Tiberius Read online

  The Memoirs of the Emperor

  ALLAN MASSIE

  Hodder & Stoughton

  LONDON SYDNEY AUCKLAND TORONTO

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

  Massie, Allan, 1938-Tiberius. I. Title

  813-914 M

  ISBN O-340-48788-7

  Copyright © Allan Massie 1990

  First published in Great Britain 1990

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without either prior permission in writing from the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying. In the United Kingdom such licences are issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33—34 Alfred Place, London wc1 e 7dp. The right of Allan Massie to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  Published by Hodder and Stoughton, a division of Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, Mill Road, Dunton Green, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 zya. Editorial Office: 47 Bedford Square, London wcib 3dp.

  Designed by Behram Kapadia

  Photoset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

  Printed in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

  FOR ALISON gain; of course; for

  CHRONOLOGY

  bc

  63 Birth of Augustus.

  49 Civil war, Caesar becomes dictator.

  46 Caesar dictator and consul (second and third time respectively) .

  44 Caesar assassinated.

  43 First triumvirate of Augustus, Antony and Lepidus established.

  42 Birth of Tiberius. Brutus and Cassius commit suicide after

  defeat at Philippi.

  41 Perusine war. Antony in Asia Minor, meets Cleopatra.

  40 Agreement at Brundisium partitions Roman world.

  Antony marries Augustus' sister, Octavia.

  39 Tiberius' family returns to Rome after expulsion for

  having supported Antony. Augustus makes peace at

  Misenum with Antony and Sextus Pompeius.

  38 Augustus marries Livia.

  37 Antony marries Cleopatra.

  36 Tribunician power granted to Augustus. Sextus defeated.

  Lepidus ceases to be triumvir.

  32 Antony divorces Octavia.

  31 Augustus defeats Antony at Actium.

  30 Suicide of Antony and Cleopatra.

  29 Augustus' triple Triumph - consolidates power.

  27 Augustus receives imperium for ten years. Tiberius taken

  to Gaul where he first learns of military matters. Augustus

  in Gaul and Spain until 25.

  25 Tiberius marries Agrippa's daughter Vipsania; Marcellus

  marries Augustus' daughter, Julia.

  23 Augustus ill. Conspiracy of Caepio and Murena, Tiberius

  prosecutes. Constitutional resettlement. Augustus resigns consulship and receives full tribunician powers. Death of Marcellus. Agrippa sent to East,

  21 Agrippa marries Julia.

  20 Tiberius, first military command - great acclaim in Parthian campaign where he returns standards. Enters Armenia and crowns Tigranes.

  18 Augustus' imperium renewed for five years. Agrippa co-regent with maius imperium and tribunicia potestas.

  17 Augustus adopts Gaius and Lucius, his grandsons.

  15 Tiberius and Drusus defeat Raeti and Vindelici and reach Danube.

  13 Augustus' imperium renewed for five years. Tiberius becomes consul.

  12 Augustus becomes Pontifex Maximus. Agrippa dies. Tiberius in Pannonia. Drusus campaigns in Britain and Germany.

  11 Tiberius compelled to divorce Vipsania and to marry Julia.

  9 Death of Drusus near the Elbe. Tiberius takes fighting commands away from Rome.

  8Tiberius in Germany.

  6 Tiberius given tribunicia potestas for five years. He retires to Rhodes.

  5 Augustus' twelfth consulship. Gaius introduced to public life.

  2 Augustus' thirteenth consulship. Julia disgraced and exiled.

  ad

  2 Tiberius returns to Rome from Rhodes. Death of Lucius.

  Death of Gaius in Lycia. Augustus adopts Tiberius who receives tribunicia potestas for ten years. Tiberius adopts Germanicus and goes to German front.

  Tiberius advances to Elbe.

  Pannonian revolt begins, later suppressed by Tiberius.

  9Revolt in Dalmatia. Varus loses three legions in Germany,

  12 Tiberius has total success in Germany.

  13 Augustus' imperium renewed for ten years. Tiberius receives tribunicia potestas for ten years and proconsular imperium co-ordinate with that of Augustus.

  Death of Augustus. Accession of Tiberius. Sejanus made Praetorian Prefect. Tiberius' son Drusus sent to crush mutiny in Pannonia. Germanicus crosses Rhine.

  Germanicus makes further inroads into Germany.

  Germanicus recalled after further invasion of Germany.

  Triumph of Germanicus. Piso made legate of Syria.

  Tiberius made consul for the third time, now with Germanicus, who goes to Egypt.

  Death of Germanicus.

  Trial and suicide of Piso.

  Tiberius consul for fourth time, this time with his son Drusus. Tiberius retires to Campania. Revolts in Gaul; trouble in Thrace.

  Drusus granted tribunician power.

  Death of Drusus.

  24-6 Trouble quelled in Africa and Thrace.

