Claudius Nero Cæsar, the third of the twelve Caesars, born November 16, B.C. 42. He was the elder son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla, and therefore belonged on both sides to the Claudian family, of whose cruel and contemptuous characteristics he proved himself to be a worthy inheritor.

The infancy and boyhood of this future emperor were perilous and unfortunate. He was brought up in the midst of civil war, and shared the dangers of his parents. His father had embraced the party of L. Antonius in the Peruvian war, and, on the surrender of Antonius, was forced to flee hastily from Naples, where he had taken refuge. During the night of this escape, the young Tiberius twice nearly ruined the fugitives by the noise of his infant wailing; and was often in danger during the wanderings of his parents through Sicily and Achaea. On one occasion they were overtaken by the flames of a burning wood, and were in such imminent peril that the rope and even the hair of Livia were scorched and burned. In B.C. 30 the reconciliation of Antony and Octavius (Augustus) enabled the child Tiberius to return to Rome; and two years after (B.C. 38) he had the indefatigable meanness to divorce Livia, in order to hand her over to Augustus, whom she was forthwith married with the amiable assent of her former husband, although she was already six months advanced in pregnancy. In B.C. 33 Tiberius Nero died, and his funeral oration was pronounced before the Rostra by his son, who was then only nine years old.

The young Tiberius, as the emperor's stepson, received a princely education, and profited by it to the utmost. Grammar, rhetoric, and the Greek and Latin languages, formed the main subjects of his studies, and he applied himself to them with an assiduity which joined to his unboyish Claudian reserve, earned him from his companions the nickname of "Old Man." One of his tutors was Theodorus of Gadara, who was said to have discovered, even under the grave dissimulation of his clever pupil, the germs of his infernal nature, and to have angrily denounced him as "a mixture of blood and mind."

His education also involved an introduction into public life, and he exhibited gladiatorial shows in honour of his father and grandfather, at which he displayed much liberality and munificence. Before his marriage with Julia, he married Vipsania Agrippina, the daughter of Agrippa, and the granddaughter of Cicero's friend Atticus. By her he had one son, Drusus. It is to his credit that he appears to have loved her with deep and faithful affection; and it was not without great disgust that he was forced by Augustus to divorce her and marry the beautiful but dissolute Julia. He saw Vipsania only once again casually in the streets; and it was observed that he gazed after her with such a straining and anxious look, that care was taken to prevent the recurrence of such a rencontre. For the first year he lived with Julia in tolerable harmony, though the distaste with which her licentiousness (of which he had heard from the object) had at first inspired him; but the death of their infant child widened the breach which gradually took place between them, and led to a virtual separation, the result of mutual ill-will.

Augustus, with admirable good sense, determined to educate his stepsons and grandsons in the practical duties of their high office, and to inure them, by labour and government, to a sense of their high rank. Tiberius took part both in civil and military duties. He served his first campaign against the Cantabrians, and was employed by Augustus no less than nine times in expeditions against various German nations. His achievements won for him a share in Horace's splendid panegyric, as well as the less lasting honours of an ovation and triumph. He rapidly went through the various curule offices, and obtained a second consulship in B.C. 7. Drusus was killed by a fall from his horse B.C. 9; and Tiberius, who had been in his funeral orations, gained additional applause and popularity by the conspicuous display of fraternal affection in the care which he paid to his brother's widow. His crowning honour was the tribunitian power conferred on him by the senate for five years, a distinction of the most unusual and almost imperical character, which he attained B.C. 6.

Thus far he had been prudent and prosperous, and had attracted by his abilities, his self-denial, and his circumspection, the favourable notice both of the emperor and of the state. But in this very culmination of his glory he seemed wilfully to shatter all his future prospects, and even to endanger his life, by suffering his Claudian pride to betray him into a perverse and spleenetic outbreak of wayward and unacceptable pertinacity. He asked leave to retire to Rhodes. His real object is unknown. It may have been his deeply seated disgust at the notorious adulteries of a wife whom he was unable to control. It may have been a tormenting jealousy of the young Caesars; it may have been a desire to gain political ascendency; or a mere fit of passionate weariness at the routine of a court. He and his devoted flatterer Velleius Paterculus represented it as a considerate regard for the grandsons of Augustus; but it probably was a mere trait of that hereditary insanity which displayed itself in restless obstinacy.

At Rhodes he spent the next seven years, having chosen this retreat for its beauty and salubrity. Here he lived in a small house, laid aside all state, appeared without any retinue, and mingled on nearly equal terms with the Greeklings who surrounded him. But it is dangerous to argue with a prince even when he is incognito; and a professor who ventured on a spirited discussion was thrown into prison. Tiberius in this respect might have served as a warning to Frederick the Great, who treated the philosophers of his court with a similar mixture of tyranny and condescension. It was here that he heard of the banishment of Julia; and while he must have felt real joy at being able to send her a divorce, he interceded for her with feigned moderation, and begged his father to allow her to retain all his presents. At the conclusion of his tribunate he begged leave to return, as having sufficiently proved his freedom from all jealousy against C. and L. Caesar. But Augustus had been thoroughly displeased at his disloyal pertinacity, and refused his request, not only sternly but with a sneer.

