TIBERIUS CAESAR (42 BC-AD 37) PRINCEPS AD 14-37
Tiberius
THE TRANSMISSION OF POWER IN AD 14 1. In the last years of his life AUGUSTUS had arranged for powers equal to his own to be conferred on TIBERIUS. 2. And so when Augustus died in AD 14 after 40 years at the helm of the ship of state, TIBERIUS had all the necessary secular powers to be the next First Citizen (Princeps) without additional grants. 3. Only the office of PONTIFEX MAXIMUS (chief priest of the state religion) needed to be bestowed on him. 4. Additionally, while it was not a constitutional requirement, to ease any existing tensions, he needed to be invited by the Senate to assume the helm of the ship of state.
TIBERIUS CAESAR: PRINCEPS AD 14-37 1. The elder son of LIVIA, TIBERIUS, was born on 16 th November 42 BC. 2. As a stepson of the Princeps he was allowed a quaestorship in 25 BC at the age of 17. 3. He campaigned under the auspices of AGRIPPA in 20 BC at the age of 23 and led forces (as we saw) into Armenia when the lost legionary standards were recovered from Parthia. 4. By 15 BC he and his brother Drusus were engaged in subjugating the Alpine passes, and then Tiberius moved on north-eastwards to the middle Danube, adding Raetia and Noricum, and Pannonia to the empire.
5. Granted a consulship at the age of 29 in 13 BC, Tiberius had gone off to campaign in the western Balkans in 12 BC. 6. By 11 BC (with the death of Agrippa the previous year) TIBERIUS had been forced by Augustus to divorce Vipsania and to marry JULIA. 7. His military career had progressed apace and he gained a second consulship in 7 BC. 8. In 6 BC his star was really rising with the five-year grant of tribunician power and proconsular imperium so that he could pursue campaigning in Germany.
9. But then, of course, he had suddenly taken himself of to the island of Rhodes to self-imposed exile for seven years, returning to Rome only in AD 2 as a private citizen. 10. When AUGUSTUS lost his two grandsons he (reluctantly) adopted, in AD 4, TIBERIUS who had come back to Rome two years earlier. 11. He was given tribunician power and by AD 13 his imperium was made equal to that of Augustus. 12. It was natural, when Augustus died in AD 14, that the SENATE would invite TIBERIUS to take over the helm of the ship of state.
THE PRINCIPAL SOURCES AVAILABLE FOR TIBERIUS REIGN As for narrative accounts, we have: 1. The contemporary admirer of Tiberius VELLEIUS PATERCULUS whose work is sketchy and uncritical and who chose not to include the last seven years of Tiberius period in charge. 2. Books I-VI of the ANNALS of TACITUS (with the vital years AD 29-31 unfortunately missing because of a lost manuscript), written about AD 110 and by far our MAIN and MOST INFLUENTIAL source. 3. SUETONIUS Life of Tiberius written about AD 120: full of interesting titbits of information, often just gossip. 4. CASSIUS DIO s Roman History (Books 57-58): written ca AD 220.
TACITUS Before we turn to TIBERIUS policies (which were few) and the atmosphere of his reign politically, we should say a little about TACITUS since he is such an important source. THE WEAKNESSES OF HIS NARRATIVE 1. He concentrates on political history (especially that of the imperial court ) - one of the least successful sides of the Principate as a system. 2. He emphasizes personality rather than policy. 3. He claims to know about intimate interactions and relationships which he cannot possibly have known about. 4. He claims to know not only about people s feelings but also about what they kept hidden in their hearts.
TACITUS STRENGTHS AS A WRITER 1. He was one of the greatest artists ever of the Latin language - able to use innuendo and persuasive techniques to make the reader accept his interpretation of events. 2. He was a master at setting the precise tone he wanted. Example: He opens his account of Tiberius reign by writing:.augustus was dead and Tiberius was in control. The new reign s first crime was the assassination of Agrippa Postumus. [The reader is immediately encouraged to believe that everything that will follow is going to depict Tiberius reign negatively and this proves to be the case]
AGRIPPA POSTUMUS Grandson of Augustus born in 12 BC; adopted by Augustus in AD 4; disinherited and exiled by AD 8 at the age of 19.
