87

VIRGIL AND AGAIN

It seems proper to start with an explanation of my title, and of my return to this topic. When in 1962 I read to the Society a paper entitled ' and Tacitus' (1), that paper was a general survey of the problem, and part of an occasional series on 'Virgil and ... (2) which was organised by the then secretary. The paper argued that, although many suggested Virgil/Tacitus parallels were invalid, the influence of Virgil on Tacitus' language and thought was still strong: and that it might sometimes be a deliberate part of his historical presentation. Since then, a certain amount of writing on the subject has flown under sundry academic bridges. (3) Some of the writers see Tacitus' use of Virgilian language as deliberate and evocative, adding a dimension of interpretation-by-association to his historical narrative. Dr Baxter (4), for example, finds that the Virgilian echoes in Histories 3 cluster in the passages describing Cremona, the Capitol and the death of Vitellius, and that most of them come from Aeneid 2: he suggests that they give unity to Tacitus' book, and add a dimension to the narrative. Professor Benario (5) considers that Tacitus' account of the death of Galba in Histories

1 is pointed for the reader by its echoes of Virgil's story of the death of Priam in Aeneid 2 (and to this point we shall return). Dr Bews (6) sees the Virgilian language used of Germanicus in Annals 2 as both helping to set him in an 'heroic' context, and suggesting that he did not always match up to that context. Other scholars consider Virgilian words in Tacitus to be merely a verbal echo (conscious or unconscious), or a device to enhance his own expression, without reference to anything in the original Virgilian context. Battle has been joined. There are, naturally, arguments put forward in support of both positions: and not all of them are negligible. It is true, for example, that Virgil's works were educational textbooks in the first century A.D. (8), and that their language was therefore part of the educated man's intellectual furniture: it is true that Silver prose is 88

much more 'poetical' in its language than is Republican prose, and that a good proportion of that poetical vocabulary would inevitably come from Virgil (9): it is true that commentators tend to cite the Virgilian parallel because Virgil's is the text most familiar to them, that we have little evidence for the stylistic development of historical prose in the years between Virgil and Tacitus, and that there is no contemporary prose stylist of comparable stature whose Virgilianus decor we can set against Tacitus' (10). And yet (if I may be allowed a Tacitean turn) I think the difficulties can be exaggerated and that, if used with reasonable caution and restraint, Virgil/Tacitus parallels can be illuminating. If, as seems clear, both Tacitus and his putative audience knew their Virgil, that could make it all the more likely that, when he used or adapted a Virgilian phrase, he knew exactly what he was doing, and expected it to be recognised. We all pick up words and phrases at second hand, and use them without thought of an original context which we never knew or have forgotten: but if we use or adapt phrases from a source we know well, we remain conscious of that source, even though it may have no particular significance for our immediate purposes. To illustrate: if I wish a colleague in a minor crisis 'a happy issue out of all your afflictions', or remark that Tacitus' Annals are neither short nor simple, I in fact know perfectly well what it is I am misquoting, and I use the 'quotation' only in a context where I believe my 'audience' will know it too. At a much more literary and relevant level, a poet like T.S. Eliot will use quotations from and references to other writers, and will even provide notes to enable the less widely read to find his 'sources': for these references are not mere verbal echoes, used to enhance his own expression, but they are integral to his poetic meaning, and he employs and adapts them for his own poetic purposes. (11). At a still more immediately relevant level, this process of association and allusion is surely part of Virgil's own poetic technique. His use of Homer and , of and , of Hesiod and Theocritus, often goes far beyond tradition or rivalry, and is used to enlarge our apprehension of his poetic point. (12) This is the way a poet's 89 mind works: and Tacitus has, of all prose writers, something of the mind and approach of a poet. (13)

