Tacitus, Annals, 15.20-23, 33-45. Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, and Commentary, 2013a

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Tacitus here takes a step back. Nero’s desire to appear on stage may have been driving him on, but even he has not entirely lost a sense of decorum. He does not dare to inaugurate his career as a public performer in Rome but chooses a Greek city famous for its Greek entertainment culture instead. Tacitus presents this choice both as an avoidance of Rome and as an anticipation of Nero’s trip to Greece, which would happen several years later (AD 66–67). A locative: ‘in Rome’. Neapolis, modern Naples, was, as its Greek name (nea = new; polis = city, hence: ‘New City’) implies, originally a Greek foundation. The quasi here thus has causal force. Although it had long been part of Roman Italy, Neapolis seems to have retained much of its Greek character. Aristocratic norms were more flexible there, making it a more suitable place for Nero to inaugurate his career as a public performer. The antithesis between Greek and Roman is significant. Traditional Roman thinkers saw themselves as the guardians of great civilised Roman values (mores maiorum). They may have enjoyed and respected Greek art and literature, but Greek behaviour, morals and practices came with a stigma: Greekness was often tied up in Roman thought with luxury and immorality. Nero’s desires are such that he has to leave Rome and find the nearest ‘Greek city’ to allow an outlet for his foreign, un-Roman, or, indeed, ‘novel/ weird/ revolutionary’, urges. inde initium fore is an indirect statement dependent on an implied verb of thinking. Tacitus slyly lets us partake of what he assumes were Nero’s thoughts/ motivations at the time. According to him, the emperor already in AD 63 harboured grandiose plans of ‘conquering’ the Greek world with his showbiz talents, anticipating a triumphant return to Rome and an enthusiastic welcome from his fellow-citizens, not unlike those accorded to the military conquerors of old.
inde initiThe alliteration stresses that Nero envisages this performance as just a debut: an ominous sign! Both initium and antiquitus chime with/ against the ‘newness’ of Naples. transgressus in Achaiam insignesque et antiquitus sacras coronas The -que after insignes links transgressus and adeptus. The two participles (transgressus; adeptus) and the phrases they govern (in Achaiam; insignesque et antiquitus sacras coronas) are arranged chiastically. The Roman province of Achaea essentially covered mainland Greece. The participle transgressus carries an aggressive note, in a double sense: Nero is transgressing against Roman cultural norms; and he is invading Greece, reversing the cultural conquest of Italy famously noted by Horace at Epistle 2.1.156–57: Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artis | intulit agresti Latio (‘Conquered Greece conquered/ captivated her wild vanquisher and brought her arts to rustic Latium’). Winners in prestigious Greek competitions received wreaths (coronae) as prizes. Nero’s thoughts here are designed to put across his devotion to and love of all things Greek: these wreaths are longingly described with the very positive adjectives insignes and antiquitus sacras (lit. ‘anciently sacred’). Moreover, there is the arrogance and mindset of a tyrant here in the participle adeptus (‘having won’): Nero does not doubt for one moment that he will be victorious – and why would he as emperor of the known world! This is Tacitus subtly showing us Nero’s perversion of these competitions. The word fama (fame) is an ambiguous word in Latin: it can mean ‘fame’ in the positive sense or, in a negative sense, ‘disgrace’, ‘notoriety.’ We are of course in Nero’s thoughts, so ‘he’ means that he will win glory among the citizens; at the same time, we can hear Tacitus’ cynicism and wonder whether the actual result will be Nero achieving disgrace and notoriety. 120 120 On fama see now the magisterial treatment by Hardie (2012), with a discussion of rumour in Tacitus’ historiographical works at 288–313. Flaig (2010a) offers an analysis of rumour in Roman politics from a sociological perspective, with specific reference to the reign of Nero.
