Ancient Rome: An Introductory History (48 page)

Page 243

good shepherd shears his sheep; he does not skin them." When a financial crisis threatened the stability of Rome, Tiberius freed up hundreds of millions of his own money to establish fiscal order. He made the countryside safer. His modest way of life echoed that of Augustus: Among the laws he passed were ones that forbade promiscuous kissing in public and forbade men to wear silk. Tiberius was very unpopular with the urban masses, for although the supply of grain was adequate, the frugal Tiberius refused to pay for games, circuses, and wild beast hunts.

Despite the peace and prosperity of Rome and the empire, Tiberius was hated, mostly because of the growth of prosecutions for
maiestas minuta
(diminished majesty), a type of treason. Under Tiberius, charges of
maiestas
included libel against the emperor. One senator, as we saw, was nearly brought to trial for melting down a silver statue of the emperor. Mere gossip and jokes could bring a man to the special tribunal set up for
maiestas
cases. "Little by little," says Suetonius, "the type of trumped-up charges went so far that the following were capital offenses: beating a slave or changing clothes close to a statue of Augustus, or bringing a coin or ring with Augustus' likeness on it into a bathroom or brothel" (Suetonius,
Tiberius
LVIII). Suetonius, however, does not mention any successful prosecutions for those trivial offenses. Since those who had successfully prosecuted someone for
maiestas
received one-fourth of the condemned man's estate, there was no lack of informers to bring charges of
maiestas
against the wealthy or against their personal enemies. The number of
delatores
the professional spies and prosecutors of
maiestas
grew, and they became hated by their fellow Romans. Tiberius did not discourage the delatores from carrying out their detestable work.

The hatred felt for Tiberius arose also because of Sejanus, his commander of the Praetorian Guard. Sejanus wormed himself into Tiberius' confidence, until finally Tiberius elevated him to a high position and trust enjoyed by no other. Sejanus aimed at becoming emperor himself and hoped to secure his position by marrying Tiberius' niece Livilla. When Tiberius, ignorant of Sejanus' plans, politely refused his request for his stepdaughter in marriage, Sejanus devised another plan. In
A.D
. 26 he convinced Tiberius to move away from Rome and stirred up his fear of assassination;

Page 244

once Tiberius was isolated, Sejanus controlled access to the aged and weary emperor. He used his power over the Praetorian Guard to rid himself of political enemies, including Tiberius' son Drusus, and he sent Tiberius' granddaughter Agrippina into exile. He also caused the death of Julius Nero, the oldest son of Agrippina and Germanicus. (Germanicus had died under suspicious circumstances shortly after Tiberius' accession to power.) Sejanus appeared to many to be more powerful than the absent Tiberius.

Tiberius learned of Sejanus' plans in
A.D.
. 31 and formed a plan to crush him. Having secured the loyalty of the Praetorian Guard and the connivance of the consuls, he had the consuls convene the Senate to hear his written instructions. Sejanus attended that day's meeting, expecting to receive
tribunicia potestas
, a prelude to becoming emperor. Meanwhile, Tiberius nervously waited on his island of Capreae (where he spent the last ten years of his life), a flotilla of the navy at hand to whisk him to safety if Sejanus somehow proved more powerful.

One of the consuls started reading Tiberius' long and rambling letter to the Senate. The letter contained no bitter condemnation of Sejanus, just mild criticism here and there; the criticism increased in tone and severity, and at this point in the reading of the letter, Sejanus' friends, sitting next to him in the Senate, slowly moved away from him, until he found himself sitting alone. The end of the letter stated that two senators who were among his closest associates were traitors and must be punished. The two were not identified, but the praetors and tribunes by now surrounded Sejanus, to prevent his escape. The consul Regulus called for Sejanus to come forward to jail. "You're calling me?" asked Sejanus, stunned. He had entered the Senate a short time before as the second most powerful man in Rome and had expected to rise even higher. He was taken and executed, his body thrown down the steps of the Capitol. His family and many of his friends were killed as well.