  27 Tiberius withdraws to Capri. Sejanus' power increases.

  29 Death of Livia. Banishment of Agrippina the Elder. Tiberius' health deteriorates. Rumours of monstrous acts engineered by him begin to circulate.

  31 Tiberius becomes consul for the fifth time, now with Sejanus. Gaius (Caligula) receives toga virilis. Macro appointed Praetorian Prefect. Death of Sejanus under Tiberius' orders, with the aid of Macro. Senate complies.

  33 Death of Agrippina on Pandateria. Caligula becomes a quaestor. Financial difficulties in Rome.

  Tiberius' reputation worsens: he is accused of numerous murders.

  Tiberius takes ill and Caligula is named his successor, supported by the Praetorian Guard. Tiberius recovers, panic ensues but he is smothered by Macro, the Praetorian.

  LIST OF PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS

  tiberiusborn Tiberius Julius Caesar Germanicus

  His family and their relation to him

  augustusstepfather and adoptive father

  liviamother and wife of Augustus

  drususbrother

  vipsaniafirst wife and daughter of Agrippa

  juliasecond wife and daughter of Augustus

  germanicusnephew and adopted son, husband of Agrippina the Elder and father of Caligula

  agrippina the elder stepdaughter, daughter of Agrippa and Julia, wife of Germanicus, mother of Caligula

  caligula great-nephew and successor to Tiberius

  antoniasister-in-law, wife of Drusus and daughter of Mark Antony and Augustus' sister Octavia

  agrippafather-in-law, Augustus' greatest general and father of Gaius and Lucius, Augustus' grandchildren and also adopted sons, stepsons to Tiberius

  drususson by Vipsania

  (julia)daughter-in-law, wife of Drusus and daughter of

  livillaAntonia and the elder Drusus , brother of Tiberius, and thus also his niece

  drusus

  and

  nerogreat-nephews, sons of Germanicus and Agrippina, brothers to Caligula and Agrippina the Younger

  tiberius

  gemellus

  and

  livia juliagrandchildren, children of Drusus and Julia Livilla. Livia Julia was married to Ner
o, son of Germanicus

  OTHER CHARACTERS

  (gaius) julius caesarRoman patrician, general and statesman. Sole dictator after his defeat of Pompey. Uncle and adoptive father to Augustus

  octaviaAugustus' sister, married to Mark Antony. Mother of Marcellus

  marcus antonius (mark antony)Supporter of Caesar and consul with him in 44 bc. Joined Lepidus and Octavian (Augustus) to form a triumvirate and controlled the forces of the eastern empire. He was defeated at the battle of Actium and committed suicide in Egypt.

  marcellusAugustus' nephew, later son-in-law after marriage to Julia. Octavia's son by her marriage to Gaius Marcellus, favourite of Augustus.

  agrippa postumusAugustus' grandson and brother of Gaius and Lucius. Julia's son by Agrippa

  antonius musaa doctor.

  terentius varro

  murena a consul, prosecuted by Tiberius for his conspiracy against Augustus,

  fannius caepio co-conspirator with Murena.

  gnaeus calpurnius

  pisoa consul, later governor of Syria, and one of Tiberius' closest friends until Germanicus' death when Piso was accused of poisoning him.

  iullus antonius sempronius

  gracchus marcus frisoyoung noblemen and lovers of Julia.

  timotheusa catamite and secret agent.

  titus livius (livy)Roman writer and historian

  publius vergilius

  maro (vergil)Roman poet and mentor to Augustus.

  p. ovidius naso (ovid)Roman poet, exiled for immorality

  segestes German prince "captured" by Tiberius and later cared for by him and brought to Rome.

  sigismondGerman prince, captured by Romans and saved from death in gladiatorial combat by Tiberius who installed him in his household.

  lucius aelius sejanusCared for Tiberius until the emperor's death, son of Lucius Seius Strabo, ex-head of Praetorian Guard and Proconsul of Egypt. Protege of Tiberius, Praetorian Prefect, soldier and informant, eventually the victim of a coup engineered by Tiberius

  macro Praetorian Prefect, in succession to Sejanus.

  Introduction

  BOOK 1

  BOOK 2

  Postscript

  INTRODUCTION

  by way of Disclaimer

  I don't know when I have undertaken anything with more hesitation than this preface, which my publishers have demanded of me. They have done so because they don't wish, as they put it, "to be associated with anything which may turn out to be a fraud without making their doubts as to the authenticity of the publication known".

  Fair enough, of course; but where does it leave me, for even the strongest disclaimer is unlikely to allay the reader's doubts? After all, if the book itself is not what it purports to be, why should the introduction be believed?

  And yet I see why they want it. That is the irritating thing. It's the coincidence as much as anything which disturbs them. Let me explain then, as far as I can.

