bounds; only he left to the Roman people four hundred thousand great
sesterces, [Footnote: L362,500.] to the populace or common sort, thirty-
five thousand; to every common soldier of the Praetorian Guards, a
thousand small sesterces, [Footnote: L8, 6s. 8d.] and to every soldier of
the Roman legions three hundred. [Footnote: L2, 10s.] The funeral honours
were next considered. The chief proposed were these: Asinius Gallus moved
that "the funeral should pass through the Triumphal Gate:" Lucius
Arruntius, "that the titles of all the laws which he had made, and the
names of all the nations which he had conquered, should be carried before
the corpse:" Valerius Messala added, that "the oath of allegiance to
Tiberius should be renewed every year;" and being asked by Tiberius,
"whether at his instigation he had made that motion?" "I spoke it as my
opinion," says Messala; "nor will I ever be determined by any but my own,
in things which concern the commonweal; let who will be provoked by my
freedom." Only this new turn was wanting to complete the prevailing
flattery of the time. The Senators then concurred in a loud cry, "that
upon their own shoulders they must bear the body to the pile." But
Tiberius declined the offer from an arrogant show of moderation. Moreover,
he cautioned the people by an edict, "not to disturb the funeral functions
with a zeal over-passionate, as they had those of Julius Caesar; nor to
insist that the corpse of Augustus should be burnt rather in the Forum,
than in the field of Mars, which was the place appointed." On the funeral
day the soldiers under arms kept guard; a mighty mockery this to those who
had either seen, or heard their fathers describe, the day when Caesar the
Dictator was slain: servitude was then new, its sorrows yet fresh and
bitter; and liberty unsuccessfully retrieved by a deed which, while it
seemed impious to some, was thought altogether glorious by others, and
hence tore Rome into tumults and the violence of parties: they who knew
that turbulent day, and compared it with the quiet exit of Augustus,
ridiculed the foppery of "calling an aid of soldiers to secure a peaceable