1. Homer, Iliad, 12.281-12.284, 22.158-22.166 (8th cent. BCE - 7th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 140, 164 | 12.281. / bestirreth him to snow, shewing forth to men these arrows of his, and he lulleth the winds and sheddeth the flakes continually, until he hath covered the peaks of the lofty mountains and the high headlands, and the grassy plains, and the rich tillage of men; aye, and over the harbours and shores of the grey sea is the snow strewn, 12.282. / bestirreth him to snow, shewing forth to men these arrows of his, and he lulleth the winds and sheddeth the flakes continually, until he hath covered the peaks of the lofty mountains and the high headlands, and the grassy plains, and the rich tillage of men; aye, and over the harbours and shores of the grey sea is the snow strewn, 12.283. / bestirreth him to snow, shewing forth to men these arrows of his, and he lulleth the winds and sheddeth the flakes continually, until he hath covered the peaks of the lofty mountains and the high headlands, and the grassy plains, and the rich tillage of men; aye, and over the harbours and shores of the grey sea is the snow strewn, 12.284. / bestirreth him to snow, shewing forth to men these arrows of his, and he lulleth the winds and sheddeth the flakes continually, until he hath covered the peaks of the lofty mountains and the high headlands, and the grassy plains, and the rich tillage of men; aye, and over the harbours and shores of the grey sea is the snow strewn, 22.158. / where the wives and fair daughters of the Trojans were wont to wash bright raiment of old in the time of peace, before the sons of the Achaeans came. Thereby they ran, one fleeing, and one pursuing. In front a good man fled, but one mightier far pursued him swiftly; for it was not for beast of sacrifice or for bull's hide 22.159. / where the wives and fair daughters of the Trojans were wont to wash bright raiment of old in the time of peace, before the sons of the Achaeans came. Thereby they ran, one fleeing, and one pursuing. In front a good man fled, but one mightier far pursued him swiftly; for it was not for beast of sacrifice or for bull's hide 22.160. / that they strove, such as are men's prizes for swiftness of foot, but it was for the life of horse-taming Hector that they ran. And as when single-hooved horses that are winners of prizes course swiftly about the turning-points, and some — great prize is set forth, a tripod haply or a woman, in honour of a warrior that is dead; 22.161. / that they strove, such as are men's prizes for swiftness of foot, but it was for the life of horse-taming Hector that they ran. And as when single-hooved horses that are winners of prizes course swiftly about the turning-points, and some — great prize is set forth, a tripod haply or a woman, in honour of a warrior that is dead; 22.162. / that they strove, such as are men's prizes for swiftness of foot, but it was for the life of horse-taming Hector that they ran. And as when single-hooved horses that are winners of prizes course swiftly about the turning-points, and some — great prize is set forth, a tripod haply or a woman, in honour of a warrior that is dead; 22.163. / that they strove, such as are men's prizes for swiftness of foot, but it was for the life of horse-taming Hector that they ran. And as when single-hooved horses that are winners of prizes course swiftly about the turning-points, and some — great prize is set forth, a tripod haply or a woman, in honour of a warrior that is dead; 22.164. / that they strove, such as are men's prizes for swiftness of foot, but it was for the life of horse-taming Hector that they ran. And as when single-hooved horses that are winners of prizes course swiftly about the turning-points, and some — great prize is set forth, a tripod haply or a woman, in honour of a warrior that is dead; 22.165. / even so these twain circled thrice with swift feet about the city of Priam; and all the gods gazed upon them. Then among these the father of men and gods was first to speak:Look you now, in sooth a well-loved man do mine eyes behold pursued around the wall; and my heart hath sorrow 22.166. / even so these twain circled thrice with swift feet about the city of Priam; and all the gods gazed upon them. Then among these the father of men and gods was first to speak:Look you now, in sooth a well-loved man do mine eyes behold pursued around the wall; and my heart hath sorrow |
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| 2. Cicero, Pro Milone, 91 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 160 |
3. Cicero, Post Reditum In Senatu, 7 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 160| 7. quo quidem tempore, cum is excessisset qui caedi et flammae vobis auctoribus restiterat, cum ferro et facibus homines tota urbe volitantis, magistratuum tecta impugnata, deorum templa inflammata, summi viri et clarissimi consulis fascis fractos, fortissimi atque optimi tribuni plebis sanctissimum corpus non tactum ac violatum manu sed vulneratum ferro confectumque vidistis. qua strage non nulli permoti magistratus partim metu mortis, partim desperatione rei publicae paululum a mea causa recesserunt: reliqui fuerunt quos neque terror nec vis, nec spes nec metus, nec promissa nec minae, nec tela nec faces a vestra auctoritate, a populi Romani dignitate, a mea salute depellerent. | |
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| 4. Cicero, In Verrem, 2.4.53, 2.4.146, 2.5.93 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 158, 160 |
| 5. Cicero, In Pisonem, 26, 9 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 164 |
| 6. Cicero, Letters To Quintus, 2.4.5, 2.5.3 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 164 |
| 7. Cicero, Pro Sestio, 34, 95 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 160 |
| 8. Cicero, Letters To His Friends, 7.32.2 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 164 |
9. Livy, History, 3.35.5, 3.58.1, 3.58.11, 22.55.6-22.55.7, 22.60.2, 26.9.7, 27.50.4-27.50.5, 39.32.10, 42.49.1-42.49.3, 42.49.6 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 158, 160, 161| 42.49.1. per hos forte dies P. Licinius consul votis in Capitolio nuncupatis paludatus ab urbe profectus est. 42.49.2. semper quidem ea res cum magna dignitate ac maiestate agitur; praecipue convertit oculos animosque, cum ad magnum nobilemque aut virtute aut fortuna hostem euntem consulem prosecuntur. 42.49.3. contrahit enim non officii modo cura, sed etiam studium spectaculi, ut videant ducem suum, cuius imperio consilioque summam rem publicam tuendam permiserunt. 42.49.6. quem scire mortalium, utrius mentis, utrius fortunae consulem ad bellum mittant? triumphantemne mox cum exercitu victore scandentem in Capitolium ad eosdem deos, a quibus proficiscatur, visuri, an hostibus eam praebituri laetitiam sint ? Persei autem regi, adversus quem ibatur, famam et bello clara Macedonum gens et Philippus pater, inter multa prospere gesta Romano etiam nobilitatus bello, praebebat; | |
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10. Dionysius of Halycarnassus, Roman Antiquities, 6.46.1, 7.14.1, 7.15.3, 7.16.2, 7.26.1, 7.64.5, 8.39.1, 9.24.2, 9.25.2, 10.15.2, 10.55.3, 12.2.9 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 158, 159, 161 | 6.46.1. When these things were reported to those in the city, there was great tumult and lamentation and running through the streets, as the populace prepared to leave the city and the patricians endeavoured to dissuade them and offered violence to those who refused to obey. And there was great clamour and wailing at the gates, and hostile words were exchanged and hostile acts committed, as no one paid heed any longer to either age, comradeship, or the respect due to virtue. 7.14.1. But nothing turned out according to the calculations of the patricians, insofar at least as their hope of appeasing the sedition was concerned; on the contrary, the people who were left at home were now more exasperated than before and clamoured violently against the senators in their groups and clubs. They met in small numbers at first, but afterwards, as the dearth became more severe, they assembled in a body, and rushing all together into the Forum, cried out for the tribunes. 7.15.3. The chief proponent of this view was Appius, and it was this opinion that prevailed, after such violent strife among the senators that even the people, hearing their clamour at a great distance, rushed in alarm to the senate-house and the whole city was on tip-toe with expectation. 