Messalinus was asked by Lucius Asprenas, in the presence of the Senate,
"Whether by design he had omitted him?" and then at last the name of
Claudius was subjoined. To me, the more I revolve the events of late or of
old, the more of mockery and slipperiness appears in all human wisdom and
the transactions of men: for, in popular fame, in the hopes, wishes and
veneration of the public, all men were rather destined to the Empire, than
he for whom fortune then reserved the sovereignty in the dark.
A few days after, Vitellius, Veranius and Servaeus, were by the Senate
preferred to the honours of the Priesthood, at the motion of Tiberius. To
Fulcinius he promised his interest and suffrage towards preferment, but
advised him "not to embarrass his eloquence by impetuosity." This was the
end of revenging the death of Germanicus; an affair ambiguously related,
not by those only who then lived and interested themselves in it, but
likewise the following times: so dark and intricate are all the highest
transactions; while some hold for certain facts, the most precarious
hearsays; others turn facts into falsehood; and both are swallowed and
improved by the credulity of posterity.
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