'On first impression the history of the Julio Claudian Dynasty reads like that of a line of crazy monarchs playing practical jokes upon a long suffering population.' - M Cary & H H Scullard A History of Rome
written sources
This is a fascinating time in Roman History because there are a number of notable writers who are contemporary who write extensive histories of the lives of the Julio Claudians. The principal ancient written sources for this period include:
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archaeological sources
These include:
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modern interpretations
This period of history has been under almost constant interpretation for 2000 years. Some of the more recent historians that we will use include:
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1.
The hostile literary tradition about the emperors and the women of the imperial family by ancient writers such as Dio, Suetonius and Tacitus |
2.
The polemic difference between the written and archeological sources - the archeological record from this period is largely commissioned by the imperial family and its supporters and depicts official propaganda. |
3.
The increasing influence of the military in the managing of the empire. As such, generals, prefects and the guard play an important role in accession and succession -praetorian guard 2 prefects |
4.
The gradual eclipsing of the role of the senate by other forces in the imperial household such as women, freedmen and military |
MODERN INTERPRETATION
M. Cary and H.H. Scullard A History of Rome
'The first fifty years after the death of Augustus was a period of transition, during which his system of government gradually became hard set.'
MODERN INTERPRETATION
Ronald Syme The Roman Revolution (pg. 501)
'Succeeding ages looked back with regret to the freedom enjoyed under the tolerant principate of Augustus. Discontent with their own times drove them to idealize the past. Under Augustus the stage for the grim tragedy of the Julio-Claudian’s has already been set, the action has begun'
1. What is the Republic?
2. What is the Principate? 3. What was the role of Princeps, as established by Augustus in 27BCE? 4. What problems of succession did this system create? WRITTEN RESPONSE - 10 MARKS What was the impact of the death of Augustus? |
Identify the answer for each:
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ANCIENT SOURCE
Tacitus Annals
The histories of Tiberius, Caius, Claudius and Nero, while they were in power, were falsified through terror, and after their death were written under the irritation of a recent hatred.
ANCIENT SOURCE:
Tacitus Annals –‘Partner of my Labours’
'Tiberius Nero was of mature years, and had established his fame in war, but he had the old arrogance inbred in the Claudian family, and many symptoms of a cruel temper, though they were repressed, now and then broke out...even in the years which, on the pretext of seclusion he spent in exile on Rhodes, he had no thoughts but of wrath, hypocrisy, and secret sensuality'
Julia was born around 40 BCE and to Scribonia and Augustus, and when her mother was divorced, she lived with Augustus and his new wife Livia.
In 25 BCE at the age of 14 she was married to Marcellus the son of Octavia (Augustus sister) and Mark Antony. In 23 BCE he died so in 21 BCE she is married to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Augustus’ trusted friend and a general in the army. Agrippa was in his 40’s and she was 18. She bore him 5 children in 9 years of marriage and was the ideal matrona at this time. Augustus held her up as an example to other women and even named a law the Lex Julia after her, which gave legal exemptions to women who had over three children. Her children were: |
Gaius Caesar
Vipsania Julia Agrippina (Julia Minor) Lucius Caesar Julia Vipsania Agrippina (Major) Agrippa Posthumous |
20 BCE- 4 CE
19 BCE- 29 CE 17 BCE- 2 CE 14 BCE- 33 CE 12 BCE- 14 CE |
lived 24 years
lived 39 years lived 19 years lived 47 years lived 26 years |
ANCIENT SOURCE:
Seneca
She (Julia Caesaris) had daily resorted to….laying aside the role of the adulteress, there sold her favours and sought the right to every indulgence with even and unknown paramour...