7.16.2. And a violent contest ensued, each side insisting on not yielding to the other, as if their defeat on this single occasion would mean the giving up of their claims for all time to come. It was now near sunset and the rest of the population were running out of their houses to the Forum; and if night had descended upon their strife, they would have proceeded to blows and the throwing of stones. 7.26.1. The senate being now embittered, the tribunes, finding that those who desired to take away the power granted to the people outnumbered those who advised adhering to the agreement, rushed out of the senate-house shouting and calling upon the gods who had been witnesses to their oaths. After this they assembled the people, and having acquainted them with the speech made by Marcius in the senate, they summoned him to make his defence. 7.64.5. Such was the intention of Marcius in this affair; but to the festering anger and envy of enemies the action, when considered by itself, appeared a kind of flattery of the people and a bribery tending toward tyranny. As a result the whole Forum was full of clamour and tumult and neither Marcius himself nor the consul nor anyone else had any answer to make to the charge, so incredible and unexpected did it appear to them. 8.39.1. In the meantime their wives, seeing the danger now at hand and abandoning the sense of propriety that kept them in the seclusion of their homes, ran to the shrines of the gods with lamentations and threw themselves at the feet of their statues. And every holy place, particularly the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, was filled with the cries and supplications of women. 9.24.2. There was a disorderly running to and fro throughout the entire city and a confused clamour; on the roofs of the houses were the members of each household, prepared to defend themselves and give battle; and an uninterrupted succession of torches, as it was in the night and dark, blazed through lanterns and from roofs, so many in number that to those seeing them at a distance it seemed to be one continuous blaze and gave the impression of a city on fire. 9.25.2. For of adult citizens there were more than 110,000, as appeared by the latest census; and the number of the women, children, domestics, foreign traders and artisans who plied the menial trades â for no Roman citizen was permitted to earn a livelihood as a tradesman or artisan â was not less than treble the number of the citizens. This multitude was not easy to placate; for they were exasperated at their misfortune, and gathering together in the Forum, clamoured against the magistrates, rushed in a body to the houses of the rich and endeavoured to seize without payment the provisions that were stored up by them. 10.55.3. The populace praising them for their goodwill and rushing in a body to the senate-house, Sestius was forced to assemble the senate alone, Menenius being unable to attend by reason of his illness, and proposed to them the consideration of the laws. Many speeches were made on this occasion also both by those who contended that the commonwealth ought to be governed by laws and by those who advised adhering to the customs of their ancestors. 12.2.9. Thus Maelius, who craved greatness and came very close to gaining the leadership over the Roman people, came to an unenviable and bitter end. When his body had been carried into the Forum and exposed to the view of all the citizens, there was a rush thither and a clamour and uproar on the part of all who were in the Forum, as some bewailed his fate, others angrily protested, and still others were eager to come to blows with the perpetrators of the deed. |
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| 11. Lucan, Pharsalia, 7.404-7.405 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 164 |
| 12. Juvenal, Satires, 3.239-3.240, 3.243-3.245 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 164 |
13. Plutarch, Fabius, 8.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 159| 8.3. ταχὺ δὲ τοῦ ἔργου λόγος μείζων διεφοίτησεν εἰς Ῥώμην. καί Φάβιος μὲν ἀκούσας ἔφη μᾶλλον τοῦ Μινουκίου φοβεῖσθαι τήν εὐτυχίαν ἢ τήν ἀτυχίαν, ἢ τὴν ἀτυχίαν supplied by Sintenis, followed by Bekker. Cf. Morals , p. 195 d. Secunda se magis quam adversa timere, Livy, xxii. 25. ὁ δὲ δῆμος ἦρτο καί μετὰ χαρᾶς εἰς ἀγορὰν συνέτρεχε, καί Μετίλιος ὁ δήμαρχος ἐπί τοῦ βήματος καταστὰς ἐδημηγόρει μεγαλύνων τὸν Μινούκιον, τοῦ δὲ Φαβίου κατηγορῶν οὐ μαλακίαν οὐδʼ ἀνανδρίαν, ἀλλʼ ἤδη προδοσίαν, | 8.3. An exaggerated version of the affair speedily made its way to Rome, and Fabius, when he heard it, said he was more afraid of the success of Minucius than he would be of his failure. But the people were exalted in spirit and joyfully ran to a meeting in the forum. There Metilius their tribune mounted the rostra and harangued them, extolling Minucius, but denouncing Fabius, not as a weakling merely, nor yet as a coward, but actually as a traitor. 8.3. An exaggerated version of the affair speedily made its way to Rome, and Fabius, when he heard it, said he was more afraid of the success of Minucius than he would be of his failure. But the people were exalted in spirit and joyfully ran to a meeting in the forum. There Metilius their tribune mounted the rostra and harangued them, extolling Minucius, but denouncing Fabius, not as a weakling merely, nor yet as a coward, but actually as a traitor. |
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14. Plutarch, Galba, 26.3, 26.27.9 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 138, 159| 26.3. οἷα δὲ ἐν πλήθει τοσούτῳ, τῶν μὲν ἀναστρέφειν, τῶν δὲ προϊέναι, τῶν δὲ θαρρεῖν, τῶν δὲ ἀπιστεῖν βοώντων, καὶ τοῦ φορείου, καθάπερ ἐν κλύδωνι, δεῦρο κἀκεῖ διαφερομένου καὶ πυκνὸν ἀπονεύοντος, ἐφαίνοντο πρῶτον ἱππεῖς, εἶτα ὁπλῖται διὰ τῆς Παύλου βασιλικῆς προσφερόμενοι, μιᾷ φωνῇ μέγα βοῶντες ἐκποδὼν ἵστασθαι τὸν ἰδιώτην. | 26.3. |
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15. Plutarch, Lucullus, 43.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 159| 43.2. τὰ δὲ φάρμακα δοθῆναι μὲν, ὡς ἀγαπῷτο μᾶλλον ὁ Καλλισθένης ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, τοιαύτην ἔχειν δοκοῦντα τὴν δύναμιν, ἐκστῆσαι δὲ καὶ κατακλύσαι τὸν λογισμόν, ὥστʼ ἔτι ζῶντος αὐτοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν διοικεῖν τὸν ἀδελφόν· οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ὡς ἀπέθανε, καθάπερ ἂν ἂν supplied by Reiske. ἐν ἀκμῇ τῆς στρατηγίας καὶ τῆς πολιτείας αὐτοῦ τελευτήσαντος, ὁ δῆμος ἠχθέσθη καὶ συνέδραμε, καὶ τὸ σῶμα κομισθὲν εἰς ἀγορὰν ὑπὸ τῶν εὐγενεστάτων νεανίσκων ἐβιάζετο θάπτειν ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ τοῦ Ἄρεως, ὅπου καὶ Σύλλαν ἔθαψεν. | 43.2. |
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16. Plutarch, Coriolanus, 15.1, 16.1, 17.1, 17.3, 30.2, 33.1 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 159, 161| 15.1. ἀλλὰ τοῦ γε Μαρκίου πολλὰς ὑποφαίνοντος ὠτειλὰς ἀπὸ πολλῶν ἀγώνων, ἐν οἷς ἐπρώτευσεν ἑπτακαίδεκα ἔτη συνεχῶς στρατευόμενος, ἐδυσωποῦντο τὴν ἀρετὴν, καὶ λόγον ἀλλήλοις ἐδίδοσαν ὡς ἐκεῖνον ἀποδείξοντες. ἐπεὶ δέ, τῆς ἡμέρας ἐν ᾗ τὴν ψῆφον ἔδει φέρειν ἐνστάσης, ὁ Μάρκιος εἰς ἀγορὰν ἐνέβαλε σοβαρῶς ὑπὸ τῆς βουλῆς προπεμπόμενος, καὶ πάντες οἱ πατρίκιοι περὶ αὐτὸν ἐγένοντο φανεροὶ πρὸς μηδένʼ οὕτω μηδέποτε σπουδάσαντες, 16.1. ἐν τούτῳ δὲ σῖτος ἧκεν εἰς Ῥώμην, πολὺς μέν ὠνητὸς ἐξ Ἰταλίας, οὐκ ἐλάττων δὲ δωρητὸς ἐκ Συρακουσῶν, Γέλωνος τοῦ τυράννου πέμψαντος· ὥστε τοὺς πλείστους ἐν ἐλπίσι γενέσθαι χρησταῖς, ἅμα τῆς ἀπορίας καὶ τῆς διαφορᾶς τὴν πόλιν ἀπαλλαγήσεσθαι προσδοκῶντας, εὐθὺς οὖν βουλῆς ἀθροισθείσης περιχυθεὶς ὁ δῆμος ἔξωθεν ἐκαραδόκει τό τέλος, ἐλπίζων ἀγορᾷ τε χρήσεσθαι φιλανθρώπῳ καὶ προῖκα τὰς δωρεὰς νεμήσεσθαι. καὶ γὰρ ἔνδον ἦσαν οἱ ταῦτα τὴν βουλὴν πείθοντες. 17.1. πολλὰ τοιαῦτα λέγων ὁ Μάρκιος ὑπερφυῶς εἶχε τοὺς νέους συνενθουσιῶντας αὐτῷ καὶ τοὺς πλουσίους ὀλίγου δεῖν ἅπαντας, μόνον ἐκεῖνον ἄνδρα τὴν πόλιν ἔχειν ἀήττητον καὶ ἀκολάκευτον βοῶντας, ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἠναντιοῦντο, ὑφορώμενοι τὸ ἀποβησόμενον. ἀπέβη δὲ χρηστὸν οὐδέν. οἱ γὰρ δήμαρχοι παρόντες, ὡς ᾔσθοντο τῇ γνώμῃ κρατοῦντα τὸν Μάρκιον, ἐξέδραμον εἰς τὸν ὄχλον μετὰ βοῆς παρακελευόμενοι συνίστασθαι καὶ βοηθεῖν αὐτοῖς τοὺς πολλούς. 17.3. τότε μὲν οὖν ἑσπέρα καταλαβοῦσα τὴν ταραχὴν διέλυσεν· ἅμα δὲʼ ἡμέρᾳ τὸν δῆμον ἐξηγριωμένον ὁρῶντες οἱ ὕπατοι καὶ συντρέχοντα πανταχόθεν εἰς τὴν ἀγοράν ἔδεισαν ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ τὴν βουλὴν ἀθροίσαντες ἐκέλευον σκοπεῖν ὅπως ἐπιεικέσι λόγοις καὶ δόγμασι χρηστοῖς πραΰνωσι καὶ καταστήσωσι τοὺς πολλούς, ὡς οὐ φιλοτιμίας οὖσαν ὥραν, οὐδʼ ὑπὲρ δόξης ἅμιλλαν, εἰ σωφρονοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καιρὸν ἐπισφαλῆ καὶ ὀξὺν, εὐγνώμονος πολιτείας καὶ φιλανθρώπου δεόμενον. 