begun his collection of ancient cameos and engraved gems. The double-bust format
of his finishedportrait – the two sitters presented in profile, Agrippina’s image uppermost and central, Germanicus glimpsed behind his wife – recalls
similar cameos. Germanicus’ profile, with its distinctively ‘Roman’ aquiline nose, echoes a drawing of a cameo Rubens made as part of a larger, abandoned project of illustrations
of objects in his own collection.
In this simple-seeming image, the couple appear bold in their resolve and flushed with the beauty of moral rectitude. The pearlescent glow of Agrippina’s pale skin and the enamelled
luminosity of Rubens’ paint conjure a gem-like translucency. The portrait’s shimmering surface and pale highlights invest husband and wife with a quality that is more than human. The
heroism of Rubens’ vision is entirely in keeping with the portrayal of Germanicus and his wife which survives in written accounts inimical to Tiberius. As we shall discover, events about to
unfold – in the main, unresolved and ambiguous – invested the couple with legendary status. In life and in death, they provided a rallying point for Tiberian dissidents. Such was the
extent of their popularity and the long-term currency of their magnetism that, in little over two decades, a homicidal maniac wholly unqualified for government became Rome’s fourth Caesar.
The principal claim to power of the emperor Gaius lay in his illustrious and charismatic parents.
Cruelty and tyranny dominate the presentation of Tiberius within hostile sources: twin impulses, the former is enlisted in the service of the latter. Ditto those martyrs on whom
the ancient authors insist, material proof of Tiberius’s viciousness. From within the imperial family first Agrippa Postumus, imbecilic and sluggardly, then Germanicus, Tacitus’ hero,handsome if spindly legged, histrionic, with a weakness for the trappings of rank, a man in whom charm probably held the upper hand over capability. At Augustus’
instigation, Tiberius had adopted his nephew Germanicus as his son. He became at a stroke the brother of Tiberius’ surviving child from his marriage to Vipsania, Drusus the Younger. The
brothers-cousins were further united by Drusus’ marriage to Germanicus’ sister Livilla. Germanicus ascended the ladder of magistracies with bravura, comfortably in advance of the
minimum age qualifications; Drusus’ record was more dogged – a case of history repeating itself, Germanicus in Marcellus’ place, Drusus in Tiberius’s (like father, like
son). And so it proved. For in AD 19, to widespread consternation, Germanicus suddenly died. Poison and witchcraft were the rumour, blame attributed to Tiberius himself.
The emperor had grown jealous of his dashing but apparently loyal nephew. Germanicus’ response to the mutiny of the four Rhine legions in AD 14 had been a series of
campaigns within Germany. Victorious, nonetheless all exacted a heavy Roman death toll; none resulted in significant gains of territory. Veteran of no fewer than nine periods of military service in
Germany, Tiberius recalled Germanicus to Rome. He may have doubted the long-term success of his nephew’s policy: certainly he was more interested in stabilizing than extending the German
frontier. He rewarded Germanicus with a triumph and partnership in his consulship of the following year. He then dispatched him to Syria, foremost among Rome’s eastern provinces, his
capabilities enhanced by a grant of maius imperium which matched that once bestowed on Tiberius by Augustus.
At the same time, Tiberius appointed a new governor to the province. Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, a man of high estate and Republican sympathies, had previously served as proconsul ofAfrica. There his chief distinction consisted in unwarranted brutality towards his own men. 21 Arrogant and old-fashioned in outlook and behaviour, he was connected to Tiberius through a
shared consulship in
of his finishedportrait – the two sitters presented in profile, Agrippina’s image uppermost and central, Germanicus glimpsed behind his wife – recalls
similar cameos. Germanicus’ profile, with its distinctively ‘Roman’ aquiline nose, echoes a drawing of a cameo Rubens made as part of a larger, abandoned project of illustrations
of objects in his own collection.
In this simple-seeming image, the couple appear bold in their resolve and flushed with the beauty of moral rectitude. The pearlescent glow of Agrippina’s pale skin and the enamelled
luminosity of Rubens’ paint conjure a gem-like translucency. The portrait’s shimmering surface and pale highlights invest husband and wife with a quality that is more than human. The
heroism of Rubens’ vision is entirely in keeping with the portrayal of Germanicus and his wife which survives in written accounts inimical to Tiberius. As we shall discover, events about to
unfold – in the main, unresolved and ambiguous – invested the couple with legendary status. In life and in death, they provided a rallying point for Tiberian dissidents. Such was the
extent of their popularity and the long-term currency of their magnetism that, in little over two decades, a homicidal maniac wholly unqualified for government became Rome’s fourth Caesar.
The principal claim to power of the emperor Gaius lay in his illustrious and charismatic parents.
Cruelty and tyranny dominate the presentation of Tiberius within hostile sources: twin impulses, the former is enlisted in the service of the latter. Ditto those martyrs on whom
the ancient authors insist, material proof of Tiberius’s viciousness. From within the imperial family first Agrippa Postumus, imbecilic and sluggardly, then Germanicus, Tacitus’ hero,handsome if spindly legged, histrionic, with a weakness for the trappings of rank, a man in whom charm probably held the upper hand over capability. At Augustus’
instigation, Tiberius had adopted his nephew Germanicus as his son. He became at a stroke the brother of Tiberius’ surviving child from his marriage to Vipsania, Drusus the Younger. The
brothers-cousins were further united by Drusus’ marriage to Germanicus’ sister Livilla. Germanicus ascended the ladder of magistracies with bravura, comfortably in advance of the
minimum age qualifications; Drusus’ record was more dogged – a case of history repeating itself, Germanicus in Marcellus’ place, Drusus in Tiberius’s (like father, like
son). And so it proved. For in AD 19, to widespread consternation, Germanicus suddenly died. Poison and witchcraft were the rumour, blame attributed to Tiberius himself.
The emperor had grown jealous of his dashing but apparently loyal nephew. Germanicus’ response to the mutiny of the four Rhine legions in AD 14 had been a series of
campaigns within Germany. Victorious, nonetheless all exacted a heavy Roman death toll; none resulted in significant gains of territory. Veteran of no fewer than nine periods of military service in
Germany, Tiberius recalled Germanicus to Rome. He may have doubted the long-term success of his nephew’s policy: certainly he was more interested in stabilizing than extending the German
frontier. He rewarded Germanicus with a triumph and partnership in his consulship of the following year. He then dispatched him to Syria, foremost among Rome’s eastern provinces, his
capabilities enhanced by a grant of maius imperium which matched that once bestowed on Tiberius by Augustus.
At the same time, Tiberius appointed a new governor to the province. Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, a man of high estate and Republican sympathies, had previously served as proconsul ofAfrica. There his chief distinction consisted in unwarranted brutality towards his own men. 21 Arrogant and old-fashioned in outlook and behaviour, he was connected to Tiberius through a
shared consulship in
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