I do not think it matters greatly whether an echo can be established as conscious or unconscious (and how can one ever 'establish' such a thing?) What comes out of a great poet's subconscious is likely to be as interesting as what is happening at the conscious level. (Sometimes it can be more so: I find Eliot's 'The Cocktail Party' a thought-provoking play, but I am not sure that I am greatly enlightened by his explanation that it is based on Euripides' Alcestis.) (14) If therefore we can catch reasonably certain resonances between the text of Tacitus and the text of Virgil, (15) we are justified, I think, in pursuing them farther, and asking if they, individually or collectively, have anything to tell us about Tacitus' use of Virgil. It is the purpose of this paper to make such an examination and assessment of Histories 1: and although the inquiry inevitably starts from the text of Tacitus, I hope that the material may be of interest to Virgilians too. Some eighty-four parallels can be listed for this book, and a high proportion of them is illusory. I find it difficult to believe, for example, that sinistra (7,2) has any significant connection with sinistra ... cornix in Eel. 9.15 (if a source is needed for Tacitus' use of the adverb, AP 452 would be a better one). Nor does cohibentur (prouinciae 11,2) seem to be much illuminated by a comparison with o cohibete iras (Aen. 12,314). hue illuc (40,1 and 76,1) is indubitably in Aen 4,363 and elsewhere in Virgil: but it is also to be found in (Att. 9,9,2) (1,3,70), (7,34,9) and many other authors, indecora (simulatione) at Hist. 1,74,1 is not very like noh erimus...indecores (Aen. 7,231) where, as in all his other examples, Virgil uses the form indecoris and uses it of persons: much closer to Tacitus is Livy 21,63,4 (quaestus), 11,1,25 (iactatio) and Pliny Epp3,20,4 (confusio). And lymphatis (animis) at 82,1 can be par ailed not only by Aen 7,377 furit lymphata per urbem but by Catullus 90

64,254 lymphata mente, Horace, Od 1,37,14 mentemque lymphatam and Livy 7,17,3 lymphati et attoniti. There are many such examples, which clearly belong to common literary stock, and not to Virgil and Tacitus. Longer phrases, too, are not always what they seem, sceleris instinctor (22,3) is a striking phrase, and instinctor may be a Tacitean coinage: but the phrase is just as likely to have been suggested to Tacitus by (Capt.661 sator sartorque scelerum et messor) or Cicero (Cat.3,6 scelerum... machinatorem) as by Virgil (Aen. 6,529 hortator scelerum). Galba's famous query quis iussit (35,2) did not need the inspiration of Priam's quis auctor at Aen 2,150: both (Galba 26,2) and Dio (64,6,2), who are parallel sources for the episode, have "who ... gave the order?", and the question would appear to have been in the common source (confusingly, Galba 19,2 has quo auctore, but that does not bring Virgil and Tacitus any closer), male fidas (prouincias 52,3) may recall Aen 2,23 (statio) male fida: but it is a phrase also to be found in (Tr.1,6,13), Petrortius (123 v.193), Statius (Th.7,632) and elsewhere: the Virgilian connection is hardly a close one. tota mole belli secuturus (61) sounds splendidly Virgilian: but immani mole secuta (Aen. 9,542) is not really parallel in meaning, and molis belli exists from Accius (615W), is common in Livy (e.g. 33,20,2 tanta mole imminentis belli), and also in Velleius (e.g. 2,95,1 haud mediocris belli mole experiri statuit). ne turn quidem immemor amorum (78,2) might have been inspired by non ille oblitus amorum (Aen 5,334), but is it really any closer to that than to tenerae coniugis immemor in Horace, Od.1,1,26? Again, there are many phrases in this category.

I have laboured this point, because such investigation of even our incomplete evidence for literary and linguistic usage by the classical authors produces the sort of information I have been listing, and underlines the dangers of building Tacitean criticism on what may prove to be very shifting Virgilian sands. By removing examples such as those discussed above, the list of Virgilian 'echoes' can be reduced to twenty nine: and more than half of these are in various degrees doubtful. Can we, for example, 91 confidently connect horror animum subit (37,3) with Aen 10,824 mentem...subiit...imago and 2,559-560 circumstetit horror...subiit...imago, when Livy 39,16,7 offers subit animum timor and Statius Theb. 10,160-1 animum...horror...subit? Or foedare—sanguine (26,1) with Aen. 2,502 sanguine foedantem, when cum arae.-.supplieum sanguine foedarentur can be found in (Hist.l,22D) and sanguine foedatis in Ovid (Met. 3,523)? Not unless the Tacitean context is very Virgilian, and in other ways connected with the appropriate Virgilian passaged6). Other phrases, while not without parallels elsewhere, can be arguably claimed as more likely to come from Virgil than from any of the other sources. (17) For example, foedum imbribus diem (18,1). Foedus with dies is reasonably common (cf. Cicero, Phil. 3,12), and so is foedus with the ablative (cf. Justin 9,6,4 diem foedum luctu): imbribus is found with other adjectives (cf. 9,320 and Statius, Theb. 5,705 niger imbribus Auster and Lucan 5,608 imbribus atrum Notum. But the combinations of foedus and imbribus seems to be confined to Virgil and Tacitus, and the nearest parallel seems to be Panegyrici 10,12,4 mullus ... dies imbre foedatus. The argument for accepting such phrases as Virgilian will, like the previous one, be strengthened if the phrases appear in a context with other Virgilian colouring.

