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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Drusus, post: 394858, member: 6370&quot;]Not to get into that deep of a discussion but I would say Tiberius was a tyrannical despot with very few redeeming qualities save he was well suited for military command. Most historical accounts seem to paint a poor image of the man. Tacitus generally refers to the Julio-Claudian Rule as criminal and Tiberius as a tyrant, wicked, cruel, self indulgent to the point of criminality. Treason trials, confiscation of belongings, paranoia that bred paranoia that ended in death. Eventually a completely absent ruler leaving the empire to run on its own, he contributing little from then on but threats to peoples welfare, thugs, and scary stories of what he did on that island. I wouldn&#039;t say he was a good ruler at all but instead that there were few as cruel as he and the empire by that time was able to function without a head. Even discounting half of what is said about him as slander and taking into account that the treasury was full and the empire was strengthened and at peace for most of his rule. I would still say he was not even close to the &#039;good&#039; list.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Claudius is a complex case of course. I believe the truth about Claudius is that he survived so long in that family because he WAS not only physically, but probably slightly mentally or emotionally disturbed, the degree is hard to tell. Maybe if the right people were looking for a puppet, they found it in him...and maybe he WAS a bit more capable than many thought. With Claudius, I am still unclear how much was Claudius as historical depictions of him are mostly unkind. I dont tend to think of him as this secretly very capable man, so crafty that he fools his family who hid him away and denied him almost all honors and offices because of some perceived serious defects that were only physical. Though it is clear that even though he is depicted as an idiot, limited, erratic, under the control of others, he was capable enough to have a literary career <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I tend to think of him as a son of a roman hero who had serious physical and mental problems, thus his family tried its best to keep him out of the public eye and out of most affairs of family and state. He was left to read and study. He was not stupid but was seen as feeble and brought to power in a crisis, he was both more able than they thought, but still able to be manipulated. And then there were the treason trials...He wouldn&#039;t be on my &#039;good&#039; list but he doesn&#039;t quite make the bad either... <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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