A History of Rome to 565 A. D Part 19

THE JULIO-CLAUDIAN LINE AND THE FLAVIANS: 1496 A. D.

I. TIBERIUS, 1437 A. D.

*Tiberius princeps.* At the death of Augustus, Tiberius by right of his _imperium_ a.s.sumed command of the army and through his tribunician authority convoked the Senate to pay the last honors to Augustus and decide upon his successor. Like Julius Caesar, Augustus was deified, and a priestly college of Augustales, chosen from the senatorial order was founded to maintain his worship in Rome. In accordance with a wish expressed in his will, his widow Livia was honored with the name Augusta.

Tiberius received the t.i.tle of Augustus and the other honors and powers which his predecessor had made the prerogatives of the princeps. His _imperium_, however, was conferred for life, and not for a limited period.

The ease of his succession shows how solidly the princ.i.p.ate was established at the death of its founder.

*Character and policy.* Tiberius was now fifty-six years of age. He had spent the greater part of his life in the public service, and consequently had a full appreciation of the burden of responsibility which the princeps must a.s.sume. He was the incarnation of the old Roman sense of duty to the state, and at the same time exhibited the proud reserve of the Roman patricians. Stern in his maintenance of law and order, he made an excellent subordinate, but when called upon to guide the policy of state, he displayed hesitation and lack of decision. The incidents of his marriage with Julia and his exile had rendered him bitter and suspicious, and he utterly lacked the personal charm and adaptability of his predecessor. Thus he was temperamentally unsuited to the position he was called upon to fill and this was responsible for his frequent misunderstandings with the Senate. Such an incident occurred in the meetings of the Senate after the death of Augustus. Tiberius, conscious of his unpopularity, sought to have the Senate press upon him the appointment as the successor of Augustus, and so feigned reluctance to accept, a course which made the senators suspect that he was laying a trap for possible rivals. Yet there was no princeps who tried more conscientiously to govern in the spirit of Augustus, or upheld more rigidly the rights and dignity of the Senate. At the beginning of his princ.i.p.ate he transferred from the a.s.sembly to the Senate the right of the election to the magistracies, thus relieving the senators from the expense and annoyance of canva.s.sing the populace.

*Mutinies in Illyric.u.m and on the Rhine.* Two serious mutinies followed the accession of Tiberius, one in the army stationed in Illyric.u.m, the other among the legions on the Rhine. Failure to discharge those who had completed their terms of service and the severity of the service itself were the grounds of dissatisfaction. The Illyrian mutiny was quelled by the praetorian prefect Lucius Aelius Seia.n.u.s; the army of the Rhine was brought back to its allegiance by Germanicus, the son of Drusus, whom Tiberius had adopted at the command of Augustus in 4 A. D. He had married Agrippina, daughter of Agrippa and Julia, and was looked upon as the heir of Tiberius in preference to the latter's younger and less able son, Drusus.

*The campaigns of Germanicus, 1417 A. D.* To restore discipline among his troops and relieve them from the monotony of camp life, as well as to emulate the achievements of his father, Germanicus, without the authorization of Tiberius, led his army across the Rhine. The German tribes were still united in the coalition formed in the time of Varus, and, under their leaders Arminius and Inguiomerus, offered vigorous opposition to the Roman invasion. Nevertheless, in three successive campaigns (1416 A. D.), Germanicus ravaged the territory between the Rhine and the Weser and inflicted several defeats upon the Germans. Still Arminius and his allies were by no means subdued, and the Romans had sustained heavy losses. One army had narrowly escaped the fate of the legions of Varus, and twice had the transports of Germanicus suffered through storms in the North Sea. For these reasons Tiberius forbade the prolongation of the war and recalled Germanicus. With his departure, each of the three Gauls was made an independent province, and two new administrative districts called Upper and Lower Germany, under legates of consular rank, were created on the left bank of the Rhine. Freed from the danger of Roman interference, the Germanic tribes led by Arminius now engaged in a bitter struggle with Marbod, king of the Marcomanni, which ultimately led to the overthrow of the latter's kingdom. Not long afterwards Arminius himself fell a victim to the jealousy of his fellow tribesmen (19 A. D.).

