No Man is an Island: Tacitus and Tiberius on Capri

Rebecca Edwards (Wright State University)

The image of the tyrant Tiberius secluded on the island of Capri, as he sinks into debauchery and allows the nobility at Rome to destroy one another, is one of the most famous images in political, historical, or literary narrative.  And yet, as Tacitus describes the reign of Tiberius in the first hexad of the Annals, the reader can distinguish multiple threads woven into the complicated tapestry of the emperor’s seclusion.  Although the emperor does not leave Rome for good until AD 26, Tacitus continually leads the reader to this inevitable conclusion.  Among these threads is the theme of exile, including Tiberius’ own self-imposed exile on the island of Rhodes during the reign of Augustus.  All of these threads will add their rhetorical color to the final image of the emperor on his secluded island retreat.  Tacitus also uses the imagery of geography and topography to enhance his depiction of the isolated emperor.  In this paper, I will compare the accounts of the three main historians for the reign of Tiberius (Suetonius, Dio, and Tacitus) to show how Tacitus uses impressions of space and place to enhance his narrative and heighten his characterization of the Emperor Tiberius in the second half of the Tiberian hexad.

As is made manifest during the cave-in at Sperlonga, where Sejanus covers the emperor with his body (Ann. 4.59; Sejanus’ role is ignored in Suetonius’ account of this incident at Tib. 39), in Tacitus’ narrative Sejanus becomes a gatekeeper (see esp. Ann 4.41, 4.74) who controls access to the emperor.  Furthermore, when Tiberius does finally retreat to Capri (perhaps at the instigation of Sejanus), Tacitus provides a description of the island as though it were a foreign country (see esp. Martin and Woodman on Ann. 4.67).  Syme discussed the style of the passage by saying, “Diction most delicate conveys the tranquillity of the island which Tiberius Caesar elected for his retreat, the gentle air and the lovely prospect—to imply a savage contrast” (Tacitus I.349).  But closer reading of the passage reveals that the rocky island is just as dangerous and isolated as the man who inhabits it.  More so than Suetonius and Dio, Tacitus emphasizes Tiberius’ isolation from Rome and its consequences.