CLASSICAL
CIVILISATION
By Mr G. de la Bédoyère MA FSA FHA FRNS for KSHS
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Listed on this page are all the literary and
inscription sources cited in the
Sources for AS CC6 City
Life in Roman Italy (Entry Code F386)
Petronius – Lit Source 1: a very satirical comment on
Roman society
Vitruvius – Lit Source 2: an architect’s handbook on
how to build a Roman house
Pliny the
Younger – Lit Source 3: an aristocrat who wrote a famous series of letters
and witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79
Tacitus – Lit Source 4: a Roman historian’s account of
the AD59 riot in
Strabo – Lit Source 5: a Roman geographer’s account of Antium and
Suetonius – Lit Source 6: a Roman historian on
Claudius’ public works
Pliny
the Elder – Lit Source 7: the Roman natural historian’s account of the
whale in the Claudian port at
Inscriptions
– texts from statue bases, tombs and other monuments at
Literary Source 1a: Petronius,
Satyricon
29–30
29. But as I was staring open-eyed at all these fine sights, I came
near tumbling backwards and breaking my legs. For to the left hand as you
entered, and not far from the porter's lodge, a huge chained dog was depicted
on the wall, and written above in capital letters: 'BEWARE DOG! 'BEWARE DOG! My
companions made merry at my expense; but soon regaining confidence, I fell to
examining the other paintings on the walls. One of these represented a
slave-market, the men standing up with labels round their necks, while in
another Trimalchio himself, wearing long hair,
holding a caduceus in his hand and led by Minerva, was entering Rome. Further
on, the ingenious painter had shown him learning accounts, and presently made
steward of the estate, each incident being made clear by explanatory inscriptions.
Lastly, at the extreme end of the portico, Mercury was lifting the hero by the
chin and placing him on the highest seat of a tribunal. Fortune stood by with
her cornucopia, and the three Fates, spinning his destiny with a golden thread.
I
noticed likewise in the portico a gang of running-footmen exercising under a
trainer. Moreover I saw in a corner a vast armoury; and in a shrine inside were
ranged Lares [household gods] of silver, and a marble
statue of Venus, and a golden casket of ample dimensions, in which they said
the great man's first beard was preserved. I now asked the hall-keeper what
were the subjects of the frescoes in the atrium itself? "The Iliad and
Odyssey," he replied, "and on your left the combat of gladiators
given under Laenas."
30. We had no opportunity of examining the numerous paintings more
minutely, having by this time reached the banquet-hall, at the outer door of
which the house-steward sat receiving accounts. But the thing that surprised me
most was to notice on the doorposts of the apartment fasces and axes fixed up,
the lower part terminating in an ornament resembling the bronze beak of a ship,
on which was inscribed:
TO GAIUS POMPEIUS TRIMALCHIO
AUGUSTAL SEVIR,
CINNAMUS HIS TREASURER
Underneath
this inscription hung a lamp with two lights, depending from the vaulting. Two
other tablets were attached to the doorposts. One, if my memory serves me, bore
the following inscription:
ON DECEMBER THIRTIETH
THIRTY-FIRST
OUR MASTER GAIUS DINES ABROAD
The
other showed the phases of the moon and the seven planets, while lucky and
unlucky days were marked by distinctive studs.
When,
sated with all these fine sights, we were just making for the entrance of the
banquet-hall, one of the slaves, stationed there for the purpose, called out,
"Right foot first!" Not unnaturally there was a moment's hesitation,
for fear one of us should break the rule. But this was not all; for just as we
stepped out in line right leg foremost, another slave, stripped of his outer
garments, threw himself before our feet, beseeching us to save him from
punishment. Not indeed that his fault was a very serious one; in point of fact
the steward's clothes had been stolen when in his charge at the bath,--a matter
of ten sesterces or so at the outside. So facing about, still right foot in
front, we approached the steward, who was counting gold in the hall, and asked
him to forgive the poor man. He looked up haughtily and said, "It's not so
much the loss that annoys me as the rascal's carelessness. He has lost my dinner
robes, which a client gave me on my birthday,--genuine Tyrian
purple [from Tyre in the Lebanon – highly-prized], I assure you, though only
once dipped. But there! I will pardon the delinquent at your request."
Literary
Source 1b: Petronius, Satyricon 45
XLV. "I beseech you," cried Echion, the old-clothes-man, at this point, "I beseech
you, better words! Luck's for ever changing, as the country yokel said, when he
lost his spotted pig. If not today, then tomorrow; that's the way the world
wags. My word! you couldn't name a better countryside, if only the inhabitants
were to match. True, we are in low water for the moment, but we're not the only
ones. We must not be so over particular, the same heaven is over us all. If you
lived elsewhere, you'd say pigs ran about here ready roasted.
"And
I tell you, we're going to have a grand show in three days from now at the
festival--none of your common gangs of gladiators, but most of the chaps are freedmen.
