Suetonius: Diuus Claudius 0521593255, 9780521593250

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SUETONIUS

DXVV§ CLA VDW§ EDITED

DONNA

BY

W. HURLEY

..... 0..... CAMBRIDGE ;'.: UNIVERSITY

PRESS

PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB22Ru, UK www.cup.cam.ac.uk 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211,USA www.cup.org 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia Ruiz de Alarcon 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain

© Cambridge University Press 2001 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2001 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeset in Baskerville and New Hellenic Greek [Ao]

A cataloguerecordfor this hookis available.from the British library library of CongressCataloguingin Publicationdata Suetonius, ea. 69-ca. 122. Diuus Claudius/ Suetonius ; edited by Donna W. Hurley. p. cm. - (Cambridge Greek and Latin classics) Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN o 521 59325 5 (hardback) ISBN o 521 59676 9 (paperback) 1. Claudius, Emperor of Rome, 10 Bc-54 AD. 2. Roman emperors Biography. 1. Title: Divus Claudius. 11. Hurley, Donna W. 111. Title. IV. Series. PA6700.A35 2001 937'.07'092-dc21 [B] 00-036299 o 521 59325 5 hardback ISBN o 521 59676 9 paperback ISBN

CONTENTS FrontispieceSilver didrachm struck in celebration of the conquest of Britain by Claudius in AD 43. Reproduced by courtesy of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham. Preface

pagevii

Introduction

I

1

Suetoniusand his career

2

2

Biographyand De uita Caesarum

4

3 Claudius

10

The man

10

The story

14

4 Structureand style

17

5 Text and afterlife

20

Important dates in the life of Claudius Sigla C. SVETONI LIBER

TRANQVILLI

QVINTVS

DIVVS

DE VITA CLAVDIVS

Commentary

CAESARVM 29 55

Abbreviationsand references

245

Bibliography

247

Editions, commentaries and translations

247

Workscited

247

Indexes 1

262

Latin words

262 V

CONTENTS

VI

2

General

3 Persons

Stemmata I

Claudiusand thefamily of Augustus

273

2

Claudiusand Messallina

274

PREFACE The first thing said about Suetonius is that he is not Tacitus. True enough. But a detour around Tacitean irony has its reward. The biographer was not without his own opinions, of course, but his strategies are transparent in comparison with those of the historian and provide a less obstructed view of what the first century had to say about its emperors. Suetonius filtered the information that he inherited through a set of value judgements and entered it into a template. One size fits all, so to speak, but with varying results. Differences among the biographies lie not with method but with what there was for him to work with. A commentary on a Suetonian Life has a double mandate. Context must be provided in order to explain the text's glancing references to historical issues and to restore the missing chronology; I have tried to offer sufficient for an informed reading without writing the essays that full explication of the often complex problems would require. At the same time, the pages are not a random pastiche of information but a carefully organized marshalling of disparate material (particularly disparate for Claudius), and so Suetonius' compositional strategies need to be identified. If he failed to solve every organizational problem in the best possible way, it was not for want of trying. I have come to appreciate the conscientious biographer. Suetonius knew what he wanted to do and for the most part accomplished it. Not Tacitean brilliance but an honest job and an immeasurable contribution to our understanding of the early Empire. Other commentaries on the Claudius Life have preceded this one, and so I stand on strong shoulders, especially those of Henrik Smilda, whose 1896 dissertation was the first modern commentary to identify the text's historical issues in depth. When I have accepted a suggestion directly from him or from any of the other commentaries, I acknowledge my indebtedness. Guidance from closer at hand has come from the series editor, Professor E. J. Kenney. His comments have kept me on track, and his amazingly prompt response and close attention to detail have been beyond what one could hope for. I am deeply grateful for his painstaking correction. Professors Robert VII

VIII

PREFACE

Kaster, Edward Champlin and T. Corey Brennan have tolerated my pestering for help. Professor Elaine Fantham has been unfailingly encouraging. I also thank Professors Jonathan Roth for his help with military matters and James Rives with religion questions and Alan Cameron for extending my library resources. Professor T. P. Wiseman kindly suggested Claudius' escape route from forum to Palatine (Cl. 18.2). Dr Helen Chang, a neurologist specializing in movement disorders, helped me write about Claudius' physical problems, and it was she who suggested the possibility of parental blood incompatibility as the reason for his congenital disability. I am especially indebted to Professor Lydia Lenaghan for reading the manuscript in its final stages and for making many helpful suggestions. Pauline Hire has seen the book through Cambridge Press and I am deeply indebted to the copy-editing of Susan Moore, whose keen eye has saved me much embarrassment. And special thanks are due to the students in my undergraduate seminar on Suetonius at Princeton University in the spring of 1996 for their tolerance when I tried to teach them Diuus Claudius.The difficulties that I had are the inception of this commentary.

New York,New York

D.W.H.

INTRODUCTION Modern scholarship routinely damned the author of De uita Caesarum as a mechanical collector of gossip 1 until the mid-twentieth century, when rehabilitation began and Suetonius was recognized as an original artist whose well-crafted biographies could stand as successful creations on their own. Attempts to define his merits have followed. 2 A literary approach to the Lives, individually or as a whole, is not without its rewards, but it is for other reasons that Suetonius earns immeasurable gratitude from those seeking to understand the early Empire. When he wrote in the first quarter of the second century, the Principate was fact, the Republic memory, and the line of emperors long enough for criteria for good and bad ones to have developed. The Caesarestake the measure of a princeps against a set of peculiarly imperial virtues' and in addition contain an abundance of factual material to be mined by historians and social historians. Suetonius could be guilty of common error, and some of his information is distorted by misleading generalizations and inappropriate segmentation, but much is trustworthy and often unique. Anecdotes, true or not, are embedded in authentic context.• Equally valuable is the

1

He was 'no real writer' ['ein wirklicher Schriftsteller ist er nicht') (Funaioli (1931) 621). 2 Alcide Mace was the first to identify the major issues relating to author and work (Essai sur Suitom (1900)). The turning point was Wolf Steidle's Sueton und die antike Biographie(1951), in which it was claimed that each emperor was characterized by a single over-arching theme. But many felt that Steidle overstated his case: Dihle (1954); Paratore (1959); Bringmann (1971). The Lives were 'not a happy experiment' ['kein gegli.icktes Experiment') (Flach (1972) 288). Positive assessments from Mouchova (1968) and especially Gugel (1977) and Lounsbury (1987, 1991). By far the best of the recent scholarship is Wallace-Hadrill's Suetonius:the scholarand his Caesars(1983). Gascou's Suitone hiswrien (1984) is a valuable resource. There is a collection of surveys in

ANRWu 33.5 (1991). ' The emperor was supposed to exemplify moderatio,ciuilitas, dementia and liberalitas and many other qualities (Bradley (1976), (1991); Wallace-Hadrill (1981), (1983) 142-74). The ideal prince was the emperor Trajan as he appears in Pliny's Pamgyric. • Saller (1980); Alfoldy (1980-81).

2

INTRODUCTION

window that the Caesaresopen on what was said and then written about the emperors while they were alive or soon after they died. Suetonius did not make things up. His catholic reportage did indeed include gossip - but it was not his own, and his lack of discrimination turns out to be a blessing.

I. SUETONIUS

AND HIS CAREER

C. Suetonius Tranquillus was born around AD 70; according to Sir Ronald Syme that year following civil war was particularly apt for the cheerful cognomenby which antiquity knew him.• His equestrian family had already made incursions into public life; a grandfather had access to what was joked about in Gaius' court (Calig. 19.3), and his father fought as a legionary tribune under Otho in 69 (0th. 10.1). He himself appears first in the letters of the younger Pliny, who arranged a military tribunate for him (101-3) which he did not accept (Ep. 3.8), and later (110-12), when Pliny was Trajan's legate in Bithynia with Suetonius perhaps on his staff,6 he secured for him the privilege of the ius trium liberorum(Ep. 10.94, 10.95). In the meantime (105 or 106), the correspondence reveals him a reluctant author hesitant to publish a finished work that Pliny had been advertising in verse (Ep. 5.10). 7 He was a promising young man (Pliny calls him a scholar, scholasticus,Ep. 1.24.4) who had established himself in literary circles and was enjoying the patronage of an imperial official. Even before an honorific inscription turned up in 1950, it was known that he was to rise in the emperor's service as far as an equestrian could. The crown of his career was the post of ah epistulis, chief secretary, to Hadrian (SHA, Hadr. 11.3). The inscription was found in Algeria at the site of Hippo Regius, • Suetonius refers to himself as adulescensin 88 or 89 (Ner. 57.2); also at Dom. 12.2; Gram.4.6. For Tranquillus as apt, Syme (1977) 44. • SuetoniumTranquil/um. . . in contuberniumadsumpsi,tantoquemagisdiligerecoepi quanto nuncpropius inspexi (Ep. 10.94.1). The emendation nunc for hunc and the inference that Suetonius was in Bithynia (Syme (1958b) 779) are generally accepted. 7 Perhaps De uiris illustribus (Mace (1900) 66-77; Syme (1981) 115; contra, Wallace-Hadrill (1983) 59; Lindsay (1994) 459). Suetonius also appears in Pliny's letters 1. 18 and 9.34.

I. SUETONIUS

AND

HIS CAREER

3

the African seaport where Augustine would one day preside as bishop. It lists Suetonius' successes, first a flaminate, then appointment as a juror (this from Trajan), then the pontificate of a temple of Vulcan. At the end, there is notice of three important posts in the imperial court; Suetonius was a studiis, a bybliothecis and, by appointment of Hadrian, ab epistulis.6 The inscription's provenance suggests that Suetonius was Hippo's favourite son, a native product who had gone to Rome and made good, now honoured by his birthplace at the height of his career. The family association with Rome does not preclude an African connection. Alternatively, the tablet commemorated a favour that he performed for the city, perhaps something in conjunction with the visit of Hadrian on his tour of Africa and Mauretania in 128 (/LS 9133; SHA, Hadr. 13.4, 22.14). If Suetonius was still with the court at that time, he would have accompanied the emperor on his circuit. 9 A 'long' or a 'short' chronology 10 of service at court can be constructed. It may have been Trajan who appointed Suetonius to the posts of a studiis and a bybliothecis since it was he with whom Pliny used his influence and who, according to the Hippo inscription, was responsible for Suetonius' adlection to the jury list and perhaps for all that followed before the final appointment. 11 If so, Suetonius joined the court after he returned to Rome (if he was in Bithynia) when Pliny died (112-13) but before Trajan died in 117. If, on the other hand, it was Hadrian who appointed him to all three secre• L'Annee Epigraphique(1953) no. 73, pp. 27-8; published by Maree and Pflaum (1952). The flaminate was a local priesthood (where?); the location of the priesthood of Vulcan is also unknown. Along with the a libellis and the a rationibus,the a studiis and the ab epistuliswere the most important imperial secretaries; they assisted the emperor with correspondence and cultural affairs. The a bybliothecispresumably oversaw libraries and archives. 9 Hippo as his birthplace: Pflaum (1960-61) 221; Townend (1961a) 105; Syme (1980) 116, (1981) 105; Wallace-Hadrill (1983) 5; Bradley (1991) 3705. Family connections in Italy: Syme (1958b) 780-1; including Ostia where there was a priesthood of Vulcan: Grosso (1959); Baurain (1976) 142-4; rejected on chronological grounds: Meiggs (1973) 584. Suetonius in Hippo with Hadrian: Crook (1956-57) 19; Gascou (1978) 441-3; Lindsay (1994) 464. 10 Bradley (1991) 3710, note 53. 11 For the emperor's name attached to only the first benefaction, Townend (1961a) 103-5.