MODERN INTERPRETATION:
Jennifer Wright Knust
'Whatever we make of the behavior of the Julias, they, like Cleopatra, came to represent another female type: Roman royal feminity gone bad'
ANCIENT SOURCE:
Suetonius
'At the flood-tide of success, though in the prime of life and health, he suddenly decided to go into retirement and to withdraw as far as possible from the centre of the stage; perhaps from disgust at his wife, whom he dared neither accuse nor put away, though he could no longer endure her; or perhaps, avoiding the contempt born of familiarity, to keep up his prestige by absence, or even add to it, in case his country should ever need him.
Accordingly he remained in Rhodes against his will, having with difficulty through his mother's aid secured permission that, while away from Rome, he should have the title of legatus of Augustus, so as to conceal his disgrace. Then in very truth he lived not only in private, but even in danger and fear, secluded in his country away from the sea, and shunning the attentions of those that sailed that way; these, however, were constantly thrust on him, since no general or magistrate who was on his way to any province failed to put in at Rhodes. He had besides reasons for still greater anxiety; for when he had crossed to Samos to visit his stepson Gaius, who had been made governor of the Orient, he found him somewhat estranged through the slanders of Marcus Lollius, a member of Gaius' staff and his guardian. He also incurred the suspicion of having through some centurions of his appointment, who were returning to camp after a furlough, sent messages to several persons which were of an ambiguous character and apparently designed to incite them to revolution. On being informed by Augustus of this suspicion, he unceasingly demanded the appointment of someone, of any rank whatsoever, to keep watch over his actions and words.'
ANCIENT SOURCE:
Suetonius
When Gaius and Lucius died within three years, he was adopted by Augustus along with their brother Marcus Agrippa, being himself first compelled to adopt his nephew Germanicus.
ANCIENT SOURCE
Suetonius The Twelve Caesars
'Though Tiberius did not hesitate at once to assume and to exercise the imperial authority, surrounding himself with a guard of soldiers, that is, with the actual power and the outward sign of sovereignty, yet he refused the title for a long time, with barefaced hypocrisy now upbraiding his friends who urged him to accept it, saying that they did not realize what a monster the empire was, and now by evasive answers and calculating hesitancy keeping the Senators in suspense when they implored him to yield, and fell at his feet.
The army in Germania was, besides, reluctant to accept an emperor who was not its own choice, and with the greatest urgency besought Germanicus, their commander at the time, to assume the purple, in spite of his positive refusal. Fear of this possibility in particular led Tiberius to ask the Senate for any part in the administration that it might please them to assign him, saying that no one man could bear the whole burden without a colleague, or even several colleagues. He also feigned ill-health, to induce Germanicus to wait with more patience for a speedy succession, or at least for a share in the sovereignty.
He even introduced a semblance of free government by maintaining the ancient dignity and powers of the Senate and the magistrates; for there was no matter of public or private business so small or so great that he did not lay it before the Senators, consulting them about revenues and monopolies, constructing and restoring public buildings, and even about levying and disbanding the soldiers, and the disposal of the legionaries and auxiliaries; finally about the extension of military commands and appointments to the conduct of wars, and the form and content of his replies to the letters of kings.'
Ovid – Ex Ponto
Offered the reigns of empire, Tiberius took them after frequent refusal
Velleius Paterculus
(Tiberius) … refused the principate almost longer than others have fought to seize it'
MODERN INTERPRETATION
Michael Grant
The delicately balanced imperial task set him by Augustus would have been too much for almost any man. It was certainly too much for Tiberius, in spite of his outstanding ability.
ANCIENT SOURCE:
Excepts from Suetonius The Twelve Caesars
He so loathed flattery that he would not allow any Senator to approach his litter’
Furthermore, to encourage general frugality by his personal example, he often served at formal dinners, meats left over from the day before and partly consumed’
Even at the outset of his military career his excessive love of wine gave him the name of Biberius, instead of Tiberius’
For two whole years after becoming emperor he did not set foot outside the gates’
In money matters he was frugal and close, never allowing the companions of his foreign tours and campaigns a salary, but merely their keep’
MODERN INTERPRETATION
M. Cary and H.H. Scullard A History of Rome
His foreign policy was also successful and adhered to Augustus’ advice
ANCIENT SOURCE:
Suetonius The Twelve Caesars
It is the general opinion that Germanicus possessed all the highest qualities of body and mind, to a degree never equaled by anyone; a handsome person, unequalled valor, surpassing ability in the oratory and learning of Greece and Rome, unexampled kindliness, and a remarkable desire and capacity for winning men's regard and inspiring their affection. His legs were too slender for the rest of his figure, but he gradually brought them to proper proportions by constant horseback riding after meals.
