= ru ;ru :f^ ! m \ THE LIBRARY of VICTORIA UNIVERSITY Toronto If '</ ,<*- /I 7 ' THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB, LL.D. EDITED BY tT. E. PAGE, C.H., LITT.D. CAPPS, PH.D., ll.d. tW. H. D. ROUSE, litt.d. PI >ST, l.h.d. E. H. WARMINGTOX, m.a., f.r.hist.soo. TACITUS IV TACITUS THE HISTORIES WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY CLIFFORD H. MOORE Ot HARVARD UNIVERSITY THE ANNALS WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY JOHN JACKSON IN FOUR VOLUMES IV ANNALS, Books X1II-XVI LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS MCMLXII \A- First printed 1937 Reprinted 1951, 1956. 1962 3285 Printed in Great Britain CONTENTS paou Book XIII 1 Book XIV 105 Book XV . 215 Book XVI 337 Index 391 Map- Asia Minor At End THE ANNALS OF TACITUS BOOK XIII AB EXCESSU DIVI AUGUSTI P. CORNELII TACITI LIBER XIII I. Piuma novo principatu mors Iunii Silani pro- consulis Asiae ignaro Nerone per dolum Agrippinae paratur, non quia ingenii violentia exitium inrita- verat, segnfs et dominationibus aliis fastiditus, adeo ut Gaius Caesar pecudem auream eum appellare solitus sit : verum Agrippina fratri eius L. Silano necem niolita ultorem metuebat. crebra vulgi fama anteponendum esse vixdum pueritiam egresso Ne- roni et imperiuin per scelus adepto virum aetate composita, insontem, nobilem et, quod tunc spectare- tur, e Caesarum posteris : quippe et Silanus divi Augusti abnepos erat. Haec causa necis. Minis- tri f'uere P. Celer eques Romanus et Helius libertus. rei familiari principis in Asia impositi. Ab his pro- consuli venenum inter epulas datum est apertius. quam ut fallerent. Nee minus properato Narcissus Claudii libertus. de cuius iurgiis adversus Agrippinam rettuli, aspera custodia et necessitate extrema ad 1 So Diogenes rov afiaBrj vXovot-ov npo^arov eint xpvo6fj.aA\r>v (1). Laert. VI. 2, 47). 2 Once the affianced husband of Oct a via : see XII. 3 sqq. 3 Their grandmothers, Julia and the elder Agrippina, had been sisters : see vol. ii. p. 240. J See XII. 57, 65. 2 THE ANNALS OF TACITUS BOOK XIII I. The first death under the new prineipate, that of Junius Silanus, proconsul of Asia, was brought to pass, without Nero's cognizance, by treachery on the part of Agrippina. It was not that he had pro- voked his doom by violence of temper, lethargic as he was, and so completely disdained by former des- potisms that Gaius Caesar usually styled him " the golden sheep "i 1 but Agrippina, who had procured the death of his brother Lucius Silanus,2 feared him as a possible avenger, since it was a generally expressed opinion of the multitude that Nero, barely emerged from boyhood and holding the empire in consequence of a crime, should take second place to a man of settled years, innocent character, and noble family, who—a point to be regarded in those days—was counted among the posterity of the Caesars : for Silanus, like Nero, was the son of a great-grandchild 3 of Augustus. Such was the cause of death : the instruments were the Roman knight, Publius Celer, and the freedman Helius, who were in charge of the imperial revenues in Asia. By these poison was administered to the proconsul at a dinner, too openly to avoid detection. With no less speed, Claudius' freedman Narcissus, whose altercations with Agrip- pina I have already noticed, 4 was forced to suicide by a rigorous confinement and by the last necessity, 3 VOL. IV. A 2. THE ANNALS OF TACITUS mortem agitur. invito principe, cuius abditis adhuc vitiis per avaritiam ac prodigentiam mire congruebat. II. Ibaturque in caedes, nisi Afranius Burrus et Annaeus Seneca obviam issent. Hi rectores impera- toriae iuventae et, rarum in societate potentiae, Concordes, diversa arte ex aequo pollebant, Burrus militaribus curis et severitate morum, Seneca prae- ceptis eloquentiae et comitate honesta, iuvantes in vicem, quo facilius lubrieam principis aetatem, si virtutem aspernaretur, voluptatibus concessis re- tinerent. Certamen utrique unum erat contra ferociam Agrippinae, quae cunctis malae domina- tionis cupidinibus flagrans habebat in partibus Pal- lantem, quo auctore Claudius nuptiis incestis et adoptione exitiosa semet perverterat. Sed neque Neroni infra servos ingenium, et Pallas tristi adro- gantia modum liberti egressus taedium sui moverat. Propalam tamen omnes in earn honores cumula- bantur, signumque more militiae petenti tribuno dedit optimae matris. Decreti et a senatu duo lictores, flaminium Claudiale, simul Claudio cen- sorium funus et mox consecratio. III. Die funeris laudationem eius princeps exorsus est, dum antiquitatem generis, consulatus ac 1 In command of the praetorian cohort on guard at the palace. ; BOOK XIII. i.