INTRODUCTION

4

tarial posts, the first would not have come until after 117 and perhaps not until 119, when Hadrian made C. Septicius Clarus his praetorian prefect (SHA, Hadr. 9.4-5). Septicius, like Suetonius, had been a member of Pliny's circle, and they may have entered the imperial service at the same time. 12 The date of severance is also uncertain. According to the Historia Augusta, he and Septicius were dismissed together in 122 because they were 'too familiar' with the emperor's wife (Hadr. 11.3). But the Historia Augusta is unreliable for dates, and so it is possible that they were both still at their posts in 128 when Hadrian visited Africa. 13 Suetonius' shortest possible tenure is from 119 to 122, the three secretarial posts overlapping or following in quick succession. 14 At the other extreme, Suetonius enjoyed intimacy with the court for a considerable time if he became an imperial secretary under Trajan and remained one until 128 or later. A compromise of Trajanic appointment and dismissal in 122 is plausible. 15 No more is known of him after he left the court. He may have lived on for some time. 16 2. BIOGRAPHY

AND DE VITA CAESAR VM

For the ancients, history was narrative, written to persuade and instruct. It described the sweep of events and ideally offered explanations of cause and consequence. Biography, the account of a life from birth to death, history with a different focus, developed along12

Pliny dedicated at least the first book of his letters to Septicius (Ep. 1. 1). Their simultaneous appointment was first suggested by Mace ((1900) 87-8). u SepticioClaropraefectopraetoriiet SuetonioTranquilloepistularummagistromultisque aliis, quod apud Sabinam uxoremin usu eiusfamiliarius se tune egerantquam reuerentia domusaulicaepostulabat,successores dedit. The passage was interpolated into the basic account (Crook (1956-57) 21-2; Townend (1961a) 109; Syme (1971) I 13). 14 The first two could have been held concurrently (Van't Dack (1963) 183-4). ,. Appointment to the first two posts by Trajan: Townend (1961a) 103-5; Gascou (1978) 439; by Trajan with less certainty: Syme (1958b) 778, (1980) u6, (1981) 108; Wallace-Hadrill (1983) s; Bradley (1991) 3711. By Hadrian: Maree and Pflaum (1952) 83-4; Crook (1956-57) 19. 16 Suetonius seems to have written of Domitia Longina as though she had died, perhaps in the 130s (Tit. 10.2; Syme (1958b) 780, (1980) 120).

2. BIOGRAPHY

AND DE VITA CAESARVM

5

side it but was not a distinct genre ('Lives', !3101)until the Hellenistic age. 17 It described the whole person, including appearance and manners and habits, on the grounds that all aspects of a man were intimately connected with his public self. Lives were often written in series, multiple biographies of philosophers or kings for instance, so that one representative of a type could be measured against another and the result could define the ideal philosopher or the ideal king. 18 In practice, of course, history and biography overlap. People populate the former and events impinge on the individual, and it was especially challenging to keep the two separate during periods when personalities drove affairs (or appeared to) as in the early Empire. One speaks of the 'Tiberius books' or the 'Claudius books' of Tacitus' Annals. The Romans turned to Greece for their literary models, and biography was no exception. Two types of Greek biography existed by the second century BC, one more narrative and chronological and illustrative of moral precepts, the other arranged by topic within a chronological framework. At the beginning of the twentieth century, a time when laws of literary genre were supposed inflexible, Friedrich Leo claimed that the second type, which he named Alexandrian, had developed for telling the life stories of literary men. Varro imported it into Rome, he wrote, and Suetonius used it for his emperors, but the transfer was awkward because categories of statecraft fit those of literature imperfectly. 19 Leo's theory for the source of Suetonius' form was defined too narrowly since Roman biographers (Nepos, Tacitus for his Agricola, Suetonius) could find other models closer to home. Romans were accustomed to marking the stations of a public career clearly; the honours of a lifetime were listed on inscriptions such as the one for Suetonius himself at Hippo. The most conspicuous example of the phenomenon is the tablet 17

Momigliano (1993) 12, w9. For biography in contrast with history also Wallace-Hadrill (1983) 8-w; Stuart (1928); Brunt (1980b). 18 Momigliano (1993) 13, w4; Wallace-Hadrill (1983) 144, 201; Gascou (1984) 718-58. 19 Leo's book was Die griechisch-romische Biographienach ihrer literarischenForm (1901). He assigned the chronological model to Plutarch. Stuart and Momigliano also trace the two strains in Greek biography but are much less dogmatic in regard to Suetonius' debt.

INTRODVCTION

6

known as the MonumentumAntyranum, Augustus' Res gestae. Augustus listed his achievements by category (conquests, benefactions, games produced for the people), categories that Suetonius applied to the imperial subjects of his biographies. Similar listings appear in funeral orations, and catalogues of blame as well as of praise are found in Cicero's speeches. 20 Of Suetonius' prolific output, only De uita Caesarumhas survived substantially intact. Many other works are ascribed to him, some listed in the Suda, the Byzantine encyclopaedia, and others named in ancient texts. Titles may overlap, and there is no certainty that every one is his. Most seem to have been encyclopaedic compilations; typical titles are On names and types ef clothingand On Roman spectacles and games.21 Abridgements of two Greek works were discovered in the nineteenth century,2 2 and preserved in part has been De uiris illustribus, not a reference book, but a substantial collection of biographies, originally over a hundred, composed in series according to the common pattern. These were the lives of Roman poets, orators, historians, philosophers, grammarians and rhetoricians, a practice run for the Caesaresif they were written first. The names of the men whom Suetonius chose as his subjects can be derived from the Chronicaof the fourth-century Christian scholar Jerome, who used it as the basis for a revision of Eusebius' world history. Abridgements and adaptations of the lives of Terence, Horace, Lucan and Virgil survive because they were included in ancient commentaries, but best preserved are those that detail the lives of grammarians and rhetoricians, the first entire, the second largely so, dry matter perhaps, but

20

Precedent from funeral orations and epitaphs, Stuart (1928) 189-220; from oratory, Lewis (1991) 3641-74. A Roman biography in miniature at Pliny, NH 7.139-40. 21 Titles are listed conveniently by Wallace-Hadrill (1983) 43 n. 22, and Wardle (1993) 100 n. 12. Fragments were collected by Roth ((1858) 275-320), conservatively, and by Reifferscheid (1860), who included more material, some questionable. On the lost books, Wallace-Hadrill (1983) 41-9. For discussion of Suetonius' Pratum as the collection of these encyclopaedic works, Schmidt (1991). 22 On words of insult (TTepij3Aao-cp11µ1wv) and On Greekgames (TTepiTWV nap' ·EAAf10"1 nai61wv), edited by J. Taillardat (1967). Suetonius probably wrote at least the first in Greek (Wardle (1993)).

2. BIOGRAPHY

AND DE VITA CAESARVM

7

revealing for the literary culture that produced Tranquillus scholasticus himself. 23 De uita Caesarumwas published, in part at least, while Suetonius was serving Hadrian. A dedication to Septicius Clarus as praetorian prefect was appended to the first of the Lives,24 and since Septicius was appointed in 119 and he and Suetonius were dismissed together (in 122 if the Historia Augusta is correct or later if it is not) it was during this window that the biographies, or the first in any case, were finished and launched. Suetonius must have worked on them at a time at least proximate to his time in court, when insider status provided insight and surely confidence for the task. 2 s Related is the important question of whether or not his status gave him privileged access to materials that enriched the work. Suetonius found the bulk of the information he needed for his composition in narrative histories that were written in the first century. He dug out additional bits from pamphlet literature and, in the case of Claudius, from the emperor's own literary corpus. He used oral tradition now and again or drew on his own memory - although not nearly so frequently as modern scholarship might wish. But it has been thought that he also did original research, searching documents for otherwise unknown detail. The palace complex where he worked was the logical place for the storage of the emperor's edicts, official correspondence and speeches. Private papers were plausibly there too although probably kept apart. 26 Might not the a studiis or the a bybliothecisor even the ah epistulishave been responsible for the organization and preservation of both state and private archives?

25

Suetonius:de Grammaticiset Rhetoribus,R. A. Kaster (1995). Attested in the sixth century by John Lydus (Mag. 2.6). 25 Imperial influence can be seen in the choice of Julius Caesar as the first emperor; it was Trajan who revived interest in the Great Dictator (Syme (1958b) 434, (1980) 111).Unflattering parallels between Hadrian and Suetonius' emperors have been identified and read as proof that the biographer was angry about his dismissal. Carney (1968) has Hadrian lurking in every corner; Abramenko (1994) sees parallels only in the Lives of Titus and Domitian; Townend ((1959) 290-2) recognizes veiled criticism. Cizek ((1977) 181---92),on the other hand, thinks that Suetonius was giving advice to Hadrian. Gascou ((1984) 758-73) has him approving. 2 • De Coninck (1991) 3682-3. 2

•

8

INTRODUCTION

Could he not have tapped these primary sources as a modem historian would? Suetonius' twelve Lives fall into three distinct groups and by all criteria decline perceptibly in quality as the series progresses. Those of Julius and Augustus are lengthy, filled with detail and proper names and even documentation. The last six, those of the emperors of the civil war and the Flavians, are brief, despite the fact that Suetonius should have had fresh information about this period during which he was alive. Those in the middle, the Julio-Claudian Lives, are of intermediate quality. They contain more generalizations than the first two and lack proper names but are still full and carefully executed. It may have been only the lives of Julius and Augustus that were completed under Hadrian and dedicated to Septicius Clarus. It may have been the first six. Perhaps the last six were churned out after he was no longer at court, when he was 'dispirited ... mechanically completing his ambitious undertaking without the old zest and energy'. 27 Or they were an afterthought, conceived as well as executed later. 28 The uneven quality has fuelled the notion that their author's fall from favour deprived him of access to archival material, and if that is true, the date of his dismissal would have much to do with dating the Lives. But it was not necessary for Suetonius to rummage through documents. 29 The contents of speeches and edicts and official letters were part of the public record or already incorporated into literary sources, and there are other ways to account for the increasing sketchiness of the Lives. Germane was the recent appearance of Tacitus' Annals, which did not cover the reigns of Julius and Augustus and so left a vacuum for the biographer to fill. This he did expansively. 30 With the other Julio-Claudians (from Tiberius to Nero), Suetonius re., Wallace-Hadrill (1983) 62. The first two published and research begun on the next four before his dismissal: Townend (1959) 288-93. The last six as an afterthought: Syme (1980) 120-1, (1981) 116-17. The last six written first, during the reign of Trajan: Bowersock (1969) 121-4; convincingly challenged by Bradley (1973) 257-63. 29 Inspecting them was 'too much like hard work' (Birley (1984) 249); also de Coninck (1991) 3688-90. •• The Annals were probably published late in the reign of Trajan, and oral presentation of the whole or parts had probably come first (Wallace-Hadrill (1983) 1-2; Birley (1984) 249). 28

