1. Dionysius of Halycarnassus, Roman Antiquities, 4.62.5 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •lightning, as prodigy Found in books: Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 65 | 4.62.5. Since the expulsion of the kings, the commonwealth, taking upon itself the guarding of these oracles, entrusts the care of them to persons of the greatest distinction, who hold this office for life, being exempt from military service and from all civil employments, and it assigns public slaves to assist them, in whose absence the others are not permitted to inspect the oracles. In short, there is no possession of the Romans, sacred or profane, which they guard so carefully as they do the Sibylline oracles. They consult them, by order of the senate, when the state is in the grip of party strife or some great misfortune has happened to them in war, or some important prodigies and apparitions have been seen which are difficult of interpretation, as has often happened. These oracles till the time of the Marsian War, as it was called, were kept underground in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in a stone chest under the guard of ten men. |
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2. Livy, History, 1.20.7, 1.31.1, 1.31.8, 1.45.4, 1.54.6-1.54.7, 2.34.5, 2.42.10, 3.6.5, 3.7.1, 3.8.1, 3.10.6, 3.29.9, 3.32.2, 4.7.3, 4.9.3, 4.21.5, 4.45.2, 5.14.3, 5.31.5, 7.3.2-7.3.4, 7.27.1, 7.28.7, 8.15.6, 8.18.11, 8.23.14-8.23.17, 10.19.17-10.19.18, 21.46.2-21.46.5, 21.62.1, 21.62.5, 21.62.8, 22.1.11, 22.9.8-22.9.9, 22.34.3, 22.36.7, 22.57.2-22.57.4, 23.31.13, 24.10.6-24.10.7, 24.10.10-24.10.12, 24.31.14-24.31.15, 24.44.7-24.44.9, 26.23.5, 27.8.4, 27.11.1-27.11.6, 27.23.1-27.23.4, 27.25.8-27.25.9, 27.37, 27.37.1-27.37.6, 28.11.1-28.11.4, 28.11.6, 29.14.3, 29.18.1-29.18.20, 29.19.8, 30.30.4, 30.38.10, 32.1.10, 32.9.1-32.9.5, 32.29.1-32.29.2, 33.26.6-33.26.9, 34.45.6-34.45.8, 34.55.1, 34.55.4, 35.9.3-35.9.4, 35.21.4-35.21.5, 36.37.5, 37.3.2, 39.16.6, 39.22.3, 39.46.5, 40.2.1-40.2.3, 40.19.1-40.19.3, 40.37.1, 40.45.1-40.45.4, 40.52.2-40.52.6, 40.58.3-40.58.7, 40.59.6, 40.59.8, 41.9.5-41.9.6, 41.15.1, 41.21.5, 41.21.10, 42.20.1-42.20.2, 43.13.3-43.13.6, 43.16.6, 45.16.5-45.16.6 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •lightning, as prodigy Found in books: Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 28, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 42, 45, 60, 65, 72, 76, 77, 133, 162, 257| 43.13.3. Anagnia duo prodigia eo anno sunt nuntiata, facem in caelo conspectam et bovem feminam locutam; eam publice ali. Menturnis quoque per eos dies caeli ardentis species affulserat. 43.13.4. Reate imbri lapidavit. Cumis in arce Apollo triduum ac tris noctes lacrimavit. in urbe Romana duo aeditui nuntiarunt, alter in aede Fortunae anguem iubatum a conpluribus visum esse, alter in aede Primigeniae Fortunae, 43.13.5. quae in Colle est, duo diversa prodigia, palmam in area enatam et sanguine interdiu pluvisse. 43.13.6. duo non suscepta prodigia sunt, alterum, quod in privato loco factum esset, — palmam enatam in inpluvio suo T. Marcius Figulus nuntiabat — , alterum, quod in loco peregrino: Fregellis in domo L. Atrei hasta, quam filio militi emerat, interdiu plus duas horas arsisse, ita ut nihil eius ambureret ignis, dicebatur. 43.16.6. hinc contentione orta cum veteres publicani se ad tribunum contulissent, rogatio repente sub unius tribuni nomine promulgatur, quae publica vectigalia aut ultro tributa C. Claudius et Ti. Sempronius locassent, ea rata locatio ne esset: 45.16.5. de prodigiis deinde nuntiatis senatus est consultus. aedes deum Penatium in Velia de caelo tacta erat et in oppido Minervio duae portae et muri aliquantum. Anagniae terra pluerat et Lanuvi fax in caelo visa erat; et Calatiae in publico agro M. Valerius civis Romanus nuntiabat e foco suo sanguinem per triduum et duas noctes manasse. 45.16.6. ob id maxime decemviri libros adire iussi supplicationem in diem unum populo edixerunt et quinquaginta capris in foro sacrificaverunt. et aliorum prodigiorum causa diem alterum supplicatio circa omnia pulvinaria fuit et hostiis maioribus sacrificatum est et urbs lustrata. | |
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| 3. Suetonius, Domitianus, 15 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •lightning, as prodigy Found in books: Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 162 |
| 4. Suetonius, Nero, 46 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •lightning, as prodigy Found in books: Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 162 |