Tiberius, although he was still emperor, remained on his island of Capreae, where he directed the Senate and governed the empire by letters. In those letters he talked of his misery and painaged, virtually a prisoner, unable to trust anybody, spending his days in drunken debauchery. He became so notorious for his drinking that some called him "Biberius Caldius Mero," a play on his name,

Page 245

Tiberius Claudius Nero: Biberius from
bibo
, "to drink"; Caldius from
callidus
, "warm," since the Romans sometimes drank their wine warm; and Mero from
merus
, ''pure," since the ancients added water to their wine. Thus, he was a drinker of strong hot wine. His rule of the Roman empire definitely suffered; among other problems left unsolved, he had not arranged for a successor, and no one was trained in the arts of governing.

He became deathly ill in
A.D
. 37 and was hastened to his end by Macro, the new commander of the Praetorian Guard, who then declared Gaius (Caligula) Tiberius' successor. The Romans are said to have rejoiced when hearing the news of Tiberius' death, shouting, "Tiberium in Tiberim!" (Into the Tiber with Tiberius!). He was not deified. When cheering the death of Tiberius and the accession of Caligula, the Romans little knew that their troubles were just beginning; Tiberius had seen Gaius' true nature when he declared that Gaius would have all of Sulla's vices, but none of his virtues.

Caligula (A.D. 37-41): "Oderint Dum Metuant"

Gaius, the last surviving son of Germanicus, had received the nickname Caligula (Little Boots) from his father's soldiers for wearing military-style boots while a baby. The people had dearly loved Germanicus, and they enthusiastically greeted Caligula as emperor, since he succeeded the dour and unpopular Tiberius. Nor did Caligula disappoint them, at first. He immediately provided circus shows and wild beast hunts, increased the pay of the Praetorian Guard, and repressed the professional prosecutors of
maiestas
. Before long, however, his generosity forced him to increase taxes. Fearing assassination, he ordered the deaths of his co-heir and cousin Tiberius Gemellus (Tiberius' grandson) and of Macro, his commander of the Praetorian Guard, who had helped secure his position as emperor. Others, in fear for their lives, in turn plotted against him, prompting him to kill still more.

After six months in power, Caligula became seriously ill. That illness may have unhinged his mind, for afterward he was a bloodthirsty and insane megalomaniac. Examples of his insanity abound. While Caligula lay ill, one senator, P. Afranius Potitus, offered his

Page 246

life for Caligula's recovery; Caligula heard his vow and forced him to keep it: Afranius was taken and executed. According to another anecdote, Caligula, while at a banquet, suddenly burst into laughter. The consuls asked what he found so amusing. "Oh, nothing, except that both of your throats can be cut right here and now, with just a nod of my head" (Suetonius,
Gaius
XXXII). Another time he said, "I can do anything I want to anybody" (Suetonius,
Gaius
XXIX). As emperor, remember, he had no laws to obey (see chapter 23).

Caligula quickly emptied the treasury of the money that the frugal Tiberius had saved. "In the cost of his extravagance, he surpassed all spendthrifts in sheer creativity. He invented a new type of bath and exceedingly bizarre types of food and drinks; he would bathe in hot or cold oils, or drink highly valued pearls dissolved in vinegar, or serve his dinner guests golden meats and bread, all the while saying that a man must either be frugal or be a Caesar" (Suetonius,
Gaius
XXXVII).

When his beloved sister Drusilla died, Caligula made it a capital offense to laugh, or to dine with one's parents, wife, or children. He also believed that he had become a god. He had the heads removed from the statues of the gods, and replaced them with copies of his own head. He had a temple built for his own worship, and he was co-priest in his own cult (his colleague was his horse Incitatus, which he promised to make consul); the richest citizens vied with each other to become priests in Caligula's cult. He forbade a descendant of Torquatus to wear the customary necklace, and Cincinnatus' descendant was not allowed his curly hair. He forbade the descendants of Pompey to use the nickname Magnusonly Caligula could be great. When he encountered men with beautiful heads of hair, he would have the back of their heads shaved, because he was sensitive about his own baldness; he even made it a capital offense to look down upon his bald head from above. When the consuls forgot to make proclamations about his birthday, he had them removed from office. When his armies were gathered at the shore ready to attack Germany or Britain, Caligula suddenly gave the order for the soldiers to collect seashells, which he called "loot of the sea," and he proudly exhibited this booty when he returned to Rome.

