Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T02:19:42.869Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Contesting Clementia: the Rhetoric of Severitas in Tiberian Rome before and after the Trial of Clutorius Priscus*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2016

Eleanor Cowan
Eleanor Cowan*
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
*
eleanor.cowan@sydney.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines a discussion about punishment which took place in Tiberian Rome. Should clementia or severitas inform the decisions of the judges and what was the proper relationship between the authority of the senate and the clementia of the princeps? My argument has five parts. I begin (I) by examining clementia and severitas in the work of Velleius Paterculus. I next (II) examine Velleius’ presentation of Tiberius as a figure who adjudicates punishment in his community. I then (III and IV) argue that Velleius’ ideas were the product of and sought to contribute to controversy about the ownership and use of clementia which can be tracked though Tiberius’ principate. Finally (V), I suggest that Tacitus made use of the rhetoric of clementia and severitas current in Tiberian Rome and that it influenced his reading of saevitia under the principate.

Keywords

clementiaseveritasmoderatioClutorius PriscusTiberiusVelleius Paterculus
Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 106 , November 2016 , pp. 77 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016. Published by The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This article is dedicated with respect and admiration to Barbara Levick. I would like to extend sincere thanks to Bob Cowan, Andrew Pettinger, Paul Roche, JRS Editor Catherine Steel and the anonymous readers for JRS whose vigilance saved me from a number of errors. I take sole responsibility for any that remain.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Balbo, A. 2007: I frammenti degli oratori romani dell'età augustea e tiberiana, Alessandria Google Scholar
Bauman, R. A. 1974: Impietas in principem. A Study of Treason against the Roman Emperor with Special Reference to the First Century A.D., Munich Google Scholar
Bauman, R. A. 1996: Crime and Punishment in Ancient Rome, London Google Scholar
Bodel, J. 1999: ‘Punishing Piso’, American Journal of Philology 120 (1), 43–63 Google Scholar
Braund, S. (ed.) 2009: Seneca, De Clementia with Translation and Commentary, Oxford Google Scholar
Braund, S., and Most, G. (eds) 2003: Ancient Anger. Perspectives from Homer to Galen, Cambridge Google Scholar
Charlesworth, M. P. 1937: ‘The virtues of the Roman emperor. Propaganda and the creation of belief’, Proceedings of the British Academy 23, 105–33Google Scholar
Cooley, A. 1998: ‘The moralizing message of the Senatus consultum de Cn. Pisone patre ’, Greece and Rome 45 (2), 199–212 Google Scholar
Cooley, A. (ed.) 2009: Res Gestae Divi Augusti, Cambridge Google Scholar
Damon, C., and Potter, D. (eds) 1999: ‘The Senatus consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre text and translation’, American Journal of Philology 120 (1), 13–42 Google Scholar
Dowling, M. B. 2006: Clemency and Cruelty in the Roman World, Ann Arbor Google Scholar
Dyke, A. R. (ed.) 1996: Cicero, De Officiis, Ann Arbor Google Scholar
Elefante, M. (ed.) 1996: Velleius Paterculus. Ad M. Vinicium Consulem libri duo, Hildesheim Google Scholar
Eyben, E. 1991: ‘Fathers and sons’, in Rawson, B. (ed.), Marriage, Divorce, and Children in Ancient Rome, Oxford, 100–43Google Scholar
Flower, H. 1999: ‘Piso in Chicago: a commentary on the APA/AIA joint seminar on the Senatus consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre ’, American Journal of Philology 120 (1), 99–115 Google Scholar
Flower, H. 2006: The Art of Forgetting, Chapel Hill Google Scholar
Garnsey, P. 1970: Social Status and Legal Privilege in the Roman Empire, Oxford Google Scholar
Ginsburg, J. 1986: ‘Speech and allusion in Tacitus. Annals 3.49–51 and 14.48–49’, American Journal of Philology 107, 525–41Google Scholar
Gowing, A. 2007: ‘The Imperial Republic of Velleius Paterculus’, in Marincola, J. (ed.), A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography, Oxford, 411–18Google Scholar
