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Scriptor Historiae Augustae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Tony Honoré
Tony Honoré
Affiliation:
All Souls College, Oxford
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Extract

A recent study of the Theodosian Code, which includes the identification of constitutions composed by Ausonius (A.D. 375 to 377) and Nicomachus Flavianus (A.D. 388 to 390) as quaestors prompts a fresh interpretation of the Historia Augusta and its author, whom I shall call Scriptor. On this interpretation his work is subtler than is generally conceded. The enigmatic series of biographies meant, and was intended to mean, different things to different people: to the vulgar it was an entertaining and often salacious series of lives interspersed with jokes; to the author an enjoyable exercise in teasing others and not least himself; to the insider a set of puzzles behind which lurked personal and political allusions, but also a reflection on certain political themes: the role of the Roman senate and urban prefecture, the importance of regular administration, the overriding need to defend Gaul and the west.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 77 , November 1987 , pp. 156 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © Tony Honoré 1987. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 Honoré, ‘The Making of the Theodosian Code’, ZSS 103 (1986), 133–222, especially 147–50, 203–16.

2 To be printed by R. P. H. Green in his edition of Ausonius and cf. Honoré, , ‘Ausonius and Vulgar Law’, Iura 35 (1984), forthcoming 1987.Google Scholar

3 To be precise, 10 Oct. 388 (CT 15. 14. 7) to 6 Aug. 390 (CT 9. 7. 6), correcting earlier views. These texts will be published in Honoré, ‘Some Writings of Nicomachus Flavianus’; Xenia, ed. W. Schuller (forthcoming).

4 e.g. attacks on the frivolity of ‘Aelius Iunius Cordus’ (Albinus 5. 10; Macr. 1. 3–5; Gord. 21. 4; Maximus 4. 5), really self-directed (Quad. Tyr. 4. 4, 6. 2–4, 11. 4, 12. 6–7), on verbosity (‘quam me urbane declinare confingo’: Gord. 1. 5, cf. Trig. Tyr. 32. 7), and on unscholarly ways (Aur. 2, Tac. 7. 7–8. 2, Quad. Tyr. 2).

5 That ‘an earnest political design is not disclosed’ (Syme, R., Emperors and Biography (1971), 287)Google Scholar is true, but does not exclude strong feelings about certain political issues. Despite inevitable dissent on some points I am deeply indebted to the above work and to Ammianus and the Historia Augusta (1968) and Historia Augusta Papers (1983).

6 PLRE 1 Ausonius 7: teacher of grammar/rhetoric, then quaestor sacri palatii, PPO, consul.

7 PLRE 1 Eugenius 6: teacher of grammar/rhetoric, magister scrinii, then Augustus.

8 Asserted by Dessau, H., Hermes 24 (1889), 337Google Scholar, this widely accepted view is now supported by the statistical study of Marriott, I. in JRS 69 (1979), 65–77.Google Scholar

9 Dessau, op. cit., argued for the last quarter of the fourth century; Hartke, W., Römische Kinderkaiser (1951), 413Google Scholar for the period in 394–5 between Frigidus and the death of Theodosius; Alföldi, A., A Conflict of Ideas in the Late Roman Empire (1952), 126Google Scholar for a date not long after Frigidus; Schwartz, J., Bull. Fac. Lettres Strasburg (1961), 176Google Scholar and Historia 15 (1966), 454 for 392–4Google Scholar; A. Chastagnol, BHAC 1963 (1964), 63, with a review of opinion on the date, for 394–8; Cameron, A. D. E., Hermes 92 (1964), 363–77 for substantial revision in the late fourth century; Syme, Ammianus, 72–9, with whom I agree, for a work rapidly composed and terminated in 395 or 396. So far as I can tell, nothing in HA requires an earlier period; on the other hand, it is possible (below n. 97) to argue for revision at a later period.Google Scholar

10 On authorship, below, n. 271; on date, nn. 147–55, supporting 393 or 394 as terminus post quem, 402 as terminus ante quem and 394–5 as preferred dates.