ANCIENT SOURCE:
Tacitus The Annals
...the memory of Drusus was held in honour by the Roman people, and they believed that had he obtained empire, he would have restored freedom. Hence they regarded Germanicus with favour and with the same hope. He was indeed a young man of unaspiring temper, and of wonderful kindliness...
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MODERN SOURCE
From: Le Glay, M. A History of Rome 3rd ed. (Paris, 2005) Blackwell Publishing
The post of the prefect of the Vigiles (praefectus vigilum) was also known as the ‘Watch’. Republican Rome had neither firemen nor a police force. A fire fighting corps of 600 slaves had been set up in 23 BCE, commanded by aediles. In 6 CE they were replaced by seven cohorts of vigiles, all freedmen, under the command of a prefect.
ANCIENT SOURCE
Tacitus Annals ‘partner of my labors’
He ordered the death of all who were lying in prison under accusation of complicity with Sejanus. There lay, singly or in heaps, the unnumbered dead, of every age and sex, the illustrious with the obscure. Kinsfolk and friends were not allowed to be near them, to weep over them, or even to gaze on them too long. Spies were set round them, who noted the sorrow of each mourner and followed the rotting corpses, till they were dragged to the Tiber, where, floating or driven on the bank, no one dared to burn or to touch them. The force of terror had utterly extinguished the sense of human fellowship, and wish the growth of cruelty, pity was thrust aside
MODERN INTERPRETATION
M. Cary and H.H. Scullard A History of Rome
His financial policy was moderate; it avoided extravagance and was liberal when necessary.
MODERN INTERPRETATION
M. Cary and H.H. Scullard A History of Rome
He upheld and even increased the judicial, electoral and legislative functions of the senate, but it was one of the tragedies of his reign that his well intentioned efforts to cooperate with the senate gradually broke down, partly from defects in his character, partly through undue subservience by the senate
ANCIENT SOURCE
Suetonius The Twelve Caesars
He forbade the voting of temples, flamens, and priests in his honour, and even the setting up of statues and busts without his permission; and this he gave only with the understanding that they were not to be placed among the likenesses of the gods, but among the adornments of the temples. He abolished foreign cults, especially the Egyptian and the Jewish rites, compelling all who were addicted to such superstitions to burn their religious vestments and all their paraphernalia
Ronald Mellor, 1999, The Roman Historians
“And yet this Tiberius retains considerable stature in Tacitus's eyes; he may be bitter, angry, and finally corrupt, but he is no snivelling incompetent. He had no Caligulan madness, Neronian frivolity. Tacitus reports that he led the armies well, that he balanced the imperial budget, that he chose good administrators, that (except in a handful of treason trials) he enforced the laws, and that he did not raise taxes. Few rulers can boast such a record, much less in an account from an admittedly hostile source”
Theodor Mommsen, History of Rome
“Tiberius was someone who always wanted to rule in accordance with the constitution - the most constitutional monarch Rome ever had ... If anyone could have the sense of having ruled well it was Tiberius, and yet he was rewarded for it with bitter hatred. No wonder his misanthropy was so overwhelming."
M. Cary and H. H. Scullard A History of Rome
“Tiberius lacked neither ability nor a sense of duty”
M. Cary and H.H. Scullard A History of Rome
Thus as Augustus Tiberius had rendered the empire outstanding service as solider and administrator, so as Princeps he provided by wise administration a period of peace and stability which allowed the system time to take deeper root, marred chiefly by faults which arose from the increasing isolation into which the disloyalty of friends and the misunderstanding of senators drove him.
