Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars is one of the most important sources for the early days of the Principate. Suetonius includes all sorts of fascinating biographical details about the men he describes--along with plenty of sometimes unverifiable gossip and rumor.For Thursday's class, please read Suetonius' account of Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius (Caligula), Claudius, or Nero. Pick a line that illustrates particularly well either the emperor's achievements or the way in which that emperor's life was a personal traagedy, or a tragedy for the people of Rome.
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I think Caligula was a very interesting emperor. On one hand you have the account of him giving an huge gift of money to a freedwoman who held her tongue under torture about her patron, which according to Suetonius was meant to show he encouraged this kind of noble and honest action. On the other side of the mirror we have there are stories of incest with his sisters, murdering his brother over a cold medicine, and the cruelties he took with the gladiator games. Without a system of checks and balances, for instance if the Senate had been able to actually do something rather than run away from the Praetorians, it shows the kindness of a megalomaniac and his recklessness if placed in a position of absolute power that allows him to indulge any whim.
he neglected his duties sometimes "He left Spain and Syria without consular governors for several years, suffered Armenia to be overrun by the Parthians, Moesia to be laid waste by the Dacians and Sarmatians, and the Gallic provinces by the Germans, to the great dishonour of the empire and no less to its danger. "
he was also really cruel and ruthless in his later years, The people were so glad of his death, that at the first news of it some ran about shouting, "Tiberius to the Tiber"
"By thus gaining the throne he fulfilled the highest hopes of the Roman people, or I may say of all mankind, since he was the prince most earnestly desired by the great part of the provincials and soldiers, many of whom had known him in his infancy, as well as by the whole body of the city populace, because of the memory of his father Germanicus and pity for a family that was all but extinct."
Caligula was a very mercurial sort of person who bounced from acts which anyone could praise, to acts for which he could only be condemned. I think that, for him, it is definately both a personal tragedy that things ended for him the way that they did and for the Roman people. He had such promise; but so many problems that he could not overcome.During the first 2 years, Caligula proved to be a wonderful ruler;had he continued along that path, who knows, but after that...
Cassandra
XXIX. He so prostituted his own chastity that after defiling almost every part of his body, he at last devised a kind of game, in which, covered with the skin of some wild animal, he was let loose from a cage and attacked the private parts of men and women, who were bound to stakes, and when he had sated his mad lust, was dispatched by his freedman Doryphorus; for he was even married to this man in the same way that he himself had married Sporus, going so far as to imitate the cries and lamentations of a maiden being deflowered. I have heard from some men that it was his unshaken conviction that no man was chaste or pure in any part of his body, but that most of them concealed their vices and cleverly drew a veil over them; and that therefore he pardoned all other faults in those who confessed to him their lewdness.
I read about Nero. I think that anyone reading this would understand that Nero was a very confused man. Anytime that you do something like this, it's obvious he wasn't playing the game with a full deck of cards upstairs. This shows why I have always heard him being called Nero the Pyscho.
I read about Caligula. He was a piece of work. It is amazing to think of someone like him coming to power. He is one apple that fell far from the tree. This is what happens when their is a succession of power rather than a selection of power. The people you are able to choose from gets smaller and smaller until one day you are left with a choice that you don't want to make. Calligula had so many scandals and he was basically a terrible human being who couldn't responsibly handle the power he was given. He wouldn't make it even by today's moral standards. He is however a very interesting Roman character. The people placed so much hope in him and were ultimately disappointed. This shows the problems with one sided law and weak leadership from Caligula side and from the other leaders of the Roman people.
"...counselling him to gratify the intense and just hatred of the citizens as soon as possible by a voluntary death. "
Tiberius was not a nice person it's true, with his seemingly limitless cruelty and his normal participation in torture. Then we are given this passage that shows that Tiberius knew he wasn't a great guy, but he tells the senate he will not change. Knowing one must change, but refusing for one reason or another is very sad indeed. I think perhaps Tiberius suffered from major anxiety and that may have been one of the reasons he was so cruel.
He also gave up his usual exercises with horses and arms, and laying aside the garb of his country, took to the cloak and slippers; and in this state he continued for upwards of two years, becoming daily an object of greater contempt and aversion. I think this really explains how dull and drab the life of the emperor became. He had nothing too do that gave him pleasure and he gave up many activities which made his life really not too great.
"When the death of Claudius [54 C.E.] was made public, Nero, who was seventeen years old, went forth to the watch between the sixth and seventh hour, since no earlier time for the formal beginning of his reign seemed suitable because of bad omens throughout the day." Nero gets his power of being emperor of Rome only by the untimely death of his stepfather Claudius. Claudius was supposedly killed by his wife (Nero's mother) because she wanted her son to become the emperor of Rome. The beginning of Nero's reign is the beginning of some disasters in Rome. Fires, instability in the government, mass killings, and other great problems in Rome. After Caligula, Nero may have been the most evil emperor of Rome. Many of us have heard the stories, that Nero liked to have organized sports where christians, (Nero was a devout Pagan) are thrown to lions. There are also the stories that "Nero fiddled while Rome burned" Some people believe that George W. Bush is a total failure. If they read about the leadership of Nero, they will see worse leadership.
