Addebat Messala Valerius renovandum per annos sacramentum in nomen Tiberii; interrogatusque a Tiberio num se mandante eam sententiam prompsisset, sponte dixisse respondit, nequc in iis quae ad rem publicam pertinerent consilio nisi suo usurum, vel cum periculo offensionis: ea sola species adulandi supererat.
In addition, Valerius Messalla suggested that the oath of allegiance to Tiberius should be renewed annually. To a query from Tiberius, whether that expression of opinion came at his dictation, he retorted'it was the one form of flattery still left'that he had spoken of his own accord, and, when public interests were in question, he would (even at the risk of giving offence) use no mans judgment but his own.
final_alignments\Tacitus_Annals_Book1.json