Greg Rowe
Tiberius became the only Roman emperor who was neither damned nor deified.
2021 HSC Examination question 32 part a.
To what extent was Tiberius' reign significant for the development of the principate? (25 Marks)
MODERN INTERPRETATION
Anthony A. Barrett
With the possible exception of Nero, no Roman emperor has made a more lasting impression on the popular imagination than Gaius Caligula. His reputation as the archetype of the depraved autocrat was acquired despite his reigning for a meager four years…
ANCIENT SOURCE
Suetonius The Twelve Caesars
Gaius himself tried to rouse men's devotion by courting popularity in every way. After eulogising Tiberius with many tears before the assembled people and giving him a magnificent funeral, he at once posted off to Pandateria and the Pontian islands, to remove the ashes of his mother and brother to Rome; and in stormy weather, too, to make his filial piety the more conspicuous. He approached them with reverence and placed them in the urn with his own hands. With no less theatrical effect he brought them to Ostia in a bireme with a banner set in the stern, and from there up the Tiber to Rome, where he had them carried to the Mausoleum on two biers by the most distinguished men of the order of knights, in the middle of the day, when the streets were crowded. He appointed funeral sacrifices, too, to be offered each year with due ceremony, as well as games in the Circus in honour of his mother, providing a carriage to carry her image in the procession. But in memory of his father he gave to the month of September the name of Germanicus After this, by a decree of the senate, he heaped upon his grandmother Antonia whatever honours Livia Augusta had ever enjoyed; took his uncle Claudius, who up to that time had been a Roman knight, as his colleague in the consulship; adopted his brother Tiberius on the day that he assumed the gown of manhood, and gave him the title of ‘Chief of the Youth’.
ANCIENT SOURCE
Suetonius The Twelve Caesars
So much for Caligula as emperor; we must now tell of his career as a monster. And he came near assuming a crown at once and changing the semblance of a principate into the form of a monarchy. But on being reminded that he had risen above the elevation both of princes and kings, he began from that time on to lay claim to divine majesty; for after giving orders that such statues of the gods as were especially famous for their sanctity or their artistic merit, including that of Jupiter of Olympia, should be brought from Greece, in order to remove their heads and put his own in their place, he built out a part of the Palace as far as the Forum, and making the temple of Castor and Pollux its vestibule, he often took his place between the divine brethren, and exhibited himself there to be worshipped by those who presented themselves; and some hailed him as Jupiter Latiaris. He also set up a special temple to his own godhead, with priests and with victims of the choicest kind. In this temple was a life-sized statue of the emperor in gold, which was dressed each day in clothing such as he wore himself.
“…when Caligula became emperor in 37 he made the affairs of his family his prime concern.”
Richard Bauman, Women and Politics in Ancient Rome
Julia Livilla's husband - Marcus Vinicius
Consul in 30CE, was named as a witness to the Piso trial on the Senatus consultum de Cn. Pisone patre, governor of Asia (Turkey) in 38/39, later involved in Gaius' assassination and accompanied Claudius to Britain in 43, but was eventually killed at Messalina's request. |
Julia Drusilla's husband - Marcus Aemilius Lepidus
The son of a distinguished consular family and Julia the Younger. Was a close companion of Gaius and was influential in his decisions. Included in the statues in the Sebastieon at Aphrodisias. He was executed in 39CE. |
Julia Agrippina's husband- Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus.