TIBERIUS POLICIES AND ADMINISTRATION 1. AUGUSTUS had devoted over 40 years to revamping the state, introducing a whole range of reforms and overseeing multiple changes. 2. By the time TIBERIUS became the second Princeps in AD 14 there was not much needing serious attention. 3. Even if there had been, Tiberius hands were tied in many ways: a) The Senate had sworn an oath to uphold all Augustus acts - making radical changes difficult; b) Augustus (in his will) had recommended that no further attempts be made to increase the size of the empire which would make further warfare awkward.
c) Augustus had also said the annual elections should be transferred from the topopular Assemblies to the Senate a recommendation which would be difficult to ignore. 4. On his death too Augustus had (as we have seen) been declared a divus. 5. i) Tiberius could now call himself divi filius (son of a deified person); BUT ii) as a son showing pietas (a proper sense of duty) towards his adoptive father, Tiberius could hardly change things drastically. 6. Although he was severely restricted, NOTHING suggests that Tiberius (conservative by nature) would have wanted to make any major changes even if he had had a totally free hand.
The Great Cameo of France (of AD 23) depicting the deified Augustus and the deceased Drusus looking down on Tiberius, Livia, etc.
THE ELECTIONS 1. Tiberius took seriously the transfer of the election of the annual magistrates to the Senate. 2. He was definitely NOT a man of the people, coming from the often arrogant clan (gens) of the CLAUDII. 3. To pass the duty of deciding the state officials to the Senate was probably very much in line with: a) Tiberius desire to see the Senate playing a greater role in government; and b) his wish to win the general support of the more established families in society not only that of the 500 600 men who constituted the senatorial order.
4. Once the change had been implemented, the Senate chose who was to hold the annual offices (the consulships, praetorships, aedileships, quaestorships, the tribunes of the Plebs ) selecting one candidate for each vacancy. 5. The Popular Assemblies still met (as a formality) but only to ratify the Senate s choices. 6. BUT, whatever Tiberius may have hoped, the transfer did not enhance his relations with the Senate: these were rocky from the beginning and remained so for all of Tiberius 23 years as Princeps years often blighted by trials for treason (maiestas).
7. Treason was a badly defined but convenient charge often used as a political tool to eliminate political rivals. 8. However, it was not often Tiberius himself, it seems, who was behind prosecutions for treason, especially since he was absent from Rome itself, in a sort of exile (again), for more than half of his reign. 9. Tiberius simply did not intervene to prevent the prosecution of political enemies by other senators on far from certain grounds.
TERRITORIAL EXPANSION. Augustus recommendation that there be no further attempts to extend the empire probably referred mainly to GERMANY east of the Rhine given the Varus disaster of AD 9 and the loss of three legions.. TIBERIUS a) was an EXCELLENT and EXPERIENCED soldier, and b) had campaigned EXTENSIVELY (including in Germany in the region east of the Rhine).. The recommendation will have made good sense to him.. There were other ways to ensure that the many German tribes did not become a threat, for example by playing off one tribe against another to stop them uniting.
GERMANY BEYOND THE RHINE 1. BUT it was over GERMANY in particular that Tiberius clashed most with his nephew and primary heir GERMANICUS (his son by adoption since AD 4). 2. At Tiberius accession in AD 14 there had been MUTINIES amongst the LEGIONS a) on the RHINE and b) in ILLYRIA (the western Balkans). 3. Tiberius biological son DRUSUS had dealt quickly and effectively with the crisis in ILLYRIA.
Drusus
GERMANICUS NEPHEW OF TIBERIUS AND HIS ADOPTED SON
4. GERMANICUS handled the situation on the Rhine successfully but with great melodrama and by making promises to the mutinous troops which he had no authority to make. The location of the legions in AD 14
TIBERIUS & GERMANICUS CLASH OVER GERMANY 1. Headstrong at times, openly ambitious, and generally popular (especially with the armed forces), GERMANICUS appears to have had a view at odds with that of TIBERIUS, believing a) that free GERMANY should and could be conquered and b) that the GERMAN TRIBES should be taught a lesson for their resistance to Roman involvement in their territory. AND, of course, Roman honour had to be avenged too - given the disaster under VARUS in AD 9!
