Claud's next wife: 11) Lollia Parling & Agrippina 6xilia the ti on the Lapis CORNELII TACITI ANNALIUM AB EXCESSU DIVI AUGUSTI LIBER XII. 1 1. CAEDE Messalinae convulsa principis domus, orto apud libertos certamine, quis deligeret uxorem Claudio, caelibis vitae 2 intoleranti et coniugum imperiis obnoxio. nec minore ambitu feminae exarserant: suam quaeque nobilitatem formam opes 3 contendere ac digna tanto matrimonio ostentare. sed maxime 5 ambigebatur inter Lolliam Paulinam M. Lollii consularis et Iuliam Agrippinam Germanico genitam : huic Pallas, illi Callistus I. convulsa, was upset': cp. c. 65, 3; 4. 40, 4, and note. Here it is explained by the division among the freedmen, who had hitherto held together. apud. Nipp. notes the use of this prep. here with the force of 'inter,' and compares H. 5. 5, 2 (apud ipsos fides obstinata'). So we have dissensio,' 'seditio apud aliquos' (3. 39, 2; H. 2. 68, 1). 3. intoleranti. This correction of the Med. 'intonanti' is due to Muret. and Pichena. The word is used with genit. in 1. 31, 4; etc.; also in Liv. 9. 18, 1; IO. 28, 4. Suet. states (Cl. 26) that Claudius, on the death of Messalina, solemnly announced that he would never marry again, but immediately began to seek another wife. He had contracted three marriages, besides two betrothals in early life see Suet. 1. 1., Introd. i. ix. pp. 141, 149. obnoxio: cp. 11. 36, 1, and note. the insertion of 'cum' (as by Weissen- 6. Lolliam Paulinam. Pliny, who M. Lollii consularis, sc. filiam.' Tacitus, who elsewhere uses analogous ellipses (sce Introd. i. v. § 80), appears here alone to use this particular one; of which, however, there are several instances in other authors (see Nipp. here) and in inscriptions. The younger Lollius, who may be the person addressed in Hor. Ep. 1. 2 and 18, or his brother (see Ep. 1. 18, 63), is not known to have ever been consul; for which reason, added to that of fautores aderant; at Aelia Paetina e familia Tuberonum Narcisso 5 2. Narcissus vetus matrimonium, filiam communem (nam 1 the harshness of the ellipse, Ritt. inserts I. Aelia Paetina, whom he had al- 2. modo, modo, repeated in similar position in Sall. Jug. 45, 2. This arrangement of antithetical words (Chiasmus) is noted as not common in Tacitus: cp. 'hostibus terror, fiducia militi' (1. 63, 4); 'socors domi, bellis infaustus' (c. 10, 2), and other instances in Dräger, Synt. und Stil, § 235. 3. promptus, 'inclined': cp. 4. 60, 5, and note. com 5. filiam communem : ср. 6. nihil... novum. It seems best to would be like that of 'nihil occultum' in 3. 9, 3 (where see note). 7. visura, likely to look upon': cp. 'quid ut noverca me intueris' (Hor. Epod. 5, 9). M. Seneca (who appears to be the first to use the adjective) has 'novercalibus oculis aliquem intueri' (Contr. 4. 6). 8. pignora. The use of this word specially of children or relatives, as pledges of love (cp. 15. 57, 3; 16. 26, 4; G. 7, 4; Agr. 38, 1), appears to be adopted from Livy (2. 1, 5) and Augustan poets (e. g. Prop. 4 (5), 11, 72; Ov. Met. II, 543). inprobatam,' was disqualified.' The word is not found elsewhere in Tacitus, unless it be inserted (with Andresen) in Dial. 14, 4. 9. discidio: cp. 11. 30, 5, etc. 10. quando, etc., giving the reason for the following words (vacuam,' etc.): for the use of privignis' see note on II. 38, 3. 12. Germanici nepotem, young L. Domitius (Nero): cp. II. 11, 5. 13. dignum, etc., 'fully worthy of imperial position' (cp. 11. 13, 5). As it would hardly be politic to speak of him as a possible successor, we must suppose it to be meant that he was worthy to be introduced, by his mother's marriage, into the emperor's house. For a different punctuation and interpretation of the clause see next note. stirpem nobilem, etc., 'let him unite to himself a noble race, the posterity of the Iulii and the Claudii.' Et .. posteros' may be taken as explanatory of 'stirpem nobilem,' and can be satisfactorily (2) (Jul. Ugry preferred. et familiae Iuliae Claudiaeque posteros coniungeret, ne femina expertae fecunditatis, integra iuventa, claritudinem Caesarum aliam in domum ferret. 1 3. Praevaluere haec adiuta Agrippina inlecebris: ad eum per speciem necessitudinis crebro ventitando pellicit patruum, ut 5 praelata ceteris et nondum uxor potentia uxoria iam uteretur. 