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Tacitus the Epic Successor
Virgil, Lucan, and the Narrative of Civil War in the Histories
Series: - Mnemosyne, Supplements, Volume: 345
Author:
Allusions to the epic poets Virgil and Lucan in the writing of the Roman historian Tacitus (c. 55 â c. 120 C.E.) have long been noted. This monograph argues that Tacitus fashions himself as a rivaling literary successor to these poets; and that the emulative allusions to Virgilâs Aeneid and Lucanâs Bellum Civile in Books 1â3 of his inaugural historiographical work, the Histories, complement and build upon each other, and contribute significantly to the picture of repetitive, escalating civil war in the work. The argument is founded on the close reading of a series of related passages in the Histories, and it also broadens to consider certain narrative techniques and strategies that Tacitus shares with writers of epic.
Timothy A. Joseph, Ph.D. (2007) in Classical Philology, Harvard University, is an Assistant Professor of Classics at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.
"T.A. Joseph offers a sophisticated reading of Tacitus' Histories through the lens of intertextuality. (...) [T]his is a dense, well-thought-out study (...) which will be of interest to scholars and graduate students working not only on Tacitus, but also on Vergil, Lucan, and, more generally, on intertextuality in Latin literature.â Salvador Bartera, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2013.05.17.
"J. offers numerous deft observations which neatly encapsulate the elegance and wit of Tacitusâ Latin (...) The strength of this monograph lies in its close readings.â Rhiannon Ash, The Classical Review 63.2 (2013), pp. 457â459.
"J. offers numerous deft observations which neatly encapsulate the elegance and wit of Tacitusâ Latin (...) The strength of this monograph lies in its close readings.â Rhiannon Ash, The Classical Review 63.2 (2013), pp. 457â459.
Preface
Introduction Tacitus the Epic Successor
Virgil, Tacitus, and the trope of repetition
Epic allusion in the Histories
Tacitusâ readers
Lucanâs death and afterlife in Ann. 15.70
Maternus and Virgil in the Dialogus
A Virgilian stylistic program: Ann. 3.55.5 and 4.32.2
Chapter 1 History as Epic
Opus adgredior
Tacitusâ expansive wars
In medias res
The catalogue of combatants
Foreshadowing in the catalogue
A model reading of civil war: Hist. 1.50
Pharsaliam Philippos
A proem in the middle
âThe same anger of the godsâ
âThe same madness of humansâ
Chapter 2 The deaths of Galba and the desecration of Rome
Galba and Priam
Additional Galban intertexts (by way of Priam?)
The scene of the crime
Galbaâs death lives on
Galba and the Capitol: repetitions
A fall worse than Troyâs
More war (and more Virgil) at Rome
Chapter 3 The Battles of Cremona
The two Cremonas: repetitions
Ever fleeting commiseration
The sieges at Placentia and Cremona
Epic battles fought again at Cremona
The settlement of Cremona â into flames
A snapshot of civil warâs repetitiveness: Hist. 2.70
Chapter 4 Othoâs exemplary response
In ullum rei publicae usum
Otho the anti-Aeneas?
Epilogue âSavage even in its peaceâ
Civil war in the senate
âSavagery in the cityâ in the lost books?
Bibliography
Introduction Tacitus the Epic Successor
Virgil, Tacitus, and the trope of repetition
Epic allusion in the Histories
Tacitusâ readers
Lucanâs death and afterlife in Ann. 15.70
Maternus and Virgil in the Dialogus
A Virgilian stylistic program: Ann. 3.55.5 and 4.32.2
Chapter 1 History as Epic
Opus adgredior
Tacitusâ expansive wars
In medias res
The catalogue of combatants
Foreshadowing in the catalogue
A model reading of civil war: Hist. 1.50
Pharsaliam Philippos
A proem in the middle
âThe same anger of the godsâ
âThe same madness of humansâ
Chapter 2 The deaths of Galba and the desecration of Rome
Galba and Priam
Additional Galban intertexts (by way of Priam?)
The scene of the crime
Galbaâs death lives on
Galba and the Capitol: repetitions
A fall worse than Troyâs
More war (and more Virgil) at Rome
Chapter 3 The Battles of Cremona
The two Cremonas: repetitions
Ever fleeting commiseration
The sieges at Placentia and Cremona
Epic battles fought again at Cremona
The settlement of Cremona â into flames
A snapshot of civil warâs repetitiveness: Hist. 2.70
Chapter 4 Othoâs exemplary response
In ullum rei publicae usum
Otho the anti-Aeneas?
Epilogue âSavage even in its peaceâ
Civil war in the senate
âSavagery in the cityâ in the lost books?
Bibliography
All those interested in ancient historiography and epic, and in particular in the points of contact between the two genres.