11 Th. Mommsen in 1890 favoured a Constantinian original, later revised: Ges. Schr. vii. 302–62; Baynes, N. H., The HA, its Date and Purpose (1926)Google Scholar opted for 362/3 (also (for Julian's reign) Hohl, Ensslin); Momigliano, , Secondo Contributo alla storia degli studi classici (1960), 105–43Google Scholar expresses a conservative agnosticism.

12 Straub, J., Studien zur HA (1952)Google Scholar; Heidnische Geschichtsapologetik in der christlichen Spätantike (1963)Google Scholar argues for post 405, probably about 420; A. Alföldi, BHAC 1964/5 (1966), 18 for soon after 405.

13 Syme, Emperors, 273.

14 The plural is found in Val. 8. 5; Trig. Tyr. 22. 12; Prob. 2. 8 but singular in Val. 5. 3 (unless Scriptor is addressing the reader); Trig. Tyr. 31. 8–10, 33. 7; Claud. 3. 1, 5. 5; Aur. 43. 1; Car. 21. 2. Constantius is treated as ruling in Claud. 1. 1, 10. 7; Aur. 44. 5.

15 Below, nn. 30–7.

16 Gord. 34. 6.

17 Aur. 2. 1 with Trig. Tyr. 22. 12.

18 Val. 5. 3, 8. 5.

19 I take his life to be subsidiary rather than main because (i) it is omitted from Ausonius, Tetrasticha, (ii) Ael. 2. 9 in which the author looks forward to writing the life of Verus should be taken at face value, (iii) I. Marriott's study (above n. 8), at pp. 68–70, implies that Verus is a secondary life. Syme, , Emperors, 32–3Google Scholar, 69 took a different view.

20 Constantine is not actually named in this text, though he is in the next.

21 e.g. Syme, Emperors, ch. 4.

22 Carac. 9. 1.

23 Contrast Sev. 14. 9 with Car. 3. 6–7: ‘prope semper inimica fortuna iustitiae’, cf. Trig. Tyr. 10. 17, 13. 2.

24 ‘Meae satisfaciens conscientiae’: Ael. 7. 5.

25 Ausonius, Tetrasticha no. 24.

26 Macr. 1. 1.

27 Contra, tentatively, Syme, , Emperors, 55 n. 2, 75 n. 1Google Scholar.

28 Dessau, op. cit. (n. 8), 337–48.

29 Syme, , Emperors, 1–16Google Scholar.

30 Alb. 4. 2.

31 PLRE Albinus 15.

32 Ceionius Rufius Albinus, PUR 335–7; PLRE Albinus 14.

33 Elag. 34. 5: ‘quod tua dementia solet dicere credidi esse respiciendum “Imperatorem esse fortunae est”’.

34 Alex. 65. 4: ‘notum est illud Pietate tuae, quod in Mario Maximo legisti, meliorem esse rem publicam et prope tutiorem, in qua princeps malus est, ea, in qua sunt amici principis mali’.

35 67. 1: ‘Scio, imperator, quod periculo ista dicantur apud imperatorem, qui talibus (eunuchs) serviit, sed salva re publica posteaquam intellexisti quid mali clades istae habeant …’, cf. Syme, Emperors, 272–3.

36 Ael. 1. 1 (‘tot principum maxime’), Verus 11. 4 (on a level with Marcus).

37 e.g. Avid. 3. 3: ‘ut cognosceres’; Macr. 15. 4: ‘te cupidum veterum imperatorum esse perspeximus’; Marc. 19. 12; ‘saepe dicitis, vos vita et dementia tales esse cupere qualis fuit Marcus’ (all to ‘Diocletian’); Alex. 65. 1: ‘soles quaerere’; Gord. 34. 6: ‘ne quid tuae cognitioni deesset’ and above nn. 33–5 (to ‘Constantine’).

