Week One

BOOK I : The Rush to Slavery, the Character of Tiberius, and the Law of Treason

February 4, 2025 7 PM -8:30 pm

What makes people willing to surrender their freedom? Is political liberty natural, or is it always fighting a deeper tendency to autocracy or despotism? In what ways does servility in the empire show itself?

Why is the first action of Tiberius' reign the murder of Augustus' grandson, Agrippa Postumus? What is the motivation of Tiberius? of his mother Livia? Why in an despotism is secrecy to be preferred to truth or even lies (i.6)?

Why do the emperors maintain the forms and names of the republic? (Why do they call themselves "princeps" (first citizen) rather than emperor?) What does Tiberius gain from hiding his thoughts and feelings? Why is he fearful, given that others are so fearful of him (i.7)? What game is being played with his feigned "recusal" from power? Why is the senators' "one fear" "to seem to understand," i.11.3?

What mistakes do senators make that secretly anger Tiberius (i.12-14)? According to Augustus, how should Tiberius think about rivals? How does Tiberius, with his "suspicion-filled mind," actually think about them (i.13-14)?

What is the significance of the law of treason, and of its extension to cover speech (i.72-74)? Why are even such "good" acts of Tiberius as his uncovering bribery still destructive of liberty (i.73, 75)? How might Tiberius' caution, secrecy, sourness, timidity, and other qualities lay the foundation for an oppressive tyranny (i.76, 80-81)?

Focus: Book I, ch. 1-15, 46-47, 52-53, 69, 72-81

(The translation of the Annals that we are using is by Cynthia Damon (Penguin Books, 2012).)