2. BIOGRAPHY

AND DE VITA CAESARVM

9

sponded to Tacitus' work by using the same material in his own way, intentionally writing 'not-history'. 31 Generalizing sentences and random persons reduced to 'a certain man' put the spotlight squarely on the emperors themselves. Suetonius' own bias further explains the declining quality; the subjects known to have been portrayed in De uiris illustribusdemonstrate his interest in the earlier period. The late Republic and the reign of Augustus were precisely the period 'on which he had, so to speak, done his Ph.D.' 32 The time when Julius and Augustus dominated history was that in which he had the most interest. He seems to have had none at all in the post-Neronian period. Suetonius did, however, document some assertions carefully, most often, it appears, when he wanted to call Tacitus to account for inaccuracies. 33 The acta diurna, the open records of the state, provided verification for the birthplaces of Gaius and Tiberius (Calig. 8.2; Tib. 5) and evidence of Claudius' new letters of the alphabet (41.3). He saw and commented on the wills of Augustus and Tiberius (Aug. 101.1; Tib. 76) and examined the notebooks that included Nero's poetry (Ner.52). 34 Most strikingly, he incorporated parts of seventeen of Augustus' personal letters. 35 This does not mean, however, that he found a cache of correspondence in a private palace archive which only he and a select few were privileged to see. Wider access was available because earlier, in the second half of the first century, the elder Pliny and Quintilian had seen the correspondence or parts of it, perhaps in an imperial library. 36 Never published papers of Julius Caesar could be found in Augustus' libraries (Jui. 56.7). " Wallace-Hadrill (1983) 9. 52 Crook (1969) 63; also Wallace-Hadrill (1983) 50-66. " 'Suetonius was not above scoring points off Tacitus' (Wallace-Hadrill (1983) 10 n. 15; also Questa (1963) 109-23). Instances at Tib. 21.4-7; Cal. 9; Cl. 1.5 and perhaps 4.1-6; Ner. 52. •• A summary of what could have come from original documents in Gascou (1984) 489-97. " He saw the originals, for he comments on Augustus' handwriting (Aug. 71.2, 87.1, 88). Fragments collected by Malcovati, ImperatorisCaesarisAugusti 4 (1962). OperumFragmenta 36 Pliny, NH 13.83; Quint. Inst. 1.6.19, 1.7.22. Wallace-Hadrill ((1983) 94) suggests that the letters were held in a semi-public depository; similarly, de Coninck ((1991) 3692). Some were published, since Aulus Gellius speaks of a librum epistularumdiui Augusti, quas ad Gaium nepotemsuum scripsit (15.7.3). Levi ((1951) xlvi-lv) thought they had all been published. Also Gascou (1984) 498502.

10

INTRODUCTION

3. CLAUDIUS Measured against Suetonius' imperial standard, Claudius is an ambiguous figure, an able administrator and guardian of tradition on the one hand, cruel and distressingly undignified on the other. Superimposed is a second disjunction which was the central cliche of the characterization - that he was at once responsible for all that was done during his reign and at the same time accused of being the passive tool of his wives and freedmen. 37 The ancient accounts provide the raw material for extracting a plausible personality. 38

77zeman Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus was born in 10 BC to Drusus Claudius Nero (Drusus the Elder), stepson of Augustus, and to Antonia Minor, the daughter of Mark Antony and niece of Augustus. His was a promising lineage. Drusus died the following year, but it was not this misfortune that stunted Claudius' career, for it soon became apparent that the boy was physically impaired, almost certainly from mild cerebral palsy, and its symptoms were mistaken for

57

Ausonius, wntmg in the fourth century, included both contradictory notions in his distillation: Claudius,irrisaepriuato in temporeuitae, I in regnospecimenprodidit ingenii.I libertinatamen nuptarumet criminapassus I nonfaciendo nocens sedpatiendofait. 'Claudius, the butt of jokes when he was a private citizen, gave an impression of competency when he became emperor. But since he tolerated the evil done by his freedmen and his wives, he was guilty, not of action, but of acquiescence' (Caesares(xxm) 62-5 Green (1991)). '" In addition to Suetonius, sources are Tacitus' Annals, Cassius Dio's Roman history and Seneca's Apocolocyntosis.There are also revealing bits in Seneca's other writings and in the Plinys, Elder and Younger. The most important inscriptions and documents have been collected in Smallwood, Documentsillustratingthe principatesof Caius, Claudius, and Nero (1967). The first modern study is Momigliano's Claudius:the emperorand his achievement(1934, revised and translated in 1961), which is still of value. Claudius was totally exonerated by Scramuzza (1940). Robert Graves's popular /, Claudius and Claudiusthe god (1934, 1935) made him an icon of wronged innocence. More balanced are Levick, Claudius(1990), and a short, clear survey by Wiedemann in CAH2 x (1996) 229-41.

3. CLAUDIUS

11

mental defect. The ancient world was not kind to those who were disabled. He remained at the margin of his family, granted little more than the basic honorific appointments that were due to an upper-class Roman youth. Claudius lived largely as a private individual, frustrated by exclusion from political life, until his nephew Gaius (Caligula), newly acclaimed emperor, made him consul suffect in AD 37; no other close male relatives remained alive. When Gaius was assassinated in January of 41, Claudius acceded to the principate with the help of the praetorian guard, recommended by the fact that he was the younger brother of Germanicus, who had been extraordinarily popular with the military and remained so more than twenty years after his death in 19. More importantly, Claudius was the man on the spot. He coped with his new status well by assuming the Julian name 'Caesar' immediately and with it the position of family head. 39 His elevation may not have been a total surprise. Accession by putsch left unfinished business. The senate had tried to nominate one of its own to succeed Gaius before being forced to yield to the praetorians' choice. The next year a general in control of frontier legions rose against the new emperor, but the coup was aborted quickly and executions resulted, the first of many. Throughout the thirteen years of his reign Claudius applied carrot and stick, alternately acting the ciuilis princeps who placated the senate with benefactions and then the bloody tyrant coming down hard when the first tactic failed. Furthermore, the problem of establishing a stable succession, a perennial source of tension in the early principate, was especially acute for Claudius, who turned fifty the year he became emperor, a more advanced age in ancient Rome than it is today. He felt himself under threat, as indeed he was, and he eliminated potential successors who seemed to be waiting too impatiently. Self-protection or murder? Those who felt his anger judged it the latter, and it was their view that informed contemporary opinion.4° Added to the charge of cruelty was that of weakness, specifically the charge that he was manipulated by his wives and freedmen. 39

Wiedemann (1996) 231. For a threatened Claudius, McAlindon (1956), (1957); Carney (1960); Wiseman (1982). 40

12

INTRODUCTION

When he was emperor, Claudius was married to Valeria Messallina and then to Agrippina the Younger, the latter the daughter of his brother Germanicus. They shared his interest in holding on to his power and his life (the two were a parcel) and so could be implicated in his self-protective measures. 41 But at a certain point his advancing age inverted their imperatives. Messallina, as the mother of Claudius' young son Britannicus, and Agrippina, as the mother of the boy who would become the emperor Nero, knew that in the end their wellbeing depended not on their husband, but on their sons coming to power. Messallina knew that her husband might not (indeed, feared that he would not) live to see her son to maturity and so tried to forestall a crisis with a pre-emptive strike. It was ill-conceived and ill-timed, and she herself became a victim in the succession struggle. Agrippina was allegedly patient until her son had passed the technical margin of adulthood and Britannicus was on the brink. When Claudius died in October 54, the timing was so convenient that it was assumed that she had hastened the end. Claudius' freedmen also derived their influence from proximity to power; what was good for him was good for them as well. The imperial bureaucracy was in the process of developing from the emperor's own household, the Jamilia of slaves and freedmen who assisted with the correspondence and record-keeping that was escalating rapidly. Senators and equitescould not serve the early emperors in subordinate positions because of class pride and the related myth that the princepswas no more than first among equals. 42 As the Empire matured, the most responsible assistantships increased in importance to the point that they were assigned to persons of higher status, specifically to equestrians, such as Suetonius himself. But at mid-century, when the imperial freedmen enjoyed the greatest prestige, their conspicuous ascendancy in combination with Claudius' own less than commanding demeanour produced the impression that he was totally dominated by inferiors. A later age quite naturally saw the freedmen as inappropriately influential.

41

Wiedemann (1996) 233. Carney (1960) 100 n. 12; Oost (1958) 113; Eck (1994) 27-8; Wiedemann (1996) 237-8; Millar (1977)69-83. 42

3. CLAUDIUS

13

Claudius was emperor for sufficient time to leave behind a substantial legacy of administrative and legislative activity. Arnaldo Momigliano saw the strengthening of the imperial hand during his reign as a conscious 'policy of centralization' ,43 but it was really an accretion of individual decisions that inevitably drew the management of the Empire closer to the household of the princeps. Some measures that went forward under his name were initiated by the freedmen 44 (it is impossible to know precisely how any emperor and his staff worked together), but others bear the mark of his own traditionalist interests, oddly similar to those of Suetonius himself, antiquarian, scholarly and pedantic, although they seem to have stirred no sympathy in the biographer. Claudius wrote histories and was interested in earlier habits of religion and government. His most important foreign accomplishment was major indeed, for in 43 his legions conquered Britain. Otherwise he left frontier arrangements more or less as he found them and settled unfinished business with the Alexandrian Jews sensibly (Docs. 370; Jos. A] 19.278-91). He had a genuine sense of his role in Rome's history, and as Augustus had worked hard to show continuity between his own programme and what had gone before, so Claudius followed his lead but with the difference that he included the principate itself within the Roman tradition. 45 Despite this legacy of sensible activity, Claudius left behind an unattractive reputation. Even if his cruelty was a matter for the beholder's perception and his weakness was partly a construction from the circumstances, other character traits are too persistent to be written off as malignant exaggeration. A heavy drinker, he was inconsistent, distracted, gauche, quick to anger, meddlesome and took excessive delight in bloodshed. It is true that social ineptitude and disagreeable behaviour do not preclude intelligence or competence, but they did destroy the aura of auctoritasand dignitasalready

.. (1961) 38-73. 44 His freedman Pallas (a rationibus)wrote legislation that applied to women who married slaves (28; Pliny, Ep. 7.29, 8.6; Tac. Ann. 12.53). •• 'The construction of the Julio-Claudian dynasty in its canonical form was very much the creation of the reign of Claudius' (Gordon et al. (1997) 212).

14

INTRODUCTION

expected of an emperor in the first century. He failed to fit the image of the prince. 46

The story In the Apocolocyntosis,the satire that Seneca offered to a group of insiders shortly after Claudius died, the emperor is a vicious fool. Nero drew laughter when he eulogized his adoptive father's prouidentiaand sapientia,and his first address to the senate called attention to his prejudicial dispensation of justice (Tac. Ann. 13.3-4). Ironically, Claudius was in the same position dead as he had been before he was emperor - within the family fold but lacking respect, despite the fact that he was newly deified. Nero found a connection modestly useful for a time and put diuus Claudiuson his early coinage, 47 but he left his temple unfinished and was soon making jokes at his expense (Ner. 33.1; Dio 60.35.4). Nero's neglect did Claudius a favour in a sense, for it left him untainted for reconstruction under Vespasian. The first Flavian emperor needed Claudius. When Vespasian, not a member of the gens Julia, emerged from the power struggle that followed Nero's suicide in 68, he required a valid imperial tradition into which to insert himself. There was Augustus, of course. Tiberius was marginally acceptable but Gaius impossible and so was Nero, who had just been supplanted. Only Claudius could provide a series. He had, after all, enlarged the Empire significantly with the conquest of Britain and could be credited with public works, court reform and overt respect for the senate. Vespasian finished Claudius' temple and blamed the delay on the invasion of Nero's Golden House. It was during his reign that Pliny the Elder and Cluvius Rufus wrote the histories that covered the period of Claudius' reign and on which Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio would later draw. 48 46

Timpe (1994) 35-43; Gascou, 'Le prince ideal' (1984) 718-58. In vogue was the bogus science of physiognomy, the reading of character from physical appearance. 1 • RIC' Nero 6, 7, 10. •• On literary sources for the reign of Claudius: l\fomigliano (1932) 331-6; Charlesworth (1937) 57-60; Syme (1958b) 287- 94, 697-700; Townend (1960), (1961b), (19640), (1964b); Questa (1963); Wilkes (1972) 192-203; Levick (1990) 187-94; Wardle (1992); Griffin (1994). Fabius Rusticus, important for the reign of Nero (Tac. Ann. 13.20, 14.2, 15.61), does not appear to have written about Claudius.

