Tiberius in power

Topic 3: Tiberius in power (AD 14–37)

Prescribed debate: The character of Tiberius.

Background and accession

• Background: born 42 BC, the son of Livia and Ti. Claudius Nero. A highly successful general in Pannonia and Germany.
• The accession debate in the senate (AD 14):
  • Tacitus, Ann. 1.11–13: Tiberius hesitated, claiming the burden was too great and suggesting a share of power.
  • Senators were confused and feared offending him.
  • Tacitus sees this as hypocrisy (dissimulatio). Others see genuine reluctance.
• The murder of Agrippa Postumus (Ann. 1.6): it was unclear who ordered it.
• The mutinies (AD 14), in Pannonia and Germany:
  • Tacitus, Ann. 1.16–49: the soldiers demanded better pay and shorter service.
  • Drusus (Tiberius' son) quelled the Pannonian mutiny, helped by an eclipse of the moon (1.28).
  • Germanicus dealt with the German mutiny emotionally. He sent away Agrippina and the infant Gaius, which shamed the troops (1.40–44), and then led campaigns.

How the classical authors view Tiberius

• Tacitus:
  • The obituary (Ann. 6.51, paraphrased) traces his character in stages:
    • admirable as a private man and under Augustus;
    • secretive and hypocritical while Germanicus and Drusus lived;
    • a mixture of good and bad while his mother lived;
    • cruel but hiding his lusts while he loved or feared Sejanus;
    • finally, openly wicked.
  • This implies his true nature was always evil but concealed. Modern historians challenge this model of a fixed character gradually revealed.
• Suetonius:
  • Praises his early moderation: refusing honours and the title pater patriae (Tib. 26). He is quoted as saying a good princeps should be the servant of the senate (Tib. 29).
  • Then describes his cruelty (Tib. 61–62) and the scandalous rumours from Capri.
• Velleius Paterculus (2.126–130), a contemporary, gives a eulogy: justice, concord, the grain supply, peace in the provinces. It is flattering, but it shows how the regime presented itself.
• Dio: broadly hostile, but notes good early government.

Relationship with the senate

• Early respect for senatorial procedure:
  • free debate;
  • consulting the senate on everything (Suet. Tib. 30–31);
  • refusing honours (Tib. 26–27);
  • avoiding flattery.
• Elections moved from the people's assemblies to the senate (AD 14; Tac. Ann. 1.15).
• Frustration: senators couldn't work out what he wanted.
  • Tacitus, Ann. 3.65: leaving the senate house, Tiberius exclaimed in Greek, "Men fit to be slaves!"
  • Tacitus uses this to show senatorial servility.
• Treason trials and informers poisoned relations (see below).
• The withdrawal from Rome: to Campania in AD 26, then Capri from 27 (Tac. Ann. 4.57: Tacitus weighs the reasons, which include Sejanus' influence and Tiberius' wish to hide his cruelty and lusts, or his appearance). He governed by letter.

Relations with the equestrians and the people

• Equestrians: the most important was Sejanus, the equestrian praetorian prefect (see below).
• The people:
  • Tiberius was parsimonious with games and building (Suet. Tib. 47). He completed the Temple of Augustus and the restoration of Pompey's theatre.
  • He acted in crises: the fire on the Caelian Hill (AD 27, Tac. Ann. 4.64) and the financial crisis of AD 33.
  • He was unpopular for his remoteness, and the plebs celebrated his death (Suet. Tib. 75: "Tiberius to the Tiber!").

Tiberius and Germanicus

• Germanicus' career:
  • Popular, charming, Augustus' grandson by adoption and husband of Agrippina the Elder.
  • Campaigned in Germany (AD 14–16), visiting the Teutoburg site and burying the dead (Ann. 1.61–62).
  • Recalled in AD 17; celebrated a triumph; sent to the East with imperium maius.
• Conflict with Piso: he clashed with Cn. Calpurnius Piso, governor of Syria, whom Tiberius had appointed. He visited Egypt without permission (Ann. 2.59), an offence because of the rules for senators.
• Death: he died at Antioch in AD 19, convinced that Piso had poisoned him (Ann. 2.69–73).
  • Tacitus compares him with Alexander the Great (2.73).
• Aftermath:
  • Agrippina brought his ashes to Rome to great public grief.
  • Piso's trial (AD 20) ended in his suicide. A senatorial decree on Piso survives on bronze from Spain (not prescribed).
• Did Tiberius envy and plot against Germanicus?
  • Tacitus insinuates jealousy and complicity, but admits there was no proof.
  • Modern historians (e.g. Levick) see Tiberius' treatment of Germanicus as proper: he recalled him to stop costly campaigns.

Sejanus

• His rise:
  • Prefect of the Praetorian Guard (from AD 14/15).
  • He concentrated the guard in a single camp (the Castra Praetoria, AD 23; Ann. 4.2).
  • Tiberius called him his "partner in my labours".
• Tacitus, Ann. 4.1–3: he was ambitious and seduced Livilla, the wife of Tiberius' son Drusus. Drusus died in AD 23, later said to have been poisoned by Sejanus and Livilla.
• Attacks on Germanicus' family: Sejanus attacked Agrippina the Elder and her sons Nero Caesar and Drusus Caesar, who were imprisoned or exiled and died (AD 29–33).
• His power while Tiberius was on Capri: he controlled access to Tiberius. Statues were raised to him and his birthday celebrated (Dio 58.2–4). He was consul with Tiberius in AD 31.
• His fall (18 October AD 31):
  • Tiberius sent a long, wordy letter (Juvenal 10 calls it verbosa et grandis epistula) to the senate, read while Macro took over the guard.
  • Sejanus was arrested and executed. His body was abused, and his children killed (Dio 58.8–11).
  • A purge of his associates followed.
• Why did he fall? Antonia (the mother of Germanicus) warned Tiberius of a plot (Josephus). Or Sejanus' ambition to marry into the dynasty alarmed Tiberius.

