TIBERIUS, the second Roman emperor (Tiberius Clau'dhes Drie SUS Ilfr's Cdsar), was son of Livia (q. v.) and Tiberius Claudius Nero, and born 42 n.c., after his mother's marriage with Augustus, by whom, with his twin brother Drusus, he was adopted. He obtained several military successes in Spain and Germany, and acquired popularity at Rome by his exhibitions of gladiators, &c. Having fallen under Augustus's displeasure, he retired to Rhodes, where he remained for seven years, till recalled by Livia's influence ; he then received the command of the legions in Illyricum, Pannonia, and Dalmatia, and gained considerable renown. On the death of Augustus, A.D. 14, he succeeded to the empire, but made a great show of declining the purple. He soon riveted the fetters on the people by removing the Przetorians to Rome, and he became odious for his ingratitude to Livia, to whom he was indebted for the throne, and by his cruelties to Julia, Drusus, Agrippina, &c., and all nobles whose aspirations he suspected ; and he was even believed to have caused the poisoning of Germanicus (q.v.). A great deal,
however, must be deducted from the charges against him, for the chief authority is Tacitus, the champion of the aristocrats against the im perialists ; and it cannot be denied that his rule was beneficial to the Roman world gene rally, while the patricians as a class suffered from him. At length, on pretence of dedi cating temples in Campania, he withdrew, to shield his vices from the public eye, we are told, to Caprem, a small isle, leaving the government to Sejanus (q. v.). He is said to have spent there the remainder of his life in the most unnatural indulgences and extreme de bauchery. He died z6th March, a. D. 37, Cali gUla, it is said, having hastened his death by suf focation. According to the accounts we have of him, Tiberius was a master of dissimulation ; he feigned all the virtues till his power was sufficiently established to make it safe to throw off the cloak. He dedicated some time to study, and patronized learning.