Engaged  in  a  course  of  adultery,  she  was  led  by  degrees  to
embrace  the  project  of  murdering  her  husband,  in  order  to
marry  her  paramour,  and  mount  with  him  to  the  imperial
dignity.
In  this  manner  a  woman  of  illustrious  rank,  the  niece  of
Augustus,  the  daughter-in-law  of  Tiberius,  and  the  mother
of  children  by  Drusus,  disgraced  herself,  her  ancestors,  and
her  posterity,  by  a  vile  connection  with  an  adulterer  from
a  municipal  town,  renouncing  the  honours  which  she  pos-
sessed, for  the  uncertain  prospect  of  flagitious  grandeur.
Eudemus,  the  confidential  friend  and  physician  l  of  the  faith-
less wife,  was  drawn  into  the  conspiracy.  Under  colour  of
his  profession,  this  man  had  easy  access  to  Livia.  Sejanus
listed  him  into  his  service ;  and  that  the  harmony  between
himself  and  the  adulteress  might  be  undisturbed  by  jealousy,
he  repudiated  his  wife  Apicata,  by  whom  he  had  three  chil-
dren. But  still  the  magnitude  of  the  crime  filled  their  minds
with  terror ;  they  fluctuated  between  opposite  counsels ;  they
resolved,  they  hesitated ;  delay,  and  doubt,  and  confusion
followed.
IV.  In  the  beginning  of  this  year,  Drusus,  the  second
son  of  Germanicus,  put  on  the  manly  robe.-  The  honours,
which  had  been  decreed  to  his  brother  Nero,  were  renewed
by  a  vote  of  the  fathers.  Tiberius,  in  a  speech  upon  the
occasion,  commended  the  tender  regard  with  which  his  son
protected  the  children  of  Germanicus.  The  truth  is,  Drusus
(though  in  high  stations  and  among  rivals  sincerity  is  seldom
found)  had  acquitted  himself  towards  his  nephews  with  all
decent  attention,  at  least  without  hostility.  Amidst  these
transactions,  the  old  project  of  visiting  the  provinces,  often
intimated,  but  never  in  earnest,  was  revived  by  Tiberius.
