Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

10588

Tacitus, Annals, 15.34

Illic, plerique ut arbitrabantur, triste, ut ipse, providum potius et secundis numinibus evenit: nam egresso qui adfuerat populo vacuum et sine ullius noxa theatrum conlapsum est. ergo per compositos cantus grates dis atque ipsam recentis casus fortunam celebrans petiturusque maris Hadriae traiectus apud Beneventum interim consedit, ubi gladiatorium munus a Vatinio celebre edebatur. Vatinius inter foedissima eius aulae ostenta fuit, sutrinae tabernae alumnus, corpore detorto, facetiis scurrilibus; primo in contumelias adsumptus, dehinc optimi cuiusque criminatione eo usque valuit ut gratia pecunia vi nocendi etiam malos praemineret. There an incident took place, sinister in the eyes of many, providential and a mark of divine favour in those of the sovereign; for, after the audience had left, the theatre, now empty, collapsed without injury to anyone. Therefore, celebrating in a set of verses his gratitude to Heaven, Nero — now bent on crossing the Adriatic — came to rest for the moment at Beneventum; where a largely attended gladiatorial spectacle was being exhibited by Vatinius. Vatinius ranked among the foulest prodigies of that court; the product of a shoemaker's shop, endowed with a misshapen body and a scurrile wit, he had been adopted at the outset as a target for buffoonery; then, by calumniating every man of decency, he acquired a power which made him in influence, in wealth, and in capacity for harm, pre-eminent even among villains. <

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

21 results
1. Cicero, Philippicae, 2.109, 13.11 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
2. Juvenal, Satires, 4.15, 4.20, 5.4 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
3. Martial, Epigrams, 10.96 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
4. Martial, Epigrams, 10.96 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
5. Pliny The Elder, Natural History, 7.74-7.75, 34.6, 34.48, 34.62, 37.82 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
6. Suetonius, Augustus, 70.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
7. Suetonius, Caligula, 3.2, 57.1 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
8. Suetonius, Claudius, 11.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
9. Suetonius, Iulius, 79.1, 80.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
10. Suetonius, Nero, 45 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
11. Suetonius, Tiberius, 44.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
12. Tacitus, Annals, 2.37, 12.49, 15.23.4, 15.44.1-15.44.2, 15.47.2, 15.74.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) 2.37.  In addition, he gave monetary help to several senators; so that it was the more surprising when he treated the application of the young noble, Marcus Hortalus, with a superciliousness uncalled for in view of his clearly straitened circumstances. He was a grandson of the orator Hortensius; and the late Augustus, by the grant of a million sesterces, had induced him to marry and raise a family, in order to save his famous house from extinction. With his four sons, then, standing before the threshold of the Curia, he awaited his turn to speak; then, directing his gaze now to the portrait of Hortensius among the orators (the senate was meeting in the Palace), now to that of Augustus, he opened in the following manner:— "Conscript Fathers, these children whose number and tender age you see for yourselves, became mine not from any wish of my own, but because the emperor so advised, and because, at the same time, my ancestors had earned the right to a posterity. For to me, who in this changed world had been able to inherit nothing and acquire nothing, — not money, nor popularity, nor eloquence, that general birthright of our house, — to me it seemed enough if my slender means were neither a disgrace to myself nor a burden to my neighbour. At the command of the sovereign, I took a wife; and here you behold the stock of so many consuls, the offspring of so many dictators! I say it, not to awaken odium, but to woo compassion. Some day, Caesar, under your happy sway, they will wear whatever honours you have chosen to bestow: in the meantime, rescue from beggary the great-grandsons of Quintus Hortensius, the fosterlings of the deified Augustus! 12.49.  The procurator of Cappadocia was Julius Paelignus, a person made doubly contemptible by hebetude of mind and grotesqueness of body, yet on terms of the greatest intimacy with Claudius during the years of retirement when he amused his sluggish leisure with the society of buffoons. The Paelignus had mustered the provincial militia, with the avowed intention of recovering Armenia; but, while he was plundering our subjects in preference to the enemy, the secession of his troops left him defenceless against the barbarian incursions, and he made his way to Radamistus, by whose liberality he was so overpowered that he voluntarily advised him to assume the kingly emblem, and assisted at its assumption in the quality of sponsor and satellite. Ugly reports of the incident spread; and, to make it clear that not all Romans were to be judged by the standard of Paelignus, the legate Helvidius Priscus was sent with a legion to deal with the disturbed situation as the circumstances might require. Accordingly, after crossing Mount Taurus in haste, he had settled more points by moderation than by force, when he was ordered back to Syria, lest he should give occasion for a Parthian war. 15.44.1.  