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Tacitus: Some Sources of his Information

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Ronald Syme
Ronald Syme
Affiliation:
Wolfson College, Oxford
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Extract

I. When a consular turned to the writing of history he had full years of experience behind him; and the reminiscences of elderly survivors, not missed by an alert youth, carried a man nearly a century into the past. The mass of knowledge thus accruing has not always been taken into account by adepts of Quellenforschung.

A senator's employment could hardly fail to affect his beliefs and opinions. It might be expected to leave traces here and there in his writings. For Cornelius Tacitus ascertainment comes against impediments: reticence all through. He even proclaimed a distaste for ‘iactantia’ when adducing his praetorship and priesthood on the occasion of the Ludi Saeculares held in 88. For occupations abroad he chose to reveal only the four years' absence from Rome not long after that season. That disclosure was likewise made in strict relevance to his theme. The command of a legion will be assumed without discomfort.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 72 , November 1982 , pp. 68 - 82
Copyright
Copyright © Ronald Syme 1982. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 Tacitus, Ann. xi. 11. 1.

2 Agr. 45. 5.

3 In 97 or 98 Justus (suff. 102) was absent from Rome (Pliny, Epp. 1. 11. 2), presumably as legionary legate; and with the armies in 105 or 106 (vii. 2. 1 f.). That is, legate of Moesia Inferior (105–8) before going to Syria.

4 ILS 1034 (Saepinum): the second of the two consulars whose careers are there briefly registered. See Camodeca, G., Atti Acc. Napoli LXXXVII (1976), 19Google Scholar ff., whence AE 1976, 195. Instead of ‘P[annonia]/inferiore et Pannonia [superiore]’ Camodeca reads ‘[in provinc. Germania]/ inferiore et Pannonia’. The consequences are momentous and multiple, cf. remarks in ZPE XLI (1981), 140 f. Among them abolition of L. Neratius Priscus, governor of Pannonia Inferior and of Pannonia Superior in the reign of Hadrian. That is, PIR 1, N 47: accepted in Hermes LXXV (1958), 480 ff. = Roman Papers (1979), 338 ff., and elsewhere.

The two Neratii of ILS 1034, father and son, are the suffecti of 87 and 97. For the family stemma see now L. Vidman, ZPE XLIII (1981), 377 ff.

5 Published by Freda, O., Contributi dell' Inst. di Fil. Class. I (Milan, 1963), 239,Google Scholar whence AE 1969/1970, 252 (Larinum). Both inadequate, as Freda's photograph (pl. 2) demonstrates.

6 As proposed in Tacitus (1958), 71. Rejected by Sherwin-White, in his Commentary (1966), 286Google Scholar, with a remark (highly pertinent) about the dangers of Italian travel. He further states that Tacitus' ‘career as an advocate was in full swing’. The passage adduced is merely ‘copia studiosorum quae ad te admiratione ingenii tui convenit’ (iv. 13. 10).

7 PIR 2, A 101 (citing legionary tiles).

8 Sosius (cos. 99) was in command of an army c. 103 (Epp. IV. 4). The Rhine would be a backwater for a man who went on to earn a ‘statua triumphalis’ and a second consulship (in 107). To Sosius (not to Sura) may belong the acephalous ILS 1022, cf. Jones, C. P., JRS LX (1970), 98Google Scholar ff.

9 Cicero, , De legibus I. 9Google Scholar f.

10 See further Mus. Helv. xxxiv (1977), 135 ff. The alternative explanation is inadvertent copying of an excellent source.

11 Cichorius, C., Römische Studien (1922), 386 f.CrossRefGoogle Scholar: followed in Tacitus (1958), 469 f. ‘All pure speculation, and in part, since this book was probably written by A.D. 112, misguided’, so F. R. D. Goodyear observes in his commentary, II (1981), 359.

12 cf. Macrobius I, 23. 14 ff. (the oracle at Heliopolis).

13 As briefly suggested in Tacitus (1958), 469.

14 Pliny, NH II. 200.

15 Tacitus, Dial. 17. 4; Pliny, NH xi. 162.

16 Pliny, NH v. 120. For the Hyrcanian Plain, Strabo XII, p. 629. For the site of Hyrcanis, Robert, L., Hellenica vi (1948), 16Google Scholar ff. (with criticism of A. H. M. Jones).