38 Ausonius, Griphus Ternarii Numeri forms a model.

39 Above nn 9–12.

40 Syme, , Ammianus, 72–9Google Scholar, Emperors, 287–8.

41 i.e. ‘Constantius et Maximianus (= Galerius) CC’. Scriptor makes Galerius senior to Constantius (Ael. 2. 2; Car. 18. 3) perhaps because he is used to the shortened form AA et CC as used e.g. in the Codex Hermogenianus.

42 His exact age is not known, but after teaching rhetoric he had become magister scrinii at the time of his elevation on 22 August 392; PLRE 1 Fl. Eugenius 6.

43 Car. 3. 6–7.

44 Orosius 7. 34. 9.

45 Ael. 1. 1: ‘In animo mihi est, Diocletiane Auguste, tot principum maxime, non solum eos qui principum locum in hac statione quam temperas retentarunt, ut usque ad divum Hadrianum feci, sed illos etiam qui vel Caesarum nomine appellati sunt nec principes aut Augusti fuerunt vel quolibet alio genere in famam aut in spem principatus venerunt, cognitioni numinis tui sternere’; Avid. 3. 3: ‘proposui enim, Diocletiane Auguste, omnes qui imperatorum nomen sive iusta causa sive iniusta habuerunt, in litteras mittere, ut omnes purpuratos Augustos Cognosceres’.

46 Elag. 35. 6: ‘his addendi sunt Licinius et Maxentius, quorum omnium ius in dicionem tuam [i.e. Constantini] venit, sed ita ut nihil de eorum virtute derogetur. non enim ego id faciam quod plerique scriptores solent, ut de iis detraham qui victi sunt, cum intellegam gloriae tuae accedere, si omnia de illis, quae bona in se habuerint, vera praedicaro’.

47 Above nn. 33–5; Trig. Tyr. 33. 8, cf. Symmachus, Ep. 2. 12, 25. Who the inner group, for which HA was specially meant, consisted of is obscure; perhaps mainly officials. Trig. Tyr. 33. 8 (‘da nunc cuivis libellum’) implies circulation within a limited circle.

48 Syme, Ammianus, 75–6; Claudian, De III cons. Honorii 93 f.

49 Elag. 35. 6. Though support for a defeated usurper would not lead to revenge killing in the manner of Caracalla's massacre of Geta's supporters, it could hamper an official in his prospects of promotion.

50 Elag. 35. 7.

51 Elag. 34. 4.

52 Above, n. 30.

53 Mommsen, Ges. Schr. vii. 340 ff.; Momigliano, Secondo Contribute, 119 ff. Mommsen was in my view right, but the object of flattery is not Constantius.

