Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/447

LEFT TIBERIUS 385 TIBET He returned to Rome A. D. 2, in which year Lucius Casar died in Massilia, on his way to Spain, while his brother Caiua died a year and a half later in the East from a wound which he had received in the Parthian war. Tiberius was accord- ingly adopted by Augustus as his suc- cessor in A. D. 4. In the same year he led an army into Germany, marched to the Elbe, and defeated the Sigambri, Bruc- teri, and Cherusci. The suppression of a revolt in Pannonia and Dalmatia pro- cured for him the honor of a third tri- umph. He was now sent once more against the Germans, who, under their great chief Arminius, had cut off Quin- tilius Varus, with three legions. Accom- panied by the young Germanicus, he crossed the Rhine, and during the years A. D. 11 and 12 traversed the countries E. of that river. On the death of Au- gustus, in 14, Tiberius became emperor. He was much respected for the dignity of his demeanor and reputed virtue. For some years he affected to take no active part in public affairs, while he gradually destroyed the last remnants of the an- cient republic, abolishing the "comitia," and transferring the election of public officers to the subservient senate. After the death of Germanicus in 19, not with- out suspicion of poisoning, Tiberius was much plotted against, which caused him to become gloomy and depressed in mind. In his 67th year he retired to the Is- land of Capreae to enjoy seclusion, leav- ing to .^lius Sejanus, commander of the Praetorian guards, the direction of public affairs, and a long and uniform series of cruelties followed. Awakened at last to the ambitious schemes of his favorite, Tiberius ordered the senate to condemn Sejanus, and the latter, with his family and friends, was put to death in 31. Some time after this, Tiberius took up his resi- dence at Misenum, where, as at Capreae, he plunged himself into the most dis- gusting debauchery. On March 16, A. D. 37, he fell into a lethargy, and being be- lieved to be dead, Caligula was proclaim- ed emperor. Tiberius, however, recov- ered, but he was suffocated in his bed by Macro, to save himself and the young emperor. The elaborate picture of the emperor given in the first six books of the "Annals of Tacitus" can hardly be considered a fair representation of his character. That Tiberius was a brave and skillful soldier and a careful financier cannot be doubted; while however, un- popular at Rome, he was regarded by the provincials as a wise and beneficent ruler. Perhaps a taint of the insanity which was characteristic of the Claudian house, and a vein of superstition and fatalism, go far to explain the disgrace- ful acts of his later years. TIBEBIUS CONSTANTINE, called Tiberius II., one of the most virtuous emperors of Constantinople, was a native of Thrace, and was brought up at the court of Justinian. He succeeded to the throne in 578, and having suppressed the conspiracy of Sophia, widow of his pred- ecessor, reigned unchallenged till his death in 582. TIBET, a dependency of the Chinese Empire, in central Asia, between China and India; area about 463,200 square miles; pop. about 2,000,000. The native name is Bod or Bodynl. Tibet is en- closed by the Kuenlun and the Himalaya Mountains. These claims run E. from a mountain knot at the S. extremity of the Pamir highland, and continue to diverge from each other till they reach the meridian of Lhassa, when they draw slightly nearer to the E. and S. E., where Tibet is bounded by ranges which sepa- rate it from China and Indo-China. Topography. — Tibet is the loftiest re- gion of such extent on the globe. Its table-lands vary in height from 17,000 to 10,000 feet. It has been estimated that their average height is that of the sum- mit of Mont Blanc. The table-lands are loftiest in the W. and N., whence they slope gradually to the S. and E. Bon- valot certified to the existence of vol- canoes. The lowest lands in Tibet are the grooves in which the Indus runs W. and the Sanpo E. to the bends where they turn to the S., cross the Himalayas, and descend into India. The mountain girdle which surrounds Tibet has made it an obstacle across which conquerors from Mongolia could not enter India without making a long detour. Another conse- quence of these barriers has been that Tibet has remained to the present day the region of the globe least known to geographers. Provinces. — Tibet is divided into provinces equal in extent to European states. There are (1) Chaidam (Tsai- dam), a name sometimes given to the country between the Nanling and Alten- tagh chains and the Kuenlun. It includes the Koko-Nur lake and the Chaidam marsh, and its cold and scanty pastures are frequented by nomads, among whont is the Tibetan race known as the Tan- guts. (2) Katchi, also described as the great N. plain, a lofty region of steppes very little known, but crossed by a road from Kiria, in Turkestan, and leading to the gold fields of Thok-Jalung, one of the hihest inhabited spots on the globe. (3) East Nari, including Khorsum and Dokthol, an elevated Himalyan country