of acquiring popularity. Domitius Corbulo, an ex-prætor, complained to
the Senate that Lucius Sulla, a young noble, had not given place to him at a
gladiatorial show. Corbulo had age, national usage and the feelings of the
older senators in his favour. Against him Mamercus Scaurus, Lucius Arruntius
and other kinsmen of Sulla strenuously exerted themselves. There was a keen
debate, and appeal was made to the precedents of our ancestors, as having
censured in severe decrees disrespect on the part of the young, till Drusus
argued in a strain calculated to calm their feelings. Corbulo too received
an apology from Mamercus, who was Sulla's uncle and stepfather, and the most
fluent speaker of that day.
It was this same Corbulo, who, after raising
a cry that most of the roads in
Italy were
obstructed or impassable through the dishonesty of contractors and the
negligence of officials, himself willingly undertook the complete management
of the business. This proved not so beneficial to the State as ruinous to
many persons, whose property and credit he mercilessly attacked by
convictions and confiscations.
