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A Trial by Public Opinion in Ancient Rome
- -!••-;• 4*.1-
Ferrero Writes of Roman Politics and Justice
Famous Historian Tells Story
of the Unjust Comdemna
tion of Piso.
Our own times are not so dis
ferent from ancient times Gug
lielmo Ferrero, the eminent Ital
ian historian, writes in HEARST'S
MAGAZINE for November the
story of the trial of Piso—a story
of compelling interest.
The Emperor Tiberius had
sent Geimanicus to the Orient,
and with the young warrior he
sent Piso, an aristocrat and a man
of more years and much ability.
Friction sprung up between the
two, and Germanicus advised
Piso to resign. This he did. and
on his way to Rome heard that
Germanicus was dead.
The following excerpt from
Ferrero's article show’s the force
of public opinion. This article is
only one of a number of highly
interesting and important fea
tures in HEARST'S MAGAZINE
for November, now on sale at the
new’s stands:
PISO resigned his command, left
the province and set out by slow
stage*- for Italy At Seleuela ho
was overtaken by' the news that Ger
manicus was seriously ill at Antioch!
He interrupted his journey to await
more definite reports, and in a few days
learned that the young vice prtneeps
was dead
,\'o sooner had Piso heard that Ger
manicus was dead than he retu'ned to
Syria to reoccupy the province Rut
what was his surpri.s< when he learned
that the friends of Germanicus had de
cided to entrust tin command of the
legions and of the province to one of
their own number, Gneus Senzius!
This nomination of Senzius was Ille
gal there is no doubt of that. Gcr
binanlcu- dead, the extraordinary |xmn
■ • tiaol. i.i.t (•
—MAGAZINE SECTION.
out of hand and to take over the gov
ernment of the province also ended, ami
the province and the command of the
army reverted to Piso.
I'he ft lends of Germanicus had
neither t ight nor authority to name his
successor.
The corpse of Germanicus had not yet
been given to the Hames. when Agrip
pina (wife of Germanicus) and the en
tire entourage of intimates were per
suaded and openly declared that Ger
manicus had been poisoned—and pois
oned in vengeance by Piso! They im
prisoned and later sent to Rome an old
woman named Martina—a sorceress by
trade—who said that she was a very
great friend of Planetna (wife of Pisoi.
whom they accused of having supplied
the poison.
Takes Charge Lightly.
When ho first heard of it. Piso did
not take the charge very seriously, and
he tried forcibly to re-enter the prov
ince from which his adversaries were
excluding him illegally. * Rut Senzius
resisted; and since they did not want to
see a real civil war spring from this
small beginning, they all agreed—Piso
on the one hand and Senzius and the
friends of Germanicus on the other—to
go to Rome and submit the question to
the emperor.
And so they did.
Rut upon their arrival they found
Italy and Rome in a state of incredible
agitation
When finally, therefore, various per
sons—spurred on by public opinion, by
the friends of Germanicus, and by the
relentless Agrippina decided to Join
together in bringing charges against
Piso and Plancina for poisoning, and
against Piso and his son. Marcus, for
having Incited to civil war, Tiberius
found himself in a most seriously em
barrassing position.
Tiberius did not believe in the alleged
poisoning, which wag the only serious
charge against Piso; as for the civil
war, that was at most a pretext Ho
did not believe in It. just as no other
sensible or impartial man believed in
it; as no one. indeed, believed In it
many' years after Tacitus, who w ith his
usuai malice bent every effort to lead
posterity to believe in it.
Rut this emfreror, whom -o many in
' Xpert historians have represented us a
terrible despot, had. a> a inattei of fact,
fa le-s power than has appeared to his
latter-day detractors. H. bad to t ,ke
account of publb opinion, however hare
THE ATJ.AXTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9. 1912.
By T. E. POWERS, The Famous Cartoonist,
brained and wild it may have been. He
was vaguely suspected of having In
cited Piso to" the poisoning, or at least'
of having shut his eyes gladly The
trial was a satisfaction for which the
public clamored, and the emperor—this
supposed despotic overlord of the state
—did not have sufficient power to deny
them.
Wise and Well Balanced.
But since he was wise and well bal
anced, he sent it to the senate, which, of
the two tribunals, might readily be
supposed to be the more enlightened
and serene. The other —quocstlo, or
what we would call the Jury—was too
closely In touch with public opinion,
.and would have been unable to judge
serenely in a trial over which public
opinion was so greatly excited and
prejudiced against the alleged princi
pal. However, even in the senate the
friends of Germanicus and the enemies
of Tiberius were numerous: and not
only that, but a tierce antipathy divided
the ancient and the new nobility.
During the 50 years since the end of
the civil wars many families of the new
nobility had entered the senate. Now,
Piso belonged to one of these ancient
families, and to one of the most dis
tinguished; and in referring the case
to the senate. Tiberius was leaving its
decision to the new nobility who har
bored muffled rancor against the an
cient families!