| 5. Suetonius, Otho, 8 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •lightning, as prodigy Found in books: Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 162 |
6. Tacitus, Annals, 1.7, 2.32.1, 2.56.4, 3.19, 5.8, 6.4, 6.7.2-6.7.4, 11.15.1, 12.8.2-12.8.3, 12.64.1, 13.24.2, 13.41.3, 14.12.2, 14.22.1-14.22.2, 15.22.2-15.22.3, 15.23.4-15.23.5, 15.34, 15.36.3, 15.44.1-15.44.2, 15.45.5, 15.47.2-15.47.3, 15.53.3, 15.54, 15.74.2, 16.13, 16.13.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •lightning, as prodigy Found in books: Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 157, 162, 187, 200| 1.7. At Romae ruere in servitium consules, patres, eques. quanto quis inlustrior, tanto magis falsi ac festites, vultuque composito ne laeti excessu principis neu tristiores primordio, lacrimas gaudium, questus adulationem miscebant. Sex. Pompeius et Sex. Appuleius consules primi in verba Tiberii Caesaris iuravere, aputque eos Seius Strabo et C. Turranius, ille praetoriarum cohortium praefectus, hic annonae; mox senatus milesque et populus. nam Tiberius cuncta per consules incipiebat tamquam vetere re publica et ambiguus imperandi: ne edictum quidem, quo patres in curiam vocabat, nisi tribuniciae potestatis praescriptione posuit sub Augusto acceptae. verba edicti fuere pauca et sensu permodesto: de honoribus parentis consulturum, neque abscedere a corpore idque unum ex publicis muneribus usurpare. sed defuncto Augusto signum praetoriis cohortibus ut imperator dederat; excubiae, arma, cetera aulae; miles in forum, miles in curiam comitabatur. litteras ad exercitus tamquam adepto principatu misit, nusquam cunctabundus nisi cum in senatu loqueretur. causa praecipua ex formidine ne Germanicus, in cuius manu tot legiones, immensa sociorum auxilia, mirus apud populum favor, habere imperium quam exspectare mallet. dabat et famae ut vocatus electusque potius a re publica videretur quam per uxorium ambitum et senili adoptione inrepsisse. postea cognitum est ad introspiciendas etiam procerum voluntates inductam dubitationem: nam verba vultus in crimen detorquens recondebat. 1.7. At Germanicus legionum, quas navibus vexerat, secundam et quartam decimam itinere terrestri P. Vitellio ducendas tradit, quo levior classis vadoso mari innaret vel reciproco sideret. Vitellius primum iter sicca humo aut modice adlabente aestu quietum habuit: mox inpulsu aquilonis, simul sidere aequinoctii, quo maxime tumescit Oceanus, rapi agique agmen. et opplebantur terrae: eadem freto litori campis facies, neque discerni poterant incerta ab solidis, brevia a profundis. sternuntur fluctibus, hauriuntur gurgitibus; iumenta, sarcinae, corpora exanima interfluunt, occursant. permiscentur inter se manipuli, modo pectore, modo ore tenus extantes, aliquando subtracto solo disiecti aut obruti. non vox et mutui hortatus iuvabant adversante unda; nihil strenuus ab ignavo, sapiens ab inprudenti, consilia a casu differre: cuncta pari violentia involvebantur. tandem Vitellius in editiora enisus eodem agmen subduxit. pernoctavere sine utensilibus, sine igni, magna pars nudo aut mulcato corpore, haud minus miserabiles quam quos hostis circumsidet: quippe illic etiam honestae mortis usus, his inglorium exitium. lux reddidit terram, penetratumque ad amnem Visurgin, quo Caesar classe contenderat. inpositae dein legiones, vagante fama submersas; nec fides salutis, antequam Caesarem exercitumque reducem videre. 3.19. Paucis post diebus Caesar auctor senatui fuit Vitellio atque Veranio et Servaeo sacerdotia tribuendi: Fulcinio suffragium ad honores pollicitus monuit ne facundiam violentia praecipitaret. is finis fuit ulciscenda Germanici morte, non modo apud illos homines qui tum agebant etiam secutis temporibus vario rumore iactata. adeo maxima quaeque ambigua sunt, dum alii quoquo modo audita pro compertis habent, alii vera in contrarium vertunt, et gliscit utrumque posteritate. at Drusus urbe egressus repetendis auspiciis mox ovans introiit. paucosque post dies Vipsania mater eius excessit, una omnium Agrippae liberorum miti obitu: nam ceteros manifestum ferro vel creditum est veneno aut fame extinctos. 6.4. Vt vero Latinium Latiarem ingressus est, accusator ac reus iuxta invisi gratissimum spectaculum praebebantur. Latiaris, ut rettuli, praecipuus olim circumveniendi Titii Sabini et tunc luendae poenae primus fuit. inter quae Haterius Agrippa consules anni prioris invasit, cur mutua accusatione intenta nunc silerent: metum prorsus et noxae conscientiam pro foedere haberi; at non patribus reticenda quae audivissent. Regulus manere tempus ultionis seque coram principe executurum; Trio aemulationem inter collegas et si qua discordes iecissent melius oblitterari respondit. Vrgente Agrippa Sanquinius Maximus e consularibus oravit senatum ne curas imperatoris conquisitis insuper acerbitatibus augerent: sufficere ipsum statuendis remediis. sic Regulo salus et Trioni dilatio exitii quaesita. Haterius invisior fuit quia somno aut libidinosis vigiliis marcidus et ob segnitiam quamvis crudelem principem non metuens inlustribus viris perniciem inter ganeam ac stupra meditabatur. 