d when
his mother Livia died he had no one to keep him in check, but fell under
the influence of a man named Sejanus, who managed all his affairs for
him, while he lived in a villa in the island of Capreae in the Bay of
Naples, seeing hardly any but a few intimates, given up to all sorts of
evil luxuries and self-indulgences, and hating and dreading every one.
Agrippina was so much loved and respected that he dreaded and disliked
her beyond all others; and Sejanus contrived to get up an accusation of
plotting against the state, upon which she and her eldest son were
banished to two small rocky isles in the Mediterranean Sea. The other
two sons, Drusus and Caius, were kept by Tiberius at Capreae, till
Tiberius grew suspicious of Drusus and threw him into prison. Sejanus,
who had encouraged all his dislike to his own kinsmen, and was managing
all Rome, then began to hope to gain the full power; but his plans were
guessed by Tiberius, and he caused his former favorite to be set upon
in the senate-house and put to death.

[Illustration: AGRIPPINA.]

It is strange to remember that, while such dark deeds were being done at
Rome, came the three years when the true Light was shining in the
darkness. It was in the time of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilatus was
propraetor of Palestine, that our Lord Jesus Christ spent three years in
teaching and working miracles; then was crucified and slain by wicked
hands, that the sin of mankind might be redeemed. Then He rose again
from the dead and ascended into Heaven, leaving His Apostles to make
known what he had done in all the world.

To the East, where our Lord dwelt, nay, to all the rest of the empire,
the reign of Tiberius was a quiet time, with the good government
arranged by Augustus working on. It was only his own family, and the
senators and people of rank at Rome, who had much to fear from his
strange, harsh, and jealous temper. The Claudian family had in all times
been shy, proud, and stern, and to have such power as belonged to
Augustus Caesar was more than their heads could bear. Tiberius hated and
suspected everybody, and yet he did not like putting people to death, so
he let Drusus be starved to death in his prison, and Agrippina chose the
same way of dying in her island, while some of the chief senators
received such messages that they put themselves to death. He led a
wretched life, watching for treason and fearing everybody, and trying to
drown the thought of dange