[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Arval Brothers for his safety (CIL 6.2060 8), and their son, who
had died apparently some years before his father s accession, was
now quickly6 deified. There was no delay whatsoever in stressing his
view of the imperial position, no attempt to disguise how he felt.
As the reign progressed, he continued to proclaim the reality of
his personal autocracy. He was elected consul for ten years in
succession and censor for life , according to Dio (67.4.3). All this
was without precedent. Worse still, he then declined to assume these
consulships; in fact, he held only half of them and, in the period
from 90 to 94, none at all. Furthermore, he usually relinquished the
post after holding it for only a week or so. Nor was the perpetual
censorship likely to cause less offence, since it gave him the right to
adlect men to the senate whenever he chose, and not merely, as
Vespasian and Titus had done, during the eighteen months of the
normal censorship.7 Presumably he had the right anyhow, thanks to
the grant of imperium on his accession. No subsequent emperors
needed to be appointed specifically as censors to add members to the
senate. But Domitian s attitude to republican titles of this type was
simply foolish. Assuming a title only to abandon it meant that all he
achieved was a loss of good will without increasing his power.
In the same vein, he renamed two months of the year,8 with
September becoming Germanicus and October Domitianus; he
insisted on being accompanied by twenty-four lictors, twice the regular
number, so it seems,9 and went so far as to include amongst the lictors
a number of Roman knights selected by lot together with other
attendants, all bearing military spears (Dom. 14.3). Just as offensive
was his attitude to the imperial cult. Titus had already been responsible
for one innovation, in granting divine honours to his sister Domitilla
as well as to his father Vespasian. Domitian went further, in that he
deified his brother Titus and also his niece Julia.10 As well, the house
where he was born was converted into a temple for the Flavian family,
the Templum gentis Flaviae; according to Statius, he founded a sacred
shrine for his eternal family (Silvae 5.1.240 1), whilst, not to be
outdone, Martial described the building as the towering glory of the
Flavian family [which] shall last as long as the sun and the stars and
the light that shines on Rome (9.1.8 9). So the aristocracy as a whole
could not have failed to recognize his conception of an emperor s role.
A highly tendentious version of the atmosphere permeating
Domitian s senate appears in Pliny, so tendentious that it is difficult
162
ARISTOCRACY I
to assess its worth as historical evidence. Pale and apprehensive (Ep.
8.14.8), no senator there dared open his mouth (Pan. 76), and any
who were not his favourites he hated, treating them like slaves (Pan.
62.3, 68.2). Those admitted to the palace were no better off. There
he plotted the massacre of the most distinguished members of the
aristocracy; locked in by walls and treachery, he provoked terror in
those he admitted as well as in those he excluded (Pan. 48.3 5, 49.1).
Now this assessment was delivered before Trajan s senate and before
Trajan himself, an emperor not only probably related to the
Flavians,11 but also one whose administrative policies were similar
to Domitian s and, in many ways, a continuation of them. Any
difference was superficial. Both sought to reduce the senate s real
power and, at the same time, to pay a certain amount of lip-service
to its traditional significance. But Domitian was doubly unfortunate.
Apparently unable or unwilling to communicate effectively with
individual senators, with people whose background and education
were similar to his own, he completely lacked the diplomatic skills
of Titus and had inherited none from those expert practitioners
Vespasian and Sabinus I; worse still, he left no heir to deify him and
so, unlike Nerva, he was not able to guide the literary tradition to
the correct interpretation of events.
Consulship
He did make concessions to senatorial opinion. Consider his attitude
to the consulship. Of all the official posts surviving from the republic,
this was the one most prized by senators; to be granted three of them
was the highest distinction available to someone not a member of
the imperial family (Ep. 2.1.2).
During the reigns of Vespasian and Titus, members of the
family had held all but six of the twenty-four ordinary
consulships available.12 Those who held this office were the senior
consuls, two being appointed each year; after a brief tenure, they
were replaced by up to ten suffect consuls. Pliny bewails the
consistent tenure of the ordinary consulship by the Flavians it
was the result of their wretched ambition to match their lifelong
power with a perpetual consulship& [and] to appropriate every
year and pass on the official purple only when its lustre was
tarnished after use (Pan. 58.4). So the policy of excluding
virtually all non-Flavians from this prestigious post was resented.
163
EMPEROR DOMITIAN
However, alluding to Trajan s alleged reluctance to hold the post,
Pliny enthusiastically proclaimed that now ordinary people
enjoyed the honour of opening the year and heading the official
calendar, and this too was proof of liberty restored (Pan. 58.3).
But, unlike Vespasian and Titus, Domitian did precisely this.
Presumably some senators appreciated it.
For the first two years of his reign, his practice was much the
same as Vespasian s in 82 and 83 he held the ordinary consulship
with two relatives, Petillius Cerialis and Flavius Sabinus (IV), and,
at the same time, three well-known Flavian supporters were granted
suffect consulships Fabricius Veiento, Vibius Crispus and Pompeius
Silvanus (who died before assuming office) each for the third
time.13 During the next five years (84 8), he abandoned Vespasian s
practice and allowed Flavians to hold only five of the ten posts
available: the rest were distributed with some care, to a senator of
provincial origin (Aurelius Fulvus), two to new men (Oppius
Sabinus and Minicius Rufus) and two to eminent patricians (Volusius
Saturninus and Cornelius Petronianus). His determination to allow
ordinary people to open the year was particularly obvious in 85,
when a close relative and friend (Hist. 4.68) Arrecinus Clemens,14
who was about to be appointed city prefect, had to be content with
a suffect consulship and play second fiddle to a senator from
Nemausus.