In the dedication set up by grateful cities in A.D. 30 (ILS 156: Puteoli) ‘Hyrca[nis]’ should be substituted for ‘Hyrca[nia]’.

17 Head, HN 2 653 f; Keil, RE xvi, 379 f. For the site, L. Robert, Bull. ép. 1958, no. 433. Commentators, adequate or even ample on the familiar, neglect Mostene.

18 H. Fuchs (1946); E. Koestermann (ed. 2, 1965).

19 Strabo xiv, p. 629; Pausanias III. 18. 9; Appian, BC v. 34 (who put the shrine at Miletus).

20 JRS xxxviii (1948), 124 (in review of Fuchs): ‘Tacitus should have known, having been proconsul of Asia’.

21 In this matter as in others, economy enjoins a restriction of references—mainly to books or papers published in the last twenty-five years.

22 Thus Beaujeu, J., Rev. ét. lat. xxxviii (1960), 232:Google Scholar ‘commencées en 108–109’.

23 The thesis is generously expounded by Beaujeu, J., Rev. ét. lat. xxxviii (1960), 200–35Google Scholar and by Goodyear, F. R. D. in his Commentary, II (1981), 387–93Google Scholar. For five other proponents of the Nabataean thesis (since 1958), see Ten Studies in Tacitus (1970), 144 f.

The controversy finds a clear statement in S. Borzsák, RE Supp. xi (1968), 467 ff.

24 Koestermann, E. in his Commentary (1963), 371Google Scholar.

25 J. P. V. D. Balsdon, CR LXI (1937), 44 f.

26 Tacitus (1958), 675, adducing for parallel Ann. I. 4. 4.

27 Goodyear, op. cit. (n. 23), 390.

28 As argued in Historiographia Antiqua (Louvain, 1977), 260Google Scholar f. (in a restatement of the thesis).

29 Brought, up in Historiographia Antiqua 232 fGoogle Scholar. Not previously conceded a factor to admit or repulse.

30 Eck, W., Senatoren von Vespasian bis Hadrian (1970), 236Google Scholar.

31 Nor the Prefecture of the City, which normally comported a second consulship. The double anomaly is the inconspicuous Q. Baebius Macer (suff. 103), in office when Trajan died (HA, Hadr. 5. 5). The next praefectus urbi is Annius Verus (cos. II 121).

32 Proconsulates dated by IRT 353; I. l. Alg. 1. 1230.

33 Goodyear, op. cit., 388, concluding ‘if T. finished the Histories by 108 or not much later, it would be surprising he should abandon history for five years or more’.

34 For these estimates, Harvard Studies LXIV (1959), 27 ff. = RP (1979), 400 ff.

35 Jerome, Chron. 164 H.

36 Schulz, H., De Valerii Messallae aetate (Progr. Stettin, 1886), 6Google Scholar.

37 No hint of the problem in PIR 2, L 292.

38 Tacitus (1958), 278.

39 Miller, N. P., ‘Tiberius Speaks’, AJP LXXXIX (1968), 1Google Scholar ff.

40 Suetonius, Dom. 20.

41 Dio LX. 10. 2.

42 Levick, B., Tiberius the Politician (1976), 222CrossRefGoogle Scholar. And for Martin, R. H. ‘possibly in the acta senatus’ (Tacitus (1981), 200)Google Scholar.

43 For D. Flach Tacitus used ‘bestenfalls’ only two ‘Senatsreden’ of the Princeps. He cited Ann. 1. 81. I and II. 63. 3 (Athenaeum LI (1973), 92).

44 D. Flach, Mus. Helv. xxx (1973), 101.

45 By contrast Quintilian. The professor of rhetoric nowhere cited Asconius for the historical setting of Ciceronian orations. (His two references to Pedianus (1. 7. 24; v. 10. 9) were neglected in CQ xxxi (1981), 426.)

46 A detailed comparison for 15 (and also for 16) is presented in Gedenkschrift Pflaum (i.e. ZPE XLIII, 1981), 365 f.

47 The fragmentary name of Cotta can be discerned on the Fasti Arvalium (Inscr. It. xiii. I, p. 297).

48 As emerges from Suetonius, Cal. 6. 2; Dio LVII. 7. 1 f.; 13. 6; 19. 1.

49 For a catalogue, Historiographia Antiqua (1977), 248.

50 Dio LVII. 19. 16 (apparently under A.D. 20).

51 Poppaeus Sabinus, prorogued in Moesia, occurs because Achaia and Macedonia were then added to his province (1. 80. 1).

