Tacitus: Annals IV [1 ed.] 085668404X, 9780856684043

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General Editor: Professor M.M. Willcock

TACITUS ANNALS IV

edited with translation and commentary by

D. C.A. Shotter

ARIS & PHILLIPS LTD.

© D.C.A. Shotter 1989. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers. Tacitus, Cornelius [Annales. Book 4. English and Latin] Tacitus Annals IV 1. Roman Empire. Political events, B.C.31-A.D.284 I. [Annales Book 4. English and Latin] II. Title III. Shotter, D.C.A. IV. Series. 937.'07 ISBN cloth 0 85668 403 1 ISBN limp 0 85668 404 X Classical Texts ISSN 0953-7961

Printed and published in England by ARIS & PHILLIPS Ltd., Teddington House, Warminster, Wiltshire, BA12 8PQ, England.

iii

CONTENTS PREFACE

iv

Abbreviations

v

Bibliography

viii

Stemma of the Julian and Claudian Caesars

xiii

Maps MAP MAP MAP MAP

xiv 1: 2: 3: 4:

ITALY WESTERN EUROPE AND NORTH AFRICA THE RHINE AND DANUBE PROVINCES GREECE, THE AEGEAN AND ASIA MINOR

INTRODUCTION 1. The Life and Views of Tacitus 2. The Annales 3. Tiberius 4. The Family of Germanicus 5. Sejanus 6. The Sources of the Annates 7. The Contents of Annales IV Plates 1. Imperial Virtues 2. The Imperial Family 3. (i) The Imperial Family (ii) Historical Events 4. The Emperor’s Public Relations

1

7 15 23

Text and Translation

45

Commentary

128

Index

204

PREFACE

The turbulent events recounted by Tacitus in Annales IV provide a striking example of the 'road to hell' which is 'paved with good intentions'; Tiberius' efforts to build a Principate which genuinely lived up to Rome's traditions are seen to collapse in a welter of intrigue, misunderstanding and disillusionment. As such, the book shows vital turning-points both for Rome and its emperor, and perhaps also serves as a justification for Thucydides' notion of the value of history which lay in its lessons for the future. The preparation of a new translation and commentary is justified by the quality of Tacitus' writing, though it is unfortunately an almost impossible task to recapture the vitality of that writing. The text is that of C.D. Fisher in the Oxford Classical Texts series (1906), for the use of which I am grateful to Oxford University Press. The Maps have been prepared by Philip Howard, Experimental Officer in Archaeology in the Department of Classics and Archaeology at Lancaster University. The preparation of the Manuscript has been the particular task of Janet Atkins, who has saved it from countless inconsistencies and infelicities, and who has often smoothed the path of words that seemed, like those of Tiberius, to struggle for delivery. Finally, my wife and step-daughter have had to live with Tacitus and Tiberius for what must have seemed endless months. It is a token of my gratitude that this book is dedicated to them. D.C.A.S.

Lancaster, June 1988.

V

ABBREVIATIONS

1.

Ancient Authors and their Works

Appian Arist. Caes. Cic.

Diod. Dion. Hal. Frontin. Gaius Gell. Herod. Hor. Josephus Juv Mari. Ovid Paul. Paus. Philo Pind. Plaut. Pliny

BC Mithr. Pol. BC BG Bell. Alex. Ad A tt. De Or. De Rep. Leg. Phil. Pro Rose. Am. De Aq. Inst. Dig. Noct. Att. Carm. Sat. Ant. Jud. Sat. Ep. Fast. Trist. Sent. Leg. Ol. Aul. NH Epp.

Plut.

Pan. Caes. Quaest. Rom. Thes.

Appian Aristotle, Caesar, Cicero,

Bella Civilia Mithridates Politics Bellum Civile De Bello Gallico Bellum Alexandrinum Epistolae ad Atticum De Oratore De Republica De Legibus Philippie Orations Pro Roscio Amerino

Diodorus Siculus Dionysius of Halicarnassus De Aquaeductibus Frontinus, Gaius, Institutiones luris Civilis Digesta A. Gellius, Noctes Atticae Herodotus Horace, Carmina Satires Antiquitates Judaicae Josephus, Juvenal, Satires Martial, Epigrammata Fasti Ovid, T ristia Paulus, Sententiae Pausanias1 Description of Greece Philo Judaeus, Legatio ad Gaium Pindar, Olympian Odes Aulularia Plautus, C. Plinius (The Elder Pliny'), Natural History C. Plinius Secundus (The Younger Pliny'), Epistolae Panegyricus Caesar Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae Theseus

VI Polyb. Quintilian Sali. Sen.

Statius Suet.

Tac.

Thuc. Ulpian Val. Max. Varro Veil. Pat. Victor Virg. Zon. 2.

Inst. Or. Cat. Hist. Jug. Contr. Suas. Apocol. Cons, ad Marc. De Ben. De Clem. De Prov. Ep. Mor. Quaest. Nat. Silv. Cal. Claud. Div. Aug. Div. Iul. Dom. Gramm. Tib. Vitell. Agr. Ann. Dial. Germ. Hist. Dig. LL Caes. Aen.

Polybius Quintilian, Sallust, M. Seneca, L. Seneca,

Statius, Suetonius,

Tacitus,

Thucydides Ulpian, Valerius Maximus Varro, Velleius Paterculus Victor, Virgil, Zonaras

Institutiones Oratoriae Catilina Historiae Jugurtha Controversiae Suasoriae Apocolocyntosis Consolatio ad Marciam De Beneficiis De Clementia De Providentia Epistolae Morales Quaestiones Naturales Silvae Caligula Claudius Divus Augustus Divus Julius Domitian De Grammaticis Tiberius Vitellius Agricola Annales Dialogus de Oratoribus Germania Historiae Digesta De Lingua Latina De Vita Caesarum Aeneid

Collections of Inscriptions, Modern Books and Journals

Acta Frat. Arv. AJP Anc. Soc. ANRW

Acts of the Arval Brethren American Journal of Philology Ancient Society Temporini,H. and Haase,W. (Edd), Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römische Welt

Anth. Pal. BCH CIL Class. Quart. CL Phil. CR EJ Oocs GAR ILS Journ. Phil. JRS Num. Chron. OGIS Pap. Oxy. PBA PBSR PIR RGDA RIC TAPA

Anthologia Palatina Bulletin de Correspondance Hell6nique Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Classical Quarterly Classical Philology Classical Review Ehrenberg,V. and Jones,A.H.M. (Edd), Documents illustrating the Reigns o f Augustus and Tiberius Greece and Rome Dessau H. (Ed), Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae Journal of Philology Journal of Roman Studies Numismatic Chronicle Orientis Graecae Inscriptiones Selectae The Oxyrhynchus Papyri (London, The Egypt Exploration Society) Papers of the British Academy Papers of the British School at Rome Prosopographia Imperii Romani Res Gestae Divi Augusti Roman Imperial Coinage Transactions of the American Philological Association

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