The Book of Emperors: A Translation of the Middle High German Kaiserchronik

IV. Tiberius

82 IV Tiberius Very soon after the conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity in 312, Christian writers began to treat the past relationship of the Roman Empire to their religion much less critically than before. Constantine’s own historian, Eusebius, went to some length to divorce the empire from the Crucifixion of Christ by blaming the Jews almost entirely for it. To the extent that Roman authority was of necessity connected with the event, early Christian historians presented Pontius Pilate as having acted arbitrarily and independently. The Book of Emperors portrayal of Tiberius shows the way that narratives in a popular vein supported the development of this tradition over eight centuries. The episode in which the pagan emperor is miraculously cured of disease and becomes convinced of the healing power of Christ comes up more often in stories of Constantine than of Tiberius, although frequently enough with the latter and occasionally with Vespasian. The author uses this story with variations for both Tiberius and Constantine. His authority for telling it in his Tiberius story is a legend of Saint Veronica, on whose veil Christ is said to have wiped his face on the way to the Crucifixion. His face left an image on the veil, and with it Saint Veronica subsequently worked miracles. The siege and destruction of Jerusalem has, except for its timing and the motive for it, a factual basis. Vespasian, a Roman general sent to suppress a revolt of the Jews, began the siege of Jerusalem in AD 66. Before the city was taken four years later, Vespasian had set out for Rome in his quest for the imperial title, but his son, Titus , breached the walls, destroyed the city, and killed or enslaved Tiberius 83 most of the inhabitants he found. The Book of Emperors account, however, telescopes more than thirty-five years of history in turning Vespasian and Titus into generals of Tiberius shortly after the Crucifixion , now generally dated in AD 29 but never dated later than 33. The point, of course, is to give a good and Christian reason by the standards of the Crusading Age for the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and heighten the identification of the Roman Empire with Christianity. Much of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem is ultimately based on The Jewish War by Josephus, who plays a part himself in the author’s account. As a Jew whose writings lent themselves to Christian apologetic purposes, Josephus is favored by the author as an ancient historian of most useful authority. He later seems to reason that because Josephus was Jewish, all Jews are bound to accept Josephus’ word. In a debate between Pope Sylvester and the wisest of the Jews during the reign of Constantine, testimony from Josephus is to carry the day for the Christians. the Book tells us that Tiberius ruled the Empire next. He won great honor for the Romans, and learned men say he kept his soul. He set out over the sea to lead an army to Jerusalem. You can be sure he won a land called Tiberias in battle.1 He slew the King of Persia—I am telling you the truth about this—and divided his kingdom into four parts. After subduing all the heathens he went to Germany. When he came to the river called the Danube, he capably took up the task of building and established a city there called Tyburnia. Now, however, it is called Ratisbon.2 1. Tiberias was a fortified city in what is now northeastern Israel, founded south of the modern town in lower Galilee by Herod Antipas in AD 20 and named for Tiberius, then emperor. 2. Regensburg, home of the author. “Tiburnia” was the name of a different town mentioned in a sixth-century life of Saint Severin. It was adopted by Regensburg monks retroactively as the ancient name of their town possibly because of the name’s imperial associations. The name “Ratisbon,” on the other hand, is from the older Celtic “Rataspona.” 84 Chapter Four Then, at God’s bidding, the king fell ill. Let me describe his sickness to you. Ferocious worms grew in his head, and no one could get rid of them for him. No medicine helped at all. In fact, no one could do anything worth anything for him. But then he was brought great tidings, how in Jerusalem there was the wisest man ever born into...