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EARLY LIFE OF TIBERIUS.
with, great care; it was, according to the fashion of the time,
completely Greek, and conducted by Greek grammarians and
philosophers. He possessed extraordinary talents, and was ex-
ceedingly industrious.
He was employed in public business at a very early age; he
first obtained the quaestura Ostiensis, and was then sent to
Armenia. He shewed uncommon activity and ability in all
he undertook; and, although no one seems to have looked upon
him as the future master of the Roman empire, yet his per-
sonal character attracted considerable attention; for he dis-
tinguished himself both at the head of an army and in the
civil administration. He was however very early a person of
great dissimulation, with a strong inclination to vice, which he
indulged in, but carefully endeavoured to conceal. He had
scarcely any friend, and stood forth as a man of a reserved and
dark nature, for he had no confidence in any one except his
mother. He was particularly reserved towards those who stood
between him and Augustus, such as Agrippa and young
Marcellus. This mistrust, which was nourished as much by
circumstances as by his own disposition, had the same unfortu-
nate consequences for his character, as in the case of the empe-
ror Paul I. of Russia, who always fancied that persons were
plotting against his life. Tiberiuswas otherwise a man of very
great talents; and he, his brother Drusus, and his nephew
Germanicus, were unquestionably the greatest generals in the
Roman empire at that time. Nature had done very much for
him ; he possessed a strong intellect, great wit, unwearied in-
dustry, a body of the happiest organization, and a beautiful
and majestic figure. His statues are so beautiful that it is a
real delight to look at them? In addition to all this, Tiberius
was an extremely good speaker.
After the death of Vipsanius Agrippa, about whose hostility
towards Tiberius there can scarcely be a doubt, Livia and
Augustus (who began more and more to rely upon him) con-
cocted the plan of making Tiberius marry Julia, the widow of
Agrippa, who was leading a highly dissolute life, and was
really a shameless woman. Tiberius consented very reluctantly,
although this marriage drew him so much nearer to Augustus,
5 Augustus and Tiberius ha⅞e the finest heads among all the Roman empe-
rors; that of M. Aureliusis distinguished for its jnild and benevolent expres-
sion.—N.
EARLT LIFE OF TIBERIUS.
173
and at the same time increased the possibility of his succeeding
his father-in-law. The sons of Agrippa by Julia, Caius and
Lucius Caesar, whom Augustus had adopted, were as yet alive,
and stood between Tiberius and the monarch. The loose con-
duct of his wife Julia brought upon him humiliations which
his pride and haughtiness were unable to get over, and which
made him ridiculous in the eyes of the world. He therefore
tried to get out of the way, as he knew that remonstrances
would not work any change in Julia’s conduct.6 Augustus re-
fused to allow Tiberius to absent himself; but the latter carried
his plan into effect notwithstanding, and went to Rhodes, a step
which Augustus took so ill that, in spite of his great military
services in the wars against the Raetians, Vindelicians, and
Pannonians, he would not afterwards permit him to return to
Rome. Seven years thus passed away, until, after the death of
Caius and Lucius Caesar, Livia prevailed upon Augustus to
allow Tiberius to come back. The monarch had, on many
occasions, spoken of Tiberius with such indignation that even
private persons thought they would please the emperor by
treating Tiberius with contempt. Meantime, Augustus had
sent Julia into exile; which however had not wrought any
change in his feelings towards Tiberius; and it was only
through the solicitations of Livia, who then exercised absolute
sway over Augustus, that her son obtained permission to re-
turn. His brother Drusus had died many years before; and,
soon after his arrival at Rome, Tibcrius and Agrippa Postumus
were adopted by Augustus ; but not long afterwards, Agrippa
was banished on account of his savage and intractable character.
It was now obvious to every one that Tiberius would be the
successor of Augustus. He obtained the tribunician power,
and on public occasions sat by the side of the emperor, who
thus formally, though Silentlypointed him out as his successor.
During the period which now followed, down to the death of
his step-father, Tiberius served his country in various ways : he
carried on great and difficult wars, as during the great insur-
rection of the Pannonians and Illyrians who were conquered
by him. Afterwards he undertook the command in Germany,
g The intricacies of the family of Angnstus very much resemble those of the
families of Cosmo de Medici and Philip II. ; for, in all these three cases, we find
the members of the same family conspiring and plotting against one another
with as much cunning and malignity, as though they had been born personal
enemies. — N.