TIBERIUS (14-37 A.D.)
Augustus was succeeded by TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS NERO CAESAR (born 42 B.
C.), the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia. His mother obtained a
divorce from Tiberius, and married Augustus.
Tiberius had great military talent. He was a severe disciplinarian,
and commanded the full confidence of his soldiers. As commander in
Cantabria, Armenia, Rhaetia, Dalmatia, and Germany, he conducted his
campaigns with success, and honor to himself. Returning to Rome in 7 B.
C., he celebrated a triumph, and afterwards married Julia, the dissolute
daughter of Augustus. This marriage proved to be the ruin of Tiberius,
developing everything that was bad in his character, and making him
jealous, suspicious, and hypocritical.
Augustus, not relishing the changes in his character, sent him to
Rhodes, where he lived seven years in retirement. Through his mother's
influence, however, he was recalled in 2 A. D., and was afterwards
appointed the Emperor's successor. He ascended the throne at the age of
fifty-six. A silent man, "all his feelings, desires, and ambitions were
locked behind an impenetrable barrier." He is said but once to have
taken counsel with his officers. He was a master of dissimulation, and
on this account an object of dislike and suspicion. But until his
later years, his intellect was clear and far-seeing, penetrating all
disguises.
Throughout his reign Tiberius strove to do his duty to the Empire at
large, and maintained with great care the constitutional forms which had
been established by Augustus. Only two changes of importance were made.
First, the IMPERIAL GUARD, hitherto seen in the city only in small
bodies, was permanently encamped in full force close to the walls. By
this course the danger of riots was much lessened. Secondly, the old
COMITIAS were practically abolished. But the Senate was treated with
great deference.
Tiberius expended great care on the provinces. His favorite maxim was,
that a good shepherd should shear, and not flay, his sheep. Soldiers,
governors, and officials of all kinds were kept in a wholesome dread of
punishment, if they oppressed those under them. Strict economy in public
expenses kept the taxes down. Commerce was cherished, and his reign on
the whole was one of prosperity for the Empire.
Tiberius was noted especially for prosecutions for MAJESTAS, on the
slightest pretext. _Majestas_ nearly corresponds to treason; but it
is more comprehensive. One of the offences included in the word was
effecting, aiding in, or planning the death of a magistrate, or of one
who had the _imperium_ or _potestas_. Tiberius stretched the application
of this offence even to words or conduct which could in any way be
considered dangerous to the Emperor. A hateful class of informers
(_delatores_) sprung up, and the lives of all were rendered unsafe.
The dark side of this ruler's character is made specially prominent by
ancient historians; but their statements are beginning to be taken with
much allowance.
After a reign of twenty-three years, Tiberius died, either in a fainting
fit or from violence, at the age of seventy-nine.
LIVIA, the mother of Tiberius, deserves more than a passing notice. She
exercised almost a boundless influence on her husband, Augustus. She
had great ambition, and was very cruel and unscrupulous. She managed
to ruin, one after another, the large circle of relatives of Augustus,
until finally the aged Emperor found himself alone in the palace with
Livia and her son, Tiberius. All Rome execrated the Empress, and her son
feared and hated her. She survived Augustus fifteen years, and died in
29. Tiberius refused to visit her on her death-bed, and was not present
at her funeral.
SEJANUS was the commander of the Praetorian Guard of Tiberius. He was
trusted fully by the Emperor, but proved to be a deep-dyed rascal. He
persuaded Livilla, the daughter-in-law of the Emperor, to poison her
husband, the heir apparent, and then he divorced his own wife to marry
her. He so maligned Agrippina, the widow of Germanicus and daughter of
Agrippa and Julia, that Tiberius banished her, with her sons Nero and
Drusus. In 26 he induced the Emperor to retire to the island of Capreae,
and he himself became the real master of Rome.
Tiberius at last finding out his true character, Sejanus was arrested
and executed in 31. His body was dragged through the streets, torn in
pieces by the mob, and thrown into the Tiber.
CALIGULA (37-41).
Tiberius having left no son, the Senate recognized Gaius Caesar, son
of Germanicus and Agrippina, grandson of Julia, and great-grandson of
Augustus, as Emperor. He is better known as CALIGULA,--a nickname given
him by the soldiers from the buskins he wore. He was twenty-five years
of age when he began to reign, of weak constitution, and subject to
fits. After squandering his own wealth, he killed rich citizens, and
confiscated their property. He seemed to revel in bloodshed, and is said
to have expressed a wish that the Roman people had but one neck, that
he might slay them all at a blow. He was passionately fond of adulation,
and often repaired to the Capitoline temple in the guise of a god,
and demanded worship. Four years of such a tyrant was enough. He was
murdered by a Tribune of his Praetorian Guard.
THE CLAUDIAN EMPERORS.
CLAUDIUS (41-54).
A strong party was now in favor of returning to a republican form of
government; but while the Senate was considering this question, the
Praetorian Guard settled it by proclaiming CLAUDIUS Emperor.
Claudius was the uncle of Caligula and the nephew of Tiberius. He was a
man of learning and good parts, but a glutton, and the slave of his
two wives, who were both bad women. His first wife, MESSALINA, was so
notorious that her name has became almost a synonym for wickedness. His
second wife, his niece AGRIPPINA, sister of Caligula, was nearly as bad.
This woman had by her former husband, Domitius, a son, whom she induced
the Emperor to adopt under the name of NERO. The faithless wife then
caused her husband to be poisoned, and her son to be proclaimed Emperor.