3. CLAUDIUS

15

Corresponding passages in the extant works of these authors make it incontrovertible that they had access to the same narrative sources, now lost. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus used them too, and so did Plutarch in his biographies of Galba and Otho. The bias of Pliny's and Cluvius' histories can only be inferred. Pliny's history of thirty-one books, written in the early years of Vespasian, seems to have been relatively sympathetic. He could be tedious and dull, but he never speaks of Claudius in the Natural historywith the hostility he directs toward Nero. 49 Less certain is the tone of Cluvius' history. It may have been perceptive because Cluvius was a member of Nero's court and consequently close to events; he prided himself on his objectivity. Or it may have been a repository of trivial anecdotes. 50 It was easy for the Flavian authors disposed to look on Claudius with favour to report on his real achievements. But how to gloss over the stultitia and saeuitia (15.4; Ner. 33.1) so deeply embedded in his reputation? How to carry him beyond the point where the Apocolocyntosishad left him? Anecdotes about the distracted old man out of touch with his surroundings could be minimized. Cruelty could be shunted to the wives and freedmen, making it they, not he, who instigated the hasty executions. Although his passivity was deplorable, a model to be avoided, this solution effected a partial rescue. 51 The majority of accusations fell on Messallina because the bulk of political murders took place while she was his wife, but the heaviest of all was laid to Agrippina since it was she who was accused of manreuvring Claudius into adopting Nero, a disaster according to the Flavian reading of the past. By the time Suetonius, Tacitus and then later Dio wrote, the line of emperors had grown longer, non-

•• Excessive detail, Tac. Ann. 13.31; hostility to Nero, NH 22.92, 35.51, 37.50. Pliny's history continued a history written by Aufidius Bassus, which covered the reign of Augustus in part and of Tiberius in part or whole and perhaps more (Pliny, Ep. 3.5.6; Pliny, NH praef 20). The year of transition was arguably 31. Tacitus cites Pliny as a source at Ann. 13.20, 15.53; Hist. 3.28. 50 Objectivity, Pliny, Ep. 9.19.5. Cluvius Rufus covered the reign of Nero for certain and perhaps reached back as far as that of Gaius. Argument has flourished as to whether the 'consular Cluitus', whom Josephus makes knowledgeable about the assassination of Gaius is Cluvius Rufus (A] 19.91). Mommsen ((1870) 320) thought so and many have followed his lead. Tacitus cites Cluvius at Ann. 13.20, 14.2. 51 Griffin (1994) 312-14.

16

INTRODUCTION

Julians had joined their ranks and no special pleading was necessary for Claudius. Yet they were of necessity dependent on the Flavian accounts. Dio wrote his Roman historyin Greek at the turn of the third century and was relatively kind to Claudius. 52 He acknowledged his fearfulness, his weakness and his appetite for blood, especially in his summarizing introductory chapters (60.1-2), but his account is generally favourable, especially for the British campaign, which reads as though it came from an authorized version of events. There is little of the fool to be seen. Statements that Claudius' wives and freedmen were responsible for apparently gratuitous executions are inserted abruptly; 'the acts I have named ... were the acts of Claudius himself, and they were praised by everybody; but certain other things were done at this time of quite a different nature by his freedmen and by his wife Valeria Messallina'. 53 Since Dio wrote 150 years after the fact, he depended heavily on the first-century histories and supplemented them little or not at all by oral tradition or ancillary documents. Pliny was plausibly his primary source and can probably be credited with the idea that Claudius' cruel actions were the total responsibility of his wives and freedmen. Tacitus, on the other hand, integrates Claudius' dependence on his wives and freedmen into his story and makes the emperor a believable personality. 54 The delight he took in the shedding of blood is absent from the text as it survives. 55 Anger and timorousness are minor themes and his abstracted demeanour surfaces only occasionally. Messallina and Agrippina, with the freedmen as their allies, are confident women capable of inciting murder. Claudius is passive but not intentionally malignant, and is inclined to clemency. He seems almost pitiable, or might be if it were not that his 'habitual compliance' (solitafacilitas, Ann. 12.61) did much harm. It is his failure to take responsibility, not his cruelty, that makes him reprehensible. 52

Dio's text is available after the year 46 only as restored from the Byzantine epitomators. Josephus is also generous because of Claudius' decent treatment of the Jews, at least those outside of Rome. " 60.8.4; similar abrupt insertions at 60.14.1, 15.5, 16.2, 17.5, 17.8, 18.4, 27.4, 29.6 and 6•, 31.8. ,. Vessey (1971);Mehl (1974) 186-7; Griffin (1990) 483-9. " The first half of Tacitus' account of Claudius' reign has been lost; the extant text picks up in AD 47 (Ann. 11.1).

4. STRUCTURE

AND

STYLE

17

Tacitus used both Pliny and Cluvius and enriched his account from public records, but Claudius the human being is his own creation. Suetonius' biography is by far the richest and most colourful repository of facts and anecdotes about Claudius (the raw material) and there is much to note and even admire in the way it is put together. Claudius is shown bringing ridicule upon himself in numerous anecdotes, some probably from literary sources (one suspects Cluvius), others perhaps from pamphlet literature or a lingering oral tradition. Suetonius judges Claudius more harshly than does either Dio or Tacitus, and by emphasizing the negative seems to be trying to bring closure to the split between the able administrator and the cruel and foolish tyrant. Like Dio, he shifts responsibility for Claudius' actions to his wives and freedmen without warning but with an important difference. After telling Claudius' story as though he were responsible for his own measures, Suetonius makes an abrupt shift and writes that they were responsible for absolutely everything that he did, admirable or not (25.5).56 He appears to have reached the logical conclusion that if the wives and freedmen were behind Claudius' cruel acts, they must have been behind the sound ones as well. It was an admirable attempt to close the second gap in the tradition, the one that made him simultaneously responsible and not responsible. The solution makes sense, but an implausible Claudius emerges, and the biography is coherent at the expense of its subject. 57 As often in the Lives, the whole is less successful than the parts. 4. STRUCTURE

AND STYLE

Suetonius was careful and often clever in arranging his wide-ranging material. He applied the bulk of his creative efforts to organization, and it is structure that determines rhetoric. Each Life begins with the emperor's birth and usually his ancestry, 58 and this is followed by 56

'Suetonius evidently felt bound to make an adjustment in his original plan in order to get over the difficulty of allowing so feeble an emperor to show such energy in the practical business of govenment' (Momigliano (1961) 78). But he may always have intended to shape the biography in this way. " ' ... like no human being ever seen' (Scramuzza (1940) 26). 58 Exceptions when sons and grandsons are attached to an earlier genealogy. Only Claudius' father Drusus needs introduction in the Life ef Claudius (1); the patriciagens Claudiahas been described (Tib. 1-4).

18

INTRODUCTION

significant events before the principate which make a comment on his qualifications for the job. The reign itself is organized by rubrics (per species,Aug. 9), a comfortable strategy for an author practised in categorizing data as he seems to have been, judging from his encyclopaedic works. Generosity to the populace, administrative style and military achievement (or their opposites) appear on the public side; appearance, habits, character on the private. Some rubrics are included in most of the Lives; Suetonius clearly thought that public works and spectaculawere important measures of imperial generosity. Other rubrics are particular; freedmen and anger warrant them only in the Life of Claudius. Chronology returns at the end with an account of the emperor's death. With the 'bad' emperors, Gaius, Nero and Domitian, reigns are clearly divided between good and bad actions (Calig. 22.1; Ner. 19.3; Dom. 10.1). With Julius and Augustus the split is between public and private life (Jui. 44.4; Aug. 61. 1), and this is the plan for Claudius too, but with a good-bad division layered on top. His public career (10-25) is basically a record of sound administration, although unfavourable details crop up to undercut the portrait of the conscientious emperor. His habits and character (26-42) are reprehensible but as an author he is acceptable. The double division makes the demarcation between public (mostly good) and private (mostly bad) awkward. Private life is introduced with a strong transitional sentence about Claudius' reliance on his wives and freedmen (25.5) who fall on the private side of the ledger. But his ignominious dependence complicates the issue. Domestic relationships (26-7) and the inappropriate power of subordinates (28-9) intertwine before the text moves on to more obviously personal issues. •9 Suetonius is observed working hard to impose logic on conflated compositional imperatives. Similar effort is apparent in the sequence of rubrics and within rubrics. Claudius' pleasure in watching executions (34) moves smoothly to his fearfulness (35-7) and then to his anger (38.1, 2). His incapacity for self-censorship (38.3-40) follows less obviously, but a connection is made: Claudius was inept both when he called atten•• 'The material is presented in unorthodox order'; there is 'consequent awkwardness in introducing other items in that category' (Lewis (1991) 3664 and n. 158).

4. STRUCTURE

AND STYLE

19

tion to his volatile temperament (38.1) and when he acknowledged that people thought him stupid (38.3). Most subjects are introduced by a partitio, a topic sentence that provides an outline for the paragraph that follows, and this makes the presentation easy to follow. Claudius' massive public works, aqueducts, the draining of Lake Fucinus and the construction of the harbour at Ostia, are first introduced (20.1) and then elaborated in order (20.2, 3). But on this level as well, material can be too complex to fit a neat plan. In chapters 22-5, Suetonius pushes (with difficulty) the large and miscellaneous collection of Claudius' administrative adjustments and reforms into a coherent shape. They are religious and secular, civil and military, domestic and foreign and apply to the ordinesvariously. Items fit more than one category. Which should determine the outline? The scholarly purveyor of information is supposed to have cared nothing at all for rhetoric. 60 Suetonius wrote a kind of ancient journalistic style, straightforward, 'business-like', not limited to the diction of historical narrative. About the lawcourts, he used precise legal expression (plus petendoformula excidissent,14). The bureaucratic designation ducenariusfor an imperial employee appears here first in a literary text (24.1).61 Greek intruded into Roman conversation and correspondence but only exceptionally into formal prose; Suetonius includes it, both words and short phrases and longer expressions. 62 Quotations from Latin sources, bits of edicts and speeches, even popular slogans appear verbatim. More than any other Latin author, Suetonius uses participles to convey his message. They often trail behind the main verb, adding important information almost as an afterthought. 63 Ablative abso-

60

Discussions of style: Mace (1900) 379-402; Dalmasso (1906) 130-40; Mooney (1930) 634-39; d'Anna (1954) 179-214; Sage (1979a), (1979b); Lounsbury (1987) (1991). 61 Technical language: Mooney (1930) 611; Gascou (1984) 569-82; Wallace-Hadrill (1983) 21-2. 62 Townend (1960) has argued that Cluvius Rufus was an exception and that his history was the source of Suetonius' Greek. For a list of Greek words, Mooney (1930) 611-12. 65 At least 3,000 participles (Mooney (1930) 626). Also Sage (1979a) 29-37, (1979b).

