Tacitean Visual Narrative by Philip Waddell;

Author:Philip Waddell; [Waddell, Philip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781350097025
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Published: 2020-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

Invisible Cursus

One of the most visible proclamations of a Roman senator’s career is the listing, often in inscriptions, of the offices that he has held during his life, the so-called cursus honorum. Normally, we would expect that a senator with a long list of public offices, achievements, and service would be a citizen concerned primarily with his civic duty to Rome. As so often in Tacitus, however, these expectations are subverted and challenged. In the world of the principate, where honors are awarded for sycophancy and political control, Tacitus forces us to question whether a full resume is really indicative of an honorable senatorial career.

Following annalistic historiographical tradition, Tacitus ends book 3 with obituaries of prominent Romans.70 Here Tacitus recounts the death of L. Ateius Capito (3.75.1), a man of humble background,71 whose career had been accelerated by the imperial favor of Augustus. Tacitus implies that imperial favor is the only requirement for power, the attainment of which is undeserved or at least questionable.72 In addition to showing the reader Capito’s means for achieving the consulship, Tacitus provides Augustus’ motive: the emperor wanted Capito to defeat Antistius Labeo in their competition for the consulship, presumably so that Capito could further Augustus’ interests in the senate (3.75.1).73 Tacitus then reveals the respect that the two senators enjoyed afterwards:

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