The government of Tiberius and the difficult art of succeed good emperors

Abstract

In this paper, we propose to analyze the Government of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, the way it was described by Cassius Dio Cocceianus in the work entitled Roman History. Cassius Dio was a senator in the passage from II to III century AD and his narrative arrived in quite fragmented, reconstructed from the Xiphilinus and Zonaras´ excerpts. The authority of the Prince was not hereditary. Thus, it was necessary to rebuild the bonds of amicitia and patronage at the beginning of each government. And this was not an easy task, even for Tiberius who succeeded Emperor Octavius Augustus considered good Princeps.