20

INTRODUCTION

lutes are abundant. Both structures put a great deal into a small space, a goal that seems driven by the rubrics as sentences hurry forward to illustrate the topic that has been set, to reach the punch line expeditiously. They are condensed, concise or (less positively) crowded. The emperor is the grammatical subject of virtually every one, the verb almost always perfect active indicative. But rhetoric is not altogether absent. Ciceronian language 64 and Tacitean uariatio can be found, but at the same time parallel ideas are given parallel expression. As with the closely packed sentences, this impetus toward symmetry seems driven by the rubrics, by a desire to fulfil them neatly and to keep the reader on track. When Suetonius records the insults Claudius received from his family, each sentence begins with name and relationship (materAntonia, auia Augusta, 3.2). Drusus gloriosus and Drusus ciuilis and illustrations of each are lined up in a single sentence (1.4).65 But Augustus' regard for Drusus alive is too elaborately contrasted with Drusus dead (1.5) and the contrived sentence is obscure. 5. TEXT

AND AFTERLIFE

De uita Caesarumwas the template for the imperial biographies that followed. Specifically, it generated the idea that history was a sequence of personalities. In the third century Marius Maximus, taking up where Suetonius had stopped, wrote lives of the twelve emperors who came after Domitian, and these and others fed the biographies (or pseudo-biographies) of the fourth-century Historia Augusta. The content of the Caesaresand sometimes Suetonius' language reappear in the work of the fourth- and fifth-century historians, Aurelius Victor, the author of the Epitomede Caesaribus,Eutropius and Orosius. In the Greek East, John Lydus saw its dedication to Septicius Clarus in the sixth century. In the tenth, the compilers of the Suda knew to list it among Suetonius' works.

64

12.3, 15.3, 21.5; less strikingly at 2.3, 10.3, 16.1, 26.2. One of Suetonius' lost works had the title, 'On Cicero's Republic'. On Suetonius and Cicero, Mace (1900) 284-98; McDermott (1980). 65 Paratore thought this sentence so fine that Suetonius must have copied it directly from a source ((1959) 339).

5. TEXT

AND AFTERLIFE

21

The Lives re-emerge in the West in the ninth century. 66 One piece of evidence is indirect. The Frankish scholar Einhard quite clearly had the Life of Augustus in hand when he wrote a biography of Charlemagne ( Vita Caroli). A copy of the Caesareswas in the monastery at Fulda in Germany where he had been educated and near which he retired in 830. This is known because Servatus Lupus, Abbot of Ferrieres, wrote to Fulda in 844 requesting that it (qui .. . in duosnee magnoscodicesdiuisus est) or a copy be brought to him since the text was unavailable in his part of France. 67 Lupus' interest would have been stimulated because he had been studying at Fulda during the period of Einhard's retirement when he evidently wrote the Vita Caroli and he had been friendly with the older scholar. There is no evidence that Lupus ever received the text, but somewhat later he did have one, either the Fulda MS or one from a different source. 68 The Fulda manuscript is now lost. 69 Other evidence is direct. The oldest extant MS, the 'Memmianus' (M, Parisinus 6115), was probably copied at Tours around 820. 70 If the date is correct, a MS of the Caesares(or several) was in France in the first decades of the ninth century, even if Lupus could not find one in his immediate neighbourhood. The Memmianus has no direct descendants, but it does have cousins, for it is related to the eleventh-century Gudianus 268 (G) and to several from the twelfth (LPOS), 71 collectively the X family. A second family (Z), of less value, includes one late eleventh-century MS 72 and several from the twelfth 66

Preud'homme (1904); Ihm (1907) viii-lxiv; Rand (1926); Wall (1968) 3130; Winterbottom (1983) 399-404. 67 Letter 91 in Lupi Abbatis Ferrariensisepistolae(Mon. Germ. Hist., Epist. VI 1) = letter 35 in Loup de Ferrieres,Correspondance, ed. L. Levillain (1927-35). 68 Rand (1926) 40-8; Regenos (1966) vii-ix; Halphen (1967) vii-ix; Townend (1967) 96-rn6. •• If Lupus had a copy of the Fulda MS, there is a trace in excerpts that he dictated to his pupil Heiric of Auxerre (Rand (1926) 20-37; Wall (1968) 2530; Winterbottom (1983) 400). 70 Rand (1926) 37-8. 71 Laurentianus Plut. 68. 7 ( L), Parisinus 5801 (P), Laurentianus Plut. 66.39 (0), Montepessulanus 117 (S). Another related eleventh-century MS, Vaticanus 1904, is irrelevant for the Life of Claudiussince it ends with the third chapter of Gaius.The fifteenth-century Parisinus 5804 may have come directly from M. 72 Durham C.iii.18.

22

INTRODUCTION

and thirteenth (TTQR).73 Scholars agree about the two families although not on the relationships of the MSS within them. But every surviving MS shares one feature. They all begin with Julius Caesar annum agens sextum decimum (Jut. 1.1). None contains the chapters that cover Caesar's birth, ancestry and early years or the preface with its dedication to Septicius Clarus. All shared an archetype that was missing its first quaternion. Was the lost Fulda MS complete, or was it the truncated MS from which the Memmianus and all the others were ultimately derived? Interest in the Caesares accelerated during the later Middle Ages. Over half of the more than two hundred MSS that survive were written after 1375. And in the Renaissance its popularity exploded, with fifteen printed editions before 1500. De uita Caesarum was a favourite of Petrarch and Boccaccio. 74 Modern critical editions are those of C. L. Roth (1858), L. Preud'homme (1905) and Maximilian Ihm (editio maior 1907; minor 1908, reprinted as the 1958 Teubner edition). There are commentaries on individual lives but none in English on the Lives as a whole and none in depth in any language. For Claudius, the most important is the Latin commentary by H. Smilda (1896). There is one in English by J. Mottershead (1986) and one in German by Wilhelm Kierdorf (1992). " Parisinus 6116 (TT),Parisinus 5802 (Q), Regius, British Library 15.C.m (R). 74

Winterbottom (1983) 403-4. Lounsbury ((1987) 27-61) describes the immense interest in Suetonius in the Renaissance.

IMPORTANT

DATES IN THE LIFE OF CLAUDIUS

Some dates are highly conjectural, especially the duration of his marriage to Urgulanilla and the birth dates of his children by her. 10 BC

9

8

8-g (?) before 12 10 or after 14 19 20 (?)

41 42

43 44 47 47-8

Claudius born at Lugdunum. His father Drusus dies in Germany. Augustus adopts Tiberius; Tiberius adopts Germanicus; Claudius betrothed to Aemilia Lepida (?). Disgrace of the younger Julia; betrothal to Aemilia Lepida broken. Claudius betrothed to Livia Medullina; her death. Marriage to Plautia Urgulanilla. Birth of Claudius' son Drusus. Death of Augustus; Tiberius becomes emperor. Death of Germanicus. Betrothal of Claudius' son Drusus to the daughter of Sejanus. Birth of Claudius' daughter Claudia; divorce from Urgulanilla. Marriage to Aelia Paetina. Birth of Claudius' daughter Antonia. Death of Tiberius; Gaius (Caligula) becomes emperor; Claudius' first consulship. Marriage to Valeria Messallina. Birth of Claudius' daughter Octavia. Assassination of Gaius; Claudius becomes emperor; birth of Claudius' son Britannicus. Second consulship; execution of Appius Silanus; attempted coup of Camillus Scribonianus. Third consulship; successful invasion of Britain. Triumph for the conquest of Britain. Fourth consulship; Secular Games celebrated. Censorship with L. Vitellius.

23

24

49 50 51

53 54

IMPORTANT

DATES

Plot of Messallina and C. Silius; execution Messallina. Marriage to Agrippina. Adoption of Nero. Fifth consulship; Nero receives the togauirilis. Marriage of Nero and Claudius' daughter Octavia. Death of Claudius; Nero becomes emperor.

of

C. SVETONI TRANQVILLI DE VITA CAESAR VM LIB ER QVINTVS DIVVS CLAVDIVS

SIGLA M Parisinus Lat. 6115 (Memmianus) 9th century G Gudianus 268; 1Ith century L Laurentianus plut. 68.7; early 12th century (Mediceus tertius) P Parisinus Lat. 5801; 12th century 0 Laurentianus plut. 66.39; 12th century S Montepessulanus 117; 12th century X consensus of LPOS TT Parisinus Lat. 6116; 12th century [TT1, TT2 ancient correctors] Q. Parisinus Lat. 5802; 12th century R Regius British Library 15.C.III; 12th century Z consensus of TTQ.R

codd. = consensus of the MSS identified above recc. = later MSS These MSS are only a small number of those extant. Critical notes appended to the text are highly selective. Included are only variant readings that elucidate an uncertain reading, have resulted in an emendation or affect the meaning of the text. The text is taken from the Teubner edition edited by Maximilian Ihm (editiominor (1908)). Spelling has been regularized and punctuation simplified. Other changes:

4. 7: et: ut 5: domodeleted 10.2: ad[co]gnouit:agnouit 11.2: ajratris memoria:at infratris memoriam 16.3: eo quidem:et quodam 20.1: potius quam:potiusque 20.3: dirigerent:derigerent 29. 1: largitusest; est deleted 27

C. SVETONI TRANQVILLI DE VITA CAESARVM LIBER QVINTVS DIVVS CLAVDIVS Patrem Claudi Caesaris Drusum, olim Decimum mox Neronem praenomine, Liuia, cum Augusto grauida nupsisset, intra mensem tertium peperit, fuitque suspicio ex uitrico per adulterii consuetudinem procreatum. statim certe uulgatus est uersus,

1

is Drusus in quaesturae praeturaeque honore dux Raetici, 2 deinde Germanici belli Oceanum septemtrionalem primus Romanorum ducum nauigauit transque Rhenum fossas naui et immensi operis effecit, quae nunc adhuc Drusinae uocantur. hostem etiam frequenter caesum ac penitus in intimas solitudines actum non prius destitit insequi quam species barbarae mulieris humana amplior uictorem tendere ultra sermone Latino prohibuisset. quas ob res ouandi ius et trium- 3 phalia ornamenta percepit; ac post praeturam confestim inito consulatu atque expeditione repetita supremum diem morbo obiit in aestiuis castris, quae ex eo Scelerata sunt appellata. corpus eius per municipiorum coloniarumque primores suscipientibus obuiis scribarum decuriis ad urbem deuectum sepultumque est in campo Martio. ceterum exercitus honorarium ei tumulum excitauit, circa quern deinceps stato die quotannis miles decurreret Galliarumque ciuitates publice supplicarent. praeterea senatus inter alia complura marmoreum arcum cum tropaeis uia Appia decreuit et Germanici cognomen ipsi posterisque eius. fuisse autem creditur non 4 minus gloriosi quam ciuilis animi; nam ex hoste super uictorias opima quoque spolia captasse summoque saepius dis1.2