Finally, in this survey of the evidence, we reach the (much smaller) number of phrases where the line from Virgil to Tacitus seems clear. (18) And these must be examined individually, for their connections could be important. 2.3 (agerent) uerterent cuncta: cf. Aen.2,652-3 uertere cuncta seeum. uertere = euertere occurs elsewhere in both authors, but this is the only example with cuncta in either. Other writers use it with omnia (Cicero, Sex.Rosc. 61: Statius, Aeh. 1,249) or with other specific objects (domos Statius, Theb. 4,56: regna id., 5,696), or with the goal of action (in peiorem partem Cicero, Sex.Rosc. 103) or both (uertere ad extremum omnia Cicero, Off. 1,84 uersasque solo...turres Statius, Theb. 3,249). The only other example of the complete Virgilian phrase I have been able to find is in Lucan where, 92 at 7,58 hoc placet, o superi, cum uobis uertere cuncta/propositum itself looks like a clear echo of the Virgilian phrase. That is one thread. The other connects with agerent, the asyndeton and the phrase agunt feruntque cuncta in Dial.8. As Gudeman points out in his note there, this is the Latin version of a phrase which goes back to Homer (e.g. n. 5,484), and is a phrase which Livy appears to have introduced into Latin (cf. 3,37,7 hi ferre agere plebem plebisque res: 40,49,1 cum ferret passim cuncta atque ageret). Most examples (Greek and Latin) are literal in meaning, or of specific application. Latin, like Greek, usually has fero before ago. The phrase in the Dialogus refers to the activities of Eprius Marcellus and Vibius Crispus, notorious delatores. Our phrase in Hist. 1 appears in a highly wrought and deliberately effective chapter, and it appears at the climax of the chaos which that chapter records: it refers to the activities of the delatores. The Virgilian context is dramatic and memorable - it is the appeal to Anchises not to create total chaos by staying behind in Troy. I find this whole collocation interesting, and would hazard the suggestion that Tacitus is varying, in order to strengthen, the agere ferre phrase. That his variation produces, in an important context, a Virgilian phrase from an equally important context (and one which Lucan thought worth imitating) phrase which is nothing like as common as it might at first sight appear, seems to me to be at least a fact worth filing. 6,1 inualidum senem: cf. Aen. 12,132 inualidique senes. This is another apparently harmless phrase which is odder than it looks, inualidus is found, according to the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, from Virgil, Tibullus, Ovid and Livy on: is it conceivably a Virgilian formation? In any case, its use with senex appears to be rare. Anchises (Aen. 6,114) is simply and emphatically inualidus: Hordeonius Flaccus (Hist. 1,9) or Camillus (Livy 6,8,2) are senecta inualidus: and categories are defined (Hist 4,14) of senes aut inualidos. But the adjective/noun combination appears only once in Virgil 93 and once in Tacitus, and the only other example I can find is in Silius 1,561 where nine puer inualidique senes looks like a clear echo of the Virgilian phrase and context. The phrase has great importance in Tacitus' text: its position, its order and its case set the tone for the whole chapter and the whole account of Galba. Is he using a Virgilian echo and a Virgilian context (of a city under siege) to emphasise the helplessness of Galba and the siege condition of Rome? Is this Tacitus' version of the common source which told of Galba's reign? Suetonius has no sign of the phrase, but Plutarch, Galba 15,4, describing the entry into the city, calls him "weak and old": and Dio 64,3,4 describes him as "old and weak". It is interesting that Tacitus' version echoes a Virgilian phrase. 6,2, infaustus omine: this shows a number of interesting points. It describes Galba's entry into Rome, in the context of the mass killing of Nero's marines, and it echoes, with variation, the Virgilian infausto omine at Aen 11,589. Apart from Seneca Contr. 10,4,16 and Pliny N.H. 7,69 (both infausto omine), I can find no other examples of the phrase. Omens are foeda (e.g. Livy 22,3,12), tristia (e.g. Livy 9,38,15) and even fausta (e.g. Livy 7,25,11) but not elsewhere infausta. infaustus seems to be first found in Virgil: it may therefore have been a more obviously Virgilian word that we imagine. The parallel sources for the incident are again of interest; Dio (64,3,2) positively approves of Galba's action, and so records no unfavourable omens: Suetonius (Galba 13,1) merely says that his arrival was not as welcome as it might have been: but Plutarch (Galba 15,4) makes the same connection as does Tacitus, that it was not a happy for Galba to enter the city amid such slaughter. Have we therefore here another example of Tacitus' more concentrated and more poetic (Virgilian) version of the common source? The Virgilian context has more than passing interest for us. The phrase appears in Diana's instructions to Opis to avenge Camilla, and her words are finisque inuise Latinos/ tristis ubi infausto committitur omine pugna. 94