Tiberius was therefore forced to remain at Rhodes, and gradually dropped into oblivion and contempt, having barely obtained, by his mother's influence, some nominal political legacies. To avert the accusations which began to be freely whispered against him, he begged the presence of some guardian over his words and actions, and retired into a simpler and almost equal mode of life. A fresh cause of solicitude arose from the hostile spirit displayed to him by C. Caesar, whose mind had been poisoned by the insinuations of his tutor M. Lollius; and it was even reported that, at a certain banquet, some one had offered Calvis to sail at once to Rhodes, and "bring back the head of the exile." These circumstances compelled him at length to use Livia's influence and most earnest prayers to win him a permission to return (A.D. 2); and even this was only allowed on the consent of Calvis, and the exaction of an express condition that he would take no part whatever in public business.

The death of C. and L. Caesar, and the banishment of Agrippa Posthumus, made Tiberius, in A.D. 4, the acknowledged heir of the empire, and during the next ten years (A.D. 4-14) Augustus wisely occupied him in military employments. He showed himself one of the ablest generals of the day; and his unblushing panegyrist, Velius Paternicus, who accompanied him as praefectus equitum, has in this case done no more than justice to the abilities he displayed. In three years he subdued the revolt of Illyricum, in the face of almost insuperable difficulties. There is no doubt that by these victories he saved Rome from the perilous results of the Varian massacre, and the triumph which he enjoyed (A.D. 12) was justly merited. He was no less successful in Germany, although his victories there were nearly bloodless; and the young Germanicus, who accompanied him, had in him a splendid example of discipline and moderation. It is also to his credit that he faced the enemy with all the hardships of his soldiers, eating his meals seated on the bare turf, and often spending the night without the shelter of a tent. It is therefore no wonder that, notwithstanding the severe discipline which he maintained, he was the favourite of the soldiers. Altogether, as we have already mentioned, he served in Germany no less than nine campaigns.

In A.D. 14, after presiding at the census conjointly with Augustus, he was once more despatched into Illyricum, and Augustus accompanied him as far as Beneventum. But he had no sooner started than he was summoned by Livia to the emperor's bedside. According to one report, he found him still living, and spent a day in his closest proximity; but last commands; according to another, Augustus was already dead when he arrived, but Livia, like the old Tanquill, concealed the fact until all the proper arrangements had been made for her son's undisputed succession. One of these arrangements was the murder of the young Agrippa, who died innocent but unpitied. It had been rumoured that Augustus, before his death, had visited his unhappy grandson in his desolate island, accompanied by a single friend, Fabius Maximus, who afterwards forfeited his life for his want of reticence. It is very unlikely that Augustus ever meant to alter the succession in his favour, although he probably felt for him a deeper natural affection than he ever entertained for his adopted son. The whisperers of the court, that Augustus had provoked the dark recesses of his successor's dissimulation, and remarked that "the Roman people were to be pitied for being subjected to such slow-grinding jags,"—are hardly reconcilable with the plaint letters, in which he addresses Tiberius with the warmest affections; but they confirm the insinuation of the emperor himself, that in adopting his stepson instead of his grandson, he sacrificed natural inclination to "the welfare of the republic."

Still we can hardly believe that Augustus, in his will, had ordered the murder of Julia's only remaining son. On the return of the tribune from his bloody mission, which the personal strength of Aspasia had rendered difficult of accomplishment, Tiberius, like Henry IV., in similar circumstances, not only denied that the command had ever been given, but threatened to call the tribune to account. He omitted to fulfil the threat, but for some reason this political murder seems to have left very little stain on his public character.

The general outline of his conduct, during the first ten years of his reign, displayed diligence, moderation, and wisdom; and yet, although the merit of it was recognised, it won for Tiberius no popularity. His manners were eminently unattractive, and his face seemed always to wear the scowl of suspicion or the sneer of contempt. Even his sense of decorum increased the odium against him. Vitiated Rome might have tolerated his banishment of Jewish and Egyptian proselytes, but regarded with disgust his dislike of plays and gladiatorial shows, his repression of luxurions extravagance, and even the stringency of his laws against female licentiousness.