Grant, M. 1950: Roman Anniversary Issues: an Exploratory Study of the Numismatic and Medallic Commemoration of Anniversary Years, 49 B.C to 375 A.D., Cambridge Google Scholar
Griffin, M. 1997: ‘The Senate's story’, Journal of Roman Studies 87, 249–63Google Scholar
Griffin, M. 2003: ‘ Clementia after Caesar’, in Cairns, F. and Fantham, E. (eds), Caesar Against Liberty? Perspectives on his Autocracy, Leeds, 157–82Google Scholar
Hellegouarc'h, J. (ed.) 1982/2003: Velleius Paterculus. Histoire Romaine, Paris Google Scholar
Konstan, D. 2005: ‘Clemency as a virtue’, Classical Philology 100, 337–46Google Scholar
Kuntze, C. 1985: Zur Darstellung des Kaisers Tiberius und seiner Zeit bei Velleius Paterculus, Frankfurt Google Scholar
Langlands, R. 2008: ‘“Reading for the moral” in Valerius Maximus: the case of severitas ’, Cambridge Classical Journal (Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society) 54, 160–87Google Scholar
Leigh, M. 2004: Comedy and the Rise of Rome, Oxford Google Scholar
Levick, B. M. 1975: ‘Mercy and moderation in the coinage of Tiberius’, in Levick, B. (ed.), The Ancient Historian and his Materials, London, 123–37Google Scholar
Levick, B. M. 1976/1999: Tiberius the Politician, London Google Scholar
Levick, B. M. 1979: ‘ Poena legis maiestatis ’, Historia 28, 358–79Google Scholar
MacKay, C. S. 2003: ‘ Quaestiones Pisonianae: procedural and chronological notes on the S.C. de Cn. Pisone patre ’, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 101, 311–70Google Scholar
Martin, R. H., and Woodman, A. J. (eds) 1989: Tacitus. Annals. Book IV, Cambridge Google Scholar
Millar, F. 2000: ‘The first revolution’, in La révolution romaine après Ronald Syme: bilans et perspectives, Geneva, 1–30 Google Scholar
O'Gorman, E. 2000: Irony and Misreading in the Annals of Tacitus, Cambridge Google Scholar
Pettinger, A. 2012: The Republic in Danger: Drusus Libo and the Succession of Tiberius, Oxford CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rich, J., and Williams, J. H. C. 1999: ‘LEGES ET IVRA P.R. RESTITVIT. A new aureus of Octavian and the settlement of 28–27 B.C.’, Numismatic Chronicle 159 (5), 169–213 Google Scholar
Rogers, R. S. 1943: Studies in the Reign of Tiberius, Baltimore Google Scholar
Roller, M. 2001: Constructing Autocracy: Aristocrats and Emperors in Julio-Claudian Rome, Princeton Google Scholar
Rowe, G. 2002: Princes and Political Cultures, Ann Arbor Google Scholar
Shackleton Bailey, D. R. (ed. and trans.) 2000: Valerius Maximus. Memorable Doings and Sayings, Harvard Google Scholar
Shotter, D. C. A. 1969: ‘The trial of Clutorius Priscus’, Greece and Rome 16, 14–18 Google Scholar
Sumner, G. V. 1970: ‘The truth about Velleius Paterculus. Prolegomena’, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 74, 257–97Google Scholar
Sutherland, C. H. V. 1938: ‘Two “virtues” of Tiberius: a numismatic contribution to the history of his reign’, Journal of Roman Studies 28, 129–40Google Scholar
Sutherland, C. H. V. 1979: ‘The Clementiae and Moderationi dupondii of Tiberius: more thoughts on the chronology’, Numismatic Chronicle 19, 21–5Google Scholar
Syme, R. 1955: ‘Marcus Lepidus, capax imperii ’, Journal of Roman Studies 45, 22–33 Google Scholar
Syme, R. 1958: Tacitus, Oxford Google Scholar
Talbert, R. 1984: The Senate of Imperial Rome, Princeton Google Scholar
Wallace Hadrill, A. 1981: ‘The emperor and his virtues’, Historia 30, 298–319 Google Scholar
Wallace Hadrill, A. 1982: ‘ Civilis princeps. Between citizen and king’, Journal of Roman Studies 72, 32–48 Google Scholar
Wardle, D. 1997: ‘“The Sainted Julius”: Valerius Maximus and the Dictator’, Classical Philology 92, 323–45Google Scholar
Weinstock, S. 1971: Divus Iulius, Oxford Google Scholar
Woodman, A. J. (ed.) 1977: Velleius Paterculus. The Tiberian Narrative (2,94–131), Cambridge Google Scholar
Woodman, A. J. (ed.) 1983: Velleius Paterculus. The Caesarian and Augustan Narrative (2.41–93), Cambridge Google Scholar
Woodman, A. J. (ed.) 2004: Tacitus. Annals with Translation and Commentary, Indianapolis Google Scholar
Woodman, A. J., and Martin, R. H. (eds) 1996: Tacitus. Annals. Book 3, Cambridge Google Scholar
Yardley, J. C., and Barrett, A. A. (eds) 2011: Velleius Paterculus. The Roman History, Indianapolis Google Scholar