many injunctions on
this head and once ordered certain statements to be read aloud by them.
He behaved in the same way in regard to certain other matters (just as if
he could not write directly to the senate!). To that body he sent in not
only the documents given him by the informers but also the confessions
under torture which Macro obtained, so that nothing was left in the hands
of the senators save the vote of condemnation. About this time, however,
a certain Vibullius Agrippa, a knight, swallowed poison from a ring and
died in the senate-house itself, and Nerva, who could no longer endure
the emperor's society, starved himself to death, his chief reason for
doing so being that Tiberius had reaffirmed the laws on contracts,
enacted by Caesar, which were sure to result in great loss of confidence
and upheaval; and although his chief repeatedly urged him to utter
some word,[14] he refused to answer. These events seemed to make some
impression on the emperor and he modified the situation, so far as it
pertained to loans, by giving two thousand five hundred myriads to the
public treasury under the arrangement that this money could be lent out
by the senatorial party without interest for three years to such as
desired it. He further commanded that the most notorious of those who had
steadily acted as accusers should be put to death on one day. And when a
man who belonged to the centurions wished to lodge information against
some one, he forbade that any person who had served in the army should do
so, although he allowed the privilege to knights and senators.

[-22-] There is no denying that he received praise for his behavior in
these matters, and most of all because he would not accept a number of
honors that were voted to him for it. But the sensual orgies which he
carried on shamelessly with the individuals of highest rank, male and
female alike, caused ill to be spoken of him. For example, there was the
case of his friend Sextus Marius. Imperial favor had made this man so
rich and so powerful that when he was once at odds with a neighbor he
invited him to dine for two successive days. On the first he razed his
guest's dwelling entirely to the ground and on the next he rebuilt it on
a larger scale and in more elaborate style. The victim of his treatment
declared his ignorance of the perpetrators, whereupon Marius admitted
being responsible for both occurrences and added significantly: "This
shows you that I have both th