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The date of Messalla's death

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Roland Jeffreys
Roland Jeffreys
Affiliation:
Carleton University, Ottawa
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Extract

In a characteristically provocative judgement Sir Ronald Syme has declared: ‘It is not easy to go against a document. Nevertheless, the worse posture is obduracy against the testimony of a precise and lucid writer’. The writer is Ovid, the document one employed by Frontinus, and the context, the death-date of Messalla Corvinus, a subject of scholarly dispute since Scaliger's day. Largely on the basis of two passages in Ovid (Trist. 4. 4. 25 ff.; Pont. 1. 7. 29 f.), Syme rejects the apparent testimony of Frontinus (Aq. 102) and Jerome (Chron. p. 170 H) that Messalla died in a.d. 12 or 13, in favour of a date in a.d. 8, before Ovid's departure for exile. Issues beyond the death-date of Messalla are involved. Thus Syme wishes, as a corollary, to ante-date the year of Livy's death by five years from a.d. 17 to a.d. 12.3 Further, Syme's characterization of Ovid as ‘a precise and lucid writer’ seems to have more general implications. His arguments merit close scrutiny.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , May 1985 , pp. 140 - 148
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1985

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References

1 History in Ovid (Oxford, 1978), p. 125Google Scholar.

2 The early views were summarized in Fischer, E. W., Römische Zeittafeln, von Roms Gründung bis auf Augustus' Tod (Altona, 1846), pp. 444 ffGoogle Scholar. More recent bibliographical material is discussed in Hammer, J., Prolegomena to an Edition of the Panegyricus Messallae (New York, 1926), pp. 5 ff.Google Scholar; Hanslik, R., RE 8A, 135 ff.Google Scholar; Valvo, A., Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt ii. 30. 3. 1663 ffGoogle Scholar.

3 History in Ovid, pp. 109 f., 123 f.; ‘Livy and Augustus’, HSPh 64 (1959), 41Google Scholar ( = Roman Papers [Oxford, 1978], p. 415Google Scholar). Luce, T. J., TAPA 96 (1965), 231 n. 61Google Scholar, rejects Syme's dating of Livy's death, though he accepts the earlier date for Messalla's.

4 History in Ovid begins with the statement ‘The poems of Ovid offer the historian much more than he might expect’. Syme is eloquent, however, about the pitfalls; see especially pp. 16 ff. On p. 126, in connection with the information about Ovid, 's downfall in Pont. 2. 3. 61 ff.Google Scholar, he observes, ‘Now, however, the poet comes closer to precision than is his wont’.

5 Syme has promised (ibid. p. 125, n. 1) to present his arguments more fully in a forthcoming work, The Augustan Aristocracy.

6 Luck, G., P. Ovidius Naso: Tristia, ii (Heidelberg, 1977), p. 8Google Scholar; Syme, , History in Ovid, p. 38Google Scholar.

7 See Luck, op. cit. p. 247; Syme, , History in Ovid, p. 122Google Scholar.

8 ibid.

9 For an attempt to use these lines in support of the view that Messalla died after Ovid's departure from Rome, see Jeffreys, R. L., ‘A ‘Faux-Pas’ by Ovid and the Date of Messalla's Death’, in Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History, i, ed. Deroux, C., Collection Latomus 164 (Brussels, 1979), 373 ffGoogle Scholar.

10 History in Ovid, p. 125.

11 The date is indicated in the fragment of the Fasti Praenestini found in 1921 ; see Wissowa, G., Hermes 58 (1923), 169 ffGoogle Scholar.

12 As Syme, acknowledges (History in Ovid, p. 125)Google Scholar. Ovid's excuses for the tardy arrival in Rome of his poem on the triumph (Pont. 2. 1) also apply to Pont. 2. 2. 75 ff.; he waited for a friend's account (Pont. 3. 4. 42) and communications were slow (ibid. vv. 59–60). The suggestion of Evans, H. B., Hermes 104 (1976), 111Google Scholar, that the poem was composed around the same time as Trist. 4. 4 is invalidated by the mention of Tiberius' triumph.

