Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/765

 TIBERIUS sign were marked by prudence and modera- tion. He rejected all flattery from the senate, placed in office the most worthy persons, and made efforts to relieve the scarcity of bread constantly recurring in Rome. Meanwhile a mutiny of the legions in Pannonia was only quelled by the energy of Drusus, the emperor's son, and the terror inspired by a solar eclipse. Under the influence of Sejanus, who had be- come his favorite, the natural severity of his temper began soon to degenerate into cruelty. The election of magistrates was taken from the popular assembly and transferred to the senate, which sat simply to register the de- crees of the emperor. The charges of loesa majestas, by which all persons suspected of impugning by word or deed the majesty of the emperor were tried, were prosecuted with great rigor. A secret organization of dela- tores, or spies, was formed, and their infer- nal machinations exposed the life, the for- tune, and the honor of every Roman citizen to hourly danger. After the death of Ger- manicus (see GERMANICUS) the emperor sur- rendered himself more and more to the influ- ence of Sejanus. By his advice the praetorian cohorts, stationed hitherto in various parts of the city, were assembled in one camp, in the vicinity of Rome. At the same time the power" of the empire was thoroughly main- tained in the provinces, and two revolts in 21, one on the Moselle headed by Julius Florus, and the other among the JEdui headed by Ju- lius Sacrovir, were put down and their leaders forced to slay themselves to escape from the imperial troops. In 23 Sejanus caused the death of Drusus by poison. Whether Tibe- rius felt any sorrow or not, be certainly mani- fested none ; and when the people of Troas sent him a message of condolence, he sneeringly sent back an answer of condolence on the death of their fellow citizen Hector. In 26 the empe- ror finally departed from Rome. He first went to Campania, and there issued an edict com- manding the people not to molest his retire- ment, and in the following year went to the island of Capreaa (Capri). The early part of his reign had been marked by a strict regard for external decency, and a stringent law had been passed against courtesans; but his last years were spent in the most infamous plea- sures. Caprese became the haunt of disgusting debauchery, especially after the death of Livia Drusilla in 29, who had always exercised much influence over her son. In 30 he banished Agrippina, the widow of Germanicus, and af- terward caused the assassination of two of her sons. Henceforth Sejanus had the full con- trol of affairs of state. The employment^ of delator es gave him abundant means of getting rid of obnoxious individuals on false charges. Tiberius, who had been suspecting for some time the plots of his minister, managed to get rid of Sejanus in 31, and the favorite and all his family were destroyed. In the mean time the emperor became, in the words of 787 VOL. xv. 47 TICHBORNE TRIAL 735 Pliny, "the most wretched of men." In the remarkable letter sent to the senate, which Tacitus has preserved, he begins with a frank avowal of his misery. " What to write to you," he says, "or how to write, I know not ; and what not to write at this time, may all the gods and goddesses torment me more than I daily feel that I am suffering, if I do know." About this time he went once more to Campania, and occasionally came as near Rome as his gardens on the Vatican. But his privacy was never disturbed; soldiers were placed so as to prevent any one from coming near him. He had been remarkable for beauty and majesty of person, but dissipation had cov- ered his face with ugly blotches, and his body was bent nearly double. At Astura he was attacked by illness, and he reached Misenum to die in the villa of Lucullus. According to Taci- tus, it was left to fate to determine his suc- cessor. On March 16 he had a fainting fit, and as he was thought dead, Caius Caligula, the son of Germanicus, was saluted as his suc- cessor ; but the emperor suddenly recovering, a quantity of clothes was thrown over him and he was left alone. There is another ac- count of his death. The people hailed the event with delight, and the cry of " Tiberius to the Tiber" was heard constantly in the streets of Rome. He however had a public burial. The chief authorities for his life are Suetonius, Dion Cassius, and above all Taci- tus. He wrote a commentary of his own life, Greek poems, an ode on the death of L. Caesar, and several epistles and orations, either to the senate or on occasion of funerals. The cruci- fixion of Christ took place during his reign. See Tiberius* Leben, Begierung und Chara&ter, by Adolf Stahr (Berlin, 1874). TIBET. See THIBET. TIBULLUS, Albins, a Roman poet, of the time of Augustus. He was of an equestrian fam- ily, and lived on his ancestral estate at Pedum near Rome. He went to Aquitania in 31 B. C. with his patron Messala, and when the lat- ter had pacified that part of Gaul and set out to take command in the East, Tibullus accom- panied him, but falling sick returned to Rome, and died young. Four books of elegies are attributed to him, but only the first two are undoubtedly his. Tibullus was a warm friend of Horace, who addressed two poems to him. The first edition of his works was printed, along with Catullus, Propertius, and the Siha of Statins, at Venice in 1472. Two of the best late editions are those of Rossbach (Leip- sic, 1866) and Mtiller (Leipsic, 1873). _ The ele- E'es of Tibullus have been translated into Eng- translation forms a volume of Bonn's " Classi- cal Library" (London, 1854). See Seiler, De Tibulli Elegia (Halle, 1872). TIBER. See TIVOLI. TIC DOULOUREUX. See NEURALGIA. TICHBORNE TRIAL, the most celebrated con- spiracy case, and the first in which the impos-
 * h verse by Dr. Grainger (1752.), and a prose