Our good Titus has a heart of gold and a hot head; 'twill be do or die, and no
quarter. I'm in his service, he is no shirker! He'll
have the best of sharp swords and no backing out; bloody butcher's meat in the
middle, for the amphitheatre to feast their eyes on. And he's got the
wherewithal; he was left thirty million, his father came to a bad end. Suppose
he does spend four hundred thousand or so, his property won't feel it, and his
name will live for ever. He has already got together a lot of ponies and a
female chariot fighter, and Glyco's factor, who was
caught diverting his mistress. You'll see what a row the people will have
betwixt the jealous husbands and the happy lovers. Anyhow Glyco,
who's not worth twopence, condemned his factor to the
beasts,--which was simply betraying his own dishonour. How was the servant to
blame, who was forced to do what he did? It was she, the pisspot,
deserved tossing by the bull far more than he. But there, if a man can't get at
the donkey's back, he must thrash the donkey's pack. And how could Glyco ever suppose Hermogenes'
girl should come to any good. He could cut a kite's claws flying; a snake
doesn't father a rope. Glyco! Glyco!
you've paid your price; as long as you live, you're a marked man,--a brand Hell
only can obliterate. A man's mistakes always come home to roost.
"Why!
I can nose out now what a feast Mammaea is going to
give us, two silver pieces each for me and mine. If he does so, I only hope
he'll show no favor whatever to Norbanus.
You may rest assured he will clap on all sail. And in good sooth what has the
other ever done for us? He gave a show of twopenny
halfpenny gladiators, such a rickety lot,--blow on them, they'd have fallen
flat; and I've seen better bestiaries. He killed his mounted men by torchlight,
you might have taken them for dunghill cocks. One was mule-footed, another
bandy-legged, while the third, put up to replace a dead man, was a deadhead
himself, for he was hamstrung before beginning. The only one to show any spunk
was a Thracian, and he only fought when we tarred him on. In the end they all
got a sound thrashing; in fact the crowd had cried 'Trice up!' for every one of
them, they were obviously such arrant runaways. 'Anyhow I gave you a show,'
said he. 'And I applauded,' said I; 'reckon it up, and I gave you more than I
got. One good turn deserves another.'
Literary
Source 1c: Petronius, Satyricon 71
LXXI. Delighted at the challenge, Trimalchio cried, "Yes! my friends, slaves are human
beings too, and have sucked mother's milk as well as we, though untoward
circumstance has borne them down. Nevertheless, without prejudicing me, they
shall some day soon drink the water of the free. In a word, I enfranchise them
all in my will. I bequeath into the bargain a farm and his bedfellow to Philargyrus, a street block to Cario,
besides a twentieth and a bed and bedding. I name Fortunata
my heir, and commend her to all my friends' kindness. And all this I make
public, to the end my whole household may love me now as well as if I were dead
already."
All
began to express their gratitude to so kind a master, when Trimalchio,
quite dropping his trifling vein, ordered a copy of his will to be fetched, and
read it through from beginning to end amid the groans of all members of the
household. Then turning to Habinnas, he asked him,
"What say you, dear friend? are you building my monument according to my
directions? I ask you particularly that at the feet of my effigy you have my
little bitch put, and garlands and perfume caskets and all Petraites'
fights, that by your good help I may live on even after death. The frontage is
to be a hundred feet long, and it must reach back two hundred. For I wish to
have all kinds of fruit trees growing around my ashes and plenty of vines.
Surely it's a great mistake to make houses so fine for the living, yet to give
never a thought to these where we have to dwell far, far longer. And that's why
I especially insist on the notice:
THIS MONUMENT DOES NOT DESCEND
TO THE HEIR.
But I
shall take good care to provide in my will against my remains being insulted.
For I intend to put one of my freedmen in charge of my burial place, to see
that the rabble don't come running and dirtying up my monument. I beg you to
have ships under full sail carved on it, and me sitting on the tribunal, in my
Senator's robes, with five gold rings on my fingers, and showering money from a
bag among the public; for you remember I gave a public banquet once, two silver
pieces a head. Also there should be shown, if you approve, a banqueting-hall, and
all the people enjoying themselves pleasantly. On my right hand put a figure of
my wife, Fortunata, holding a dove and leading a
little bitch on a leash, also my little lad, and some good capacious wine-jars,
stoppered so that the wine may not escape. Also you
may carve a broken urn, and a boy weeping over it. Also a horologe in the
centre, so that anyone looking to see the time must willy-nilly read my name.
As for the lettering, look this over carefully and see if you think it is good
enough:
HERE LIES
C. POMPEIUS TRIMALCHIO,
A SECOND MAECENAS (the name of his former master).
HE WAS NOMINATED PRIEST OF AUGUSTUS IN HIS ABSENCE.
HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN ATTENDANT ON ANY MAGISTRATE IN
PIOUS, BRAVE, HONORABLE, HE ROSE FROM THE RANKS.
WITHOUT LEARNING OR EDUCATION,
HE LEFT 30 MILLION SESTERCES
BEHIND HIM
FAREWELL TRIMALCHIO
Literary
Source 1d: Petronius, Satyricon 77
LXXVII. Now tell me, Habinnas,--you
were there at the time, I think--didn't he say: 'You have used your wealth to
set a mistress over you. You are not very lucky in your friends. No one is ever
properly grateful to you. You have enormous estates. You are nourishing a viper
beneath your wing,' and--why should I not tell you?--that I have now left me to
live thirty years, four months and two days. Also I am soon to come in for
another fortune. This is what my Fate has in store for me. And if I have the
luck to extend my lands to Apulia, I shall have done pretty well in my day.
