Table Of ContentCAMBRIDGE GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS
GENERAL EDITORS
P. E. EASTERLING
EmeritusR egi.uPsr ofessoorf GreekU, niversi.o9f' Cambridge
PHILIP HARDIE
CorpusC hristiP rofessoorf Latin, Universi.o9f' O:iford
RICHARD HUNTER
Regi,uPsr ofessoorf GreekU, niversi.o9f' Cambridge
E.J. KENNEY
EmeritusK ennedyP rofessoorf Latin, Universi9o'f Cambridge
Silver bust of the Emperor Galba. Naples, lvluseo Archcologico J',azionak
(inv. no. Reproduced by permission of the Soprintenclenza per i
110127).
Beni Archeologici delle province di Napoli e Caserta.
TACITUS
H][STQR][ES
BOOK I
EDITED BY
CYNTHIA DAMON
AssociateP rofessoorf Classics,
AmherstC ollege
111!1
CAMBRIDGE
~ UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Cambridge University Press 2003
This booki s in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
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First published 2003
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
1ypefaceBs askerville wh2 pt and New Hellenic SystemI DfX2e [TB]
A ca!,a/,oguree corfdo r thisb ooki s avai/ab/,.ef romt heB ritishL ibrary
Libraryo f CongresCs ataloguinign Publicatiodna ta
Tacitus, Cornelius.
[Historiae. Liber 1]
Histories. Book I / Tacitus ; edited by Cynthia Damon.
p. cm. - (Cambridge Greek and Latin classics)
Text in Latin; commentary in English.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes.
ISBNo 521 57072 7 - (hardback) ISBNo 521 57822 1 (paperback)
1. Rome - History- Civil War, 68-6g. 2. Galba, Servius Sulpicius, Emperor
of Rome, 3 B.C.-A.D.6 g 3. Vitellius, Aulus, Emperor of Rome, 15-6g.
1. Damon, Cynthia, 1957- 11. Title. 111. Series.
PA6705.H6B I 2003
937'.05 - dc21 2002073824
ISBNo 521 57072 7 hardback
ISBNo 521 57822 I paperback
CONTENTS
Preface pagev ii
o/
List abbreviations
IX
Maps x1
Rome
1 xi
The Roman forum xn
2
3 The Vitellian invasion xm
Introduction
1
Tu senator
1 1
The orator
2 2
3 Tu writer:A gricola, Germania, Dialogus
2
4 TMhutorian 4
5 Cura posteritaris 5
6 Ratio causaeque 6
7 Exempla
11
8 Chronology 11
9 Deinosis
12
Elevation
I O 12
ffition 13
II
Metaphor
12 14
13 Sentenriae 15
14 Appendixs entences 16
15 Variatio 19
Histories
16 1 20
17 The sources
22
18 Tu parallelt radition 24
19 The text
30
CORNELi TACITI HISTORIARVM LIBER PRIMVS 33
Commentary 77
Appendices 291
Parallepl assagess howings trongv erbasl imilarities
1 291
Epigramsa nd sententiae
2 302
V
CONTENTS
3 Notts pertainintgo paralleli ncidmtsr eporteud ndertw o
or morep nnc1pes
4 Notts illustratingd fffermcebs etweenH istories and the
1
parallelt radition
Stkct bibliography
!Tltllxes
Latin words
I
General
2
PREFACE
Simply put, the aim of the present commentary is to reintegrate Histories
1
into the corpus of teachable Latin texts. Tacitus is arguably the most pow
erful writer of Latin - to this day it requires great discipline to resist his
interpretation of events - and the reader's best defence, and greatest plea
sure, lie in an understanding of how his style works. This I try to supply.
Histories is particularly amenable to the attempt, owing to the chance
I
survival of three parallel accounts (in Plutarch, Suetonius, and Dio), which
render Tacitus' selection and stylization of material here capable of detailed
analysis. The notes also introduce students to the historical and historio
graphical contexts in which Histories was created; references are provided
I
to more detailed discussions of both. Grammatical assistance is provided
where necessary to elucidate Tacitus' sometimes difficult Latin.
Over the many years of this commentary's making I have been assisted
and encouraged by friends, colleagues, and fellow Tacitus-enthusiasts; hap
pily, in some cases all three labels apply. My gratitude for assistance for
everything from interpretation of manuscript abbreviations to discussion
of matters historiographical to advice on presentation and content goes to
the following:J ohn Bodel, Virginia Brown, Edward Courtney, Christopher
Jones, Elizabeth Keitel, Christina Kraus, Leslie Murison, Francis Newton,
Peter Pouncey, James Rives, Andreola Rossi, Richard Tarrant, and Richard
Thomas. To my Amherst colleagues Elizabeth Keitel (at the University) and
Alan Bocgehold (at the College) go my thanks for giving the commentary
a dry run at the draft stage. But my largest debt is to E. J. Kenney, who
improved every page kindly, firmly, and with great good sense. I save for
last the name of a colleague who did not live to sec the completion of a
work he had done much to aid: Peter Marshall.