I find it diffcult to believe that Tacitus, in adapting Virgil's phrase, did not see in its context a fitting comment on the first conflict on Latin soil of what was to be a long year of civil strife and slaughter. 12,2 fessa aetate. The phrase at Aen 2,596 (fessum aetate parentem) is described by R.G. Austin ad loc as 'a Virgilian turn: later poets and Tacitus use fessus with similar nouns (ualetudo, senium, aeuum).' There is indeed no trace of a connection between fessus and aetas before Virgil: and only some nine examples in the writers that come between Virgil and Tacitus (19). Valerius Flaccus 6,444 is an obvious adaptation of the Virgilian phrase: Seneca, Dial. 5,9,4 looks like a variation on Virgil (and is itself varied by Tacitus at Ann 16,13): none of the others has the noun aetas, and only Lucan 2,128 fessa senectus and Seneca, H.F. 1250/Pha 267 fessis annis make the adjective agree with the noun meaning 'age'. Apart from the example from Ann. 16,13 (above), Tacitus has six examples of the phrase. (20) There is no sign of it in contemporary writing, prose or , but (interestingly) it reappears in the Scriptores Historiae Augustae (Hadr. 24,3 and A.P. 2,3). In all the contexts where it appears, from Virgil on, it has a strong emotive force, with overtones of compassion for the helplessness of age. The parallel sources for Galba's adoption of Piso (where Tacitus uses the phrase) (21) stress Galba's childlessness, and the revolt of Vitellius as his motives, and none has the colour or emotional quality of the Tacitean passage. Tacitus would seem to have been especially sensitive to the 'Virgilian turn'.

32,2 firmandos aditus. Vinius' advice (in reported speech) to Galba in a crisis echoes Turnus' instructions (in direct speech) to his men in a crisis (Aen 11,466) These are the only examples of the phrase in either author, and examples elsewhere are surprisingly difficult to find. One can claudere aditus (Livy 35,27,1) and firmare portas (Ann. 1,25) or ad omnes aditus firmare stationes (Livy 5,43,1). But the only other apparent example of the phrase is again in Silius, a writer who notoriously knew and used his Virgil (10,411 portarum aditus ...firmare). The presence of the phrase in Silius 95 suggests that it is not, in Virgil and Tacitus, the accidentally similar variation on a theme which it might otherwise appear to be: Silius is not a notable linguistic innovator. The fact that it is rare suggests that the phrase may have been more noticeable, and so more emphatic, than we think. And the presence in Suetonius, Galba 19,1 of the verb firmare raise speculation once more about the common source: did the presence of firmare there spark Tacitus' recollection of a more interesting phrase? 36,2 prensare manibus. This phrase, which Tacitus uses to describe the Praetorians rallying support for Otho, reflects an evocative phrase of Virgil's in Aen 6,360, where the ghost of Palinurus is describing to Aeneas the moment of his death. It is a vivid and memorable picture, and the phrase which evokes it is surprisingly absent from most of the rest of extant . It is found in (almost inevitably) Silius (4,586-7) and as a variant reading in Horace Sat. 1,9,64, where the editors reject it: and nowhere else. It has no reflection in Plutarch, Suetonius or Dio. Only here does Tacitus use the verb with an ablative. The effect of the phrase is certainly pictorial: does it also carry undertones of pathos, and a suggestion that this effort too is not likely to be ultimately successful?. Its effect is heightened by its juxtaposition to another Virgilian phrase. 36,2 complecti armis. This is an interesting and complex echo. In Tacitus, the phrase appears in the climactic description of the Praetorians enlisting help for Otho (see above). The Virgilian context is Aen 12,433 as Aeneas bids farewell to Ascanius before going off to the final combat: it is a highly charged and emotional context. Does armis come from arma or armus? arma, almost certainly, in Virgil, where the embrace is embedded in Aeneas' armour: but armus, I think, in Tacitus, where surely the picture and the climax require it. But armus used of men's, as opposed to animals' arms is itself a Virgilian innovation (Servius on Aen 11,644): and the fact that it is also so used by Lucan (9,831) and Statius (Theb: 8,494 and 10,401) suggests that it was a recognisable Virgilianism and that Virgil might again be the common source for 96

