If in the latter part of the history of the republic, the end of an
accomplished career still affords an interest, although a painful one;
even this ceases in the subsequent history of the emperors, in which we
no longer find any more of that which charmed us in the earlier times:
it is the history of a huge, corrupted mass, wherein brute force alone
has weight; and in which the doom of a hundred millions of men, and even
more, rests with one individual, and with the few who are next about
him. The western part of this world still keeps up a sort of unity,
though a feeble one, in the language which is common to the educated
classes, yet in the provinces degenerates into a jargon; in the east,
the Greek nationality is again established. It was a state of things of
which no power on earth was able to check the march: from the war with
Hannibal, there is nothing but struggles to bring about a crisis; a
hundred years later, even this ceases. There was henceforth but a play
of mechanical powers, all those that had life in them had entirely
vanished. Nature is no longer able to bring about a crisis: it is a
dying away by inches; an undefined, but deadly disease was at work,
which could not fail to bring on the end. For the history of the world,
this period is very remarkable; but as the history of a nation and of a
state, it is sad and cheerless. In its practical application, it is
still more important than that of the republic; for it is indispensably
necessary for all branches of learning, especially divinity and
jurisprudence. It was not therefore without reason that people formerly
bestowed so much care on the study of the history of the emperors: the
knowledge of this indeed is but too much neglected. I can, however, only
give a very slight sketch of it now.
The first part of the history of the emperors, we should have in the
greatest masterpiece which perhaps antiquity has produced, had we the
complete work of Tacitus, who has written it from the death of Augustus
down to Trajan; first, the _Historiæ_, then the _Annales_, which reach
from the death of Augustus to the accession of Galba. It is the general
belief that the _annales_ ended with the sixteenth book; I have
elsewhere recorded my own opinion as to this point: it is more likely
that there were twenty books. As far as Tacitus will reach, it would be
foolish to seek for another source; where he is wanting we must avail
ourselves of Dio Cassius, who, however, is also somewhat mutilated here,
and of Suetonius, who indeed is a most wretched help. His idea of
writing the history of those times in biographies, is quite correct; but
he was not able to carry it out: he did not know what he would be at;
and therefore there is no keeping in his work, and he rambles from one
thing to another. Tacitus, in his Tiberius, has before him an anterior
history; but what work, is uncertain: perhaps it was that of the father
of the philosopher Seneca, which in all likelihood was one of the best;
or that of Servilius Nonianus. With regard to the personal character of
Tiberius, there are excellent materials in Velleius Paterculus, one of
the most ingenious writers, whatever may be thought of him in other
respects: he has much of the mannerism of the French writers of the
eighteenth century, with their affectation, and pretension to wit.
Leaving the badness of the man out of the question, he has much
experience, has seen a very great deal, and tells it well; wherever he
has no motive for perverting truth, he is not only trustworthy but an
excellent authority: his narrative is strikingly beautiful.
Tiberius was the eldest son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and of Livia
Drusilla: his father was quæstor with Cæsar, but afterwards joined the
republicans, to whom he seems to have been staunch and true; after the
battle of Philippi, he declared for L. Antonius and Fulvia, 711, as he
had to expect no mercy from Augustus. (Tiberius was born in the year 710
according to Cato.) On the unfortunate issue of the Perusian war,
Claudius fled with his family to Naples, and from thence to Sextus
Pompey in Sicily; Tiberius was then in his second year, and his life was
in the greatest danger. The father did not stay with Pompey, who
offended him, but fled to Antony in Greece: he got his pardon at the
peace of Brundusium, and returned to Italy. Livia Drusilla was daughter
of one Livius Drusus, who, however, was not directly descended from the
consul and tribune of that house: his real name was Appius Claudius
Pulcher, and he was adopted by Livius; so that both by father and
mother’s side, Tiberius came from the race of the Claudii, all the
terrible qualities of which he had inherited. Soon afterwards, Augustus
compelled Nero to give up to him his wife, who was with child at the
time, and brought forth Drusus in the Palace. Tiberius, being the
step-son of the Emperor, was brought up as a child of the very highest
rank; yet no one ever thought of the possibility of the dominion of the
world passing over to him. Augustus had hoped for some time to have
children by Livia; and when this expectation was not fulfilled, he built
his hopes on the children of Julia, his daughter by Scribonia, and
especially on her husband M. Marcellus, and her children by Agrippa.