*Eastern mission and death of Germanicus, 1719 A. D.* After his return from Gaul, Germanicus was sent by Tiberius to settle affairs in the East, where the Armenian question had again become acute. While he was in Syria, a bitter quarrel developed between himself and Piso, the legate of the province. Accordingly, when Germanicus fell ill and died there, many accused Piso of having poisoned him. Although the accusation was false Piso was called to Rome to stand his trial on that charge, and, finding that the popularity of Germanicus had biased popular opinion against him, and that Tiberius refused him his protection because of his attempt to a.s.sert his rights by armed force, he committed suicide. Agrippina, the ambitious wife of Germanicus, believed that Tiberius from motives of jealousy had been responsible for her husband's death. She openly displayed her hostility to the princeps, and by plotting to secure the succession for her own children, helped to bring about their ruin and her own.

*The withdrawal of Tiberius from Rome, 26 A. D.* The decision of Tiberius to leave Rome in 26 A. D. and take up his residence on the island of Capri had important consequences. One was that the office of city prefect, who was the representative of the princeps, became permanent. It was filled by a senator of consular rank who commanded the urban cohorts and had wide judicial functions.

*The plot of Seia.n.u.s.* In the second place the absence of Tiberius gave his able and ambitious praetorian prefect Aelius Seia.n.u.s encouragement and opportunity to perfect the plot he had formed to seize the princ.i.p.ate for himself. He it was who concentrated the praetorian guard, now 10,000 strong, in their camp on the edge of the city, and paved the way for their baneful influence upon the future history of the princ.i.p.ate. Having caused the death of Drusus, the son of Tiberius, by poison, in 23 A. D., he intrigued to remove from his path the sons of Germanicus, Drusus and Nero.

They and their mother Agrippina were condemned to imprisonment or exile on charges of treason. In 31 A. D. Seia.n.u.s attained the consulate and received proconsular _imperium_ in the provinces. He allied himself with the Julian house by his betrothal to Julia, the grand-daughter of Tiberius. But in the same year the princeps became aware of his plans.

Tiberius acted with energy. Seia.n.u.s and many of his supporters were arrested and executed.

*The last years of Tiberius.* The discovery of Seia.n.u.s' treachery seems to have affected the reason of the aging princeps. His fear of treachery became an obsession. The law of treason (_lex de maiestate_) was rigorously enforced and many persons were condemned to death, among them Agrippina and her sons. The senators lived in terror of being accused by informers (_delatores_), and in their anxiety to conciliate the princeps they were only too ready to condemn any of their own number.

The memory of his later years caused Tiberius to pa.s.s down in the traditions of the senatorial order, represented by Tacitus and Suetonius, as a ruthless tyrant, and to obscure his real services as a conscientious and economical administrator. His parsimony in expenditures of the public money won him unpopularity with the city mob, but was a blessing to the provincials to whose welfare Tiberius directed particular attention, while he vigorously protected them against the oppression of imperial officials.

During his rule the peace of the empire was disturbed only by a brief rising in Gaul (21 A. D.) and a rather prolonged struggle with Tacfarinas, a rebellious Berber chieftain, in Numidia (1724 A. D.).

II. CAIUS CALIGULA, 3741 A. D.

*Accession.* Tiberius left as his heirs his adoptive grandson Caius, the sole surviving son of Germanicus, better known by his childhood name of Caligula, acquired in the camps on the Rhine, and his grandson by birth, Tiberius Gemellus. Upon Caius, the elder of the two, then twenty-five years of age, the Senate immediately conferred the powers of the princ.i.p.ate. The resentment of the senators towards his predecessor found vent in refusing him the posthumous honor of deification. Caius adopted his cousin, but within a year had him put to death.

*Early months of his rule.* The early months of his rule seemed the dawn of a new era. The pardoning of political offenders, the banishment of informers, the reduction of taxes, coupled with lavishness in public entertainments and donations, all made Gaius popular with the Senate, the army and the city plebs. However, he was a weakling in body and in mind, and a serious illness, brought on by his excesses, seems to have left him mentally deranged.