these poets and for Tacitus. Furthermore, however different the uses of armis, compleetor armis seems to occur only in Virgil and Tacitus, complector can be found with manu and manibus (Curtius 7,4,37 and 7,11,15): with digitis (Ovid, Met 3,727): with bracchiis (Pliny N.H. 32,12): with lacertis (Ovid, Met. 1,555): and with ulnis (Silius 17,312): but elsewhere with armis, no. Nor is armis found with amplector. The echo, with all its complexity, seems to be clearly Virgilian. Is it ironically applied by Tacitus? 44,2 praefixa contis capita. Tacitus' language here is certainly intended to impress. His account of the displaying of the heads of Galba and Piso starts with this phrase, goes on to the horrifying detail inter signa cohorthun, iuxta aquilam legionis, and works to a climax through no less than four qui clauses in anaphora. It seems reasonable therefore to connect it with Virgil's account of a similar horrifying display, that of the heads of Nisus and Euryalus in Aen 9,465-6 and 471 arrectis (uisu miserabile) in hastis praefigunt capita... ora uirum praefixa mouebant. The verb appears only here in Tacitus, and nowhere else does Virgil use it of heads. Suetonius, Galba 20,2 says (caput) hasta suffixum (he has praefixum hastae at Jul. 85): Plutarch and Dio record the incident (Galba 27,3 and 64,6,3), Dio with the same word kontos. The only other example of the phrase (22) seems to be (again) Silius 7,704 ora...praefixa...cuspide. The association with the Nisus/Euryalus episode evokes extra pathos, as well as reflections on human folly and the brutality of war - surely appropriate to the year 69? 47,2 concedi corpora sepulturae. This is an interesting and vivid use of language (the only example of concedere so used in either author), which Tacitus employs to describe, in an important context, Otho's 'gracious' permission to deal with the results of his coup, and which appears in Virgil as the last words of Mezentius and almost the last words of Aen 10 (906). For concedere aliquem alicui rei TLL cites only our two passages and some late and/or legal writers, none of whom employs sepulchro or any word like it. Statius Theb. 8,473 has rogum concedere, which is the normal construction: 97 and Suetonius, Galba 20,2 has hoc (caput) et... truncum...sepulturae dedit, which is unexceptionable Latin; but does it perhaps against represent the common source, which Tacitus has expressed in a more vivid Virgilian phrase to emphasise a point? There is also, in both the Virgilian and Tacitean contexts, an element of alliteration which increases the impact. 51,1 nunc...expediam. This expression was, of course, Lucretian before it was Virgilian: but I think Tacitus borrowed it from Virgil, nunc expedibo is found in Pacuvius (62-3W) and nunc...expediam in Varro L.L. 5,7 and scattered examples of expediam alone can be found from Plautus (Amph. 912) on. But Virgil found it sufficiently Lucretian to make it his own. The Virgil passage which exactly parallels the Tacitean one is Aen 11,314-5, where Latinus puts forward his tentative proposal for settling the Trojans and bringing peace. Variations (with age) introduce the great procession of Roman heroes at Aen 6,756, and the catalogue of Latin forces at Aen 7,37. (23) None of these is a passage of negligible importance in the poem. Tacitus uses the phrase here, as he starts his account of Vitellius' bid for the , and at Ann. 4,1, (24) as he points to the change in and begins his character sketch of the arch-villain . These are important stages in his narrative. Virgil borrowed the phrase from Lucretius via his didactic poem, but used it also to emphasise important points in his epic. Tacitus wants epic not didactic associations, and shows far more acquaintance with Virgil's poem and language than with Lucretius'. And if further proof were needed, the only example of the phrase I can trace between Virgil and Tacitus is in that conscientious purveyor of Virgilianisms, Silius Italicus (11,3). 55,1 raris ...uoeibus cf. Aen 3,314. Both the Tacitean and the Virgilian examples refer to difficulty of utterance, rather than to the commoner meaner of infrequency (cf. Ann 4,52: Livy 6,1,2: 4,3,53). I can find no other examples of rara with uox in this meaning, and think the close parallelism of case and meaning in the two 98

