Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1134

Rh 1122 TIBERIUS. this time, may all the gods and goddesses torment me more, than I daily feel that I am suffering, if I do know." This artful tyrant knew how to sub- mit to what he could not help : M. Terentius was charged before the senate with being a friend of Sejanus, and he boldly avowed it. His courage saved him from death, his accusers were punished, and Tiberius approved of the acquittal of Terentius (Dion Cass. Iviii. 19). The emperor also pru- dently took no notice of an insult of the praetor L. Sejanus, the object of which was to ridicule the emperor's person. [Sejanus, L.] Tiberius now left his retreat for Campania, and he came as far as his gardens on the Vatican ; but he did not enter the city, and he placed soldiers to prevent any one coming near him. Old age and debauchery had bent his body, and covered his face with ugly blotches, which made him still more unwilling to show himself ; and his taste for obscene pleasures, which grew upon him, made him court solitude still more. One of the consuls of the year A. d. 33 was Serv. Sulpicius Galba, afterwards emperor. A great number of informers in this year pressed for the prosecution of those who had lent money contrary to a law of the dictator Caesar. The Romans never could understand that money must be treated as a commodity, and from the time of the Twelve Tables they had always interfered with the free trade in money, and without success. The law of Caesar was enforced, but as many of the senators had violated it, eighteen months were allowed to persons to settle their affairs, so as to bring them clear of the penalties of the lex. The consequence was great confusion in the money market, as every creditor was pressing for payment, and people were threatened with ruin by a forced sale of their pro- perty, to meet their engagements. The emperor relieved this distress by loans of public money, on security of land, and without interest. (Tacit. Ann.i. 17.) The death of Sex. Marius, once a friend of Tibe- rius, is given by Dion Cassius (Iviii. 22), as an ex- ample of the emperor's cruelty. Marius had a hand-- some daughter, whom he removed to a distance, to save her from the lust of his imperial friend. Upon this he was accused of incestuous commerce with his own daughter, and put to death ; and the emperor took possession of his gold mines, though they had been declared public property. The prisons, which were filled with the friends or supposed friends of Sejanus, were emptied by a general massacre of men, women, and children, whose bodies were thrown into the Tiber. About this time, when the emperor was re- turning to Capreae, he married Claudia, the daughter of M. Silanus, to C. Caesar, the son of German icus, a youth whose early years gave ample promise of what he would be and what he was, as the emperor Caligula. Asinius Gallus, the son of Asinius Pollio, and the husband of Vip- sania, the divorced wife of Tiberius, died this year of hunger, either voluntarily or by constraint. Drusus, the son of Germanicus, and his mother Agrippina, also died at this time. The death of Agrippina brought on the death of Plancina, the wife of Cn. Piso, for Livia being dead, who pro- tected her, and Agrippina, who was her enemy, there was now no reason why justice should not have its course ; yet it does not appear what evi- d«nce there was against her. Plancina escaped a TIBERIUS. public execution by voluntary death. (Tacit. Jm. vi. 26.) In the year a. d. 33 Jesus Christ suffered xmder Pontius Pilatus, in Judaea. [Pontius Pilatus.] It became the fashion in the time of Tiberius either for the accused or the accuser to be punished ; and there was perhaps justice in it at such a time. Abudius Rufo made it a charge against L. Gaetu- licus, under whom he had served, that Gaetulicus had designed to give his daughter to the son of Sejanus, and Abudius was banished from the city. Gaetulicus was at that time in command of the legions in Upper Germany, and he is said to have written a letter to Tiberius, from which the emperor might learn that a general at the head of an army, by whom he was beloved, was not to be treated like a man who was within the walls of Rome. Artaxias, whom Germanicus had placed on the throne of Armenia, was now dead, and Artabaniis, king of the Parthians, had put his eldest son, Ar- saces, on the throne. But Artabanus had enemies around him, who sent a secret message to Rome to ask the emperor to send them Phraates for their king, whom his father Phraates had given as a hostage to Augustus. Phraates was sent, but he died in Syria, upon which Tiberius nominated Tiridates, who was of the same famil}', and he sent L. Vitellius to direct affairs in the East (a. d. 35). It was the policy of Tiberius to give employment to Artabanus by raising up enemiesragainst him at home, rather than by employing the arms of Rome against him. [Tiridates ; Artabanus.] Rome was still the scene of tragic occurrences. Vibulenus Agrippa, who was accused before the senate, after his accusers had finished their charge against him took poison in the senate-house, and fell down in the agonies of death ; yet he was dragged off to prison, and strangled though life was already extinct. Tigranes, once king of Armenia, who was then at Rome, was also accused and put to death. In the same year (a. d. 36) a confla- gration at Rome destroyed a part of the Circus contiguous to the Aventine hill, and the houses on the Aventine also ; but the emperor paid the owners of property to the full amount of their losses. Tiberius, now in his seventy- eighth year, had hitherto enjoyed good health ; and he was accus- tomed to laugh at physicians, and to ridicule those who, after reaching the age of thirty, required the advice of a doctor to tell them what was useful or injurious to their health. (Tacit. J«w. vi. 46.) But he was now attacked with a slow disease, which seized him at Astura, whence he travelled to Circeii, and thence to Misenum, to end his life in the villa of Lucullus. He concealed his sufferings as much as he could, and went on eating and in- dulging himself as usual. But Charicles, his phy- sician, took the opportunity of feeling the old man's pulse, and told those about him that he would not last two days. No successor was yet appointed. Tiberius had a grandson, Tiberius Nero Gemellus, who was only seventeen, and too young to direct afihirs. Cuius, the son of Germa- nicus, was older and beloved by the people ; but Tiberius did not like him. He thought of Claudius, the brother of Germanicus, as a successor, but Claudius was too weak of understanding. Accord- ingly, says Tacitus, he made no declaration of his will, but left it to fate to determine his successor. Dion Cassius says (Iviii, 23) that he named C. Cali- gula, because he knew his bad disposition ; but thia