Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1131

Rh TIBERIUS. Patriae, and only ♦ook that of Augustus when he wrote to foreign princes. He began his reign by- putting Postumus Agrippa to death, and he alleged that it was done pursuant to the command of Augustus (Tacit. Ann. i. 6.) His conduct in other respects was marked by moderation and prudence ; he rejected all flattery from the senate ; he conferred offices according to merit, and he allowed persons to grow old in them. He endeavoured to relieve the scarcity of bread, a kind of complaint at Rome, which occurred at intervals, notwithstanding, and perhaps, in conse- quence of, the efforts of the government to secure a supply of food for the city. His mode of life was frugal, and without ostentatious display, and there was little to find fault with in him. (Dion Cass. Ivii. 2, &c.) He had got rid of Agrippa, who was the nearest rival, and who, if he had possessed merit, would have seemed to have a better title to the imperial power than Tiberius, for he was the son of Julia. Germanicus was the son of his younger brother, and had a less direct claim than Tiberius ; but Tiberius feared the virtues and the popularity of Germanicus, and so long as he felt that Ger- manicus might be a rival, his conduct was exceed- ingly circumspect. (Tacit. ^««. i. 14,15.) When he felt himself sure in his place, he began to exercise his craft. He took from the popular assembly the election of the magistrates, and transferred it to the senate, for this is what Tacitus means in the passage of the Annals just referred to : the popular assembly still enacted laws, though the consuita of the senate were the ordinary form of legislation from the time of the accession of Tiberius. The emperor limited himself to the recommendation of four can- didates annually to the senate, who of course were elected ; and he allowed the senate to choose the rest. He also nominated the consuls. The news of the death of Augustus roused a mutiny among the legions in Pannonia, which was quelled by Drusus, the son of Tiberius, aided by the terrors of an eclipse which happened very op- portunely (27th September, A. D. 14). The armies on the Rhine under Germanicus showed a disposi- tion to reject Tiberius, and a mutinous spirit, and if Germanicus had been inclined to try the fortune of a campaign, he might have had the assistance of the German armies against his uncle. But Ger- manicus restored discipline to the army by his firmness, and maintained his fidelity to the new emperor. Tiberius, however, was not yet free from his fears, and he looked with suspicion on Ger- manicus and his high-spirited wife Agrippina, who was also disliked by Livia, the mother of Tiberius. The first year of his reign was marked by the I death of Julia, whom Augustus had removed from Pandataria to Rhegium ; her husband deprived her of the allowance that she had from her father, and allowed her to pine away in destitution. One of her lovers, Sempronius Gracchus, who was living in exile in a small island on the coast of Africa, was by the order of Tiberius put to death. (Tacit. Ann. i. 53.) Germanicus (a. d. 15) continued the Germanic war, though with no important results, but Agrip- pina's courage on a trying occasion aroused the emperor's fears, and he had now a man about him, Sejanus, who worked on the emperor's suspicious temper for his own sinister purposes [Sejanus,] It became common at this time to listen to inform- Htions of treason or laesa majestas against the TIBERIUS. 1119 emperor ; and persons were accused not of acts only, but words, and even the most indifferent matters were made the ground of such charges. Thus was established a pestilent class of men, under the name of Delatores, who became a terrible means of injustice and oppression (Tacit. Ann. i, 73), and enriched themselves at the expense of their victims by encouraging the cruel suspicions of the emperor. In the lifetime of Augustus, Tiberius had urged the emperor to punish those who spoke disrespectfully of the emperor, but his more prudent step-father, content with real power and security, allowed the Romans to indulge their taste for satire and pasquinades. (Sueton. Aug. c. 51.) Tiberius followed this wise advice for a time, and made great profession of allowing liberty of speech, but his real temper at last prevailed, and the slightest pretence was sufficient to found a charge of laesa majestas (Sueton. Tiber, c. 28). He paid unwill- ingly and tardily the legacies left by Augustus to the people, and he began his payment with an act of cruelty, which was not the better for being seasoned with humour (Sueton. Tiber, c. 57; Dion Cass. Ivii, 14, tells the same story). Vonones, the son of Phraates, once a hostage at Rome, had been invited back to his Parthian king- dom in the time of Augustus, but Artabanus of the royal house of the Arsacidae drove him out (a. d. 16), and he sought refuge in Armenia, which being then without a king accepted Vonones. The new king however was unable to maintain himself against a threatened attack of Artabanus. Tiberius did not wish to get into a quarrel with Artabanus, by giving Vonones aid, and the exiled king took refuge with Creticus Silanus, governor of Syria. (Tacit, ylnn. ii. 12.) Germanicus was carrying on the war with success in Germany, and Tiberius, who had long been jealous of his rising fame, recalled him to Rome under the pretext of giving him a triumph. It seems somewhat inconsistent that Tiberius who was addicted to astrology and divination should have allowed this class of im- postors to be banished from Italy (Tacit. Ann. ii. 32) ; this, however, was one of the events of this year. Germanicus enjoyed (26th of May a.d. 17) the triumph which had been decreed. Tiberius added to the Roman empire the kingdom of Cappadocia, the last king of which, Archelaus, had been sum- moned to Rome, and died there, probably of old age and grief combined, after being accused of some frivolous matters before the senate. Tiberius was enabled by the produce of the new province to reduce the tax of one per cent, on auctions to one half per cent. (Tacit. Ann. ii. 42.) The state of affairs in the East, where the kingdoms of Cora- magene and Cilicia were disturbed by civil dissen- sions and Syria and Judaea were uneasy at the weight of taxation, gave Tiberius an opportunity of removing Germanicus from Rome by conferring on him by a decree of the senate the government of the East. Drusus, the son of Tiberius, was sent into Illyricum. This year is memorable for the great earthquake in Asia, the greatest on record at the time when it happened, and the more de- structive from having happened by night. Twelve cities were damaged or destroyed,' the earth opened and swallowed up the living, and even southern Italy and Sicily felt the terrific shock. Sardes suffered the most of the twelve cities. The emperor alleviated the calamity by his bounty, and in the