Tiberius, who had a Greek philological education, displayed
extraordinary talents which he helped besides by industry. Being at an
early age employed in business, he had the _quæstura Ostiensis_, and
then he was sent to Armenia. In everything that he did, he showed
himself very able, and public attention was aroused to his eminent
qualities: he was as much distinguished as a general, as he was as a
civil governor. But people very soon remarked in him a great want of
openness, with a leaning towards vice, which he practised in secret, and
hid from the eyes of the world. Reserved and moody, he had no friend,
nor did he trust a soul but his mother: he was especially on his guard
against all those who stood between him and Augustus, and from Agrippa
and Marcellus he stood aloof. This mistrust, for which as much cause may
have been given to him as he himself gave to others, had the most
injurious effects on his character; very like those which were seen in
the Emperor Paul. Tiberius, and also his brother Drusus, and his nephew
Germanicus, were first-rate generals. Nature had done very much for him:
he had great judgment, wit, and industry; indestructible health; a very
happily and beautifully organized body; a tall majestic figure; a fine
head: his statue and that of Augustus are the finest among those of the
emperors. He also spoke extraordinarily well. After the death of
Agrippa, who was his avowed enemy, his mother Livia and Augustus, the
latter of whom placed his reliance more and more upon him—conceived the
plan of marrying him to Julia, a most profligate and abandoned woman:
Tiberius was very loth to make up his mind to this match, although it
brought him nearer to Augustus. Caius and Lucius Cæsar, her two sons
adopted by Augustus, were then still living, who indeed stood between
him and the lordship of the earth. The conduct of his wife lowered him
in the eyes of the world in a way which he could not bear, and made him
the laughing-stock of the Romans: he therefore wanted to go to Rhodes,
as he did not think that he could do anything against Julia. There were
at that time plots in the family of Augustus like those in the houses of
Cosmo of Medicis and of Philip the Second: its members hatching
conspiracies and intrigues against each other. Augustus would not hear
of his going away; but Tiberius insisted upon it, which Augustus took
exceedingly ill. Before this, Tiberius had distinguished himself in
Rhætia, Vindelicia and the first Pannonian war. Seven years passed away,
ere Livia, after the death of C. and L. Cæsar, could manage to get the
consent of Augustus to his return: for he so hated him, that many
thought to please the Emperor by treating Tiberius with contempt. In the
meanwhile, Julia was condemned and banished by her father himself: yet
even this did not change anything in the position of Tiberius; Livia’s
rule only became unbounded by degrees. Drusus was likewise dead. When
Tiberius at length came back, he was adopted with Agrippa Postumus; the
latter, however, was soon banished for his brutal ways. Tiberius now
obtained the tribunician power, and was regularly made known to the
world as the one who was next to the throne: he sat on public occasions
by the side of Augustus, though indeed it was not openly proclaimed that
he was to be his successor. All this time, he was of great service to
the Roman state: the danger threatening from Marbod arose, and then the
insurrection of the Pannonians and Illyrians. These last Tiberius
overpowered with great difficulty; and he was likewise successful
against the Germans, whose hopes he baffled after the death of Varus. In
the year 765 (14 after Christ), Augustus died at Nola, and Tiberius, who
was on his way to Illyricum, was in all haste called back by a messenger
from his mother. In the will, Tiberius was left heir of two-thirds; with
regard to the commonwealth, however, Augustus had not said a word, as if
he had no decision to make on this point. Yet every possible precaution
was adopted to preserve the power for Tiberius; the prætorian cohorts,
as soon as ever Augustus was dead, took the oaths to him. As Tiberius
held the tribunician power, which was the symbol of supreme authority,
he was able to call the senate together whenever he liked, and to put a
stop to anything that was hostile to him. When the corpse of Augustus
had been brought to Rome, and his ashes entombed in the Mausoleum, the
funeral orations having been spoken by Tiberius and his son Drusus; the
step was still to be taken by which Tiberius had to put himself in the
possession of the supreme power. He now showed at once a remarkable
duplicity: he was not a coward on the field of battle; yet he was
uncommonly afraid of attempts upon his life. He had carried his
dissimulation to a pitch of refinement, being one of those persons who
can never make up their minds to speak out, but must be guessed; like
Cromwell, to whom he otherwise has no resemblance: such men are not
seldom met with in every-day life, and they are quite unbearable.
