Y12 Ancient History Roman/Julio-Claudian Points Test 7 - Tiberius and Opposition

Question 1

How did Tiberius deal with the frontiers in general? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 1

• Tiberius’ government of the empire was carried out with real statesmanship. Even Tacitus admits this.
• He followed Augustus’ policy to avoid an extension of the empire beyond its present frontiers except to where it was necessary for security, such as in the east.
• He strengthened the eastern frontiers by ‘astute diplomacy without warfare’ (Tacitus, annals P.216) and limited annexations of client kingdoms, which Augustus had implied was acceptable once they were sufficiently Romanised.
• Tiberius paid particular attention to improving the discipline of the troops on the frontiers and to maintaining economy in the forces, after the initial mutinies.

Question 2

How did Tiberius deal with the Rhine frontier? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 2

• Northern frontier maintained at the Rhine, after Germanicus’ attempts to extend it to the Elbe were curtailed by Tiberius.
• His belief that the rebellious tribes beyond the Rhine ‘could be left to their own internal disturbances’ (Annals, P.89) was justified when, some years later after the Romans had gone, national rivalries turned the German tribes led by Maroboduus and Arminius against each other.

Question 3

How did Tiberius deal with the Danube frontier? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 3

• Tiberius used a number of methods to secure the Danube frontier. He hired a native leader to use the Suebi and Marcomanni to keep at watch on the Upper Danube.
• He strengthened the middle Danube region by combining the senatorial provinces of Achaea and Macedonia with Moesia under the competent imperial legate, Poppaeus Sabinus, who was left in charge of this large province for 20 years.
• The lower Danube had been divided by Augustus between two Thracian kings. As a result of trouble between them, during which one was killed, Tiberius replaced them and appointed a Roman resident to supervise the new kings.
• There was intermittent trouble in this area until 46AD, when it was finally reorganised as a province.

Question 4

How did Tiberius deal with the Eastern frontier? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 4

• Germanicus was sent to the east by Tiberius in AD17 to settle the question of kingship in Armenia, where he appointed Ataxias III to the throne.
• The client kingdoms of Cappodacia and Commagene were annexed, and Cicilia was added to Syria.
• Later, Tiberius installed a new King of Parthia.

Question 5

How did Tiberius face a serious threat in Africa? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 5

• In addition to the mutinies of 14AD, the only other revolts of Tiberius’ reign were that of an auxiliary deserter called Tacfarinas in the province of Asia between 15AD and 24AD.
• Tacitus (Annals, 2.52, 3.20-21, 3.32) tells the struggle of 4 governors against the rebel group, who launched successful raids and threatened to disrupt the grain supply.
• Tacfarinas’ troops, though great in numbers, comprehensively defeated by Furius Camillus in 17AD but Tacfarinas escaped.
• He continued to ransack villages and eventually scored a victory against a cohort from the Third legion, which was decimated by the 3rd governor Lucius Apronius for retreating against an enemy.
• Tacitus records Tiberius’ outrage when Tacfarinas wrote him a letter demanding a settlement of land for himself and his rebel troops, threatening war if the Emperor refused (3.73-74).
• Tacfarinas, a Numidian and once a member of the Roman army, was knowledgeable of Roman military tactics.
• He carried out successful raids using guerrilla tactics on the province of Africa for 7 years (17-23AD).

Question 6

How was Tacfarinas in Africa finally dealt with? (any relevant point for 2 marks).

Answer 6

• Blaesus appointed to finish the war decisively: routed Tacfarinas’ men, having won over large numbers with an amnesty.
• In 21, Julius Blaesus (Uncle of Sejanus) was put in command and succeeded in breaking the back of the insurrection, and in two years peace returned to the province.
• Eventually, Publius Cornelius Dolabella, knowing that violence against Rome would only end with Tacfarinas’ death, successfully organised an unexpected morning attack on the rebel camp, where Tacfarinas was killed

Question 7

Describe Tiberius’ provincial policy in general? (any relevant point for 6 marks).