Only son of Antonia Major and he served as consul in 32, and was a despicable & dishonest character. He married Agrippina at the request of Tiberius when she was 13 and he was 44, and although Tiberius charged him with treason, adultery and incest he was saved by the death of Tiberius and the accession of Gaius to princep and in the same year Agrippina bore him a son, Nero, in 37. He died of edema at Pyrgi in 41CE. |
ANCIENT SOURCE:
Suetonius The Twelve Caesars ‘Life of Gaius’
The rest of his sisters (Livilla & Agrippina) he did not love with so great affection, nor honour so highly, but often prostituted them to his favorites; so that he was the readier at the trial of Aemilius Lepidus to condemn them, as adulteresses and privy to the conspiracies against him; and he not only made public letters in the handwriting of all of them, procured by fraud and seduction, but also dedicated to Mars the Avenger, with an explanatory inscription, three swords designed to take his life.
The charges are likely to have had some basis, Lepidus, having come very close to imperial power only to lose his connection with the imperial family when Drusilla died, would surely have wised to marry one of the emperors other sisters, who in turn would naturally have vied to become Drusillas’ successor.
Susan Wood
"The whole affair is mysterious, the evidence disconnected and fragmentary,"
Ronald Syme.
ANCIENT SOURCE
Suetonius The Twelve Caesars
He was no more respectful or mild towards the senate, allowing some who had held the highest offices to run in their togas for several miles beside his chariot and to wait on him at table, standing napkin in hand either at the head of his couch, or at his feet. Others he secretly put to death yet continued to send for them as if they were alive, after a few days falsely asserting that they had committed suicide. When the consuls forgot to make proclamation of his birthday, he deposed them, and left the state for three days without its highest magistrates. He flogged his Quaestor, who was charged with conspiracy, stripping off the man's clothes and spreading them under the soldiers' feet, to give them a firm footing as they beat him.
ANCIENT SOURCE
Suetonius The Twelve Caesars
From this point there are two versions of the story: some say that as he was talking with the boys, Chaerea came up behind, and gave him a deep cut in the neck, having first cried, "Take that," and that then the tribune Cornelius Sabinus, who was the other conspirator and faced Gaius, stabbed him in the breast. Others say that Sabinus, after getting rid of the crowd through centurions who were in the plot, asked for the watchword, as soldiers do, and that when Gaius gave him "Jupiter," he cried "So be it," and as Gaius looked around, he split his jawbone with a blow of his sword. As he lay upon the ground and with writhing limbs called out that he still lived, the others dispatched him with thirty wounds; for the general signal was "Strike again." Some even thrust their swords through his privates. At the beginning of the disturbance his bearers ran to his aid with their poles, and presently the Germans of his body-guard, and they slew several of his assassins, as well as some inoffensive senators.
One may form an idea of the state of those times by what followed. Not even after the murder was made known was it at once believed that he was dead, but it was suspected that Gaius himself had made up and circulated the report, to find out by that means how men felt towards him. The conspirators too had not agreed on a successor, and the senate was so unanimously in favour of re-establishing the republic that the consuls called the first meeting, not in the senate house, because it had the name Julia, but in the Capitol; while some in expressing their views proposed that the memory of the Caesars be done away with and their temples destroyed.
Mark Antony seems to have been his principal model in statesmanship, and Antony's daughter was probably the first to present this ancestor to him in a favourable light.
Enid Rifner Parker, The Education of Heirs in the Julio-Claudian Family
We are asked to picture Gaius as early in his reign having honoured his grandmother Antonia Minor and then after his transformation as having forced her to suicide. However, when the sources are checked it becomes clear that Antonia died on the 1st may in the year 37 CE, some 5 weeks after Gaius was proclaimed Emperor. It is also important to note that during the first 5 weeks Gaius had voyaged to Pandateria and Pontia to bring back the ashes of his mother and his brother. If the weather was fine the whole time, than historians have assumed he would have spent a total of around only 30 days in Rome before Antonia suicides. There are records that show that in late January 38 CE, Gaius sacrificed to honour Antonia Augustae, proving that he respected her even seven months after her death. All this evidence makes the tradition that Gaius forced his grandmother to suicide fairly unlikely and more likely to be a part of the negative and distorted literary tradition about the mad Caligula.
