Tiberius however, making no change in his voluptuous life, excused
himself by letter for his absence from his last duty to his mother on the
ground of the pressure of business. He even abridged, out of moderation, as
it seemed, the honours which the Senate had voted on a lavish scale to her
memory, allowing only a very few, and adding that no religious worship was
to be decreed, this having been her own wish. In a part of the same letter
he sneered at female friendships, with an indirect censure on the consul
Fufius,
[p. 190]
who had risen to distinction through Augusta's
partiality. Fufius was indeed a man well fitted to win the affection of a
woman; he was witty too, and accustomed to ridicule Tiberius with those
bitter jests which the powerful remember so long.
