Vipsania: A Roman Odyssey - Softcover

Jasper Burns

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18 ratings by Goodreads

9780978549503: Vipsania: A Roman Odyssey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0978549503 ISBN 13: 9780978549503

Publisher: Pietas Publications, 2006

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In 12 BC, the Roman Emperor Augustus ordered his stepson Tiberius to divorce his wife Vipsania - the love of his life. Tiberius obeyed - for duty, for love of country, for love of power.

Six years later, Tiberius defied Augustus, abandoned his powers, and followed Vipsania half way across the Roman world. He renounced love for power, and then he renounced power for the dream of love.

Was Tiberius an ancient Edward VIII, trading his throne for a woman? No, because his destiny would carry him forward, to unimagined highs and lows. He was an exile, despised and abused. And then, against all odds, he became the most powerful man in the world.

And what of Vipsania, remarried to an ambitious senator, the mother of ten children, one of them abandoned by her husband to the mercies of the gods. And through it all, still in love with Tiberius.

Most of this story is true. Where it exceeds the historical facts, it remains consistent with them, offering possible answers to the puzzles of Tiberius and his odyssey of power and love.

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About the Author:

Jasper Burns is the author of "Great Women of Imperial Rome" (Routledge, Fall 2006) as well as numerous articles on Greco-Roman art and history. He has also written and illustrated many natural history books, including "Fossil Collecting in the Mid-Atlantic States" (Johns Hopkins, 1991), "Discovering Fossils" (Stackpole, 1998), and "Common Trilobites of North America" (Miller's Fossils, 1999).

Chapter One - Tiberius the General (15 BC)

On the fringes of the Roman Empire, Rhaetian warriors have attacked northern Italy and the Roman provinces of Gaul. The barbarians slaughter all male captives - even unborn male fetuses, whose sex they determine by magic.

Such atrocities near the heart of the empire are intolerable, so Roman armies commanded by the 27 year-old prince Tiberius and his younger brother Drusus have pushed the barbarians deep into the Alps. But the Rhaetians, confident in their mountain strongholds, refuse to surrender.

One of the enemy fastnesses is on Lake Venetus, 33 miles long and walled in by impenetrable mountains on three sides. The Rhaetians are entrenched on its northern shore. Towering peaks protect their back and massive fortifications defend the few narrow passes that approach their flanks.

Taking this position by storm seems impossible, so his officers advise Tiberius to move on to easier targets. They offer the hope that this bastion will surrender without a fight when the enemy cause becomes hopeless elsewhere.

Now, Tiberius is not a rash man, and he never risks his troops unnecessarily. But he also never makes a decision before he knows all the facts. He understands that his failure to capture the fortress will encourage the Rhaetians. He sends scouts to reconnoiter the enemy position and report to his war council.

The barbarian camp is manned by 15-20,000 warriors with their women and children. One of the officers observes that there is no advantage in massing troops on one side or the other - the passes are too narrow.

Tiberius points across the lake. "And the beach defenses?"

The officers look at each other in surprise. "Nothing to speak of, sir. They know we will not attack by water."

Tiberius glances at Lucilius Longus, his second in command and long-time friend. They exchange grins.

"Build enough ships to carry two legions. You have three weeks."

Tiberius turns to another man, a civilian. "Prepare a sacrifice to Neptune at once."

The first officer is stunned by all of this, "But sir, we are not sailors! What if a storm rises?"

Tiberius answers, "What, you don't trust Neptune? This is a pond, man, not the North Sea! If Agrippa had been like you at Actium, we'd all be Cleopatra's slaves!"

Tiberius gets down to business: "We will build fortified camps in the passes, about 200 feet from the enemy walls. Make a show of besieging them - a steady barrage of arrows and missiles. But don't knock their barricade down; it is there to keep them in rather than to keep you out."

And so the enemy is hemmed in and the ships are built. The operation goes exactly as Tiberius has planned - the barbarians are completely unprepared for the apparition of a Roman fleet on a mountain lake.

This brilliant maneuver is just one of many led by Tiberius during the annexation of the Alps, but it marks the end of this particular campaigning season. No sooner has he made arrangements for the deportation of the male captives and relocation of the women and children than he races home to Rome.

No one covers ground more quickly than Tiberius - he says it is because he hates travel and hurries to get it over with. But he moves fastest when his destination is his wife, Vipsania.

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