So far, the precautions taken were suggested by human prudence: now means were sought for appeasing deity, and application was made to the Sibylline books; at the injunction of which public prayers were offered to Vulcan, Ceres, and Proserpine, while Juno was propitiated by the matrons, first in the Capitol, then at the nearest point of the sea-shore, where water was drawn for sprinkling the temple and image of the goddess. Ritual banquets and all-night vigils were celebrated by women in the married state. But neither human help, nor imperial munificence, nor all the modes of placating Heaven, could stifle scandal or dispel the belief that the fire had taken place by order. Therefore, to scotch the rumour, Nero substituted as culprits, and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians. Christus, the founder of the name, had undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilatus, and the pernicious superstition was checked for a moment, only to break out once more, not merely in Judaea, the home of the disease, but in the capital itself, where all things horrible or shameful in the world collect and find a vogue. First, then, the confessed members of the sect were arrested; next, on their disclosures, vast numbers were convicted, not so much on the count of arson as for hatred of the human race. And derision accompanied their end: they were covered with wild beasts' skins and torn to death by dogs; or they were fastened on crosses, and, when daylight failed were burned to serve as lamps by night. Nero had offered his Gardens for the spectacle, and gave an exhibition in his Circus, mixing with the crowd in the habit of a charioteer, or mounted on his car. Hence, in spite of a guilt which had earned the most exemplary punishment, there arose a sentiment of pity, due to the impression that they were being sacrificed not for the welfare of the state but to the ferocity of a single man.
13. Cassius Dio, Roman History, 55.9.6 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) 55.9.6.  He made the journey as a private citizen, though he exercised his authority by compelling the Parians to sell him the statue of Vesta, in order that it might be placed in the temple of Concord; and when he reached Rhodes, he refrained from haughty conduct in both word and deed.
14. Festus Sextus Pompeius, De Verborum Significatione, None (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
15. Pliny The Younger, Letters, 2.3.8 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
16. Pliny The Younger, Letters, 2.3.8 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
17. Augustine, The City of God, 15.23 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE) 15.23. In the third book of this work (c. 5) we made a passing reference to this question, but did not decide whether angels, inasmuch as they are spirits, could have bodily intercourse with women. For it is written, Who makes His angels spirits, that is, He makes those who are by nature spirits His angels by appointing them to the duty of bearing His messages. For the Greek word ἄγγελος, which in Latin appears as angelus, means a messenger. But whether the Psalmist speaks of their bodies when he adds, and His ministers a flaming fire, or means that God's ministers ought to blaze with love as with a spiritual fire, is doubtful. However, the same trustworthy Scripture testifies that angels have appeared to men in such bodies as could not only be seen, but also touched. There is, too, a very general rumor, which many have verified by their own experience, or which trustworthy persons who have heard the experience of others corroborate, that sylvans and fauns, who are commonly called incubi, had often made wicked assaults upon women, and satisfied their lust upon them; and that certain devils, called Duses by the Gauls, are constantly attempting and effecting this impurity is so generally affirmed, that it were impudent to deny it. From these assertions, indeed, I dare not determine whether there be some spirits embodied in an aerial substance (for this element, even when agitated by a fan, is sensibly felt by the body), and who are capable of lust and of mingling sensibly with women; but certainly I could by no means believe that God's holy angels could at that time have so fallen, nor can I think that it is of them the Apostle Peter said, For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. 2 Peter 2:4 I think he rather speaks of these who first apostatized from God, along with their chief the devil, who enviously deceived the first man under the form of a serpent. But the same holy Scripture affords the most ample testimony that even godly men have been called angels; for of John it is written: Behold, I send my messenger (angel) before Your face, who shall prepare Your way. Mark 1:2 And the prophet Malachi, by a peculiar grace specially communicated to him, was called an angel. Malachi 2:7 But some are moved by the fact that we have read that the fruit of the connection between those who are called angels of God and the women they loved were not men like our own breed, but giants; just as if there were not born even in our own time (as I have mentioned above) men of much greater size than the ordinary stature. Was there not at Rome a few years ago, when the destruction of the city now accomplished by the Goths was drawing near, a woman, with her father and mother, who by her gigantic size over-topped all others? Surprising crowds from all quarters came to see her, and that which struck them most was the circumstance that neither of her parents were quite up to the tallest ordinary stature. Giants therefore might well be born, even before the sons of God, who are also called angels of God, formed a connection with the daughters of men, or of those living according to men, that is to