54 Elag. 35. 2: ‘auctor tui generis Claudius’, cf. Gall. 7. 1, 14. 3; Claud. 1. 1, 3, 9. 9, 10. 7; Aur. 44. 5.

55 Claud. 7. 8; Aur. 17. 2; cf. Claud. 3. 6; Trig. Tyr. 33. 2.

56 And later Flavius Stilicho.

57 Syme, , Ammianus, 115–16Google Scholar is on the verge of adopting this explanation.

58 Claud. 9. 9, 13. 2.

59 Ael. 2. 2, cf. Elag. 35. 4, Car. 17. 6.

60 Car. 18. 3.

61 Claud. 9. 9.

62 Elag. 35. 4, cf. Claud. 10. 7.

63 Claud. 10. 7; Car. 18. 3.

64 Gall. 7. 1; Claud. 1. 1, 3. 1, 10. 7, 13. 1.

65 Aur. 1–2.

66 Car. 16. 2.

67 Zosimus 4. 59.

68 Zosimus 5. 4; Claudian, In Rufinum 2. 4–6.

69 Gall. 14. 3.

70 Claud. 10. 7.

71 Cameron, A. D. E., Claudian (1970), 57Google Scholar; Claudian, , Laus Serenae 104–5Google Scholar.

72 PLRE 1 Serena; Claudian, de cons. Stil. 1. 69–83.

73 If the marriage took place as early as February 398 (Cameron, op. cit., xv), it was irregular, since on the prevailing view a male was impubes until he completed his fourteenth year (CT 4. 8. 6. 3, 18 May 323), and Honorius was born on 9 Sept. 384 (PLRE 1 Fl. Honorius 3). Despite this, the defect was cured if the spouses continued to live together until they attained the proper age: Dig. 23. 2. 4 (Pomponius 3 Sab.: ‘minorem annis duodecim nuptam tune legitimam uxorem fore, cum apud virum explesset duodecim annos’). Hence a date such as 17 March, the traditional date of the Liberalia, in Honorius' fourteenth year, 398, may have been regarded as suitable for the wedding, especially if Honorius was precocious (Ambrose, De obitu Theod. 15: ‘Honorius continuo pulsat adolescentiae fores’; Claudian, Epithalamium 1–2: ‘Hauserat insolitos promissae virginis ignes/Augustus primoque rudis flagraverat aestu’), since on the Sabinian view puberty was a matter of physical maturity (Gaius, Inst. 1. 196, Ulp., Reg. 11. 28).

74 Claudian, Fesc. 111. 8–9: ‘gener Augusti pridem fueras/nunc rursus eris socer Augusti’.

75 Pauli Sententiae 2. 19. 1; Dig. 23. 1. 14 (Modestinus 4 diff: ‘et a primordio aetatis sponsalia effici possunt’—provided the persons concerned understood what was involved).

76 As implied by Claudian, Epithalamium 295–308: ‘en promissa tibi (Theodosio) Stilicho iam vota peregit’—obviously a suspect source.

77 Claudian, , Epithalamium 340–1Google Scholar.

78 Claud. 3. 1. His earlier flattery of Claudius (Elag. 35. 3) was directed at Constantine/Theodosius, both Flavii, as of course was Stilicho. On the Flavius connection see Claud. 7. 8; Aur. 17. 2.

79 Claudian, Prob. 31 ff.

80 Claud. 10. 7.

81 Aur. 44. 5.

82 Aur. 43. 2.

83 An ‘imperator’ is not unequivocally an Augustus.

84 Prob. 23. 5. Syme, , Emperors, 259Google Scholar. The patres are Theodosius, and, representing him, Stilicho.

85 Rutilius 2. 41 ff.; below nn. 111–38.

86 Matthews, J., Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court A.D. 364–425 (1975) 264.Google Scholar

87 He or they may have been named in the introduction to the lost life of Philip, or they may be the Pinianus(P), Celsinus and Bassus addressed at Aur. 1. 9, Prob. 1. 3 and Quad. Tyr. 2. 1.

88 ‘mi Piniane/Celsine/Basse’, above n. 87 and cf. ‘mi amice’: Car. 21. 2.

89 The consuls were Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius and Anicius Probinus, sons of Petronius Probus, whence the Scriptor's eulogy of the emperor Probus. ‘Pinianus’, if that is the right spelling, could be Valerius Pinianus PUR 385–7, who was still alive in 395–6: Symm., Ep. 2. 55; 6. 22, 26. Bassus could be Anicius Auchenius Bassus PUR 382–3, a Christian (Symm., Rel. 20. 1, 23. 4, 6, 7; 26. 2; 34. 7) or alternatively the vir spectabilis (Ep. 4. 36) or clarissimus (Ep. 4. 48) who was a correspondent of Symmachus c. 396–9 (Ep. 9. 20, 24). Celsinus is probably not Titianus Celsinus the brother of Symmachus (Symm., Ep. 1. 46, 62–4; 3. 19; CT 14. 3. 17) since he died about 380 (Ep. 1. 54, 83, 101; 9. 113) but could be a son or other relative, who may have shared descent from Aurelius Celsinus PUR 341, 351. Syme, Ammianus, 193.