  In 1984 the autobiography of the Emperor Augustus was discovered in the Macedonian monastery of SS Cyril and Methodius (not St Cyril Methodius as erroneously stated by Professor Aeneas Fraser-Graham in his introduction to my English version of the book, an error which has persisted obstinately, despite my appeals, in British, American, French, Italian, German and, as far as I can determine squinting at uncut pages, Danish editions).

  This autobiography, lost since antiquity, but attested to by Suetonius and other writers, was entrusted to me to translate. Mine was to be a popular edition published in advance of the great scholarly annotated edition which was being prepared and is still, as far as I know, being prepared, and indeed looks likely to remain in that state of preparation for a long time to come. That is no concern of mine however.

  My translation attracted gratifying notice on the whole, also, of course, the attention of the odd lunatic; one such, for example, informing me that page 121 of the American edition disclosed the secrets of the Great Pyramid, which is surely unlikely.

  Then, eighteen months ago, when I was visiting Naples at the invitation (as I supposed, though this was in fact an error on my part) of the British Council, I was accosted in the Galleria Umberto by a stout middle-aged man in a dingy suit. He was clutching a black book under his left arm. The way he held it drew my attention to a hole in the elbow of his jacket. He addressed me by name, according me, in the Italian fashion, a doctorate to which I am not entitled, owing (if I may digress) to a difference of opinion with the authorities of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1960.

  Then he introduced himself to me as Count Alessandro di Caltagirone, a name the significance of which I did not immediately grasp. He told me he had been greatly impressed by my translation of the memoirs of Augustus, though he understood, of course, that they were not authentic.

  "Why should you think that?" I said.

  "That is no question to put to me," he replied, and called for a brandy and soda at my expense.

  "Unlike what I can offer you," he continued. "And what is that?"

  "The authentic memoirs of the Emperor Tiberius," he replied. "Come," I said, "this is too much of a coincidence . . ." "On the contrary, it is only so much of a coincidence because it was written that it should so be . . ." "Written?" I said.

  "In your horoscope, which I cast myself, more than two hundred years ago."

  By now, as you may imagine, I concluded that I was dealing with a madman, and tried to remove myself as inconspicuously as possible. But he would not be shaken off. He positively attached himself to my person, and, to cut a long story short, we eventually came to an agreement, the exact terms of which I am not at liberty to divulge. The long and short of it was that I came into possession of the Latin manuscript which I have now translated and present to you here.

  I am not going to pronounce on its authenticity: that is for the reader to determine. If it convinces him or her, that is a testimony such as no scholar can gainsay. (And my own faith in scholarship has, I confess, been shaken in recent years. Scholars are like other people: they believe what it suits them to believe and then find reasons for doing so.)

  But there are certain reservations which, to protect my good name, I wish to make.

  First, the manuscript from which I worked is probably the only one in existence and is written on paper which dates only from the eighteenth century.

  Second, Count Alessandro di Caltagirone is, I have gathered, a man with a dubious reputation. For one thing, this is certainly not his name, and it is doubtful if he is really a count. More alert readers will have made at once a connection which escaped me for some months. Caltagirone was the name of the monastery where Giuseppe Balsamo, better known as Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, was educated from 1760—69. Cagliostro of course -physician, philosopher, alchemist and necromancer - claimed to possess "the elixir of eternal youth", a phrase that has dropped also from my friend Caltagirone's lips, though I am bound to add that his appearance contradicts it.

  When I asked him about the provenance of the manuscript, he was first evasive, then said he could certainly account for its whereabouts since 1770. What is one to make of that?

  Even a cursory reading of the memoirs must inspire the critic with doubts. There are moments when Tiberius appears to have the sensibility which one associates with the eighteenth-century Enlightenment rather than with Ancient Rome. There is, too, a curious lack of detail about daily life in imperial Rome, and an absence of that awareness of religion which, despite other indications to the contrary, formed such an integral part of the superstitious Roman character. Such references as there are to this central experience of the Roman spirit are perfunctory, as if the author of the manuscript found the whole business a bore to which he nevertheless paid occasional heed. If one remembers that the eighteenth century saw the first revulsion from Tacitus, the traducer of Tiberius, a revulsion expressed, for instance, by both Voltaire and Napoleon, then it seems plausible to suggest that what we have here is an "Anti-Tacitus" composed by some mischievous intellectual of
that time for his own diversion.

  On the other hand, if one accepts the Caltagirone—Cagliostro identification (which I am loth to do), then it may contain some occult message which I have failed to decipher.

  That is indeed a possibility, but if there be such a message, then it is likely to be understood only by the surviving lodges of Egyptian Freemasons which were founded by Cagliostro himself. There is one in Palermo, another in Naples itself, a third in St Petersburg (inactive, I am told) and a fourth, which is also the largest and most vocal, in Akron, Ohio. Yet even the Akron lodge has failed to respond to my appeals for help.