2 nam ubi sui matrimonii certa fuit, struere maiora nuptiasque Domitii, quem ex Cn. Ahenobarbo genuerat, et Octaviae Caesaris filiae moliri; quod sine scelere perpetrari non poterat, quia L. Silano desponderat Octaviam Caesar iuvenemque et alia clarum 10 understood as referring to the lineage of Agrippina and her son. She was of the Julian house by lineal descent (on her mother's side) and by adoption (on her father's), and was also of the Claudian house (by her father's lineal descent), and therefore should not be allowed (see the following sentence) to marry elsewhere, especially as she might yet have more children. The text of Halm and Orelli, as above given, departs from the Med. only by adopting Freinsheim's insertion of Iuliae' and alteration of 'quae' to 'que,' and appears to give the best sense with the least change. In the Med. text as it stands, stirpem nobilem,' etc., could only refer to Nero, who could not be said by himself to unite the Claudian house' (though the marriage of his mother to Claudius would do so by bringing together two branches of it), and whose prospective marriage with Octavia would not be naturally implied in the words, and would hardly have been mentioned at this stage (see c. 3, 2). To adopt (with Nipp.) the remainder of Freinsheim's alteration, by reading 'coniungere' and placing a colon after 'traheret,' gives the words 'dignum imperatoria fortuna a less appropriate meaning by applying them to a plan or project instead of a person; nor in either of these interpretations is the sequence of 'ne' (or 'et ne') easy to trace, though possibly capable of comparison with that in I. 47, 2, etc. To simply omit or bracket 'quae' (with Pfitzn., Jacob, and Ritt.), without any sufficient suggestion to account for its insertion, is in effect a more violent change than that given in the text above. For other suggested corrections see Walther, and for a further discussion of the passage see J. H. Müller, Beitr. iv. pp. 7-9. etc. 2. expertae, 'proved': cp. 3. 74, 4, so reading (after MS. Agr.). The Med. 'experta' is retained by Ritt. and by Nipp. who compares 'expertum belli' in H. 4. 76, 2; where, however, the sense of 'experienced,' here inapplicable, seems preferable. integra iuventa. She was probably thirty-three see Introd. i. ix. pp. 139, 145. claritudinem Caesarum, 'the illustrious name of the Caesars,' alluding to her lineal descent from Augustus. 4. ad eum. The ed. princeps ('Spirensis) has 'quae' before these words, a reading followed by Lips. and several subsequent edd. per speciem necessitudinis, 'on the plea of her relationship' (as his niece): cp. Suet. Cl. 26 inlecebris Agrippinae per ius osculi et blanditiarum occasiones pellectus in amorem.' 9. L. Silano, one of the great-greatgrandsons of Augustus (see the pedigree, Introd. i. ix. p. 139). A Greek inscription quoted by Nipp. (C. I. Att. iii. 1, 612) gives him the surname Torquatus (see on 3. 69, 9), and records that he was flamen Iulianus, sodalis Augustalis,' and had filled the offices of praef. urb. ob ferias Latinas' (sce 4. 36, 1), 'triumvir monetalis' (see Introd. i. vi. p. 77), and 'quaestor Caesaris' (see 16. 27, 2, and note). His name occurs among the Arvales perhaps as early as 796, A.D. 43 (C. I. L. vi. 1. 2032). Dio adds (60. 5, 8) that privilege was obtained for him to fill magistracies five years before the legal age (cp. 3. 29, 1), and afterwards states (60. 31, 7) that he became praetor woλù πρὸ τοῦ καθήκοντος χρόνου. It is thus clear (see Borghesi, ŒŒuvr. v. 190, 193) that he was not more than twenty-five years old, perhaps even less, at the time of his disgrace and death. 10. desponderat Octaviam. This betrothal appears to have been at least Eet's hand! Silanus accused by Vilellius of incest w his sister (Vi's d- in. (w) Jums Calvine lively insigni triumphalium et gladiatorii muneris magnificentia pro- 4. Igitur Vitellius, nomine censoris serviles fallacias obtegens 1 arranged in the first year of his rule (Dio, alia clarum =τά τ' ἄλλα λαμπρόν. I. insigni triumphalium: on the singular insigne' cp. 11. 20, 3, and note. The probable occasion of his receiving this distinction would be that of the triumph of Claudius from Britain in 797, A.D. 44, at which date he would probably have been nineteen or twenty years old (see note above), and had filled no magistracy: this would be a great departure from ancient practice (see 11. 20, 5. and note), which Suet. (Cl. 24) and Dio (60. 31, 7) exaggerate by saying that he received the honour in boyhood, i.e. before assuming the 'toga virilis': see Nipp.'s note. gladiatorii muneris. It appears from Dio (1. 1.) that this show was given by him in his office as praetor, at the cost of Claudius. protulerat, had put forward' (C. and B.): so 'ad famam protulerat' (16. 18, 1); protulerit ingenium' (16. 29, 3). 2. nihil arduum, etc., 'no change seemed hard to bring about in the inclination of a prince,' etc. For the expression in animo' cp. 4. 