Sunday, April 29, 2012

The Twelve Caesars - page 142, Tiberius

Once, as a funeral procession was passing, a humorist hailed the corpse and asked him to tell Augustus' ghost that his bequests to the commons had not yet been duly paid. Tiberius ordered the man to be arrested and brought before him. 'I will give you your due at once,' he said, and ordered his execution with: 'Why not go to my father yourself and tell him the truth about those legacies?'


Testy man, that Tiberius. It's a good thing his reputation didn't suffer for it.

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