Meantime by Mercury's good help, I have built this house. You remember it as a
cottage; it's as big as a temple now. It has four dining-rooms, twenty
bedrooms, two marble porticos, a series of storerooms up stairs, the chamber
where I sleep myself, this viper's sitting-room, an excellent porter's lodge;
while the guest chambers afford ample accommodations. In fact, when Scaurus comes this way, there's nowhere he better likes to
stop at, and he has an ancestral mansion of his own by the seaside. Yes! and there
are plenty more fine things I'll show you directly. Take my word for it,--Have
a penny, good for a penny; have something, and you're thought something. So
your humble servant, who was a toad once upon a time, is a king now. Meantime, Stichus, just bring out the graveclothes
I propose to be buried in; also the unguent, and a taste of the wine I wish to
have my bones washed with."
Literary Source 2: Vitruvius
De Architectura
VI.5. Vitruvius, the Roman architect,
describes how a Roman house should be designed and laid out.
1. Once the
positions of the rooms have been settled with respect to the parts of the sky,
we must next consider how the rooms in private houses for the householders
themselves, and those which are to be shared with visitors, should be laid out.
Private rooms are the ones which no-one has a right to enter uninvited, for
example bedrooms (cubicula), dining
rooms (triclinia),
bathrooms (balneae)
and others used for similar reasons. Communal rooms are those which any people
can enter, even uninvited, for example vestibules (vestibula), courtyards (cava aedium), peristyles (peristylia), and those which are used for the same purposes.
Therefore it is unnecessary for persons of ordinary means to have magnificent
vestibules, alcoves (tabulina),
and halls (atria), because such men
fulfil their social obligations by visiting others, rather than being visited themselves.
2. Those whose
business is country produce must have cattle stalls (stabula) and shops (taberna) in the
entrance court, with crypts (crypta), granaries (horrea), and store rooms (apothecae) which are intended to keep the produce
in good condition rather than creating an elegant effect. Houses of bankers and
tax officials need to be more spacious and impressive and protected against
robbery, those of lawyers and public speakers distinguished and spacious enough
to accommodate meetings. For men of rank who hold office and magistracies, who
have obligations to the community, regal vestibules, highly-distinguished halls
and peristyles, trees and wide avenues finished to a
proper level of grandeur. Also, libraries, basilicas in a not
dissimilar fashion to public buildings because public judgments as well as
private trials and sentences are often held in such houses.
3. So, if houses are
designed in a manner to suit different social classes, as described in the
first book under ‘Decor’ [i.2.5], there will be nothing to criticise for the
rules are suitable and correct in all circumstances. The rules hold not only in
town, but also the country, except that in town the halls (atria) are usually next to the entrance (ianua) whereas in the country the
peristyles come first, followed by the halls (atria) surrounded by paved colonnades
looking over the palaestra and avenues.
Literary Source 3a: Pliny Letters
To Annius Severus.
Out of a legacy which I have come in for I have just bought a
Corinthian bronze, small it is true, but a charming and sharply-cut piece of
work, so far as I have any knowledge of art, and that, as in everything else
perhaps, is very slight. But as for the statue in question even I can
appreciate its merits. For it is a nude, and neither conceals its faults, if
there are any, nor hides at all its strong points. It represents an old man in
a standing posture; the bones, muscles, nerves, veins, and even the wrinkles
appear quite life-like; the hair is thin and scanty on the forehead; the brow
is broad; the face wizened; the neck thin; the shoulders are bowed; the breast
is flat, and the belly hollow. The back too gives the same impression of age,
as far as a back view can. The bronze itself, judging by the genuine colour, is
old and of great antiquity. In fact, in every respect it is a work calculated
to catch the eye of a connoisseur and to delight the eye of an amateur, and
this is what tempted me to purchase it, although I am the merest novice.
But I bought it not to keep it at home -- for as yet I have no
Corinthian art work in my house -- but that I might put it up in my native
country in some frequented place, and I specially had in mind the Temple of
Jupiter. For the statue seems to me to be worthy of the temple, and the gift to
be worthy of the god. So I hope that you will show me your usual kindness when
I give you a commission, and that you will undertake the following for me. Will
you order a pedestal to be made, of any marble you like, to be inscribed with
my name and titles, if you think the latter ought to be mentioned? I will send
you the statue as soon as I can find any one who is not overburdened with
luggage, or I will bring myself along with it, as I dare say you would prefer
me to do. For, if only my duties allow me, I am intending to run down thither.
You are glad that I promise to come, but you will frown when I add that I can
only stay a few days. For the business which hitherto has kept me from getting
away will not allow of my being absent any longer. Farewell.
Literary
Source 3b: Pliny Letters VI.16
By far the best-known record of the
eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 is the eyewitness account by Pliny the Younger.
The spectacle had attracted his uncle, Pliny the Elder (author of the Natural History), who was killed by the
poisonous fumes. His nephew was asked by the historian Tacitus
to furnish him with a description of the occasion to be incorporated into his Histories (which, apart from the period
covering the civil war of 68-9 does not survive), and he responded with two
letters.
Pliny to Cornelius Tacitus
You ask me to
write you something about the death of my uncle, which you can leave to
posterity as a reliable account. I am thankful, for I see that his death will
be remembered forever if you record it.
He died in the
destruction of the loveliest landscape, in a memorable disaster which affected
peoples and cities alike, but this will be a form of eternal life for him.
Although he wrote many long-lasting books himself, the indestructible nature of
what you write will vastly add to his immortality. In my view the lucky ones
are those to who are born to do something worth writing about, or to write
something worth reading. The luckiest, of course, are those who do both. My
uncle will be counted amongst the latter for his own books and yours.
