Tiberius and Freedom of Speech


Tiberius

The Emperor Tiberius is not known for his support of democratic values. However, Suetonius has an interesting, if not amusing account of his attitude to people who said bad things about him or his family.

He was, moreover, quite unperturbed by abuse, slander, or lampoons on himself and his family and would often say that liberty to speak and think as one pleases is the test of a free country. When the Senate asked that those who had offended in this way should be brought to book, he replied: 'We cannot spare the time to undertake any such new enterprise. Open that window and you will let in such a rush of denunciations as to waste your whole working day; everyone will take this opportunity of airing some private feud.' A remarkably modest statement of his is recorded in the 'Proceedings of the Senate': 'If So-and-so challenges me, I shall lay before you a careful account of what I have said and done; if that does not satisfy him, I shall reciprocate his dislike of me.'

Comments

Anonymous said…
I think it's notable that the treason trials:

A - Are only reported in detail by the chroniclers who had just survived Domitian's paranoia, and

B - Only started in Tiberius' reign once Sejanus, and then Macro, had insinuated themselves as his de facto Prime Minister.


But you know me; I'll stand up for the crazy old bastard on pretty much any topic...
Thursday, 18 August, 2005
Anna said…
Heh heh, am starting to think you were Tiberius in a past life! :-))))
Thursday, 18 August, 2005
Anonymous said…
Heh. I just think the guy gets a raw deal from History. But then, I have to confess my own bias; I've got unlimited reserves of pity for him and the upbringing he endured.

That, and his incredibly dry sense of humour appeals greatly to me!
Thursday, 18 August, 2005
Anna said…
:-) I am already making assumptions about you.. :-)))
Thursday, 18 August, 2005
Anonymous said…
Heh. Well, in my defence I would say this; no-one can read the account of his accidentally running into Vipsania and remain unmoved.

If you can, you're made of stone!
Thursday, 18 August, 2005
Anna said…
I was not making bad assumptions about you - they were all good. You have obviously researched him very well and I admire that.
Anyone who knows me can assure you that I am not made of stone but am in fact very emotional.
:-)
Thursday, 18 August, 2005
Anonymous said…
Heh. I assumed any bad assumptions would be based on my getting pissed with lenin last month!
Thursday, 18 August, 2005
Anna said…
Ah, but lenin only told me good things about you! :-))) When you back down in London?
Thursday, 18 August, 2005
Anonymous said…
Lord alone knows; I was down there with work last time, and I'm not due down for a while. Might be October or thereabouts. Rest assured, lenin will be told when I'm gonna be in the vicinity!
Friday, 19 August, 2005
Anna said…
Yes, I know, you were texting him yesterday. :-)))

See you soon then! :-)))
Friday, 19 August, 2005
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Catherine the Great and her Many Lovers

Image
Catherine the Great was empress of Russia from 1762 until she died in 1796. She was born in 1729 in Poland and in 1744 was taken to Russia to marry the young Grand Duke Peter, heir to the throne and not of a sane mind. For seven years during their marriage Peter spent his time playing with toy soldiers and dogs and showed no interest in sex. In fact he had a physical disability, a very tight foreskin, which may have played an important part in that matter. Finally the empress Elizabeth gave Catherine the permission to take a lover, which she did and was soon pregnant. She convinced Peter it was his own child, as was the plan anyway. In the meantime he had been circumcised so that he could perform the sexual act. Catherine developed a taste for young soldiers. She had a special area built in her bedroom, which was curtained off and where she received her lovers. Gregory Orlov was her on and off lover for around thirteen years. He was said to possess excellent equipment, unbelievable ‘st
Read more

Emperor Elagabalus; the Teenage Pervert

Image
When the emperor Caracalla was murdered in 217, the fourteen-year-old Elagabalus succeeded him. He only ruled for 4 years, but in that short period of time he commited a variety of grotesque and debauched acts, enough to make Caligula and Commodus seem rather plain. His real name was Bassianus but as he developed an intense interest in worshippng the Syrian god Elagabal, became High Priest of the cult and so had his name changed to Elagabalus. To honor his god, he demanded that hundereds of cattle were slaughtered daily on huge sacrificial altars. He had a temple built on the Palatine Hill and ordered the Romans to worship a statue of a giant phallus, which didn't go down very well at all... Eventually he decided he was the god embodied. He started to wear women's clothes and make-up, implored his surgeons to cut his penis off and make him a vagina and when they said tehy could not do this he settled for circumcision. His body is said to have been very effeminate and he had a m
Read more

The Smelly Woad Dyers

Image
Woad leaves Before Indigo was imported from the East in the 16th Century, the only source of rich blue dye was Woad, Isatis Tinctoria, a plant which is a member of the cabbage family and which was brought to Britain by the Celts. They called it Glasto, hence Glastonbury, which means ‘a place where woad grows’. The process by which the dye was extracted was lengthy and very smelly indeed, (think combination of raw sewage and rotten cabbage) and the people who did this work, woad dyers, were outcasts of society, since they smelt so much. As a result they were isolated and inbred. There was no way of hiding if you were a woad dyer as even if you washed yourself really well to remove the stench, the blue dye could be seen on your fingers and under your fingernails. Queen Elizabeth I, not being able to stand the stench from their workshops, decreed that woad dyers should be at least 5 miles away from wherever she was staying. As it took 50 kilos of woad in order to produce 5 kilos of pigme
Read more