Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

10588

Tacitus, Annals, 3.71
Incessit dein religio quonam in templo locandum foret donum quod pro valetudine Augustae equites Romani voverant equestri Fortunae: nam etsi delubra eius deae multa in urbe, nullum tamen tali cognomento erat. repertum est aedem esse apud Antium quae sic nuncuparetur, cunctasque caerimonias Italicis in oppidis templaque et numinum effigies iuris atque imperii Romani esse. ita donum apud Antium statuitur. et quoniam de religionibus tractabatur, dilatum nuper responsum adversus Servium Maluginensem flaminem Dialem prompsit Caesar recitavitque decretum pontificum, quotiens valetudo adversa flaminem Dialem incessisset, ut pontificis maximi arbitrio plus quam binoctium abesset, dum ne diebus publici sacrificii neu saepius quam bis eundem in annum; quae principe Augusto constituta satis ostendebant annuam absentiam et provinciarum administrationem Dialibus non concedi. memorabaturque L. Metelli pontificis maximi exemplum qui Aulum Postumium flaminem attinuisset. ita sors Asiae in eum qui consularium Maluginensi proximus erat conlata.  A problem in religion now presented itself: in what temple were the knights to lodge the offering vowed, in connection with Augusta's illness, to Equestrian Fortune? For though shrines to Fortune were plentiful in the city, none carried the epithet in question. It was found that there was a temple of the name at Antium, and that all sacred rites in the country towns of Italy, with all places of worship and divine images, were subject to the jurisdiction and authority of Rome. At Antium, accordingly, the gift was placed. And since points of religion were under consideration, the Caesar produced his recently deferred answer to the Flamen Dialis, Servius Maluginensis; and read a pontifical decree, according to which the Flamen, whenever attacked by illness, might at the discretion of the supreme pontiff absent himself for more than two nights, so long as it was not on days of public sacrifice nor oftener than twice in one year. The ruling thus laid down in the principate of Augustus showed that a year's absence and a provincial governorship were not for the flamens of Jupiter. Attention was also called to a precedent set by the supreme pontiff, Lucius Metellus; who had vetoed the departure of the Flamen, Aulus Postumius. Asia, therefore, was allotted to the consular next in seniority to Maluginensis. <
Incessit dein religio quonam in templo locandum foret donum quod pro valetudine Augustae equites Romani voverant equestri Fortunae: nam etsi delubra eius deae multa in urbe, nullum tamen tali cognomento erat. repertum est aedem esse apud Antium quae sic nuncuparetur, cunctasque caerimonias Italicis in oppidis templaque et numinum effigies iuris atque imperii Romani esse. ita donum apud Antium statuitur. et quoniam de religionibus tractabatur, dilatum nuper responsum adversus Servium Maluginensem flaminem Dialem prompsit Caesar recitavitque decretum pontificum, quotiens valetudo adversa flaminem Dialem incessisset, ut pontificis maximi arbitrio plus quam binoctium abesset, dum ne diebus publici sacrificii neu saepius quam bis eundem in annum; quae principe Augusto constituta satis ostendebant annuam absentiam et provinciarum administrationem Dialibus non concedi. memorabaturque L. Metelli pontificis maximi exemplum qui Aulum Postumium flaminem attinuisset. ita sors Asiae in eum qui consularium Maluginensi proximus erat conlata.  A problem in religion now presented itself: in what temple were the knights to lodge the offering vowed, in connection with Augusta's illness, to Equestrian Fortune? For though shrines to Fortune were plentiful in the city, none carried the epithet in question. It was found that there was a temple of the name at Antium, and that all sacred rites in the country towns of Italy, with all places of worship and divine images, were subject to the jurisdiction and authority of Rome. At Antium, accordingly, the gift was placed. And since points of religion were under consideration, the Caesar produced his recently deferred answer to the Flamen Dialis, Servius Maluginensis; and read a pontifical decree, according to which the Flamen, whenever attacked by illness, might at the discretion of the supreme pontiff absent himself for more than two nights, so long as it was not on days of public sacrifice nor oftener than twice in one year. The ruling thus laid down in the principate of Augustus showed that a year's absence and a provincial governor­ship were not for the flamens of Jupiter. Attention was also called to a precedent set by the supreme pontiff, Lucius Metellus; who had vetoed the departure of the Flamen, Aulus Postumius. Asia, therefore, was allotted to the consular next in seniority to Maluginensis.