So with great
pleasure I have taken up, or taken upon myself, the job you have given me. My
uncle was at Misenum during his time in command of
the fleet. On the 24th August at the seventh hour of daylight my
mother alerted him to an unusually large cloud of strange appearance. At the
time he was resting after dinner with his book, following some sunbathing and a
cold bath. He had his shoes brought and then climbed up to where he could get
the best view of the phenomenon. The cloud was rising from a mountain too far
away to identify, but afterwards we discovered it was Vesuvius.
I can best
describe it as looking like a pine tree rather than any other sort. It rose up
into the sky on a very long ‘trunk’ from which ‘branches’ spread out. I suppose
it had been pushed up by a sudden blast, which then lost its force, leaving the
unsupported cloud to spread out sideways under its own weight. Some of the
cloud was white, but other parts were dark patches of dirt and ash. The sight
provoked my uncle’s scientific instinct to see it from closer at hand. He ordered
a boat to be got ready. He offered me the chance to go with him, but I
preferred to carrying on studying (in fact he had himself set a writing
exercise).
As he left the
house he was brought a letter from Tascius’ wife Rectina, who was terrified by the impending danger. Her
villa lay on the foothills of Vesuvius, and there was no escape except by boat.
She begged him to rescue her. He changed his plans. What had started out as a
quest for information now needed a greatness of spirit. He launched the warships
and boarded himself, prospective assistance for more than just Rectina, because that beautiful shoreline was
heavily-populated. He rushed to where other people were escaping and carried
straight on into danger. It seems he had no fear, because he described
everything and the shape of that evil cloud, dictating what he saw.
By this time
ash was falling onto the ships, getting hotter and denser as they went closer.
Next came bits of pumice, and blackened rocks, charred and shattered by the
fire. Then they were on the shore, blocked by debris from the mountain. My
uncle hesitated for an instant wondering whether to turn back as the helmsman
was urging him. ‘Fortune favours the brave [Terence, Phormio 203],’ he said, ‘make for
Pomponianus.’ Pomponianus
was cut off at Stabiae by the width of the bay (which
gradually curves round a basin filled by the sea) so he was not yet in danger,
though it was obvious he would be as the catastrophe spread.
Pomponianus had already loaded his belongings onto his ships
before the danger arrived. He intended to set sail the moment the wind [holding
the cloud back] changed. The same wind brought my uncle right in, and he
embraced the frightened man reassuring and encouraging him. In order to lessen
the other man’s fear with his own composure he asked to be taken to the baths.
He bathed and dined, cheerfully or at least looking as if he was (which is just
as impressive).
In the meantime
great sheets of flame were lighting up many parts of Vesuvius. The light and
brightness were all the more vivid against the darkness of the night. My uncle
put it about that the fires came from farmhouses whose owners had fled without
extinguishing the hearth fires, in order to calm people’s fears. Then he
rested, and looked to all account as if he was actually asleep. People passing
his door could hear him snoring, which was rather resonant because he was
stoutly built. The ground outside his room was rising so high with the build-up
of ash and stones that if he had stayed there any longer escape would have been
impossible. He got up and came out, rejoining Pomponianus
and all the others who could not sleep.
They discussed
what to do, whether to stay under cover or chance the open air. The buildings
were being shaken by a series of strong tremors, and seemed to be shaking all
over the place as if they had been ripped from their foundations. But outside,
there was danger from the rocks that were falling down, even though they were
light and porous. Weighing up the dangers, they plumped for the outside. As far
as my uncle was concerned, that was a rational decision. The others just went
for the option that frightened them the least. They tied pillows onto their
heads to protect them against the shower of rocks.
Everywhere else
in the world it was daylight now, but here the darkness was darker and murkier
than any night. But they had torches and other lights. He decided to go down to
the shore to see if there was any possibility of escape by sea. But it was
still too rough and dangerous. Resting on a sail he took one or two drinks from
the cold water he had asked for. Then came a sulphurous smell, warning of the
approaching flames, and then the flames themselves. That sent the others into
flight and roused him to his feet. Supported by two slaves he stood and then
collapsed without warning. My understanding is that he was choked by the thick
fumes blocking his windpipe which was weak by nature and often inflamed. When
daylight returned two days after he died, his body was found untouched, unharmed,
and still fully-clothed. He looked more asleep than dead.
All this time
my mother and I were at Misenum but this has no
historical interest and you only asked for information about his death so I
will stop here. But I will add one thing, namely, that I have written down
everything I did and heard at the time while my memory was still fresh. You
will use which bits are important because writing a letter and history are two
different things, as is writing for a friend or the public. Farewell.
Pliny the Younger,
Letters, VI.16
Literary
Source 3c: Pliny, Letters VI.20 – a
further account of the eruption of Vesuvius
Pliny to Cornelius Tacitus
Since the letter, which you asked me to write about the death of my
uncle, has stimulated your curiosity to learn what terrors and dangers affected
me while I remained at Misenum because I broke off
just as my story started. ‘Though my shocked soul recoils, my tongue shall tell
[ Virgil, Aeneid
II.12].’
My uncle having left us, I spent such time as was left on my
studies (it was on their account indeed that I had stopped behind), until it
was time for my bath. After that I had supper, and then fell into a brief and
restless sleep. For several days earth tremors had been noticed but they didn’t
worry us much because that’s quite normal in Campania.
