Overview
The great conundrum of his character and the political significance of his long reign, which solidified the imperial government of Rome, render the life of Tiberius Caesar (42 B. C.-37 A. D.)—second emperor of Rome and successor of Augustus—a subject of perennial interest. From the mass of available evidence, two men can be constructed, both equally credible: one, an upright, gruff soldier-statesman, austere, just, capable; the other, a corrupt, murderous tyrant with gargantuan and depraved appetites. In another in the series of superb biographies of ancient figures, G. P. Baker provides an astute and fair-minded assesment of Rome's most psychologically complex and contradictory emperor, a man who—according to Roman historian Dio Cassius— "possessed many virtues and many vices."