*Absolutism his ideal.* Reared in the house of Antonia, daughter of Antony and Octavia, in company with eastern princes of the stamp of Herod Agrippa, he naturally came to look upon the princ.i.p.ate as an autocracy of the h.e.l.lenistic type. In his attempt to carry this conception into effect, the vein of madness in his character led him to ridiculous extremes. Not content with claiming deification for himself and his sisters, he built a lofty bridge connecting the Palatine Hill with the Capitoline, so that he might communicate with Jupiter, his brother G.o.d. He prescribed the sacrifices to be offered to himself, and was accused of seeking to imitate the Ptolemaic custom of sister marriage. Thoroughly consistent with absolutism was his scorn of republican magistracies and disregard of the rights of the Senate; likewise his attempt to have himself saluted as _dominus_ or "lord."

*The conflict with the Jews.* His demand for the acknowledgment of his deification by all inhabitants of the empire brought Caius into conflict with the Jews, who had been exempted from this formal expression of loyalty. In Alexandria there was a large Jewish colony, which enjoyed exceptional privileges and was consequently hated by the other Alexandrians. Their refusal to worship the images of Caius furnished the mob with a pretext for sacking the Jewish quarters and forcibly installing statues of the princeps in some of their synagogues. The Jews sent a delegation to plead their case before Caius but could obtain no redress.

In the meantime Caius had ordered Petronius, the legate of Syria, to set up his statue in the temple at Jerusalem, by force, if need be. However, the prudent Petronius, seeing that this would bring about a national revolt among the Jews delayed obeying the order, and the death of Caius relieved him of the necessity of executing it at all.

*Tyranny.* In less than a year the reckless extravagance of Caius had exhausted the immense surplus Tiberius had left in the treasury. To secure new funds he resorted to openly tyrannical measures, extraordinary taxes, judicial murders, confiscations, and forced legacies. By these means money was extorted not only from Romans of all cla.s.ses but provincials also.

Ptolemy, king of Mauretania, was executed for the sake of his treasure and his kingdom made a province.

*a.s.sa.s.sination.* Caius contemplated invasions of Germany and of Britain, but the former ended with a military parade across the Rhine and the latter with a march to the sh.o.r.es of the Straits of Dover. The fear awakened by his rule of capricious violence soon resulted in conspiracies against his life. In January, 41 A. D., he was a.s.sa.s.sinated by a tribune of the imperial guards.

III. CLAUDIUS, 4154 A. D.

*Nominated by the Praetorians.* In the choice of a successor to Caius the power of the praetorian guard was first clearly demonstrated. Caius was the last male representative of the Julian _gens_, and at his death the Senate debated the question of restoring the republic. However, the decision was made for them by the praetorians, who dragged from his hiding place and saluted as Imperator the surviving brother of Germanicus, Tiberius Claudius Germanicus. The Senate had to acquiesce in his nomination and grant him the powers of the princeps.

*Character.* Claudius was already fifty-one years old, but because of his ungainly figure and limited mentality had never been seriously considered for the princ.i.p.ate. He was learned and pedantic, but lacking in energy and resolution. His greatest weakness was that he was completely under the influence of his wives, of whom he had in succession four, and his favorite freedmen.

*Policy.* In general the policy of Claudius followed that of Augustus and Tiberius. But in 47 A. D. he a.s.sumed the censorship for five years, an office which Augustus had avoided because it set its holder directly above the Senate.

In the capacity of censor, Claudius extended to the Gallic Aedui the _jus honorum_ and consequently the right of admission to the Senate. This was in accord with his policy of generously granting citizenship to the provincials. The census taken in 47 and 48 A. D. showed approximately six million Romans, nearly a million more than in the time of Augustus.

Claudius also renewed the attempt of Julius Caesar to occupy the island of Britain. In 43 A. D. his legates Aulus Plautius, Vespasian and Ostorius Scapula subdued the island as far as the Thames, and in the following years extended their conquests farther northward. The southern part of the island became the province of Britain. In 46 A. D., Thrace was incorporated as a province at the death of its client prince.