But they were so violent that night that everything around us seemed to be
knocked over, not just shaken. My mother came rushing into my room, where she
came across me getting up to wake her. We sat down in the forecourt of the
house, which lay in a small place between the house and the sea. At the time I
was still only seventeen. I don’t know whether my behaviour at that precarious
moment was courageous or foolhardy, but I picked up a copy of Livy and amused myself by browsing through his pages and
even making extracts as I went just as if I was enjoying my usual leisure.
At that moment a friend of my uncle’s who had recently joined him
from Spain came up to us. Noticing me sitting beside my mother, and holding a
book, he chided me for being so stupid and her for allowing me to be so. Even
so, I carried on with my book. Though by now it was morning, the light was dim
and faint. Buildings around us were on the point of collapsing and even though
we were in open ground, it was too narrow and confined for us to stay there
without imminent danger so we decided to leave the town. We were followed by a
panic-stricken crowd (because to people driven demented by terror, any other
prospect seems more sensible than what they come up with themselves) , who
shovelled us along as we came out by pushing hard behind us en masse.
Once we were beyond the houses we stopped, frozen, in the middle of
a dangerous and terrifying scene. The carriages we had ordered brought out
began running in different directions, even though the ground was flat, so that
we could not steady them, even using large stones to chock them. The sea seemed
to be sucked away and forced back by the earthquake. What is beyond doubt is
that it left a much enlarged shoreline and many marine animals were left high
and dry. On the other side, a terrible black cloud, fragmented by swift and
jagged flashes, revealing various shapeless sheets of flame behind it. They
were like sheet lightning but much bigger. At this point our Spanish friend
spoke up, even more anxiously, ‘if your brother, your uncle, is still alive, he
will want you both to come out of this alive. If he’s dead, he would want you
to survive him, so don’t hesitate to escape!’ Our response was that we were
unconcerned about our safety so long as his was in question. He didn’t wait any
longer and raced off to hurry out of the danger area as quickly as he could.
Not long after this, the cloud sank down to the surface and obscured
the sea. Already it had blotted out Capri and the Misenum
promontory. My mother begged, implored and ordered me to escape however I
could. A youth could get away, but she was slow and old and would die in peace
if she knew she hadn’t caused my death as well. I said that I would not escape
without her and gripped her hand to pull her along more quickly. Reluctantly
she agreed, but blamed herself for being the cause of slowing me down.
By now ashes were falling but not thickly yet. I looked about: a
thick black cloud was approaching from behind, covering the land like
floodwater. I said, ‘let’s get off the road while we can see where we are going
otherwise we’ll be knocked over and crushed by the crowd behind in the dark.’
No sooner had we sat down to rest when it got dark. This wasn’t the dark of a
moonless or a cloudy night, but like the darkness in a closed room when the
light is extinguished. Women could be heard screaming, babies crying, and men
shouting. Some were calling for their parents, others for their children, or
their husbands and trying to recognize each other from the voices that
responded. People were bemoaning their fate, or that of their family. Some
wanted to die to escape the terror of dying. Some raised their hands up to the
gods but most were now sure there were no gods at all and that this was the
final night at the end of the world.
Amongst these voices were some who made the real terror worse by
imagining or inventing things. I recall that some said part of Misenum had collapsed, and another said it was ablaze. This
wasn’t true but they found some people who believed them. Some light returned
now, which we thought meant a large burst of flames was approaching (as it
turned out to be) rather than the restoration of daylight. However, the fire
stayed some way from us so once again we were immersed in thick darkness. A
heavy shower of ashes rained down on us, which we had every now and then to
stand up to shake off, otherwise we would have been crushed and buried in the
heap.
I could boast that, during all this scene of horror, not one groan,
or expression of fear, escaped from me, had it not been for the fact that my
miserable consolation lay in the thought that the whole human race was
suffering the same calamity and that I was going to die with the world itself.
Finally the darkness began to clear by increments, like a cloud or smoke. The
real daylight returned and even the sun shone through but with a pallid light
as it does when an eclipse is beginning. We were terrified by the sight of
everything different, covered with deep ashes like a snowdrift. We went back to
Misenum, where we refreshed ourselves as best we
could and spent the night in anxiety and fear. It was mostly the latter because
the earthquakes carried on while many terrified people ran up and down making
their own tragedies and those of their friends seem ridiculous in comparison to
what they were predicting would follow. However, neither of us had any
intention of leaving, despite the dangers we had experienced and which still
threatened us, until we heard what had happened to my uncle.
Naturally, these details aren’t of any use to history and you will
look at them with no concern for recording them. If they seem barely worth the
trouble of putting in a letter, it is your fault for asking for them.
Pliny the Younger, Letters,
VI.20
Literary
Source 3d: Pliny Letters
To Caninius
Rufus
You deliberate with me how the money, that
you have offered our home town for a banquet, will be safe after you are dead.
It’s an honour to be consulted, but my opinion is not swift. The money might be
given to the town government, but there’s a risk it could be frittered away. Or
you might give land, but it would be subject to the usual neglect of public
property. I can think of no better scheme than the one I made myself. I had
promised half a million sesterces to take care of free-born boys and girls.
Instead of paying this over, I transferred some of my land (worth in fact a lot
more) to the public agent and then rented it back from him at 30,000 sesterces
per annum. This way the capital is secured for the town, the interest is
guaranteed, and the land will always find a tenant because it is worth far more
than the rent charged. I know very well that I have paid out more than the sum
I gave since the fixed rent has reduced the value of a good property. But one
should make a public and permanent gain take precedence over personal
short-term interests, and consider the security of a gift more than one’s own
gains. Farewell.
