Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 23.djvu/354

Rh to avoid the young Marcellus, Tiberius had clearly no taste to become the servant of the two children whom Augustus had adopted in their infancy and evidently destined to be joint emperors after his death. But it may well be believed that Tiberius, unlike Agrippa, had no burning ambition to see himself in the place destined for his stepsons; and it may have been in his eyes one of the attractions of exile that it released him from the obligation to aid in carrying out the far-reaching designs which Livia cherished for his sake. But the contemporaries of Tiberius were no doubt right in believing that the scandal of Julia's life did more than all else to render his position at Rome intolerable. His conduct to her from first to last gives a strong impression of his dignity and self-respect. When at last the emperor s eyes were opened, and he inflicted severe punishment upon his daughter, her husband, now divorced by the emperor's act, made earnest intercession for her, and did what he could to alleviate her suffering. At Rhodes Tiberius lived simply, passing his time mainly in the company of Greek professors, with whom he associated on pretty equal terms. He acquired a very considerable proficiency in the studies of the day, among which must be reckoned astrology. But all his attempts at composition, whether in prose or verse, were laboured and obscure. After five years absence from Rome, he begged for leave to return; but the boon was angrily refused, and Livia with difficulty got her son made nominally a legate of Augustus, so as in some degree to veil his disgrace. The next two years were spent in solitude and gloom. Then, on the intercession of Gaius, Augustus allowed Tiberius to come back to Rome, but on the express understanding that he was to hold aloof from all public functions, an understanding which he thoroughly carried out.

He had scarcely returned before death removed (2 ) Lucius, the younger of the two princes, and a year and a half later Gaius also died. The emperor was thus left with only one remaining male descendant, Agrippa Postumus, youngest son of Julia, and still a boy. Four months after Gaius's death Augustus adopted Agrippa and at the same time Tiberius. The emperor now indicated clearly his expectation that Tiberius would be his principal successor. The two essential ingredients in the imperial authority—the proconsulare imperium and the tribunicia potestas—were conferred on Tiberius, and not on Agrippa, who was too young to receive them. Tiberius's career as a general now began anew. In two or three safe rather than brilliant campaigns he strengthened immensely the Roman hold on Germany, and established the winter camps of the legions in the interior, away from the Rhine.

In 5 it became necessary to attack Maroboduus, who by combining peoples formerly hostile to each other had constructed a formidable power, with its centre in Bohemia, menacing the Roman acquisitions in Germany, Noricum, and Pannonia. The operations were conducted both from the Rhine and from the Danube, Tiberius being in command of the southern army. Just as the decisive engagement was about to take place, Tiberius learned that Pannonia and Dalmatia were aflame with insurrection in his rear. He was therefore forced to conclude peace on terms honourable to Maroboduus. The terror inspired in Italy by the Pannonian and Dalmatian rebellion under the able chief Bato had had no parallel since the invasion of the Cimbri and Teutones. The four serious campaigns which the war cost displayed Tiberius at his best as a general. As he was about to celebrate his well-won triumphs, the terrible catastrophe to Varus and his legions turned the rejoicing into lasting sorrow, and produced a profound change in the Roman policy towards Germany. Although Tiberius with his nephew and adopted son Germanicus made in 9 and 10 two more marches into the interior of Germany, the Romans never again attempted to bound their domain by the, but clung to the neighbourhood of the Rhine. Tiberius was thus robbed in great part of the fruit of his campaigns; but nothing can deprive him of the credit of being a chief founder of the imperial system in the lands of Europe. From the beginning of 11, when he celebrated a magnificent triumph, to the time of the emperor s death in 14 Tiberius remained almost entirely in Italy, and held rather the position of joint emperor than that of expectant heir. Agrippa Postumus had proved his incapacity beyond hope, and had been banished to a desolate island. In all probability Tiberius was not present when Augustus died, although Livia spread reports (eagerly amplified by Velleius) of an affectionate interview and a lingering farewell.

Tiberius ascended the throne at the age of fifty-six. What struck his contemporaries most was his absolute impenetrability. As was said of a very different man, the poet Gray, "he never spoke out." All his feelings, desires, passions, and ambitions were locked behind an impassable barrier, and had to be interpreted by the very uncertain light of his external acts. It is recorded of him that only once did he as commander take counsel with his officers concerning military operations, and that was when the destruction of Varus's legions had made it imperatively necessary not lightly to risk the loss of a single soldier. He was an unparalleled master of passive and silent dissimulation, and the inevitable penalty of his inscrutability was widespread dislike and suspicion. But behind his defences there lay an intellect of high power, cold, clear, and penetrating all disguises. Few have ever possessed such mental vision, and he was probably never deceived either about the weaknesses of others or about his own. For the littleness and servility of public life in regions below the court he entertained a strong contempt. It is a question whether he ever liked or was liked by a single being; but he did his duty by those with whom he was connected after a thorough though stern and unlovable fashion. As a general he commanded the full confidence of his soldiers, though he was a severe disciplinarian; yet the men of his own legions greeted his accession to the throne with a mutiny. Tiberius proved himself capable in every department of the state more by virtue of industry and application than by genius. His mind moved so slowly and he was accustomed to deliberate so long that men sometimes made the mistake of deeming him a weakling and a waverer. He was in reality one of the most tenacious of men. When he had once formed an aim he could wait patiently for years till the favourable moment enabled him to achieve it, and if compelled to yield ground he never failed to recover it in the end. The key to much of his character lies in the observation that he had in early life set before himself a certain ideal of what a Roman in high position ought to be, and to this ideal he rigidly and religiously adhered. He may in one sense be said to have acted a part throughout life, but that part had entered into and interpenetrated his whole nature. His ideal of character was pretty much that of the two Catos. He practised sternness, silence, simplicity of life, and frugality as he deemed that they had been practised by the Fabricii, the Curii, and the Fabii. That Tiberius's character was stained by vice before he became emperor no one who fairly weighs the records can believe. The persuasion entertained by many at the end of his life that he had been always a monster of wickedness, but had succeeded in concealing the fact till he became emperor, has slightly, but only slightly, discoloured the narratives we possess of his earlier years. The change which came over him in the last years of his life seems to have been due to a kind of constitutional clouding of the spirits, which made him what the elder Pliny calls him, "the gloomiest of mankind," and disposed him to brood over mysteries and superstitions. As this gloom deepened his will grew weaker, his power tended to fall into the hands of unworthy instruments, terrors closed in around his mind, and his naturally clear vision was perturbed.

The change of masters had been anticipated by the Roman world with apprehension, but it was smoothly accomplished. Tiberius was already invested with the necessary powers, and it may even be that the senate was not permitted the satisfaction of giving a formal sanction to his accession. Agrippa Postumus was put to death; but Livia may be reasonably regarded as the instigator of this crime. Livia indeed expected to share the imperial authority with her son. At first Tiberius allowed some recognition to the claim; but he soon shook himself