Conspiracies and challenges

• the mutinies of AD 14;
• Libo Drusus (AD 16);
• the revolt of Florus and Sacrovir in Gaul (AD 21);
• Tacfarinas in Africa (AD 17–24);
• the Sejanus affair (AD 31).

The treason trials (maiestas)

• The law: the lex maiestatis (treason law) covered "diminishing the majesty of the Roman people". It was extended to words and writings against the emperor.
• Informers: prosecutors (delatores) received a quarter of the property of those convicted, which encouraged accusations.
• Tacitus, Ann. 1.72: Tiberius revived the treason law.
• Cases:
  • Libo Drusus (AD 16, Ann. 2.27–32).
  • Cremutius Cordus (AD 25, Ann. 4.34–35): a historian accused of praising Brutus and Cassius. He made a defence of free speech, starved himself, and his books were burned.
  • Titius Sabinus (AD 28): trapped by informers.
• Assessment:
  • Tiberius sometimes intervened for leniency, especially early on (e.g. Ann. 3.70; Suet. Tib. 28 on free speech: "in a free state, the tongue should be free").
  • But the trials multiplied after Sejanus' fall.
  • Tacitus' focus on them creates the impression of a reign of terror. Modern estimates of the number of trials suggest a smaller scale, and some were genuine conspiracies.

Attitude towards religion and the imperial cult

• Refusing divine honours:
  • Tiberius refused divine honours for himself in the West. In AD 25 he refused Further Spain's request for a temple to himself and Livia, saying he was mortal and wished to be remembered for his deeds (Tac. Ann. 4.37–38).
  • But he allowed Asia a temple (at Smyrna) to himself, Livia and the senate (AD 26), following the precedent of Augustus at Pergamum.
• The Gytheion inscription (L4): a letter from Tiberius to the Spartan city of Gytheion, about their festival honouring the imperial family. He accepts honours for Augustus but declines divine honours for himself, being content with those appropriate to men.
• Traditional and conservative religion:
  • He expelled the Egyptian and Jewish cults and astrologers from Rome (AD 19; Suet. Tib. 36).
  • Yet he relied personally on the astrologer Thrasyllus.
  • He promoted the cult of Divus Augustus (e.g. the Temple of Augustus).
  • The Genius of Tiberius inscription (L6) shows local worship nonetheless.

Debate: the character of Tiberius

• Hostile tradition: Tacitus' hypocrite and tyrant; Suetonius' cruel and debauched old man on Capri.
• Revisionist view:
  • Barbara Levick (Tiberius the Politician, 1976) sees a conscientious, traditional aristocrat. He was awkward, poor at communication and trapped by the ambiguities of Augustus' system: a princeps pretending to be a magistrate.
  • Robin Seager (Tiberius, 1972) also emphasises his good administration and frustration with servile senators.
  • Syme (Tacitus, 1958) analysed how Tacitus' own experience under Domitian shaped his portrayal of Tiberius.
• Evidence of good government:
  • provinces well run, with long governorships;
  • a full treasury at his death: about 2.7 billion sesterces (Suet. Gaius 37);
  • restraint in honours;
  • disaster relief (e.g. after the earthquake in Asia, AD 17).
• Judgement: an able administrator whose suspicious, reserved personality and reliance on Sejanus and on informers produced a poisonous political atmosphere. The senatorial tradition magnified this into "tyranny".

Glossary

Term	Definition
Maiestas	Treason: "diminishing the majesty" of the Roman people or emperor.
Delator	An informer or prosecutor, rewarded with a share of the convicted person's property.
Dissimulatio	Concealment and pretence; Tacitus' key charge against Tiberius.
Praetorian prefect	The commander of the Praetorian Guard (an equestrian post).
Castra Praetoria	The single camp of the Praetorian Guard on the edge of Rome (from AD 23).

Exam technique: 20-mark interpretation on Tiberius' character

Example question: a passage arguing that "Tiberius' reputation was destroyed by Tacitus, whose hostility masks an able and conscientious ruler".

• Support, using:
  • Velleius;
  • administrative competence;
  • refusal of honours (Suet. Tib. 26; the Gytheion inscription);
  • Tacitus' innuendo (e.g. on Germanicus).
• Challenge, using:
  • the treason trials;
  • Sejanus' rise;
  • the abandonment of Rome for Capri;
  • the treatment of Agrippina's family.
  • Even neutral evidence (e.g. Suetonius drawing on archives) shows growing cruelty.
• Judge: the passage is largely convincing on administration, but it underplays the political damage he caused.

Self-test

Q1: What did Tiberius say about senators according to Tacitus, Ann. 3.65? A: "Men fit to be slaves!", expressing disgust at their servility.

Q2: Give two reasons Tacitus suggests for Tiberius' withdrawal to Capri. A: Sejanus' influence and scheming, and Tiberius' wish to hide his cruelty and vices (or his unsightly appearance) (Ann. 4.57).

Q3: How did Sejanus fall? A: In AD 31, Tiberius sent a long letter to the senate denouncing him, while Macro took control of the Praetorian Guard. Sejanus was arrested and executed (Dio 58.8–11).

Q4: What does the Gytheion inscription show about Tiberius' attitude to the imperial cult? A: He accepted honours for Augustus but declined divine honours for himself, wishing for honours fit for a man. This shows restraint, at least in his official stance.

Q5: What was a delator, and why did the system encourage prosecutions? A: An informer who prosecuted treason. Successful prosecutors received a share (often a quarter) of the convicted person's estate.

Assessment checkpoint: 20-mark interpretation question on Tiberius (minimal support).

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