Answer 7

• Tiberius recognised the responsibility Rome had for the welfare of provincials, and would tolerate no abuses by governors or the Roman Business classes.
• P.535, coin minted about AD22, to commemorate the help given by Tiberius to the people of Asia Minor after an earthquake.
• He chose governors carefully, and retained governors of worth in their position for many years, to increase efficiency (e.g. Poppaeus Sabinis, Blaesus’ governorship of Africa prolonged).
• He maintained strict legal supervision of imperial legates to avoid oppression: prosecutions of governors and procurators charged with extortion were swift (e.g. Gaius Junius Silanus).
• Tiberius established new road-building and bridge building schemes, and established new settlements in Syria, Spain, Moesia, Dalmatia and Pannonia.
• In AD17, when an earthquake hit Asia, twelve famous cities were overwhelmed: Sardis suffered most, and Tiberius promised it 10 million secterces and remitted all taxation by the treasury or its imperially controlled branches for five years…it was decided to send a senatorial inspector to rehabilitate the sufferers.
• He avoided interfering in Senatorial provinces, even if he kept an eye on their administration (e.g. over Tacfarinas, Tiberius only requested that the senate choose an active governor who was physically fit for and experienced in military service.
• Tiberius checked the plundering of the equestrian tax companies (the Publicani), protecting Egypt from excessive taxation.
• He gave provincial assemblies a larger degree of autonomy, and did not encourage worship of himself in the provinces.

Question 8

Describe the biggest problems that Tiberius’ provincial policy faced? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 8

• Despite Tiberius’ best efforts however, there were a fair number of problems…

• Tacfarinas in Africa.
• AD21, rebellion in Gaul: due, according to Tiberius, due to the burden of debt owed to creditors, an added grievance being the oppression of the Druids.
• If Tiberius made a poor choice of governor, keeping them in a long tenure backfired. Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea for 10 years (26-36AD), provoked the Jews unnecessarily, and was sent back to Rome for trial while Vitellus governor of Syria was sent to Rome to stand trial.
• The senate resented Tiberius’ guidance and control in the provinces, and were particularly affronted when he encroached on the senatorial sphere by refusing to permit a change of proconsuls for Asia and Africa and keeping the same men there for 6 years.

Question 9

What were the ‘Treason/Maiestas trials’ and why did Tacitus in particular resent them? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 9

• One of the most controversial aspects of Tiberius’ reign: charge of treason against the workings of the Roman state, tried in the Senate.
• The usual punishment was death and the confiscation of property.
• Treason was one of the earliest crimes subject to Roman law, but the definition of the crime of treason was never precise.
• For instance, Cicero believed it was an attack on the dignity, greatness or power of the people or of those to whom the people had given power.
• Tacitus defined it as ‘official misconduct damaging the Roman State, such as betrayal of an army or incitement to sedition.’ (Annals, P.73).
• Augustus redefined the law, and it came to be interpreted as an offence or insult offered to the princeps in deed, writing or speech. However, Augustus was hesitant about invoking the law.
• Tacitus introduces the concept with his usual style of Sententia, whereby a seemingly positive remark on Tiberius is immediately undercut by a negative observation (in this style, Tacitus’ opinion comes at the end of the section).
• Having described how Tiberius rejected the title of ‘Pater Patriae’ in an effort to look citizen-like, Tacitus immediately introduces the term Maiestas.
• This is the most politically loaded word in the Annals, as Tacitus uses it to highlight the tyrannical power of emperors.
• He is particularly aggrieved by the Maiestas trials, as they were predominantly directed against Senators and were seen as suppression of free speech.
• Tacitus’ bias derives from his experience of similar trials under the Emperor Domitian during the 90s.

Question 10

Why were the ‘Treason/Maiestas trials’ so damaging? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 10

• In total, Tacitus details about 80 treason trials under Tiberius (including the proscribed/central sources Annals 2.73, 3.50, 3.70, 4.20, 4.30-1, 6.18-19).
• Suetonius agrees that Tiberius enforced the law most savagely. Similarly, the Younger Seneca highlights that treason trials ‘became so commonplace that they amounted to a form of national madness.’, and records an attempted false allegation (On Benefits, 3.26-1-2).
• This madness was exacerbated by the rise of professional informants, delatores, who personally profited from making these accusations.
• The treason trials form a sinister part of Tacitus’ account of the reign of Tiberius, his purpose being to show the gradual degeneration of the reign into tyranny.
• When in AD15 Tiberius was asked by a Praetor, O. Pompeius Macer, ‘whether cases under the treason law were to receive attention’, he replied that ‘the laws must take their course’.
• Since no precedent had been set by Augustus, the cases which came before the senate in the reign of Tiberius tended to be test cases.
• Rome had no public prosecutor: information was brought to the authorities, the senate and the emperor, by private individuals. If a charge of treason brought by these informers (Delatores) was upheld, they were awarded at least ¼ of the property confiscated from the guilty person. The remaining ¾ went to the treasury. This encouraged the growing class of delatores to lie, bribe and manufacture evidence in order to secure the conviction of wealthy men.
• It also enabled ambitious Romans to eliminate their rivals. ‘It was an odious system, destructive to the very fabric of society.’ (Dudley, P.112).

