" Upon him Tiberius fell with violent wrath, and, as if
present, demanded, what business had he with the soldiers? men whose duty
bound them to observe only the orders of the Emperor, and from the Emperor
alone to receive their rewards. Gallio had forsooth discovered a
recompense which had escaped the sagacity of the deified Augustus? Or was
it not rather a project started by a mercenary of Sejanus, to raise
sedition and discord; a project tending to debauch the rude minds of the
soldiers with the show and bait of new honour; to corrupt their
discipline, and set them loose from military restrictions? This reward,
had the studied flattery of Gallio; who was instantly expelled the Senate,
and then Italy: nay, it became a charge upon him, that his exile would be
too easy, having for the place of it chosen Lesbos, an island noble and
delightful; he was therefore haled back to Rome and confined a prisoner in
the house of a Magistrate. Tiberius in the same letter demanded the doom
of Sextus Paconianus, formerly Praetor, to the extreme joy of the Senate,
as he was a man bold and mischievous, one armed with snares, and
continually diving into the purposes and secret transactions of all men;
and one chosen by Sejanus, for plotting the overthrow of Caligula.
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