ils sont fous, ces romains!
Nov. 8th, 2008 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ricardienneI know that there were, and have been, and will be, far worse existences than the successful and surviving Roman senator under Domitian. Nevertheless, Tacitus gets me every time, with lines like "We would have lost our memories, too, with our voice, if it had only been as much in our power to forget as to be silent" and "under Domitian, the worst part of our suffering was to see and be watched, when even our sighs were written down."
I just figured out this evening that Agricola (that's what I was quoting above), is framed by the deaths and T.'s guilt over complicity in said deaths of Rusticus and Senecio, previous historian-biographers executed under Domitian for praising a previous generation of senatorial martyrs. I'm not sure whether, given that both Agricola and Tacitus did pretty well under Domitian, the implied comparison is squickily self-serving, or a figured jab at the so-called return of liberty under Nerva and Trajan. Obviously, I lean toward the latter, I think.
But the point is that hunting down the tragic Rusticus and Senecio led me to Pliny's letters, namely 1.5, which is mainly about how Pliny dealt with Regulus, a particularly nasty informer both under Domitian, when Regulus tried to make him incriminate himself, and post-Domitian, when Regulus is trying to regain his friendship and make amends, and Pliny can't decide whether or not to let him. (Among Regulus' nastiness was severe mockery of both Rusticus and Senecio after their deaths.) But what's weird is how little bitterness there seems to be in Pliny, and how little it seems to matter that half of the people he cites were killed, with the complicity of the other half (at least per Tacitus). This is probably why people don't tend to care for Pliny, I suppose: How can you record memorable sayings and bon mots when the context is people executed and exiled? (Heck: how can you contemplate resuming amicable relations with someone who tried to get you executed or exiled?) But yes, I do find it hard to read: people getting executed by tyrants is not okay, and is serious, and is HORRIBLE. Tacitus using them literarily is already a little difficult. In Pliny, where they are just a fact of life it's even worse.
I just figured out this evening that Agricola (that's what I was quoting above), is framed by the deaths and T.'s guilt over complicity in said deaths of Rusticus and Senecio, previous historian-biographers executed under Domitian for praising a previous generation of senatorial martyrs. I'm not sure whether, given that both Agricola and Tacitus did pretty well under Domitian, the implied comparison is squickily self-serving, or a figured jab at the so-called return of liberty under Nerva and Trajan. Obviously, I lean toward the latter, I think.
But the point is that hunting down the tragic Rusticus and Senecio led me to Pliny's letters, namely 1.5, which is mainly about how Pliny dealt with Regulus, a particularly nasty informer both under Domitian, when Regulus tried to make him incriminate himself, and post-Domitian, when Regulus is trying to regain his friendship and make amends, and Pliny can't decide whether or not to let him. (Among Regulus' nastiness was severe mockery of both Rusticus and Senecio after their deaths.) But what's weird is how little bitterness there seems to be in Pliny, and how little it seems to matter that half of the people he cites were killed, with the complicity of the other half (at least per Tacitus). This is probably why people don't tend to care for Pliny, I suppose: How can you record memorable sayings and bon mots when the context is people executed and exiled? (Heck: how can you contemplate resuming amicable relations with someone who tried to get you executed or exiled?) But yes, I do find it hard to read: people getting executed by tyrants is not okay, and is serious, and is HORRIBLE. Tacitus using them literarily is already a little difficult. In Pliny, where they are just a fact of life it's even worse.
