Soon afterwards Tiberius informed the Senate by letter that Africa was again disturbed by an incursion of Tacfarinas, and that they must use their judgment in choosing as proconsul an experienced soldier of vigorous constitution, who would be equal to the war.
Sextus Pompeius caught at this opportunity of venting his hatred against Lepidus, whom he condemned as a poor-spirited and needy man, who was a disgrace to his ancestors, and therefore deserved to lose even his chance of the province of Asia.But the Senate were against him, for they thought Lepidus gentle rather than cowardly, and that his inherited poverty, with the high rank in which he had lived without a blot, ought to be considered a credit to instead of a reproach.And so he was sent to Asia, and with respect to Africa it was decided that the emperor should choose to whom it was to be assigned.
During this debate Severus Caecina proposed that no magistrate who had obtained a province should be accompanied by his wife.He began by recounting at length how harmoniously he had lived with his wife, who had borne him six children, and how in his own home he had observed what he was proposing for the public, by having kept her in Italy, though he had himself served forty campaigns in various provinces."With good reason," he said, "had it been formerly decided that women were not to be taken among our allies or into foreign countries.A train of women involves delays through luxury in peace and through panic in war, and converts a Roman army on the march into the likeness of a barbarian progress.Not only is the sex feeble and unequal to hardship, but, when it has liberty, it is spiteful, intriguing and greedy of power.They show themselves off among the soldiers and have the centurions at their beck.Lately a woman had presided at the drill of the cohorts and the evolutions of the legions.You should yourselves bear in mind that, whenever men are accused of extortion, most of the charges are directed against the wives.It is to these that the vilest of the provincials instantly attach themselves; it is they who undertake and settle business; two persons receive homage when they appear; there are two centres of government, and the women's orders are the more despotic and intemperate.Formerly they were restrained by the Oppian and other laws; now, loosed from every bond, they rule our houses, our tribunals, even our armies."A few heard this speech with approval, but the majority clamorously objected that there was no proper motion on the subject, and that Caecina was no fit censor on so grave an issue.Presently Valerius Messalinus, Messala's son, in whom the father's eloquence was reproduced, replied that much of the sternness of antiquity had been changed into a better and more genial system."Rome," he said, "is not now, as formerly, beset with wars, nor are the provinces hostile.Afew concessions are made to the wants of women, but such as are not even a burden to their husbands homes, much less to the allies.In all other respects man and wife share alike, and this arrangement involves no trouble in peace.War of course requires that men should be unincumbered, but when they return what worthier solace can they have after their hardships than a wife's society? But some wives have abandoned themselves to scheming and rapacity.Well; even among our magistrates, are not many subject to various passions? Still, that is not a reason for sending no one into a province.Husbands have often been corrupted by the vices of their wives.Are then all unmarried men blameless? The Oppian laws were formerly adopted to meet the political necessities of the time, and subsequently there was some remission and mitigation of them on grounds of expediency.It is idle to shelter our own weakness under other names; for it is the husband's fault if the wife transgresses propriety.Besides, it is wrong that because of the imbecility of one or two men, all husbands should be cut off from their partners in prosperity and adversity.And further, a sex naturally weak will be thus left to itself and be at the mercy of its own voluptuousness and the passions of others.Even with the husband's personal vigilance the marriage tie is scarcely preserved inviolate.What would happen were it for a number of years to be forgotten, just as in a divorce? You must not check vices abroad without remembering the scandals of the capital."Drusus added a few words on his own experience as a husband.
"Princes," he said, "must often visit the extremities of their empire.
How often had the Divine Augustus travelled to West and to the East accompanied by Livia? He had himself gone to Illyricum and, should it be expedient, he would go to other countries, not always however with a contented mind, if he had to tear himself from a much loved wife, the mother of his many children."Caecina's motion was thus defeated.At the Senate's next meeting came a letter from Tiberius, which indirectly censured them for throwing on the emperor every political care, and named Marcus Lepidus and Junius Blaesus, one of whom was to be chosen pro-consul of Africa.
Both spoke on the subject, and Lepidus begged earnestly to be excused.
He alleged ill-health, his children's tender age, his having a daughter to marry, and something more of which he said nothing, was well understood, the fact that Blaesus was uncle of Sejanus and so had very powerful interest.Blaesus replied with an affectation of refusal, but not with the same persistency, nor was he backed up by the acquiescence of flatterers.