Tiberius wished to have before the world the appearance of a moral man,
and yet to give himself quietly up to all sorts of excesses: he never
uttered what he really thought, for fear of saying something too much.
With this character, he played the farce with which the work of Tacitus
most painfully begins. There it is told at some length how he refused to
take the reins of government, and made the senate urge him to do it for
the sake of the common good. When he saw that he tired the people, he
yielded so far as to compel them to force him.
The first beginning of his reign is marked by a mutiny of the troops in
Illyricum and on the Rhine. It was one of the institutions of Augustus,
that the legions had permanent camps on the frontiers, in which they
were stationed until the men were superannuated: after having served a
number of years, these were for some time longer to be kept up as a
reserve _sub vexillis_ in the provinces, as Augustus wanted to have as
many old soldiers who had seen service as possible; and then at length
they were to become quite free, and the whole legion was disbanded, and
a military colony established for it. This system was a terrible one for
the provinces and for the soldiers; but in a military point of view it
was admirably suited for the protection of the empire. Now were new
legions first formed and sent out. Yet what had been promised the
soldiers, had not been made good to them, and they had had to remain
much longer under arms than they ought: in this state of things, the
soldier became the terror of every one, being himself frightfully
oppressed and plundered by his officers. The detailed account of this
outbreak in Tacitus, is excellent. Drusus overcame the danger in
Illyricum; Germanicus, on the Rhine. In reality, however, the government
had to give way: the ringleaders were punished, but the rest got their
relief, and had the advantages of the reserve secured to them.
A very great change which took place at the first beginning of Tiberius’
reign, was the abolition of the popular elections, and the transferring
of them to the senate,—a change which after all was so completely a
form, and a farce, that Tacitus hardly bestows a word upon it: it had no
longer any reality; if it had, it would have been useful. The so-called
people which in the days of Augustus held the _comitia_ on the Campus
Martius, was the smallest and worst part of the nation; whereas the
senate was the choice of it from all countries, particularly from all
Italy.—Of much importance was the drawing up of a list, according to
which the governments were to be given.
Tiberius’ reign of twenty-three years is anything but rich in events: in
the very first years only, Germanicus’ wars in Germany give it some
interest. For these, however, I must altogether refer you to Tacitus.