examples interesting. The Tacitean context is important - his account of the 'Vitellius for Emperor' movement, and he might well point it with a Virgilian phrase. 88,3 spe uana tumens. The phrase used by Tacitus to describe that section of Rome's populace which he considers leuissimus..et futuri improuidus, in a city where Otho is making final preparations to confront Vitellius, recalls Virgil's description (Aen. 11,854) of Arruns, the warrior who has killed Camilla and so doomed himself to die. Apart from the inevitable Silius example, (25) which has become almost a guarantee of Virgilian influence, the combination of nana and tumeo appears to be found only in Virgil and Tacitus. Phaedrus (1,3,4) and Propertius (3,6,3) show tumeo with inani: Livy (23,42,12 etc) has spes uana but no accompanying tumeo. The link looks sure, and it adds a pointed comment to Tacitus' description: he knows what is to happen to Otho and to Otho's army: the leuissimi are likely to meet a fate as inevitable as that of Arruns. It seemed to me essential to establish, as far as our evidence will allow, where and on what grounds a Tacitean use of Virgil's language may with any plausibility be argued to exist at all, before extending the inquiry to see if there is any pattern in the distribution of such phrases, any deeper purpose in their use. If one looks only at the twelve phrases I have argued as clear connections, some interesting points are immediately obvious. These vivid and Virgilian phrases in fact articulate and point the essential themes of Histories 1. In emphatic order they present to us general chaos, helpless age, an ill-omened start, helpless age (again), futile defence measures, emotional attempts (twice) to rally support for a rival Emperor, barbarity, burial, the challenge of a fresh rival, and the pointless posturing with which Rome prepared to meet this new challenge. The futility and folly of human behaviour, the barbarous actions to which men's irrational emotions can drive them, the suggestion of inevitable doom by the sword for those who use it to establish power, are the fundamental ideas of Tacitus, Histories 1: and they are not entirely foreign to Virgil's Aeneid. 99

If one adds the more doubtful examples (26) as possible extra Virgilian colouring, this merely intensifies the pointed allusions to internal division, doom, suffering and folly: and makes even clearer the fact that most of the Virgilian references come in the first fifty chapters of the book, the account of the Principate of Galba. The Virgilian echoes are by no means the only literary devices which Tacitus employs to add emotional weight and implicit comment to this part of the book, but they are an important arrow in his literary quiver. There are various plausible reasons for the imbalance of the Virgilian phrases (and of the other literary devices), it is important for Tacitus to establish main themes and tone in the opening section of his account of the civil war: it is equally important to drop the tone thereafter, to allow for the climaxes of Otho's suicide in Book 2 and for Cremona and the Capitol in Book 3: and Galba's short reign and brutal death provide very suitable material for an evocative and pictorial presentation of incidents illustrative of the issues involved in civil strife. Evocative and pictorial presentation is of the essence of poetry, and Virgil is of the essence of poets. Professor Benario (27) has made a good case for seeing in Tacitus' account of the death of Galba a reference to the death of Priam, as presented by Virgil at Aen 2,506-558. Both, he points out, are old men who uselessly don armour to defend themselves, meet a savage death at a sacred spot, and are left mutilated and headless after death: the evocation of the Virgilian passage skilfully underscores the mood of the Histories, that the world is out of joint. I think he has a point: and I think it can be supported by some further linguistic details. Tacitus cannot be quite so concentrated as the epic poet, and he cannot quite so readily manipulate his material. But he can place the themes of helplessness and age (conspicuously, and in Virgilian language) as early as 6,2 and 12,2: he can, when neither Plutarch nor Dio mentions the incident and Suetonius, Galba 19,1 says loricam... induit linteam, arm Galba with an echo (sumpto thorace 31,1) of Virgil's sumptis Priamum 100 iuuenalibus armis (Aen. 2,518): he can perhaps take from this Virgilian (Aen2,502) rather than from any other context (28) the phrase foedare...sanguine (26,1) in which he first articulates the decision of the soldiers to kill their Emperor: and he can use to good effect the historian's formula (nunc exitum habuit 49,2) for summing up an event of importance (29), a formula which Virgil borrowed to emphasise the importance of the death of Priam (Aen 2,554 haec finis Priami fatorum, hie exitus). R.G. Austin, commenting on the line, says 'any Roman reader would recognise in Virgil's lines the ethos of history in epic guise' and Professor Benario (30) neatly inverts this in his discussion of the passage, to comment that Tacitus is presenting 'the ethos of epic in historical guise.' And that, I think, is the nub of the matter, as it concerns Tacitus' narrative technique. We are fortunate in having, for this period in history, not only Tacitus' Histories but the works of Suetonius, Plutarch and Dio (31): and it is fairly obvious that they and Tacitus were using a common source. A comparison of the Tacitean passages containing Virgilian echoes with the parallel passages in the other sources, reveals very generally that one or more of these sources will have the fact or the incident, but that the Virgilian colouring and the implicit comment is Tacitus' alone. That the colouring is, at some level, deliberate, and so likely to include comment, is supported by the examples where the line is Virgil-Silius-Tacitus: because Silius parrots the Virgilian phrase, while Tacitus adapts and incorporates it. It is a technique demonstrably employed by many great writers, especially poets: and one of its masters is Virgil (32). There is a strong link between Tacitus, Histories 1 and Virgil Aen. 2, because of the Galba/Priam connection. But the main Virgilian reference of the book is, I think, to the Aeneid as a whole, and is general rather than particular, providing an epic tone and overtone for an epic theme, and providing, also, evocations of pathos and horror rather than of the conventionally heroic in human behaviour. And where else would 101