6.4. Quintus Plautius Sex. Papinius consules sequuntur. eo anno neque quod L. Aruseiusmorte adfecti forent, adsuetudine malorum ut atrox advertebatur, sed exterruit quod Vibulenus Agrippa eques Romanus, cum perorassent accusatores, in ipsa curia depromptum sinu venenum hausit prolapsusque ac moribundus festinatis lictorum manibus in carcerem raptus est faucesque iam exanimis laqueo vexatae. ne Tigranes quidem, Armenia quondam potitus ac tunc reus, nomine regio supplicia civium effugit. at C. Galba consularis et duo Blaesi voluntario exitu cecidere, Galba tristibus Caesaris litteris provinciam sortiri prohibitus: Blaesis sacerdotia, integra eorum domo destinata, convulsa distulerat, tunc ut vacua contulit in alios; quod signum mortis intellexere et executi sunt. et Aemilia Lepida, quam iuveni Druso nuptam rettuli, crebris criminibus maritum insectata, quamquam intestabilis, tamen impunita agebat, dum superfuit pater Lepidus: post a delatoribus corripitur ob servum adulterum, nec dubitabatur de flagitio: ergo omissa defensione finem vitae sibi posuit. 15.34. Illic, plerique ut arbitrabantur, triste, ut ipse, providum potius et secundis numinibus evenit: nam egresso qui adfuerat populo vacuum et sine ullius noxa theatrum conlapsum est. ergo per compositos cantus grates dis atque ipsam recentis casus fortunam celebrans petiturusque maris Hadriae traiectus apud Beneventum interim consedit, ubi gladiatorium munus a Vatinio celebre edebatur. Vatinius inter foedissima eius aulae ostenta fuit, sutrinae tabernae alumnus, corpore detorto, facetiis scurrilibus; primo in contumelias adsumptus, dehinc optimi cuiusque criminatione eo usque valuit ut gratia pecunia vi nocendi etiam malos praemineret. 15.54. Sed mirum quam inter diversi generis ordinis, aetatis sexus, ditis pauperes taciturnitate omnia cohibita sint, donec proditio coepit e domo Scaevini; qui pridie insidiarum multo sermone cum Antonio Natale, dein regressus domum testamentum obsignavit, promptum vagina pugionem, de quo supra rettuli, vetustate obtusum increpans asperari saxo et in mucronem ardescere iussit eamque curam liberto Milicho mandavit. simul adfluentius solito convivium initum, servorum carissimi libertate et alii pecunia donati; atque ipse maestus et magnae cogitationis manifestus erat, quamvis laetitiam vagis sermonibus simularet. postremo vulneribus ligamenta quibusque sistitur sanguis parare eundem Milichum monet, sive gnarum coniurationis et illuc usque fidum, seu nescium et tunc primum arreptis suspicionibus, ut plerique tradidere de consequentibus. nam cum secum servilis animus praemia perfidiae reputavit simulque immensa pecunia et potentia obversabantur, cessit fas et salus patroni et acceptae libertatis memoria. etenim uxoris quoque consilium adsumpserat muliebre ac deterius: quippe ultro metum intentabat, multosque adstitisse libertos ac servos qui eadem viderint: nihil profuturum unius silentium, at praemia penes unum fore qui indicio praevenisset. 16.13. Tot facinoribus foedum annum etiam dii tempestatibus et morbis insignivere. vastata Campania turbine ventorum, qui villas arbusta fruges passim disiecit pertulitque violentiam ad vicina urbi; in qua omne mortalium genus vis pestilentiae depopulabatur, nulla caeli intemperie quae occurreret oculis. sed domus corporibus exanimis, itinera funeribus complebantur; non sexus, non aetas periculo vacua; servitia perinde et ingenua plebes raptim extingui, inter coniugum et liberorum lamenta, qui dum adsident, dum deflent, saepe eodem rogo cremabantur. equitum senatorumque interitus quamvis promisci minus flebiles erant, tamquam communi mortalitate saevitiam principis praevenirent. Eodem anno dilectus per Galliam Narbonensem Africamque et Asiam habiti sunt supplendis Illyrici legionibus, ex quibus aetate aut valetudine fessi sacramento solvebantur. cladem Lugdunensem quadragies sestertio solatus est princeps, ut amissa urbi reponerent; quam pecuniam Lugdunenses ante obtulerant urbis casibus. | 1.7. At Rome, however, consuls, senators, and knights were rushing into slavery. The more exalted the personage, the grosser his hypocrisy and