Literary Source 4a: Tacitus
Annals XIV.17 AD 59–60 (reign of Nero) – the amphitheatre riot at
A trifling incident led to a dreadful massacre
between the Nucerian and Pompeian colonies at a
gladiatorial spectacle put on by Livineius Regulus, whose removal from the senate has been mentioned.
For they assailed each other with the abuse typical of country towns, then rocks, and finally drew steel. The upper hand
was with the Pompeii mob, where the show had been put on. The outcome was that
man Nucerians were carried wounded to Rome, while
many mourned the deaths of children or parents. Nero delegated the trial of the
case to the senate and by the senate to the consuls. When the case went again
before the senators, the Pompeian community was banned from putting on any
similar show for ten years, and the illegal guilds they had formed were
dissolved. Livineius and the others behind the
insurrection were punished with exile.
Literary
Source 4b: Tacitus, Annals XV.18 AD 62 (reign of Nero) – grain destroyed by Nero, a
storm, and fire
To conceal his concern about the situation
abroad, Nero had the mob’s grain (which had rotted through age) thrown into the
Tiber to show confidence about the corn-supply. The price did not go up even
though two hundred ships were destroyed in a violent storm in port [at the Harbour of Claudius at
Literary Source 5: Strabo, Geography V.3.5 – the city of
5 The coastal cities of the Latii are, first, Ostia: it has
no harbour because of the silting up caused by the Tiber, which is fed by
numerous streams. Now although it is at great risk that the merchant-ships anchor
way out in the swell, it is the prospect of grain which take priority. In fact it
is the good supply of tenders, which offload the cargoes and bring cargoes in
exchange, that makes it possible for the ships to sail away quickly before they
reach the Tiber. Alternatively, after being offloaded of part of their cargo,
they sail into the Tiber and head inland as far as Rome, which is 190 stadia [=
equal to about
Literary Source 6: Suetonius,
Life of Claudius 18–20 – the Emperor
Claudius’ (AD 41–54) public works
18 ![[Legamen ad paginam Latinam]](ccsources_files/image004.gif){kind=small}
He always gave scrupulous
attention to the care of the city and the supply of grain. On the occasion of a stubborn fire in the Aemiliana he remained
in the Diribitoriun [a large building in Mars Field where votes were counted]
for two nights, and when a body of soldiers and of his own slaves could not
give sufficient help, he summoned the commons from all parts of the city
through the magistrates, and placing bags full of money before them, urged them
to the rescue, paying each man on the spot a suitable reward for his services. 2 When there was a scarcity of grain
because of long-continued droughts, he was once stopped in the middle of the
Forum by a mob and so pelted with abuse and at the same time with pieces of
bread, that he was barely able to make his escape to the Palace by a back door;
and after this experience he resorted to every possible means to bring grain to
Rome, even in the winter season. To the merchants he held out the certainty of
profit by assuming the expense of any loss that they might suffer from storms,
and offered to those who would build merchant ships large bounties, adapted to
the condition of each: 19 to a citizen exemption
from the lex Papia Poppaea; to a Latin the rights of Roman citizenship; to women the privileges allowed
the mothers of four children. And all these provisions are in force to‑day
[when Suetonius wrote at the beginning of the second century AD].
Note:
Seneca (de brevitate vitae xviii.5) records that when Gaius Caligula died in AD 41, mismanagement
of the Empire had left only 7–8 days’ supply of grain in Rome.
20 The public works which he
[Claudius] completed were great and essential rather than numerous; they were
in particular the following: an aqueduct begun by Gaius; also the outlet of
Lake Fucinus and the harbour at Ostia, although in the case of the last two he knew that Augustus had refused the former to the Marsians in spite
of their frequent requests, and that the latter had often been thought of by
the Deified Julius, but given up because of its difficulty. He
brought to the city on stone arches the cool and abundant founts of the
Claudian aqueduct, one of which is called Caeruleus and the other Curtius and
Albudignus, and at the same time the spring of the new River Anio, distributing
them into many beautifully ornamented pools. He made the attempt on the Fucine
lake as much in the hope of gain as of glory, inasmuch as there were some who
agreed to drain it at their own cost, provided the land that was uncovered be
given to them. He finished the outlet, which was three miles in length, partly
by levelling and partly by tunnelling a mountain, a work of great difficulty
and requiring eleven years, although he had thirty thousand men at work all the
time without interruption. He constructed the harbour at Ostia by building
curving breakwaters on the right and left, while before the entrance he placed
a mole in deep water. To give this mole a firmer foundation, he first sank the
ship in which the great obelisk had been brought from Egypt, and then securing
it by piles, built upon it a very lofty tower after the model of the Pharos at
Alexandria, to be lighted at night and guide the course of ships.
The ship referred to in the last sentence was used by
Caligula (AD 37–41) to bring the obelisk from Egypt. This is recorded by Pliny
the Elder, Natural History 16.76.201
(and 36.14.70 below). The obelisk still stands in St Peter’s Square in the
Vatican.
Literary Source 7: Pliny the Elder, Natural History 9.5.14–15
A whale was seen
in the port at Ostia fighting with the Emperor Claudius. It came at the time
when Claudius was completing the harbour works, being tempted by a wrecked
ship’s cargo of hides imported from Gaul. In gorging itself for several days it
ploughed into the shallow seabed with waves heaping sand up so high that it was
not able to turn round in any manner and, while it pursued its feast (which was
propelled by the waves towards the shore), its back projected way above the
water like a capsized boat. Claudius ordered that many nets be stretched across
the harbour’s mouth, and setting out himself with the praetorian cohorts he
offered a show to the Roman people with soldiers throwing spears from the ships
as the whale rose up, one of which we saw sunk by being filled with water from
the whale’s snorting.
