Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1135

 is always Dion's Hishion. Suetonius ( TYier. c. 76) says that he made a will two years before his death, iu which he instituted Caius and Tiberius Gemellus his coheredes, with mutual substitution ; and this will might be a disposition of the empire as well as of his private property. Cains had for some time employed all his artifices to win the favour of the emperor, and also that of Macro, who was now all- powerful with the emperor. It seems that Tiberius certainly did not like Caius, and if he had lived longer, he would probably have put him to death, and given the empire to his grandson. On the sixteenth of March a. d. 37, Tiberius had a fainting fit, and was supposed to be dead, on which Caius came forth and was saluted as em- peror ; but he was alarmed by the intelligence that Tiberius had recovered and called for something to eat. Caius was so frightened that be did not know what to do, and was every moment expecting to be put to death ; but Macro, with more presence of mind, gave orders that a quantity of clothes should be thrown on Tiberius, and that he should be left alone. Thus Tiberius ended his life. Suetonius, quoting Seneca, gives a somewhat different account of his death. Tiberius reigned twenty-two years, six months, and twenty-six days. His body was taken to Rome, and his funeral ceremony was con- ducted with the usual pomp. His successor Cali- gula pronounced the oration, but he spoke less of Tiberius than of Augustus, Germanicus, and him- self. Tiberius did not receive divine honours, like Augustus. Tacitus (Ann. vi. 51) has given, in a few words, his character, the true nature of which was not fully shown till he was released from all re- straint. He was probably one of those men who, iu a private station, might have been as good as most men are, for it is fortunate for mankind that few have the opportunity and the temptation which unlimited power gives. In the time of Tiberius lived Valerius Maximus, Velleius Paterculus, Phaedrus, Fenestella, and Strabo ; also the jurist Massurius Sabinus, M. Coc- ceiiis Nerva, and others. Tiberius wrote a brief commentary of his own life (Sueton. Tiber, c. 61), the only book that the em- peror Domitian studied : Suetonius made use of it for his life of Tiberius. Suetonius also made use of various letters of Tiberius to princes and others, and his Orationes to the senate. Tiberius made & several public orations, such as that on his father, delivered when he was nine years old, but this we nuist assume to have been written by somebody else ; the funeral oration of Augustus ; that on Maroboduus, delivered before the senate A. d. 19, was extant when Tacitus wrote (Ann. ii. 63). Tiberius also wrote Greek poems, and a lyric poem on the Death of L. Caesar. COIN OF TIBBRIUS.

(Veil. Pat. ii. 94 ; Tacitus, Annates, . — vi. ; Dion CassiuB, Ivii. Iviii. ; Suetonius, Tiberius ; Tillemont, Histoire des Empereurs, vol. i, ; De C. Suetonii Tranquilli Fonlibus et Auctoritate, Scrip- sit A. Krause, Berlin, 1831 ; Oratorum Romanorum Fragin enta,}i. Meyer, '2d ed.) [G. L.]

TIBE'RIUS II., emperor of the East a.d. 578— 582. His full name was Anicius Thrax, Flavius Const ANTiN us. He was captain of the giiard^ to the emperor Justinus II., who elevated him to the rank of Caesar or Augustus, a. d. 574. He was a native of Thrace, whence he has the addition of Thrax to his name. He assumed the name of Con- stantinus after he became emperor. The date of his birth is uncertain. He was brought up at the court of Justinian, and employed by Justinus II., who succeeded Justinian A. d. 565. In A. d. 573 Tiberius commanded the imperial troops against the Avars, in the neighbourhood of the Save and the Danube. He lost one battle against them, but he soon recovered this failure, and secured for the em- pire the possession of Sirmiura, near the junction of the Save and the Danube. Justinus, feeling himself incompetent for the labour of administration, associated Tiberias with him, and it is said that the influence of his wife Sophia, who admired the hand- some captain, contributed to determin(> the emperor's choice. The speech which the emperor addressed to Tiberius on this occasion is preserved by Theophylactus Simocatta, and has been translated by Gibbon : it contained wise advice, and Tiberius followed it. Justinus survived this ceremony four years, during which the weight of administration fell on Tiberius alone. The Longobards were now in Italy, but a war with Persia prevented Tiberius from directing all his attention to that quarter. Yet he maintained his authority in the exarchate of Ravenna, and in other parts of Italy, and he saved Pelagius II., the pope of Rome, and the Roman citizens, from the Longobards, by a timely supply of provisions, which were forwarded by a fleet. To check the progress of the Longobards in the north of Italy, he concluded an alliance some years later with Chilperic the king of the Franks. The war with Chosroes, king of Persia, demanded all the resources of Tiberius. In A. D. 576, Justinian, who was in command of the armies of the Eastern Empire, crossed the Bosporus with a force of 1 50,000 men, to relieve Theodosiopolis in Armenia, which was defended by Theodorus, a Byzantine general. This force com- prehended a great number of Germans and Slavo- nians. A battle was fought with Chosroes near Melitene in Armenia, in which the Persians were defeated, and many of them perished in the Eu- phrates. An immense booty, carried by twenty- four elephants, was brought to Constantinople. Jus- tinian is said to have advanced into the very centre of the Persian empire, and was about concluding a treaty with Chosroes, but it was interrupted by some advantage gained over Justinian by one of the generals of Chosroes. Justinian was recalled, and Mauricius, afterwards the successor of Tiberius was appointed to command in his place. Mauricius secured himself against sudden attacks by adopting the old Roman plan of never resting, except in an entrenched camp. The winter (a. d. 577 — 578) Mauricius spent in Mesopotamia.

Justinus died on the fifth of October a. d. 578, and Tiberius was now sole emperor. Sophia, it is said, hoped to become the wife of Tiberius, but when the people in the Hippodrome called for the new empress, Tiberius produced as his wife Ana-