*Influence of freedmen.* During the rule of Claudius the real heads of the administration were a group of able freedmen, Narcissus, Pallas, Polybius and, later, Callistus. While it is true that they abused their power to ama.s.s riches for themselves, they contributed a great deal to the organization of the imperial bureaucracy. Their influence caused the widespread employment of imperial freedmen in procuratorial positions.

*Agrippina the younger.* In 49 A. D. the plot of Messalina, the third wife of Claudius, and her lover Gaius Silius, to depose the princeps in favor of Silius, endangered the power of the trio Pallas, Narcissus and Callistus. It was Narcissus who revealed the conspiracy to Claudius, secured his order for the execution of Messalina, and saw that it was carried into effect. But it was Pallas who induced the princeps to take as his fourth wife his own niece Agrippina, whose ambitions were to prove his ruin.

*Death of Claudius.* By Messalina Claudius had a son Britannicus and a daughter Octavia, but Agrippina determined to secure the succession for Domitius, her son by her previous husband Lucius Domitius Ahen.o.barbus. In 50 A. D., Domitius was adopted by Claudius as Nero Claudius Caesar. The following year he received the _imperium_, and was thus openly designated as the future princeps. In 53 A. D. Nero was married to Octavia and a year later Claudius died, poisoned, as all believed, by Agrippina, who feared that further delay would endanger her plans.

IV. NERO, 5468 A. D.

*The quinquennium Neronis.* Agrippina had previously made sure of the support of the praetorians, and so the appointment of Nero to the princ.i.p.ate transpired without opposition. The first five years of his rule were noted as a period of excellent administration. During that time his counsels were guided by the praetorian prefect, Afranius Burrus from Narbonese Gaul, and by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the famous writer and orator from Spain, whom Agrippina had appointed as his tutor in 49 A. D.

*Fall of Agrippina.* This epoch is also characterized by the attempt of Agrippina to act as regent for her son and retain the influence she had acquired during the later years of the life of Claudius. But in this she was opposed both by Nero himself and his able advisors. In 55 A. D. Nero caused his adoptive brother Britannicus to be poisoned, through fear that he might prove a rival. Finally, under the influence of his mistress, Poppaea Sabina, the wife of t.i.tus Salvius Otho, he had Agrippina murdered (59 A. D.). Thereupon he divorced Octavia, who was later banished and put to death, and married Poppaea.

*The government of Nero.* Freed from the fear of any rival influence, Nero, now twenty-two years of age, took the reins of government into his own hands. After the death of Burrus in 62, Seneca lost his influence over the princeps, who took as his chief advisor the worthless praetorian prefect, Tigellinus. The Senate, whose support he had courted in his opposition to Agrippina, now found itself without any influence; and, since his wanton extravagances emptied the treasury, Nero was forced to resort to oppressive measures to satisfy his needs. The sole object of his policy was the gratification of his capricious whims. In the conviction that he was an artist of extraordinary genius, he hungered for the applause of the successful performer, and in 65 A. D. publicly appeared in the theatre as a singer and musician. Nothing could have more deeply alienated the respect of the upper cla.s.ses of Roman society. Eager to duplicate his theatrical successes in the home of the Muses, in 66 A. D.

Nero visited Greece and exhibited his talent at the Olympian and Delphic games.

*The fire in Rome and the first persecution of the Christians, 64 A. D.*

In 64 A. D. a tremendous fire, which lasted for six continuous days and broke out a second time, devastated the greater part of the city of Rome.

Subsequently, Nero was accused of having caused the fire, but there is absolutely no proof of his guilt. However, he did seize the opportunity to rebuild the damaged quarter on a new plan which did away with the offensive slum districts, and to erect his famous "Golden House," a magnificent palace and park on the Esquiline. Popular opinion demanded some scapegoat for the disaster, and Nero laid the blame upon the Christians in Rome, possibly at the instigation of the Jews whose community was divided by the spread of Christian doctrines. Many Christians were condemned as incendiaries, and suffered painful and ignominious deaths. This was the first persecution of the Christians.