This extract from Pliny the Elder is important because it
is likely the incident provided the inspiration for Claudius’ use of the
obelisk-transport ship as the foundation of the mole designed to protect the
entrance to his new harbour (see previous source by Suetonius and the next
source).
ADDITIONAL
Literary Source 7b: Pliny the Elder, Natural
History 36.14.70 – sinking a ship at the Claudian
harbour
The divine Claudius
preserved for several years the ship which Gaius Caesar imported [the third
obelisk brought to Rome], because it was the most remarkable thing ever seen on
the sea. Towers of volcanic cement were built in its hull at Puteoli, then
taken to Ostia by imperial order and sunk there for the harbour works.
*****************************************************************************************************************************************
Inscriptions – texts from statue bases, tombs and other monuments at
Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Ostia
The reference numbers on these inscriptions
are purely for the record. CIL stands for Corpus
Inscriptionum Latinarum (1863–); ILS stands for Inscriptionum latinae selectae (1892–1916); AE stands for L’année
épigraphique (1888–). The numbers like E42 and F91 are references to the
catalogue in Cooley, A. E. and Cooley, M. G. L. Pompeii: A Sourcebook 2004, Routledge. ISBN 0415262127.
Pictures of some of these and other Pompeii inscriptions here
(unfortunately a French site)
** Pompeii 1: CIL.
X.810 ILS 3785 E42 (dedication found in the Street of Abundance)
Eumachia, daughter of Lucius, public
priestess, in her own name and that of her son, Marcus Numistrius Fronto, built
with her own money the porch, crypt and portico (in honour) of Concordia
Augusta and Piety, and dedicated them.
** Pompeii 2: CIL X.813 ILS 6368 E43b (a statue base of
Eumachia in the The Building of Eumachia)
To Eumachia, daughter of Lucius
and public priestess, the fullers (erected this).
** Pompeii 3: CIL X.808/8348 ILS 63 E44 (a statue base
of Aeneas in the Building of Eumachia)
Aeneas (son) of Venus and Anchises,
(led) into Italy the Trojans who had survived when Troy was captured (and
burned ...[text lost] …. Founded (the town of Lavinium
and reigned there) for three years. In the Laurentine
War he did not disappear and was called Father Indigens
and was received among the company of gods.
** Pompeii 4: CIL X.809 ILS 64 E45 (a statue base of
Romulus in the Building of Eumachia)
Romulus, son of Mars, founded the city of
Rome and reigned for 38 years. He was the first general to dedicate the enemy
spoils to Jupiter Feretrius, having slain the enemy’s
general, King Acro of the Caeninenses,
and, having been received among the company of the gods, was called Quirinus.
** Pompeii 5: E46 (plaque of Eumachia, context unknown)
Eumachia, daughter of Lucius,
(set up) this statue.
** Pompeii 6: AE (1992), 277 E45 (Tomb
of Eumachia)
Eumachia, daughter of Lucius,
for herself and her family.
** Pompeii 7: CIL X.1024 ILS 6366 F91 (Tomb
of Aulus Umbricius Scaurus – for his house see here)
To Aulus Umbricius Scaurus, son of Aulus, of the Menenian tribe,
duumvir [one of the two governing magistrates] with judicial power. The town
councillors voted him a site for his monument, 2000 sesterces for his funeral,
and an equestrian statue to be set up in the Forum. His father Scaurus dedicated this to his son.
** Pompeii 8: AE (1992), 278a–d H20a and H20b (mosaic depicting an
inscribed amphora in Aulus Umbricius
Scaurus’ business)
Scaurus’ finest mackerel sauce from Scaurus’
workshop. Finest fish purée. Scaurus’ finest mackerel
sauce. Finest fish purée from the workshop of Scaurus.
** Pompeii 9: CIL X.846 ILS 6367 C5 (inscription from
the Temple of Isis, recording its rebuilding after an earthquake)
Numerius Popidius Celsinus,
son of Numerius, rebuilt at his own expense the
Temple of Isis, which had fallen down in an earthquake, from the ground up.
Though he was only 6 years old, the town councillors nominated him one of their
number without charge, because of his generosity.
[N.B. this boy was ineligible to be a town
councillor because of his age. His father, as a freedman (freed slave), could
never have been a councillor so what he was doing was buying influence in the
council through his son by donating to the temple repairs in his son’s name]
** Pompeii 10: CIL X.814 ILS 5198 D70 (portrait of the
actor Norbanus Sorex, found
in the Temple of Isis. He is known also from a dedication he made at the Shrine
of Diana at Nemi, near Rome)
(Portrait) of Gaius
Norbanus Sorex, (actor) of
second (parts). The Presidents of the Favoured Augustan Suburban Country
District (erected this). The place having been given by decree of the town
councillors.
** Pompeii 11: CIL X.847 E4 (inscription from a statue of
Bacchus as Osiris found in the Temple of Isis; the
name of the dedicator is the father of Numerius Popidius Celsinus, the 6-year-old
boy who had supposedly rebuilt the temple)
Numerius Popidius Ampliatus,
father, at his own expense.