30.2. ἀλλʼ ὁρῶντες ἐν τῇ πόλει διαδρομὰς γυναικῶν καὶ πρὸς ἱεροῖς ἱκεσίας καὶ δάκρυα πρεσβυτῶν καὶ δεήσεις, πάντα δʼ ἐνδεᾶ τόλμης καὶ σωτηρίων λογισμῶν, συνέγνωσαν ὀρθῶς τὸν δῆμον ἐπὶ τὰς διαλλαγὰς τοῦ Μαρκίου τραπέσθαι, τὴν δὲ βουλὴν τοῦ παντὸς ἁμαρτάνειν, ὅτε παύσασθαι καλῶς εἶχεν ὀργῆς καὶ μνησικακίας, ἀρχομένην. ἔδοξεν οὖν πᾶσι πρέσβεις ἀποστεῖλαι πρὸς τὸν Μάρκιον ἐκείνῳ τε κάθοδον διδόντας εἰς τὴν πατρίδα καὶ τὸν πόλεμον αὐτοῖς λῦσαι δεομένους. 33.1. ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ τότε τῶν γυναικῶν ἄλλαι μὲν πρὸς ἄλλοις ἱεροῖς, αἱ δὲ πλεῖσται καὶ δοκιμώταται περὶ τὸν τοῦ Καπιτωλίου Διὸς βωμὸν ἱκέτευον. ἐν δὲ ταύταις ἦν ἡ Ποπλικόλα τοῦ μεγάλα καὶ πολλὰ Ῥωμαίους ἔν τε πολέμοις καὶ πολιτείαις ὠφελήσαντος ἀδελφὴ Οὐαλερία. Ποπλικόλας μὲν οὖν ἐτεθνήκει πρότερον, ὡς ἐν τοῖς περὶ ἐκείνου γεγραμμένοις ἱστορήκαμεν, ἡ δὲ Οὐαλερία δόξαν εἶχεν ἐν τῇ πόλει καὶ τιμήν, δοκοῦσα τῷ βίῳ μὴ καταισχύνειν τὸ γένος. | 15.1. 16.1. 17.1. With many such words as these Marcius was beyond measure successful in filling the younger senators, and almost all the wealthy ones, with his own fierce enthusiasm, and they cried out that he was the only man in the city who disdained submission and flattery. But some of the older senators opposed him, suspecting the outcome. And the outcome was wholly bad. For the tribunes were present, and when they saw that the proposal of Marcius was likely to prevail, they ran out among the crowd with loud cries, calling upon the plebeians to rally to their help. 17.3. 30.2. 33.1. Chapter xxiii. but Valeria was still enjoying her repute and honour in the city, where her life was thought to adorn her lineage. |
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17. Plutarch, Otho, 3.5 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 161| 3.5. ἡ μὲν οὖν πόλις ὡς αὐτίκα διαρπαγησομένη θόρυβον εἶχε πολύν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς βασιλείοις ἦσαν διαδρομαί, καί τὸν Ὄθων α δεινὴ κατελάμβανεν ἀπορία. φοβούμενος γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀνδρῶν αὐτὸς ἦν φοβερὸς ἐκείνοις, καί πρὸς αὑτὸν ἀνηρτημένους ἑώρα ταῖς ὄψεσιν ἀναύδους καί περιδεεῖς, ἐνίους καί μετὰ γυναικῶν ἥκοντας ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖπνον. | 3.5. Accordingly, the city was in great commotion, expecting to be plundered at once; in the palace there were runnings to and fro; and a dire perplexity fell upon Otho. For while he had fears about the safety of his guests, he himself was an object of fear to them, and he saw that they kept their eyes fixed upon him in speechless terror, some of them having even brought their wives with them to the supper. |
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18. Plutarch, Cicero, 44.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 159| 44.3. τοὺς δὲ πολίτας ὑπὸ σπουδῆς θέοντας ἵστασθαι περὶ τὸν νεών, καὶ τοὺς παῖδας ἐν ταῖς περιπορφύροις καθέζεσθαι σιωπὴν ἔχοντας, ἐξαίφνης δὲ τῶν θυρῶν ἀνοιχθεισῶν καθʼ ἕνα τῶν παίδων ἀνισταμένων κύκλῳ παρὰ τὸν θεὸν παραπορεύεσθαι, τὸν δὲ πάντας ἐπισκοπεῖν καὶ ἀποπέμπειν ἀχθομένους. ὡς δʼ οὗτος ἦν προσιὼν κατʼ αὐτόν, ἐκτεῖναι τὴν δεξιὰν καὶ εἰπεῖν ὦ Ῥωμαῖοι, πέρας ὑμῖν ἐμφυλίων πολέμων οὗτος ἡγεμὼν γενόμενος. | 44.3. |
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| 19. Seneca The Younger, De Consolatione Ad Polybium (Ad Polybium De Consolatione) (Dialogorum Liber Xi), 14.5 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 158 |
20. Plutarch, Sulla, 29.3, 33.4 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 159, 161| 29.3. ἅμα δʼ ἡμέρᾳ τῶν λαμπροτάτων νέων ἐξιππασαμένων ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἄλλους τε πολλοὺς καὶ Κλαύδιον Ἄππιον, εὐγενῆ καὶ ἀγαθὸν ἄνδρα, κατέβαλε, θορύβου δʼ, οἷον εἰκός, ὄντος ἐν τῇ πόλει καὶ βοῆς γυναικείας καὶ διαδρομῶν ὡς ἁλισκομένων κατὰ κράτος, πρῶτος ὤφθη Βάλβος ἀπὸ Σύλλα προσελαύνων ἀνὰ κράτος ἱππεῦσιν ἑπτακοσίοις. διαλιπὼν δὲ ὅσον ἀναψῦξαι τὸν ἱδρῶτα τῶν ἵππων, εἴτʼ αὖθις ἐγχαλινώσας διὰ ταχέων ἐξήπτετο τῶν πολεμίων. 33.4. Λουκρητίου δὲ Ὀφέλλα τοῦ Μάριον ἐκπολιορκήσαντος αἰτουμένου καὶ μετιόντος ὑπατείαν πρῶτον μὲν ἐκώλυεν ὡς δὲ ἐκεῖνος ὑπὸ πολλῶν σπουδαζόμενος εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν ἐνέβαλε, πέμψας τινὰ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἑκατονταρχῶν ἀπέσφαξε τὸν ἄνδρα, καθεξόμενος αὐτὸς ἐπὶ βήματος ἐν τῷ Διοσκουρείῳ καὶ τὸν φόνον ἐφορῶν ἄνωθεν, τῶν δὲ ἀνθρώπων τὸν ἑκατοντάρχην συλλαβόντων καὶ προσαγαγόντων τῷ βήματι, σιωπῆσαι κελεύσας τοὺς θορυβοῦντας αὐτὸς ἔφη κελεῦσαι τοῦτο, καὶ τὸν ἑκατοντάρχην ἀφεῖναι προσέταξεν. | 29.3. 33.4. |
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21. Tacitus, Histories, 1.17, 1.29, 1.32, 1.40, 1.47, 1.72, 1.82, 1.84-1.86, 1.88, 3.67-3.86, 4.1 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 136, 137, 138, 139, 140 | 1.72. Equal delight, but for different reasons, was felt when the destruction of Tigellinus was secured. ofonius Tigellinus was of obscure parentage; his youth had been infamous and in his old age he was profligate. Command of the city watch and of the praetorians and other prizes which belong to virtue he had obtained by vices as the quicker course; then, afterwards, he practised cruelty and later greed, offences which belong to maturity. He also corrupted Nero so that he was ready for any wickedness; he dared certain acts without Nero's knowledge and finally deserted and betrayed him. So no one was more persistently demanded for punishment from different motives, both by those who hated Nero and by those who regretted him. Under Galba Tigellinus had been protected by the influence of Titus Vinius, who claimed that Tigellinus had saved his daughter. He undoubtedly had saved her, not, however, prompted by mercy (he had killed so many victims!) but to secure a refuge for the future, since the worst of rascals in their distrust of the present and fear of a change always try to secure private gratitude as an off-set to public detestation, having no regard for innocence, but wishing to obtain mutual impunity in wrong-doing. These facts made the people more hostile toward him, and their old hatred was increased by their recent dislike for Titus Vinius. They rushed from every part of the city to the Palatine and the fora, and, pouring into the circus and theatres where the common people have the greatest licence, they broke out into seditious cries, until finally Tigellinus, at the baths of Sinuessa, receiving the message that the hour of his supreme necessity had come, amid the embraces and kisses of his mistresses, shamefully delaying his end, finally cut his throat with a razor, still further defiling a notorious life by a tardy and ignominious death. 1.82. The excited soldiers were not kept even by the doors of the palace from bursting into the banquet. They demanded to be shown Otho, and they wounded Julius Martialis, the tribune, and Vitellius Saturninus, prefect of the legion, when they opposed their onrush. On every side were arms and threats directed now against the centurions and tribunes, now against the whole senate, for all were in a state of blind panic, and since they could not fix upon any individual as the object of their wrath, they claimed licence to proceed against all. Finally Otho, disregarding the dignity of his imperial position, stood on his couch and barely succeeded in restraining them with appeals and tears. Then they returned to camp neither willingly nor with guiltless hands. The next day private houses were closed as if the city were in the hands of the enemy; few respectable people were seen in the streets; the rabble was downcast. The soldiers turned their eyes to the ground, but were sorrowful rather than repentant. Licinius Proculus and Plotius Firmus, the prefects, addressed their companies, the one mildly, the other severely, each according to his nature. They ended with the statement that five thousand sesterces were to be paid to each soldier. Only then did Otho dare to enter the camp. He was surrounded by tribunes and centurions, who tore away the insignia of their rank and demanded discharge and safety from their dangerous service. The common soldiers perceived the bad impression that their action had made and settled down to obedience, demanding of their own accord that the ringleaders of the mutiny should be punished. 