Tacitus, Annals, 15.20-23, 33-45. Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, and Commentary, 2013a
Tacitus, Annals, 15.20-23, 33-45. Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, and Commentary, 2013a
Tacitus, Annals, 15.20-23, 33-45. Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, and Commentary, 2013a
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once more evokes the image of the city as a living being that fell victim<br />
to violent assault. Commentators draw attention to the fact that <strong>Tacitus</strong><br />
here exaggerates. As he himself concedes later, the buildings on the Capitol<br />
remained intact <strong>and</strong> the Forum, too, was largely unaffected. See <strong>Annals</strong><br />
15.44.1 <strong>and</strong> 16.27. Even in the Campus Martius, buildings such as the<br />
Augustan portico of the Pantheon remained st<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>and</strong>, as Furneaux<br />
points out, ‘the theatre of Pompeius was used for the Neronia [in AD 65]<br />
immediately after the conspiracy.’ 171<br />
Chapter 41<br />
41.1 Domuum et insularum et templorum quae amissa sunt numerum<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
regia et delubrum Vestae cum Penatibus populi Romani exusta; iam opes<br />
<br />
ingeniorum antiqua et incorrupta, ut quamvis in tanta resurgentis urbis<br />
pulchritudine multa seniores meminerint quae reparari nequibant.<br />
<strong>Tacitus</strong> takes stock of the damage. A good passage to compare this <strong>with</strong><br />
is Histories 3.72, where <strong>Tacitus</strong> had described the impact of a later fire on<br />
the Capitol, which wrought similar devastation on ancient buildings <strong>and</strong><br />
heirlooms. (This fire occurred in AD 69 as the result of violence among<br />
troops during the chaos surrounding the fall of Vitellius.)<br />
Id facinus post conditam urbem luctuosissimum foedissimumque rei<br />
publicae populi Romani accidit, nullo externo hoste, propitiis, si per mores<br />
nostros liceret, deis, sedem Iovis Optimi Maximi auspicato a maioribus<br />
pignus imperii conditam, quam non Porsenna dedita urbe neque Galli<br />
capta temerare potuissent, furore principum excindi. arserat et ante<br />
Capitolium civili bello, sed fraude privata: nunc palam obsessum, palam<br />
incensum, quibus armorum causis? quo tantae cladis pretio? stetit dum pro<br />
patria bellavimus. voverat Tarquinius Priscus rex bello Sabino, ieceratque<br />
fundamenta spe magis futurae magnitudinis quam quo modicae adhuc<br />
populi Romani res sufficerent. mox Servius Tullius sociorum studio, dein<br />
Tarquinius Superbus capta Suessa Pometia hostium spoliis exstruxere.<br />
sed gloria operis libertati reservata: pulsis regibus Horatius Pulvillus<br />
iterum consul dedicavit ea magnificentia quam immensae postea populi<br />
171 Furneaux (1907) 367, <strong>with</strong> reference to <strong>Annals</strong> 16.4.2.
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