Paraphrased from M. P. Charlesworth, The Tradition about Caligula
Caligula’s brief reign was a disaster, but the Romans had only themselves to blame. The army, in the shape of the imperial guard, injected into the imperial system the very worst feature of the final century of the Roman republic: the use of military force to determine political outcomes. The senate certainly did not emerge from Caligula’s reign with honor. They may have been under military pressure at the outset; but they have to take the lion’s share of the blame for the unprecendented and massive powers bestowed on a totally inexperienced youth. Moreover, they seem to have been willing to respond to each successive humiliation with even more fulsome flattery.
Anthony A. Barrett
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ANCIENT SOURCE
Suetonius The Twelve Caesars
He possessed majesty and dignity of appearance, but only when he was standing still or sitting, and especially when he was lying down; for he was tall but not slender, with an attractive face, becoming white hair, and a full neck. But when he walked, his weak knees gave way under him and he had many disagreeable traits both in his lighter moments and when he was engaged in business; his laughter was unseemly and his anger still more disgusting, for he would foam at the mouth and trickle at the nose; he stammered besides and his head was very shaky at all times, but especially when he made the least exertion. Though previously his health was bad, it was excellent while he was emperor except for attacks of heartburn, which he said all but drove him to suicide.
Donna W. Hurley
This tale of a reluctant emperor abducted against his will and helpless before necessity, served two functions in the Claudius story as it came to be told. First, it could be used to refute any suggestion that he himself was involved in the assassination (of Caligula) or had purchased the principate. At the same time, the image of a passive and fearful Claudius dragged from behind a curtain conforms to the characterisation that hounded him (and continues to this day): the perception that he was undignified, weak, and manipulated by others.
ANCIENT SOURCE:
Tacitus Annals ‘the Mother of Nero’
The destruction of Messalina shook the imperial house; for a strife arose among the freedmen, who should choose a wife for Claudius, impatient as he was of a single life and submissive to the rule of wives. The ladies were fired with no less jealousy. Each insisted on her rank, beauty, and fortune, and pointed to her claims to such a marriage. But the keenest competition was between Lollia Paulina, the daughter of Marcus Lollius, an ex-consul, and Julia Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus. Callistus favoured the first, Pallas the second. Aelia Paetina however, of the family of the Tuberones, had the support of Narcissus. The emperor, who inclined now one way, now another, as he listened to this or that adviser, summoned the disputants to a conference and bade them express their opinions and give their reasons.
Narcissus dwelt on the marriage of years gone by, on the ties of offspring, for Paetina was the mother of Antonia, and on the advantage of excluding a new element from his household, by the return of a wife to whom he was accustomed, and who would assuredly not look with a stepmother's animosity on Britannicus and Octavia, who were next in her affections to her own children. Callistus argued that she was compromised by her long separation, and that were she to be taken back, she would be supercilious on the strength of it. It would be far better to introduce Lollia, for, as she had no children of her own, she would be free from jealousy, and would take the place of a mother towards her stepchildren.
Pallas again selected Agrippina for special commendation because she would bring with her Germanicus's grandson, who was thoroughly worthy of imperial rank, the scion of a noble house and a link to unite the descendants of the Claudian family. He hoped that a woman, who was the mother of many children and still in the freshness of youth, would not carry off the grandeur of the Caesars to some other house… But no difficulty seemed to be presented by the temper of a sovereign who had neither partialities nor dislikes, but such as were suggested and dictated to him.
‘To Claudius, not only did she represent the Julian wing of the dynasty, but he can hardly have been unaware of her political talents or for that matter, her ambitions...But Claudius’ choice of Agrippina was policy, not whimsy...It was good politics.
