Thus, though he might have obtained the imperial power,--for he found favor in the sight of absolutely all the Romans as well as their subjects,--he declined the honor. For this Tiberius praised him and sent many pleasing messages both to him and to Agrippina: he was not, however, pleased with his rival's progress but feared him all the more because he had won the attachment of the legions. Tiberius assumed that he did not feel as he appeared to do, from his own consciousness of saying one thing and doing another. Hence he was suspicious of Germanicus and further suspicious of his wife, who was possessed of an ambition appropriate to her lofty lineage. Yet he displayed no sign of irritation toward them, but delivered many eulogies of Germanicus in the senate and proposed sacrifices to be offered in honor of his achievements as he did in the case of Drusus. Also he bestowed upon the soldiers in Pannonia the same privileges as Germanicus had given. For the future, however, he refused to release members of the service outside of Italy until they had served the twenty years.
[-7-] Now when no further news of a revolutionary nature came, but all parts of the Roman world began to yield a steady acquiescence to his leadership, he no longer practiced dissimulation regarding the acceptance of sovereign power, and managed the empire, so long as Germanicus lived, in the way I am about to describe. He did little or nothing, that is, on his own responsibility, but brought even the smallest matters before the senate and communicated them to that body. In the Forum a platform had been erected on which he sat in public to transact business, and he always gathered about him advisers, after the manner of Augustus. Moreover, he did not take any step of consequence without making it known to the rest. He stated his own opinion openly and not only granted every one the right to oppose it freely in speech, but sometimes even endured to have some vote directly against it. Often he would cast a vote himself. Drusus did this, like the rest, now voting first and again after some others. The emperor would sometimes remain silent and sometimes give his opinion first, or after a few others, or even last; in some cases he would speak out directly, but generally (to avoid appearing to have cut short their freedom of speech), he would say: "If I were to give my views I should propose this or that." This had equal influence with the other method, only those who came after were not prevented by him from stating what appeared good to them. But frequently he would outline one plan and those who came after him would prefer something different; occasionally they even prevailed. Yet for all that he harbored anger against no one. He held court himself, as I have stated, but he also attended the magistrates' courts, both when summoned by them and without an invitation. These officials he allowed to sit in their own places: he himself took his seat on the bench located opposite them and as presiding officer made any remarks that seemed to him pertinent.