Note 405 — Chapter II · (continued 3)

A great part of the description of Tiberius given by Tacitus (Ann. vi. 51) applies to William Rufus; only we cannot make out quite so many stages in the moral downfall of the Red King. “Egregium vita famaque quoad privatus vel in imperiis sub Augusto fuit; occultum et subdolum fingendis virtutibus donec Germanicus ac Drusus superfuere: idem inter bona malaque mixtus, incolumi matre.” These are words of almost the same meaning as some of the expressions of Eadmer and William of Malmesbury. See specially Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 14; “Confestim [after Lanfranc’s death] rex foras expressit quod in suo pectore, illo vivente, confotum habuit.” In any case we may say, “postremo in scelera simul ac dedecora prorupit, postquam, remoto pudore et metu, suo tantum ingenio utebatur.” The change in William after Lanfranc’s death is most strongly brought out by Matthew Paris, Hist. Angl. i. 38.