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

4 results
1. Herodotus, Histories, 1.31 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE) 1.31. When Solon had provoked him by saying that the affairs of Tellus were so fortunate, Croesus asked who he thought was next, fully expecting to win second prize. Solon answered, “Cleobis and Biton. ,They were of Argive stock, had enough to live on, and on top of this had great bodily strength. Both had won prizes in the athletic contests, and this story is told about them: there was a festival of Hera in Argos, and their mother absolutely had to be conveyed to the temple by a team of oxen. But their oxen had not come back from the fields in time, so the youths took the yoke upon their own shoulders under constraint of time. They drew the wagon, with their mother riding atop it, traveling five miles until they arrived at the temple. ,When they had done this and had been seen by the entire gathering, their lives came to an excellent end, and in their case the god made clear that for human beings it is a better thing to die than to live. The Argive men stood around the youths and congratulated them on their strength; the Argive women congratulated their mother for having borne such children. ,She was overjoyed at the feat and at the praise, so she stood before the image and prayed that the goddess might grant the best thing for man to her children Cleobis and Biton, who had given great honor to the goddess. ,After this prayer they sacrificed and feasted. The youths then lay down in the temple and went to sleep and never rose again; death held them there. The Argives made and dedicated at Delphi statues of them as being the best of men.”
2. Cicero, On The Nature of The Gods, 2.72 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) 2.72. Persons who spent whole days in prayer and sacrifice to ensure that their children should outlive them were termed 'superstitious' (from superstes, a survivor), and the word later acquired a wider application. Those on the other hand who carefully reviewed and so to speak retraced all the lore of ritual were called 'religious' from relegere (to retrace or re‑read), like 'elegant' from eligere (to select), 'diligent' from diligere (to care for), 'intelligent' fromintellegere (to understand); for all these words contain the same sense of 'picking out' (legere) that is present in 'religious.' Hence 'superstitious' and 'religious' came to be terms of censure and approval respectively. I think that I have said enough to prove the existence of the gods and their nature.
3. Tacitus, Annals, 3.57.2, 3.59, 3.64.3-3.64.4, 3.71.2, 12.68.3, 16.11 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) 3.59.  Since various objections to the argument were raised by the augur Lentulus and others, it was determined, in the upshot, to wait for the verdict of the supreme pontiff himself. Tiberius postponed his inquiry into the legal standing of the flamen, but modified the ceremonies with which it had been resolved to celebrate the tribunician power of Drusus; criticizing specifically the unprecedented motion of Haterius and the gold lettering so repugt to Roman custom. A letter, too, from Drusus was read, which, though tuned to a modest key, left an impression of extreme arrogance. "So the world," men said, "had come to this, that even a mere boy, invested with such an honour, would not approach the divinities of Rome, set foot within the senate, or, at the least, take the auspices on his native soil. War, they must assume, or some remote quarter of the world detained him; though at that instant he was perambulating the lakes and beaches of Campania! Such was the initiation of the governor of the human race, these the first lessons derived from the paternal instruction! A grey-haired emperor might, if he pleased, recoil from the view of his fellow-citizens, and plead the fatigue of age and the labours he had accomplished: but, in the case of Drusus, what impediment could there be save pride? 16.11.  Accordingly, she carried word to her father to abandon hope and accept the inevitable. At the same time, news came that arrangements were being made for a trial in the senate and a merciless verdict. Nor were there wanting those who advised him to name the Caesar as a principal heir, and thus safeguard the residue for his grandchildren. Rejecting the proposal, however, so as not to sully a life, passed in a near approach to freedom, by an act of servility at the close, he distributed among his slaves what money was available: all portable articles he ordered them to remove for their own uses, reserving only three couches for the final scene. Then, in the same chamber, with the same piece of steel, they severed their veins; and hurriedly, wrapped in the single garment which decency prescribed, they were carried to the baths, the father gazing on his daughter, the grandmother on her grandchild and she on both; all praying with rival earnestness for a quick end to the failing breath, so that they might leave their kith and kin still surviving, and assured of death. Fate observed the proper order; and the two eldest passed away the first, then Pollitta in her early youth. They were indicted after burial; the verdict was that they should be punished in the fashion of our ancestors; and Nero, interposing, allowed them to die unsupervised. Such were the comedies that followed, when the deed of blood was done.
4. Cassius Dio, Roman History, 78.22.3 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) 78.22.3.  And, to pass over the details of the calamities that then befell the wretched city, he slaughtered so many persons that he did not even venture to say anything about their number, but wrote to the senate that it was of no interest how many of them or who had died, since all had deserved to suffer this fate. of the money in the city, part was plundered and part destroyed.

Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
africa, governorship	Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (1984) 349
agrippina the younger, consultation of astrologers by	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 279
asia, governorship	Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (1984) 349
astrologers, attitude of tacitus to	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 279
avidius cassius, c	Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (1984) 349
claudius, death of	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 279
claudius atticus herodes, ti. (younger)	Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (1984) 349
consuls	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 279
cornelius lentulus maluginensis, ser.	Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (1984) 349
drusus (son of tiberius)	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 147
flamen dialis	Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (1984) 349
fortuna, fortuna equestris, temple of	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 147
gold	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 147
iulius asper, c	Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (1984) 349
letters	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 147
livia	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 279
lollia paulina	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 279
lot	Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (1984) 349
macrinus	Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (1984) 349
nuncupare/nuncupatio	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 279
pontifex/pontifices	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 147
praetorius	Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (1984) 349
prayer	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 279
priests and priesthoods	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 147, 279
proconsul, selection	Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (1984) 349
quaestor	Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (1984) 349
sacerdos	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 279
sacrilege (temple theft)	Mueller, Roman Religion in Valerius Maximus (2002) 199
senate, in latin and greek, business assigns proconsulships	Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (1984) 349
senate	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 279
servius maluginensis	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 147
soldiers	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 279
tribunicia potestas	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 147
vota'	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 279
xenophon (doctor of claudius)	Shannon-Henderson, Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s (2019) 279