In the first year of his reign died Julia, the daughter of Augustus, against whom for fifteen years he had cherished the most unremitting hate, and had even deprived her, after her father's death, of the ordinary means of sustenance. A trait of similar relentlessness is shown in his neglect of the unhappy Ovid, which further illustrates his ungenuine character. The revolt of the Pannonian legions, which he suppressed by sending his son Drusus—the still more dangerous disloyalty of the German army, which was only thwarted by the firmness of Germanicus—and the secret conspiracy of Scribonius Libo, were but a few of the occurrences which proved to him the danger of his position, and made him fancy that "he was holding a wolf by the ears." The most important step which he took to secure his safety was the concentration of the Praetorians in a single camp at Rome, which became in after-years the most effectual engine for suppressing popular tumults and firmly establishing the imperial power. Tiberius followed the example of Vespasian's centurions, which had been set by his predecessor; he was less jealous of the slightest interference with his civil duties, and was so eager to do and superintend everything himself, that for two years after his accession he barely left his own house. From this circumstance, and the frequent feasts he made of visiting the provinces and armies, he received the nickname of "Callipogonos." He had a dislike to intrusting men with power, and when he had once appointed a good provincial governor whom he could trust, he used to leave him in the office for a long period of time. His suspicious and morose character left him almost without a friend, and it was only by the most cautious approaches and the most unbounded submission that Sejanus gained so complete an ascendant over his mind. It is to this man's mean and secret calumnies that the gradual deterioration in the emperor's character is due. At first Tiberius had several times interfered to save the unfortunate victims of the senate's sullen jealousy; he snatched Ennius and Sallust from frivolous charges of sedition mettetos, and mitigated the punishments of Appuleia and Lepida. But when his mind had been soured by the unpopularity which he did not think he had deserved, and his precise, business-like, and litigious spirit had led him to too scrupulous a regard for his own rights, he let slip the detestable machinations of the delators against the lives and fortunes of the trembling citizens, and admitted charges of a merely constructive treason, which left no man the ordinary liberty of speech and life.

There was no need of the poisoned whispers of Sejanus to make Tiberius regard Germanicus with jealous hate. In spite of the disparaging murmurs and remarks against him and Agrippina, in which he both publicly and privately indulged, he was well aware that his own reputation was quite eclipsed by the successes of this young hero, whose virtues made him the darling of the Roman people, and the narrative of whose achievements reads, in the page of the eloquent historian, like a gorgeous dream. After cutting short his own career of victory by the pretended disasters of a triumph and a consulship, the emperor appointed Cn. Piso to counterpoise his authority, and thus gave too strong reason to believe that Piso and his wife Plancina received secret encouragement to thwart Germanicus and his wife, both by open insolence and secret plots. The melancholy end of the story is but too well known, and it was universally believed by the Roman people that their favourite had fallen a victim to the plots of his uncle. There is, however, no proof of Tiberius's guilt, and the evidence adduced against Piso was so suicidal in its self-contradictions, that, brutal as his conduct was, we may be allowed to entertain the hope that he stopped short of the crime of murder. Piso died, by his own hand, to escape condemnation, and the miserable history of his mission gave the final death-blow to the emperor's hold on the affections of his subjects.

In A.D. 23 Tiberius lost his only son Drusus, who was poisoned by Sejanus. Tiberius bore the loss with equanimity, and even with indifference, answering with a jest the embassy of condolence sent by the inhabitants of the Troas. This event marks another epoch in the decline of his character. The administration of his first ten years had been entirely to his honour, but now each successive event marks a new stage in his degradation. From this time, Tiberius gave full play to the informers. Serenus, Cremonius Cordus, Sabinius, and other illustrious Romans, were among their earliest victims, while Cornutus and others only escaped them by committing suicide. The emperor now openly favoured this vile class of men, and on one occasion actively and angrily interfered to prevent any curtailment of their prerogatives. In a word, this fatal cruelty, so deeply ingrained in his character, broke forth at length Tiberius, in all its virulence, so that, in the words of Racine, his name must be henceforth regarded as

"Aux plus cruelles tyrans une cruelle fureur."

In the 12th year of his reign, A.D. 26, at the age of 68, he left the city never to return. His pretext was the dedication of a temple to Augustus at Nola; his real reason was disgust, chagrin, weariness, and that desire for solitude which grew stronger and stronger with the consciousness of his crimes. While he was supping at Terracina, Sejanus had an opportunity of riveting his influence still more firmly by a display of real loyalty. The roof of the grotto fell in, and many of the guests were crushed; but Sejanus protected his master by completely covering him with his own body, which he bent over the emperor in the form of an arch. At last, Tiberius chose, as his retreat, the small and lovely island of Capri, where he built twelve villas on all the spots which enjoyed the finest prospects, and were open to the most pleasant contemplations of the sunlight and the breeze. The glorious bay, the deep blue sea, the richly cultivated fields, and the vineyards among which nestled many fair villas, made the giant coast of Vesuvius, which had not yet devastated the scene with its dormant fires, make Capriase a delicious retirement; but, above all, its steep shores protected him from the hated incursions of public curiosity. The very fisherman shunned in terror the dreaded shore on which savage punishment was the result of accidental intrusion. The island was henceforth to be branded with eternal infamy; its cliffs were the instruments of cruel execution; its caves were the haunts of abominable lust; in loathing and contempt, its very name was altered from Capre to "Caprinum."

