Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

10518

Suetonius, Nero, 21.3

nan He also put on the mask and sang tragedies representing gods and heroes and even heroines and goddesses, having the masks fashioned in the likeness of his own features or those of the women of whom he chanced to be enamoured. Among other themes he sang "Canace in Labor," "Orestes the Matricide," "The Blinding of Oedipus" and the "Frenzy of Hercules." At the last named performance they say that a young recruit, seeing the emperor in mean attire and bound with chains, as the subject required, rushed forward to lend him aid.

Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

12 results
1. Sophocles, Antigone, 450 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
2. Sophocles, Oedipus The King, 410 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
3. Horace, Ars Poetica, 123 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
4. Dio Chrysostom, Orations, 32.41-32.43 (1st cent. CE 32.41.  What, then, do you suppose those people say when they have returned to their homes at the ends of the earth? Do they not say: "We have seen a city that in most respects is admirable and a spectacle that surpasses all human spectacles, with regard both to beauty and sanctuaries and multitude of inhabitants and abundance of all that man requires," going on to describe to their fellow citizens as accurately as possible all the things that I myself named a short while ago — all about the Nile, the land, and the sea, and in particular the epiphany of the god; "and yet," they will add, "it is a city that is mad over music and horse-races and in these matters behaves in a manner entirely unworthy of itself. For the Alexandrians are moderate enough when they offer sacrifice or stroll by themselves or engage in their other pursuits; but when they enter the theatre or the stadium, just as if drugs that would madden them lay buried there, they lose all consciousness of their former state and are not ashamed to say or do anything that occurs to them. 32.42.  And what is most distressing of all is that, despite their interest in the show, they do not really see, and, though they wish to hear, they do not hear, being evidently out of their senses and deranged â€” not only men, but even women and children. And when the dreadful exhibition is over and they are dismissed, although the more violent aspect of their disorder has been extinguished, still at street-corners and in alley-ways the malady continues throughout the entire city for several days; just as when a mighty conflagration has died down, you can see for a long time, not only the smoke, but also some portions of the buildings still aflame. 32.43.  Moreover, some Persian or Bactrian is likely to say: "We ourselves know how to ride horses and are held to be just about the best in horsemanship" — for they cultivate that art for the defence of their empire and independence — "but for all that we have never behaved that way or anything like it"; whereas you, who have never handled a horse or mounted one yourselves, are unable to restrain yourselves, but are like lame men squabbling over a foot-race. That may explain why, cowards and slackers though you are, you have won so many cavalry battles in the past!
5. Seneca The Younger, Thyestes, 177-180, 176 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
6. Suetonius, Augustus, 85 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
7. Suetonius, Caligula, 22 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
8. Suetonius, Nero, 38 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
9. Tacitus, Annals, 15.38-15.43 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) 15.38.  There followed a disaster, whether due to chance or to the malice of the sovereign is uncertain — for each version has its sponsors — but graver and more terrible than any other which has befallen this city by the ravages of fire. It took its rise in the part of the Circus touching the Palatine and Caelian Hills; where, among the shops packed with inflammable goods, the conflagration broke out, gathered strength in the same moment, and, impelled by the wind, swept the full length of the Circus: for there were neither mansions screened by boundary walls, nor temples surrounded by stone enclosures, nor obstructions of any description, to bar its progress. The flames, which in full career overran the level districts first, then shot up to the heights, and sank again to harry the lower parts, kept ahead of all remedial measures, the mischief travelling fast, and the town being an easy prey owing to the narrow, twisting lanes and formless streets typical of old Rome. In addition, shrieking and terrified women; fugitives stricken or immature in years; men consulting their own safety or the safety of others, as they dragged the infirm along or paused to wait for them, combined by their dilatoriness or their haste to impede everything. often, while they glanced back to the rear, they were attacked on the flanks or in front; or, if they had made their escape into a neighbouring quarter, that also was involved in the flames, and even districts which they had believed remote from danger were found to be in the same plight. At last, irresolute what to avoid or what to seek, they crowded into the roads or threw themselves down in the fields: some who had lost the whole of their means — their daily bread included — chose to die, though the way of escape was open, and were followed by others, through love for the relatives whom they had proved unable to rescue. None ventured to combat the fire, as there were reiterated threats from a large number of persons who forbade extinction, and others were openly throwing firebrands and shouting that "they had their authority" — possibly in order to have a freer hand in looting, possibly from orders received. 