his haste, â his lineaments adjusted so as to betray neither cheerfulness at the exit nor undue depression at the entry of a prince; his tears blent with joy, his regrets with adulation. The consuls, Sextus Pompeius and Sextus Appuleius, first took the oath of allegiance to Tiberius Caesar. It was taken in their presence by Seius Strabo and Caius Turranius, chiefs respectively of the praetorian cohorts and the corn department. The senators, the soldiers, and the populace followed. For in every action of Tiberius the first step had to be taken by the consuls, as though the old republic were in being, and himself undecided whether to reign or no. Even his edict, convening the Fathers to the senate-house was issued simply beneath the tribunician title which he had received under Augustus. It was a laconic document of very modest purport:â "He intended to provide for the last honours to his father, whose body he could not leave â it was the one function of the state which he made bold to exercise." Yet, on the passing of Augustus he had given the watchword to the praetorian cohorts as Imperator; he had the sentries, the men-atâarms, and the other appurteces of a court; soldiers conducted him to the forum, soldiers to the curia; he dispatched letters to the armies as if the principate was already in his grasp; and nowhere manifested the least hesitation, except when speaking in the senate. The chief reason was his fear that Germanicus â backed by so many legions, the vast reserves of the provinces, and a wonderful popularity with the nation â might prefer the ownership to the reversion of a throne. He paid public opinion, too, the compliment of wishing to be regarded as the called and chosen of the state, rather than as the interloper who had wormed his way into power with the help of connubial intrigues and a senile act of adoption. It was realized later that his coyness had been assumed with the further object of gaining an insight into the feelings of the aristocracy: for all the while he was distorting words and looks into crimes and storing them in his memory. 3.19. A few days later, the Caesar recommended the senate to confer priesthoods on Vitellius, Veranius, and Servaeus. To Fulcinius he promised his support, should he become a candidate for preferment, but warned him not to let impetuosity become the downfall of eloquence. This closed the punitive measures demanded by Germanicus' death: an affair which, not only to the generation which witnessed it, but in the succeeding years, was a battle-ground of opposing rumours. So true it is that the great event is an obscure event: one school admits all hearsay evidence, whatever its character, as indisputable; another perverts the truth into its contrary; and, in each case, posterity magnifies the error. Drusus, who had left the capital, in order to regularize his command, entered it shortly afterwards with an ovation. A few days later, his mother Vipsania died â the only one of all Agrippa's children whose end was peace. The rest perished, part, it is known, by the sword, part, it was believed, by poison or starvation. 6.4. However, when he began upon Latinius Latiaris, accuser and accused â impartially detested as they were â furnished the most grateful of spectacles. â Latiaris, as I have recorded, had formerly been the chief agent in entrapping Titius Sabinus; and he was now the first to make atonement. In the midst of all this, Haterius Agrippa attacked the consuls of the year before:â "Why," he demanded, "after preferring their charges and counter-charges, were they silent now? The truth was that they were treating their fears and their consciousness of guilt as a bond of alliance; but the senate could not keep silence upon the statements to which it had listened." Regulus answered that he was awaiting the proper time for his vengeance, and would pursue his case in the presence of the emperor; Trio, that this rivalry between colleagues, together with any words they might have let fall during the feud, would be better blotted from memory. As Agrippa urged the point, the consular Sanquinius Maximus begged the members not to augment the cares of the emperor by raking up fresh vexations: he was competent to prescribe a remedy by himself. To Regulus this brought salvation; to Trio, a respite from doom: Haterius was detested all the more, because, enervated by sleep or wakeful hours of lust, and so lethargic as to have no fear of the emperor however great his cruelty, he yet amid his gluttony and lecheries could plot the ruin of the famous. 