r base, to secure his own favour with Tiberius and with the
Praetorian Guard, of which he held the command. He was now determined to
get rid of Drusus, the son of Tiberius, as the most dangerous obstacle
to his ambitions. He accomplished his purpose by administering a poison,
of which the operation was unsuspected till the facts were revealed many
years later by an accomplice. Then the young sons of Germanicus became
the accepted representatives of the imperial line, for the infant sons
of Drusus died very shortly afterwards. Accordingly, Sejanus now
directed his attacks against the more powerful persons who might be
regarded as partisans of the house of Germanicus.

Despite the multiplications of prosecutions, it is to be noted that it
was still possible for a shrewd and tactful person, as exemplified by
the career of Marcus Lepidus, to uphold the principles of justice and
liberty without losing the favour of the emperor. Among other
prosecutions, that of Cremutius, whose crime was that of praising the
memory of Brutus and Cassius, demands attention, as the first of the
kind.

The ambitions of Sejanus received a check when he had the presumption to
request Tiberius to grant him the hand of the widow of Drusus in
marriage. In order the more surely to bring disgrace on the house of
Germanicus, he now implanted in the mind of Agrippina a conviction that
Tiberius intended to poison her. That such suspicions were mere
commonplaces of that terrible time is well illustrated by the story.
Incapable of hiding her feelings, the persistent gloom of her face and
voice, and her refusal of proffered dishes as she sat near Tiberius at
dinner, attracted his attention; to test her, he personally commended
and pressed on her some apples; this only intensified her suspicions,
and she gave them to the attendants untasted. Tiberius made no open
comment, but observed to his mother that it would hardly be surprising
should he contemplate harsh measures towards one who obviously took him
for a poisoner.

_III.--Morbid Tyrant and Dotard_

It was at this time that Tiberius withdrew himself from the capital, and
took up his residence at a country seat where hardly anyone had access
to him except Sejanus; whether at the favourite's suggestion or not is
uncertain. The retreat finally selected was the island of Caprae.

The monstrous lengths to which men of the highest rank were now prepared
to go to curry favour with Tiberius and Sejanus