15.39.  Nero, who at the time was staying in Antium, did not return to the capital until the fire was nearing the house by which he had connected the Palatine with the Gardens of Maecenas. It proved impossible, however, to stop it from engulfing both the Palatine and the house and all their surroundings. Still, as a relief to the homeless and fugitive populace, he opened the Campus Martius, the buildings of Agrippa, even his own Gardens, and threw up a number of extemporized shelters to accommodate the helpless multitude. The necessities of life were brought up from Ostia and the neighbouring municipalities, and the price of grain was lowered to three sesterces. Yet his measures, popular as their character might be, failed of their effect; for the report had spread that, at the very moment when Rome was aflame, he had mounted his private stage, and typifying the ills of the present by the calamities of the past, had sung the destruction of Troy. 15.40.  Only on the sixth day, was the conflagration brought to an end at the foot of the Esquiline, by demolishing the buildings over a vast area and opposing to the unabated fury of the flames a clear tract of ground and an open horizon. But fear had not yet been laid aside, nor had hope yet returned to the people, when the fire resumed its ravages; in the less congested parts of the city, however; so that, while the toll of human life was not so great, the destruction of temples and of porticoes dedicated to pleasure was on a wider scale. The second fire produced the greater scandal of the two, as it had broken out on Aemilian property of Tigellinus and appearances suggested that Nero was seeking the glory of founding a new capital and endowing it with his own name. Rome, in fact, is divided into fourteen regions, of which four remained intact, while three were laid level with the ground: in the other seven nothing survived but a few dilapidated and half-burned relics of houses. 15.41.  It would not be easy to attempt an estimate of the private dwellings, tenement-blocks, and temples, which were lost; but the flames consumed, in their old-world sanctity, the temple dedicated to Luna by Servius Tullius, the great altar and chapel of the Arcadian Evander to the Present Hercules, the shrine of Jupiter Stator vowed by Romulus, the Palace of Numa, and the holy place of Vesta with the Penates of the Roman people. To these must be added the precious trophies won upon so many fields, the glories of Greek art, and yet again the primitive and uncorrupted memorials of literary genius; so that, despite the striking beauty of the rearisen city, the older generation recollects much that it proved impossible to replace. There were those who noted that the first outbreak of the fire took place on the nineteenth of July, the anniversary of the capture and burning of Rome by the Senones: others have pushed their researches so far as to resolve the interval between the two fires into equal numbers of years, of months, and of days. 15.42.  However, Nero turned to account the ruins of his fatherland by building a palace, the marvels of which were to consist not so much in gems and gold, materials long familiar and vulgarized by luxury, as in fields and lakes and the air of solitude given by wooded ground alternating with clear tracts and open landscapes. The architects and engineers were Severus and Celer, who had the ingenuity and the courage to try the force of art even against the veto of nature and to fritter away the resources of a Caesar. They had undertaken to sink a navigable canal running from Lake Avernus to the mouths of the Tiber along a desolate shore or through intervening hills; for the one district along the route moist enough to yield a supply of water is the Pomptine Marsh; the rest being cliff and sand, which could be cut through, if at all, only by intolerable exertions for which no sufficient motive existed. None the less, Nero, with his passion for the incredible, made an effort to tunnel the height nearest the Avernus, and some evidences of that futile ambition survive. 15.43.  In the capital, however, the districts spared by the palace were rebuilt, not, as after the Gallic fire, indiscriminately and piecemeal, but in measured lines of streets, with broad thoroughfares, buildings of restricted height, and open spaces, while colonnades were added as a protection to the front of the tenement-blocks. These colonnades Nero offered to erect at his own expense, and also to hand over the building-sites, clear of rubbish, to the owners. He made a further offer of rewards, proportioned to the rank and resources of the various claimants, and fixed a term within which houses or blocks of tenement must be completed, if the bounty was to be secured. As the receptacle of the refuse he settled upon the Ostian Marshes, and gave orders that vessels which had carried grain up the Tiber must run down-stream laden with débris. The buildings themselves, to an extent definitely specified, were to be solid, untimbered structures of Gabine or Alban stone, that particular stone being proof against fire. Again, there was to be a guard to ensure that the water-supply — intercepted by private lawlessness — should be available for public purposes in greater quantities and at more points; appliances for checking fire were to be kept by everyone in the open; there were to be no joint partitions between buildings, but each was to be surrounded by its own walls. These reforms, welcomed for their utility, were also beneficial to the appearance of the new capital. Still, there were those who held that the old form had been the more salubrious, as the narrow streets and high-built houses were not so easily penetrated by the rays of the sun; while now the broad expanses, with no protecting shadows, glowed under a more oppressive heat.