13 Cf. Syme, (History in Ovid, p. 42)Google Scholar; Barsby, J., Ovid, Greece and Rome New Surveys in the Classics, 12 (Oxford, 1978), p. 46 n. 5Google Scholar.

14 Frösch, H. H., Ovids Epistulae ex Ponto I–III als Gedichtsammlung (Diss. Bonn, 1968), pp. 127 ffGoogle Scholar. demonstrates a roughly symmetrical arrangement according to addressee.

15 History in Ovid, p. 122.

16 Syme himself notes this passage on an earlier page (ibid. p. 40).

17 ibid. p. 123.

18 Quaestiones Annaeanae (Stettin, 1873), pp. 33 ffGoogle Scholar.

19 ‘‘Das Todesjahr des Redners Messalla’, Wien. Stud. 19 (1897), 150 ffGoogle Scholar.

20 ibid. p. 153.

21 Cf. Toynbee, J. M. C., Death and Burial in the Roman World (London, 1971), p. 47Google Scholar; Vollmer, F., ‘De funere publico Romano’, JKPh Suppl. 18 (1893), 321 ffGoogle Scholar.

22 For discussion of the nenia see RE 16,2392 (Kroll, W.)Google Scholar; Heller, J. L., TAPA 74 (1943), 215 ff.Google Scholar; Kierdorf, W., Laudatio funebris (Meisenheim am Glan, 1980), pp. 96 ffGoogle Scholar.

23 Such prefabrication would have been risky; cf. the poem and fate of C. Lutorius Priscus (Tac. Ann. 3. 49).

24 Op. cit. p. 152.

25 Marx (ibid.) believes that the poem was a literary nenia, but there is no real evidence that such a genre developed; see sources cited in n. 22 above. If the poem was not for the actual funeral it seems more probable that it was an elegy; surviving instances of funeral elegies by Ovid are Am. 3, 9 (for Tibullus) and Pont. 1, 9 (for Celsus).

26 One need not exclude the idea that Ovid hoped his poem might be recited publicly in the forum on some subsequent occasion. Horace bears sardonic witness to poetry-reading in the forum in words that bear resemblance to Ovid's, ‘in medio qui | scripta foro recitent, sunt multi’ (Hor. Sat. 1. 4. 74 ff.).

27 See Nagle, B. R., The Poetics of Exile, Collection Latomus 170 (Brussels, 1980), pp. 96 ffGoogle Scholar.

28 History in Ovid, p. 123, n. 2.

29 ibid.

30 Op. cit. p. 154.

31 For the chronology, see Thibault, J. C., The Mystery of Ovid's Exile (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1964), pp. 11 ffGoogle Scholar.

32 On the general unreliability of Jerome, see Helm, R., ‘Hieronymus' Zusätze in Eusebius' Chronik und ihr Wert für die Literaturgeschichte’, Philologus, Suppl. 21, 2 (1929), 1 ffGoogle Scholar.

33 For Jerome's MSS, see now Mosshammer, A. A., RhM 24 (1981), 66 ffGoogle Scholar. For discussion of the readings in our present passage see Helm, , Philologus, Suppl. 21, 2 (1929), 47 ff.Google Scholar; Hanslik, R., RE 8A, 136Google Scholar.

34 Marx (op. cit. p. 150) argues that the date refers to the loss of faculties, Helm, (Philologus, Suppl. 21, 2 [1929], 49)Google Scholar that it refers to Messalla's death.

35 History in Ovid, p. 123.

36 ibid. p. 109; Hammer, op. cit. pp. 5 ff.; Helm, , Philologus, Suppl. 21, 2 (1929), 47Google Scholar.

37 De Valerii Messallae aetate (Stettin, 1886), pp. 6 ffGoogle Scholar.

38 History in Ovid, p. 125; cf. pp. 109 f., 124; Roman Papers, pp. 414 f.; cf. Hammer, op. cit. p. 10.

39 Philologus, Suppl. 21, 2 (1929), 51Google Scholar. Helm believes that Messalla was not much younger than Brutus (born 85 b.c.), but see n. 56 below.

