No More Learning

Tiberius became a good orator; and he gained victory and reputation, in
his wars against the savages of Germany and Dalmatia: but his peculiar
talent was for literature; in this, "he was a great purist, and affected
a wonderful precision about his words. " He composed some Greek poems,
and a Latin Elegy upon Lucius Caesar: he also wrote an account of his
own life, an _Apologia_; a volume, which the Emperor Domitian was
never tired of reading. But the favourite pursuit of Tiberius was Greek
divinity; like some of the mediaeval Doctors, he frequented the by-ways
of religion, and amused his leisure with the more difficult problems in
theology: "Who was Hecuba's mother? " "What poetry the Sirens chaunted? "
"What was Achilles' name, when he lay hid among the women? " The writings
of Tiberius have all perished; and in these days, we have only too much
cause to regret, that nothing of his "precision" has come down to us.
The battles of Tiberius are celebrated in the Odes of Horace: one of the
Epistles is addressed to him; and in another, written to Julius Florus,
an officer with Tiberius, Horace enquires about the learned occupations
of the Imperial cohort.

_Quid studiosa Cohors operum struit? Hoc quoque curo. _

It was from his commerce with the Ancients, as I always think, that
George Buchanan derived his opinion, strange to modern ears, that "a
great commander must of necessity have all the talents of an author. "
Velleius Paterculus, who served with Tiberius in his campaigns, tells us
of his firm discipline, and of his kindness to the soldiers.

The Caesars Caius and Lucius, grandsons of Augustus, Marcellus his
nephew, and Drusus the brother of Tiberius, all died: they died young,
rich in promise, the darlings of the Roman People; "Breves et infaustos
Populi Romani amores;" and thus, in the procession of events, Tiberius
became the heir. "The Annals" open with his accession, and Tacitus has
narrated the vicissitudes of his reign. Velleius Paterculus has written
its happier aspects: he describes how the "Pax Augusta," the "Roman
Peace," delivered every quarter of the world from violence. He
celebrates the return of Justice and prosperity, of order, of mild and
equable taxation, of military discipline and magisterial authority.
It
is like the Saturnian Reign, which Virgil sings in the Eclogue "Pollio. "
The first action of Tiberius was to canonise his father, and Augustus
was translated to the banquet of the Gods:

_Quos inter Augustus recumbens,
Purpureo bibit ore nectar. _

Augustus was his great example; "he not only called him, but considered
him, divine;" "non appelavit eum, sed facit Deum. " The Latin of
Paterculus is here so elegant and happy, that, for the pleasure of the
learned, I transcribe it: for others, I have already given something
of the sense. "Revocata in forum fides; submota e foro seditio, ambitio
campo, discordia curia: sepultaeque ac situ obsitae, justitia, aequitas,
industria, civitati, redditae; accessit magistratibus auctoritas,
senatui majestas, judiciis gravitas; compressa theatralis seditio;
recte faciendi, omnibus aut incussa voluntas aut imposita necessitas.
Honorantur recta, prava puniuntur. Suspicit potentem humilis, non timet.
Antecedit, non contemnit, humiliorem potens. Quando annona moderatior?
Quando pax laetior? Diffusa in Orientis Occidentisque tractus, quidquid
meridiano aut septentrione finitur, Pax Augusta, per omnes terrarum
orbis angulos metu servat immunes. Fortuita non civium tantummodo, sed
Urbium damna, Principis munificentia vindicat. Restitutae urbes
Asiae: vindictae ab injuriis magistratuum provinciae. Honor dignis
paratissimus: poena in malos sera, sed aliqua. Superatur aequitate
gratia, ambitio virtute: nam facere recte cives suos, Princeps optimus
faciendo docet; cumque sit imperio maximus, exemplo major est. "

Tiberius reigned from the year 14, to the year 37.