Page 1 and 2:
Mathew Owen and Ingo Gildenhard Tac
Page 4 and 5:
Tacitus, Annals, 15.20-23, 33-45 La
Page 6 and 7:
Contents 1. Preface and acknowledge
Page 8:
1. Preface and acknowledgements
Page 11 and 12:
as to inform. Finally, for each cha
Page 14 and 15:
At the outset of his Annals, which
Page 16 and 17:
69 - 79 Vespasian In Rome from 75 o
Page 18 and 19:
It would be misleading... to concep
Page 20 and 21:
the Roman aristocracy remained a hi
Page 22 and 23:
a text, early imperial Rome comes a
Page 24 and 25:
in which he employed yet another ge
Page 26 and 27:
Period Regime/ emperor in charge Ch
Page 28 and 29:
In his history of Rome and Roman hi
Page 30 and 31:
to the two high magistrates who ent
Page 32 and 33:
One conspicuous aspect of the Annal
Page 34 and 35:
centre of gravity is displaced to a
Page 36 and 37:
judiciously aporetic stance on whet
Page 38 and 39:
Stage 1: AD 54-58 Stage 2: AD 59-63
Page 40 and 41:
this policy involves his presence i
Page 42 and 43:
The passage offers excellent insigh
Page 44 and 45:
interfered. Moreover, he identifies
Page 46 and 47:
3. Latin text with study questions
Page 48 and 49:
exim Cretensis, -e reus agor, agi,
Page 50 and 51:
privatus, -i, m. viso, -ere, visi,
Page 52 and 53:
adsensus, -us, m. celebro, -are, -a
Page 54 and 55:
ultra (+ acc.) appello, -are, -avi,
Page 56 and 57:
in dies cupido, -inis, f. adigo, -e
Page 58 and 59:
arbitror, -ari, -atus sum providus,
Page 60 and 61:
munus, -eris, n. frequento, -are, -
Page 62 and 63:
omitto, -ere, -misi, -missum in inc
Page 64 and 65:
adquiro, -ere, -quisivi, -quisitum
Page 66 and 67:
prodo, -ere, -didi, -ditum circus,
Page 68 and 69:
ago, -ere, egi, actum Palatium, -ii
Page 70 and 71:
demum imus, -a, -um Esquiliae, -aru
Page 72 and 73:
insula, -ae, f. numerum ineo, -ire,
Page 74 and 75:
ceterum ruina, -ae, f. proinde ...
Page 76 and 77:
Gallicus, -a, -um distinctio, -onis
Page 78 and 79:
piaculum, -i, n. Sibyllae libri, -o
Page 80:
confero, -ferre, -tuli, -latum perv
Page 84 and 85:
The assigned portion of text begins
Page 86 and 87:
Then a sudden transition in narrati
Page 88 and 89:
starring Thrasea Paetus, are an exc
Page 90 and 91:
conveys a sense of function, purpos
Page 92 and 93:
additional offence outweighs the ot
Page 94 and 95:
e (or traditionally were)? We may a
Page 96 and 97:
. Illustration (sic...) c. Gnomic g
Page 98 and 99: disapproved of flowery rhetoric as
Page 100 and 101: [Therefore, after everything was pr
Page 102 and 103: omnibus libidinum inlecebris replet
Page 104 and 105: ‘tu regere imperio populos, Roman
Page 106 and 107: whereby (quo)... we depart from the
Page 108 and 109: conducive to Thrasea’s argument -
Page 110 and 111: thinly masked by rhetorical general
Page 112 and 113: especially arresting. (Note that as
Page 114 and 115: The construction - a conditional se
Page 116 and 117: for almost everyone else the mind a
Page 118 and 119: We are still in AD 62, but Tacitus
Page 120 and 121: senatorumque interitus, quamvis pro
Page 122 and 123: he visits Roman society like a wrat
Page 124 and 125: Tacitus thus twins the abomination
Page 126 and 127: Candidates for the priesthood, girl
Page 128 and 129: Rufus chose for his tombstone (6.10
Page 130 and 131: Rufus and refocus attention from re
Page 132 and 133: during pregnancy. That poison playe
Page 134 and 135: who had made vows for his health wh
Page 136 and 137: ‘In times of crisis, the senate s
Page 138 and 139: equirement of someone who took on t
Page 140 and 141: Take this as a benchmark and you co
Page 142 and 143: (in predicative position and govern
Page 144 and 145: This is another instance of Tacitea
Page 146 and 147: the major hyperbaton cupidine ... p
Page 150 and 151: Nero imagines that his feats on sta
Page 152 and 153: position in the list, seems highly
Page 154 and 155: [62] M. Licinio L. Calpurnio consul
Page 156 and 157: at the spur of the moment. Possibly
Page 158 and 159: foedissima eius aulae ostenta is th
Page 160 and 161: The asyndetic tricolon, which consi
Page 162 and 163: up the disgust: as if the bluest of
Page 164 and 165: urial and the validity of the accus
Page 166 and 167: took a detour with the character po
Page 168 and 169: Tacitus endows Nero’s formulation
Page 170 and 171: the hands of the divine power of th
Page 172 and 173: first phrase, the second is slightl
Page 174 and 175: Tacitus goes on to explain why the
Page 176 and 177: ( Chapter 37 locis struere convi
Page 178 and 179: A purpose clause: quo = ut eo.
