|
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 2:07 PM
Two men of noble rank died in that year, Cneius Lentulus and Lucius
Domitius. It had been the glory of Lentulus, to say
nothing of his consulship
and his triumphal distinctions over the Gaetuli, to
have borne poverty
with a good grace, then to have attained great wealth,
which had been blamelessly
acquired and was modestly enjoyed. Domitius derived
lustre from a father
who during the civil war had been master of the sea,
till he united himself
to the party of Antonius and afterwards to that of
Caesar. His grandfather
had fallen in the battle of Pharsalia, fighting for
the aristocracy. He
had himself been chosen to be the husband of the
younger Antonia, daughter
of Octavia, and subsequently led an army across the
Elbe, penetrating further
into Germany than any Roman before him. For this
achievement he gained
triumphal honours.
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire too then died, of a most
illustrious but unfortunate
family. His father, Julius Antonius, was capitally
punished for adultery
with Julia, and the son, when a mere youth, was
banished by Augustus, whose
sister's grandson he was, to the city of Massilia,
where the name of exile
might be masked under that of student. Yet honour was
paid him in death,
and his bones, by the Senate's decree, were consigned
to the sepulchre
of the Octavii.
While the same consuls were in office, an
atrocious crime was committed
in Nearer Spain by a peasant of the Termestine tribe.
Suddenly attacking
the praetor of the province, Lucius Piso, as he was
travelling in all the
carelessness of peace, he killed him with a single
wound. He then fled
on a swift horse, and reached a wooded country, where
he parted with his
steed and eluded pursuit amid rocky and pathless
wilds. But he was soon
discovered. The horse was caught and led through the
neighbouring villages,
and its owner ascertained. Being found and put to the
torture that he might
be forced to reveal his accomplices, he exclaimed in a
loud voice, in the
language of his country, that it was in vain to
question him; his comrades
might stand by and look on, but that the most intense
agony would not wring
the truth from him. Next day, when he was dragged back
to torture, he broke
loose from his guards and dashed his head against a
stone with such violence
that he instantly fell dead. It was however believed
that Piso was treacherously
murdered by the Termestini. Some public money had been
embezzled, and he
was pressing for its payment too rigorously for the
patience of
barbarians.
|
|
| << Navigate to Wednesday, July 28, 2010 |
Add New Comment |