Tacitus and the Ideology of the Principate

1
Tacitus and the Ideology of the Principate

• Unhappy Camper?

2
The eulogistic nature of the Res Gestae would
not suit the designs of a Tacitussince a large
part of his purpose lay in making the current
regime look better by denigrating those who had
preceded. The idea of a Tacitus using the Res
Gestae extensively as an important historical
source is for this reason not to be
imagined.Edwin S. Ramage, The Nature and
Purpose of Augustus Res Gestae
3
The Life and Career of Cornelius Tacitus (ca.
56-ca. 115 CE)

• Marries daughter of Agricola, governor of
  Britain, in 77 CE
• Praetor and XVvir in 88 CE
• Consul Suffectus in 97 CE
• Prosecutor with the younger Pliny against Marius
  Priscus on a charge of extortion in 100 CE
• Proconsul of Asia in 112/113 CE

4
Tacitus Literary Output

• Agricola (98 CE) biography of father-in-law
• Germania (98 CE) ethnography of Germany
• Dialogus (102 CE) treatise on Roman oratory
• Historical Works
• Annals (From Augustus to Nero)
• Histories (From 68 CE-96 CE)

5
An Interpretative Approach

• Quentin Skinner and the New Contextualist
  Historians

6
Ideological ContextI take it that political
life itself sets the main problems for the
political theorist, causing a certain range of
issues to appear problematic, and a corresponding
range of questions to become the leading subjects
of debate.Quentin Skinner, The Foundations of
Modern Political Thought
7
Practical ContextWhat is an author doing in
manipulating the available ideological
conventions?.This question asks about the
character of the ideological manoeuvre as a
political manoeuvre. The pathisto place the
text in its practical context that is the
problematic political activity or relevant
characteristics of the society the author
addresses and to which the text is a
response.James Tully, The Pen is a Mighty
Sword
8
Ideological Context

• Available Ideologies in 2nd-century CE Political
  Conventions

9
Problematic Ideological Issues in Tacitus Rome

• Republicanism patriotism or subversive activity?
• Libertas autonomy of the Senate
• Tyrannus totalitarianism
• Aurea aetas (Golden Age) Past, Present, or
  Future?

10
Republicanism and Tacitean Ambiguity

• Ambiguity as a Principle of Composition
• Marcus Aper in the Dialogus
• Republicanism and Tacitus Portrayal of
  Germanicus in the Annals
• The Jaded View of Senatorial Autonomy

11
Libertas and the SenateAt home all was
tranquil, and there were magistrates with the
same titles there was a younger generation,
sprung up since the victory at Actium, and even
many of the older men had been born during the
civil wars. How few were left who had seen the
Republic!Annals 1.3
12
Libertas and the SenateAnd so Cneius Piso
asked, In what order will you vote, Caesar? If
first, I shall know what to follow if last, I
fear that I may differ from you
unwillingly.Annals 1.74
13
Tyranny

• Tiberius The first crime of the new reign was
  the murder of Postumus Agrippa (Ann. 1.6)
• Nero The first death under the new emperor,
  that of Junius Silanus, proconsul of Asia, was,
  without Neros knowledge, planned by the
  traechery of his mother Agrippina (Ann. 13.1)

14
Aurea Aetas (Golden Age)Mankind in the
earliest age lived for a time without a single
vicious impulse, without shame or guilt, and
consequently, without punishment or restraints.
Rewards were not needed when everything right was
pursued on its own merits and as men desired
nothing against morality, they were debarred from
nothing by fear.Annals 3.26
15
The Ideology of the Principate

• Tacitean Historiography in Ideological Context

16
Tyranny

• Current and Defunct Regimes

17
Of your statues, only one or two are to be seen
in the vestibule of the Temple of Jupiter, and
these are made of bronze whereas only recently
every approach and step, every inch of the
precinct was gleaming with silver and gold, or
rather, was casting pollution, since the figures
of the gods were defiled by having statues of an
incestuous emperor in their midst. And so your
statueswill stand as long as the temple itself,
whereas those innumerable golden images, as a
sacrifice to the public rejoicing, lie broken and
destroyed. It was our delight to dash those proud
faces to the ground, to smite them with the sword
and savage them with the axe, as if blood and
agony could follow from every blow.Pliny,
Panegyricus 52.3-5
18
When a tyrant is cut down, his images too and
his statues are laid aside and, only changing
the face and removing the head, the visage of the
victor is placed on top, so that with the body
remaining and the heads being cut off the head
can be changed.Jerome, In Abacuc 3.14
19
Aurea Aetas (Golden Age)

• Current and Defunct Regimes

20
This is the man heard so often promised,
Augustus Caesar, son of a god, who will renew a
Golden Age in Latium.Vergil, Aeneid 6.791-93
21
I often used to wonder, Senators, what great
gifts should be proper to the man whose word or
gesture of command could rule land and sea or
determine peace or war but when I tried to
picture to myself a ruler worthy of power
equalling that of the immortal gods, even in my
fondest hopes I never conceived the like of him
who we see before us today. One man may have
shone in war, but his glory has grown dim in time
of peace, while another has distinguished himself
in civil life but not in arms. Some have won
respect through mens fear, while others in
courting popular favor have sunk low. Sometimes
the honor gained at home has been thrown away
outside it, while at others a public reputation
has been lost in private life. In fact there has
been no one up till now whose virtues have
remained unsullied by the proximity of his
faults. Contrast our emperor, in whose person all
the merits which win our admiration are found in
complete and happy harmony! Pliny, Panegyricus
4.4-6
22
Whereas the providence which divinely ordered
our lives created with zeal and munificence the
most perfect good for our lives by producing
Augustus and filling him with virtue for the
benefaction of mankind, sending us and those
after us a savior who put an end to war and
established all things and whereas Caesar
Augustus when he appeared exceeded the hopes of
all who had anticipated good tidings, not only by
surpassing the benefactors born before him, but
not even leaving those to come any hope of
surpassing him and whereas the birthday of the
god marked for the world the beginnings of good
tidings through his comingOGIS 458
23
Practical Context

• Tacitean Historiography as Politically-Motivated
  Action

24
Tacitus Venom and the Logic of the Golden Age
Theme

• When a tyrant is cut down, his images too and
  his statues are laid aside and, only changing
  the face and removing the head, the visage of the
  victor is placed on top, so that with the body
  remaining and the heads being cut off the head
  can be changed.Jerome, In Abacuc 3.14

25
Tacitus and the Current DispensationI have
reserved as an employment for my old age, should
my life be long enough, a subject at once more
fruitful and less anxious in the reign of the
divine Nerva and the empire of Trajan, enjoying
the rare happiness of times, when we may think
what we please, and express what we
think.Histories 1.1
26
Tacitus and the Current DispensationWe
witnessed the extreme of servitude, when the
informer robbed us of the interchange of speech
and hearing. We should have lost memory as well
as voice, had it been as easy to forget as to
keep silence. Now at last our spirit is
returningat the dawn of a most happy age Nerva
Caesar blended things once irreconcilable,
sovereignty and freedomNerva Trajan is now daily
augmenting the prosperity of the timethe public
safety has not only our good hopes and good
wishes, but has also the certain pledge of their
fulfillment.Agricola 2-3