1.84. "You, it is true, did that for me. But in time of riot, in the darkness and general confusion, an opportunity may also be given for an attack on me. Suppose Vitellius and his satellites should have an opportunity to choose the spirit and sentiment with which they would pray you to be inspired, what will they prefer to mutiny and strife? Will they not wish that soldier should not obey centurion or centurion tribune, so that we may all, foot and horse, in utter confusion rush to ruin? It is rather by obedience, fellow-soldiers, than by questioning the commands of the leaders, that success in war is obtained, and that is the bravest army in time of crisis which has been most orderly before the crisis. Yours be the arms and spirit; leave to me the plan of campaign and the direction of your valour. Few were at fault; two shall pay the penalty: do all the rest of you blot out the memory of that awful night. And I pray that no army may ever hear such cries against the senate. That is the head of the empire and the glory of all the provinces; good heavens, not even those Germans whom Vitellius at this moment is stirring up against us would dare to call it to punishment. Shall any child of Italy, any true Roman youth, demand the blood and murder of that order through whose splendid glory we outshine the meanness and base birth of the partisans of Vitellius? Vitellius has won over some peoples; he has a certain shadow of an army, but the senate is with us. And so it is that on our side stands the state, on theirs the enemies of the state. Tell me, do you think that this fairest city consists of houses and buildings and heaps of stone? Those dumb and iimate things can perish and readily be replaced. The eternity of our power, the peace of the world, my safety and yours, are secured by the welfare of the senate. This senate, which was established under auspices by the Father and Founder of our city and which has continued in unbroken line from the time of the kings even down to the time of the emperors, let us hand over to posterity even as we received it from our fathers. For as senators spring from your number, so emperors spring from senators." 1.85. Both this speech, well adapted as it was to reprove and quiet the soldiers, and also his moderation (for he had not ordered the punishment of more than two) were gratefully received, and in this way those who could not be checked by force were calmed for the present. But the city was not yet quiet; there was the din of weapons and the face of war, for while the troops did not engage in any general riot, they nevertheless distributed themselves in disguise among the houses and suspiciously kept watch on all whom high birth or wealth or some distinction had made the object of gossip. Most of them believed that soldiers of Vitellius, too, had come to Rome to learn the sentiments of the different parties, so that there was suspicion everywhere, and the intimacy of the home was hardly free from fear. But there was the greatest terror in public, where men changed their spirit and looks according to the message that rumour brought at the moment, that they might not seem to lose heart over doubtful news or show too much joy over favourable report. Moreover, when the senate had assembled in the chamber, it was hard to maintain the proper measure in anything, that silence might not seem sullen or open speech suspicious; while Otho, who had so recently been a subject and had used the same terms, fully understood flattery. So the senators turned and twisted their proposals to mean this or that, many calling Vitellius an enemy and traitor; but the most foreseeing attacked him only with ordinary terms of abuse, although some made the truth the basis of their insults. Still they did this when there was an uproar and many speaking, or else they obscured their own meaning by a riot of words. 1.86. Prodigies which were reported on various authorities also contributed to the general terror. It was said that in the vestibule of the Capitol the reins of the chariot in which Victory stood had fallen from the goddess's hands, that a superhuman form had rushed out of Juno's chapel, that a statue of the deified Julius on the island of the Tiber had turned from west to east on a bright calm day, that an ox had spoken in Etruria, that animals had given birth to strange young, and that many other things had happened which in barbarous ages used to be noticed even during peace, but which now are only heard of in seasons of terror. Yet the chief anxiety which was connected with both present disaster and future danger was caused by a sudden overflow of the Tiber which, swollen to a great height, broke down the wooden bridge and then was thrown back by the ruins of the bridge which dammed the stream, and overflowed not only the low-lying level parts of the city, but also parts which are normally free from such disasters. Many were swept away in the public streets, a larger number cut off in shops and in their beds. The common people were reduced to famine by lack of employment and failure of supplies. Apartment houses had their foundations undermined by the standing water and then collapsed when the flood withdrew. The moment people's minds were relieved of this danger, the very fact that when Otho was planning a military expedition, the Campus Martius and the Flaminian Way, over which he was to advance, were blocked against him was interpreted as a prodigy and an omen of impending disaster rather than as the result of chance or natural causes. 1.88. About this time Cornelius Dolabella was banished to the colony of Aquinum. He was not kept under close or secret watch, and no charge was made against him; but he had been made prominent by his ancient name and his close relationship to Galba. Many of the magistrates and a large part of the ex-consuls Otho directed to join his expedition, not to share or help in the war but simply as a suite. Among these was Lucius Vitellius, who was treated in the same way as the others and not at all as the brother of an emperor or as an enemy. This action caused anxiety at Rome. No class was free from fear or danger. The leading men of the senate were weak from old age and had grown inactive through a long peace; the nobility was indolent and had forgotten the art of war; the knights were ignorant of military service; the more all tried to hide and conceal their fear, the more evident they made their terror. Yet, on the other hand, there were some who with absurd ostentation brought splendid arms and fine horses; some made extravagant preparations for banquets and provided incentives to their lust as equipment for war. The wise had thought for peace and for the state; the foolish, careless of the future, were puffed up with idle hopes; many who had been distressed by loss of credit during peace were now enthusiastic in this time of disturbance and felt safest in uncertainty. 3.67. Vitellius's ears were deaf to all sterner counsels. His mind was overwhelmed by pity and anxiety for his wife and children, since he feared that if he made an obstinate struggle, he might leave the victor less mercifully disposed toward them. He had also his mother, who was bowed with years; but through an opportune death she anticipated by a few days the destruction of her house, having gained nothing from the elevation of her son to the principate but sorrow and good repute. On December eighteenth, when Vitellius heard of the defection of the legion and cohorts that had given themselves up at Narnia, he put on mourning and came down from his palace, surrounded by his household in tears; his little son was carried in a litter as if in a funeral procession. The voices of the people were flattering and untimely; the soldiers maintained an ominous silence. 3.68. There was no one so indifferent to human fortunes as not to be moved by the sight. Here was a Roman emperor who, but yesterday lord of all mankind, now, abandoning the seat of his high fortune, was going through the midst of his people and the heart of the city to give up his imperial power. Men had never seen or heard the like before. A sudden violent act had crushed the dictator Caesar, a secret plot the emperor Gaius; night and the obscurity of the country had concealed the flight of Nero; Piso and Galba had fallen, so to say, on the field of battle. But now Vitellius, in an assembly called by himself, surrounded by his own soldiers, while even women looked on, spoke briefly and in a manner befitting his present sad estate, saying that he withdrew for the sake of peace and his country; he asked the people simply to remember him and to have pity on his brother, his wife, and his innocent young children. As he spoke, he held out his young son in his arms, commending him now to one or another, again to the whole assembly; finally, when tears choked his voice, taking his dagger from his side he offered it to the consul who stood beside him, as if surrendering his power of life and death over the citizens. The consul's name was Caecilius Simplex. When he refused it and the assembled people cried out in protest, Vitellius left them with the intention of depositing the imperial insignia in the Temple of Concord and after that going to his brother's home. Thereupon the people with louder cries opposed his going to a private house, but called him to the palace. Every other path was blocked against him; the only road open was along the Sacred Way. Then in utter perplexity he returned to the palace. 