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

In the midst of
this unseemly rabble the words Caesarem and honorem seem incongruous.
They help to give a sense of noble, devoted servants of the emperor caught
up in this group. The impression is undone by the vague and promiscuous
aut varios usus that follows it. Tacitus may have had in mind the so-called
Augustiani – a special group of young men formed by Nero some years
previously, to follow him, flatter him and applaud his performances: ‘All
great performers had their own claques (fautores histrionum) to cheer them
on and to whip up the audience with elaborate rhythmic chants and handclapping.
It was at his private Juvenile Games, celebrated in 59, that Nero
first introduced his Augustiani, Roman knights in their prime who made
both day and night ring with applause and praise of Nero’s godlike beauty
and voice. ... By the time Nero first appeared in public in Naples, in 64,
these Roman knights were backed by some 5,000 hardy plebeian youths.
They were divided into groups, factiones, to learn the different elaborate
forms of clapping (imported from Alexandria) – “the buzzings,” “the
tiles,” “the bricks” – by which Nero had been captivated and which they
performed vigorously when he sang.’ 122 (What, do you think, did ‘the
buzzings’, ‘the tiles’, and ‘the bricks’ sound like?) They would have been
amongst this group, and the frequentative verb sectantur (‘keep following
around’, ‘follow in the train of’) suggests their fawning attendance on the
emperor.
The preposition per has a causal sense here.
honestum (‘the honourable’) and utile (‘the advantageous’) are two key
concepts in (philosophical) ethics, extensively discussed in (for instance)
Cicero’s de Officiis.
etiam militum m etiam (‘even’) and the delay of this group
to the end of the long list, makes clear that the soldiers’ presence was
the most shocking: Nero has enlisted soldiers (most likely members of
the Praetorian guard) to join his fan-club in the theatre and to cheer
him on. The maniple was a company in the Roman army, numbering
two centuries (i.e. about 120 men in total). Here it is plural (manipuli),
indicating that Nero took a very sizeable number of soldiers with him.
Their presence, stressed by the alliteration, the etiam and their final
122 Champlin (2003) 59–60. See Suetonius, Nero 20.3 and Annals 14.15.