Tacitus naturally look for such subtle associations than in the work of Rome's greatest epic poet? NOTES

1. PVS 1961-62, 25-34. 2. PVS 1963-64, 12-26: id. 1966-67, 11-21: id. 1968-69, 1-12, among others.

3. R.T.S. Baxter, Virgil's influence on Tacitus in Book 3 of the Histories, CP (66) 1971, 93-107: id., Virgil's influence on Tacitus in Books 1 and 2 of the Annals, CP (67) 1972, 246-269. H.W. Benario, Priam and Galba, CW 1972, 146-7. J.P. Bews, Virgil, Tacitus, Tiberius and Germanicus, PVS (12) 1972-73, 35-48. J.

. Soubiran, Themes et rhythmes d'Efcopee dans les Annales de Tacite, Pallas (12) 1964, 55-79. P. Cornelius Tacitus: Die Historien ef. H. Heubner. Heidelberg, 1963-76. The Annals of Tacitus vol 1. ed. F.R.D. Goodyear, CUP, 1972.

4. op.cit., 1971 5. op.cit., 1972

6. op.cit., 1972-3 7. Cf. F.R.D. Goodyear, op.cit., 1972, pp306, 325 8. 5,56: Suet. Gramm. 16: Quint. 1,8,5.

9. Dial 20,5 exigitur enim iam ab oratore etiam poeticus decor ...ex Horatii et Virgilii et Lucani sacrario prolatus. 10 Seneca is a stylist and he uses Virgil. But he quotes more than he adapts: his approach, being that of a philosopher, is inevitably argumentative rather than

allusive. See S. Consoli, Reminiscenze Virgiliane nelle Prose di L. Annaeo Seneca, RFIC (49) 1921, 456-467: N.P. Miller, Virgil and Tacitus, PVS 1961-62, 27.

11. T.S. Eliot, Collected Poems 1909-1935, (Faber & Faber, 1945) 78ff. In his Notes on the Waste Land he gives references to, e.g. Ecclesiastes, Baudelaire and Dante (though not to Shakespeare's Tempest, Spenser and the Greek Anthology, which 102

equally resound in the text). He explains that some of the associations are arbitrary, and to suit his own purposes. And he equally warns that certain collocations are not accidental.

12. Virgil's use of Homer is seen not only in

the way in which he associates Aeneas with Achilles and Odysseus, or Nisus and Eurylaus with Odysseus and Diomede: but in verbal echoes also e.g. Aen 9,803-811, where he is using (and seen to be using) Homer, n, 16,102f., as well as Ennius, Annals 409-16W: or Aen 1,52-6 which is based on Od. 10,lf. together with Lucr. 6,189f. Cf. also Aen 6,460 with Cat. 66,39 and Aen 9,435-6 with Cat. ll,21f.: Georg 1,299 with Hesiod Works 391: and Eel 8,65f, with Theoc 2. This process of association, adaptation and integration is not an intellectual game of poetic pastiche: it is an essentially poetic approach to material.

13. N.P. Miller, PVS 1961-2, 28-9: K. Quinn, Texts and Contexts (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979), 237, 239.

14. T.S.Eliot, Poetry and Drama (Theodore Spencer Memorial Lecture, Harvard Univ., 1950) in On Poetry and Poets (Faber, 1957), 85.

15. The echoes have to be (as far as is possible) established as Virgilian and not simply poetic: to be (as far as we can tell) used only by Virgil and Tacitus, or by Virgil, Tacitus and (occasionally) by one or more of the Silver (especially Epic) writers, where the common source is almost certainly Virgil, or to be arguably more likely to come from the Virgilian context than from any other available source: and to be (unless very striking and evocative) more than single words.

16. 13,2 curam subisse cf. Aen. 9,757 and 2,575: 18,2 uerba et uoces cf. Aen 4,460: 26,1 foedare...sanguine cf. Aen. 2,502: clamore et gladiis cf. Aen. 10,716: 37,3 horror animum subit cf. Aen. 10,824 and 2,559: 40,2 auito—solio cf. Aen. 7,169: 103

43,2 in caedem eius ardentis cf. Aen. 12,71 and 2,529: 48,1 fama meliore cf. Aen. 4,221: 52,3 panderet sinum cf. Aen 8,712 are the relevant phrases.