During the last eight years of the reign, he departed even further
from Vespasian s norm: Flavians held only four of the sixteen [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl ocenkijessi.opx.pl
Arval Brothers for his safety (CIL 6.2060 8), and their son, who
had died apparently some years before his father s accession, was
now quickly6 deified. There was no delay whatsoever in stressing his
view of the imperial position, no attempt to disguise how he felt.
As the reign progressed, he continued to proclaim the reality of
his personal autocracy. He was elected consul for ten years in
succession and censor for life , according to Dio (67.4.3). All this
was without precedent. Worse still, he then declined to assume these
consulships; in fact, he held only half of them and, in the period
from 90 to 94, none at all. Furthermore, he usually relinquished the
post after holding it for only a week or so. Nor was the perpetual
censorship likely to cause less offence, since it gave him the right to
adlect men to the senate whenever he chose, and not merely, as
Vespasian and Titus had done, during the eighteen months of the
normal censorship.7 Presumably he had the right anyhow, thanks to
the grant of imperium on his accession. No subsequent emperors
needed to be appointed specifically as censors to add members to the
senate. But Domitian s attitude to republican titles of this type was
simply foolish. Assuming a title only to abandon it meant that all he
achieved was a loss of good will without increasing his power.
In the same vein, he renamed two months of the year,8 with
September becoming Germanicus and October Domitianus; he
insisted on being accompanied by twenty-four lictors, twice the regular
number, so it seems,9 and went so far as to include amongst the lictors
a number of Roman knights selected by lot together with other
attendants, all bearing military spears (Dom. 14.3). Just as offensive
was his attitude to the imperial cult. Titus had already been responsible
for one innovation, in granting divine honours to his sister Domitilla
as well as to his father Vespasian. Domitian went further, in that he
deified his brother Titus and also his niece Julia.10 As well, the house
where he was born was converted into a temple for the Flavian family,
the Templum gentis Flaviae; according to Statius, he founded a sacred
shrine for his eternal family (Silvae 5.1.240 1), whilst, not to be
outdone, Martial described the building as the towering glory of the
Flavian family [which] shall last as long as the sun and the stars and
the light that shines on Rome (9.1.8 9). So the aristocracy as a whole
could not have failed to recognize his conception of an emperor s role.
A highly tendentious version of the atmosphere permeating
Domitian s senate appears in Pliny, so tendentious that it is difficult
162
ARISTOCRACY I
to assess its worth as historical evidence. Pale and apprehensive (Ep.
8.14.8), no senator there dared open his mouth (Pan. 76), and any
who were not his favourites he hated, treating them like slaves (Pan.
62.3, 68.2). Those admitted to the palace were no better off. There
he plotted the massacre of the most distinguished members of the
aristocracy; locked in by walls and treachery, he provoked terror in
those he admitted as well as in those he excluded (Pan. 48.3 5, 49.1).
Now this assessment was delivered before Trajan s senate and before
Trajan himself, an emperor not only probably related to the
Flavians,11 but also one whose administrative policies were similar
to Domitian s and, in many ways, a continuation of them. Any
difference was superficial. Both sought to reduce the senate s real
power and, at the same time, to pay a certain amount of lip-service
to its traditional significance. But Domitian was doubly unfortunate.
Apparently unable or unwilling to communicate effectively with
individual senators, with people whose background and education
were similar to his own, he completely lacked the diplomatic skills
of Titus and had inherited none from those expert practitioners
Vespasian and Sabinus I; worse still, he left no heir to deify him and
so, unlike Nerva, he was not able to guide the literary tradition to
the correct interpretation of events.
Consulship
He did make concessions to senatorial opinion. Consider his attitude
to the consulship. Of all the official posts surviving from the republic,
this was the one most prized by senators; to be granted three of them
was the highest distinction available to someone not a member of
the imperial family (Ep. 2.1.2).
During the reigns of Vespasian and Titus, members of the
family had held all but six of the twenty-four ordinary
consulships available.12 Those who held this office were the senior
consuls, two being appointed each year; after a brief tenure, they
were replaced by up to ten suffect consuls. Pliny bewails the
consistent tenure of the ordinary consulship by the Flavians it
was the result of their wretched ambition to match their lifelong
power with a perpetual consulship& [and] to appropriate every
year and pass on the official purple only when its lustre was
tarnished after use (Pan. 58.4). So the policy of excluding
virtually all non-Flavians from this prestigious post was resented.
163
EMPEROR DOMITIAN
However, alluding to Trajan s alleged reluctance to hold the post,
Pliny enthusiastically proclaimed that now ordinary people
enjoyed the honour of opening the year and heading the official
calendar, and this too was proof of liberty restored (Pan. 58.3).
But, unlike Vespasian and Titus, Domitian did precisely this.
Presumably some senators appreciated it.
For the first two years of his reign, his practice was much the
same as Vespasian s in 82 and 83 he held the ordinary consulship
with two relatives, Petillius Cerialis and Flavius Sabinus (IV), and,
at the same time, three well-known Flavian supporters were granted
suffect consulships Fabricius Veiento, Vibius Crispus and Pompeius
Silvanus (who died before assuming office) each for the third
time.13 During the next five years (84 8), he abandoned Vespasian s
practice and allowed Flavians to hold only five of the ten posts
available: the rest were distributed with some care, to a senator of
provincial origin (Aurelius Fulvus), two to new men (Oppius
Sabinus and Minicius Rufus) and two to eminent patricians (Volusius
Saturninus and Cornelius Petronianus). His determination to allow
ordinary people to open the year was particularly obvious in 85,
when a close relative and friend (Hist. 4.68) Arrecinus Clemens,14
who was about to be appointed city prefect, had to be content with
a suffect consulship and play second fiddle to a senator from
Nemausus.
During the last eight years of the reign, he departed even further
from Vespasian s norm: Flavians held only four of the sixteen [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]