In the second year of his retirement, A.D. 29, was snapped the last link that bound him to decency and virtue, the influence of his mother Livia. Aged as she was, this remarkable woman retained to the last the vigour and obstinacy of youth. Although the affection of the son for whom she had done so much, he did not even simulate any sorrow at her death, and refused to visit her in her last illness. This event marks the transition to the last and most terrible epoch of his life. It is well known that Tiberius divides his life into periods; it was "illustrious and honourable" in the main, whatever may have been its hidden vices, as long as he was a private citizen (i.e., till he attained the age of 56), if we except the foolish exile to which he condemned himself at Rhodes, it was exteriorly, at least, decent during the lives of Germanicus and Drusus; it was free from the worst extremes until the death of Livia; but, after this, it was detectably and irredeemably degraded. The vice which first assumed its terrible climax was cruelty. The horrible tragedies which accompanied the death of Agrippina and her two eldest sons are alone sufficient to brand his name with eternal infamy.

It was only by slow degrees that the mind of Tiberius yielded to the machinations of Sejanus; but there was no lack of sloth, offices, and cunning plots that he sufficiently nerves up his irresolute and procrastinating spirit to punish him. But for the ready vigour of Macro, he would probably have delayed too long; and although he had provided an early communication of the result by signals from the shore, and the means of an escape in the swiftest treinere in case of failure, he spent the time of the crisis in sickening anxiety, and even for nine months afterwards could not summon up sufficient courage to leave his house.

From this time, A.D. 31, till his death, the reign of Tiberius is one of the most loathsome spectacles which the human intellect can contemplate. Henceforward debauchery, the records of which are only fit to be buried in infernal darkness for ever, was added to the sinful catalogue of the old man's sins. Strange that a man who had lived in comparative peace for so long a period, should, after he was 70, break loose into an abandonment of shameless vice unparalleled in the annals of the world. It has been well remarked, that he ended where Augustus began; in Augustus, the cunning, cruel, and cold-blooded youth grew up into the moderate and laborious ruler; in Tiberius, the grave, precocious child, the able general, the honourable citizen, deteriorated, in the drunkenness of absolute power, into the shameless and monstrous criminal. But virtue and conscience were amply avenged. Torn at last by the relentless furies of cruelty, avarice, and lust, he became what Pliny calls him, "tristissimus, ut constat, hominum."

At length, the long reign of Tiberius drew to a close. During all his life he had enjoyed robust health, and it was his boast that for thirty years he had never had a moment's need of a physician. This freedom from sickness not only proves that he had a fine constitution, but is a striking contrast to the ill-health of the temperance of his early life. He was broad-shouldered, and strongly built; his whole body was well proportioned, and his fingers were so strong that he could split a fresh apple by mere pressure, and bring blood by a filip on the head. But at last his strength failed. He died, Tiberius in the villa of Lucullus at Misenum, in the 78th year of his age and the 23rd of his reign, on the 16th of March, A.D. 37.

The deathbeds of princes are often surrounded with unnecessary mystery; but we have reason to believe that the end of Tiberius was at least accelerated by the machinations of Calvis and the violence of Macro. His death was hailed with delight and impressions on his memory. His body was demanded for the Gemoniae; and "Tiberius to the Tiber!" rang through the streets of Rome. A public funeral was, however, accorded to him; and the people had too soon reason to acknowledge that there might be rulers more detestable than he. In reviewing his life, we have seen the main facts of his character; its long concealment of vicious tendencies, its deep and dark deceitfulness, its self-disparaging timidity, its irascibility, its pride, its ambition, its cruelty, its jealousy, its love. The elements which have often to his career will be found in the character of Louis XI. of France.

Tiberius was singularly beautiful, and his features show traits so noble that, as Niebuhr has remarked, it is a pleasure to look at them. His complexion was fair, and his hair flowed abundantly over his shoulders; his eyes were very large, and possessed the singular faculty of seeing in the dark when he first awoke. His gait was slow and rigid; he walked with his head thrown stiffly back, and accompanied his slow, rare, and pompous remarks, with a slight movement of his hand. Augustus had observed all these signs of unpopular arrogance, but attributed them to the inborn haughtiness of the Claudian race. But in maturer years, all the beauty and majesty in the person of Tiberius had vanished; age and dissipation had bent his body, and he might well dread any exhibition of a countenance from which the soul and the intelligence had died away, and which his shameless dissipation had covered with the leprosy of disease. (See Roman History, § 40.) (r. w. r.)