52 PIR 2, G 25. Tacitus was alert to prolonged governorships at an early stage, cf. 1. 80. 1 (Poppaeus Sabinus). He had appraised the sonorous eloquence of Galerius Trachalus, the consul of 68 (Hist. 1. 90. 2), probably a son or grandson of the Prefect of Egypt.

53 Perhaps reserved for Book vii. Consulars had a keen interest in the praefectus urbi.

54 For his detestable nature, Suetonius, Nero 4.

55 Suetonius, Tib. 68. 1 f. The dreadful ‘mentagra’, an affliction that attacked the human face arrived ‘primum Ti. Claudi Caesaris principatu medio’ according to Pliny, NH xxvi. 3 f. Editors have failed to see that the word ‘Claudi’ is an intrusion. Neither Tiberius nor Claudius is designated elsewhere in the work by the reading innocently accepted and perpetuated. Cf. ZPE XLI (1981), 25 f.

56 Thus for example Momigliano, A., Gnomon xxxiii (1961), 56Google Scholar: ‘Tacitus hat zweifellos die Acta Senatus gelegentlich herangezogen (Ann. 15. 74), aber wir wissen nicht wie oft’; D. Flach, Mus. Helv. xxx (1973), 101: ‘dass er sie haufiger einsah, lässt sich nicht beweisen.’

57 PIR 2, J 120 f.

58 A subsequent senator had ‘Seius Quadratus’ in his nomenclature, with the tribe ‘Quirina’ (CIL xiv. 2381: Tibur). That Roman tribe, the most common of all, would not help an enquirer then or now. His other cognomen, ‘Sittianus’, happens to declare an African origin.

59 Thus Momigliano, quoted above, n. 56.

60 Flach, D., Tacitus in der antiken Geschichtsschreibung (1973), 71Google Scholar. There is not much about the acta in S. Borzsák, RE Supp. xi, 482 f. In the phrase ‘… hat T. versäumt die acta senatus sorgfältig zu studieren vgl. Mommsen’ etc., the word ‘nicht’ should be inserted before ‘versäumt’.

In relation to the acta Miss Levick stated that ‘it would be impossible to show that the narrative of events in the House was based mainly on that record—an intermediate literary source may always be postulated, and can sometimes be demonstrated’ (Tiberius the Politician (1976), 222).

61 Goodyear, F. R. D., Tacitus. Greece and Rome New Surveys (1970), 26Google Scholar.

62 Goodyear, II (1981), 136; 352.

63 Flach, Thus D., Tacitus in der antiken Geschichtsschreihung (1973), 13Google Scholar. He cited opinions (not recent) of Vogt, Klingner and Büchner. ‘À qui la faute?’ No guilty men are named. He was presumably not indulging in self-incrimination.

64 Compare Momigliano, , Gnomon xxxiii (1961), 56:Google Scholar ‘Syme gibt keine Erläuterung von Annales 2, 88. In diesem Fall ist es eindeutig dass Tacitus die Acta Senatus nicht benutzt hat’.

65 Goodyear, II, 446, in a careful discussion of the ext. Tacitus has ‘senatorium album’, once (iv. 42. 3).

66 Some now allege Ariovistus.

67 Caesar, BC III. 59. 1; Suetonius, Cal. 44. 2. For the common Celtic prefix, Evans, E., Gaulish Personal Names (1967), 128 ffGoogle Scholar.

65 For Germanicus as imp. I, Barnes, T. D., JRS LXIV (1974), 24Google Scholar f.; Syme, R., History in Ovid (1978), 56 ff.Google Scholar; Phoenix xxxiii (1979), 317 ff.

The ‘imperatoria nomina’ conceded to Tiberius and his brother (Ann. 1. 3. 1) presuppose imperium proconsulare: granted towards the end of II B.C., cf. Dio LIV. 31. 4; 33. 5; 34. 3.