40 As Hanslik, observes (RE 8A, 136)Google Scholar, the exact quotation of the words used by Messalla probably comes from the memoirs cited by Suetonius in Aug. 74. Besides, ‘Valerius Messalla’ without further identification surely means Corvinus as in Aug. 74; cf. Hammer, op. cit. p. 88, n. 370.

41 See RE 2, 1592; OCD 2, p. 852.

42 For Tacitus' keen interest in Corvinus and his sons, see Syme, , History in Ovid, pp. 131 ffGoogle Scholar.

43 First suggested by Borghesi, B. (Oeuvres complètes, i [Paris, 1862], 410)Google Scholar and accepted in Köstermann's Teubner (Leipzig, 1938), by Hanslik, (RE 8A, 136)Google Scholar and by Güngerich, R. (Kommentar zum Dialogus des Tacitus [Göttingen, 1980], p. 72)Google Scholar. However, Winterbottom, M. in Corneli Taciti Opera Minora (Oxford, 1975)Google Scholar retains the order of the MSS.

44 ‘Medium’ does not seem very apt for Asinius; presumably the word is used, as Güngerich (loc. cit.) suggests, in the freer sense indicated in TLL 8, 584–6. For other attempts (none convincing) to emend or explain the text, see Hammer, op. cit. p. 7.

45 Cf. Roman Papers, p. 414.

46 Perhaps Suetonius' De viris illustribus, but on Jerome's sources see Helm, R., RhM 76 (1927), 138–70, 254–306Google Scholar.

47 Syme, , History in Ovid, p. 124Google Scholar.

48 For Frontinus' sources, see Grimal, P., Frontin: les aqueducs de la ville de Rome (Paris, 1961), x ffGoogle Scholar.

49 Syme, , History in Ovid, p. 124Google Scholar.

50 Op. cit. i. 408 ff.

51 Rodgers, R. H., ‘Curatores Aquarum’, HSCPh 86 (1982), 171 ffGoogle Scholar. It had earlier been put forward by Helm, , Philologus, Suppl. 21, 2(1929), 50Google Scholar. Helm and Rodgers note that one will have to assume not only the omission of the curator's name, but also of the two consuls of the year in which he assumed office.

52 AE 1973, 138.

53 This was put forward, with different divisions of material, by Domaszewski, A. v., Röm. Mitt. 6 (1891), 163 ffGoogle Scholar. and Cantarelli, L., BCAR 29 (1901), 194 ffGoogle Scholar. Groag, (RE 5, 411Google Scholar; PIR 2 D 70), as well as Rodgers (op. cit. pp. 174–5), rejects the idea. Didius was ‘senectute gravis’ around a.d. 52 (Tac. Ann. 12. 40. 5), but is unlikely to have been old enough to have a son consul in 39.

54 RE 22, 218 f.

55 Cf. Vidman, L., LF 96 (1973), 16 ffGoogle Scholar.

56 M. Cocceius Nerva (Tac. Ann. 4. 58. 1; 6. 26. 1).

57 Ateius Capito, C., a curator alvei Tiberis from a.d. 15Google Scholar (Tac. Ann. 1. 76. 3).

58 Rodgers (op. cit. p. 74 n. 15) too easily dismisses the relevance of these precedents and of certain or possible parallels from later reigns for curatores' simultaneous tenure of other offices. Under Nero Calpurnius Piso was appointed to a board of consulars in charge of vectigalia publica (Tac. Ann. 15. 18). Rodgers is ready to accept that Frontinus retained his cura during his second consulship of 98 and perhaps during his third consulship of 100. It remains possible that Vibius Crispus' governorship of Africa overlapped with his tenure of the curatorship (a.d. 68–71).