say, before the sons of Seth formed a connection with the daughters of Cain. For thus speaks even the canonical Scripture itself in the book in which we read of this; its words are: And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair [good]; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became the giants, men of renown. These words of the divine book sufficiently indicate that already there were giants in the earth in those days, in which the sons of God took wives of the children of men, when they loved them because they were good, that is, fair. For it is the custom of this Scripture to call those who are beautiful in appearance good. But after this connection had been formed, then too were giants born. For the words are: There were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men. Therefore there were giants both before, in those days, and also after that. And the words, they bare children to them, show plainly enough that before the sons of God fell in this fashion they begot children to God, not to themselves - that is to say, not moved by the lust of sexual intercourse, but discharging the duty of propagation, intending to produce not a family to gratify their own pride, but citizens to people the city of God; and to these they as God's angels would bear the message, that they should place their hope in God, like him who was born of Seth, the son of resurrection, and who hoped to call on the name of the Lord God, in which hope they and their offspring would be co-heirs of eternal blessings, and brethren in the family of which God is the Father. But that those angels were not angels in the sense of not being men, as some suppose, Scripture itself decides, which unambiguously declares that they were men. For when it had first been stated that the angels of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose, it was immediately added, And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall not always strive with these men, for that they also are flesh. For by the Spirit of God they had been made angels of God, and sons of God; but declining towards lower things, they are called men, a name of nature, not of grace; and they are called flesh, as deserters of the Spirit, and by their desertion deserted [by Him]. The Septuagint indeed calls them both angels of God and sons of God, though all the copies do not show this, some having only the name sons of God. And Aquila, whom the Jews prefer to the other interpreters, has translated neither angels of God nor sons of God, but sons of gods. But both are correct. For they were both sons of God, and thus brothers of their own fathers, who were children of the same God; and they were sons of gods, because begotten by gods, together with whom they themselves also were gods, according to that expression of the psalm: I have said, You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. For the Septuagint translators are justly believed to have received the Spirit of prophecy; so that, if they made any alterations under His authority, and did not adhere to a strict translation, we could not doubt that this was divinely dictated. However, the Hebrew word may be said to be ambiguous, and to be susceptible of either translation, sons of God, or sons of gods. Let us omit, then, the fables of those scriptures which are called apocryphal, because their obscure origin was unknown to the fathers from whom the authority of the true Scriptures has been transmitted to us by a most certain and well-ascertained succession. For though there is some truth in these apocryphal writings, yet they contain so many false statements, that they have no canonical authority. We cannot deny that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, left some divine writings, for this is asserted by the Apostle Jude in his canonical epistle. But it is not without reason that these writings have no place in that canon of Scripture which was preserved in the temple of the Hebrew people by the diligence of successive priests; for their antiquity brought them under suspicion, and it was impossible to ascertain whether these were his genuine writings, and they were not brought forward as genuine by the persons who were found to have carefully preserved the canonical books by a successive transmission. So that the writings which are produced under his name, and which contain these fables about the giants, saying that their fathers were not men, are properly judged by prudent men to be not genuine; just as many writings are produced by heretics under the names both of other prophets, and more recently, under the names of the apostles, all of which, after careful examination, have been set apart from canonical authority under the title of Apocrypha. There is therefore no doubt that, according to the Hebrew and Christian canonical Scriptures, there were many giants before the deluge, and that these were citizens of the earthly society of men, and that the sons of God, who were according to the flesh the sons of Seth, sunk into this community when they forsook righteousness. Nor need we wonder that giants should be born even from these. For all of their children were not giants; but there were more then than in the remaining periods since the deluge. And it pleased the Creator to produce them, that it might thus be demonstrated that neither beauty, nor yet size and strength, are of much moment to the wise man, whose blessedness lies in spiritual and immortal blessings, in far better and more enduring gifts, in the good things that are the peculiar property of the good, and are not shared by good and bad alike. It is this which another prophet confirms when he says, These were the giants, famous from the beginning, that were of so great stature, and so expert in war. Those did not the Lord choose, neither gave He the way of knowledge unto them; but they were destroyed because they had no wisdom, and perished through their own foolishness.
