[5] The Romans, at their feasts, during the intervals of drinking, often played at dice, of which there were two kinds, the _tesseræ_ and _tali_. The former had six sides, like the modern dice; the latter, four oblong sides, for the two ends were not regarded. In playing, they used three _tesseræ_ and four _tali_, which were all put into a box wider below than above, and being shaken, were thrown out upon the gaming board or table. [6] _Municipia_ were foreign towns which obtained the right of Roman citizens, and were of different kinds. The _municipia_ used their own laws and customs; nor were they obliged to receive the Roman laws unless they chose them. [7] [Modern historians have much to say of the “disguised monarchy” of Augustus. But probably the Romans were not so blind as to the character of the Augustan constitution as are now the historians. The government was in reality a compromise between republic and monarchy--a compromise made easy to the Romans by their habit of investing magistrates, especially extraordinary magistrates, with vast powers. The republic was for Rome and Italy, the monarchy for the provinces. This form of government Mommsen aptly terms a dyarchy.] [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER XXXIII. THE IMMEDIATE SUCCESSORS OF AUGUSTUS: TIBERIUS, CALIGULA, AND CLAUDIUS TIBERIUS (TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS NERO CÆSAR), 14-37 A.D. Tiberius came of that ambitious Claudian family which had enjoyed twenty-eight consulates, five dictatorships, seven censorships, and as many triumphs. The marriage of his mother Livia with Octavius, and his adoption by Cæsar, had given him entrance into the house of Cæsar. All commissions with which he was charged by his adoptive father were carried out with activity and intelligence, and, at the time of the war with Marbod, he saved the empire in a dangerous crisis. Since the death of Agrippa, no general had been able to command such brilliant service. He had fought in Spain and in the Alps, governed Gaul, given a king to Armenia, subdued the Pannonians, conquered the Germans, transported forty-six thousand barbarians into Belgium and resettled the empire after the defeat of Varus. Such was the man to whom the death of Augustus gave the throne.[8] Respect for Augustus had kept ambitions silent, but Tiberius found himself surrounded by republicans and more than this by candidates for the throne. Moreover the soldiers had already understood that on them rested the security both of emperor and empire, and, as there were no more civil wars to enrich them, successions to the throne must take their place. Three Pannonian legions revolted, demanding one denarius per day, discharge after sixteen years, and a fixed sum to be paid in camp on the day they became veterans. Tiberius sent Drusus, his son, and Sejanus, his prætorian prefect, to them at the head of some of the forces remaining in Italy. An eclipse of the moon helped to make the mutineers return to their duty.