The wars were carried on as far as the Weser, with a very large military
force: one cannot understand how such masses should have been used
against tribes which had no fortified towns whatever, and therefore were
utterly unable to offer any resistance; nor yet that they should have
produced no effect. The Germans could not stand their ground in the open
field; and so they fled into the woods and impassable parts of the
country. It is moreover strange that the Romans make here the same
mistake over and over again: they try to overawe the enemy by striking a
great blow in the interior, and thus they hope to subdue them; then they
build some military roads with bridges over the marshes in Overyssel, in
Lower Münster, and on the Lippe. The only means would have been slowly
to advance; but this perhaps did not seem to them worth the trouble, and
they might thus have only got the country as a waste. We (Germans) may,
however, thank Heaven that Tiberius from jealousy called back Germanicus
after his last brilliant achievements. He seems not to have had much
desire to conquer Germany: shrinking from great undertakings, he merely
tried to maintain the frontiers. The tactics of the Germans show that it
is most absurd to look upon them as having been few in number and
uncivilized; for they encountered the Romans in quite regular battles,
and carried on the war with much ability. But Tiberius did all for
peace, as he could not bear that generals under him should distinguish
themselves; he even put up with humiliations: thus, for instance, he
shut his eyes to the slight which he had had to suffer in Armenia and
Parthia, even the expulsion of the king whom he had himself given to the
Parthians. The historical interest of his reign is therefore entirely
confined to what happened in his own family, and to affairs at home.
Tiberius, at that time, had a son of his own, Drusus, and an adopted
son, Germanicus the child of his brother. Drusus must have been a fine
young man; but Germanicus was the idolized hero of the Romans, a worthy
son of a worthy father,—the hero of the German wars,—a great and noble
soul. It may indeed have been a fanciful freak in Drusus, to ask
Augustus to restore the republic which would not have been able to hold
its ground for one year; but that wish could only have sprung from a
lefty and generous mind. Germanicus declined the offer of the legions,
who, after the death of Augustus, called upon him to take the
government; he remained faithful to his adoptive father, although he
certainly could not have loved him. Tiberius, on the other hand, had no
faith in virtue and purity of heart; so he removed him from the scene of
his triumphs, and recalled him to Rome. But his ill humour was yet
increased, when Germanicus, on his return thither, met with an
enthusiastic reception from the people. As Tiberius was conscious of the
vices and the tyranny which he kept hidden from the world, he hated a
man like Germanicus; he shrank from a contrast with his single-minded
nephew: yet it may just as well have been fear for the interests of his
son, as the pain of seeing by his side one so good as Germanicus, while
he himself felt his own utter depravity. Germanicus now had, like
Agrippa before him, the commission of superintending the _res Orientis_,
the eastern frontiers and provinces; but he died shortly afterwards.
Whether he died from poison or from natural causes, is a question with
regard to which the ancients themselves were in the dark; yet I rather
believe that his death was natural, as the accounts point rather to
witchcraft than to poison, and those who chose the former expedient—to
which, owing to the superstition then prevailing in Rome, people were
very much inclined—would not have been likely to try the other. It is
credible enough that Piso had attempted his life; but what is quite
unaccountable, is that he could have fancied that conduct like this
could be left unpunished by such a prince as Tiberius was. He indeed
thought to curry favour with Tiberius by his insolence to Germanicus;
yet he could not but have seen, that if ever the matter came to be
talked of, Tiberius would sacrifice him: for although the emperor might
in his heart have been rejoiced at the deed, he would, notwithstanding,
have been obliged, before the world, to avenge it on the very man who
had dared to act up to his wishes. Even Tacitus, in his time, had great
doubts on this subject, the most contradictory rumours about it were
then afloat. Thus, the Dauphiné deemed her husband, the Dauphin, the son
of Louis XV., to have been poisoned by the Duc de Choiseul, which
nowadays is less credited. The Dauphin, being religious, and even
somewhat bigoted, was very hateful to the Duke, who was a very gay man
and a freethinker, and who did not wish the expulsion of the Jesuits to
be thwarted by the Dauphin, nor his own power to be shaken. There were
indeed some motives for the crime; but it does not follow thence that it
was really committed, and I certainly doubt it. Piso’s poisoning
Germanicus, might have been winked at by Tiberius; but his insulting and
publicly reviling him, was an offence against the _majestas_ which he
could not have overlooked when his adopted son was in the case: and
moreover that Piso, when Germanicus was sent to succeed him, would not
give up the province of Syria, but drew together his troops and prepared
to march to Rome, is the most puzzling event in Roman history. Piso and
his wife Munatia Plancina, a daughter of the orator Munatius Plancus,
were condemned, and the secret was buried with them. There were some
suspicion that Livia herself had suggested the plan of poisoning
Germanicus: she was horrible enough not to spare her grandson, and it
may be that she did not care at all about offending Tiberius.