12, 6; 14. 51, 6; 15. 50, 4; also the use of animus' for inclination' in 4. 71, I; 5. 7, 1, etc. 3. iudicium; so used specially of favourable opinion in 4. 39, 2 (where see note). erat. Nipp. notes that the verb is referred to each subject separately, indita' and 'iussa' to both together. 4. nomine censoris: see on II. 13, I. On the servility of Vitellius cp. 6. 32, 7; II. 34, I, etc. fallacias, the falsehoods': in Tacitus only here and 6. 22, 5, but often so used in Cic., etc. 5. provisor, apparently here alone used as 'foreseer': in Hor. A. P. 164 as 'a provider,' and in Insc. as an official title. 6. ferre proferre,' as in 6. 49, 3. cuius, generally adopted from the ed. princeps for the Med. 'cui'; such use of the dative with a personal substantive being properly restricted, as Nipp. notes, to appositional clauses; e. g. 2. 43, 7; II. 8, 2. 7. sane, taken with decora' and 'procax,' concessively, as showing colour for the charge. 'Procax,' though generally used in somewhat a bad sense, need not here mean more than the expression (festivissimam omnium puellarum') used of Calvina by Seneca (Lud. 8, 2); whose allusion to the subject is, however, very obscure. multo: so Halm for Med. 'multum,' as in 5. 3, 2; cp. Agr. 18, 2. 8. Vitellii nurus. Her name is not given as one of those who were married to the future emperor (Suet. Vit. 2); it may therefore be supposed that she had been wife of L. Vitellius (on whom see H. 1. 88, 2, etc.). hinc. Nipp. seems rightly to refer this to what had been just before mentioned. Although the expression shows that she had been divorced before this charge was made, such divorce did not bar subsequent accusation (see 3. 22, 3); and it would appear that Vitellius, as censor, took up the charge of incest, professedly as one affecting his son's household, and grounded on information coming through this source, and probably represented it as the ground of the divorce. fratrum, brother and sister' (cp. on 11. 38, 3, etc.). 3 incestum, sed incustoditum amorem ad infamiam traxit. et praebebat Caesar aures, accipiendis adversus generum suspicioni4 bus caritate filiae promptior. at Silanus insidiarum nescius ac forte eo anno praetor, repente per edictum Vitellii ordine senatorio 5 movetur, quamquam lecto pridem senatu lustroque condito. simul 5 adfinitatem Claudius diremit, adactusque Silanus eiurare magistratum, et reliquus praeturae dies in Eprium Marcellum conlatus est. 1 5. C. Pompeio Q. Veranio consulibus pactum inter Claudium 1. incustoditum: cp. 2. 13, 5; 40, 4, etc.; here an 'unguarded' or heedless affection, the free intercourse of persons unaware that they were watched: cp. 'incustoditus nimis et incautus' (Pl. Ep. 6. 29, 10). The word appears to occur first in Ovid. traxit, distorted' by misinterpretation: cp. 1. 62, 3, and note. 3. caritate, causal abl., followed by objective genitive; so in 4. 17, 1; 19, 1, etc. promptior' is so used with gerundive dat. in 15. 67, 5; Liv. 25, II, 12; and oftener with simple dat., as in I. 2, 1, etc. 4. edictum, such as that by which any 'nota censoria' might be inflicted. The old censorial power of expelling senators was usually exercised at this time by the princeps (4. 42, 3, etc.), or by the senate in its judicial capacity (4. 31, 8, etc.): see Momms. Staatsr. ii. 946. 5. lecto pridem senatu lustroque condito; see 11. 23, I; 25, 3. With the latter ceremony the office of censor should properly have closed; and Mommsen thinks it possible that the tenure of office may have been renewed to authorise this edict; Vitellius being entitled 'censor ii' in some coins of his son (Staatsr. ii. 340, 5; 413, 6). There is however reason to doubt whether the office was not held by him and Claudius for five years (see note on II. 13, 1). 6. adfinitatem, his espousal to Octavia. eiurare iurando abdicare'; cp. 13. 14, 1, etc. The word appears to occur only in Tacitus and in Plin. (Ep. I. 23, 3), and takes an accus. of the office (whence magistratum' has here to be read for Med.magistratu): so Plutarch uses ἐξομόσασθαι τὴν ὑπατείαν (Marc. 4), ἀπομόσασθαι τὴν ἀρχήν (Cic. 19). The magistrate swore 'se nihil contra leges fecisse' (Plin. Pan. 65). 7. reliquus praeturae dies. Suet. states (Cl. 29) that he was forced to resign on Dec. 29. Marcellus would then have held the office on the 30th and resigned on the 31st. For consulships thus held for one day see H. 3. 37, 3. 10; Eprium Marcellum, the famous 'de- The 9. C. Pompeio Q. Veranio. : Io. firmabatur. Unless this word is taken in different senses with 'fama' and 'amore inlicito,' we must suppose (with Nipp.) that the marriage was 'cemented' |