Question 11

Describe the trials of Libo, Marcellus and Varilla? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 11

• M. Scribonius Libo Drusus, a member of a prominent Roman Family, was accused of subversive plotting because he placed too much confidence in astrological predictions. He was also charged with consulting a fortune-teller to find out ‘if he would be rich enough to pave the Via Appia with Money as far as Brundisium’. Tacitus admits that the charges were preposterous and pointless, but he cited the case because he believed ‘it initiated an evil which for many years corroded public life.’ (Annals, P.90).
• Often the charge of treason was linked with other charges, as in the case of Appuleia Varilla, a member of the imperial family (grandniece of Augustus). She was charged with treason for insulting Tiberius, his mother Livia and the deified Augustus, as well as form committing adultery.
• There were also straightforward cases of treason (e.g. Piso in Syria), and real conspiracies against Tiberius.

Question 12

What were the overall results of the treason trials? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 12

• Tacitus attempts to create in the minds of his readers that the number/frequency of trials under Tiberius increased as the reign drew on.
• This supposedly culminated in the ‘reign of terror’ (after 33) during which many innocent men perished.
• However, a careful study of Tacitus’ account reveals that during Tiberius’ reign of 23 years, only 52 people charged with treason. Of these 30 were never executed, though some committed suicide.
• Of the 12 put to death, Tiberius is said to have ordered 8, an overzealous Senate being responsible for 4.
• Many charged with treason and other offences chose to commit suicide rather than wait for the Senate’s verdict. In the case of treason, if the accused killed himself his family was allowed to retain its property, apart from ¼ to the informer.

Question 13

Describe the trials of Marcellus, Niger and Sabinus? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 13

• Romanius Hispo brought charges against M. Granius Marcellus, Governor of Bithynia. He was ‘needy, obscure and restless’ and set a precedent which ‘enabled imitators to exchange beggary for wealth.’
• Many were senators, such as Bruttedius Niger, whom Tacitus described as…
‘A highly cultured man, who, if he had gone straight, would have attained great eminence. But his impatience spurred him to outstrip first his equals, then his superiors – and finally his own former ambitions.’ (Annals, P.151).
• Four ex-praetors, ambitious for the consulship, planned the downfall of Titus Sabinus, a respectable man whose only crime was that he was a loyal friend to the family of Germanicus.
• Lucanius Latiaris, Marcus Porcius Cato, Petilius Rufus and Marcus Opsius realised that only with Sejanus’ goodwill could they get the consulship ‘and only crimes secured Sejanus’ good will.’
• By pretending friendship with Sabinus, Latiaris tricked him into revealing his inner feelings for Germanicus’ family and his attitude towards Sejanus: three other senators hid in a space between the wall and ceiling of a room in order to overhear the incriminating evidence.

Question 14

What was the response of the senatorial order to the treason trials? (any relevant point for 2 marks).

Answer 14

• Tacitus described this as a sordid trick. This method of collecting evidence threw conspicuous Romans into a ‘state of unprecedented agitation and terror.’ People became secretive, avoiding conversations and encounters with family and close friends, as well as with strangers.
• According to Tacitus there was no alleviation of the accusers, who became even more formidable and vicious every day.

Question 15

How did Tiberius behave with clemency during the treason trials? (any relevant point for 4 marks).

Answer 15

• In the 1st part of his reign, Tiberius dismissed many cases himself which he considered too ridiculous and intervened in others to pardon the accused or lessen the sentence.
• He himself made it very clear that he did not consider insulting remarks about himself or his mother as treasonable, but that disrespectful comments about the divine Augustus should be punished.
• When Tiberius heard the accusations against Falanius, he wrote to the Consuls that ‘Augustus had not been voted divine honours in order to ruin Roman citizens’, and ‘to include the latter’s statues in sales of houses or gardens was not sacrilegious.’
• On the suicide of Libo, the emperor commented that ‘he would have interceded for his life had he not so hastily killed himself.’
• When Marcellus was charged with recounting ‘the most repulsive features of the Emperor’s character’, Tiberius ‘voted for acquittal on the treason counts.’
• In the case of Appuleia Varilla, he insisted on a clear distinction on the remarks about himself, not treasonous and on which he wanted no enquiry, and on Augustus, for which she should be condemned.
• He also requested that any words spoken against his mother should not be the subject of a charge.
• In fact, he released Appuleia from liability under the treason law.
• Tiberius, at first, did try to check the abuses of law of treason by insisting that trials be fair and technically legal.