I, Tiberius: Robert Graves on Caligula

Ben Sears

Ben Sears is a writer and restaurant guy in Birmingham, Alabama. He lives quite happily across from a creek with his wife, two sons, and an obligatory dog. You can follow him on Twitter and read his blog, The Columbo Game.

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9 Responses

  1. Jaybird says:

    The problem with raising people to fit in and not ask questions isn’t that most of them won’t fit in and won’t ask questions.

    Indeed, most of them will do a fine job of fitting in and not asking questions.

    It’s that they eventually won’t know how to defend the propositions made by those in authority and if, god forbid, there is a major swing in the direction of the country and the country gets on the wrong track? Well, they’ll go back to fitting in and not asking questions.Report

  2. Burt Likko says:

    I would have friends or family over to bear witness and would read all manner of books to the kid as an infant and he would be fine. I started Twelve Caesars and he would go nuts with crying. I switched books. Fine. Back to Suetonius, disaster.

    Bean Dad, meet Suetonius Dad.Report

  3. J_A says:

    I think Tiberius was a very misunderstood man, and an above average emperor.

    Tiberius problem with history(ians) comes from his conflict with the Roman Senate. After the death of Augustus, who was “different”, it was clear that the Senate, like all Republican institutions that had continued in form, had no longer a role to play, or no role different of that that a constitutional monarch plays in a 2021 European country: a symbol, with lots of authority, but no power.

    The 14 AC Senate was now faced with their own irrelevance before an emperor that no longer was Augustus the exceptional case. The new normal is that they not only had no power, but would not have any any more. Like a current monarch they had to appoint the emperor that others chose, be other Augustus, or the late emperor, or the Pretorians, or the legions in civil war. But not them. They did not like it, and Tiberius was their bete-noire. And, to Tiberius bad fortune, Tacitus was their spokesperson. And it is Tacitus and the Senate who wrote Tiberius’s storyReport

    • Brent F in reply to J_A says:

      Tiberius was an A- administrative emperor, but a C- at the public symbol aspect of the job.

      Unfortunately, being a public symbol was a huge component of the Early Principate, everything else could be managed fine by the legacy staff so long as you plausibly played the Princeps in pubic.

      His basic personality flaw was an inability to make his wishes be known. Which crippled any effort to delegate authority to others because nobody could be sure if he actually was leaving it your hands or if he wanted it done a certain way but just was expressing himself.

      Ultimately, he was a victim of the Peter’s Principle, a man perfect for chief of staff work made the number one.Report

      • J_A in reply to Brent F says:

        Ultimately, he was a victim of the Peter’s Principle, a man perfect for chief of staff work made the number one

        Truer words were never said about Tiberius:-)Report

        • Brent F in reply to J_A says:

          He’s also a good example of why its good practice to give your hard working and reliable middle managers a few surprise parties in their honour and distinguished lifetime service awards, so they know everyone thinks they’re valuable even if they don’t do anything flashy.Report

    • Mike Schilling in reply to J_A says:

      It must have been hard not to notice that Tiberius became emperor after everyone more closely related to Augustus died.Report

    • North in reply to J_A says:

      Personally I’m more fond of Trajan (but who isn’t?)Report