His son, besides his hereditary pride and
impetuosity, was elevated with the nobility and wealth of Plancina his
wife; scarce yielded he to Tiberius, and, as men far beneath him, despised
the sons of Tiberius; neither did he doubt but he was set over Syria on
purpose to thwart the measures and defeat all the views of Germanicus.
Some even believed that he had to this purpose secret orders from
Tiberius, as it was certain that Livia directed Plancina to exert the
spirit of the sex, and by constant emulation and indignities persecute
Agrippina. For the whole court was rent, and their affections secretly
divided between Drusus and Germanicus. Tiberius was partial to Drusus, as
his own son by generation; others loved Germanicus; the more for the
aversion of his uncle, and for being by his mother of more illustrious
descent; as Marc Anthony was his grandfather, and Augustus his great-
uncle. On the other side, Pomponius Atticus, a Roman knight, by being the
great-grandfather of Drusus, seemed thence to have derived a stain upon
the images of the Claudian house; besides, Agrippina, the wife of
Germanicus, did in the fruitfulness of her body and the reputation of her
virtue far excel Livia, the wife of Drusus.
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