This paper will examine intertextual references between the Dialogus of Tacitus and the letters o... more This paper will examine intertextual references between the Dialogus of Tacitus and the letters of Pliny, in particular those regarding boar hunting. It will argue that there are clues in the letters of Pliny which can help us to understand the relationship between these two writers as well as the tone and purpose of the Dialogus. By studying Pliny's letters to Tacitus on hunting (1.6, 9.10), one can see the specific reference to boars as an allusion to Marcus Aper, the chief spokesperson for contemporary eloquence in the dialogue, indicating a degree of humor and irony in the Dialogus that is further displayed by the similarity of Pliny's opening exhortation in Epistle 1.6, ridebis et licet rideas, to the final words of the Dialogus, cum adrisissent, discessimus. Moreover, the dialogue between Pliny and Tacitus in Pliny's letters can be seen as an indication that the Dialogus itself may have been revised throughout the years, thus problematizing the debate about the ““p...
By opening his Histories not with the death of Nero, but with the consular year 69 CE, Tacitus lo... more By opening his Histories not with the death of Nero, but with the consular year 69 CE, Tacitus locates his work in the annalistic tradition, setting up comparisons with the past (Pagán 2006, 201). In his programmatic introduction, Tacitus states that the events he is ...
Many scholars have studied how Tiberius relied upon, or was compelled to relate to, the image of ... more Many scholars have studied how Tiberius relied upon, or was compelled to relate to, the image of his deified adoptive father Augustus (1). But in many ways Tiberius was just as dependent upon the image of his adopted son Germanicus. We have been conditioned by reading Tacitus and other ancient historians to envision Tiberius as considering the death of Germanicus to be one of the happier moments of his reign (see esp. Ann. 4, 1, 1) (2). The documents published after the death of Germanicus present a different view. We can see in the Tabula Hebana, Tabula Siarensis, and Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone how the relationship between Tiberius and these two men was presented to the subjects of the empire, subjects who were devoted to the memory of Augustus and the family of Germanicus. This paper examines the subtle way in which these documents focus not so much on Tiberius as princeps (the present), but as the link between the reign of Augustus (the past) and the dynasty which would continue through the line of Germanicus (the future) (3).
This paper will examine intertextual references between the Dialogus of Tacitus and the letters o... more This paper will examine intertextual references between the Dialogus of Tacitus and the letters of Pliny, in particular those regarding boar hunting. It will argue that there are clues in the letters of Pliny which can help us to understand the relationship between these two writers as well as the tone and purpose of the Dialogus. By studying Pliny's letters to Tacitus on hunting (1.6, 9.10), one can see the specific reference to boars as an allusion to Marcus Aper, the chief spokesperson for contemporary eloquence in the dialogue, indicating a degree of humor and irony in the Dialogus that is further displayed by the similarity of Pliny's opening exhortation in Epistle 1.6, ridebis et licet rideas, to the final words of the Dialogus, cum adrisissent, discessimus. Moreover, the dialogue between Pliny and Tacitus in Pliny's letters can be seen as an indication that the Dialogus itself may have been revised throughout the years, thus problematizing the debate about the ““p...
By opening his Histories not with the death of Nero, but with the consular year 69 CE, Tacitus lo... more By opening his Histories not with the death of Nero, but with the consular year 69 CE, Tacitus locates his work in the annalistic tradition, setting up comparisons with the past (Pagán 2006, 201). In his programmatic introduction, Tacitus states that the events he is ...
Many scholars have studied how Tiberius relied upon, or was compelled to relate to, the image of ... more Many scholars have studied how Tiberius relied upon, or was compelled to relate to, the image of his deified adoptive father Augustus (1). But in many ways Tiberius was just as dependent upon the image of his adopted son Germanicus. We have been conditioned by reading Tacitus and other ancient historians to envision Tiberius as considering the death of Germanicus to be one of the happier moments of his reign (see esp. Ann. 4, 1, 1) (2). The documents published after the death of Germanicus present a different view. We can see in the Tabula Hebana, Tabula Siarensis, and Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone how the relationship between Tiberius and these two men was presented to the subjects of the empire, subjects who were devoted to the memory of Augustus and the family of Germanicus. This paper examines the subtle way in which these documents focus not so much on Tiberius as princeps (the present), but as the link between the reign of Augustus (the past) and the dynasty which would continue through the line of Germanicus (the future) (3).
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