15.34. There an incident took place, sinister in the eyes of many, providential and a mark of divine favour in those of the sovereign; for, after the audience had left, the theatre, now empty, collapsed without injury to anyone. Therefore, celebrating in a set of verses his gratitude to Heaven, Nero â now bent on crossing the Adriatic â came to rest for the moment at Beneventum; where a largely attended gladiatorial spectacle was being exhibited by Vatinius. Vatinius ranked among the foulest prodigies of that court; the product of a shoemaker's shop, endowed with a misshapen body and a scurrile wit, he had been adopted at the outset as a target for buffoonery; then, by calumniating every man of decency, he acquired a power which made him in influence, in wealth, and in capacity for harm, pre-eminent even among villains. 15.54. It is surprising, none the less, how in this mixture of ranks and classes, ages and sexes, rich and poor, the whole affair was kept in secrecy, till the betrayal came from the house of Scaevinus. On the day before the attempt, he had a long conversation with Antonius Natalis, after which he returned home, sealed his will, and taking the dagger, mentioned above, from the sheath, complained that it was to be rubbed on a whetstone till the edge glittered: this task he entrusted to his freedman Milichus. At the same time, he began a more elaborate dinner than usual, and presented his favourite slaves with their liberty, or, in some cases, with money. He himself was moody, and obviously deep in thought, though he kept up a disconnected conversation which affected cheerfulness. At last, he gave the word that bandages for wounds and appliances for stopping haemorrhage were to be made ready. The instructions were again addressed to Milichus: possibly he was aware of the conspiracy, and had so far kept faith; possibly, as the general account goes, he knew nothing, and caught his first suspicions at that moment. About the sequel there is uimity. For when his slavish brain considered the wages of treason, and unbounded wealth and power floated in the same instant before his eyes, conscience, the safety of his patron, the memory of the liberty he had received, withdrew into the background. For he had also taken his wife's counsel. It was feminine and baser; for she held before him the further motive of fear, and pointed out that numbers of freedmen and slaves had been standing by, who had witnessed the same incidents as himself:â "One man's silence would profit nothing; but one man would handle the rewards â he who won the race to give information." 16.13. Upon this year, disgraced by so many deeds of shame, Heaven also set its mark by tempest and disease. Campania was wasted by a whirlwind, which far and wide wrecked the farms, the fruit trees, and the crops, and carried its fury to the neighbourhood of the capital, where all classes of men were being decimated by a deadly epidemic. No outward sign of a distempered air was visible. Yet the houses were filled with lifeless bodies, the streets with funerals. Neither sex nor age gave immunity from danger; slaves and the free-born populace alike were summarily cut down, amid the laments of their wives and children, who, themselves infected while tending or mourning the victims, were often burnt upon the same pyre. Knights and senators, though they perished on all hands, were less deplored â as if, by undergoing the common lot, they were cheating the ferocity of the emperor. In the same year, levies were held in Narbonese Gaul, Africa, and Asia, to recruit the legions of Illyricum, in which all men incapacitated by age or sickness were being discharged from the service. The emperor alleviated the disaster at Lugdunum by a grant of four million sesterces to repair the town's losses: the same amount which Lugdunum had previously offered in aid of the misfortunes of the capital. |
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7. Tacitus, Histories, 1.18.1-1.18.2, 1.86, 1.86.3, 4.26.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •lightning, as prodigy Found in books: Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 77, 157, 162, 187 | 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. |
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| 8. Pliny The Elder, Natural History, 7.34, 7.178 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •lightning, as prodigy Found in books: Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 29, 76 |