Page 180 and 181: The general Agrippa was one of Augu
Page 182 and 183: Roman morality, and for noble women
Page 184 and 185: With ipse, Tacitus introduces a shi
Page 186 and 187: moral pollution of these men. The m
Page 188 and 189: The asyndeton of the previous two p
Page 190 and 191: Tacitus here records a telling dyna
Page 192 and 193: consumed by fire’, he rejoined
Page 194 and 195: The author of the Octavia (a so-cal
Page 196 and 197: The parallels between Quintilian’
Page 198 and 199:
hunc morem cursus atque haec certam
Page 200 and 201:
His (and Nero’s) assimilation of
Page 202 and 203:
sed omnibus quae huic urbi per viol
Page 204 and 205:
An ablative of manner, which amount
Page 206 and 207:
After a long and twisting sentence
Page 208 and 209:
... audebat), he again continues wi
Page 210 and 211:
The subject of patefecit and extrux
Page 212 and 213:
The sack of the mighty city of Troy
Page 214 and 215:
conflagration; and given the number
Page 216 and 217:
But one could turn this around if o
Page 218 and 219:
Romani opes ornarent potius quam au
Page 220 and 221:
and the variation in constructions
Page 222 and 223:
first and the second item with et a
Page 224 and 225:
The (Senonian) Gauls had captured a
Page 226 and 227:
[There was nothing however in which
Page 228 and 229:
36) in the striking phrase patriae
Page 230 and 231:
inritae spei. The idea of the canal
Page 232 and 233:
Chapter 43 nulla distinctione nec
Page 234 and 235:
In Tacitus, the emphatic nulla and
Page 236 and 237:
uinis erat; vacuas areas occupare e
Page 238 and 239:
were meant to patrol the aqueducts
Page 240 and 241:
( Chapter 44 44.1 Et haec quidem h
Page 242 and 243:
quam mulierum disciplinam contineri
Page 244 and 245:
offering up scapegoats to cover his
Page 246 and 247:
the Romans’ point of view - a con
Page 248 and 249:
c-alliteration conveying Tacitus’
Page 250 and 251:
After dilaceration, Tacitus lists t
Page 252 and 253:
he aimed at. Tacitus could almost c
Page 254 and 255:
etiam. As often, Tacitus does not l
Page 256 and 257:
onis artibus) he received. Tacitus
Page 258:
The failure of the plan is stressed
Page 262 and 263:
Fisher, C. D. (ed.) (1906), Corneli
Page 264 and 265:
—. (2010), Monument und Inschrift
Page 266 and 267:
Kraus, C. S. and Woodman, A. J. (19
Page 268:
Sumi, G. S. (2005), Ceremony and Po
Page 273:
Rome’ by Richardprints @ Wikimedi
Page 278:
This book does not end here... At O
show all

Tacitus, Annals, 15.20­-23, 33­-45. Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, and Commentary, 2013a

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?

Tacitus, Annals, 15.20-23, 33-45. Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, and Commentary, 2013a