3.69. The rumour had already spread abroad that he was abdicating, and Flavius Sabinus had written to the tribunes of the cohorts to hold the troops in check. Therefore, as if the entire state had fallen into Vespasian's arms, the leading senators, a majority of the equestrian order, and all the city guards and watchmen crowded the house of Flavius Sabinus. Word was brought there concerning the temper of the people and the threats of the German cohorts; but by this time Sabinus had already gone too far to retreat; and everyone, fearing for himself lest the Vitellian troops should attack the Flavians when scattered and therefore weak, urged the hesitating prefect to armed action. But, as generally happens in such cases, while all gave advice, few faced danger. As Sabinus and his armed retinue were coming down by the reservoir of Fundanus, they were met by the most eager of the supporters of Vitellius. The conflict was of trifling importance, for the encounter was unforeseen, but it was favourable to the Vitellian forces. In his uncertainty Sabinus chose the easiest course under the circumstances and occupied the citadel on the Capitoline with a miscellaneous body of soldiers, and with some senators and knights, whose names it is not easy to report, since after Vespasian's victory many claimed to have rendered this service to his party. Some women even faced the siege; the most prominent among them was Verulana Gratilla, who was not following children or relatives but was attracted by the fascination of war. While the Vitellians besieged Sabinus and his companions they kept only a careless watch; therefore in the depth of night Sabinus called his own sons and his nephew Domitian into the Capitol. He succeeded also in sending a messenger through his opponents' slack pickets to the Flavian generals to report that they were besieged and in a difficult situation unless help came. In fact the night was so quiet that Sabinus could have escaped himself without danger; for the soldiers of Vitellius, while ready to face dangers, had little regard for hard work and picket duty; besides a sudden downpour of winter rain rendered seeing and hearing difficult. 3.70. At daybreak, before hostilities could begin on either side, Sabinus sent Cornelius Martialis, a centurion of the first rank, to Vitellius with orders to complain that he had broken their agreement. This was his message: "You have made simply a pretence and show of abdicating in order to deceive all these eminent men. For why did you go from the rostra to your brother's house which overlooks the Forum and invites men's eyes, rather than to the Aventine and to your wife's home there? That was the action proper to a private citizen who wished to avoid all the show that attaches to the principate. On the contrary, you went back to the palace, to the very citadel of the imperial power. From there an armed band has issued; the most crowded part of the city has been strewn with the bodies of innocent men; even the Capitol is not spared. I, Sabinus, am of course only a civilian and a single senator. So long as the question between Vespasian and Vitellius was being adjudged by battles between the legions, by the capture of cities and the surrender of cohorts, although the Spains, the Germanies, and Britain fell away, I, Vespasian's own brother, still remained faithful to you until I was invited to a conference. Peace and concord are advantageous to the defeated; to the victors they are only glorious. If you regret your agreement, you should not attack me whom your treachery has deceived, or Vespasian's son, who is as yet hardly more than a child. What is the advantage in killing one old man and one youth? You should rather go and face the legions and fight in the field for the supremacy. Everything else will follow the issue of the battle." Vitellius was disturbed by these words and made a brief reply to excuse himself, putting the blame on his soldiers, with whose excessive ardour, he declared, his own moderation could not cope. At the same time he advised Martialis to go away privately through a secret part of the palace, that the soldiers might not kill him as the mediator of a peace which they detested. As for himself, he was powerless to order or to forbid; he was no longer emperor, but only a cause of war. 3.71. Martialis had hardly returned to the Capitol when the soldiers arrived in fury. They had no leader; each directed his own movements. Rushing through the Forum and past the temples that rise above it, they advanced in column up the hill, as far as the first gates of the Capitoline citadel. There were then some old colonnades on the right as you go up the slopes; the defenders came out on the roofs of these and showered stones and tiles on their assailants. The latter had no arms except their swords, and they thought that it would cost too much time to send for artillery and missiles; consequently they threw firebrands on a projecting colonnade, and then followed in the path of the flames; they actually burned the gates of the Capitol and would have forced their way through, if Sabinus had not torn down all the statues, memorials to the glory of our ancestors, and piled them up across the entrance as a barricade. Then the assailants tried different approaches to the Capitol, one by the grove of the asylum and another by the hundred steps that lead up to the Tarpeian Rock. Both attacks were unexpected; but the one by the asylum was closer and more threatening. Moreover, the defenders were unable to stop those who climbed through neighbouring houses, which, built high in time of peace, reached the level of the Capitol. It is a question here whether it was the besiegers or the besieged who threw fire on the roofs. The more common tradition says this was done by the latter in their attempts to repel their assailants, who were climbing up or had reached the top. From the houses the fire spread to the colonnades adjoining the temple; then the "eagles" which supported the roof, being of old wood, caught and fed the flames. So the Capitol burned with its doors closed; none defended it, none pillaged it. 3.72. This was the saddest and most shameful crime that the Roman state had ever suffered since its foundation. Rome had no foreign foe; the gods were ready to be propitious if our characters had allowed; and yet the home of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, founded after due auspices by our ancestors as a pledge of empire, which neither Porsenna, when the city gave itself up to him, nor the Gauls when they captured it, could violate â this was the shrine that the mad fury of emperors destroyed! The Capitol had indeed been burned before in civil war, but the crime was that of private individuals. Now it was openly besieged, openly burned â and what were the causes that led to arms? What was the price paid for this great disaster? This temple stood intact so long as we fought for our country. King Tarquinius Priscus had vowed it in the war with the Sabines and had laid its foundations rather to match his hope of future greatness than in accordance with what the fortunes of the Roman people, still moderate, could supply. Later the building was begun by Servius Tullius with the enthusiastic help of Rome's allies, and afterwards carried on by Tarquinius Superbus with the spoils taken from the enemy at the capture of Suessa Pometia. But the glory of completing the work was reserved for liberty: after the expulsion of the kings, Horatius Pulvillus in his second consulship dedicated it; and its magnificence was such that the enormous wealth of the Roman people acquired thereafter adorned rather than increased its splendour. The temple was built again on the same spot when after an interval of four hundred and fifteen years it had been burned in the consulship of Lucius Scipio and Gaius Norbanus. The victorious Sulla undertook the work, but still he did not dedicate it; that was the only thing that his good fortune was refused. Amid all the great works built by the Caesars the name of Lutatius Catulus kept its place down to Vitellius's day. This was the temple that then was burned. 