In A.D. 5 it became necessary to attack the formidable con federacy built up by Maroboduus, with its centre in Bohemia. At the most critical moment, when Pannonia and Dalmatia broke out into insurrection, Maroboduus accepted an honourable peace. The four serious campaigns which the war cost displayed Tiberius at his best as a general. When he was about to celebrate his well-won triumphs, the terrible catastrophe to Varus and his legions (A.D. 9) produced a profound change in the Roman policy towards Germany. Although Tiberius with his nephew and adopted son Germanicus made in A.D. 9 and i o two more marches into the interior of Germany, the Rhine was permanently accepted as the frontier. Tiberius was thus robbed in great part of the fruit of his campaigns; but nothing can deprive him of the credit of being a chief founder of the imperial system in the lands of Europe. From the beginning of II, when he celebrated a magnif icent triumph, to the time of the emperor's death in 14 Tiberius remained almost entirely in Italy, and held rather the position of joint emperor than that of expectant heir.
Tiberius ascended the throne at the age of fifty-six . What struck every one of his contemporaries most was his absolute impenetrability. Tiberius proved himself capable in every de partment of the state more by virtue of industry and applica tion than by genius. His mind moved so slowly and he was accustomed to deliberate so long that men sometimes made the mistake of deeming him a waverer.
The change of masters had been anticipated by the Roman world with apprehension, but it was smoothly accomplished. Livia expected to share the imperial authority with her son. At first Tiberius allowed some recognition to the claim; but he soon shook himself free, and later became estranged from his mother and held no communication with her for years before her death. The history of Tiberius's relations with other members of his family is hardly less miserable. Perhaps with any other com mander than Germanicus the dangerous mutiny of the troops on the Rhine which broke out soon after Tiberius's accession would have ended in a march of the discontented legions upon the capital. The perilous episode of Arminius caused the recall of Germanicus and his despatch to the East on an honourable but comparatively inactive mission. Tiberius seems to have set Piso to watch and thwart him, but there is no authority for the sus picion that he had him poisoned. The death of Germanicus was followed four years later by that of the emperor's son Drusus. When Drusus died, Tiberius nominated two of the sons of Agrippina, Germanicus' widow, as his heirs. But Seianus,
Tiberius's minister, had grown strong by nursing the emperor's suspicions and dislike for the household of Germanicus. and the mother and the princes were imprisoned on a charge of crime. In his memoirs of his own life Tiberius declared that he killed Seianus because he had discovered that he entertained a mad rage against the sons of Germanicus. But the destruction of Seianus did not save Agrippina and her two children. The third son, Gaius Caesar (Caligula), lived to become emperor when Tiberius died in 37.
The care expended by Tiberius on the provinces was unremit ting. Soldiers, governors and officials of all kinds were kept in wholesome dread of vengeance if they oppressed their inferiors 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.
Our ancient authorities are Tacitus, to some extent biased by sena torial traditions; Suetonius, a rather scandalous biographer; and Velleius Paterculus, the nearest in point of time, an officer who had served under him. Dio is probably dependent on Tacitus. The chief account of Tiberius in English is that contained in Dean Merivale's History of the Romans under the Empire. Professor E. S. Beesly has written an interesting defence of him in his Catiline, Clodius and Tiberius (1878). The best recent history of this period is Hermann Schiller's Geschichte der thmischen Kaiserzeit (Gotha, 1883). Much historical information is given in the editions of the Annals of Tacitus, of which the best in English is that of Furneaux (Oxford, 1884) ; Freytag, Tiberius and Tacitus (Berlin, 1870) (following Stahr, Tiberius, Berlin, 5863), exposes the inconsistencies of Tacitus' account. See also Ihne, Zur Ehrenrettung des Kaisers Tiberius (Strassburg, 1892) ; Gentile, L'Imperatore Tiberio secondo la modern critica storica (1887) ; J. C. Tarver, Tiberius the Tyrant (1902) ; E. S. Beesly, Cataline, Clodius and Tiberius (1907) ; A. Lang, Kaiser Tiberius (Jena, 19") ; 0. Kuntz, Tiberius Caesar and the Roman Constitution (Seattle, 1924). For the imperial administration of the provinces by Tiberius see Mommsen, History of Rome, vol. v.