It is natural that I should wish to set them down for the edification of my posterity and of any who may chance to read them.
For my experience has been, I believe, unique.

Since the establishment of the Principate in our Republic many men, even an uncountable horde of men, have incurred Imperial displeasure.

Of these not a few, after banishment from Italy or relegation to guarded islands or to some distant frontier outpost, have survived the Prince who exiled them and have, by the favor of his successors, been permitted to return to Rome and to the enjoyment of their property.

But I believe that no Roman nobleman implicated, justly or unjustly, in any conspiracy against the life of his Sovereign, ever escaped the extreme penalty of death.

Some, by their own hands, forestalled the arrival of the Imperial emissaries, others perished by the weapons or implements of those designated to abolish the enemies of the Prince.