Soon after the death of Germanicus, began the prosecutions for _crimen
majestatis_,—those never to be defined charges against which no man
could shield himself; for it was a crime which, as early as the
republic, had the most different meanings, and indeed might have been
applied to anything: whoever had brought any calamity upon the state,
was wont to be thus prosecuted. In the reign of Augustus, by a law which
we do not know, an offence against the _imperator_ was made a _crimen
majestatis_, as formerly those against the republic had been. All trials
for this were conducted before the senate, which in fact was only a
condemning machine in the hands of the tyrant; just as the National
Convention was under Robespierre. Many things were classed under the
head of _crimen majestatis_, which in reality did not belong to it at
all; as for instance, amours with princesses. At first, that charge was
met with very seldom indeed under Tiberius; but gradually there grew up
a herd of informers who made it their business to bring to judgment any
one who had given offence to the emperor. Tiberius himself acted a
neutral part; but the senate got more and more into the frightful habit
of condemning whenever it was at all agreeable to the emperor.—On the
whole, however, the state during the first nine years of Tiberius was in
a very happy condition: there were very few condemnations indeed; and in
several of these cases the persons whom they affected were hardly
deserving of sympathy. Tiberius lived in retirement, but with dignity
and great outward decorum, treating the first men of the nation with
much distinction. Augustus was not a close-fisted manager; at the end of
his reign he was even in financial difficulties; but he regularly
published the accounts of the year before: this was not kept up by
Tiberius, who laid by huge hoards. The indirect taxes in Italy were
raised, and some new ones brought in. This state of things lasted as
long as old Livia lived; and as yet apprehensions were felt only by
those who were sharp-sighted enough to foresee the clouds which would
gather when she was once dead. Tiberius stood in fear and dread of his
mother to the very end of her days, and all affection between them had
now for a great while been no more: she was a terrible woman; and yet
her life was a blessing for Rome,—at least for those who had forgotten
the old times. After her death, Tiberius had nothing to restrain him: he
dropped the virtues which he had formerly displayed owing to his
diligence while under the authority of another to whom he had to give
account; he allowed his activity to flag, and became quite lost in his
hateful and gloomy disposition. The only enjoyment he had in life, was
in most infamous lusts; and a man advanced in years, who gives himself
up to shameful pleasures, must irretrievably sink into the basest state
of worthlessness.
Napoleon is said to have once told a deputation of the Institute that
Tiberius had been very hardly dealt with, and that Tacitus had been
unjust to him. Napoleon was far from being a learned man, his knowledge
was all picked up; but Roman military history he knew very well. He must
have said,—“if we form our opinion of Tiberius only from Tacitus, and
deem him to have been an infamous, brutal voluptuary, and a tiger of
cruelty, then we have not a correct idea of him; for Tiberius was in his
youth, and even up, to his fiftieth year, a great general and statesman.