9. Ammianus Marcellinus, History, 17.7.10, 19.4.1-19.4.8, 19.12.5-19.12.7, 19.12.20, 19.13, 21.1, 21.1.10, 21.1.12-21.1.14, 22.7.3-22.7.4, 22.16.19, 22.16.22, 23.5.13, 25.2.5, 25.10.1-25.10.3, 27.3.1, 29.1.42 (4th cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •lightning, as prodigy Found in books: Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 133, 240, 242, 257, 258 | 17.7.10. Hence in the books of ritual See Cic., De Div. i. 33, 72; Festus, p. 285 M. and in those which are in conformity with the pontifical priesthood, The pontificales libri of Seneca, Epist. 108, 31. nothing is said about the god that causes earthquakes, and this with due caution, for fear that by naming one deity instead of another, The Roman ritual required that in addressing a god, the identity of the god must be made sure and he must be called by his proper name; cf. for example, Horace, Sat. ii. 6, 20, Matutine pater, seu lane libentius audis , and the altar at the foot of the Palatine, sei deo sei deivae sacrum. since it is not clear which of them thus shakes the earth, impieties may be perpetrated. 19.4.1. But within the city, where the quantity of corpses scattered through the streets was too great to admit of burial, a plague was added to so many ills, fostered by the contagious infection of maggotin-fested bodies, the steaming heat, and the weakness of the populace from various causes. The origin of diseases of this kind I shall briefly set forth. 19.4.2. Philosophers and eminent physicians have told us that an excess of cold or heat, or of moisture or dryness, produces plagues. Hence those who dwell in marshy or damp places suffer from coughs, from affections of the eyes, and from similar complaints; on the other hand, the inhabitants of hot climates dry up with the heat of fever. But by as much as the substance of fire is fiercer and more effective than the other elements, by so much is drought the swifter to kill. 19.4.3. Therefore when Greece was toiling in a ten years’ war in order that a foreigner Paris, the cause of the Trojan War. might not evade the penalty for separating a royal pair, a scourge of this kind raged and many men perished by the darts of Apollo, See Iliad , i. 9 ff. and 43 ff. Apollo was angry because the request of his priest was denied. Ammianus rationalizes the myth, attributing the pestilence to the heat of the sun, and likening its rays to the arrows of the god. who is regarded as the sun. 19.4.4. And, as Thucydides shows, Cf. Thuc. ii. 4, 7. that calamity which, at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, harassed the Athenians with a grievous kind of sickness, gradually crept all the way from the torrid region of Africa and laid hold upon Attica. 19.4.5. Others believe that when the air, as often happens, and the waters are polluted by the stench of corpses or the like, the greater part of their healthfulness is spoiled, or at any rate that a sudden change of air causes minor ailments. 19.4.6. Some also assert that when the air is made heavy by grosser exhalations from the earth, it checks the secretions that should be expelled from the body, and is fatal to some; and it is for that reason, as we know on the authority of Homer Iliad , i. 50, οὐρῆας μὲν πρῶτον ἐπῴχετο καὶ κύνας ἀργούς. as well as from many later experiences, that when such a pestilence has appeared, the other animals besides man, which constantly look downward, are the first to perish. 19.4.7. Now the first kind of plague is called endemic, and causes those who live in places that are too dry to be cut off by frequent fevers. The second is epidemic, which breaks out at certain seasons of the year, dimming the sight of the eyes and causing a dangerous flow of moisture. The third is loemodes, Pestilential. which is also periodic, but deadly from its winged speed. 19.4.8. After we had been exhausted by this destructive plague and a few had succumbed to the excessive heat and still more from the crowded conditions, at last on the night following the tenth day the thick and gross exhalations were dispelled by light showers, and sound health of body was regained. 19.12.5. Some of these were with malicious intent sent to the emperor who (being narrow-minded), although deaf to other very serious matters, on this point was softer than an earlobe, Cf. Cic., Q.F. ii. 154, me . . . fore auricula infima scito molliorem ; Catull. 25, 2 ( mollior ) imula auricilla. as the proverb has it; and being suspicious and petty, he grew furiously angry. At once be admonished Paulus to proceed quickly to the Orient, conferring on him, as a leader renowned for his experience, the power of conducting trials according to his good pleasure. 