3.73. However, the fire terrified the besieged more than the besiegers, for the Vitellian troops lacked neither skill nor courage in the midst of danger. But on the opposing side, the soldiers were frightened, the commander, as if stricken, could neither speak nor hear; he would not be guided by others' advice or plan for himself; swayed this way and that by the enemies' shouts, he forbade what he had just ordered, ordered what he had just forbidden. Presently, as happens in time of desperation, all gave commands, none obeyed them; finally they threw away their arms and began to look about for an opportunity to flee and a way to hide from their foes. The Vitellians broke in and wrought utter carnage with fire and sword. A few experienced soldiers, among whom Cornelius Martialis, Aemilius Pacensis, Casperius Niger, and Didius Scaeva were the most distinguished, dared to fight and were killed. Flavius Sabinus, who was unarmed and did not attempt to flee, the Vitellians surrounded; they likewise took Quintus Atticus, the consul. He was marked out by his empty title and his own folly, for he had issued proclamations to the people, in which he had spoken in eulogistic terms of Vespasian, but had insulted Vitellius. The rest of the defenders escaped in a variety of ways, some dressed as slaves, others protected by their faithful clients and hidden among the baggage; there were some who caught the password by which the Vitellians recognised one another, and then, taking the lead in asking it or giving it on demand, found a refuge in audacity. 3.74. Domitian was concealed in the lodging of a temple attendant when the assailants broke into the citadel; then through the cleverness of a freedman he was dressed in a linen robe and so was able to join a crowd of devotees without being recognized and to escape to the house of Cornelius Primus, one of his father's clients, near the Velabrum, where he remained in concealment. When his father came to power, Domitian tore down the lodging of the temple attendant and built a small chapel to Jupiter the Preserver with an altar on which his escape was represented in a marble relief. Later, when he had himself gained the imperial throne, he dedicated a great temple of Jupiter the Guardian, with his own effigy in the lap of the god. Sabinus and Atticus were loaded with chains and taken before Vitellius, who received them with no angry word or look, although the crowd cried out in rage, asking for the right to kill them and demanding rewards for accomplishing this task. Those who stood nearest were the first to raise these cries, and then the lowest plebeians with mingled flattery and threats began to demand the punishment of Sabinus. Vitellius stood on the steps of the palace and was about to appeal to them, when they forced him to withdraw. Then they ran Sabinus through, mutilated him, and cut off his head, after which they dragged his headless body to the Gemonian stairs. 3.75. Thus died a man who was far from being despicable. He had served the state for thirty-five years, winning distinction in both civil and military life. His upright character and justice were above criticism; but he talked too easily. This was the only thing that mischievous gossip could say against him in the seven years during which he governed Moesia or in the twelve years while he was prefect of the city. At the end of his life some thought that he lacked energy, many believed him moderate and desirous of sparing the blood of his fellow-citizens. In any case all agree that up to the time that Vespasian became emperor the reputation of the house depended on Sabinus. According to report his death gave Mucianus pleasure. Most men felt that his death was in the interests of peace also, for it disposed of the rivalry between the two men, one of whom thought of himself as the brother of the emperor, the other as a partner in the imperial power. But Vitellius resisted the people when they demanded the punishment of the consul, since he felt kindly toward Atticus, and wished, as it were, to repay him; for when people asked who had set fire to the Capitol, Atticus had assumed the guilt, and by this confession â or possibly it was a falsehood to meet the situation â seemed to have accepted the odium of the crime and to have freed the party of Vitellius. 3.76. During these days Lucius Vitellius, who had pitched camp at Feronia, threatened to destroy Tarracina, where he had shut up the gladiators and seamen, who did not dare to leave their walls or to run any risks in open ground. As I have stated above, Julianus commanded the gladiators, Apollinaris the crews, but the profligate habits and lazy characters of both these made them seem more like gladiators than leaders. No watch was kept; no effort made to strengthen the weak parts of the walls. Day and night they wandered about, making the pleasant parts of the shore echo with the noise of their festivals; their soldiers were scattered to seek materials for their pleasures, while the leaders talked of war only at their dinners. A few days earlier Apinius Tiro had left Tarracina, and now was gaining more unpopularity than strength for his cause by the harsh way in which he collected gifts and money in the towns. 3.77. In the meantime a slave of Verginius Capito escaped to Lucius Vitellius and promised that if he could have a force, he would hand over the citadel, which was empty. Accordingly, late at night he guided some light cohorts and got them on the heights above their foes; from this position they poured down to massacre rather than to fight. They slew their opponents, some unarmed, others just taking up their arms, and some just roused from sleep, while all were confused by the darkness, the terror, the sound of the trumpets, and the shouts of their enemies. A few of the gladiators resisted and fell not without vengeance on their foes. The rest rushed to the ships; but there an equal panic caused utter confusion, for the Vitellians slew without distinction the townspeople who joined the soldiers in their flight. Six Liburnian galleys escaped at the first alarm with Apollinaris the prefect of the fleet on board; the rest of the ships were captured at the shore, or else were swamped by the excessive weight of those who rushed on board. Julianus was taken before Lucius Vitellius, flogged, and slain before his eyes. Some accused Triaria, wife of Lucius Vitellius, with girding on a soldier's sword and behaving haughtily and cruelly in the horrible massacre that followed the capture of Tarracina. Vitellius himself sent laurels to his brother to announce his success, and at the same time asked whether he directed him to return or to press on to the conquest of Campania. The consequent delay helped not only Vespasian's party but the state, for if the troops had hurried to Rome while fresh from their victory and with their natural stubbornness confirmed by their pride over their success, the struggle which would have ensued could not have been slight, and indeed would have destroyed the city. For all his infamous nature, Lucius Vitellius possessed industry, and drew strength not like good men from their virtues, but like the basest from his vices. 3.78. While these things were happening on the side of Vitellius, Vespasian's forces left Narnia and quietly celebrated the Saturnalia at Ocriculum. The excuse given for such unseemly delay was that they were waiting for Mucianus. There were also some who suspected Antonius, alleging that a treasonable purpose made him delay, after he had secretly received letters from Vitellius offering him a consulship, the hand of his daughter, and a great dowry as rewards for treachery on his part. Others, however, regarded these tales as sheer inventions devised for the advantage of Mucianus; some held that all the leaders proposed to threaten Rome with war rather than make war on her, since the strongest cohorts had already abandoned Vitellius, and it seemed probable that if all his resources were cut off, he would give up the imperial power. "But all plans," they said, "had been spoiled first by the haste of Sabinus and then by his weakness; for he had rashly taken up arms, and later had been unable to defend against even three cohorts the citadel of the Capitoline, which, with its strong fortifications, could have resisted the attacks of even great armies." But it would not be easy to fix on any individual the fault that was common to all. Mucianus held back the victors by ambiguous letters, while Antonius, by his untimely compliance or in his efforts to shift the blame to him, rendered himself culpable, and the rest of the commanders, by assuming that the war was over, made its close notorious. Not even Petilius Cerialis, who had been sent on in advance with a thousand horse under orders to proceed by the roads across the Sabine country and to enter Rome by the Salarian Way, advanced with proper speed until the report that the Capitol was besieged spurred all to action at the same time. 3.79. Antonius, advancing along the Flaminian Road, reached Rubra Saxa late at night; but the assistance he brought was not in time. At Rubra Saxa he heard only the sad news that Sabinus had been killed, the Capitol burned, that the city was in a panic; it was further reported that the common people even and the slaves were arming to support Vitellius. Moreover, the horsemen of Petilius Cerialis had been worsted in an engagement, for when he advanced carelessly and in haste, as if he were proceeding against a defeated foe, the Vitellians met him with a force in which foot and horse were ranged together. The battle took place not far from the city among buildings and gardens and winding streets, which were familiar to the Vitellians but strange to their opponents, who were consequently frightened. Moreover, not all of Cerialis's horsemen had the same sentiments, for some had been assigned to his troop who had lately surrendered at Narnia and who consequently were watching the fortunes of the two parties. Julius Flavianus, prefect of a squadron, was captured; all the rest fled in shameful flight, but the victors did not pursue them beyond Fidenae. 