At Rome the rule of Claudius was mild, and on the whole beneficial. In
the government of the provinces he was rigorous and severe. He undertook
the CONQUEST OF BRITAIN, and in a campaign of sixteen days he laid the
foundation of its final subjugation, which occurred about forty years
later, under the noted general AGRICOLA: It remained a Roman province
for four hundred years, but the people never assimilated Roman customs,
as did the Gauls, and when the Roman garrisons were withdrawn, they
quickly returned to their former condition. However, many remains of
Roman buildings in the island show that it was for the time well under
subjection.
The public works of Claudius were on a grand scale. He constructed a new
harbor at the mouth of the Tiber, and built the great aqueduct called
the AQUA CLAUDIA, the ruined arches of which can be seen to this day.
He also reclaimed for agriculture a large tract of land by draining the
Fucine Lake.
NERO (54-68).
NERO was but sixteen years old when he began to reign. For two or three
years he was under the influence of his tutor, SENECA, the author, and
BURRHUS, the Praefect of the Praetorian Guard, and his government
was during this period the most respectable of any since the time of
Augustus. His masters kept the young Emperor amused, and removed from
the cares of state. But he soon became infatuated with an unscrupulous
woman, POPPAEA SABINA, for whom he neglected and finally killed his
wife, Octavia.
It would be useless to follow in detail the crimes of Nero from this
time. A freedman, TIGELLINUS, became his adviser, and was the real ruler
of the Empire. He encouraged his master in all his vices and wickedness.
Poppaea died from a kick administered by Nero in anger; Burrhus was
disposed of; Agrippina, and Britannicus, the true heir to the throne,
were murdered. The wealthy were plundered, and the feelings of his
subjects outraged in every conceivable manner. The Emperor appeared in
public, contending first as a musician, and afterwards in the sports of
the circus.
The great fire of 18 July, 64, which destroyed a large part of the city,
was ascribed to him, but without sufficient evidence; and the stories of
his conduct during the conflagration are doubtless pure fictions. It
was necessary, however, to fix the guilt on some one; so the CHRISTIANS,
then a small sect, made up chiefly of the poorer people, were accused
of the crime, and persecuted without mercy. They were often enclosed in
fagots covered with pitch, and burned alive.
In rebuilding Rome, Nero took every precaution against the recurrence
of a conflagration. Broad regular streets replaced the narrow winding
alleys. The new houses were limited in height, built partly of hard
stone, and protected by open spaces and colonnades. The water supply was
also carefully regulated.
In addition to rebuilding the city, Nero gratified his love for the
magnificent by erecting a splendid palace, called the GOLDEN HOUSE. Its
walls were adorned with gold, precious stones, and masterpieces of art
from Greece. The grounds around were marvellous in their meadows,
lakes, groves, and distant views. In front was a colossal statue of Nero
himself, one hundred and ten feet high.
Conspiracies having been formed in which Seneca and Lucan were
implicated, both men were ordered to take their own lives. Nero's life
after this became still more infamous. In a tour made in Greece, he
conducted himself so scandalously that even Roman morals were shocked,
and Roman patience could endure him no longer. The Governor of Hither
Spain, GALBA, proclaimed himself Emperor, and marched upon Rome.
Verginius, the Governor of Upper Germany, also lent his aid to the
insurrection. The Senate proclaimed Nero a public enemy, and condemned
him to death. He fled from the city and put an end to his life, June 9,
68, just in time to escape capture. His statues were broken down, his
name everywhere erased, and his Golden House demolished. With him ended
the Claudian line of Emperors.
LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA (8 B. C.-65 A. D.) was born at Corduba in Spain,
of a Spanish Roman family, and was educated at Rome. His father was a
teacher of rhetoric, a man of wealth and literary attainments. Seneca
began to practise at the bar at Rome, and was gaining considerable
reputation, when in 41 he was banished to Corsica. Eight years later he
was recalled to be tutor of the young Nero, then eleven years old. He
was Consul in 57, and during the first years of Nero's reign he shared
the administration of affairs with the worthy Burrhus. His influence
over Nero, while it lasted, was salutary, though often maintained by
doubtful means. In course of time Nero began to dislike him, and when
Burrhus died his fate was sealed. By the Emperor's command he committed
suicide. Opening the veins in his feet and arms, he discoursed with his
friends on the brevity of life till death ensued.
Seneca is the most eminent of the writers of his age. He wrote moral
essays, philosophical letters, physical treatises, and tragedies. Of the
last, the best are HERCULES FURENS, PHAEDRA, and MEDEA.
GALBA (68-69).--OTHO (69).--VITELLIUS (69).
GALBA entered the city as a conqueror, without much trouble, but on
account of his parsimony and austerity he soon became unpopular, and was
murdered by his mutinous soldiers fifteen days after he reached Rome.
He belonged to an old patrician family, and his overthrow was sincerely
regretted by the better element in the city.
OTHO, the first husband of Poppaea, and the leader in the insurrection
against Galba, was now declared Emperor. No sooner did the news of his
accession reach Gaul than VITELLIUS, a general of the army of the Rhine,
revolted. Otho marched against the rebels, was defeated, and committed
suicide after a reign of three months.
VITELLIUS had been a good soldier, but as a ruler he was weak and
incapable. He was killed after a reign of less than a year, during which
he had distinguished himself by gluttony and vulgar sensuality.