| 1. Livy, History, 30.30.5 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •histories, fate and fortune in Found in books: Shannon-Henderson (2019) 138 |
2. Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory, 3.5.6 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •histories, fate and fortune in Found in books: Shannon-Henderson (2019) 21 | 3.5.6. Cicero distinguishes two kinds, the one concerned with knowledge, the other with action. Thus "Is the world governed by providence?" is a question of knowledge, while "Should we enter politics?" is a question of action. The first involves three questions, whether a thing is, what it is, and of what nature: for all these things may be unknown: the second involves two, how to obtain power and how to use it. |
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| 3. Tacitus, Agricola, 13.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •histories, fate and fortune in Found in books: Shannon-Henderson (2019) 20 |
4. Tacitus, Annals, 1.3.3, 1.55.3, 2.71.1-2.71.3, 3.18.4, 3.63.3, 4.1.1, 4.37.1, 4.37.3, 6.22, 6.22.1-6.22.3, 6.46.3, 12.42.2, 14.13.1, 14.61.1, 15.74.3, 16.1.1, 16.3.2, 16.5.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •histories, fate and fortune in Found in books: Shannon-Henderson (2019) 20, 21, 113, 138, 332| 6.22. Sed mihi haec ac talia audienti in incerto iudicium est fatone res mortalium et necessitate immutabili an forte volvantur. quippe sapientissimos veterum quique sectam eorum aemulantur diversos reperies, ac multis insitam opinionem non initia nostri, non finem, non denique homines dis curae; ideo creberrime tristia in bonos, laeta apud deteriores esse. contra alii fatum quidem congruere rebus putant, sed non e vagis stellis, verum apud principia et nexus naturalium causarum; ac tamen electionem vitae nobis relinquunt, quam ubi elegeris, certum imminentium ordinem. neque mala vel bona quae vulgus putet: multos qui conflictari adversis videantur beatos, at plerosque quamquam magnas per opes miserrimos, si illi gravem fortunam constanter tolerent, hi prospera inconsulte utantur. ceterum plurimis mortalium non eximitur quin primo cuiusque ortu ventura destinentur, sed quaedam secus quam dicta sint cadere fallaciis ignara dicentium: ita corrumpi fidem artis cuius clara documenta et antiqua aetas et nostra tulerit. quippe a filio eiusdem Thrasulli praedictum Neronis imperium in tempore memorabitur, ne nunc incepto longius abierim. | 6.22. For myself, when I listen to this and similar narratives, my judgement wavers. Is the revolution of human things governed by fate and changeless necessity, or by accident? You will find the wisest of the ancients, and the disciplines attached to their tenets, at complete variance; in many of them a fixed belief that Heaven concerns itself neither with our origins, nor with our ending, nor, in fine, with mankind, and that so adversity continually assails the good, while prosperity dwells among the evil. Others hold, on the contrary, that, though there is certainly a fate in harmony with events, it does not emanate from wandering stars, but must be sought in the principles and processes of natural causation. Still, they leave us free to choose our life: that choice made, however, the order of the future is certain. Nor, they maintain, are evil and good what the crowd imagines: many who appear to be the sport of adverse circumstances are happy; numbers are wholly wretched though in the midst of great possessions â provided only that the former endure the strokes of fortune with firmness, while the latter employ her favours with unwisdom. With most men, however, the faith is ineradicable that the future of an individual is ordained at the moment of his entry into life; but at times a prophecy is falsified by the event, through the dishonesty of the prophet who speaks he knows not what; and thus is debased the credit of an art, of which the most striking evidences have been furnished both in the ancient world and in our own. For the forecast of Nero's reign, made by the son of this very Thrasyllus, shall be related at its fitting place: at present I do not care to stray too far from my theme. |
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| 5. Tacitus, Germania (De Origine Et Situ Germanorum), 35.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •histories, fate and fortune in Found in books: Shannon-Henderson (2019) 138 |
6. Tacitus, Histories, 1.18, 1.29, 1.71, 2.12.1, 2.47.1, 2.47.3, 2.82, 3.1, 3.84, 4.58.6, 5.5.4, 5.13 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •histories, fate and fortune in Found in books: Shannon-Henderson (2019) 20, 21, 113, 138, 332 | 1.71. Otho, meanwhile, contrary to everyone's expectation made no dull surrender to luxury or ease: he put off his pleasures, concealed his profligacy, and ordered his whole life as befitted the imperial position; with the result that these simulated virtues and the sure return of his vices only inspired still greater dread. Marius Celsus, consul-elect, whom he had saved from the fury of the soldiers by pretending to imprison him, he had called to the Capitol, for he wished to obtain the credit of being merciful by his treatment of a distinguished man whom his party hated. Celsus boldly pleaded guilty of constant loyalty to Galba and went so far as to claim that his example was to Otho's advantage. Otho did not act toward him as if he were pardoning a criminal, but to avoid having to fear him as an enemy took steps to be reconciled to him and immediately began to treat him as one of his intimate friends; he later chose him as one of the leaders for the war. But Celsus, on his side, as by a fatal impulse, maintained a loyalty to Otho which was unbroken and ill-starred. His safety, which gave joy to the chief men of the state and which was commented on favourably by the common people, was not unpopular even with the soldiers, who admired the same virtue which roused their anger. 