17. 13,1 in duas factiones scindebantur cf. Aen 2,39: 18,1 foedum imbribus diem cf. Geor. 1,323: 20,1 super...erant cf. Aen. 2,567: 27,2 strictis mucronibus cf. Aen 2,449: 41.3 gladio lugulum eius hausisse cf. Aen. 10,314: 51,4 hauserunt animo cf. Aen. 10,648: 53,1. decorus iuuenta cf. Aen 4,559 and corpore ingens cf. Aen

11,641.

18. 2,3 uerterent cuncta cf. Aen 2,652-3: 6,1 inualidum senem cf. Aen 12,132: 6,2 infaustus omine cf.Aen. 11,589: 12,2 fessa aetate cf. Aen 2,596: 32, 2 firmandos aditus cf. Aen 11,466: 36,2 prensare manibus cf. Aen 6,360: 36,2 complecti armis cf. Aen 12,433: 44,2 praefixa contis capita cf. Aen 9 465-6: 47,2 concedi corpora sepulturae cf. Aen. 10,906: 51,1 nunc...expediam cf. Aen 11,315: 55,1 raris...uocibus cf. Aen. 3,314: 88,3 (spe) uana tumens cf. Aen 11,854.

19. Val. Fl. 6,444: Sen. Dial. 5,9,4: Luc. 2,128 and 3,729: Sen. H.F. 1309 and 1250, Fha. 267: Stat. Theb. 4,358 and Sil. 4,8,55.

20. Hist. 3,67: Ann. 1,46: 3,59: 14, 33: 15,38.

21. Dio 64,5,1: Plut. Galba 19,1: Suet. Galba 17,1.

22. It reappears in SHA, Maximin 23,6. 23. Also (Georg. 4,150) the divine nature of bees, and (with altius Georg. 4,286) the story of Aristaeus. 24. Also (Germ. 27) as he starts his detailed account of the German tribes: (with altius Hist. 4,12) to mark the start of the rebellion of Civilis: and (with quam uerissime Hist.4,48) to emphasise the bloody murder of a proconsul.

25. Sil. 17,429. 26. See nn. 16 and 17.

27. op.cit.: see n.3. 28. e.g. Ovid, Met 3,523: 7,845: 13,563. 104

29. Cf. Livy 39,51,12: Veil, 2,53,3: Tac. Hist. 3,75,1: Dio 64,7,1: Plut. Galba 29,1. 30. op.cit., p.147. 31. Suet. Galba: Plut. Galba: Dio 64. 32. See n.12 and cf. Soubiran (op.cit. n.3): G.D. Williams, Change and Decline (Univ. of California, 1978), pp. 163 and 196-7. 105

TACITUS (Histories 1) VIRGIL

* 2,3 (agerent) uerterent cuneta Aen. 2,652-3 uertere secum/cuncta

* 6,1 inualidum senem 12,132 inualidique senes

* 6,2 infaustus omine 11,589 infausto ... omine

* 12,2 fessa aetate 2,596 fessum aetate

13,1 in duas factiones scindebantur 2,39 scinditur...studia in contraria

uulgus

(13,2 curam subisse) 9,757 si...cura subisset

18,1 foedum imbribus diem Geo. 1,323 foedam...im br ibus

(18,2 uerba ac uoces) Aen. 4,460 uoces et uerba

20,1 super ...erant 2,567 super. ..eram

(26,1 foedare...sanguine) 2,502 sanguine foedantem

27,2 strictis mucronibus 2,449 strictis mucronibus

( elamore et gladiis) 10,716 missilibus...et...clamore

* 32,2 firmandos aditus 11,466 aditus...firmet

* 36,2 prensare manibus 6,360 prensantem... manibus

* complecti armis 12,433 complectitur armis

(37,3 (horror) animum subit) 2,575 subit ira

(40,2 auito...solio) 7,169 solio-.auito

41.3 gladio iugulum...hausisse 10,314 gladio...latus haurit

(43,2 in caedem...ardentis) 12,71 ardet in arma

* 44,2 praefixa contis capita 9,465-6 in hastis praefigunt capita

* 47,2 concedi corpora sepulturae 10,906 me...concede sepuichro

(48,1 fama meliore) 4,221 famae melioris

* 51,1 nunc.expediam 11,315 nunc.expediam

51,4 hauserunt ammo 10,648 animo.-.hausit

(52,3 pander et...sinum 8,712 pandentemque sinus 106

53,1 decorus iuuenta 4,559 membra decora iuuenta eorpore ingens 11,641 ingentem eorpore * 55,1 raris...uocibus 3,314 raris...uocibus * 88,3 (spe) uana turn ens 11,854 uana tumentem