erius to Nero, open only some
forty years before his own birth. Of the original sixteen
books, four are lost, and four are incomplete. The following
epitome has been specially prepared from the Latin text.

_I.--Emperor and Nephew_

Tiberius, adopted son and actual stepson of Augustus, was summoned from
Illyria by his mother Livia to the bedside of the dying emperor at Nola.
Augustus left a granddaughter, Agrippina, who was married to Germanicus,
the nephew of Tiberius; and a grandson, Agrippa Postumus, a youth of
evil reputation. The succession of Tiberius was not in doubt; but his
first act was to have Agrippa Postumus put to death--according to his
own statement, by the order of Augustus. At Rome, consuls, senators, and
knights hurried to embrace their servitude. The nobler the name that
each man bore, the more zealous was he in his hypocrisy. The grave
pretence of Tiberius that he laid no claim to imperial honours was met
by the grave pretence that the needs of the state forbade his refusal of
them, however reluctant he might be. His mother, Livia Augusta, was the
object of a like sycophancy. But the world was not deceived by the
solemn farce.

The death of Augustus, however, was the signal for mutinous outbreaks
among the legions on the European frontiers of the empire; first in
Pannonia, then in Germany. In Pannonia, the ostensible motive was
jealousy of the higher pay and easier terms of service of the Praetorian
guard. So violent were the men, and so completely did the officers lose
control, that Drusus, the son of Tiberius, was sent to make terms with
the mutineers, and only owed his success to the reaction caused by the
superstitious alarm of the soldiery at an eclipse of the moon.
Germanicus, who was in command in Germany, was absent in Gaul. Here the
mutiny of the Lower Army, under Caecina, was very serious, because it was
clearly organised, the men working systematically and not haphazard.

News of the outbreak brought their popular general, Germanicus, to the
spot. The mutineers at once offered to make him emperor, a proposal
which he indignantly repudiated. The position, in a hostile country,
made some concession necessary; but fresh disturbances broke out when it
was suspected that the arrival of a commission from the senate meant
that the concessions would be cancelled. Here the reaction which broke
down the mutiny was caused by the shame of the soldiers themselves, when
Germanicu