The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

G r e at S o l d i e r s a n d B at t l e s 291
and that Tiberius should be bound closer to him by marrying Julia, Augustus’s
daughter by his wife Scribonia, whom he had divorced in order to marry Livia.
Tiberius obeyed with great reluctance, and it is said that when he saw Vipsania
in public he burst into tears. It probably did not help that Julia, a pawn in Aug
u s tu s’s dy n a s tic sch em e s , was the wi dow of Vi p s a n i a’s father. Ti beriu s’s later
reputation for misery and debauchery may have stemmed from this period of
his life.
For the next six years, Tiberius was dispatched on one military mission after
another on the northern edge of the Roman world. In 11 bc he was awarded a
new kind of honor, ornamenta triumphalia, for his defeat of the Breuci and the
Dalmatians in Pannonia. This was a substitute for an actual triumphal procession
through the streets of Rome, which was confined to Augustus himself and
members of his household, and then to the emperor alone. Other generals, acting
as legates of the emperors had to be content with the insignia and the honor
rather than a parade.
From 10 to 9 bc , Ti berius com m a n ded armies on the Danu be in wars
a gainst the Pa n n onians and the Dac i a n s , and was hailed as Im pera tor by the
troops. This was a significant honor and a title that was soon to be the monopo
ly of the em perors them s elve s , and not their gen era l s . A terri ble pers on a l
tragedy for Tiberius occurred in 9 bc when his brother Drusus died, while campaigning
in Germany at the head of a large army, like Tiberius. As the wars were
coming to an en d , D ru sus had fall en from his hors e . The inju ries even tu a lly
proved fatal, but he clung on to life long enough for Tiberius to make an arduous
and lengthy journey in record time to see him. Three years after losing his
wife through divorce, Tiberius had now lost his beloved younger brother.
Transferring his scene of operations to the Rhine, Tiberius spent most of 8
bc in Gaul where he settled 40,000 Germanic tribesmen after they had surrendered
(Suetonius, Augustus 21). His reward was a second consulship in 7 bc and
tribunician power for the next five years. Tribunician power, or the power of the
tri bu n e s , was more wi de ra n ging and flex i ble than the powers of the con su l s .
Tri bunes could veto any proposals in the Sen a te , convene meeti n gs , or bri n g
proceedings to a halt. Augustus eventually managed to separate the power of the
tribunes from the office, so he could exercise the functions without actually being
el ected tri bu n e . The tri bunician power was the real basis of the exec utive
a ut h ori ty of the em perors . However, Ti berius chose to wi t h d raw from publ i c
life and went to Rhodes, where he stayed for eight years, from 6 bc to ad 2 (Suetonius,
Tiberius 10.2–11.1). It may be that behind the tales of rivalry within the
Imperial family and Tiberius’s demands for a rest, there was a subtext concerning
a watching brief on the eastern provinces and Parthian activities. Agrippa
had withdrawn from Rome some time before, remaining like Tiberius on an island
within reach of the east, and the story that had been circulated was likewise
one of intense competition between Agrippa and Augustus’s heirs.