" Germanicus persisted no longer; though he knew that this was all
feigned and hollow, and saw himself invidiously torn away from a harvest
of ripe glory.
Decrees of the Senate were made for driving astrologers and magicians out
of Italy; and one of the herd, Lucius Pituanius, was precipitated from the
Tarpeian Rock: Publius Marcius, another, was, by the judgment of the
Consuls, at the sound of trumpet executed without the Esquiline Gate,
according to the ancient form.
Next time the Senate sat, long discourses against the luxury of the city
were made by Quintus Haterius, a consular, and by Octavius Fronto,
formerly Praetor; and a law was passed "against using table-plate of solid
gold, and against men debasing themselves with gorgeous and effeminate
silks." Fronto went further, and desired that "the quantities of silver
plate, the expense of furniture, and the number of domestics might be
limited;" for it was yet common for senators to depart from the present
debate and offer, as their advice, whatever they judged conducing to the
interest of the commonweal. Against him it was argued by Asinius Callus,
"That with the growth of the Empire private riches were likewise grown,
and it was no new thing for citizens to live according to their
conditions, but agreeable to the most primitive usage: the ancient
Fabricii and the later Scipios, having different wealth, lived
differently; but all suitably to the several stages of the Commonwealth.
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