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Page 23
The violence of Agrippina had sent an innocent victim to follow the
shade of her young husband. Despite bitter opposition, the emperor,
through personal intervention, succeeded in saving the wife, the son,
and the fortune of Piso, whose enemies had wished to exterminate his
house root and branch. Tiberius thus offered a further proof that he
was one of the few persons at Rome who were capable in that trying and
troubled time of passing judgment and of reasoning with calm.
IV
TIBERIUS AND AGRIPPINA
The blackest and most tragic period in the life of Tiberius begins with
the death of Germanicus and the terrible scandal of the suit against
Piso. It was to pass into history as the worst period of the "Tiberian
tyranny"; for it was at this time that the famous _Lex de majestate_
[1] (on high treason), which had not been applied under Augustus, came
to be frequently invoked, and through its operation atrocious
accusations, scandalous trials, and frightful condemnations were
multiplied in Rome, to the terror of all. Many committed suicide in
despair, and illustrious families were given over to ruin and infamy.
[Illustration: Tiberius.]
Posterity still holds Tiberius to account for these tragedies; his
cruel and suspicious tyranny is made responsible for these accusations,
for the suits which followed, and for the cruel condemnations in which
they ended. It is said that every free mind which still remembered
ancient Roman liberty gave him umbrage and caused him distress, and
that he could suffer to have about him only slaves and hired assassins.
But how far this is from the truth! How poorly the superficial
judgment of posterity has understood the terrible tragedy of the reign,
of Tiberius! We always forget that Tiberius was the next Roman emperor
after Augustus; the first, that is, who had to bear the weight of the
immense charge created by its founder, but without the immense prestige
and respect which Augustus had derived from the extraordinary good
fortune of his life, from the critical moment in which he had taken
over the government, from the general opinion that he had ended the
civil wars, brought peace back to an empire in travail, and saved Rome
from the imminent ruin with which Egypt and Cleopatra had threatened
it. For these reasons, while Augustus lived, the envy, jealousy,
rivalry, and hatred of the new authority were held in check in his
presence; but they were ever smoldering in the Roman aristocracy, which
considered itself robbed of a part of its privileges, and always felt
itself humiliated by this same authority, even when it was necessary to
submit to it in cases of supreme political necessity. But all this
envy, all these jealousies, all these rivalries,--I have said it
before, but it is well to repeat it, since the point is of capital
importance for the understanding of the whole history of the first
empire,--were unleashed when Tiberius was exalted to the imperial
dignity.
What in reality was the situation of Tiberius after the death of
Germanicus? We must grasp it well if we wish to understand not only
the cruelty of the accusations brought under the law of high treason,
but also the whole family policy followed by the second emperor. It
was he who had to bear the burden of the whole state, of the finances,
of the supplies, of the army, of the home and foreign policies; his was
the will that propelled, and the mind that regulated, all. To him
every portion of the empire and every social class had recourse, and it
was to him that they looked for redress for every wrong or
inconvenience or danger. It was to him that the legions looked for
their regular stipend, the common people of Rome for abundant grain,
the senate for the preservation of boundaries and of the internal
order; the provinces looked to him for justice, and the sovereign
allies or vassals for the solution of all internal difficulties in
which they became involved. These responsibilities were so numerous
and so great that Tiberius, like Augustus, attempted to induce the
senate to aid him by assuming its share, according to the ancient
constitution; but it was in vain, for the senate sought to shield
itself, and always left to him the heavier portion.
[Illustration: Types of head-dresses worn in the time of the women of
the Caesars.]
Is it conceivable that a man could have discharged so many
responsibilities in times when the traditions of the government were
only beginning to take form if he had not possessed a commanding
personal authority, if he had not been the object of profound and
general respect? Augustus would not have been able to govern so great
an empire for more than forty years with such slight means had it not
been for the fact, fortunate alike for himself and for the state, that
he did enjoy this profound, sincere, and general admiration. Tiberius,
on the other hand, who was already decidedly unpopular when he came
into power, had seen this unpopularity increase during the first six
years of his rule, despite all the efforts he had put forth to govern
well. His solicitude about maintaining a certain order within the
state was described as haughtiness and harshness, his preoccupation
lest the precarious resources of the government be dissipated in
useless expenditures was dubbed avarice, and the prudence which had
impelled him to restrain the rash policy of expansion and aggression
which Germanicus had tried to initiate beyond the Rhine was construed
as envy and surly malignity. Against all considerations of justice,
logic, or good sense, this accusation was repeated, and now that
destiny had cut down Germanicus, he was accused _sotto voce_ of being
responsible for his death by many of the great families of Rome and
even in senatorial circles. They treated it as most natural that
through jealousy he should poison his own nephew, his adopted son, the
popular descendant of Drusus, the son of that virtuous Antonia who was
his best and most faithful friend! But if, after having been accepted
as true by the great families of Rome who sent it on its rounds, such a
report had been allowed to circulate through the empire, how much
authority would have been left to an emperor who was suspected of so
terrible a crime? How could he have maintained discipline in the army,
of which he was the head, and order among the people of Rome, of whom,
as tribune, he was the great protector? How could he have directed,
urged on, or restrained the senate, of which he was, in the language of
to-day, the president? The various Italian peoples from whom the army
was drawn did not yet consider the head of the state a being so
superior to the laws that it would be permissible for him to commit
crimes which were branded as disgustingly repulsive to ordinary human
nature.
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