XX. "The public works which he 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 harbor at Ostia, although in the case of the last two he knew that Augustus had refused the former to the Marsyans 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."
Claudius seemed to have a few achievements to him name. Most of them were in the public works program which is a good thing for the people of Rome. This gave them new structures and other needs that the city needed. Claudius didn't do much for campaigns, but you could look at this as a good thing too. It would have been more time for peace and you would only need soliders at hot spots that need a standing army.
Eric Bengs
The story of nero is a strange one. He showed so many acts of straight defiance to Claudiuses memory. He was a politician through and through though. I espeacially like the line where he says "When I shall have deserved them." To the fact that the senate was offering there thanks. Like most politicians he was a crule person who kept most of it to himself until reaching such a point where anyone who wanted to stop him didnt stand a chance. This of course is folly and a bad leader can always be pulled down. Nero did meet his demise eventually but his memory was still somewhat honored among certain crowds.
For under cover of displeasure at the ugliness of the old buildings and the narrow, crooked streets, he set fire to the city so openly that several ex-consuls did not venture to lay hands on his chamberlains although they caught them on their estates with tow and firebrands, while some granaries near the Golden House, whose room he particularly desired, were demolished by engines of war and then set on fire, because their walls were of stone. For six days and seven nights destruction raged, while the people were driven for shelter to monuments and tombs. At that time, besides an immense number of dwellings, the houses of leaders of old were burned, still adorned with trophies of victory, and the temples of the gods vowed and dedicated by the kings and later in the Punic and Gallic wars, and whatever else interesting and noteworthy had survived from antiquity. Viewing the conflagration from the tower of Maecenas, and exulting, as he said, "with the beauty of the flames," he sang the whole time the "Sack of Ilium," in his regular stage costume.
I read about Nero, in my opinion one of the craziest emperors Rome had (tied with his uncle, Caligula). The excerpt I picked talks about The Great Fire of Rome. Nero's rule was definitely one of a tragedy for the people of Rome. During the fire that he started he was said to be seem singing atop the tower of Maecenas in full stage costume, which would to me clearly mean he's not fit to rule. And it's also a tragedy for the Roman people that after the fire and used a large amount of Roman money and land to build himself a MASSIVE palace instead of helping the people that suffered from the fire. Many people even speculate that he started the fire simply to clear land for his palace.
In part as leader, and in part with armies serving under his auspices, he subdued Cantabria, Aquitania, Pannonia, Dalmatia, and all Illyricum, as well as Raetia and the Vindelici and Salassi, which are Alpine tribes. He also put a stop to the inroads of the Dacians, slaying great numbers of them, together with three of their leaders, and forced the Germans back to the farther side of the river Albis, with the exception of the Suebi and Sigambri, who submitted to him and were taken into Gaul and settled in lands near the Rhine. He reduced to submission other peoples, too, that were in a state of unrest.
I think this shows just a couple examples of how many great things augustus accomplishes during his rule. He is one of the greatest leaders in history and has done many other things like this.
nero "Besides abusing freeborn boys and seducing married women, he debauched the vestal virgin Rubria. The freedwoman Acte he all but made his lawful wife, after bribing some ex-consuls to perjure themselves by swearing that she was of royal birth. He castrated the boy Sporus and actually tried to make a woman of him; and he married him with all the usual ceremonies, including a dowry and a bridal veil, took him to his home attended by a great throng, and treated him as his wife..."
reading this shows what a tragedy rome to have a ruler who became so cruel and selfish, acting as if he could do whatever to whoever whenever he wanted. he clearly was messed up, and didnt have a sence of right or wrong, and his morals where no where in sight. to have a leader like this must have been hard, constantly worried about what he might do next. not realy a strong leader, person for the people but instead a cruel childish person who happens to have all this power.
-allison
"That Claudius was poisoned is the general belief, but when it was done and by whom is disputed"
Claudius had led a succesful life and had several achievments. He was never prideful and rarely took credit for his accomplishments. He was careful to boost about himself. One belief of his poisening was that it was by his wife, which is very tragic. A partner is supposed to be someone you can trust and go to for support so it is sad if it was her.
"Although he left very little to fortune and chance, he entered battles with considerably greater confidence whenever it happened that, as he was working at night, his lamp suddenly and without human agency died down and went out; trusting, as he used to say, to an omen in which he had great confidence, since both he and his ancestors had found it trustworthy in all of their campaigns."
There was much tragedy in Tiberius's life and for the Roman people. Tiberius was torn away from his wife whom he loved to a political marriage with Julia. Who was then banished by her own father for her immoral behavior. Tiberius did hold some military victories and held some prominent positions in Rome but that too was taken away from him.
The Roman society was a mess after years of war and strife and it would be hard to get Rome to prosper again.
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