3.80. This success increased the enthusiasm of the people. The populace at Rome took up arms. A few had shields; the majority hastily seized whatever weapons came to hand and demanded the signal for battle. Vitellius thanked them and ordered them to sally forth to defend the city. Later the senate was convened and selected representatives to go to the armies and to persuade them in the interests of the state to agree on peace. The fortunes of these envoys varied. Those who met Petilius Cerialis ran the greatest dangers, for his soldiers scorned all terms of peace. They actually wounded the praetor Arulenus Rusticus. His high personal character increased the indignation naturally felt at this violence done to an envoy and this insult inflicted on a praetor. His attendants were driven off; the lictor nearest him was killed when he dared to try to make a way through the crowd; and in fact if Cerialis had not given the envoys a guard to protect them, the persons of ambassadors, whose sanctity is respected even among foreign nations, would have been violated in the madness of civil strife, and the envoys killed before the very walls of their native city. A fairer hearing was given the delegates who went to Antonius, not because the soldiers were less violent, but because the general had more authority. 3.81. Musonius Rufus had joined these delegates. He was a member of the equestrian order, a man devoted to the study of philosophy and in particular to the Stoic doctrine. Making his way among the companies, he began to warn those in arms, discoursing on the blessings of peace and the dangers of war. Many were moved to ridicule by his words, more were bored; and there were some ready to jostle him about and to trample on him, if he had not listened to the warnings of the quieter soldiers and the threats of others and give up his untimely moralizing. The troops were also met by Vestals who brought letters from Vitellius to Antonius. Vitellius asked that the decisive conflict be put off for one day only, and urged that if they only delayed, they could come more easily to a complete agreement. The Vestals were sent back with honour; the reply to Vitellius was that by killing Sabinus and burning the Capitol he had made all communication between the two sides impossible. 3.82. None the less, Antonius assembled his legions and tried to calm and persuade them to camp by the Mulvian bridge and enter the city the next day. He desired this delay, for he feared that his troops, exasperated by battle, might have no regard for the people, the senate, or even for the temples and shrines of the gods. But his men suspected every delay as inimical to their victory; at the same time the standards which gleamed among the hills, although followed by an unarmed crowd, had presented the appearance of a hostile army. The Flavian forces advanced in three columns: part continued in their course along the Flaminian Way, part along the bank of the Tiber; the third column approached the Colline gate by the Salarian Way. The mass of civilians was dispersed by a cavalry charge; but the troops of Vitellius also advanced in three columns to defend the city. There were many engagements before the walls with varied results, yet the Flavian forces, being more ably led, were more often successful. The only troops that met with serious trouble were those who had moved through narrow and slippery streets toward the left quarter of the city and the gardens of Sallust. The Vitellian forces, climbing on top of the walls that surrounded the gardens, blocked their opponents' approach with a shower of stones and javelins until late in the day, when they were finally surrounded by the cavalry that had broken in through the Colline gate. The hostile forces met also in the Campus Martius. The Flavians had good fortune and many victories on their side; the Vitellians rushed forward, prompted only by despair, and even though beaten, they kept forming again within the city. 3.83. The populace stood by watching the combatants, as if they were games in the circus; by their shouts and applause they encouraged first one party and then the other. If one side gave way and the soldiers hid in shops or sought refuge in some private house, the onlookers demanded that they be dragged out and killed; for so they gained a larger share of booty, since the troops were wholly absorbed in their bloody work of slaughter, while the spoils fell to the rabble. Horrible and hideous sights were to be seen everywhere in the city: here battles and wounds, there open baths and drinking shops; blood and piles of corpses, side by side with harlots and the compeers of harlots. There were all the debauchery and passion that obtain in a dissolute peace, every crime that can be committed in the most savage conquest, so that men might well have believed that the city was at once mad with rage and drunk with pleasure. It is true that armed forces had fought before this in the city, twice when Lucius Sulla gained his victories and once when Cinna won. There was no less cruelty then than now; but now men showed inhuman indifference and never relaxed their pleasures for a single moment. As if this were a new delight added to their holidays, they gave way to exultation and joy, wholly indifferent to either side, finding pleasure in public misfortune. 3.84. The greatest difficulty was met in taking the Praetorian Camp, which the bravest soldiers defended as their last hope. The resistance made the victors only the more eager, the old praetorian cohorts being especially determined. They employed at the same time every device that had ever been invented for the destruction of the strongest cities â the "tortoise," artillery, earthworks, and firebrands â shouting that all the labour and danger that they had suffered in all their battles would be crowned by this achievement. "We have given back the city to the senate and the Roman people," they cried; "we have restored the temples to the gods. The soldier's glory is in his camp: that is his native city, that his penates. If the camp is not at once recovered, we must spend the night under arms." On their side the Vitellians, unequal though they were in numbers and in fortune, by striving to spoil the victory, to delay peace, and to defile the houses and altars of the city with blood, embraced the last solace left to the conquered. Many, mortally wounded, breathed their last on the towers and battlements; when the gates were broken down, the survivors in a solid mass opposed the victors and to a man fell giving blow for blow, dying with faces to the foe; so anxious were they, even at the moment of death, to secure a glorious end. On the capture of the city Vitellius was carried on a chair through the rear of the palace to his wife's house on the Aventine, so that, in case he succeeded in remaining undiscovered during the day, he might escape to his brother and the cohorts at Tarracina. But his fickle mind and the very nature of terror, which makes the present situation always seem the worst to one who is fearful of everything, drew him back to the palace. This he found empty and deserted, for even the meanest of his slaves had slipped away or else avoided meeting him. The solitude and the silent spaces filled him with fright: he tried the rooms that were closed and shuddered to find them empty. Exhausted by wandering forlornly about, he concealed himself in an unseemly hiding-place; but Julius Placidus, tribune of a cohort, dragged him to the light. With his arms bound behind his back, his garments torn, he presented a grievous sight as he was led away. Many cried out against him, not one shed a tear; the ugliness of the last scene had banished pity. One of the soldiers from Germany met him and struck at him in rage, or else his purpose was to remove him the quicker from insult, or he may have been aiming at the tribune â no one could tell. He cut off the tribune's ear and was at once run through. 