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A STYLISH EXIT: MARCUS TERENTIUS’ SWANSONG (TACITUS, ANNALS 6.8), CURTIUS RUFUS AND VIRGIL
Within the narrative for a.d. 32, Tacitus recreates a spirited speech delivered before the Senate by the eques Marcus Terentius (Ann. 6.8), defending himself retrospectively for having been a ‘friend’ of Sejanus. This speech, the only extended speech in oratio recta to feature in Annals Book 6, is historiographically rich and suggestive. This article first analyses the speech as a compelling piece of oratory in its own right. It then explores the provocative mirroring of another important speech in Curtius Rufus (7.1.19–40). This is where the general Amyntas, defending himself before Alexander the Great against charges of participation in an alleged conspiracy, refuses to deny his friendship with the conspirator Philotas (now dead). Scholars have rightly acknowledged the significant intertextuality of these two speeches in Curtius Rufus and Tacitus. Yet the interest in this mirroring between Amyntas and Terentius has overshadowed another important intertext. This article demonstrates how Tacitus also engages with a programmatic moment from the opening of Virgil's Aeneid when Aeolus is cajoled by Juno to unleash a devastating storm. Terentius wittily casts Tiberius as a powerful divinity whose whims had to be obeyed and himself as a helpless Aeolus doing his will. This article demonstrates that the two passages from Virgil and Curtius Rufus underpinning Terentius’ speech work together powerfully, challenging Tacitus’ readers to reflect on the difficulties of ‘speaking to power’ and on the compromises involved for men like Terentius in negotiating the complex political realities of the imperial system.
Journal Article
Annals. Book XV
\"Tacitus' account of Nero's principate is an extraordinary piece of historical writing. His graphic narrative (including Annals XV) is one of the highlights of the greatest surviving historian of the Roman Empire. It describes how the imperial system survived Nero's flamboyant and hedonistic tenure as emperor, and includes many famous passages, from the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64 to the city-wide party organised by Nero's praetorian prefect, Tigellinus, in Rome. This edition unlocks the difficulties and complexities of this challenging yet popular text for students and instructors alike. It elucidates the historical context of the work and the literary artistry of the author, as well as explaining grammatical difficulties of the Latin for students. It also includes a comprehensive introduction discussing historical, literary and stylistic issues.\"--Page 4 of cover.
Book
Fame and infamy : essays for Christopher Pelling on characterization in Greek and Roman biography and historiography
Over recent decades, the debate about how individuals are portrayed in prose-texts of Greek and Roman historiography and biography has evolved in increasingly nuanced ways. The sorts of questions which now tend to be raised concerning such prose-texts brings them closely into line with the more subtle analysis usually reserved for poetry. Moreover, the engagement with literary strategies at work in historiography and biography has a fundamental impact both on the relationship of these texts with poetry and on the status of these genres as historical evidence. In twenty-four chapters written by leading experts in their fields, 'Fame and infamy' considers the central question of characterization within Greek and Roman historiography and biography from a fresh perspective, combining close readings of texts of individual authors and overarching exploration into questions of how and why characterization in the ancient world evolves in the ways that it does. Spanning a wide period of time, and focusing on writers from both the Greek and Roman worlds - from Herodotus to Cassius Dio, and from Cicero to Suetonius and beyond - this volume is essential reading for anyone interested in the evolution of the genres of historiography and biography in the ancient world.
Book
Un-parallel lives? The younger Quintus and Marcus Cicero in Cicero’s Letters
This article considers the characterisation of two intertwined but increasingly contrasting figures from Cicero’s letters, namely the younger Marcus (Cicero’s son) and Quintus Cicero (Cicero’s nephew), reconstructing and adding nuance to significant moments in their lives as depicted in Cicero’s writings. By tracing diachronically the two cousins’ depictions across his letter collections, this article takes us into the deep recesses of family life and explores expectations about educational and career trajectories of young aristocrats. It also shows how the cousins’ portraits shadow and develop in intriguing ways the relationship between their fathers, Cicero and his brother Quintus, adding further foiling and complexity to all four portraits.
The trajectories of the boys’ lives, initially so closely entwined and unfolding in parallel, gradually diverge: the firecracker Quintus becomes increasingly alienated and angry, while the jovial Marcus, constantly indulged by his father, can apparently do no wrong, despite unwitting hints in the letters that he is not the paragon that Cicero assumes him to be.
Journal Article
FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF LUCULLUS? TACITUS'S CHARACTERISATION OF CORBULO
An examination of how Tacitus responds to representations of Nero's commander, Corbulo, probably idealised posthumously as a hero under the Flavian dynasty. Since Tacitus knew that his readers would have certain expectations about Corbulo's presentation in the Annals, he creates instead a problematised portrait of the general, which highlights the perpetual tensions in the imperial power structure between centre and periphery (and between image and reality). The paper suggests, using comparisons drawn primarily from Plutarch, that Tacitus shows Corbulo repeatedly replaying significant moments from the career of the republican general, Lucullus, and that Corbulo's standing as a general suffers as a result. Yet there is more at stake here than the reputation of an individual commander. This nexus of connections between Corbulo and Lucullus, highlighted by Tacitus, must prompt readers to make comparisons: in the end, Corbulo cannot really emulate Lucullus, because the worlds in which the two men operate have changed so much.
Journal Article