*The Armenian problem, 5167 A. D.* In 51 A. D. an able and ambitious ruler, Vologases, came to the Parthian throne. He soon found a chance to set his brother Tiridates on the throne of Armenia and was able to maintain him there until the death of Claudius. However, at the accession of Nero, Caius Domitius Corbulo was sent to Cappadocia to rea.s.sert the Roman suzerainty over Armenia. At first Vologases abandoned Armenia, owing to a revolt in Parthia, but in 58 A. D. Tiridates reappeared on the scene and war broke out. In two campaigns Corbulo was able to occupy the country and set up a Roman nominee as the Armenian king (60 A. D.). It was not long before the latter was driven out by Vologases, who succeeded in surrounding a Roman force under Caesennius Paetus, the new commander in Cappadocia, and forcing him to purchase his safety by concluding an agreement favorable to the Parthian (62 A. D.). The situation was saved by Corbulo, then legate of Syria, who was finally entrusted with the sole command of operations and forced Vologases to meet the Roman terms (63 A. D.). Tiridates retained the Armenian throne, but acknowledged the Roman overlordship by coming to Rome to receive his crown from Nero's hands.

*The revolt in Britain, 60 A. D.* Under Claudius the Romans had extended their dominion in Britain as far north as the Humber, and westwards to Cornwall and Wales. In 59 A. D. Suetonius Paulinus occupied the island of Mona (Anglesea), the chief seat of the religion of the Druids. While he was engaged in this undertaking a serious revolt broke out among the Iceni and Trinovantes, who lived between the Wash and the Thames. It was caused by the severity of the Roman administration and in particular the ill-treatment of Boudicca, the queen of the Iceni, who headed the insurrection, by Roman procurators. The Roman towns of Camulodunum (Colchester), Verulamium (St. Alban's), and Londinium (London) were destroyed, and 70,000 Romans were said to have been ma.s.sacred. A Roman legion was defeated in battle and it was not until Paulinus returned and united the scattered Roman forces that the insurgents were checked. The Britons were decisively defeated and Boudicca committed suicide.

*The conspiracy of Piso, 65 A. D.* About 62 A. D. there began a long series of treason trials in Rome occasioned partly by the desire to confiscate the property of the accused and partly by the suspicion which is the inevitable concomitant of tyranny. The resulting insecurity of the senatorial order naturally produced a real attempt to overthrow the princeps. A wide-reaching conspiracy, in which one of the praetorian prefects was involved and which was headed by the senator Gaius Calpurnius Piso, was discovered in 65 A. D. Among those who were executed for complicity therein were the poet Lucan and his uncle Seneca. Other notable victims of Nero's vengeance were Thrasea Paetus and Borea Sonarus, the Stoic senators, whose guilt was their silent but unmistakable disapproval of his tyrannical acts. No man of prominence was safe; even the famous general Corbulo was forced to commit suicide in 67 A. D.

*The rebellion of Vindex, 68 A. D.* Upon Nero's return from Greece, a more serious movement began in Gaul where Caius Julius Vindex, the legate of the province of Lugdunensis, raised the standard of revolt and was supported by the provincials who were suffering under the pressure of taxation. Vindex was joined by Sulpicius Galba, governor of Hither Spain, and other legates. The commander of Upper Germany, Verginius Rufus, who remained true to Nero, defeated Vindex, but, the revolt spread to the troops of Verginius himself and these hailed their commander as imperator.

He, however, refused the honor and gave the Senate the opportunity to name the princeps. Nero's fate was sealed by his own cowardice and the treachery of the prefect Sabinus, who bought the support of the praetorian guards for Galba. The Senate followed their lead, and Nero, who had fled from Rome, had himself killed by a faithful freedman. With him ends the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

V. THE FIRST WAR OF THE LEGIONS OR THE YEAR OF THE FOUR EMPERORS, 6869 A.

D.