18. Epigraphy, Cil, 6.32323
19. Epigraphy, Ils, 5050
20. Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds And Sayings, 2.10.2
21. Vergil, Aeneis, 2.171-2.175 2.171. and hid himself, refusing to bring forth 2.172. His word of guile, and name what wretch should die. 2.173. At last, reluctant, and all loudly urged 2.174. By false Ulysses, he fulfils their plot 2.175. and, lifting up his voice oracular

Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
antony,marc,proscribes verres	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
antony,marc	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
apelles,the lineum	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
arabia	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
augustus,and theatre	Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 98
augustus,fond of corinthian bronze	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
augustus,private collection of	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
augustus,villa on capri	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
augustus	Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 98; Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
claudius	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
claudius (emperor)	Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 98
collectors,and eroticism	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
comet,as sign	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
conquers britain,his infirmities	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70, 213
cos	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
decline,of religion	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
drama see also comedy,satyrplay,theatre,tragedy\n,written in greek by roman elites	Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 98
expiation	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
fossils	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
gabbara	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
germanicus (julio-claudian general),comedy by	Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 98
gods,and impiety	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
gods,give warnings	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
gods,mood deduced	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
gods,negotiation with	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
goths,sack rome	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
hortensius hortalus,q.	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
interpretation,positive	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
julia	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
julius caesar,c.,private tastes	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
juvenalia (festival)	Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 98
lightning,as prodigy	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
liternum	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
livy,as tourist attraction	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
ludi saeculares	Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 98
manius maximus	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
monster,human monstrosities	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
nero,and signs	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
nero,fondness for corinthian bronze	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
nero,offends gods	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
nero,undermines religion	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
nero	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
nero (emperor)	Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 98
parrhasius,his atalanta and meleager	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
pliny the elder	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
prodigies,as wrath of gods	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
prodigies,reporting	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
prodigies,under nero	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
protogenes	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
religio,religio,ritual,and emperors	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
religio,religio,ritual,of	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
ritual'	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
rome,horti sallustiani	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
rome,pusio and secundilla displayed in	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
sebasta (festival) at naples	Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 98
tiberius,and erotica	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
tiberius,and lysippus apoxyomenos	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
tiberius,his private collection	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
tiberius,villa on capri	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
timomachus of byzantium,his ajax	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
timomachus of byzantium,his medea	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 70
tullius,m.	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
vatinius	Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 213
vesta	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200
vindex	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 200