naui MG: noui

,.£1tY)VYJt 'defend against the man who shows anger unprovoked' (Il. 24.369; also Od. 16.72, 21.133). The verse occurs most conspicuously in the Iliad when the elderly Priam is in danger from random attack while retrieving the body of Hector; it conveys the sense of an innocent victim threatened unfairly. C. was quoting his Homer tempestiue(as did Vespasian, Ves.23.1), but his own irascible temperament (38.1-2) made this choice ironic and memorable. 42.2 denique marks the final item of the rubric as in 13.1. et 'also', i.e. in addition to the Latin history (41.1). TyrrbenicoD uiginti, CarcbedoniacoD octo '20 [books] of Etruscan [affairs] and eight of Carthaginian'; sc. uoluminaor libros. Iy"henicon and Carchedoniacon are transliterations of Greek gen. plurals (TvppT)VtK&v, Kapxf16ov1aKwv). The precision about the numbers suggests that S. had at least seen if not read them. No trace remains today. It seems likely that C. mined his Etruscan history for the excursus on King Servius Tullius as the Etruscan Mastarna in his speech in favour of the Gallic senators (Docs.369, col. 1, lines 18-24). He may have taken his material from Roman compilers and not known the Etruscan language. Modern studies are by Heurgon (1953); Momigliano (1961) 8-17; Huzar (1984) 622-4; Holleman (1984); Briquel (1988); Levick (1990) 18. quarum causa 'because of these histories', but surely not the sole reason. ueteri ... Musio: the shrine for the Muses (museum, musium) at Alexandria was established by the Ptolemaic kings of the third century BC as a place where men of learning could study with public support. Near by was the library, partially burned during Caesar's siege of Alexandria (47 Be; Plut. Caes. 49.6; Sen. Dial. 9.9.5; Dio 42.38.2; Strabo 17.1.8). Alexandriae: loc. additum: sc. est. ex ipsius Domine Do11um: the new structure was called the Claudion (ev TOOi KAav6iwt, Ath. Deip. 6.240b). institutumque ut . . . recitareDtur: sc. est with institutum. The substantive result clause serves as the subject. C.'s model was the recitation of Homer at the Greater Panathenaea celebration in Athens. in altero ... in altero 'in one ... in the other'; sc. musio. 11elut in auditorio: see 41.1 for the auditorium. toti qualifies libri; the histories were read all the way through. a

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singulis per uices 'by persons taking turns'. This is similar to what may have been the initial instruction for reciting Homer in Athens; ecpe~iis, [Plat.] 'one after another, taking up the cue' (e~V1TOATJ4'EOOS Hipparch. 228b; also Diog. Laert. 1.57; Jensen (1980) 145-6). 43-6

Death

A return to chronology after the chapters organized per species(u42).

43-44.1 Preliminaries C. is portrayed having second thoughts about his marriage to Agrippina and its implication for the succession. With the exception of the new will (44.1), these anecdotes occur in the context of private moments, and so it is legitimate to raise doubts about their authenticity. They found a home in revisionist history that tried to rescue C. from responsibility for Nero. Mottershead, 139; Levick (1990) 190-3; Griffin (1994). 43 Sub e:dtu uitae: sub = 'at the approach of' (OLD 8); also Ner. 54; sub exitu Neronis ( Ves. 6.3). paenitentis: lit. 'of one feeling regret' (OLD 3) = 'of repentance', followed by de (instead of gen.) only here before Christian writers (TLL x 1 64.10-17). de matrimonio Agrippinae deque Neronis adoptione: see 26.3, 27.2, 39.2. siquidem 'in that' (OLD 3), substantiating the preceding assertion, also at Jui. 88; Ner. 5. 1 and elsewhere. commemorantibus libertis ac laudantibus: temporal abl. abs. cognitionem 'case', a trial; on cognitio... receptaest, 9.2. qua 'in which', Joe. sibi ... in fatis esse 'that it was his fate'; also at Ves. 4.5; Ov. Fasti 1.481 and elsewhere. sibi = dat. of possessor. omnia impudica sed non impunita matrimonia: word play. Also chiasmus. Despite omnia, it is primarily his last two wives who are meant. Cf. Tacitus; ut coniugumJlagitiaferret, dein puniret (Ann. 12.64). But Tacitus leaves the freedmen out of the story and has C. say this when drunk. iactauit: S.'s emperors make forceful declarations (OLD iacto 10) especially for memorable pronouncements (Aug. 25.4; Tib. 28 and often). subinde 'repeatedly', as at 41. 1;

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'he displayed his affection whenever he met the boy' (Dio 6o.34.1). obaiam •ibi Bnt•nnir.am artia.a complem: for obui.us, 1.3. Dio also puts C. at the centre of this encounter, but Tacitus has :'\arcissus - not C. - embrace Britannicus and tell him that he will soon rescue his father from Agrippina as he had from Messallina 1Ann. 12.65). Tacitus either wanted to avoid having the weak emperor find new strength late in life or to make Narcissus a foil to Agrippina as he had been to Messallina (Mehl (1974) 168-9). Narcissus started \'espasian on his career ( Jes. 4.1, 4.2), and gratitude for this was expressed when the histories of C.'s reign came to be written. He is portrayed as thoroughly loyal to C. ut cresceret 'to mature· (OLD crrsco 2). Tacitus attributes a similar thought to Narcissus; robur aria/is quam matummum precari (Ann. 12.65). Urgency arose from the desire for him to have adult status as soon as possible; see on togam darr (below). rationemque ... acciperet 'and receive an explanation' (OLD ratio 5). a se: C. himself would tell him. om.niam factoram: his reasons for doing away with Messallina, for adopting Nero and for diminishing Britannicus' stature (Tac. Ann. 12.26, 12.41; Dio 60.32.1, 60.33.10, 60.34.1). prosecutu.s 'adding' (OLD 7), with the abl. o Tpwaac; lci.at:Tal 'he who has done the wounding will effect the cure', proverbial and often quoted (schol. Ar. }/ub. 922; also as 6 Tpt:>aas Kai icxaETa1,schol. Pl. Grg. 1.7 and elsewhere). The words are those of the oracle to the mythic Telephus, king of Mysia, wounded by Achilles during the Trojan War. Achilles cured Telephus by applying rust from his spear to the wound. impubi teneroque adhuc: dat. of indirect object with dare; sc. ti. ltner adhuc necdum matura (Ner. 7.1). This characterization contradicts 39.2, where adulto iam .filio refers to Britannicus when he was three years younger. quando 'in view of the fact that' ( OLD 3), causal. statura permitteret: pmnitttret is subjunctive by attraction. Britannicus was mature for his age (Dio 61.1.1). togam dare: Britannicus turned 13 in February 54, and C. proposed to give him the toga of manhood soon (Dio 60.34.1). The ceremony usually took place the March after a boy was 14 (2.2), but Nero had received it in 51 a few months after his thirteenth birthday (Tac. Ann. 12.41). Thus Britannicus was expected to match Nero's pace. ut tandem populus R. ueram Caesarem laabeat: a final clause depending on dare togam but presented as the words that

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C. spoke (adiecit). Whether he really said this to Britannicus or it was attributed to him later (much more likely), the issue was legitimate succession. But the message is cryptic: C. was either saying that the natural son of a reigning emperor would at last succeed his father, something that had yet to happen in the brief history of the principate, or he meant that Britannicus would be worthy of the role, a true ruler and so a 'true Caesar'. See on 1.1 for C. taking the Julian cognomen.Nero, as a direct descendant of Augustus, had in fact more right to it than Britannicus had, but at the same time could be considered an interloper because he was adopted; Jl/eroinsitiuus, Domitio genitus patre I ... nomenAugustum inquinat ([Sen.) Oct. 249-51). He felt insulted when addressed as Domitius or Ahenobarbus, the names of his natural father (Ner. 41.1; Tac. Ann. 12.41). The succession had much to do with names. 44.1 testamentum: the implication is that C. changed his will and either made Britannicus joint heir with Nero or favoured Britannicus at Nero's expense. C.'s commendation of the two to the senate and his urging them to get along (46) suggest the former. It was not published after C.'s death (Tac. Ann. 12.69; Dio 61.1.2) but surely would have been if it had named Nero alone. But the will may always have named both of them heirs, its suppression spawning the rumour that C. made a change near the end (Levick (1990) 76). The emperor could not, of course, bequeath the principate, which did not exist as a legal entity, but could leave his wealth, by now immense and essential for the exercise of power and increasingly a part of state finance (onfiscus, 28). But the converse was also true; whoever got the power gained the purse. Even the emperor's personal wealth became attached to the principate as would be seen after the death conscripsit: the verb for of Nero. No more is heard of wills. signis omnium. magistratuum. writing documents; cf. 38.1. an attempt to put the validity of the will beyond quesobsignauit: prius ... quam ... progrederetur: for the subjunctive tion. with prius ... quam, 1.2. igitur 'accordingly' (OLD 4). 'Agrippina, learning of this, became alarmed and made haste to forestall anypraeuentus thing of the sort by poisoning C.' (Dio 60.34.2). est 'he was forestalled' (OLD 2b); morte praeuentus est (Tit. 10.1). praeter haec 'besides' (Rolfe), i.e. in addition to the indications of

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C.'s change of heart (43). conacientiar not so much a guilty conscience (OLD 3d) as her awareness that she had done things that could result in her punishment (OLD 2). quoque connects conscitntia with praeterhaec. nee minua 'and also' (OLD minus2 3b), connecting conscientiawith delatores.The string of connectives makes it difficult to find the point of emphasis among her motivations. multorum crirnin-.m: gen. of the charge.

44.2-3 Poisoning Officially, C. died of a fever (Sen. Apocol.6), but since Agrippina was assumed to have a good reason for wanting him dead before Britannicus gained adult status (43-44.1), it was inevitable that sooner or later she be accused of poisoning him. Until the advent of modern medicine, poison was impossible to detect conclusively and so was routinely blamed when the cause of death was not obvious or even when it was, as in the case of Drusus the Elder (1.4). Although it was assumed that Nero knew about the crime (Ner. 33.1, 39.3; Dio 60.35.2, 4), the charge fell squarely on Agrippina. The timetable for C.'s dying is no doubt correct. He was stricken late in the day on 12 October 54 and lingered for a time; announcement of his death was made around noon on 13 October, evidently after an interval of some hours, during which arrangements were made for Nero's accession. The fact that S. gives alternative versions of both poisoning and death suggests that the stories were contrived and that details about the administration of poison and the need for a second dose evolved to support an assumption of foul play. C. was, in fact, old for a Roman and ailing (on 31). Seizure followed by death some hours later is consistent with several catastrophic medical events stroke, ruptured aneurysm, pulmonary or cerebral embolus, heart attack. Furthermore, his 'change of heart' about Agrippina and Nero that provided a motive (43-44.1) may have been the creation of later apologists. Still, C.'s death was very convenient for mother and son, coming as it did when Nero was nominally an adult and Britannicus still without the toga uirilis. Britannicus' own murder a few months later (Ner. 33.2-3; Tac. Ann. 13.15-17; Dio 61.7.4) was prompted by the continuing awareness that he was a rival.

