His
departure was attended by a small retinue, one senator, who was an
ex-consul, Cocceius Nerva, learned in the laws, one Roman knight, besides
Sejanus, of the highest order, Curtius Atticus, the rest being men of
liberal culture,
TIBERIUS RETIRES TO CAMPANIA |
for the most part Greeks, in whose
conversation he might find amusement. It was said by men who knew the stars
that the motions of the heavenly bodies when Tiberius left
Rome were such as to forbid the possibility of his
return. This caused ruin to many who conjectured that his end was near and
spread the rumour; for they never foresaw the very improbable contingency of
his voluntary exile from his home for eleven years. Soon afterwards it was
clearly seen what a narrow margin there is between such science and delusion
and in what obscurity truth is veiled. That he would not return to
Rome was not a mere random assertion; as to the rest,
they were wholly in the dark, seeing that he lived to extreme old age in the
country or on the coast near
Rome and often close to
the very walls of the city.
