Peter Jones

Tiberius and the ‘phantoms of liberty’

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issue 04 July 2020

Word has it that ministers already do not bother to argue their corner with the government’s inner ring, while a slimmer, streamlined cabinet office threatens to disempower them still further. Ministers could soon resemble senators under Rome’s second emperor Tiberius (ad 14-37).

The historian Tacitus painted an extraordinary picture of Tiberius’s early days in office.

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