** Pompeii 12: CIL X.849 E5 (inscription from a statue of
Isis found in the Temple of Isis)
Lucius Caecilius Phoebus erected (this
statue) in a place given by decree of the town councillors.
**
To Augustan
**
Gaius Quinctius Valgus,
son of Gaius, and Marcus Porcius,
son of Marcus, quinquennial duumvirs, for the honour
of the colony (of Pompeii), saw to the construction of the amphitheatre at
their own expense and gave the area to the colonists in perpetuity.
**
Naevoleia Tyche, freedwoman of Lucius, for herself and Gaius Munatius Faustus, Augustalis and
Country District Dweller for whom the town councillors (decuriones) decreed an honorific
chair for his merits by consent of the people. This monument Naevoleia Tyche had made while
she lived, for her own freedmen and freedwomen and those of Gaius
Munatius Faustus.
N.B. The following two inscriptions are also
available from the OCR
Class Civ Support Materials site (wording
slightly different, but essentially the same as below):
** Herculaneum: AE
(1976), no. 144 (an inscription from Augustan times honouring Marcus Nonius Balbus, the town’s chief
and very popular benefactor; carved on the funerary altar on the terrace next to the Suburban Baths).
Taking into account the speech of
Marcus Ofillius Celer,
duumvir for the second time, according to which it was important for the
dignity of our town to answer the good deeds of Marcus Nonius
Balbus, the following decision was made: since Marcus
Nonius Balbus, during the
time when he lived here, expressed towards each one of us and collectively, the
spirit of a father with many generosities, it was agreeable to the decurions to
place an equestrian statue of him with the expenses of the community in a place
that is frequented as much as possible, with the following inscription:
To Marcus Nonius
Balbus, son of Marcus, of the voting tribe Menenia, praetor with proconsular
power, patron,
by order of the entire town council of
Herculaneum, on account of his merits [set it up]
Moreover, it was decided that on the
place where his ashes were gathered a marble altar should be set up with the
following inscription at public expense: “To Marcus Nonius
Balbus, son of Balbus”; and
from that place the procession of the Parentalia
Festival should start, that one day in the customary gymnastic games be in his
honour, and when shows are celebrated in the theatre his honorific seat is laid
out.
N.B.
Marcus Nonius Balbus was a
prominent figure at Herculaneum in the late first century BC. He came from Nuceria but lived in Herculaneum. He was praetor, consul
and then proconsular governor of the province of
Crete and Cyrene, tribune of the plebs in 32 BC, and
supported Octavian in his bid for power – he backed the right side: Octavian
became Augustus, Rome’s first emperor in 27 BC. Thanks to Balbus’
generosity to Herculaneum, recorded on inscriptions which show that he paid for
works on the gates and the basilica, he was named patron of the city. When he
died, he was awarded exceptional honours were bestowed on his memory. These are
described in the long inscription above. Other inscription show that at least
ten statues were erected to him in Herculaneum.
Some
books describe Marcus Nonius Balbus
as having been a supporter of Vespasian in the Civil
War of AD68–69 and attribute his building work on the basilica at Herculaneum
as being repair work following the earthquake of AD 63. This is a major error
which has persisted over some years and probably goes back to Joseph Deiss’s book Herculaneum
(1966 and later printings, p. 118) who claimed that the inscription above
stated a number of things which it does not. I am grateful to Dr Jo Berry of
Swansea University for confirming the truth.
Additional
Herculaneum texts referring to Balbus (this is NOT
prescribed material):
Herculaneum: CIL X.1425 ILS 5527
Marcus Nonius
Balbus, son of Marcus, proconsul, [built] the
basilica, gates [and] wall with his own money
Herculaneum: CIL X.1426 ILS 896
To Marcus Nonius
Balbus, son of Marcus, praetor and proconsul, from
the Herculaneans
Herculaneum: CIL X.1429 ILS 896A
To Marcus Nonius
Balbus, son of Marcus, from the municipal citizens of
his city of
**
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, son of Drusus, Chief
Priest, holding tribunician power for the 6th
time, designated consul for the 4th time, declared imperator (= general) for the 12th
time, Father of the Country, having constructed the ditch works from the Tiber
with the purpose of discharging into the sea for the harbour works, freed Rome
from the danger of flooding.
(Thylander
= Hilding Thylander, Inscriptions du
Port d’Ostie)
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The Balbus inscription text:
[Qu]od M(arcus) Ofillius Celer IIvir iter(um)
v(erba) f(ecit): pertinere at (sic) municipi /
dignitatem meritis M(arci) Noni Balbi respondere
d(e) e(a) r(e) i(ta) c(ensuerunt) / [cu]m
M(arcus) Nonius Balbus quo hac vixerit parentis
animum cum plurima liberalitat(e) /
singulis universisque praistiterit placere
decurionibus statuam equestrem ei poni quam /
celeberrimo loco ex pecunia publica inscribique
"M(arco) Nonio M(arci) f(ilio) Men(enia)
Balbo pr(aetori) proco(n)s(uli) patrono universus /
ordo populi Herculanie(n){s}sis ob
merita eius" item eo loco quo cineres eius conlecti sunt
aram / marmoream fieri et
constitui inscribique publice "M(arco) Nonio
M(arci) f(ilio) Balbo" exque eo loco
parentalibu(s) / pompam duci ludisque gymnicis qui
soliti erant fieri diem edici unum in
honorem eius
et cum in Theatro / ludi fient sellam eius
poni c(ensuerunt)