Latin 520 (Tiberius): Assignment for Week 3 (Jan. 14-20)

 

Some catching up to do vis-ˆ-vis Ann. 1, so refer to Week 2 assignment for that.  Tuesday will doubtless be mostly devoted to going over Week 2 stuff.

 

That said, this week you should

 

Tacitus, Annals 2

 

Please have read the following in Latin in Annals 2 (though donÕt stop there, should time and mood allow): Ann. 2.27-41, 69-88. 

 

Goodyear still the go-to commentary for Book 2.

 

NB: in a moment of weakness, I have decided to limit us to Annals 2 this week rather than try to cram in 2-3 as I had planned – I suspect we shall have enough to talk about as it is.  But you can count on reading Ann. 3-4 for the following week, if you want to get a head start on that; and IÕll steal a day from ValMax for us to deal with the very truncated 5 and Tib.Õs death in 6.  YouÕll have noticed, by the way, that Tacitus takes Ann. 1-4 to deal with the 16 year period VP treats in a paragraph.

 

 

Ann. 2. 27-41 represents one of the first sustained description of events in Rome (including the trial of Libo), and also features the first direct speech by Tib.  We shall talk a little bit about this speech (Ann. 2.38 – see ref. to Miller article at bottom).  How does Tacitus know about it?  Does it strike you as authenticÉor made up?  And how can you tell?  To put this in another, more wissenschaftliche way: what do you think are TacitusÕ sources here?

 

One of the most dramatic events of Book 2 is the death of Germanicus, and aftermath of same (this reverberates through much of the subsequent narrative as well, as we shall see).  We shall concentrate on your reactions to and interpretations of the last 20 or so chapters of the book.  Among things to be considered: how would you summarize TacitusÕ view of Germanicus? Is there any significance to the fact that the book does not end at 83?  What is the effect of 84-88?

 

 

 

One of the more interesting books published on Tacitus in the past few years is Ellen OÕGormanÕs Irony and Misreading in the Annals of Tacitus (Cambridge 2000).  IÕd like you to read her Chapter 4, ÔReading Tiberius at face valueÕ, a scan of which I shall provide.  Come prepared (on Thursday) to critique EOGÕs chapter. 

 

Optional browsing: when our attention turns toward epigraphy in a few weeks, we shall be looking at several very famous inscriptions that bear on the death of Germanicus and honors decreed to him (cf. Tac. Ann. 2.83).  Two of the most famous are the so-called Tabula Hebana and (the more recently discovered) Tabula Siarensis.  If you want an advance glimpse, the Tabula Hebana may be found in Ehrenberg and JonesÕ Documents illustrating the Reigns of Augustus and Tiberius (=EJ) on our reserve shelf (#94a).  But you should also dip into G. RoweÕs Princes and Political Cultures.  The New Tiberian Senatorial Decrees (Michigan 2002).  This has both the Hebana and Siarensis (Latin and in English translation), as well as the (fairly) newly discovered SC de Pisone (more on that later), and extensive discussion of what they tell us about political culture under Tiberius.  This book is available electronically at:

 

http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailLookInside.do?id=17222

 

I am pretty sure this gives you access to the whole bookÉbut I havenÕt tested it!

 

 

You might also find it interesting to read a gem of an article by N. P. Miller, ÒTiberius Speaks: An Examination of the Utterances Ascribed to Him in the Annals of TacitusÓ, AJP 89.1 (1968) 1-19, available on JSTOR (have to be logged in to UW, I believe):

 

http://www.jstor.org/stable/293371

 

Éand hard copy in seminar room (in the AJP run)