Because of his megalomania and bloodthirstiness, Caligula became hated. When hearing that the people hated him, Caligula

Page 247

quoted his favorite line from the tragedian Accius, "Oderint dum metuant!" (Let them hate, so long as they fear!). He is said to have exclaimed, "If only you Romans had just one neck!" (Suetonius,
Gaius
XXX). The reason for this last outburst was that the crowd at one of the chariot races backed the team that was competing against Caligula's favorite team.

After four long years of rule, Caligula was assassinated and was not deified.

Claudius (A.D. 41-54): "Fungus, Deorum Cibus"

Moments after the assassination of Caligula, guards found his uncle, Claudius, hiding behind a curtain in the palace. Recognizing him as the brother of Germanicus, whom they had dearly loved, they proclaimed him emperor and forced the Senate to declare him so, although the senators had briefly discussed restoring the republic. A bonus payment of fifteen thousand sesterces to the members of the Praetorian Guard secured their loyalty, and Claudius became emperor. He was thus the first emperor, though not the last, to buy his position.

Claudius had been an unlikely candidate for emperor. He had been refused the various honors and offices that a young man of the Julio-Claudian family would have expected, as he suffered from an illness that made him perpetually weak and unhealthy. He walked very clumsily because of some paralysis. He had an uncontrollable laugh, a very short attention span, and a runny nose and slobbery mouth. Caligula had not killed him, preferring to make game of him instead. Out of shame, his family had mostly kept him out of the public view; Claudius had spent most of his life in literary pursuits, writing histories of Rome, Carthage, Etruria, and others, under the guidance of his good friend Livy, the great Roman historian. None of Claudius' literary works survives, but copies of his imperial edicts, engraved in bronze, have been found in the provinces.

As emperor, Claudius showed a common sense and devotion that had not been seen in an emperor since Augustus. Among his many accomplishments were the construction of the port at Ostia, which facilitated the transport of grain to Rome; the use of incentives for

Page 248

merchants to increase the amount of grain imported into Rome; completion of the aqueduct begun by Caligula; draining of the Fucine Lake, which frequently flooded nearby farms (before the lake was drained, he staged a mock naval battle on it, to the delight of the Romans); the rebuilding of Pompey's theater, which had been destroyed by fire; and the extension of Roman citizenship to leading men of Gallia Comata, the less Romanized part of Gaul. He took an intense interest in the law courts, presiding over them himself and passing judgment, even though he occasionally fell asleep during the proceedings. When he learned that many slave-owners were abandoning their sick and decrepit slaves at the Temple of Aesculapius, a god of healing and medicine, because it was cheaper than finding doctors for them, he passed edicts freeing those slaves and charging with murder those slaveowners who killed their sick or old slaves instead of abandoning them.

Claudius' best-known achievement was a military one. Whether he was aiming to restore the prestige of Roman arms after Caligula's debacle, to strengthen his own position, or to boost the morale of the army, which had not added territory to the empire since the disaster of Varus, Claudius decided to conquer Britain. In
A.D
. 43 his general Plautius and four legions plus numerous auxiliary troops landed in Britain. They defeated Caractacus and Togodumnus, the sons of Cunobelinus (Shakespeare's Cymbeline), the king of the powerful tribe called the Catuvellauni, who had died in 40. Claudius then sailed to Britain and commanded the armies in a battle at Camulodunum (modem Colchester), the capital of the Catuvellauni. After winning the battle, Claudius returned to Rome to celebrate a triumph; he was awarded the title Britannicus, which he also gave to his son. Plautiushelped by his lieutenant, the future Emperor Vespasianremained in Britain and carried on hostilities, eventually conquering much of the island.

Britain thus became a Roman province. Owing to the Roman government there, Latin words began seeping into the Celtic language then spoken in Britain. The Latinate and Celtic elements later blended with Germanic elements, upon the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Britain in the fifth century, and later still with Latinate elements from the spread of Christianity and the Norman conquest, eventually evolving into modem English (see chapter 1).

Other books

Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb

He Died with a Felafel in His Hand by John Birmingham

The Girl Who Came Home - a Titanic Novel by Hazel Gaynor

The Angel of Highgate by Vaughn Entwistle

Always Florence by Muriel Jensen

Creations 4: Caging the Beast by Marie Harte

Dunces Anonymous by Kate Jaimet

Slaughter in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope

The Devil's Soldier by Rachel McClellan

The Professor of Truth by James Robertson