None of his _vitia subdola_ came to light before that time; and whilst
he kept the energetic and good qualities of his disposition in full
play, he behaved as if he were quite another man.” This view is a
perfectly true one. Tiberius’ only friend was Ælius Sejanus, the son of
Seius Strabo, a Vulsinian, _equestri loco natus_; him he made _præfectus
prætorio_. Sejanus’ character has a great likeness to that of his
master, and he ought not to be looked upon with contempt: he was an
excellent officer, a man of great strength of will, of courage and of
much talent; but without any sort of principle. To him alone Tiberius
unbosomed himself; and he knew how to make the emperor feel quite
comfortable, and to lead him to yield himself up entirely to his own
propensities: Tiberius’ mind was at rest while Sejanus gave him security
against those whom he was most afraid of, namely, his own family, and
the few grandees who still remained. Sejanus increased the prætorian
cohorts; and he suggested to Tiberius the plan of concentrating them in
the _Castrum Prætorianum_ (a citadel outside the wall of Servius
Tullius, but in what is now the very midst of the city); just as the
Italian tyrants were wont to do. This is the most momentous event in the
history of the emperors. The prætorians now became the real sovereigns,
like the janissaries at Algiers; so that they are the pivots on which
the Roman history turns, down to the times of Diocletian: by this means,
Rome was converted into a military republic, which was generally dormant
except when the occupant of the throne was changed. Sejanus aimed at
nothing less than supreme power. Drusus was yet alive and had children;
Germanicus had left three sons; and a brother of his, who afterwards
became the Emperor Claudius, was likewise still living: the whole of
this family, Sejanus wished to root out, and so he seduced the wife of
Drusus, Livilla, a daughter of the elder Drusus. With her help, he
poisoned Drusus; after which he also cruelly made away with the sons of
Germanicus, Caius alone excepted, who was still a child, and whom he
kept in reserve. He gave Tiberius such confidence, that he withdrew from
Rome to Capreæ, there to wallow in his lusts; and in the meanwhile he
himself ruled in Rome. Prosecutions now were rife, and here begin the
frightful annals of the reign of Tiberius: the lists of those who are
condemned to die, are made up of men, who were all of them more or less
eminent, although all were not precisely respectable; Tiberius therefore
deserves to be called the very pattern of a tyrant. Much must be laid to
the charge of Tiberius personally; but much also to that of Sejanus,
whose influence increased more and more. The banishment of Agrippina is
his work; the last tortures, however, which were inflicted on her, were
after his death.
This went on, until at last Sejanus became suspected by Tiberius, and
very likely with good reason; for Sejanus at best would have waited for
his death, and then at the head of the Prætorian cohorts have made
himself master of Rome. Tiberius himself had raised Sejanus to be his
equal; among the Prætorian cohorts, sacrifices were already offered to
the latter as well as to the emperor. But it now happened that a still
worse being got near Tiberius: virtue and genius could not have shaken
down Sejanus; this was done by a yet more wicked man than he, by one who
had not his great qualities, but analogous vices. Tiberius expressed his
dread of a conspiracy, and gave out that he wanted to go to Rome: but he
only came into the neighbourhood, and sent orders to arrest Sejanus;
which was done with consummate cunning. There was a _verbosa et grandis
epistola_, in which one might remark that he was aiming at something,
with some cuts at Sejanus; at the conclusion was the warrant for the
arrest. Macro who had been made _Præfectus Vigilum_, surrounded the
senate with his people. Sejanus was now seized in the senate, and on
this, men showed themselves in the most hateful light: all those who but
that very morning had fawned for a gracious look of his, now started up
and raised an outcry against him as one guilty of high treason, calling
for his immediate execution, so that the cohorts might not hear of it.
He was instantly strangled. Tiberius now slaked his thirst for blood by
persecuting the followers and friends of Sejanus. Yet those who were
not, were also persecuted; for things did not grow better but worse:
Macro now ruled just as tyrannically as Sejanus, and, like him, was
master of the detestable old man. He was, however, not a whit more
faithful to him. C. Cæsar, the son of Germanicus, generally known by the
name of Caligula, linked himself to Macro by the most infamous tie; and
assured him that he should hold under him the very highest power, just
as he had under Tiberius, if he would but rid him and his family of the
old man. And there is scarcely any doubt but that the death of Tiberius,
who in his seventy-eighth year lay sick not far from the headland of
Misenum, was hastened, either by poison which the physicians gave him,
or by strangulation. In fact they thought him dead; and when he rallied,
he is said to have been strangled. This was in the twenty-third year of
his reign (37 after Christ).