TIBE'RIIIS, Trimnrus CLAUDIUS NERO CAtSAR, the second emperor of Rome, was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero, one of the active partisans of Pompey and Antony in the war of the second triumvirate, and of Livia, a descendant of Appius Claudius Ctecus, and was born Nov. 16, 42 B.C. The triumvir, Octavianus Cesar (afterward the emperor Augustus) having become enamored of Livia, the complaisant husband divorced her, and, though then pregnant with Drusus, she was immediately espoused by Octavianus (38 B. c.). Tiberius being now one of the imperial household, received a careful education, was allowed by Augustus the same public honors as were paid to his nephew and as well as his brother Drusus, was employed in active service at the head of the legions on the outposts of the empire. Tiberius was at this time in favor with the emperor and the Roman people, chiefly because his retired mode of life and subordinate position restrained his evil propensities; and his praises as a military leader were loudly sounded, though the character of his opponents was not such as called for the display of very great warlike ability. At the command of he unwillingly divorced his wife, Vipsania Agrippina, to marry the emperor's daughter Julia (11 B.c.); but disgusted at her open profligacy, he gladly accepted a command on the German frontier, and after ward (6 u.c.) retired to Rhodes, where he lived for seven years, returning after Julia'a. banishment to Pandataria. The death of two of Augustus's three grandsons paved the way for the adoption of Tiberius, and of the third grandson, Agrippa Postumus, by the emperor, and for the appointment of Tiberius as heir to the throne, Agrippa being, apart from his youth, wholly unfitted for the exercise of uncontrolled authority. Accordingly, Tiberius ascended the throne (14 A.D.), and by manly and graceful demeanor, pru dence, and moderation, gave promise of a happy reign. His mild and benignant sway at first was doubtless due in part to the necessity of outbidding his popular nephew Germanicus (who was of Octavian blood by his mother's side) for public favor; but after his kinsman's death (19 A.D.), and the removal of all who were likely to put forth claims to the throne, Tiberius's true character became better known. He had always shown himself reserved, jealous, timid, and irresolute, though not cowardly, and almost devoid of sympathy and affection; and with the scepter firmly in his grasp, the development of these qualities produced the most suspicious and cruel of tyrants. During the life of his.
mother, however, Tiberius, who held her somewhat in dread, took little share in the government, but led a retired life, attempting to ape the virtues he had not. The chief events of this part of his reign were the increase in number and amount of the taxes, the removal of all power from the people and the senate, and the institution of prosecutions. for lcrsa majestas, the latter nothing else but a convenient mode of removing all who incurred the displeasure of the emperor. But after Livia's death (29 A.D.), he resigned the whole real authority into the hands of ./Elius Sejanus, a Roman knight and a commander of the prmtorian guards, and gave himself up to the indul gence of his sensual appetites. The empire did not suffer by the change, for Sejanus was a man of great ability and resolution, and well knew how to maintain his ascend ency over the emperor by pouring into his suspicious ear tales of conspiracy, and then allayiug the imperial fears, and satisfying his own private enmities by the condemnation. for lcesa majestas of eminent Roman citizens. In 27 A.D., Tiberius retired to the island. of Capri, there to wallow in his brutish enjoyments with more freedom, leaving Sejanus, whom he made his coadjutor in government, and equal in position, at the head of the government; and from this period till the discovery of the ambitious aspirations of Sej• nus, and his downfall (31 A.D.), the Roman annals are crowded with proscriptions at Rome, and infamous excesses at Capri. Sejanus's successor, Macro, had all his vices, and few or none of his talents, and so the state of affairs was even worse than before, the senate exhibiting a rare degree of sycophancy, by indorsing with the most accommodating promptitude every order, however tyrannical, of the emperor or his confidant. It may seem strange that this frightful misgovernment by an aged debauehee and his ignoble favorite should have been so quietly submitted to by the Romans, but in reality their tyranny was confined exclusively to those of rank, the common people being treated with forbearance and occasional liberality, as there was nothing to fear from them. Tibe rius's powerful constitution was at last completely destroyed by his excesses, and falling sick at Astura, he traveled to Misenum, where, in the villa of Lucullus, he ended his infamous life, Mar. 16, 37 A.D., his death being hastened a few days either by poison or suffocation.