Drusus was the son of Tiberius by Vipsania, one of Agrippa’s (245) daughters. He displayed great intrepidity during the war in the provinces of Illyricum and Pannonia, but appears to have been dissolute in his morals.
Horace is said to have written the Ode in praise of Drusus at the desire of Augustus; and while the poet celebrates the military courage of the prince, he insinuates indirectly a salutary admonition to the cultivation of the civil virtues:
*Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam,*
*Rectique cultus pectora roborant:*
*Utcunque defecere mores,*
*Dedecorant bene nata culpae.*—Ode iv. 4.
> Yet sage instructions to refine the soul
> And raise the genius, wondrous aid impart,
> Conveying inward, as they purely roll,
> Strength to the mind and vigour to the heart:
> When morals fail, the stains of vice disgrace
> The fairest honours of the noblest race.—Francis.Upon the death of Drusus, Sejanus openly avowed a desire of marrying the widowed princess; but Tiberius opposing this measure, and at the same time recommending Germanicus to the senate as his successor in the empire, the mind of Sejanus was more than ever inflamed by the united, and now furious, passions of love and ambition. He therefore urged his demand with increased importunity; but the emperor still refusing his consent, and things being not yet ripe for an immediate revolt, Sejanus thought nothing so favourable for the prosecution of his designs as the absence of Tiberius from the capital. With this view, under the pretence of relieving his master from the cares of government, he persuaded him to retire to a distance from Rome. The