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

The parallels between Quintilian’s recommendations in particular of how
to speak about a city captured and Tacitus’ account of the fire of Rome are
remarkable: they underscore the highly rhetorical (and hence conventional)
nature of such descriptions. But Tacitus gives this material an interesting
and innovative twist: he turns the fire from an instrument into the primary
agent of destruction. In his narrative, it becomes a personified force that
assaults the city of Rome like an external foe, reducing it to ashes and
causing the same kind of human suffering as an enemy army. 154
(d) Nero’s assimilation of the fire of Rome to the fall of Troy
Now the archetype of ‘the captured city’ was none other than Troy, the
sack of which stands behind the use of the motif – from Homer to Tacitus: 155
Its diffusion is owed in large measure, I believe, to the popularity of the theme
of the destruction of Troy. The popularity of that theme is attested by the various
treatments of the Iliupersis [‘The Fall of Troy’] in poems of the Epic Cycle and
by Stesichorus, who is credited with being the inspiration of the scene of Troy’s
destruction on a Tabula Iliaca. Various scenes from the sack of Troy frequently
appear on vase-paintings. Scenes from the sack appear on the walls of Pompeian
houses... The continuing popularity of the theme is indicated by Petronius’
treatment of the Halosis Troiae [‘The Capture of Troy’] (Satyricon 89); the poem,
it will be remembered, is inspired by a wall-painting. Its possible relationship
to Nero’s Troica (Dio 62.29.1) need not be discussed here; Nero was, however,
alleged to have sung of the Troianum excidium during the fire of Rome (Tac. Ann.
15.39). ... It is clear that the destruction of Troy and the resulting suffering and
grief were firmly established as a literary and artistic theme.
Nero and Tacitus, then, stand in a tradition that stretches back to Homer –
but for both the emperor and ‘his’ historiographer one account arguably
surpasses all others in importance: that by Virgil in Aeneid 2. It assumes a
special significance for both thematic and ideological reasons. As Richard
Heinze remarks, ‘in the whole course of the narrative..., it is striking how
deliberately Virgil emphasizes the burning of the city.’ 156 Austin observes that
154 Fans of J. K. Rowling’s Harry-Potter saga may wish to compare Tacitus’ passage with the
‘Fiendfyre’ that rages through the Room of Requirement in Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows, Chapter 31: ‘The Battle of Hogwarts’: ‘It was not normal fire..: as they turned a
corner the flames chased them as though they were alive, sentient, intent upon killing
them. Now the fire was mutating, forming a gigantic pack of fiery beasts... .’
155 Paul (1982) 147–48.
156 Heinze (1915/1993) 17. References to Troy engulfed in flames occur at Aeneid 2.311, 327,
329, 337, 353, 374, 431, 505, 566, 600, 632, 664, 705, 758, 764).