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Velleius Paterculus: Historicus Patrioticus

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Velleius Paterculus: Historicus Patrioticus CHAPTER SIX VELLEIUS PATERCULUS: HISTORICUS PATRIOTICUS Until very recently, scholarly opinion of Velleius Paterculus as an historian was so low, that were a Gallup Poll of Ancient Historians to be taken, the Tiberian author would be included in the category, "Other." 1 According to J. Hellegouarc'h, Velleius has suffered from comparisons to Livy and Tacitus, confrontations from which he has emerged scathed, being dismissed as a perjured panegyrist and trafficker in rhetoric; both charges having led to his conviction as a "minor historian."2 Now, however, thanks to the advocacy of scholars such as A.J. Woodman, the case of the only extant historian between Livy and Tacitus has been reopened. 3 Woodman has argued that Velleius is a "patriotic historian", writing in the grand old tradition of Sallust and Livy, his final 38 chapters on Tiberius being the logical conclusion of a work intended to show that great events of the past were foreshadowing an even greater present. 4 Woodman has furthermore demonstrated the absurdity of the complaint upon the rhetorical nature of the opus, noting that "all ancient historians, without exception" dealt in literary ani:l dramatic topoi, and that their writings must be "de-rhetorized" in order to be evaluated historically. 5 Velleius conceived a composition of broad scope that dates back to the primordial dawning of Athenian history. In order to cope with the breadth of his theme, he presents his readers with a "portrait gallery" of character sketches in which great events have been reduced to a series of individual actions.6 Like Livy, Velleius is dealing in historical exempla.1 1 J. Hellegouarc'h, "L'histoire romaine de Velleius Paterculus," in ANRW 32.1, 404-5. 2 Ibid., 405,419,436; cf. Vel/eius Paterculus, The Tiberius Narrative (2.94-131 ), ed. and intro. by A.J. Woodman (Cambridge, 1977) ix; 54-56. 3 Ibid., loc. cit. • Ibid., 35; 38. Woodman notes that the final chapters in Ab Urbe Condita were about Augustus' career. Since Livy's work is more in-depth than that of Velleius, and since his final chapters on Augustus are missing, the Augustan perspective of the work passes unnoticed. 5 Woodman (supra, n. 2) 35-36. • Hellegouarc'h (supra, n. I) 420. 7 Velleius' work is often compared to Valerius Maximus' compendium of anecdotes, facts and sayings, published in 31, book nine of which is dedicated to Tiberius. Also a patriotic work, its emphasis is on the deeds of the greats rather than on the men themselves; Valerius organized his opus into iilustrative rubrics. L. Alfonsi, "Carracteristiche della VELLEIUS PATERCULUS: HISTORICUS PATRIOT/CVS 101 A work that concentrates upon brief character likenesses and depends upon rhetoric is an ideal vehicle for the study of gender terminology; indeed, Velleius' history is a gold-mine of gender epithets. He uses vir over 100 times and homo in apposition only six;Jemina seven times, and mulier, never. Do these figures mean that vir has "taken over" the prose of the Roman Empire, as Axelson has hypothesized femina has?8 Is the omission of mulier and rare employment of homo indicative of semantic disuse, or is there another explanation? An Embarrassment of Viri Imitation, according to Velleius, nourishes genius (1.17 .6); and the nonpareil of forensic oratory and elegant prose was M. Tullius Cicero (1.17.3). Velleius' dictum holds true insofar as his use of gender terminlogy is concerned; for the author imitates Cicero over and over again, stocking his historical larder with great viri of the past. He introduces a character, such as Crassus Mucianus, and adds a laudatory epithet to his name-in Crassus' case, vir iuris scientissimus, an appel­ lation that encapsulates both his career and pre-eminence (2.4.1). A rehearsal of Velleius' JOO Great Viri of All Time would be as tedious as it would be repetitious; for we have already encountered many of them in Cicero, Sallust and Livy. A partial sampling, however, in categories, shows Velleius' traditional use of vir as an indicator of high status or moral worth. 1. Great Kings and Lawmakers: e.g., King Codrus, vir nonpraetereun­ dus, who exchanged regal robes for shepherd's skins in order to die for Athens (1.2.1 ); Lycurgus, vir generis reg ii and severissimarum iustissimarumque Legum auctor (1.6.3). 2. Immortal Bards: e.g., Hesiod, vir perelegantis ingenii et mollissimi dulcidine carminum memorabilis: second only to Homer (tanto viro) ( 1. 7 .1 ); similarly, a single epoch of a few years' duration brought brilliance to tragedy per divini spiritus viros, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides (1.16.3). letteratura Giulio-Claudia," ANRW 32.1, 11; cf. G. Maslakov, "Valerius Maximus and Roman historiography: a study in the exempla tradition," ANRW32.1, 437 sq. The difference between Velleius' and Valerius' emphasis is apparent in the latter's gender terminology, for although vir and femina prevail over homo and mu/ier, all fall into familiar polarized concepts. The compiler of deeds is less prone to use gender terms as epithets, which Velleius does almost exclusively. 1 B. Axelson, Unpoetische Worter, einBeitrag zur Kenntnis der lateinischenDichtersprache (Lund, 1945) 55-59. .
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