A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

TIBERIUS. TIBERIUS. 1119
Patriae, and only took that of Augustus when le emperor; and persons were accused not of acts
wrote tb foreign princes. He began his reign by only, but words, and even the most indifferent
putting Postumus Agrippa to death, and he alleged matters were made the ground of such charges.
that it was done pursuant to the command of Thus was established a pestilent class of men,
Augustus (Tacit. Ann. i. 6.) under the name of Delatores, who became a terrible
His conduct in other respects was marked by means of injustice and oppression (Tacit. Ann. i.
moderation and prudence; he rejected all flattery 73), and enriched themselves at the expense of
from the senate; he conferred offices according to their victims by encouraging the cruel suspicions of
merit, and he allowed persons to grow old in them. the emperor. In the lifetime of Augustus, Tiberius
He endeavoured to relieve the scarcity of bread, a had urged the emperor to punish those who spoke
kind of complaint at Rome, which occurred at disrespectfully of the emperor, but his more prudent
intervals, notwithstanding, and perhaps, in conse- step-father, content with real power and security,
quence of, the efforts of the government to secure allowed the Romans to indulge their taste for satire
a supply of food for the city. His mode of life and pasquinades. (Sueton. A2go. c. 51.) Tiberius
was frugal, and without ostentatious display, and followed this wise advice for a time, and made great
there was little to find fault with in him. (Dion profession of allowing liberty of speech, but his
Cass. lvii. 2, &c.) He had got rid of Agrippa, who real temper at last prevailed, and the slightest
was the nearest rival, and who, if he had possessed pretence was sufficient to found a charge of laesa
merit, would have seemed to have a better title to majestas (Sueton. Tiber. c. 28). He paid unwillthe imperial power than Tiberius, for-he was the ingly and tardily the legacies left by Augustus to
son of Julia. Germanicus was the son of his younger the people, and he began his payment with an act
brother, and had a less direct claim than Tiberius; of cruelty, which was not the better for being
but Tiberius feared the virtues and the popularity seasoned with humour (Sueton. Tiber. c. 57; Dion
of Germanicus, and so long as he felt that Ger- Cass. lvii. 14, tells the same story).
manicus might be a rival, his conduct was exceed- Vonones, the son of Phraates, once a'hostage at
ingly circumspect. (Tacit. Ann. i. 14,15.) When he Rome, had been invited back to his Parthian kingfelt himself sure in his place, he began to exercise dom in the time of Augustus, but Artabanus of the
his craft. He took from the popular assembly the royal house of the Arsacidae drove him out (A. D.
election of the magistrates, and transferred it to 16), and he sought refuge in Armenia, which being
the senate, for this is what Tacitus means in the then without a king accepted Vonones. The new
passage of the Annals just referred to: the popular king however was unable to maintain himself
assembly still enacted laws, though the consulta of against a threatened attack of Artabanus. Tiberils
the senate were the ordinary form of legislation from did not wish to get into a quarrel with Artabanus,
the time of the accession of Tiberius. The emperor by giving Vonones aid, and the exiled king took
limited himself to the recommendation of four can- refuge with Creticus Silanus, governor of Syria.
didates annually to the senate, who of course were (Tacit. Ann. ii. 12.) Germanicus was carrying on
elected; and he allowed the senate to choose the the war with success in Germany, and Tiberius,
rest. He also nominated the consuls. who had long been jealous of his rising fame,
The news of the death of Augustus roused a recalled him to Rome under the pretext of giving
mutiny among the legions in Pannonia, which was him a triumph. It seems somewhat inconsistent
quelled by Drusus, the son of Tiberius, aided by that Tiberius who was addicted to astrology and
the terrors of an eclipse which happened very op- divination should have allowed this class of importunely (27th September, A. D. 14). The armies postors to be banished from Italy (Tacit. Aeen. ii.
on the Rhine under Germanicus showed a disposi- 32); this, however, was one of the events of this
tion to reject Tiberius, and a mutinous spirit, and year.
if Germanicus had been inclined to try the fortune Germanicus enjoyed (26th of May A.D. 17) the
of a campaign, he might have had the assistance of triumph which had been decreed. Tiberius added
the German armies against his uncle. But Ger- to the Roman empire the kingdom of Cappadocia,
manicus restored discipline to the army by his the last king of which, Archelaus, had been sumfirmness, and maintained his fidelity to the new moned to Rome, and died there, probably of old
emperor. Tiberius, however, was not yet free fiom age and grief combined, after being accused of some
his fears, and he looked with suspicion on Ger- frivolous matters before the senate. Tiberius was
manicus and his high-spirited wife Agrippina, who enabled by the produce of the new province to
was also disliked by Livia, the mother of Tiberius. reduce the tax of one per cent. on auctions to one
The first year of his reign was marked by the half per cent. (Tacit. Ann. ii. 42.) The state of
death of Julia, whom Augustus had removed from affairs in the East, where the kingdoms of ComPandataria to Rhegium; her husband deprived her magene and Cilicia were disturbed by civil dissenof the allowance that she had from her father, and sions and Syria and Judaea were uneasy at the
allowed her to pine away in destitution. One of weight of taxation, gave Tiberius an opportunity of
her lovers, Sempronius Gracchus, who was living removing Germanicus from Rome by conferring on
in exile in a small island on the coast of Africa, him by a decree of the senate the government of
was by the order of Tiberius put to death. (Tacit. the East. Drusus, the son of Tiberius, was sent
Ann. i. 53.) into Illyricum. This year is memorable for the
Germanicus (A. D. 15) continued the Germanic great earthquake in Asia, the greatest on record at
war, though with no important results, but Agrip- the time when it happened, and the more depina's courage on a trying occasion aroused the structive from having happened by night. Twelve
emperor's fears, and he had now a man about him, cities were damaged or destroyed, the earth opened
Sejanus, who worked on the emperor's suspicious and swallowed up the living, and even southern
temper for his own sinister purposes [SEJANUS.] Italy and Sicily felt the terrific shock. Sardes
It became common at this tinme to listen to inform- suffered the most of the twelve cities. The emperor
ations of treason or laesa majestas against the alleviated the calamity by his bounty, and in the