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Suetonius’ De vita Caesarum is an excellent source to reconstruct the voice of the emperors and, in some cases, of his opponents. This paper explores some statements and dicta pronounced against Tiberius and reported in Suetonius’ De vita Caesarum. Indeed, the words that Suetonius attributes to ventriloquize Tiberius’s adversaries, including Augustus, may conceal a political judgement. In particular, an analysis of the dicta against Tiberius in Suetonius’ De vita Caesarum is relevant to figuring out the strategies of opposition in light of Tiberius’ rhetorical agenda and political framework. Hostility toward Tiberius is even more remarkable when Suetonius reports how Tiberius would have reacted against criticism around his figure. By providing an all-round view of Tiberius and shedding light on the contortions of dynamics of power play, Suetonius may imply that, to disclose the first signals of opposition against Tiberius, we should look inside the Julio-Claudian family and the never-ending contrasts between the Julian branch and the Claudian branch, from which Tiberius descended. Therefore, Tiberius’ personal and political choices, as well as the two retirements and his fondness for dissimulatio may be read as the product of the disregard exhibited against him, which can be traced back well before the beginning of his principatus.
Martina Russo is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Scienze dell’Antichità (Sapienza Università di Roma). Her current project collects the speeches of the Julio-Claudian emperors, aiming to explore their multi-faced political and rhetorical nuances. She also teaches Latin language at the Department of Lettere Moderne (Sapienza Università di Roma) and at the London Summer School in Classics organized by University College London. Her research interests focus on Neronian literature (especially Seneca), Roman rhetoric, and the interaction between politics and literature. Martina’s current project has been funded by the European Commission under the program Horizon Europe; as a result, in February, Martina will move to Columbia University to conduct her MSCA project.