Luctatio civitatis: Augustus’ Res Gestae, Tiberius’ accession, and the struggle over Augustus’ legacy

In this paper I revisit the notorious debate in the Roman senate over Tiberius’ accession. The conventional view is that Tiberius began his reign with a refusal of power (recusatio imperii) and that the issue in the accession debate was whether or not Tiberius would rule. In this paper I use Augustus’ Res Gestae to argue that the issue in the debate was not whether Tiberius would rule, but about how : alone or with colleagues ?