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44.2 ueneno: the rubric word sets the stage. occisUD1: sc. eum and esse. conuenit: 'there is general agreement' (OLD 7b). Poison, usually in a mushroom, is alleged or assumed at Tac. Ann. 12.66-7; Dio 60.34.2-3, 60.35.4; [Sen.] Oct. 164-5; Pliny, NH 2.92, 11.189, 22.92; Mart. 1.20; Juv. 5.146-8, 6.620-3. And later Philostr. Vit. Apoll. 5.32; Aur. Viet. Caes. 4.13; Epit. de Caes. 4.10; Oros. Hist. 7.6.18. The story gave rise to jokes (Ner. 39.3), some even by Nero himself (Ner. 33.1; Dio 60.35.4). Only Josephus is cautious; 'it was ubi ... et per reported by some' (AJ 20.148, also 20.151). quem: per+ acc. (1.3) for all the agents in the poisoning story. It is in reference to place and agent that S. is precise about the differences between his two versions and the differences between them and other accounts. Criticism of Tacitus should be inferred (Gascou (1984) 284). autem 'but'; adversative, 38.3. discrepat 'there is difference of opinion', impersonal ( OLD 2c); in contrast with conuenit(above; also Livy 3.31.8). quidam tradunt: often for unnamed sources (1.4); also at 0th. 2.2; Ves. 16.3. Probably a single source is meant; similarly with alii (below) and multi . . . aiunt (44.3). Only here this version in which the setting is not the palace and the medium for the poison is not named. The only other trace is at Ner. 39.3 where an actor mocks Nero by singing 'Goodbye, Father' with a gesture of drinking - not of eating a mushroom. epulanti . . . CUDl sacerdotibus: sc. ei with epulanti and understand uenenumdatum esse;12 October was the last day of the Augustalia, a ten-day celebration that marked Augustus' return from the East in 19 BC (RG u; Dio 54.10.3). C. was a member of the sodalesAugustales (6.2) and besides, as pontifex maximus, could attend all priestly banin arce: on the quets (on 4.3). He would have been at the feast. Capitoline but not necessarily on the northern part sometimes called the arx (Richardson (1992) 69-70). The priests dined in a temple or al fresco. per HalotUDl spadonem: cf. Posiden spadonem (28). The freedman Halotus continued to serve Nero and was made a praegustatorem: only here in procurator by Galba (Gal. 15.2). a text for one who forestalls poisoning (but in inscriptions, /LS 1567, 1734, 1795; TLL x• 668.76-9). The verb praegustooccurs often (TLL x 2 669.19-27). The emperor's taster makes his required appearance. alii: cf. quidam (above); understand tradunt ei uenenumdatum esse. S.

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44.3

gives this more colourful story prominence by putting it in the second, emphatic position. Dio follows it too; ' ... since, owing to the great quantity of wine he was forever drinking and his general habits of life, such as all emperors as a rule adopt for their protection, he could not easily be harmed, she sent for a famous dealer in poisons, a woman named Lucusta, who had recently been convicted on this very charge; and preparing with her aid a poison whose effect was sure, she put it in one of the vegetables called mushrooms. Then she herself ate of the others, but made her husband eat of the one which contained the poison; for it was the largest and finest of them' (60.34.2-3). Tacitus also gives this version and he too includes the notorious Lucusta, who, like the taster, was a necessary presence in domestico coauiuio: Joe.; any poisoning story (Ann. 12.66-7). in contrast with the meal in arce cum sacerdotibus (above). If C. was at table twice that day, either venue could have suggested itself. per ipsam Agrippiaam: Tacitus writes that Halotus gave the poison at home as the minister of Agrippina (Ann. 12.66). S.'s ipsam suggests that he knew what Tacitus had written but that one of his sources clearly said that it was Agrippina who proffered the mushboletum medicatum: a poisoned (OLD medico 3b) room. mushroom (hence the need for Lucusta), not a poisonous mushroom. Boletus is a mushroom genus, but in antiquity it meant either any mushroom (poisonous or not) or more precisely one that was edible and choice; uilibus ancipites fungi ponentur amicis, I boletus domino, sed quales Claudius edit

I

ante ilium uxoris, post quern nihil amplius edit (Juv. 5.146-8). auidissimo: sc. ei. auidus is always pejorative in etiam 'also'. regard to food (OLD 2). C. the glutton at 33.1.

de subsequeatibus 'about what followed immediately', the participle of subsequor used substantively. The second phase of the story diuersa fama est: cf. duplex ... concerns his death proper. Jama est (Calig. 58.2). 44.3 multi ... aiuat: S. first gives the version in which C. died without regaining consciousness. 'And so the victim of the plot was carried from the banquet apparently quite overcome by strong drink, a thing that had happened many times before; but during the night the poison took effect and he passed away, without having been able to say or hear a word' (Dio 60.34.3). Since Dio's narrative is continuous, it appears that this completes the story in which

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Agrippina supplied the poison at home. His source was probably the statim hausto ueneno 'as soon as he had elder Pliny (p. 16). swallowed the poison'; abl. abs. haurio for the ingestion of poison (Ner. 2.3; Tit. 2); for solid food (OLD 5b). obmutuisse: sc. eum here and with deftcisse. excruciatumque doloribus: cf. excruciatagrauissimistormentis(Calig. 16.4). nocte tota 1s 1n contrast with prope lucem. It is separated from the verb it qualifies (excruciatum) but juxtaposed to one it does not (deftcisse). defecisse 'died' (OLD 6); in hac uoce deficit for last words (Aug. 99.1; Ner. 49.4). prope lucem 'near dawn'; prope in a temporal sense (OLD 10). The expression is apparently unique but cf. prope solis occasum(Caes. BG 7.80.6; [Anon.] B. Aft. 42.1). nonnulli: sc. aiunt; nonnulli= 'some', as opposed to 'many' (above), but probably of no significance. It is an unattractive picture. Deaths were thought appropriate to character. Tiberius died in lonely isolation (Tib. 73.2). Gaius was stabbed in the groin (Calig.58.3). Augustus went peacefully in Livia's embrace (Aug. 99). inter initia 'in the first stages' (OLD initium 3d), anticipating deinde;often in Celsus for the beginning course of a consopitum: sc. esse; also disease (Med. 2.8.2 and elsewhere). eum here and with euomuisseand repetitum[esse].C. was unconscious and appeared drunk; nee uim medicaminisstatim intellectam,socordianean Claudii uinolentia(Tac. Ann. 12.67). Passing out at table at 8, 33.1. cibo affluente: lit. 'food being superabundant' (OLD affiuo 6) = 'through surfeit', causal abl. abs. Cf. distentus(33.1). euomuisse omnia: Tacitus also draws on this version of the death-bed scene but supplies different details. He writes that the strength of the poison abated when C.'s bowels emptied (Tac. Ann. 12.67). Excrement in Seneca's satire as well; 'uae me, puto, concacauime.' quod an ftcerit, nescio; omnia certe concacauit(Apocol. 4.3). repetitumque toxico: lit. 'that he was attacked again by poison' (OLD repeto2c); sc. esse. toxico= abl. of means. A second dose was administered because Agrippina feared the first insufficient (Tac. Ann. 12.67). C. would have been attended by physicians; hence the supposition that they helped him along. Tacitus introduces the doctor Xenophon into the story. He, like Halotus, was a necessary member of the cast. incertum . . . addito . . . an irnrnisso 'perhaps given . . . or introduced ... '; the participles qualify toxico. incertumis absolute (' [it being] uncertain'; Aug. 19.2; Tib. 72.1) followed by the equivalent of

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a double indirect question ([-ne] ... an; OLD incertus6b), participles pultine: only here for the abl. of taking the place of clauses. puls, abl. of means; otherwise pulte. The primitive gruel of boiled grain was considered a restorative. In Tacitus' variant, the doctor introduces poison on a feather down C. 's throat; tamquam nisus euomentis adiuuaret (Ann. 12.67); for the feather remedy, see 33.1. cum. ... oporteret: causal. uelut: followed by quasi (below); quasi, per simulationemand uelut in 45. C. is explicit in saying that this exhaustum.: sc. eum. refici cibo 'to be was a charade. per clysrestored by food' (OLD reficio6; Celsus, Med. 4.18.5). tera: parallel to the abl. pultine (above). crystera(KAvcrrfipa) = Greek acc. singular. Enemas relieved the bowels as vomiting did the abundantia: cf. stomach; crystere uomituque purgari (Ner. 20. 1). cibo ajfiuente (above). laboranti: sc. ei, dat. with subueniretur. etiam: i.e. in addition to relief by vomiting. egestioais: in a 2 medical sense only here before late writers (TLL v 247.82-248.44), but the cognate egero(OLD 3b) was used for the carrying-off of body subueairetur 'that there might be relief', impersonal, fluids. often with medical remedies (OLD 2b; Celsus, Med. 7.14.8).

45 Aftermath 45 mors eius celata est: C. 's death was not announced until almost noon on the next day, an auspicious hour according to astrologers. Tacitus writes that Agrippina hypocritically consoled Messallina's children, sealed off the palace and throughout the morning fostered the idea that C. was still alive (Tac. Ann. 12.68). The delay has parallels in Livia's belated announcement of Augustus' death (Tac. Ann. 1.5) and in the early historical tradition of Tanaquil's concealment of the death of Tarquinius Priscus until the accession of Servius Tullius was arranged (Livy 1.41.1; noted in antiquity; uti quondam in Prisco Tarquinio, diu occultatum, Aur. Viet. Caes. 4.15; Epit. de Caes. 4.11). For the parallels, Charlesworth (1927); donec ... omnia ordiR. H. Martin (1955); Bauman (1994). narentur: subjunctive because the idea of purpose is present (NLS 224); cf. dum quae resforent firmando Neronis imperio componuntur(Tac. Ann. 12.68). But the delayed announcement was not necessarily sinister since it was reasonable to orchestrate Nero's reception. Tacitus

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and Dio complete the story by describing the guard's salute of Nero and his transport to the praetorian camp where he promised a donative and received the salutation (like C., 10.4). S. reserves this information for the Life efNero (Ner. 8). circa 'in reference to' as in 14. quasi pro aegro adhuc uota suscepta sunt: cf. uotaque pro incolumitateprincipis consules et sacerdotesnuncupabant(Tac. Ann. 12.68). inducti ... comoedi: sc. sunt. A comic presence at C.'s per si.m.ulationem 'in pretence', 'for the end seems fitting. sake of appearance' (OLD simulatio 3b). Seneca writes that they performed; expirauit autem dum comoedosaudit (Apocol. 4.2). qui uelut desiderantem oblectarent: a relative final clause. Sc. eum with desiderantem. excessit for the dying of emperors (Ner. 6. I; Tit. 11). III Id. Octob.: 13 October is confirmed by Tacitus (Ann. 12.69), Dio (60.34.3), Seneca (Apocol. 1.1, 2.2) and by offerings for Nero's dies imperii (Docs. 21, line 10; 22, col. 1, line 49; 26, col. 1, line 38 = Acta Fratrum Arualium, AD 58, 59, 63). Asinio Marcello Aeillo Auiola coss.: AD 54; the ordinarii were M. Asinius Marcellus and M'. Acilius Aviola (Tac. Ann. 12.64). The formal designation of the year also for the deaths of Augustus (Aug. 100.1) and Tiberius (Tib. sexagesi.m.o quarto aetatis, i.m.perii quarto deci.m.o 73.1). anno: chiasmus of aetatis and imperii. The duration is confirmed (Dio 60.34.3; Jos. A] 20.148; less precisely, Eutrop. 7.13.5). S. is almost always specific about death dates and includes the length of funeratusque est sollemni ... pompa: life or reign or both. an elaborate funeral, paid for by the state, perinde ac diuo Augusto celebratur (Tac. Ann. 12.69; its cost and magnificence also at Ner. 9; Dio 60.35.2; Sen. Apocol. 12.1). Details of Augustus' funeral at Aug. 100.24; Tac. Ann. 1.8; Dio 56.34, 56.42. Nero delivered a eulogy written by Seneca (Ner. 9; Tac. Ann. 13.3). principum: the important in numerum deorum relatus: sc. est men of Rome; cf. 16.2. with relatus; the expression for deification also at Jut. 88; Reiff. no. a Nerone 178, p. 318. Divine honours also at Tac. Ann. 12.69. Nero used diuifilius as a coin legend for destitutum abolitumque: a few years (RIG' Nero 6, 7, 10), and diuus Claudius appears sporadically in texts and inscriptions and consistently in the Acta Fratrum Arualium, the brotherhood closely connected with the imperial family (Docs. 21, lines 12, 45; Docs. 22, col. 2, lines 15, 26, 39; elsewhere as restored). Deification, however, was never undone (abolitum) - it

