"
Domitius Celer, one in intimate credit with Piso, argued on the contrary,
"that the present event must by all means be improved; it was Piso and not
Sentius who had commission to govern Syria; upon him, were conferred the
jurisdiction of Praetor, and the badges of magistracy, and with him the
legions were instructed: so that if acts of hostility were by his
opponents attempted, with how much better warrant could he avow assuming
arms in his own right and defence, who was thus vested with the authority
of general, and acted under special orders from the Emperor. Rumours too
were to be neglected, and left to perish with time: in truth to the
sallies and violence of recent hate the innocent were often unequal: but
were he once possessed of the army, and had well augmented his forces,
many things, not to be foreseen, would from fortune derive success. Are we
then preposterously hastening to arrive at Rome with the ashes of
Germanicus, that you may there fall, unheard and undefended, a victim to
the wailings of Agrippina, a prey to the passionate populace governed by
the first impressions of rumour? Livia, it is true, is your confederate;
Tiberius is your friend; but both secretly: and indeed none will more
pompously bewail the violent fate of Germanicus, than such as for it do
most sincerely rejoice.
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