My work has been generously supported by Amherst College, where
over the past few (well, more than a few) years I have enjoyed a Miner
D. Crary Summer Stipend and a Trustee Faculty Fellowship. Funding for
student assistance - ably provided by Umit Dhuga, Amherst and Seth
'01,
Bernard andJordan Holmes, both '03 - came from the Faculty Research
Award Program.
This project was begun for the series under the encouragement of
Pauline Hire at the Cambridge University Press; it appears thanks to the
vu
PREFACE
V11l
efforts and guidance of her successor Michael Sharp, and I am indebted to
both of them. As I am to Stefano De Caro of the Soprintendenza Archeo
logica delle province di Napoli e Caserta, who kindly supplied a photograph
of the Naples Museum's fine silver bust ofGalba for the frontispiece.
ABBREVIATIONS
A&G J.B. Greenough et al., edd. (1931).A ll.ena nd
Greenoughn'.e!w- Lating rammarB. oston.
AIL E. von Wolffiin, ed. (1884-1908). Archivfar/ atei,nische
Lexilcographuin.ed Grammatimk it Einschlusds esa lteren
Mittellatei,n1.5 vols. Leipzig.
ANRW H. Temporini and W Haase, edd. (1972- ). Aefsti.eg
undN zedergandge rr iimischein# lt. Berlin.
app. crit. apparatucs riticus
CAH2
Cambridgaen ci.enhti story( 1970- ). 2nd ed. Cambridge.
GG A. Gerber and A. Greef, edd. (1887-90). Lexicon
Tacit.eum2. vols. Leipzig.
HRR H. Peter, ed. (1914). Historicorumro manorumre liquia.e.
2 vols. 2nd ed. Leipzig.
K-H R. Kuhner and E Holzweissig (1912).A usfahrliche
Grammatidk er/ atei,nischSenp rachee:r sterT eil,E lementar-,
Formen-u, nd Wortlehre2.n d ed. Hannover.
K-S R. Kuhner and C. Stegmann (1976). Ausfahrliche
Grammatidk erl ateinischeSnp rachez:w eiterT eil,S atzlehre.
5th ed. by A. Thierfelder. 2 vols. Hannover.
lit. literally
LSJ H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. Stuart:Jones (1940).
A Greek-Englislhe xicon9. th ed. Oxford.
M-W R. H. Martin and A.J. Woodman (1989). Tacitus,
Annalsh ookI V. Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics.
Cambridge.
McC-W M. McCrum and A. G. Woodhead (1961). Select
of of
documents thep rincipat,es theF laviane mperorisn, cluding
of
they ear revolutionA:. D. 68-96. Cambridge.
mod. modern
NLS E. C. Woodcock (1959). A new Latin. ryntaxL. ondon.
OUJ P. G. W Glare, ed. (1982). OifordL atin dictionary.
Oxford.
IX
ABBREVIATIONS
X
ORF H. Malcovati, ed. (1976). Oratorumro manorum
.fra.gmenltiab eraere ip ublicae4. th ed. Turin.
PIR Prosopographimiap eriRi omanis aec.I , II, III. (1897-8).
3 vols. Berlin.
PIR2 Prosopographimiap eriRi omanis aec.I , II, Ill. (1933- ).
2nd ed. Berlin.
RE A. Pauly, G. Wissowa et al., edd. (1894-1979). Paulys
Real-Encyclopiiddieer c lassischeAnl tertumswissensch<ifl.
Stuttgart.
RG Augustus, Resg estae( Anc.i n the OLD,f or Monumentum
Ancyranum)
s.c. senatusc onsultum
SCPP Senatusc onsultumde Cn. Pisonep atre.F or text and
discussion see W. Eck, A. Caballos, E Fernandez
(1996). Das senatusc onsultumde Cn. Pisonep atre.
Vestigia 48. Munich.
TU Thesaurusli nguaew tinae( 1900- ). Munich.
W-M A.J. Woodman and R.H. Martin (1996). The Annals
ofTacitus,b ook3 . Cambridge.
The names and titles of classical authors and texts are abbreviated
in accordance with OLD and LSJ, with the following (important)
exceptions for Tacitus (f.) and his works: Annals( A.), Agrico/,(aA gr.),
Dialogus( D.), Germania(G .), Histories( H.). References to passages
in Book of the Historiesu se chapter and sentence number only.
I
Journal titles are abbreviated in accordance with L'annepe hilologique,
slightly anglicized (e.g. TAPAf or TAPhA).