90 Above n. 14.

91 Claud. 5. 5 (‘tuus libellus munerarius’); Aur. 15.4 (excessive expense recently in the consulship of ‘Furius Placidus’), a combination of opposites, derived from the names of the PUR of 346–7, which might covertly designate Q. Aurelius Symmachus, consul in 391, who was preoccupied with his son's quaestorian games in 393: Symm., Ep. 2. 46, 76–8; 5. 20–2, 59; 7. 76; 9. 117, 119–20—despite his advocacy of paganism a man fond of peace and quiet who had burned his fingers supporting Maximus: Ep. 7. 27. Cf. Syme, , Ammianus, 159Google Scholar; Chastagnol, A., Bonner HA Colloquium 1964/1965, 67Google Scholar. See also Car. 19–21, where the excursus on the expense of games only makes sense if intended to reassure the dedicand (‘mi amice’).

92 Cameron, Claudian, 30 ff. Whereas Claudian moves from the patronage of the Probini to that of Stilicho, Scriptor seems to move at about the same time in the opposite direction.

93 Trig. Tyr. 33. 7.

94 Car. 20.

95 Trig. Tyr. 33. 8.

96 Emperors, 287; Ammianus, 79.

97 BHAC 1963. (1964), 49; Antiquitas 4 ser. 6 (1969), 90–1Google Scholar; Historia 19 (1970), 444–63Google Scholar. While I accept Chastagnol's view of the influence on HA of Claudian, Paneg. Prob. et Olyb. (Jan. 395), I am dubious about the influence which he claims to detect, after a gap of some years, in the poems of mid-398 to mid-399. If proved, the influence would point to a revision in 398–9 of a text originally composed in 394–5, which is possible—but why would revision have been needed?

98 Above, n. 9.

99 Prob. 1. 5.

100 Prob. 7. 1.

101 Sev. 20. 1, citing Aelius Maurus, imaginary freedman of an equally imaginary Phlegon: Syme, , Ammianus, 60Google Scholar.

102 Sev. 20. 4: ‘et reputanti mihi, Diocletiane Auguste, neminem prope magnorum virorum optimum et utilem nlium reliquisse satis claret’.

103 But even at a young age a child may display a character worse than his father's: Diad. 8. 3–9. 3.

104 Alex. 31. 1–3, 65. 4–5.

105 Gord. 23. 7. Ibid. 25. 3, 31. 4 are perhaps more ambiguous.

106 Alex. 66. 3–4; Gord. 24. 2–5; Syme, , Ammianus, 73Google Scholar. The likely target is the influence under Theodosius from c. 393 of Eutropius, whose mission to the monk John in Egypt had resulted in a correct prediction of the outcome of the war against Eugenius: Soz. 7. 22. 7–8.

107 Diad. 8. 5–9. 3.

108 Carac. 9. 2, 11. 7; Marc. 3. 4, 7. 6, 8. 4, 9. 4, 6; Diad. 9. 4–5; Elag. 1. 4, 5, 7, 2. 1, 3. 1, 17. 4; Alex. 5. 3: altogether a strong insistence that the basis of his election was dynastic.

109 Tac. 6. 5.

110 Gall. 4. 3, cf. Trig. Tyr. 3. 3.

111 Syme, , Emperors, 27, 286Google Scholar. Comical aspects: Elag. 7; Tac. 19. 6.

112 Straub, J., Studien zur Historia Augusta (1952), 122Google Scholar; Heidnische Geschichtsapologetik in der christliche Spätantike (1963), 192 f.Google ScholarContra, Cameron, A. D. E., JRS 55 (1965), 241.Google Scholar

113 Ammianus, 73.

114 Below, nn. 133–8.

115 CT 16. 10. 10 (24 Feb. 391).

116 Sev. 17. 2.

117 cf. Sev. 17. 1, Elag. 3. 5 (Jews, Samaritans and Christians), Alex. 22. 4, 29. 2, 45. 7, 51. 7–8. Jews are often mentioned first. Cameron, JRS 55, at 247, points out that this was no way to conciliate Christians.

