The Annals of Tacitus: Books 5-6

342 Pages·2017·1.45 MB·English

by  A J Woodman

CAMBRIDGE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND
COMMENTARIES
editors
J. DIGGLE N. HOPKINSON S. P. OAKLEY
J. G. F. POWELL M. D. REEVE
D. N. SEDLEY R. J. TARRANT
55
THE ANNALS OF TACITUS
5 6
BOOKS AND

THE ANNALS
OF TACITUS
5 6
BOOKS AND
EDITED WITH A COMMENTARY
BY
A. J. WOODMAN
BasilL.GildersleeveProfessorofClassics,UniversityofVirginia
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Names:Tacitus,Cornelius,author.|Woodman,A.J.(AnthonyJohn),
1945–editor.
Title:TheAnnalsofTacitus,books5and6/editedwithacommentaryby
A.J.Woodman.
Othertitles:Annales.Libri5–6
Description:Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2016.
Identifiers:lccn2016019218|isbn9781107152700
Subjects:LCSH:Tacitus,Cornelius.Annales.
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CONTENTS
Preface pageix
Referencesandabbreviations xii
INTRODUCTION 1
TEXT 11
COMMENTARY 47
APPENDIX: THE TACITEAN TIBERIUS 302
INDEXES 316
1 General 316
2 Latinwords 320
3 Names 321
vii

PREFACE
Fifty years ago F. R. D. Goodyear undertook to write a com-
mentary on the first six books of Tacitus’ Annals for the series
Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries. The series was
thebrainchildofthethenKennedyProfessorofLatinatCam-
bridge, C. O. Brink, who worked on Tacitus intermittently
throughout his life and had originally planned to contribute
the Tacitus commentary himself; but a change of plan saw the
AnnalspassinsteadtoGoodyear,whosedoctoraldissertationon
the Aetna had been supervised by Brink and now appeared in
1965asthesecondvolumeinBrink’snewseries.
The sixties were a memorable and formative time for that
fortunategenerationwithwhoseyouththeycoincided,butitis
notfornothingthattheyweredescribedbytheirmostbrilliant
expositor as ‘the pendulum years’, the upswing of their hopes
and aspirations often brought down to earth by the realities of
subsequent decades. A projected commentary on the first six
books of Tacitus’ Annals is nothing if not aspirational, but, as is
well known,Frank Goodyear hadcommentedon onlythefirst
twobooksbeforehesadlypassedawayin1987,nevertorealise
his ambition of moving on from Tacitus to Cicero, whom he
described as ‘the master’ of Latin prose. It was Ronald Martin
andIwhoproducedavolumeofcommentaryonBook3(1996),
havingalreadypublishedacommentaryonBook4forthealter-
native series Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics (1989). Alas,
nowRonaldtoohaspassedawayand,withthekindencourage-
mentofStephenOakleyandMichaelSharp,Ihavehereadded
a volume on Books 5 and 6. I very greatly regret that I can no
longer test out my ideas on Ronald, whose own commentary
on these same books appeared in 2001; my volume will be the
poorerforhisabsence.
It is a daunting experience to dare to conclude a task left
unfinished by one’s doctoral supervisor, especially when that
supervisor was a scholar as formidable as Frank Goodyear. He
ix
PREFACE
couldbeasferociousinpersonashewasinprint,yetheshowed
methegreatestkindnessand,inthetwelvemonthsof1966that
I was under his direction, he provided me with incomparable
training for the scholarly life. Since this volume represents a
continuationaswellasaconclusion,Ihaveendeavourednotto
repeat,buthavecross-referredfreelyto,materialalreadyavail-
ableinthoseearliervolumesofcommentary,especiallythoseon
Annals 1–3. I can only hope that readers will not be too incon-
venienced by this policy. Nor have I drawn repeated attention
to the occasions – all too many – on which this volume differs
fromthetranslationoftheAnnalswhichIpublishedin2004.My
attempt at synthesising Tacitus’ portrait of Tiberius has been
reservedforanAppendixattheveryend,inamannerwhichI
liketothinkwouldhavebeenapprovedofbyC.O.Brink.
The bibliography on Tacitus is extensive and continues to
grow; I hope readers will forgive me if they fail to find a ref-
erence to their favourite author or work. It is conventional to
acknowledge the contributions made by earlier commentators
totheelucidationofone’stext,andthisIcertainlydo.Butthere
is one scholar above all to whom I should like to pay tribute. I
have heard Sir Ronald Syme’s work being disparaged by some
modernscholarsofancienthistoryonthegroundsthatitisout-
modedandentirelylackingininfluenceintheworldofcontem-
poraryscholarship.Onthecontrary,itisimpossibletoimagine
workingonTacitusorthefirstcenturyadintheabsenceofTac-
itus,TheAugustanAristocracyandRomanPapers.Ashastrulybeen
said,theproductsofSyme’sgeniusareasfreshandcompelling
todayaswhentheywerefirstwritten.
It was a great help reading Books 5–6 of the Annals with a
graduateclassattheUniversityofVirginiainthespringof2014.
I have also sought and received help from J. E. Lendon and
E. A. Meyer (and their famous library), as well as J. N. Adams,
T. Biggs, J. Bodel, F. K. Drogula, S. J. V. Malloch, J. Nelis-
Clément,M.Peachin,J.T.RamseyandZ.Stamatopoulou.E.J.
Champlin very generously made available to me his notes on
personal names in Book 6; with equal generosity J. D. Dillery,
x