19.12.6. A commission was also given to Modestus (at that very time count in the Orient) a man fitted for these and similar affairs. For Hermogenes of Pontus, at that time praetorian prefect, was rejected as being of too mild a temper. 19.12.7. off went Paulus (as he was ordered) in panting haste and teeming with deadly fury, and since free rein was given to general calumny, men were brought in from almost the whole world, noble and obscure alike; and some of them were bowed down with the weight of chains, others wasted away from the agony of imprisonment. 19.12.20. Portents of this kind often see the light, as indications of the outcome of various affairs; but as they are not expiated by public rites, as they were in the time of our forefathers, they pass by unheard of and unknown. 21.1.10. Those, too, who give attention to the prophetic entrails of beasts, which are wont to assume innumerable forms, know of impending events. And the teacher of this branch of learning is one named Tages, who (as the story goes) was seen suddenly to spring from the earth in the regions of Etruria. See xvii. 10, 2, note. 21.1.12. The faith in dreams, too, would be sure and indubitable, were it not that their interpreters are sometimes deceived in their conjectures. And dreams (as Aristotle declares) are certain and trustworthy, when the person is in a deep sleep and the pupil of his eye is inclined to neither side but looks directly forward. 21.1.13. And because the silly commons oftentimes object, ignorantly muttering such things as these: If there were a science of prophecy, why did one man not know that he would fall in battle, or another that he would suffer this or that : it will be enough to say, that a grammarian has sometimes spoken ungrammatically, a musician sung out of tune, and a physician been ignorant of a remedy, but for all that grammar, music, and the medical art have not come to a stop. 21.1.14. Wherefore Cicero has this fine saying, among others: The gods, says he, show signs of coming events. With regard to these if one err, it is not the nature of the gods that is at fault, but man’s interpretation. Cic., De Nat. Deorum, ii. 4, 12; De Div. i. 52, 118. Therefore, that my discourse may not run beyond the mark (as the saying is) and weary my future reader, let us return and unfold the events that were foreseen. 22.7.3. Meanwhile, he came frequently into the senate house to give attention to various matters with which the many changes in the state burdened him. And when one day, as he was sitting in judgement there, and it was announced that the philosopher Maximus Letters of a familiar nature from Julian to Maximus have come down to us. had come from Asia, he started up in an undignified manner, so far forgetting himself that he ran at full speed to a distance from the vestibule, and after having kissed the philosopher and received him with reverence, brought him back with him. This unseemly ostentation made him appear to be an excessive seeker for empty fame, and to have forgotten that splendid saying of Cicero’s, Pro Archia , 11, 26. which narrates the following in criticising such folk: 22.7.4. Those very same philosophers inscribe their names on the very books which they write on despising glory, so that even when they express scorn of honour and fame, they wish to be praised and known by name. 22.16.19. But enough on this point. If one wishes to investigate with attentive mind the many publications on the knowledge of the divine, and the origin of divination, he will find that learning of this kind has been spread abroad from Egypt through the whole world, 22.16.22. From here Anaxagoras foretold a rain of stones, and by handling mud from a well predicted an earthquake. Solon, too, aided by the opinions of the Egyptian priests, passed laws in accordance with the measure of justice, and thus gave also to Roman law its greatest support. Cf. Hdt. 1, 30, who says that Solon did not come to Egypt until after he had made his laws; see also Aristotle, Const. of Athens. The Romans are said to have made use of his code in compiling the XII Tables. On this source, Plato drew and after visiting Egypt, traversed higher regions, of thought. and rivalled Jupiter in lofty language, gloriously serving in the field of wisdom. 