CHAPTER SEVEN

TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING

Because of the multiplicity of his works and his skill in the art of prose, Tacitus' use of gender terms ranges from the conventional to the subtle. At times he is traditional: in Agricola, Germania and the Histories, works said to reflect elements of Cicero and Livy, 1 Roman viri, of whom Agricola is the foremost, arefortissimi, militares, or inlustres; 2 and their feminae are nobilissimae, primores and conspicuae.3 Tacitus often applies gender epithets to minor characters in order to clarify their position in the hectic events of the narrative. 4 In the Annales, he uses vir and femina with adjectives of rank in order to emphasize Julio-Claudian oppression of the aristocacy; in such cases the nouns preserve their traditional overtones of moral excellence. The repetition of words has a cumulative impact upon the reader. 5 Thus the iteration of feminae inlustres in contexts of victimization stresses the brutal tyranny of the Julio-Claudians against women of the senatorial class. Mulieres in general are not being oppressed, but rather Rome's finestfeminae with all their inherent virtues. For instance, Junia Silana, nobilis femina, is hounded out of her home by Messalina (Ann. 11.12.7); Calpumia, inlustris femina, falls victim to Agrippina's jealousy (Ann. 12.22.12;

1 R.M. Ogilvie notes Tacitus' debt in his early works to Cicero, Sallust, and Livy: Corne Ii Taciti de Vita Agrico/ae (Oxford, 1967) 22; 26; cf. R. Martin, who cites Ciceronianisms in the Histories: Tacitus (London, 1981) 231. 2 Agricola does not lament muliebriter for the deaths of fortes viri, including his son (Ag. 29.1); the g/oria viri [Agrico/ae] is hailed (Ag. 41.1); and he is a bonus vir and magnus (44.2). Militares viri: Ag. 41.2; Martin equates this with persons distinguished in military action (supra, n. 1) 32. In the Histories: c/ari viri, who have died well, 1.3.5; the duty acrioris viri to do so, 1.21.16; Cluvius Rufus, a vir facundus, 1.8.3; Sempronius Densus, centurion, insignis ilia die vir, 1.43. 1; fortissimi viri: 2.28.7; 3.31.13; 4.24.12; 64.19; arma virique (and/or equi): 1.51.8; 67.3; 2.22.2; 70.5; 3.55.4; 4.12. 10; 58.15; 64.9; militares viri: 2.75.2; 3.73.10. 3 Feminae nobilissimae: Ag. 45.1; primores: Hist. 1.81.1; conspicuae: 4.42.23; there are, predictably, fewer feminine paragons. • In the first three works, Agricola is the only major character to be assigned gender terms; all are in keeping with the Ciceronian tradition. Martin notes a twelve month time span for the first three books of the Histories (supra, n. 1) 101. Note how the epithet, ce/ebris ingenii vir, contributes to the status of Votienus Montan us, whom Tacitus is presenting as a victim of Tiberius (Ann. 4.42). Seneca the Elder, however, is not so unstinting in his estimation of Montanus' intellect, as can be seen from his epithet, homo rarissimi, etiamsi non emendatissimi ingenii (Contr. 9.5.15). 5 H.W. Benario notes the care with which Tacitus selected his words, particularly in the Anna/es: An Introduction to Tacitus (Athens, Ga., 1975) 91. TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING 121

14.12.15); and A. Plautius' wife, Pomponia Graecina, insignis femina, is indicted as superstitionis externae rea (Ann. 13.32.6). All are to be pitied the more because they are feminae of the aristocracy. Conversely, there exists a sense of outrage when it is discovered that inlustres feminae have disgraced themselves in the arena (Ann. 15.32.6) or have allowed Nero to degrade them in his private lupanaria during one of his obscene spectacles (Ann. 15.37.11). With the exceptions of the victims of Julio-Claudian rapacity, how• ever, one notes a decline of the tendency to impose moral overtones onto gender terminology in the Anna/es, where Tacitus is said to have rejected neo-Ciceronian oratory. 6 Little concerned with the lower classes indi• vidually,7 Tacitus probes the personalities of the viri and especially the feminae who revolved around the emperors. His gender terms are based upon high rank. Afemina, for instance, may be thoroughly depraved, but she remains, most often, afemina. Like Livy, Tacitus will censure her behaviour as muliebris. 8 In special cases, however, when a female character has excelled in odium, Tacitus will apply traditional Ciceronian terms of abuse, which because of their rare use in his works, become particularly effective instruments of innuendo. 9 Tacitus' use of gender terminology is complicated even further by his development of the "noble savage" theme-also evident in Livy• where barbarians of pristine virtue serve as "teachers" to Roman viri and feminae, and the terms, applied to primitives, exude moral connotations that pertain to the Roman aristocracy. 10 Whereas the barbarian vir is invariably valorous, his feminine counterpart-termed femina-upon occasion, acts in an unacceptable manner, such as actively participating on the battlefield. Thefemina as dux, in fact, is a Tacitean preoccupation

• Martin (supra, n.1) 214; G. Kennedy The Art of Rhetoric in the Ancient World (Princeton, 1972) 523. 7 Of the few specified with gender terms: Acte (for whom Tacitus uses the diminutive muliercula as meretrix or concubina). Acte has been provided to keep Nero from venting his lust in stuprafeminarum inlustrium (Ann. 13.12); cf. Cicero, Verr. 2.192; 3.31; 78; 79; 5.63; 100; 131; cf. Livy, 27.15.9; Epicharis, infra, 135-37. Whetherornot mulier, used of Locusta, a professional poisoner (Ann. 12.66), indicates servile status, it can only be pejorative. On Acte, C.W. Mendell, Tacitus, the Man and his Work (London, 1957) 153; cf. B. Baldwin, "Women in Tacitus," Prudentia 4 (1972) 85. He notes that Locusta is foreshadowed by Martina (Ibid., 89), a poisoner who is not specified by gender. 8 L.W. Rutland, "Women as makers of kings in Tacitus' Annals," CW 72 (1978) 15-17; v. supra, chapter five, pp. 80-83. 9 One searches in vain for homines nequissimi, but T. uses mulier in pejorative contexts for characters such as the younger Agrippina and Poppaea whom he judges to be paragons of impudicitia (Conversely, he usesfemina to illustrate the courage of the liberta Epicharis (v. infra, pp. 135-37). 1° K.V. Muellendorf, Die Germania des Tacitus (Berlin, 1900) 308.