Of all the colorful personalities who ruled the Roman Empire, Tiberius (42 B.C.-A.D. 37) seems to me one of the most unduly despised. He is typically overshadowed in historical memory by his illustrious predecessor and his notorious successor, and yet taken in all his elements he strikes me as one of the most impressive (if troubled) characters who ever wore the imperial purple. A man seemingly capable of holding perfectly sincere opinions that were utterly contradictory (a trait his contemporaries mistook for hypocrisy) he was probably the greatest general Rome had produced since Julius Caesar, and his reign as Princeps was a model of Machiavellian statecraft. As one writer described him:
"The penalty of his inscrutability was widespread dislike and suspicion. But behind his defences there lay an intellect of high power, cold, clear and penetrating all disguises. Few have ever possessed such mental vision, and he was probably never deceived either about the weaknesses of others or about his own... His mind moved so slowly and he was accustomed to deliberate so long that men sometimes made the mistake of deeming him a waverer. He was in reality one of the most tenacious of men. When he had once formed an aim he could wait patiently for years till the favourable moment enabled him to achieve it, and if compelled to yield ground he never failed to recover it in the end. The key to much of his character lies in the observation that he had in early life set before himself a certain ideal of what a Roman in high position ought to be, and to this ideal he rigidly adhered..."
And of his rule:
"The care expended by Tiberius on the provinces was unremitting. His favourite maxim was that a good shepherd should shear his flock and not flay it. When he died he left the subject peoples of the empire in a condition of prosperity such as they had never known before and never knew again. Soldiers, governors and officials of all kinds were kept in wholesome dread of vengeance if they oppressed those beneath them or encouraged irregularity of any kind. Strict economy permitted light taxation and enabled the emperor to show generosity in periods of exceptional distress. Public security both in Italy and abroad was maintained by a strong hand, and commerce was stimulated by the improvement of communications. Jurisdiction both within and without the capital was on the whole exercised with steadiness and equity, and the laws of the empire were at many points improved. The social and moral reforms of Augustus were upheld and carried further. Such risings against the emperor's authority as occurred within the Roman domain were put down with no great difficulty. The foreign or rather the frontier policy was a policy of peace, and it was pursued with considerable success. With few exceptions the duties of the Roman forces on the borders were confined to watching the peoples on the other side while they destroyed each other. On the Rhine, at least, masterly inactivity achieved tranquility which lasted for a long period..."
For all that he was undoubtedly guilty of atrocities (and may have become mentally unbalanced in his final years) I find him to be by far the most humanly sympathetic of all the Julio-Claudian Emperors.
What do you think?
"The penalty of his inscrutability was widespread dislike and suspicion. But behind his defences there lay an intellect of high power, cold, clear and penetrating all disguises. Few have ever possessed such mental vision, and he was probably never deceived either about the weaknesses of others or about his own... His mind moved so slowly and he was accustomed to deliberate so long that men sometimes made the mistake of deeming him a waverer. He was in reality one of the most tenacious of men. When he had once formed an aim he could wait patiently for years till the favourable moment enabled him to achieve it, and if compelled to yield ground he never failed to recover it in the end. The key to much of his character lies in the observation that he had in early life set before himself a certain ideal of what a Roman in high position ought to be, and to this ideal he rigidly adhered..."
And of his rule:
"The care expended by Tiberius on the provinces was unremitting. His favourite maxim was that a good shepherd should shear his flock and not flay it. When he died he left the subject peoples of the empire in a condition of prosperity such as they had never known before and never knew again. Soldiers, governors and officials of all kinds were kept in wholesome dread of vengeance if they oppressed those beneath them or encouraged irregularity of any kind. Strict economy permitted light taxation and enabled the emperor to show generosity in periods of exceptional distress. Public security both in Italy and abroad was maintained by a strong hand, and commerce was stimulated by the improvement of communications. Jurisdiction both within and without the capital was on the whole exercised with steadiness and equity, and the laws of the empire were at many points improved. The social and moral reforms of Augustus were upheld and carried further. Such risings against the emperor's authority as occurred within the Roman domain were put down with no great difficulty. The foreign or rather the frontier policy was a policy of peace, and it was pursued with considerable success. With few exceptions the duties of the Roman forces on the borders were confined to watching the peoples on the other side while they destroyed each other. On the Rhine, at least, masterly inactivity achieved tranquility which lasted for a long period..."
For all that he was undoubtedly guilty of atrocities (and may have become mentally unbalanced in his final years) I find him to be by far the most humanly sympathetic of all the Julio-Claudian Emperors.
What do you think?
