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Tacitus, Histories I. 13
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009
Extract
In a note on this passage as far back as 1868, E. Wölmin 1 advanced the theory that the plural anulis is used here in a technical and stereotyped way as symbolic of equestrian rank. He is not sure whether such illogical use of the plural is to be found earlier than Tacitus or not.
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References
page 172 note 1 Philologus XXVII., p. 128.
page172 note 2 Cf. the mention of a similar incident by Pollio, , apud Cic. ad Fam. X. 32. 2:Google Scholar ‘(Balbus) Herennium Gallum histrionem summo ludorum die anuio aureo donatum in xiiii sessum deduzit.’
page 173 note 1 That this is something more than sheer hyperbole is shown by the sober testimony ofPliny, , N.H. XXXIII., § 25:Google Scholar ‘Hic (digitus medius) nunc solus excipitur, ceteri omnes one rantur, atque etiam priuatim articuli minoribus aliis (anulis).’ So Livy (XXVII 28. 4) tells of the capture of the rings of Marcellus by Hannibal; Valerius Maximus (VII. 8. 5, 8 and 9) relates three instances of a dying man delivering over his rings (anulos) to the presumptive heir. Cf., too, Seneca, , de Ben. III. 25. 1:Google ScholarApuleius, , Apol. 75Google Scholar; and Festus, 182, s.v. Orata.
page 173 note 2 It should be added that the lemmata of this book are regularly in the singular, except in reference to pairs or groups of things; e.g. XIV. 63. 1:
Tibiae
Ebria nos madidis rumpit tibicina buccis.
page 173 note 3 It is interesting that, in giving directions the decoration of his monument, Trimalchio (Petronius 71) proceeds as follows: ‘Te rogo …facias …me in tribunali sedentem praetextatum cum anulis aureis quinque.’
page 174 note 1 It may be worth noting that Pliny, (N.H. XXXIII., § 25)Google Scholar uses the verb onerare of the profuse use of rings.
page 174 note 2 Cf. Pliny's, account (Ep. VIII. 6. 4)Google Scholar of the senate's decree that conferred the ornamenta praetoria upon the freedman Pallas: ‘Mitto quod (senatores) censent (Palladem) non exhortandum modo, uerum etiam compellendum ad usum aureorum anulorum (erat enim contra maiestatem senatus, si ferreis praetorius uteretur). Clearly Pallas is urged to forego the use of iron rings favour of gold rings.
page 174 note 3 Cf. the note ad loc. in the Westcott-Rankin edition.
page 175 note 1 The textual difficulties of this passage do not concern the point here under discussion.
page 175 note 2 Juvenal VII. 89.
page 175 note 3 Horace, . Sevm. II. 7, 53Google Scholar.
page 175 note 4 Pliny, , N.H. XXXIII., §§ 21 and 33Google Scholar.