Bill Leadbetter, 1997, The Ambition of Agrippina the Younger
ANCIENT INSCRIPTION
The Lyons Tablet preserves Claudius speech
"If you accept these proposals, Conscript Fathers, say so at once and simply, in accordance with your convictions. If you do not accept them, find alternatives, but do so here and now; or if you wish to take time for consideration, take it, provided you do not forget that you must be ready to pronounce your opinion whenever you may be summoned to meet. It ill befits the dignity of the Senate that the consul designate should repeat the phrases of the consuls word for word as his opinion, and that every one else should merely say 'I approve', and that then, after leaving, the assembly should announce 'We debated'.
ANCIENT SOURCE
Suetonius The Twelve Caesars –‘Claudius’
Of his freedmen he had special regard for the eunuch Posides, whom he even presented with the headless spear at his British triumph, along with those who had served as soldiers. He was equally fond of Felix, giving him the command of cohorts and of troops of horse, as well as of the province of Judaea; and he became the husband of three queens. Also of Harpocras, to whom he granted the privilege of riding through the city in a litter and of giving public entertainments. Still higher was his regard for Polybius, his literary adviser, who often walked between the two consuls. But most of all he was devoted to his secretary Narcissus and his treasurer Pallas, and he gladly allowed them to be honoured in addition by a decree of the senate, not only with immense gifts, but even with the insignia of quaestors and praetors. Besides this he permitted them to amass such wealth by plunder, that when he once complained of the low state of his funds, the witty answer was made that he would have enough and to spare, if he were taken into partnership by his two freedmen.
Wholly under the control of these and of his wives, as I have said, he played the part, not of a prince, but of a servant lavishing honours, the command of armies, pardons or punishments, according to the interests of each of them, or even their wish or whim; and that too for the most part in ignorance and blindly
ANCIENT SOURCE
Suetonius The Twelve Caesars
The public works which he completed were great and essential rather than numerous...
ANCIENT SOURCE
Tacitus
Thereupon, Agrippina, who had long decided on the crime and eagerly grasped at the opportunity thus offered, and did not lack instruments, deliberated on the nature of the poison to be used. The deed would be betrayed by one that was sudden and instantaneous, while if she chose a slow and lingering poison, there was a fear that Claudius, when near his end, might, on detecting the treachery, return to his love for his son.
ANCIENT SOURCE
Seneca's Apocolocyntosis - describing the death of Claudius
The last words he was heard to speak in this world were these. When he had made a great noise with that end of him which talked easiest, he cried out, "Oh dear, oh dear! I think I've shit myself." Whether he did or no, I cannot say, but certain it is that he shit all over everything else in life.
MODERN INTERPRETATION
Donna W. Hurley
Judged by the public record alone, Claudius seems a relatively sensible and serious-minded, if conservative, monarch. The conquest of Britain, his public works and shows, and the legislative activity directed toward increasing and maintaining order were positive accomplishments. But his contemporaries and near-contemporaries have left a portrait of a man that fits oddly with the more sober and factual account of his reign … Claudius clearly gave the persistent and unique impression that he was at once a buffoon and an arbitrarily cruel tyrant.
Claudius had enlarged the empire and had behaved in a way that avoided some of the excesses of Tiberius and Caligula before him, and of Nero, who would follow, and it became desirable to reconcile the contradictions of his legacy. If it could be decided that he was a tool in the hands of his wives and freedmen, his cruelty was mitigated beneath their influence. The unseemly figure that remained was comparatively harmless.
He was the last of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, and his fall from power precipitated a civil war that threatened to destroy the political system of the principate, for it had been designed to prevent such conflict. Nero’s failure would in itself have ensured notoriety. But in fact, the reputation he left behind was a mixture of good and bad, prompting reactions of both nostalgia and disgust. - Miriam T. GriffiN
Many ancient and modern authors view the first century CE as an unprecedented era of peace and security for the Roman Empire. These writers often identify the Roman emperor Augustus’ diplomatic settlement with Parthia (ca. 20 BCE) as an important cornerstone of the Pax Romana. But while the two ancient superpowers may have averted large-scale conflicts, Romano-Parthian relations under Augustus and the Julio-Claudians were never entirely uneventful or especially peaceful.