10. Cassius Dio, Roman History, 59.5, 59.25.5, 59.26.6-59.26.10, 59.30.1, 62.16, 7372.15.6, 7372.16.1, 7372.20.2, 7372.22.3 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) 59.5. 1.  This was the kind of emperor into whose hands the Romans were then delivered. Hence the deeds of Tiberius, though they were felt to have been very harsh, were nevertheless as far superior to those of Gaius as the deeds of Augustus were to those of his successor.,2.  For Tiberius always kept the power in his own hands and used others as agents for carrying out his wishes; whereas Gaius was ruled by the charioteers and gladiators, and was the slave of the actors and others connected with the stage. Indeed, he always kept Apelles, the most famous of the tragedians of that day, with him even in public.,3.  Thus he by himself and they by themselves did without let or hindrance all that such persons would naturally dare to do when given power. Everything that pertained to their art he arranged and settled on the slightest pretext in the most lavish manner, and he compelled the praetors and the consuls to do the same, so that almost every day some performance of the kind was sure to be given.,4.  At first he was but a spectator and listener at these and would take sides for or against various performers like one of the crowd; and one time, when he was vexed with those of opposing tastes, he did not go to the spectacle. But as time went on, he came to imitate, and to contend in many events,,5.  driving chariots, fighting as a gladiator, giving exhibitions of pantomimic dancing, and acting in tragedy. So much for his regular behaviour. And once he sent an urgent summons at night to the leading men of the senate, as if for some important deliberation, and then danced before them.   59.26.6.  because he had bridged so great an expanse of sea; he also impersonated Hercules, Bacchus, Apollo, and all the other divinities, not merely males but also females, often taking the rôle of Juno, Diana, or Venus. Indeed, to match the change of name he would assume all the rest of the attributes that belonged to the various gods, so that he might seem really to resemble them. 59.26.7.  Now he would be seen as a woman, holding a wine-bowl and (Opens in another window)')" onMouseOut="nd();" thyrsus, and again he would appear as a man equipped with a club and lion's skin or perhaps a helmet and shield. He would be seen at one time with a smooth chin and later with a full beard. Sometimes he wielded a trident and again he brandished a thunderbolt. Now he would impersonate a maiden equipped for hunting or for war, and a little later would play the married woman. 59.26.8.  Thus by varying the style of his dress, and by the use of accessories and wigs, he achieved accuracy inasmuch diverse parts; and he was eager to appear to be anything rather than a human being and an emperor. Once a Gaul, seeing him uttering oracles from a lofty platform in the guise of Jupiter, was moved to laughter 59.26.9.  whereupon Gaius summoned him and inquired, "What do I seem to you to be?" And the other answered (I give his exact words):"A big humbug." Yet the man met with no harm, for he was only a shoemaker. Thus it is, apparently, that persons of such rank as Gaius can bear the frankness of the common herd more easily than that of those who hold high position. 59.26.10.  The attire, now, that I have described was what he would assume whenever he pretended to be a god; and suitable supplications, prayers, and sacrifices would then be offered to him. At other times he usually appeared in public in silk or in triumphal dress. 62.16. 1.  After this Nero set his heart on accomplishing what had doubtless always been his desire, namely to make an end of the whole city and realm during his lifetime.,2.  At all events, he, like others before him, used to call Priam wonderfully fortunate in that he had seen his country and his throne destroyed together. Accordingly he secretly sent out men who pretended to be drunk or engaged in other kinds of mischief, and caused them at first to set fire to one or two or even several buildings in different parts of the city, so that people were at their wits' end, not being able to find any beginning of the trouble nor to put an end to it, though they constantly were aware of many strange sights and sounds.,3.  For there was naught to be seen but many fires, as in a camp, and naught to be heard from the talk of the people except such exclamations as "This or that is afire," "Where?" "How did it happen?" "Who kindled it?" "Help?" Extraordinary excitement laid hold on all the citizens in all parts of the city, and they ran about, some in one direction and some in another, as if distracted.,4.  Here men while assisting their neighbours would learn that their own premises were afire; there others, before 20 reached them that their own houses had caught fire, would be told that they were destroyed. Those who were inside their houses would run out into the narrow streets thinking that they could save them from the outside, while people in the streets would rush into the dwellings in the hope of accomplishing something inside.,5.  There was shouting and wailing without end, of children, women, men, and the aged all together, so that no one could see thing or understand what was said by reason of the smoke and the shouting; and for this reason some might be seen standing speechless, as if they were dumb.,6.  Meanwhile many who were carrying out their goods and many, too, who were stealing the property of others, kept running into one another and falling over their burdens. It was not possible to go forward nor yet to stand still, but people pushed and were pushed in turn, upset others and were themselves upset.,7.  Many were suffocated, many were trampled underfoot; in a word, no evil that can possibly happen to people in such a crisis failed to befall to them. They could not even escape anywhere easily; and if anybody did save himself from the immediate danger, he would fall into another and perish.
11. Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Commodus, 11.13, 17.8-17.9 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)
12. Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Commodus, 11.13, 17.8-17.9 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)

Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
accession (imperial)	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
actors	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
aeschylus, dramas by\n, oresteia	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
agamemnon	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
amphitheatre	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
anger, of atreus	Bexley, Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves (2022) 68
antigonus i monophthalmus	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
appearance	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
atreus, and metatheatre	Bexley, Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves (2022) 68
atreus, as actor	Bexley, Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves (2022) 68
audience, and thyestes	Bexley, Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves (2022) 68
audience	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
augustus, ajax	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
autocrats/autocracy see also dionysus, monarchy, satyrplay, tragedy, tyrants\n, and theatre	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
caligula	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
caracalla	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
character, fictional, and metatheatre	Bexley, Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves (2022) 68
character, fictional, as textual construct	Bexley, Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves (2022) 68
characterisation	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
citations of tragedy by	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
claudius (germanicus)	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
clytemnestra	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
commodus	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
contrasts (in narrative)	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
creon (king of thebes)	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
death	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
divine	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
domitian	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
downfall	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
epic	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
euripides, dramas by\n, aeolus	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
euripides, dramas by\n, antigone	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
euripides, dramas by\n, orestes	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
euripides (tragic poet), and nero	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
father(hood)	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
fear	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
games	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
heracles	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
hippolytus	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
horace	Bexley, Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves (2022) 68
identity, and metatheatre	Bexley, Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves (2022) 68
identity	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
intertexts	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
juvenal (poet)	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
luxury	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
marcus aurelius	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
mask, and metatheatre	Bexley, Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves (2022) 68
masks	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
matricide	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
metatheatre, in thyestes	Bexley, Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves (2022) 68
minds (of in-text characters)	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
minotaur, significance of in senecan tragedy	Bexley, Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves (2022) 68
moderation	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
moral(isation)	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
myth	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
naming	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
nero	Bexley, Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves (2022) 68; Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226; Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
nero (emperor), performing greek tragedy	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
nero (emperor)	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165; Mcclellan, Paulinus Noster: Self and Symbols in the Letters of Paulinus of Nola (2019) 6
nobility of birth	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
oedipus	Mcclellan, Paulinus Noster: Self and Symbols in the Letters of Paulinus of Nola (2019) 6
onlookers	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
orestes	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41; Mcclellan, Paulinus Noster: Self and Symbols in the Letters of Paulinus of Nola (2019) 6
phaedra	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
philostratus (the younger)	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
physiognomy	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
pompey	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
praetexta	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
propaganda (imperial)	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
readers, expectations	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226
recitation	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
recognition scenes, and metatheatre	Bexley, Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves (2022) 68
rome	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
sophocles, dramas by\n, antigone	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
sophocles, dramas by\n, oedipus at colonus	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
sophocles, dramas by\n, oedipus tyrannus	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
spectacle	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
theatre'	Mcclellan, Paulinus Noster: Self and Symbols in the Letters of Paulinus of Nola (2019) 6
theatres	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
tragedy, and autocrats	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
tragedy, modern reception of	Csapo et al., Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World (2022) 165
triumph	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
troy	Harrison, Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015) 41
tyranny/tyrants	Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 226