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Notes Do not display Latin text | Tiberius Chapter 28: A modest start (cont.) | Next chapter Return to index Previous chapter |
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More than that, he [Note 1] so was self-contained and patient in the face of abuse and slander, and of lampoons on himself and his family, often asserting that in a free country there should be free speech and free thought. When the Senate on one occasion demanded that cognizance be taken of such offences and those guilty of them, he said: We have not enough spare time to warrant involving ourselves in more affairs; if you open this loophole you will find no time for any other business; it will be an excuse for laying everybody's quarrels before you. A most unassuming remark of his in the Senate is also a matter of record: If so and so criticizes me I shall take care to render an account of my acts and words; if he persists, our enmity will be mutual. Note 1: Tiberius | Sed et aduersus conuicia malosque rumores et famosa de se ac suis carmina firmus ac patiens subinde iactabat in ciuitate libera linguam mentemque liberas esse debere; et quondam senatu cognitionem de eius modi criminibus ac reis flagitante: "Non tantum," inquit, "otii habemus, ut implicare nos pluribus negotiis debeamus; si hanc fenestram aperueritis, nihil aliud agi sinetis: omnium inimicitiae hoc praetexto ad uos deferentur." Extat et sermo eius in senatu perciuilis: "Siquidem locutus aliter fuerit, dabo operam ut rationem factorum meorum dictorumque reddam; si perseuerauerit, in uicem eum odero." |