69 Historiographia Antigua (1977), 241.

70 Timpe, D., Der Triumph des Germanicus (1968), 45 f.Google Scholar, cf. 57. He found noteworthy followers, cf. Phoenix xxxiii (1979), n. 67.

71 For this interpretation, History in Ovid (1978), 59 ff.

72 E. Groag, PIR 2, C 159; Syme, R., Tacitus (1958), 326, cf. 693 fGoogle Scholar.

73 Sagacious reasons are produced by Goodyear, I (1973), 159.

74 Goodyear, ib.: ‘on balance the arguments seem to favour Romanius' claims, but not so clearly as to preclude doubt.’ The present writer is ceasing from doubt.

75 Ann. II. 28. 3: ‘celebre inter accusatores Trionis ingenium erat avidumque famae malae’. Trio, the prime prosecutor of Libo Drusus, reached a consulship in 31, a year fatal to many, and ended by suicide in 35 (vi. 38. 2). His name is absent from the roll of declaimers in Seneca.

76 ILS 5983; 5925. The order of the two colleges was inverted in RR (1939), 403. See further ZPE XLIII (1981), 369 f.

77 Namely II. 27–32 (Libo Drusus); 33 (measures against luxury); 34 f. (L. Piso and Urgulania); 36 (a proposal of Asinius Gallus); 37 f. (the appeal of Hortensius Hortalus, with an oration from the Princeps).

78 Against, E. Koestermann in his commentary, I (1963), 371 f.

79 Thus, in a full and judicious discussion, Goodyear, op. cit. 394: ‘there is a good chance that he is right, in spite of what follows’. He agrees with Koestermann in thinking that Tacitus' annalistic structure has broken down (ib. 395).

80 H. Fuchs (1946).

81 That is, even if most of the Danubian portion in fact belonged to 18.

82 For the praenomen, ILS 9349.

83 For his occupations see Pflaum, H.-G., Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres I (1960), 12 ff.Google Scholar, with the Addendum in III (1961), 957. He omitted however Ann. vi. 18. 2. As did by wise and deliberate choice L. Robert, CRAI 1969, 48, n. 1 (discussing Theophanes).

Some harm has been caused by a failure to see that in Strabo Μάρκον Πομήιον should be changed to Μακρὸν Πομήιον. For the coin of Priene with the name of Macer and his presumed head, see M. Grant, FITA (1946), 388 f. He was disclosed as Cn. Pompeius Macer, with the title ὖπαρχος, on Inschr. v. Priene 247.

84 Strongly suspected in Tacitus (1958), 749—and firmly stated in History in Ovid (1978), 73 f.

85 Thus, following PIR 1, 471 ff.: R. Laqueur, RE v A, 2099 f.; R. Hanslik, xxi, 2277. The latter scholar failed to discern or state the problem presented by Tacitus—and no mention of the evidence from Priene.

86 For the consulship of Macrinus, M. Pompeius, styled ‘Neos Theophanes’, 100 or 101 was accepted in Tacitus (1958), 749Google Scholar. For the correct date, Historia xviii (1969), 355 f. = RP (1979), 777 f.

87 Compare ‘Iulius Montanus, tolerabilis poeta et amicitia Tiberii notus et frigore’ (Seneca, Epp. 122. 11).

88 Josephus, AJ xviii. 150 ff., cf. 126. Not noted by Koestermann ad loc., or by W. Eck, RE Supp. xiv, 439 f.

89 Thus in Schürer's History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (ed. 2, revised by Vermes, G. and Millar, F., 1973), 264Google Scholar.

90 On which see remarks in ZPE XLI (1981), 129 f.

91 The Tiburtine grandfather may have counted with Ti. Caesar: illustrious in the schools of declamation and in fact the first Roman knight to teach rhetoric (Seneca, Controv. II, praef. 5). For the match, see now ‘The Marriage of Rubellius Blandus’, AJP cii (1982), 62Google Scholar ff.

The season remains a problem. Reasons can be adduced for questioning Dio's amalgamation with the other marriages early in the year (LVIII. 21. 1). The ceremony (perhaps discreet) may have ensued at some time in the summer, before Tiberius went back to Capreae (cf. Ann. vi. 20. 1).

92 ILS 232, cf. PIR 2, C 1227.

93 As in the conjunction of Nerva and Tigellinus (xv. 72. 1).