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VICIOUS CHARACTER OF TIBERIUS.
monarchy was then in a tolerably happy condition. Iiherius
lived very retired, but with becoming dignity and moderation,
and took great pains about the manner in which he appeared
before the public. He treated the eminent men of the nation
with distinction, and maintained a strict economy in the
finances. Augustus, who had not been very economical, and
at the end of his reign was even in financial difficulties, had
made the accounts of the treasury known to the public, but
Tiberius, who amassed enormous treasures, kept the accounts
secret. The indirect taxes in Italy were increased and some
new ones were imposed.
This state of things lasted as long as the aged Livia was
alive; but even then far-sighted men were not without their
apprehensions as to what would happen after her death, for,
while Tiberius treated graciously those with whom he came
in contact, he was open to nobody. He feared his mother
to the very end of her life ; but his attachment to her had
ceased long before. She was a wicked and terrible woman,
but still the great length of her life was fortunate for Home,
at least for those who had foi gotten the old times. After her
death, there was no one whom Tiberius had to fear, and he
acted as he pleased. His virtues, which had been developed
by his former activity, and had been kept somewhat alive by
the authority of others whom he was obliged to please, and to
whom he had to render an account of his actions, now became
completely extinct. His dark and tyrannical nature got the
upper hand : the hateful side of his character became daily
more developed, and his only enjoyment was the indulgence
of his detestable lust. An aged man who is in this condition
sinks irrevocably into the basest and most abject state. Napo-
leon is reported to have said to a deputation of the Institute,
that Tiberius was treated very unfairly, and that Tacitus had
not done justice to him. Napoleon was very far from being a
man of learning: his knowledge was of an extremely desultory
kind; but I am nevertheless convinced that he was well
acquainted with the military history of Rome. He must have
said, or meant to say, “ If persons form their notion of Tiberius
from Tacitus alone, and regard him as a mere abject and
contemptible sensualist, or as a tiger of cruelty, they have not
got the right picture of him ; for up to his fiftieth year, he was
a great general and statesman.” He possessed all the vices
AELIUS SELANUS.
181
which the ancients called subdola ; they had till then been con-
cealed, but now became manifest. So long as circumstances re-
quired the exercise of his higher and better faculties, he acted
well, and appeared in a totally different character from that
which he afterwards displayed.
His only friend was Aelius Sejanus, a man of equestrian
rank, and the son of a citizen of Vulsinii, of the name of
Seius Strabo. His character bore the greatest resemblance
to that of his sovereign, who raised him to the office of prae-
fectus praetorio. He must not, however, be looked upon
merely with contempt; for Tacitus3 characterises him as an
excellent officer, and a man of great personal courage and
power of will, but without any moral feeling or principle, for
otherwise he could not have been the friend of Tiberius. It
was with him alone that Tiberius felt at his ease ; he alone
knew how to make his master comfortable, and to convince
him that he could follow his own inclinations with more
impunity than he imagined. Sejanus was thus a very con-
venient person for Tiberius, and satisfied him by securing him
against those whom he dreaded most, namely the members of
his own family, and the few remaining nobles. Sejanus in-
creased the number of the praetorian cohorts, and persuaded
Tiberius to concentrate them in the neighbourhood of Eome,
in the castrum praetorianum, which formed as it were the citadel
outside the wall of Servius Tullius, but in the midst of the
present city. The consequences of this measure render it one
of the most important events in Eoman history; for the prae-
torians now became the real sovereigns, and occupied a position
similar to that which the Janissaries obtained in Algeria; they
determined the fate of the empire until the reign of Diocletian ;
Eome thereby became a military republic, which was usually
dormant, except when the succession had to be determined
upon. Sejanus contrived to win the heart of Tiberius by
raising his distrust of his own family to the highest pitch, and
he himself aimed at nothing short of the succession as imperator.
Drusus, the son of Tiberius, was still alive, and had children;
three sons of Germanicus, and Claudius, the brother of Ger-
manies, were likewise still living; but the plan of Sejanus
was to get rid of them all. With this view he seduced Livia
or Livilla, the wife of Drusus, and a daughter of the elder
3 Annal, iv. 1.