2.82. The first business of the war was to hold levies and to recall the veterans to the colours. The strong towns were selected to manufacture arms; gold and silver were minted at Antioch; and all these preparations, each in its proper place, were quickly carried forward by expert agents. Vespasian visited each place in person, encouraged the workmen, spurring on the industrious by praise and the slow by his example, concealing his friends' faults rather than their virtues. Many he rewarded with prefectures and procuratorships; large numbers of excellent men who later attained the highest positions he raised to senatorial rank; in the case of some good fortune took the place of merit. In his first speech Mucianus had held out hopes of only a moderate donative to the soldiers; even Vespasian did not offer more for civil war than others did in time of peace. He was firmly opposed to extravagant gifts to the soldiers and therefore had a better army. Embassies were dispatched to the Parthians and Armenians, and provision made to avoid leaving their rear exposed when the legions were drawn off to civil war. It was decided that Titus should follow up the war in Judea, Vespasian hold the keys to Egypt; and it was agreed that a part of the troops, if led by Mucianus, would be enough to deal with Vitellius, aided as they would be by the prestige of Vespasian's name and by the fact that all things are easy for Fate. Letters were addressed to all the armies and to all their commanders, directing them to try to win over the praetorians, who hated Vitellius, by holding out to them the hope of re-entering the service. 3.1. The generals of the Flavian party were planning their campaign with better fortune and greater loyalty. They had come together at Poetovio, the winter quarters of the Thirteenth legion. There they discussed whether they should guard the passes of the Pannonian Alps until the whole mass of their forces could be raised behind them, or whether it would not be a bolder stroke to engage the enemy at once and struggle with him for the possession of Italy. Those who favoured waiting for the auxiliaries and prolonging the war, emphasized the strength and reputation of the German legions and dwelt on the fact that the flower of the army in Britain had recently arrived with Vitellius; they pointed out that they had on their side an inferior number of legions, and at best legions which had lately been beaten, and that although the soldiers talked boldly enough, the defeated always have less courage. But while they meantime held the Alps, Mucianus, they said, would arrive with the troops from the east; Vespasian had besides full control of the sea and his fleets, and he could count on the enthusiastic support of the provinces, through whose aid he could raise the storm of almost a second war. Therefore they declared that delay would favour them, that new forces would join them, and that they would lose none of their present advantages. 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. 5.13. Prodigies had indeed occurred, but to avert them either by victims or by vows is held unlawful by a people which, though prone to superstition, is opposed to all propitiatory rites. Contending hosts were seen meeting in the skies, arms flashed, and suddenly the temple was illumined with fire from the clouds. of a sudden the doors of the shrine opened and a superhuman voice cried: "The gods are departing": at the same moment the mighty stir of their going was heard. Few interpreted these omens as fearful; the majority firmly believed that their ancient priestly writings contained the prophecy that this was the very time when the East should grow strong and that men starting from Judea should possess the world. This mysterious prophecy had in reality pointed to Vespasian and Titus, but the common people, as is the way of human ambition, interpreted these great destinies in their own favour, and could not be turned to the truth even by adversity. We have heard that the total number of the besieged of every age and both sexes was six hundred thousand; there were arms for all who could use them, and the number ready to fight was larger than could have been anticipated from the total population. Both men and women showed the same determination; and if they were to be forced to change their home, they feared life more than death. Such was the city and people against which Titus Caesar now proceeded; since the nature of the ground did not allow him to assault or employ any sudden operations, he decided to use earthworks and mantlets; the legions were assigned to their several tasks, and there was a respite of fighting until they made ready every device for storming a town that the ancients had ever employed or modern ingenuity invented. |
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7. Vergil, Aeneis, 12.435-12.436 Tagged with subjects: •histories, fate and fortune in Found in books: Shannon-Henderson (2019) 113 | 12.435. this frantic stir, this quarrel rashly bold? 12.436. Recall your martial rage! The pledge is given |
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