3.85. Vitellius was forced at the point of the sword now to lift his face and offer it to his captors' insults, now to see his own statues falling, and to look again and again on the rostra or the place where Galba had been killed. Finally, the soldiers drove him to the Gemonian stairs where the body of Flavius Sabinus had recently been lying. His only utterance marked his spirit as not ignoble, for when the tribune insulted him, he replied, "Yet I was your Emperor." Then he fell under a shower of blows; and the people attacked his body after he was dead with the same base spirit with which they had fawned on him while he lived. 3.86. His native city was Luceria. He had nearly completed the fifty-seventh year of his age. The consulate, priesthoods, a name and place among the first men of his day, he acquired by no merit of his own but wholly through his father's eminence. The men who gave him the principate did not know him. Seldom has the support of the army been gained by any man through honourable means to the degree that he won it through his worthlessness. Yet his nature was marked by simplicity and liberality â qualities which, if unchecked, prove the ruin of their possessor. Thinking, as he did, that friendships are cemented by greater gifts rather than by high character, he bought more friends than he kept. Undoubtedly it was to the advantage of the state that Vitellius should fall, but those who betrayed him to Vespasian cannot make a virtue of their own treachery, for they had already deserted Galba. The day hurried to its close. It was impossible to summon the senate because the senators had stolen away from the city or were hiding in their clients' houses. Now that he had no enemies to fear, Domitian presented himself to the leaders of his father's party, and was greeted by them as Caesar; then crowds of soldiers, still in arms, escorted him to his ancestral hearth. 4.1. The death of Vitellius was rather the end of war than the beginning of peace. The victors ranged through the city in arms, pursuing their defeated foes with implacable hatred: the streets were full of carnage, the fora and temples reeked with blood; they slew right and left everyone whom chance put in their way. Presently, as their licence increased, they began to hunt out and drag into the light those who had concealed themselves; did they espy anyone who was tall and young, they cut him down, regardless whether he was soldier or civilian. Their ferocity, which found satisfaction in bloodshed while their hatred was fresh, turned then afterwards to greed. They let no place remain secret or closed, pretending that Vitellians were in hiding. This led to the forcing of private houses or, if resistance was made, became an excuse for murder. Nor was there any lack of starvelings among the mob or of the vilest slaves ready to betray their rich masters; others were pointed out by their friends. Everywhere were lamentations, cries of anguish, and the misfortunes that befall a captured city; so that the citizens actually longed for the licence of Otho's and Vitellius's soldiers, which earlier they had detested. The generals of the Flavian party, who had been quick to start the conflagration of civil war, were unequal to the task of controlling their victory, for in times of violence and civil strife the worst men have the greatest power; peace and quiet call for honest arts. |
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22. Tacitus, Annals, 2.82 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 159| 2.82. At Romae, postquam Germanici valetudo percrebuit cunctaque ut ex longinquo aucta in deterius adferebantur, dolor ira, et erumpebant questus. ideo nimirum in extremas terras relegatum, ideo Pisoni permissam provinciam; hoc egisse secretos Augustae cum Plancina sermones. vera prorsus de Druso seniores locutos: displicere regtibus civilia filiorum ingenia, neque ob aliud interceptos quam quia populum Romanum aequo iure complecti reddita libertate agitaverint. hos vulgi sermones audita mors adeo incendit ut ante edictum magistratuum, ante senatus consultum sumpto iustitio desererentur fora, clauderentur domus. passim silentia et gemitus, nihil compositum in ostentationem; et quamquam neque insignibus lugentium abstinerent, altius animis maerebant. forte negotiatores vivente adhuc Germanico Syria egressi laetiora de valetudine eius attulere. statim credita, statim vulgata sunt: ut quisque obvius, quamvis leviter audita in alios atque illi in plures cumulata gaudio transferunt. cursant per urbem, moliuntur templorum foris; iuvat credulitatem nox et promptior inter tenebras adfirmatio. nec obstitit falsis Tiberius donec tempore ac spatio vanescerent: et populus quasi rursum ereptum acrius doluit. | 2.82. But at Rome, when the failure of Germanicus' health became current knowledge, and every circumstance was reported with the aggravations usual in news that has travelled far, all was grief and indignation. A storm of complaints burst out:â "So for this he had been relegated to the ends of earth; for this Piso had received a province; and this had been the drift of Augusta's colloquies with Plancina! It was the mere truth, as the elder men said of Drusus, that sons with democratic tempers were not pleasing to fathers on a throne; and both had been cut off for no other reason than because they designed to restore the age of freedom and take the Roman people into a partnership of equal rights." The announcement of his death inflamed this popular gossip to such a degree that before any edict of the magistrates, before any resolution of the senate, civic life was suspended, the courts deserted, houses closed. It was a town of sighs and silences, with none of the studied advertisements of sorrow; and, while there was no abstention from the ordinary tokens of bereavement, the deeper mourning was carried at the heart. Accidentally, a party of merchants, who had left Syria while Germanicus was yet alive, brought a more cheerful account of his condition. It was instantly believed and instantly disseminated. No man met another without proclaiming his unauthenticated news; and by him it was passed to more, with supplements dictated by joy. Crowds were running in the streets and forcing temple-doors. Credulity throve â it was night, and affirmation is boldest in the dark. Nor did Tiberius check the fictions, but left them to die out with the passage of time; and the people added bitterness for what seemed a second bereavement. |
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| 23. Suetonius, Vitellius, 15, 17, 16 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 141 |
| 24. Suetonius, Titus, 11 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 159 |
| 25. Suetonius, Caligula, 6.1 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 159 |
| 26. Plutarch, Tiberius And Gaius Gracchus, 3.3, 17.5 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 141, 159 |
| 27. Aelius Aristides, Orations, 26.8 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 164 |
| 28. Arch., Att., 2.1.8 Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 164 |
29. Vergil, Aeneis, 1.159-1.168, 1.419-1.420, 2.559, 6.273-6.279 Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 137, 139 | 1.159. weapons of war, spars, planks, and treasures rare, 1.160. once Ilium 's boast, all mingled with the storm. 1.161. Now o'er Achates and Ilioneus, 1.162. now o'er the ship of Abas or Aletes, 1.163. bursts the tempestuous shock; their loosened seams 1.165. Meanwhile how all his smitten ocean moaned, 1.166. and how the tempest's turbulent assault 1.167. had vexed the stillness of his deepest cave, 1.168. great Neptune knew; and with indigt mien 1.419. upon him broke, resolved to take survey 1.420. of this strange country whither wind and wave 2.559. upon his orient steeds—while forests roar, 6.273. Whose seed is never from the parent tree 6.274. O'er whose round limbs its tawny tendrils twine,— 6.275. So shone th' out-leafing gold within the shade 6.276. of dark holm-oak, and so its tinsel-bract 6.277. Rustled in each light breeze. Aeneas grasped 6.278. The lingering bough, broke it in eager haste, |
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| 30. Seneca The Younger, Nero, 57.1 Tagged with subjects: •forum, during civil unrest Found in books: Jenkyns (2013) 159 |
