Marcus Aurelius in the Historia Augusta and Beyond by Adams Geoff W.;

Author:Adams, Geoff W.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1120205
Publisher: Lexington Books

THE DATING OF THE INTERPOLATION AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

The period in which the interpolation was written can be largely deduced by its final passage: [19.12] deusque etiam nunc habetur, ut vobis ipsis, sacratissime imperator Diocletiane, et semper visum est et videtur, qui eum inter numina vestra non ut ceteros sed specialiter veneramini ac semper dicitis, vos vita et clementia tales esse cupere qualis fuit Marcus, etiamsi philosophia nec Plato esse possit, si revertatur in vitam. et quidem haec breviter et congeste (“Even now he is regarded as a god, as has always seemed and even now seems right to you, most revered Emperor Diocletian, who worship him among your deities [not as you do the others, but in a specific way], and who often say that you desire, in life and moderation, to be such an individual as Marcus, even though in philosophy not even Plato [were he to come back to life] could epitomize him. Indeed, these matters have been recounted briefly and concisely.”).

This direct reference to Diocletian could make a definitive statement about the period in which the interpolation was composed, namely between AD 284 and 305.62 Assuming that this statement is accurate,63 this would imply that the interpolation predated the HA by roughly a century, considering that it is likely that the Historia Augusta was composed around AD 395.64 it is also important to note the influence that the interpolation may have had on Eutropius, whose writings hold many similarities in theme and structure.65 Eutropius had written the Breviarium Ab Urbe Condita by AD 370,66 which would suggest that owing to their similarities, the interpolation was not an unknown text at this stage.

There are numerous similarities between Sections 15 and 19 and the works of Aurelius Victor and Eutropius in particular, which leads to the question of which text was used as a source for another. The Diocletian reference in Section 19.12 is tempting to follow, but this is by no means a certainty, owing to the existence of other statements addressing him in the HA.67 As syme shows, within the “main” Vitae, these occur in “difficult” passages,68 but this is the inherent difficulty of the HA in general. It should also be noted that the actual author of interpolation is entirely unknown, possibly representing another ignotus.69 Judging from the succinct nature of the text and the period in which the author was writing, it is more than likely that they would have used the scholarship of Marius Maximus for the composition of the text,70 which would also explain the reference in Section 15.1–2 to another biography of Marcus Aurelius. Nevertheless, a viewpoint must be taken—albeit tentatively—that the reference to Diocletian is a legitimate reference. This is largely owing to the text of the interpolation not being from the Vita Marci, which removes the issues surrounding authorship—given that the interpolation does not belong in the Vita Marci, the reference to Diocletian is the only point by which we can tentatively date it. Therefore, the interpolation has been dated to AD 284–305 for the purposes of this book.

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