TIBERIUS APPROACH 1. Between AD 14 and AD 16 Tiberius allowed Germanicus his head, that is he allowed him to campaign in the way he wished beyond the Rhine. 2. Each year Germanicus made gains but at the end of each fighting season withdrew in difficult circumstances. 3. Despite his best efforts he made no really serious headway. For example, at the end of AD 16 he was still battling the MARSI - supposedly defeated by him in AD 14.
MARSI
And so, in AD 16, Tiberius a) called a halt to operations; b) summoned Germanicus back; c) appointed him to a mission of considerable importance in the East ; and d) allowed him to celebrate a magnificent triumph for his successes. BUT Tiberius detractors and more hawkish senators saw Germanicus recall arising from JEALOUSY of him and of his popularity on Tiberius part. YET nothing suggests jealousy was a major motive in the decision not to continue operations east of the Rhine. To continue warfare there served little purpose and would bring virtually no rewards.
ASSESSMENT OF TIBERIUS a) Even TACITUS, Tiberius greatest critic, recognized that the PROVINCES were administered well during his 23 years with good appointees as governors. b) It was in his interactions with the SENATE that Tiberius failed miserably: 1. he lacked the diplomatic skills of Augustus; 2. he lacked Augustus subtlety; 3. he lacked Augustus grasp of what the Principate was as a system ; 4. he lacked Augustus understanding about what could be done openly and what needed to be done less openly.
Tiberius, not, apparently, really understanding that the Principate was an autocratic system rather than a partnership, appears - somewhat naively to have believed that the Principate could be a true partnership between Princeps and Senate. In his dealings with the Senate he was clumsy. Almost every move he made, however well-intentioned, was misunderstood. He was seen as saying one thing and doing its opposite: in short, he was viewed as the arch-hypocrite.
Examples of Tiberius poor relations with the Senate The Formal Advisory Committee 1. Augustus, in addition to having an informal council of advisors who assisted him in making decisions, had also created a formal advisory committee (consilium). i) It comprised 15 or so ordinary senators rotating every six months, the two consuls and one of each of the other annually elected state officials. ii) Its role, under Augustus, was to discuss issues before they went to the full Senate and to guide debate in the full Senate once those issues reached that body.
2. Perhaps believing that the very existence of this committee lessened the Senate s freedom to act independently, Tiberius abolished it. 3. The result was that the debate of issues which had not now been discussed beforehand by a small cross-section of senators, took unexpected turns in the meeting of the full Senate - which puzzled and frustrated Tiberius (who attended the Senate far too often). 4. During the debates, Tiberius either sat sullenly or exploded, totally confusing senators about what he really wanted.
The Elections in the Senate 1. When the elections took place in the Senate Tiberius announced, for example, that, as an ordinary senator, he would not express a preference for more than four of the candidates for the twelve annual praetorships. 2. He probably thought that he was being restrained by not indicating all of the candidates he hoped would be elected to the twelve positions. 3. But he was not an ordinary senator ; he was the Princeps and his restraint was totally misunderstood!
4. The four men Tiberius favoured got elected, of course, and the elections were in the eyes of many senators compromised. 5. With actions like this he was seen often as claiming to stand for one thing but doing the opposite. 6. He was viewed as acting the hypocrite a charge not brought against Augustus. 7. He was, essentially, a man lacking in tact in the political arena and generally clumsy in his public relations.
8. a) Possibly regretting that he was Princeps at all - he had said in AD 14 in the Senate that he didn t want the burdens of office [further evidence of hypocrisy in the eyes of men like Tacitus], and b) in AD 26 [after 12 years], totally frustrated, he took himself off for the last 11 years of his reign to the island of Capri.
9. a) From CAPRI he communicated with Rome by letter (which made him even more unpopular and made him seem even more distant ); and b) came to rely too heavily on Lucius Aelius SEJANUS, the Praetorian Prefect, as his go-between and substitute. [see later]
Tiberius villa on Capri THE VILLA IOVIS ( The Villa of Jupiter )
A reconstruction of Tiberius villa on Capri