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

hunc morem cursus atque haec certamina primus
Ascanius, Longam muris cum cingeret Albam,
rettulit et priscos docuit celebrare Latinos,
quo puer ipse modo, secum quo Troia pubes;
Albani docuere suos; hinc maxima porro
accepit Roma et patrium servavit honorem;
Troiaque nunc pueri, Troianum dicitur agmen.
[This manner of horsemanship, these contests Ascanius first revived when
he surrounded Alba Longa with walls, and taught the early Latins how to
celebrate them in the same way he had done as a boy and with him the
Trojan youth. The Albans taught their children; from them in turn mighty
Rome received and preserved the ancestral institution; and today the boys
are called ‘Troy’ and the troop ‘Trojan.’]
Augustus, we learn from Suetonius, was particularly keen to sustain the
tradition of the Game, following in the footsteps of Caesar (see Suetonius,
Caesar 39.2) (Augustus 43.2):
Sed et Troiae lusum edidit frequentissime maiorum minorumque puerorum,
prisci decorique moris existimans clarae stirpis indolem sic notescere.
[Besides he gave frequent performances of the game of Troy by older and
younger boys, thinking it a time-honoured and worthy custom for the
flower of the nobility to become known in this way.]
And it continued to be celebrated by his successors as well. In fact, a
Game of Troy organized by Claudius provides the context for Nero’s first
appearance in Tacitus’ Annals (11.11.2):
sedente Claudio circensibus ludis, cum pueri nobiles equis ludicrum Troiae
inirent interque eos Britannicus imperatore genitus et L. Domitius adoptione
mox in imperium et cognomentum Neronis adscitus, favor plebis acrior in
Domitium loco praesagii acceptus est.
[During the presence of Claudius at the Circensian Games, when a cavalcade
of boys from the great families opened the mimic battle of Troy, among
them being the emperor’s son Britannicus, and Lucius Domitius, – soon to
be adopted as heir to the throne and to the designation of Nero, – the livelier
applause given by the populace to Domitius was accepted as prophetic.]
For our purposes, however, it is crucial to note that genealogical and
etiological connections between Troy and Rome do not amount to the
identity of the two cities. In fact, in the course of the Aeneid Aeneas is forced