118 Augustine, Civ. Dei 18. 5. 3.

119 Elag. 3. 5.

120 Alex. 22. 4.

121 Alex. 51. 7–8.

122 Alex. 45. 7.

123 Alex. 43. 6.

124 Alex. 43. 7.

125 Alex. 29. 2.

126 Elag. 7. 1; Syme, , Ammianus, 196Google Scholar.

127 Quad. Tyr. 7. 5, 8. 2–3, 7.

128 Syme, , Emperors, 286Google Scholar.

129 Quad. Tyr. 8. 2.

130 Ibid. 8. 4.

131 Aur. 20. 5.

132 Car. 9. 3, cf. Trig. Tyr. 15. 3; Aur. 21. 4.

133 Ambrose, De ob. Theod. (25 Feb. 395; PL 16. 1386). This fits the proposed chronology.

134 Aur. 21. 4.

135 Aur. 25. 3.

136 Ambrose, De ob. Theod. 7–10; Explanatio psalmi 36. 25; Epist. 62. 4.

137 Aur. 1. 5–8, but note that Scriptor undermines the effect by confessing to mendacity: Aur. 2.

138 Aur. 24. 2–9; Syme, , Ammianus, 111, 196Google Scholar.

139 Claudian, Prob. 275 ff.; Syme, , Ammianus, 164Google Scholar.

140 Tac. 16. 6.

141 Tac. 16. 6: ‘vir Aureliano, Traiano, Hadriano, Antoninis, Alexandro Claudioque praeferendus’.

142 Elag. 35. 2.

143 Above nn. 133–8.

144 Car. 18. 5: ‘maxime cum vel vivorum principum vita non sine reprehensione dicatur’.

145 Honoré, Ulpian, 217–19.

146 Ausonius, Commem. Prof. Burg. 1. 4: ‘commemorabo viros morte obita celebros’.

147 Maximin. 27. 5 (‘Graecum rhetorem Eugamium sui temporis clarum’) noted by Syme, , Ammianus, 78Google Scholar.

148 Tac. 19. 1–2 (‘Autronius Tiberianus’). Below, nn. 218–22.

149 Tac. 5. 3–6. 9 (‘Maecius Faltonius Nicomachus’) on whom see below, n. 281.

150 Syme, , Ammianus, 144–6Google Scholar.

151 Ep. 27–31.

152 As could the reference to Aurelius Victor Pinio (Macr. 4. 2–4) for the death before late 395 of Sextus Aurelius Victor the historian, PUR 388/9: Syme, , Ammianus, 9Google Scholar; PLRE 1 Victor 13.

153 PLRE 1, p. 868.

154 For a possible encoded mention as ‘Furius Placidus’ see Aur. 15. 4–5, above n. 91.

155 Below, nn. 279–87.

156 e.g. Claud. 14–18; Tac. 18–19.

157 e.g. Avid. 1. 7, 2. 1, 11. 3, 12. 2, 14. 2–8; Alb. 12. 5; Macr. 6. 2; Diad. 8. 5, 9. 1; Maximin. 29. 7; Gord. 25. 1; Alex. 53. 5; Aur. 7. 5, 47. 2; Quad. Tyr. 12. 7; Car. 6. 2.

158 Maximin. 29. 1; Gord. 24. 2; Claud. 14. 2, 15. 1, 16. 1, 17. 2; Aur. 8. 2, 9. 2, 11. 1, 17. 2; Prob. 4. 1, 3, 5. 5, 6. 2, 6, 7. 3; Car. 6. 2.