59 Plin. HN 36. 122–3; Frontin. Aq. 13. 1 Suet. Claud. 20; Tac, . Ann. 11. 13Google Scholar.

60 After the dedication of the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus in a.d. 52, Claudius lessened the importance of the curatorship by assigning some of his duties to a freedman procurator (Frontin. Aq. 105). This may have institutionalized a role already played by imperial freedmen during the construction period.

61 Op. cit. pp. 177–80.

62 But see n. 72 below.

63 Groag, (RE 7, 303Google Scholar; PIR 2 F 570). Adiutores are termed curatores in CIL vi, 1248.

64 Ashby, T., The Aqueducts of Ancient Rome (Oxford, 1935), p. 20Google Scholar, and the authors cited in RE 7, 303 (Borghesi; Dressel; Cantarelli; Hirschfeld).

65 Op. cit. pp. 178 f.

66 CIL xv, pp. 907 ff.

67 Usually but not always procurator aquarum; see Dressel, , CIL xv, pp. 908 fGoogle Scholar.

68 CIL xv, 7326.

69 Lists in RE 4, 1786 (Kornemann, )Google Scholar; Ashby, op. cit. pp. 17–23.

70 See Dressel, , CIL xv, p. 909Google Scholar (following Lanciani); Kornemann, , RE 4, 1787Google Scholar; Ashby, op. cit. p. 23.

71 The original adiutores had been a praetorius and pedarius (Front. Aq. 99. 4). The only other men known to be adiutores, Rubrius Nepos, T. and Cornelius Firmus, M., the colleagues of Didius, A., (CIL vi, 1248)Google Scholar were not consular.

72 Wiegels, R., Gnomon 46 (1974), 193Google Scholar; Jones, B. W., Domitian and the Senatorial Order (Philadelphia, 1979), p. 66Google Scholar.

73 Op. cit. p. 179.

74 RE Supp. 1, 268.

75 Thus Groag, PIR 2 A 1176; Jones, op. cit. p. 65. Dressel, (CIL xv, 7281 a)Google Scholar and Rodgers (op. cit. p. 179 n. 40) prefer the ordinarius of 101.

76 For the suffect of 88 see RE 17, 633 (Groag, )Google Scholar; Suppl. 14, 286 (Eck); Jones, op. cit. pp. 65, 72, 113. Dressel, (CIL xv, 7281 a)Google Scholar and Rodgers (op. cit. p. 179 n. 40) again prefer the later consul.

77 Op. cit. p. 66.

78 ‘M. Arrecino Clemente’, Athenaeum 18 (1940), 162Google Scholar.

79 Op. cit. p. 177.

80 Op. cit. p. 180. He ignores the fact that on CIL xv, 7278 Domitian is not styled Germanicus.

81 Op. cit. p. 178.

82 History in Ovid, p. 125.

83 There is little more reason to expect the inclusion of such a tribute to Messalla in Epistulae ex Ponto than that of the poem on the death and apotheosis of Augustus referred to in Pont. 4. 5. 17; 4. 9. 13. Besides, the disgraced poet's poem on Messalla might not have been well received by the family.

84 Hanslik, (RE 8A, 136)Google Scholar, who opts for a.d. 13, reads ‘LXXVII’ with F in Jerome, , Chron. p. 170 HGoogle Scholar, so as to accord with a birth-year of 64 b.c. However, ‘LXXII’ may well be the right reading but based on the mistaken birth-year of 59 b.c. It remains probable that Messalla was born around 65–64 b.c. in view of his association as a student with the younger Marcus Cicero (b. 65) and his consulship in 31 b.c.; cf. Syme, , JRS 43 (1953), 152Google Scholar ( = Roman Papers, p. 238).

85 As Rodgers notes (op. cit. p. 174 n. 15), the successors of Capito and Nerva, who died in office, took up their positions in the following year.

86 This paper has been developed from material included in my Ph.D. thesis, A Commentary on the Panegyricus Messallae (London, 1982), pp. 362 ffGoogle Scholar. I wish to thank my examiners, Professor O. Skutsch (Supervisor) and Professor R. G. M. Nisbet, and the editors of Classical Quarterly for their helpful criticism.