John J. Poirot The Romano-Parthian Cold War: Julio-Claudian Foreign Policy in the First Century CE and Tacitus ' Annales, 2014
ANCIENT SOURCE
Tacitus The Annals
It was rumoured that Subrius Flavus and the centurions had decided in private conference, though not without Seneca's knowledge, that, once Nero had been struck down by the agency of Piso, Piso should be disposed of in his turn, and the empire made over to Seneca; who would thus appear to have been chosen for the supreme power by innocent men, as a consequence of his distinguished virtues.
ANCIENT SOURCE
Cassius Dio
From this point on he became generally worse – he considered that it was acceptable for him to do whatever it was his power to do.
ANCIENT SOURCE
Suetonius The Twelve Caesars
He drove his tutor Seneca to suicide, although when the old man often pleaded to be allowed to retire and offered to give up his estates, he had sworn most solemnly that he did wrong to suspect him and that he would rather die than harm him. He sent poison to Burrus, prefect of the Guard, in place of a throat medicine which he had promised him.
ANCIENT SOURCE
Suetonius The Twelve Caesars
While he was singing no one was allowed to leave the theatre even for the most urgent reasons. And so it is said that some women gave birth to children there, while many who were worn out with listening and applauding, secretly leaped from the wall, since the gates at the entrance were closed, or feigned death and were carried out as if for burial.
ANCIENT SOURCE
Tacitus Histories
Quoting Galba, “It was not Vindex with his unarmed province or I with one legion that freed the people from Nero’s yoke, but his own monstrousness and extravagance”
MODERN INTERPRETATION
A History of Rome M Cary & H H Scullard
With the death of Nero the Julio Claudian dynasty became extinct, and the hereditary principal of succession, which had been tending to establish itself among the Roman emperors, was overthrown.
ANCIENT SOURCE
Tacitus Annals
Although Nero’s death had at first been welcomed with outbursts of joy, it roused varying emotions, not only in the city among the senators and people and the city soldiery, but also among all the legions and the generals; for the secret of empire was now disclosed, that an emperor could be made elsewhere than at Rome
ANCIENT SOURCE
Tacitus Annals
Seldom has the support of the army been gained by any man through honourable means to the degree that he [Vitellius} won it through his worthlessness
On the news of Otho's suicide, Vitellius was recognised as emperor by the Senate. Granted this recognition, Vitellius set out for Rome. However, the start of his reign was not auspicious. The city was left very skeptical when Vitellius chose the anniversary of the Battle of the Allia (in 390 BC), a day of bad auspices to the superstitious Roman mind, to accede to the office of Pontifex Maximus.
Events would seemingly prove them right. With the throne tightly secured, Vitellius engaged in a series of feasts, banquets (Suetonius refers to three a day: morning, afternoon and night) and triumphal parades that drove the imperial treasury close to bankruptcy. Debts were quickly accrued and money-lenders started to demand repayment. Vitellius showed his violent nature by ordering the torture and execution of those who dared to make such demands. With financial affairs in a state of calamity, Vitellius took the initiative of killing citizens who named him as their heir, often together with any co-heirs. Moreover, he engaged in a pursuit of every possible rival, inviting them to the palace with promises of power only to have them assassinated. |
ANCIENT SOURCE
Tacitus Annals
He, unlike all his predecessors, was the only emperor who was changed for the better by his office.
MODERN INTERPRETATION
A History of Rome M Cary & H H Scullard
The ‘year of the four emperors’ as AD69 has been called, marked a temporary reversion to the conditions under which the Republic had been destroyed. Despite the professions which one pretender after another put forward, that he was the servant of the Senate and the people, or had come to avenge the last ruler but one, they were without exception military adventurers, and all but the last of the series remained at the mercy of the soldiers to whom they owed their promotion.