you brought it on yourself miss twiddle

I finally found a bigger image of the Bronnikov "Death of Thrasea" painting:

( Image Beneath Cut )

I am still unsure which of the two seated women is Arria and which is Fannia, since neither the appearance nor the attitude of either seems more plausible for a wife than for a daughter. I suspect that the standing men in the main group are Helvidius, Rusticus, and Caecilianus (again not clear which is which, though I think the one in the bordered toga must be either Helvidius or Rusticus, and that Helvidius must be either that one or the one in the yellow cloak.

One thing that Bronnikov interestingly picked up is the gender of the Thrasea-group. Tacitus sets this scene amid a "illustrium virorum feminarumque coetus frequens", and the crowd in the background appears to have 4 women and 5 men (of course, 2 of the 4 women are in visible distress (plus Arria and Fannia in the foreground), whereas the men appear to be taking it rather more manfully. But there is that one woman who seems to be part of the otherwise male discussion. One thing that interests me is the role that seems to be given to women in accounts of "the opposition" in this period, and it's nice that it's shown here.

ALSO: An 18th century German play about Thrasea. Practice my Deutsch and be amused by adaptations of Tacitus at the same time!

I do think it is a rule that there is no even moderately compelling scene from classical literature that wasn't illustrated by some second-rate 18th or 19th century painter, and I finally happened across one of the death of Thrasea, by a certain Feodor Bronnikov. Sadly, the only internet image that seems to exist of it has a giant watermark across the front: ( click for exitus clari viri )

Thrasea, naturally, is the man in the chair; the two women must be his daughter Fannia and his wife Arria (I would guess Arria is the one in purple and red and Fannia is the one in blue.) The bearded man in the dark blue cloak is the Cynic philosopher Demetrius, and the man reading the scroll is named Domitius Caecilianus. Helvidius Priscus is probably either the guy in the foreground in the yellow cloak and blue shoes (because he's next to Demetrius) or one of the two guys standing behind Thrasea (probably the one standing rather stiffly behind his wife ?Fannia's chair, and but if he's the one leaning over then the woman in purple then she's probably Fannia. Either way, if Helvidius isn't the guy in yellow, that guy is probably our hot-headed young Tribune Arulenus Rusticus, although I'm not sure why either HP or AR would not be wearing a toga when all the other Romans in the room are, so maybe he's another philosopher.