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TIBERIUS TIBULLUS. 



(minority by the influence of his mother, he dis- 

 played much ability in an expedition against some 

 revolted Alpine tribes, in consequence of which, he 

 was raised to the consulate in his twenty-eighth 

 year. On the death of Agrippa, the gravity and 

 austerity of Tiberius having gained the emperor's 

 confidence, he chose him to supply the place of that 

 minister, obliging him, at the same time, to divorce 

 Vipsania, and wed his daughter Julia, whose flagi- 

 tious conduct at length so disgusted him, that he 

 retired, in a private capacity, to the isle of Rhodes. 

 After experiencing much discountenance from Au- 

 i;iistus, the deaths of the two Ciesars, Caius and 

 Lucius, induced the emperor to take him again into 

 favour and adopt him. (See Augwtut.) During 

 the remainder of the life of Augustus, he behaved 

 with great prudence and ability, concluding a war 

 with the Germans in such a manner as to merit a 

 triumph. After the defeat of Varus and his legions, 

 he was also sent to check the progress of the vic- 

 torious Germans, and acted in that war with equal 

 spirit and prudence. On the death of Augustus, 

 he succeeded (A. D. 14), without opposition, to 

 the sovereignty of the empire, which, however, 

 with his characteristic dissimulation, he affected to 

 decline, until repeatedly solicited by the servile 

 senate. The new reign was disquieted by danger- 

 ous mutinies in the armies posted in Pannonia and 

 on the Rhine, which were, however, suppressed by 

 the exertions of the two princes, Germanicus and 

 Drusus. The conduct of Tiberius, as a ruler, has 

 formed a complete riddle for the student of history, 

 uniting with an extreme jealousy of his own power 

 the highest degree of affected respect for the privi- 

 leges of the senate, and for the leading virtues of 

 the ancient republican character. He also displayed 

 great zeal for the due administration of justice, and 

 was careful that, even in the provinces, the people 

 should not be oppressed with imposts a virtue 

 which, according to Tacitus, he retained when he 

 renounced every other. Tacitus records the events 

 of this reign, including the suspicious death of Ger- 

 manicus, the detestable administration of Sejanus, 

 the poisoning of Drusus, with all the extraordinary 

 mixture of tyranny with occasional wisdom and 

 good sense, which distinguished the conduct of 

 Tiberius, until his infamous and dissolute retire- 

 ment (A. D. 26) to the isle of Capreae, in the bay 

 of Naples, never to return to Rome. On the death 

 of Livia, in the year 29, the only restraint upon 

 his actions, and those of the detestable Sejanus, 

 was removed, and the destruction of the widow 

 and family of Germanicus followed. (See Agrip- 

 pina.) At length, the infamous favourite extend- 

 ing his views to the empire itself, Tiberius, in- 

 formed of his machinations, prepared to encounter 

 him with his favourite weapon, dissimulation. Al- 

 though fully resolved upon his destruction, he ac- 

 cumulated honours upon him, declared him his part- 

 ner in the consulate, and, after long playing with 

 his credulity, and that of the senate, who thought 

 him in greater favour than ever, he artfully pre- 

 pared for his arrest. Sejanus fell deservedly and 

 unpitied ; but many innocent persons shared in his 

 destruction, in consequence of the suspicion and 

 cruelty of Tiberius, which now exceeded all limits. 

 The remainder of the reign of this tyrant is little 

 more than a disgusting narrative of servility on the 

 one hand, and of despotic ferocity on the other. 

 That he himself endured as much misery as he in- 

 flicted, is evident from the following commence- 

 ment of one of bis letters to the senate : " What I 



shall write to you, conscript fathers, or what I shall 

 not write, or why I should write at all, may the 

 gods and goddesses plague me more than I feel 

 daily that they are doing, if I can tell." What 

 mental torture, observes Tacitus, in reference to 

 this passage, which could extort such a confession ! 

 In the midst, however, of all this tyranny, he often 

 exhibited gleams of strong sense, and of a judicious 

 attention to the public welfare a remark which 

 holds good in every part of his anomalous reign. 

 Having at length reached an advanced age, Caiui 

 Caligula, the son of Germanicus, his grandson by 

 adoption, and Gemellus, the son of Drusus, his 

 grandson by nature, became objects of interest. 

 < 'aim, however, who had reached the age of twenty- 

 live, and who held the popular favour as a paternal 

 inheritance, was at length declared his successor. 

 Acting the hypocrite to the last, he disguised his 

 increasing debility as much as he was able, even 

 affecting to join in the sports and exercises of the 

 soldiers of his guard. At length, leaving his fav- 

 ourite island, the scene of the most di.-gnsting de- 

 baucheries, he stopped at a country house near the 

 promontory of Misenum, where, on the sixteenth 

 of March, 37, he sunk into a lethargy, in which he 

 appeared dead ; and Caligula was preparing, with a 

 numerous escort, to take possession of the empire, 

 when his sudden revival threw them into conster- 

 nation. At this critical instant, Macro, the pre- 

 torian prefect, caused him to be suffocated with 

 pillows. Thus expired the emperor Tiberius, in 

 the seventy-eighth year of his age and twenty-third 

 of his reign, universally execrated. 



TIBET. See Thibet. 



TIBIA ; the ancient flute, the invention of which 

 is ascribed to Minerva. It was used among the 

 Greeks and Romans on occasion of almost all festi- 

 vals, and even as a means of curing certain diseases ; 

 by the Romans in their triumphs ; by the Lacede- 

 monians, particularly in war : in celebrating the 

 praises of the gods ; at sacrifices and other religious 

 celebrations ; at the mysteries of Cybele ; at wed- 

 dings and entertainments ; to amuse guests after 

 dinner; also, and particularly, on occasions of grave 

 solemnity, as funerals. The following cut, from an 

 antique carving, represents a Roman flute player. 



TIBULLUS, ALBIUS ; a Roman poet of the 

 golden age of Roman literature. Of his life nothing 