-m. much against the will of the emperor, with whose still hidden vices his greed and prodigality were in admirable harmony. II. The tendency, in fact, was towards murder, had not Afranius Burrus and Seneca intervened. Both guardians of the imperial youth, and—a rare oc- currence where power is held in partnership—both in agreement, they exercised equal influence by contrasted methods ; and Burrus, with his soldierly interests and austerity, and Seneca, with his lessons in eloquence and his self-respecting courtliness, aided each other to ensure that the sovereign's years of temptation should, if he were scornful of virtue, be restrained within the bounds of per- missible indulgence. Each had to face the same conflict with the overbearing pride of Agrippina who. burning with all the passions of illicit power, had the adherence of Pallas, at whose instigation Claudius had destroved himself by an incestuous marriage and a fatal adoption. But neither was Nero's a disposition that bends to slaves, nor had Pallas, who with his sullen arrogance transcended the limits of a freedman, failed to awaken his disgust. Still, in public, every compliment was heaped upon 1 the princess ; and when the tribune, following the military routine, applied for the password, her son gave: "The best of mothers." The senate, too, accorded her a pair of lictors and the office of priestess to Claudius, to whom was voted, in the same session, a public funeral, followed presently by deification. III. On the day of the obsequies, the prince opened his panegyric of Claudius. So long as he rehearsed the antiquity of his family, the consulates and the THE ANNALS OF TACITUS triumphos maiorum enumerabat. iutentus ipse et ceteri ; liberalium quoque artium commemoratio et nihil regente eo triste rei publicae ab externLs accidisse pronis animis audita : postquam ad pro- videntiam sapientiamque flexit, nemo risui temperare, quamquam oratio a Seneca composita multum cultus praeferret, ut fuit illi viro ingenium amoenum et temporis eius auribus adcommodatum. Adnotabant seniores, quibus otiosum est vetera et praesentia contendere, primum ex iis, qui rerum potiti essent. Neronem alienae facundiae eguisse. Nam dictator Caesar summis oratoribus aemulus ; et Augusto prompta ac profluens quae 1 deceret principem elo- quentia fuit. Tiberius artem quoque callebat, qua verba expenderet, turn validus sensibus aut consulto ambiguus. Etiam Gai Caesaris turbata mens vim dicendi non corrupit. Nee in Claudio. quotiens meditata dissereret, 2 elegantiam requireres. Nero puerilibus statim annis vividum animum in alia detorsit : caelare, pingere, cantus aut regimen equorum exercere ; et aliquando carminibus pangen- dis inesse sibi elementa doctrinae ostendebat. IV. Ceterum peractis tristitiae imitamentis curiam ingressus et de auctoritate patrum et consensu militum praefatus, consilia sibi et exempla capessendi egregie imperii memoravit. Neque iuventam armis civilibus aut domesticis discordiis imbutam ; nulla 1 quae] quaeque Ernesti. 2 dissereret Puleolanws : dissererentur. 1 An impressive catalogue of his literary labours, Greek and Latin, is given by Suetonius (Claud. 41 sq.)- The most regret- able loss is, no doubt, that of the eight rolls of an autobio- graphy, composed magis inepte quam inelegant&r. 6 —; BOOK XIII. in. iv. triumphs of his ancestors, he was taken seriously by himself and by others. Allusions, also, to his literary attainments 1 and to the freedom of his reign from reverses abroad had a favourable hearing. But when the orator addressed himself to his fore- sight and sagacity, no one could repress a smile ; though the speech, as the composition of Seneca, exhibited the degree of polish to be expected from that famous man, whose pleasing talent was so well suited to a contemporary audience. The elderlv observers, who make a pastime of comparing old days and new, remarked that Nero was the first master of the empire to stand in need of borrowed eloquence. For the dictator Caesar had rivalled the greatest orators ; and Augustus had the ready and fluent diction appropriate to a monarch. Tiberius was, in addition, a master of the art of weighing words powerful, moreover, in the expression of his views, or, if ambiguous, ambiguous by design. Even Caligula's troubled brain did not affect his power of speech ; and, when Claudius had prepared his harangues, elegance was not the quality that was missed. But Nero, even in his childish years, turned his vivacious mind to other interests : he carved, painted, practised singing or driving, and occasionally in a set of verses showed that he had in him the rudiments of culture. IV. However, when the mockeries of sorrow had been carried to their close, he entered the curia and, after an opening reference to the authority of the Fathers and the unanimity of the army, stated that "he had before himadviceand examples pointing him to an admirable system of government. Nor had his youth been poisoned by civil war or family strife : — — THE ANNALS OF TACITUS odia, nullas iniurias nee eupidinem ultionis adferre. Turn formam futuri principatus praescripsit, ea maxi- me declinans. quorum recens flagrabat invidia. Non enim se negotiorum omnium iudicem fore, ut elausis unam intra domum accusatoribus et reis pau- eorum potentia grassaretur ; nihil in penatibus suis venale aut ambitioni pervium ; discretam domum et rem publieam.