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could not have been. The verbs refer more accurately to the obvious marker of his godhead, his temple on the Caelian Hill. Construction was stopped (destitutum)by the great fire of 64 and by interference from the construction of Aqua Claudia(Front. Aq. 72.6) and of Nero's Golden House (Mart. Spect. 2.9-10; Richardson (1992), 87-8). recepit 'he regained' (OLD 13). mos 'later'. per Vespasianum: C.'s stock rose again under Vespasian, who needed him to help create a positive tradition of the principate into which he had entered (pp. 14-15). Besides, C. had launched Vespasian's career with the British command (17.2), quod initium uenturae mox fortunaefuit (Tac. Agr. 13.3). [Vespasian] ftcit ... templum ... Diuique Claudi in Caeliomontecoeptumquidemab Agrippina,sed a Neronepropefunditus destructum( Ves.9.1). 46 Omens Omens predictive of death occur in most of the Lives, often as a prelude, but sometimes following the emperor's demise as here (Tih. 74; Dom. 23.2). For C., S. offers prefiguring of a different kind, the signa quaedamnee ohscurapaenitentis(43); more conventional praesagiaare reserved for this final rubric. He chose to end C. 's story neither with deification nor the neglect of his cult. 46 praesagia morris eius praecipua: S. was selective (praecipua). He omits the praetorian camp struck by lightning, a swarm of bees, a shower of blood, deformed persons and animals, and the spontaneous opening of the temple of Jupiter Victor (Tac. Ann. 12.64; Dio 60.35.1). exortus: the rising of a star (OLD 1). crinitae stellae: the comet was seen for a long time in 54 (Dio 60.35.1), from 9 June to 9 July (Rogers (1953) 239-40), and its baleful appearance foretold poison and the evil reign of Nero to come (Pliny, NH 2.92; the comet noted also at Sen. QJf 7.17.2, 7.21.3, 7.29.3; Calp. 1.78). Comets foreshadowed the deaths of Nero (Ner. 36.1), Vespasian ( Ves. 23.4), and most conspicuously followed that of Julius Caesar (Jui. 88). They presaged ill fortune because their trails sometimes appeared blood red (Pliny, NH 2.89; Sen. QJf 7.17.3). quam cometen uocant: cometen= Greek acc. This is probably a gloss;

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S. does not find it necessary to explain 'hairy stars' elsewhere. cometas Graeci uocant,nostri crinitas [stellas](Pliny, NH 2.89). tactum de caelo 'struck by lightning' (OLD tango 4c), also at Aug. 94.2; Calig. 57.2 and elsewhere. monumentum Drusi patris: evidently the arch erected for Drusus in the Via Appia (1.3); the biography returns to C.'s father, with whom it began. By other accounts it was praetorians' standards that were struck by lightning (Tac. Ann. 12.64; Dio 60.35.1). quod 'the fact that', introducing a noun clause parallel with the nouns exortusand monumentum. eodem anno: presumably 54. ex omnium magistratuum genere plerique: according to Tacitus, there was only one death in each rank (Tac. Ann. 12.64; Dio 60.35.1); plerique exaggerates. The portents came closer, the comet, the surrogate blow to Drusus, then the dying magistrates with whom C. could identify (Gugel (1977) 55-6). mortem obierant: cf. supremumdiem obiit (1.3); quo obiit (below). sed: cf. 40.3. It introduces three anecdotes about C.'s awareness of his death; they balance the three external portents. nee ... aut 'neither ... nor' (OLD neque7c). ultima ... tempora 'his final days' (OLD tempus5c). argumentis 'indications' (OLD 1); abl. of means. designaret: his commendation amounted to an appointment. See on the quaestorial candidates, 24.1; also Calig. 18.2; SHA, Hadr. 23.13. ultra mensem quo obiit: appointments of sujfecti might be for two-month terms in November and December ( Ves. 4.2). cui nouissime interfuit: i.e. at the last meeting of multum 'strongly' (adv.). ad the senate that he attended. concordiam liberos suos cobortatus: C. anticipated trouble as well he might if his will designated equal heirs (44.1). Ill will between aetatem 'youth' (OLD 4a). Nero and Britannicus at Ner. 7.1. Youth or maturity is emphasized as the context requires (24.3, 39.2, 43). commendauit: cf. 6.2. The boys were probably present; the sons of Germanicus had been when Tiberius requested assurance of their safety (Tac. Ann. 4.8). in ultima cognitione pro tribunali: in a return to an important theme (14-15), S. puts C. in court for this final anecdote. See 12.2 for cognitio,pro tribunali. accessisse ad finem mortalitatis: sc. se. The equivalent of dying words (Gugel (1977) 98). S. destroyed C.'s dignity with the gross details surrounding his death (44.3) but restores it here, and the

244

COl\lMENTARY:

46

biography ends on the ambivalent note that has been characteristic throughout. quamquam introduces an abl. abs. abominaatibua qui audiebaat: the relative clause serves as the noun element in the abl. abs. as at 16.3, 26.3. Those who heard what he said tried to reverse the ill omen of his words (OLD abominor1) by crying out di melioraor something similar. aemel atque itenun 'repeatedly' (OLD semelif; Aug. 22, 27.5).

ABBREVIATIONS

AND REFERENCES

(edd.) J. B. Greenough, et al., Allen and Greenough'snew Latin grammar.Boston 1903, repr. New Rochelle, NY 1981. ANRW (edd.) H. Temporini and W. Haase, Aefstieg und Niedergang der riimischenWelt. Berlin, New York 1972- . GAF (ed.) T. Kock, ComicorumAtticorum.fragmenta. 3 vols. Leipzig 1888. 2 CAH x (edd.) A. K. Bowman, E. Champlin and A. Lintott. Cambridgeancienthistoryx. 2nd edn. Cambridge 1996. GIL CorpusinscriptionumLatinarum.Berlin 1863- . CRR E. A. Sydenham, The coinageof the Roman republic, rev. by G. C. Haines and ed. by L. Forrer and C. A. Hersh. London 1952. Docs. (ed.) E. M. Smallwood, Documentsillustratingtheprincipatesof Caius, Claudiusand Nero. Cambridge 1967. (edd.) V. Ehrenberg and A. H. M. Jones, DocumentsillusE-J trating the reignsof Augustus and Tiberius. 2nd edn repr. with addenda. Oxford 1976. G-L B. L. Gildersleeve and G. Lodge, Gildersleeve's Latin grammar. 3rd edn. London 1895, repr. 1980. ILS (ed.) H. Dessau, Inscriptioneslatinae selectae.Berlin 18921916. M-W (edd.) R. H. Martin and A. J. Woodman, Tacitus: Annals bookIV. (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics) Cambridge 1989. Mon. Germ.Hist., Epist. v1 1 (ed.) E. Diimmler, Lu.piAbbatis Ferrariensisepistolae.Munich 1902, repr. 1978. NLS E. C. Woodcock, A new Latin ~ntax. London 1959. (ed.) P. G. W. Glare, OxfordLatin dictionary.Oxford 1982. OLD RE (edd.) A. Pauly, G. Wissowa and W. Kroll, Real-Encyclopadie der classischenAltertumswissenscheft. Stuttgart 1893- . Reiff. (ed.) A. Reifferscheid, C. Suetoni Tranquillipraeter Caesarum librosreliquiae.Leipzig 1860. RG (edd.) P. A. Brunt and J. M. Moore, Res gestaediui Augusti: of the divineAugustus.Oxford 1967. the achievements A-G

245

246

RIG' TLL

ABBREVIATIONS

AND REFERENCES

(edd.) C. H. V. Sutherland and R. A. G. Carson, Roman imperialcoinage,vol. 1. Rev. edn. London 19847hesauruslinguaeLatinae. Munich 1900- .

The

Unattributed references in the commentary are to the Life of Claudius. References to other Lives are by the Life alone. References to Cassius Dio's Roman history are taken from the Loeb Classical Library edition, (tr.) E. Cary, 9 vols., Cambridge, MA and London 1914-27. Details about the epitomes which have been necessary for the reconstruction of the text can be traced from there to the authoritative edition of U. P. Boissevain, Cassii Dionis Cocceiani Historiarum Romanarum quae supersunt, 5 vols., Berlin 1895-1931, 2nd edn 4 vols., Berlin 1955. All but the shortest quotations from Dio are taken from the Cary translation. Plutarch is quoted from B. Perrin (tr.), Plutarch's lives ( Loeb Classical Library), Cambridge, MA and London 1914-26.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

EDITIONS,

COMMENTARIES

AND

TRANSLATIONS

Baumgarten-Crusius, C. G. (ed.) (1816). C. Suetonii Tranquilli opera. 3 vols. Leipzig. Ihm, M. (ed.) (1907). C. Suetoni Tranquilli opera;De uita Caesarum.2nd edn 1908, Leipzig, repr. Stuttgart 1958. Kierdorf, W. (ed.) (1992). Sueton: Leben des Claudius und Nero. Paderborn. Mottershead, J. (ed.) (1986). Suetonius:Claudius.Bristol. Pike, J. B. (ed.) (1903). Cai Suetoni Tranquilli de uita Caesarumlibri 111vr. Boston. Rolfe, J. C. (tr.) (1913). Suetonius.(The Loeb Classical Library.) 2 vols. Cambridge, MA, and London, rev. and repr. 1998. Roth, C. L. (ed.) (1858). C. Suetoni Tranquilli quae supersunt omnia. Leipzig, repr. 1891. Smilda, H. (ed.) (1896). C. Suetonii Tranquilli uita diui Claudii. Groningen. lateinischund Wittstock, 0. (ed. and tr.) (1993). Sueton:Kaiserbiographien; deutsch.(Schriften und Quellen der alten Welt 39.) Berlin. Wolf, F. A. (ed.) (1802). C. Suetonii Tranquilli operacum animaduersionibus Emesti et commentarioCasauboni.4 vols. Leipzig. Wall, J. L. (ed.) (1968). 'Prolegomena to the study of the MSS of the lives of twelve Caesars by Suetonius, with a critical edition of the lives of Nero and Claudius'. Diss. London. WORKS

CITED

Also included are a limited number of other important secondary works. Abramenko, A. (1994). 'Zeitkritik bei Sueton. Zur Datierung der Vitae Caesarum', Hermes 122: 80-94. Adams, J. N. (1982). The La.tinsexual vocabulary.Baltimore. (Pbk 1990.) Alfoldy, G. (1980-81). 'Romisches Staats- und Gesellschaftsdenken bei Sueton', AncSoc n/12: 349-84. 247

248

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andreae, B. (1984). 'II Ninfeo di Punta dell'Epitaffio a Baia', StudMisc 28: 239-65. d'Anna, G. (1954). Le ideelitterariedi Suetonio.Florence. Astolfi, R. (1986). IA Lex Julia et Papia. 2nd edn. Padua. Bardon, H. (1968). Les empereurset les lettreslatines d'Augustea Hadrim. (Collection d'Etudes Anciennes) 2nd edn. Paris. Barrett, A. A. (1990). Caligula:the corruption