However, there was no third tribunal,
and of the two evils Tiberius could do
no more than choose the less. At the
same time he so keenly appreciated the
perils to which justice was being ex
posed in the midst of insensate passions
and in this trial that had been plotted
by rancorous hatred, that when as
president of the senate it became his
duty to open the hearings, he made a
speech of which Tacitus has preserved
an epitome
No one who reads it can fail to rec
ognize the spirit of piofound wisdom
and equity that animates It. Tiberius
submitted to the senate that the charge
of poisoning if true. would be ex
tremely grave: he reminded them, how
ever. that Piso was a distinguished
man; that he had rendered eminent
services to the republic, and that he
belonged to one of the most noble and
ancient families of Rome.
Wherefore, he hoped they would
judge with the rnost s. one impartial
ity. forgetting who the accused was If
thev found him guilty, forgetting who
the victim had been if they found the
accused innocent
Great as was his affection for Ger
manicus, he was utterly unwilling that
an innocent man should be sacrificed
on Germanicus' tomb to satisfy the in
sensate frenzy for revenge that had
taken possession of the public!
Words Fail to Convince.
ft was a wise and humane speech.
But of what avail are the words even
of an emperor when passions are
aflame? The senate granted two days
for the indictment, three for the de
fense. with an interval of six days be
tween them.
Por two days the accusers talked, re
viewing the whole life of Piso. as Cice
ro had done in the case of Verres, de
claring that he had misgoverned the
provinces over which he had previously
ruled, recounting in the minutest de
tail the story of his administration of
Syria and the fantastic story’ of the
poisoning.
Even Tacitus recognizes the weak
ness of the charges—especially that of
the poisoning, which was the only se
rious one.
The public was by preconception fa
vorable to the accusers: in the senate
there was a strong group adverse to
Piso.
Everybody realized that the Issue de
pended upon Tiberius, who held the
balance of power between the party
that wanted an acquittal and the group
that stood for a conviction. Every one.
therefore, looked to him either with
hope or with anxiety. Hut Tiberius lis
tened to the charges without winking
an eye. Impassive as a statue, not' so
much as letting his thought be divided
from its shadow.
Piso was a man of force, and, trust
ing in the excellence of his cause, he.
reappeared in the .senate when, after
six days, the sessions were resumed,
and defended himself tn a speech which
was skillful, vigorous, resolute. It ap
pears that the thing that was particu
larly effective In annihilating the charge
of poisoning was his demand that his
slaves and those of Germanicus who
had been prestent at the banquet at
which he was alleged to have given the
poison should be put to torture.
The speech made a most lively im
pression. and it might have proved the
means of Piso’s salvation if. while he
was speaking In the senate, serious dis
orders had not broken out in Rome. An
immense demonstration had surged
about the senate as he spoke, shouting
death against him, declaring that if tile
senst, acquitted him they themselves
would see to the vindication of Ger
manies*.
The senate weakened by internal dis-
Liberius Was Forced to Yield
to Mob Clamor for Life of
Innocent Man.
senslons and by long periods of civil
war. was no longer a sufficiently strong
assemblage to be able to withstand this
wild fury of public opinion. Discour
aged, Piso had that evening decided to
abandon the struggle. But his sons
gathered about him and put new heart
into him. He returned to the senate
again the next day, continued his de
fense. sustained and repelled new at
tacks—always looking toward Tiberius,
the man .who above all others was con
vinced of his innocence, and whose
word might be so useful to him. But
when it became apparent that even
Tiberius was unwilling and unable to
help him. Piso abandoned the tight.
That night he returned to his house,
and, anticipating certain conviction,
committed suicide.
I he public had had its victim, which
should have appeased its grief for the
untimely loss of Germanicus! Rut the
enemies of Piso were not satisfied: they
proposed that the name of Piso should
be erased from the annals of the re
public; that half of his estate should
be confiscated; that his son Marcus
should be banished for ten years. Then
only concession was the acquittal of
Plancina, to which they agreed out of
consideration for' Llvia. But Tiberius
decided that the blood of Piso was a
sufficient expiation of a crime which no
one had committed; and since the pub
lic had had its bloody’ satisfaction, he
intervened openly and exercised his au.
thority to prevent the erasure of Piso’s
name from the annals, as well as the
confiscation of his property and the
banishment of hfs son.
Among the judicial dramas of Ro
man history the trial of Piso was one of
the most atrocious.
It degraded the penal law. which
should be the sacred instrument of jus
tice, into the plaything of popular pas
sion.
BREAKING IT IN.
Small Son (tentatively) Pa. a horse
is worth a gr<ttt deal more, isn’t it, aft
er it's broken?
Parent 1 es, my son. Why do you
ask such a question .'
Small Son Because | broke the hen I
rocking horse you gave me thia tnorn-
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