23.5.13. Upon seeing this, Julian again called in the interpreters of omens, and on being questioned they declared emphatically that this sign also forbade the expedition, pointing out that the thunderbolt was of the advisory kind; On this kind of thunderbolt see Seneca, Nat. Quaest. ii. 39, 1 ff. for so those are called which either recommend or dissuade any act. And so much the more was it necessary to guard against this one. because it killed a soldier of lofty name Since Jovianus is connected with Jupiter. as well as war-horses, and because places which were struck in that manner—so the books on lightning These prescribed the rites and taboos connected with thunderbolts. The expression libri fulgurales seems to occur only here and in Cic., Div. i. 33, 72, where we have haruspicini et fulgurales et rituales libri. declare— must neither be looked upon nor trodden. 25.2.5. That fiery brilliance was of the kind that we call διάσσων, ἀστὴρ διαίσσων, a shooting star ; of. Iliad , iv. 75-77. which never falls anywhere or touches the earth; for anyone who believes that bodies can fall from heaven is rightly considered a layman, I.e. not versed in astronomy. or a fool. But this sort of thing happens in many ways, and it will be enough to explain a few of them. 25.10.1. After this business had been thus attended to, we came by long marches to Antioch; where for successive days, as though the divinity were angered, many fearful portents were seen, which those skilled in such signs declared would have sad results. 25.10.2. For the statue of the Caesar Maximianus, which stood in the vestibule of the royal palace, suddenly dropped the brazen ball, in the form of the globe of heaven, which it was holding, Cf. xxi. 14, 1, note. the beams of the council hall gave forth an awful creaking, and in broad daylight comets were seen, about which the views of those versed in natural history are at variance. Cf. Pliny, N.H. ii. 91 ff. 25.10.3. For some think that they are so called because they are numerous stars united in one body, Democritus and Anaxagoras, cf. Arist., Meteor. 1, 1; opposed by Sen. Nat., Quaest. vii. 7. and send out writhing fires resembling hair. The view of Aristotle and the Peripatetics; cometa is from coma (Greek κομη ), hair. This opinion, which is nearest the truth, is attributed by Aristotle and Plutarch to Pythagoras. Others believe that they take fire from the dryer exhalations of the earth, which gradually rise higher. Others again think that the rays streaming from the sun are prevented by the interposition of a heavier cloud from going downward, and when the brightness is suffused through the thick substance, it presents to men’s eyes a kind of star-spangled light. Yet others have formed the opinion that this phenomenon occurs when an unusually high cloud is lit up by the nearness of the eternal fires, or at any rate, that comets are stars like the rest, the appointed times of whose rising and setting I.e. their appearance and disappearance. are not understood by human minds. Many other theories about comets are to be found in the writings of those who are skilled in knowledge of the universe; but from discussing these I am prevented by my haste to continue my narrative. 27.3.1. At this time or a little earlier 360–363. a new form of portent appeared in Annonarian Tuscany, Tuscia, or Etruria, was divided into Tuscia Annonaria ( grain-bearing ) and Tuscia Urbicaria or Suburbicaria ( near the city, i.e. Rome). and how it would turn out even those who were skilled in interpreting prodigies were wholly at a loss to know. For in the town of Pistoria, Modern Pistoia. at about the third hour of the day, in the sight of many persons, an ass mounted the tribunal and was heard to bray persistently, to the amazement both of all who were present and of those who heard of it from the reports of others; and no one could guess what was to come, until later the portended event came to pass. 29.1.42. And not so very long afterward that famous philosopher Maximus, a man with a great reputation for learning, through whose rich discourses Julian stood out as an emperor well stored as regards knowledge, Cf. xxii. 7, 3; xxv. 3, 23; he plays a prominent part in Ibsen’s Emperor and Galilean. was alleged to have heard the verses of the aforesaid oracle. And he admitted that he had learnt of them, but out of regard for his philosophical principles had not divulged secrets, although he had volunteered the prediction that the consultors of the future would themselves perish by capital punishment. Thereupon he was taken to his native city of Ephesus and there beheaded; By order of Festus, proconsul of Asia. and taught by his final danger he came to know that the injustice of a judge was more formidable than any accusation. |
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| 10. Suetonius Paulinus, Commentarii, 5 Tagged with subjects: •lightning, as prodigy Found in books: Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 162 |
