Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1133

TIBERIUS. death of Germanicus, and again when his mother Livia died. Tiberius allowed the cities of Asia to erect a temple to himself and his mother at Smyrna, the first instance of this flattery which he had permitted. But when the province of Hispania Ulterior asked permission to do the same thing, the emperor refused, and stated his reason in an oration to the senate, which is characterised by modesty and good sense. This singular man had a sound judgment, and if we formed our opinion of him from his words only, we should place him among the wisest and best of the Roman emperors. His measures too were often prudent and beneficial ; and yet such was his insincerity, that we can hardly know when to give him credit even for a good action. Tacfiirinas, who had given the Romans so much trouble, was at last defeated and killed by the proconsul P. Cornelius Dolabella (a. d. 24) ; but Dolabella did not obtain the triumphal honours, though with inferior forces he had accomplished that which his predecessors had in vain attempted : this was owing to the influence of Sejanus, who was unwilling that the glories of his uncle Blaesus should be eclipsed by honours conferred on Dola- bella. The system of delations was now in full activity, and Rome witnessed the scandalous spec- tacle of a son accusing his father, Q. Vibius Sere- nus, of a conspiracy against the emperor, without being able to prove any thing against him. The abject senate condemned Serenus to death, but Tiberius used his tribunitian power to prevent the execution of the capital sentence, and the man against whom nothing could be proved even by putting his slaves to the torture, was banished to the island of Amorgus. Caecilius Cornutus, who had been charged with being an accomplice of Se- renus, committed suicide. On this occasion a motion was made in the senate for giving no reward to informers, if the person accused of treason should die by his own hand before sentence was pro- nounced ; but Tiberius, seeing that this would weaken one of his engines of state-craft, in harsh terms, and contrary to his practice, openly main- tained the cause of the informers ; such a measure as the senate proposed would, he said, render the laws ineffectual and put the state in jeopardy ; they had better subvert all law than deprive the law of its guardians. Tiberius, always fearing enemies, thought his safety consisted in encouraging informers ; here he spoke out fairly, and revealed one of his secrets of governing. Cremutius Cordus had written Annals, in which he had commended Brutus and Cassius : he was accused, and as he had made up his mind to die, he spoke boldly in his defence. After going out of the senate house he starved himself to death ; the senate ordered the aediles to search for his works and burn them, but all the copies were not discovered, and his Annals were extant when Tacitus wrote {Ann. iv. 35). In the year a. d. 26 Tiberius left Rome, and never returned, though he came sometimes close to the walls of the city. He left on the pretext of dedicating temples in Campania, but his real motives were his dislike to Rome, where he heard a great dej* that was disagreeable to him, and his wish to indulge his sensual propensities in private. Sejanus may have contributed to this resolution of leaving Rome, as it is said, but Tiberius still con- tinued to reside out of Rome for six years after the VOL. III. TIBERIUS. 1121 death of Sejanus. (Tacit. Ann. iv. o7.) A great accident happened at Fidenae in the following year : a man named Atilius built a temporary amphi- theatre, for the exhibition of a show of gladiators, but being ill-constructed, it fell down during the games, and twenty thousand people, it is said, were killed (Tacit. A7m. iv. 6"2 ; compare Sueton. Tiber. 40). Atilius was banished. About this time a great conflagration destroyed all the buildings on the Mons Caelius, and the emperor liberally relieved the sufferers in proportion to their losses, a measure which procured him the good-will of the people. His dislike of publicity was shown during his re- sidence in Campania, by an edict which commanded the people not to disturb his retirement, and he prevented all assemblages of people by placing soldiers in various posts. In order, however, to se- cure the retirement which he loved, he went (a. d. 27) to the island of Capri (Capreae), which is about three miles from the promontory of Surrento. This retreat was further recommended by having an almost inaccessible coast. A poor fisherman, who had caught a large mullet, with difficulty made his way up the rocks to present it to the emperor, who rewarded him by ordering his face to be well rubbed with the fish. (Sueton. Tiber, c. 60.) The new year (a. d. 28) was opened with the death of Titus Sabinus, a friend of Germanicus, whom Latinius Latiaris had inveigled into very strong expressions against Sejanus and Tiberius, while he had placed persons in secret to be wit- nesses. The villains informed Tiberius of the words of Sabinus, and at the same time of their own treachery. The emperor let the senate know his wishes, and this servile body immediately put Sabinus to death, for which they received the thanks of Tiberius. (Tacit. A?2n. iv. 68.) In this year Tiberius married Agrippina, a daughter of Germanicus, to Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, and the result of this union was the emperor Nero [Nero], The death of Livia (a. d. 29), the em- peror's mother, released Tiberius from one cause of anxiety. He had long been tired of her, because she wished to exercise authority, and one object in leaving Rome was to be out of her way. He did not visit her in her last illness, nor come to the funeral, being, as he said, overwhelmed with public affairs, he who neglected all important alFairs, and devoted himself to his solitary pleasures. (Tacit. Ann. V. 2 ; Dion Cass. Iviii. 2.) Livia's death gave Sejanus and Tiberius free scope, for Tiberius never entirely released himself from a kind of sub- jection to his mother, and Sejanus did not venture to attempt the overthrow of Livia's influence. The destruction of Agrippina and her children was now the chief purpose of Sejanus, who had his own ambitious projects to serve, as it is shown in his life [Sejanus ; Agrippina] ; he finally got from the tyrant the reward that was his just de- sert, an ignominious death. In A. D. 32 Latinius Latiaris, the infamous accuser of Sabinus, was executed. Cotta Messa- linus, a notorious scoundrel, was accused before the senate, but Tiberius wrote to them in his favour. This memorable letter (Tacit. .Iww. iv. 6) began with an admission, the truth of which will not surprise any one ; but it is somewhat singular, that so profound a dissembler as Tiberius could not keep to himself the consciousness of his own wretchedness : " What to write to you, P. C, or how to write, I know not ; and what not to write at 4 C