Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

10588

Tacitus, Annals, 1.73.1

nan It will not be unremunerative to recall the first, tentative charges brought in the case of Falanius and Rubrius, two Roman knights of modest position; if only to show from what beginnings, thanks to the art of Tiberius, the accursed thing crept in, and, after a temporary check, at last broke out, an all-devouring conflagration. Against Falanius the accuser alleged that he had admitted a certain Cassius, mime and catamite, among the "votaries of Augustus," who were maintained, after the fashion of fraternities, in all the great houses: also, that when selling his gardens, he had parted with a statue of Augustus as well. To Rubrius the crime imputed was violation of the deity of Augustus by perjury. When the facts came to the knowledge of Tiberius, he wrote to the consuls that place in heaven had not been decreed to his father in order that the honour might be turned to the destruction of his countrymen. Cassius, the actor, with others of his trade, had regularly taken part in the games which his own mother had consecrated to the memory of Augustus; nor was it an act of sacrilege, if the effigies of that sovereign, like other images of other gods, went with the property, whenever a house or garden was sold. As to the perjury, it was on the same footing as if the defendant had taken the name of Jupiter in vain: the gods must look to their own wrongs.

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

6 results
1. Suetonius, Tiberius, 25 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
2. Tacitus, Annals, 1.8.4, 1.72.2, 1.73.3-1.73.4, 2.27.1-2.27.2, 3.6, 3.18.1-3.18.3, 3.58.1, 3.71.2, 4.16 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) 2.27.1.  Nearly at the same time, a charge of revolutionary activities was laid against Libo Drusus, a member of the Scribonian family. I shall describe in some detail the origin, the progress, and the end of this affair, as it marked the discovery of the system destined for so many years to prey upon the vitals of the commonwealth. Firmius Catus, a senator, and one of Libo's closest friends, had urged that short-sighted youth, who had a foible for absurdities, to resort to the forecasts of astrologers, the ritual of magicians, and the society of interpreters of dreams; pointing to his great-grandfather Pompey, to his great-aunt Scribonia (at one time the consort of Augustus), to his cousin­ship with the Caesars, and to his mansion crowded with ancestral portraits; encouraging him in his luxuries and loans; and, to bind him in a yet stronger chain of evidence, sharing his debaucheries and his embarrassments. 3.6.  All this Tiberius knew; and, to repress the comments of the crowd, he reminded them in a manifesto that "many illustrious Romans had died for their country, but none had been honoured with such a fervour of regret: a compliment highly valued by himself and by all, if only moderation were observed. For the same conduct was not becoming to ordinary families or communities and to leaders of the state and to an imperial people. Mourning and the solace of tears had suited the first throes of their affliction; but now they must recall their minds to fortitude, as once the deified Julius at the loss of his only daughter, and the deified Augustus at the taking of his grandchildren, had thrust aside their anguish. There was no need to show by earlier instances how often the Roman people had borne unshaken the slaughter of armies, the death of generals, the complete annihilation of historic houses. Statesmen were mortal, the state eternal. Let them return, therefore, to their usual occupations and — as the Megalesian Games would soon be exhibited — resume even their pleasures! 3.18.1.  Much in these suggestions was mitigated by the emperor. He would not have Piso's name cancelled from the records, when the names of Mark Antony, who had levied war on his fatherland, and of Iullus Antonius, who had dishonoured the hearth of Augustus, still remained. He exempted Marcus Piso from official degradation, and granted him his patrimony: for, as I have often said, he was firm enough against pecuniary temptations, and in the present case his shame at the acquittal of Plancina made him exceptionally lenient. So, again, when Valerius Messalinus proposed to erect a golden statue in the temple of Mars the Avenger, and Caecina Severus an altar of Vengeance, he vetoed the scheme, remarking that these memorials were consecrated after victories abroad; domestic calamities called for sorrow and concealment. Messalinus had added that Tiberius, Augusta, Antonia, Agrippina, and Drusus ought to be officially thanked for their services in avenging Germanicus: Claudius he had neglected to mention. Indeed, it was only when Lucius Asprenas demanded point-blank in the senate if the omission was deliberate that the name was appended. For myself, the more I reflect on events recent or remote, the more am I haunted by the sense of a mockery in human affairs. For by repute, by expectancy, and by veneration, all men were sooner marked out for sovereignty than that future emperor whom destiny was holding in the background. 3.58.1.  Meanwhile, after the governor­ship of Junius Blaesus in Africa had been extended, the Flamen Dialis, Servius Maluginensis, demanded the allotment of Asia to himself. "It was a common fallacy," he insisted, "that the flamens of Jove were not allowed to leave Italy; nor was his own legal status different from that of the flamens of Mars and Quirinus. If, then, they had had provinces allotted them, why was the right withheld from the priests of Jove? There was no national decree to be found on the point — nothing in the Books of Ceremonies. The pontiffs had often performed the rites of Jove, if the flamen was prevented by sickness or public business. For seventy-five years after the self-murder of Cornelius Merula no one had been appointed in his room, yet the rites had not been interrupted. But if so many years could elapse without a new creation, and without detriment to the cult, how much more easily could he absent himself for twelve months of proconsular authority? Personal rivalries had no doubt in former times led the pontiffs to prohibit his order from visiting the provinces: to‑day, by the grace of Heaven, the chief pontiff was also the chief of men, beyond the reach of jealousy, rancour, or private inclinations. 4.16.  Nearly at the same date, the Caesar spoke on the need of choosing a flamen of Jupiter, to replace the late Servius Maluginensis, and of also passing new legislation. "Three patricians," he pointed out, "children of parents wedded 'by cake and spelt,' were nominated simultaneously; and on one of them the selection fell. The system was old-fashioned, nor was there now as formerly the requisite supply of candidates, since the habit of marrying by the ancient ritual had been dropped, or was retained in few families." — Here he offered several explanations of the fact, the principal one being the indifference of both sexes, though there was also a deliberate avoidance of the difficulties of the ceremony itself. — ". . . and since both the man obtaining this priesthood and the woman passing into the marital control of a flamen were automatically withdrawn from paternal jurisdiction. Consequently, a remedy must be applied either by a senatorial resolution or by special law, precisely as Augustus had modified several relics of the rough old world to suit the needs of the present." It was decided, then, after a discussion of the religious points, that no change should be made in the constitution of the flamenship; but a law was carried, that the flamen's wife, though under her husband's tutelage in respect of her sacred duties, should otherwise stand upon the same legal footing as any ordinary woman. Maluginensis' son was elected in the room of his father; and to enhance the dignity of the priests and increase their readiness to perform the ritual of the various cults, two million sesterces were voted to the Virgin Cornelia, who was being appointed to succeed Scantia; while Augusta, whenever she entered the theatre, was to take her place among the seats reserved for the Vestals.
3. Tacitus, Histories, 2.78.1 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
4. Cassius Dio, Roman History, 57.15.4-57.15.5 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) 57.15.4.  This was one instance of inconsistency on his part; another was seen in his treatment of Lucius Scribonius Libo, a young noble suspected of revolutionary designs. So long as this man was well, he did not bring him to trial, but when he became sick unto death, he caused him to be brought into the senate in a covered litter, such as the wives of the senators use; 57.15.5.  then, when there was a slight delay and Libo committed suicide before his trial could come off, he passed judgment upon him after his death, gave his money to his accusers, and caused sacrifices to be offered to commemorate the man's death, not only on his own account, but also on that of Augustus and of the latter's father Julius, as had been decreed in past times.
5. Velleius Paterculus, Roman History, 2.129.2
6. Vergil, Aeneis, 8.36-8.65 8.36. all shapes of beast or bird, the wide world o'er 8.37. lay deep in slumber. So beneath the arch 8.38. of a cold sky Aeneas laid him down 8.39. upon the river-bank, his heart sore tried 8.40. by so much war and sorrow, and gave o'er 8.41. his body to its Iong-delayed repose. 8.42. There, 'twixt the poplars by the gentle stream 8.43. the River-Father, genius of that place 8.44. old Tiberinus visibly uprose; 8.45. a cloak of gray-green lawn he wore, his hair 8.46. o'erhung with wreath of reeds. In soothing words 8.48. “Seed of the gods! who bringest to my shore 8.49. thy Trojan city wrested from her foe 8.50. a stronghold everlasting, Latium 's plain 8.51. and fair Laurentum long have looked for thee. 8.52. Here truly is thy home. Turn not away. 8.53. Here the true guardians of thy hearth shall be. 8.54. Fear not the gathering war. The wrath of Heaven 8.55. has stilled its swollen wave. A sign I tell: 8.56. Lest thou shouldst deem this message of thy sleep 8.57. a vain, deluding dream, thou soon shalt find 8.58. in the oak-copses on my margent green 8.59. a huge sow, with her newly-littered brood 8.60. of thirty young; along the ground she lies 8.61. now-white, and round her udders her white young. 8.62. There shall thy city stand, and there thy toil 8.63. hall find untroubled rest. After the lapse 8.64. of thrice ten rolling years, Ascanius 8.65. hall found a city there of noble name

Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
actors	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 39
adulatio	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 135
alexandria	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 51
altars	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 28, 135
astrologers,as criminal charge	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 51
augustus,divus	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 39, 43, 51, 56
caecina severus,a.	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 135
calendar,additions to	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 135
calpurnius piso,cn. (governor of syria),trial and death of	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 135
capitoline hill,role in triumphal procession	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 56
civilitas	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 43
consuls	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 135
decline,of religion	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 192
decline,of senate	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 192
delatores	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 43
emperor cult	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 56
expiation	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 28
faianius	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 39, 43, 51, 56
family,imperial	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 39, 56, 135
firmius catus	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 51
flamen of augustus,dialis	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 192
flaminica	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 192
floods	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 28
germanicus,triumph of	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 56
gold	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 135
granius marcellus	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 43
jupiter optimus maximus	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 56
libo drusus	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 51, 56
magic and magi	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 51
maiestas	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 39, 43, 51, 56, 135
maiestas laws	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 192
mars ultor	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 135
mausoleum of augustus,medicine,language of	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 39, 43
memory,cultic,maiestas and	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 39, 43, 51, 56
parthia	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 135
pompey	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 51
preces	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 28
priests,(mis-)appointments	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 192
prodigies	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 28
religio	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 28
ritual	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 192
river gods	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 28
rubrius	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 39, 43, 51, 56
sacrifice,human	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 135
sacrifice	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 56
senate,attitude to emperor cult of	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 43
senate,failure of authority	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 192
senate,failure of expertise	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 192
senate,responsible for cultus deorum	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 192
senate	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 28
soldiers	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 135
statues,golden	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 135
suicide	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 135
superstitio	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 28, 51
tiber	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 28
tiberius,accession of	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 43
tiberius,emperor,undermines religion	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 192
tiberius,prodigies and	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 28
triumphs	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 56
ultio'	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 135
valerius messalinus	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 135
vespasian	Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 51