159 Avid. 1.7; 14. 2.

160 Nig. 3. 9, 4. 1, 4; Alb. 2. 2.

161 Gord. 27. 5 (Timesitheus).

162 Maximus 18. 1, cf. Prob. 5. 1: ‘et haec quidem epistulis declarantur’.

163 Comm. 18. 3–19. 9; Claud. 18. 2; Aur. 13. 2.

164 Gord. 11. 4, 8; Maximus 1. 3, 2. 2, 10.

165 e.g. Avid. 9. 7, 11, 10. 1 (alleged collusion between Avidius and Faustina); Maximus 17. 2 (identity of Maximus and Pupienus); Car. 4. 6 (ancestry of Carus); Quad. Tyr. 5. 3.

166 Pert. 15. 8.

167 CT 11. 29. 4 (Valentinian, 10 May 369: ‘actis etiam necessario sociandis’); 11. 29. 5 (Valentinian, 14 Feb. 374). Examples are Symm., Rel. 39. 5 (‘gestis omnibus de more subiectis’), cf. 23. 15 (‘instructio subiecta’), 29. 2, 31. 3, 40. 6, 41. 8, 44. 3.

168 Symm., Rel. 16. 2.

169 Rel. 2 5.

170 Rel. 33. 4 (‘omnium gestorum fida documenta cum supplements partium relationi ex more sociata sunt’), cf. 26. 7, 28. 11, 30. 4, 49. 4.

171 Rel. 32. 4 (‘gestis ac refutatoriis cohaerentibus’).

172 Rel. 19. 10, (‘coniunctae paginae allegationes partium et supplementa sumpserunt’), cf. 27. 4, 46.

173 Rel. 24. 2 (report of a speech), 46.

174 CT 11. 29. 5. 7–9.

175 e.g. Did. 9. 1: ‘obiecta sane sunt Iuliano haec’ (four accusations follow, one of which is rejected), cf. Alex. 64. 3.

176 e.g. Alb. 14. 3: ‘ut autem hoc verum intellegatur epistulam Commodi … inserui’.

177 A phrase derived from classical legal culture is ‘nullius sunt momenti’: Car. 20. 1; cf. Avid. 3. 3: ‘sive iusta sive iniusta causa’; Aur. 11. 1, 12. 3: adrogatio (in technical sense not in CT). The legal classification into necessary, useful and voluptuary expenses (e.g. Dig. 5. 3. 38–9), applied by Scriptor to rulers, underlies much of the language of HA, e.g. Alex. 15. 3; and the ludicrous concept of a taciturn senatus consultum (Gord. 12) is based on legal analogies such as taciturn fideicommissum (e.g. CT 16. 5. 17, Theodosius-Nicomachus, 4 May 389) cf. J. Straub, BHAC 1975–6 (1978), 195–216.

178 K.-P. Johne, BHAC 1972–4 (1976), 131–42; G. Alföldy, BHAC 1975–6 (1978), 1 ff.

179 Tac. 18. 3, 5.

180 Tac. 19. 2.

181 Prob. 13. 1.

182 Prob. 23. 1–5.

183 Symm., Rel. 33. 2.

184 Rel. 33. The point is dealt with in CT 11. 30. 49 (Theodosius-Nicomachus Albino PUR 25 July 389), issued at a time when I take Scriptor to have been an official in the office of the PUR.

185 Val. 6. 6.

186 Car. 16. 3: ‘quo foedius nec cogitari potuit aliquando nec dici’, cf. plan of Elagabal to create fourteen city prefects of the worst possible character: Elag. 20. 3.

187 Trig. Tyr. 25. 3 (Tetricus junior); Aur. 43. 2 (Diocletian); Quad. Tyr. 9. 4 (Saturninus), 15. 4 (wife of Bonosus); Car. 13. 3, 14. 1 (Diocletian).

188 There was a Iunius Tiberianus PUR 291–2, 303–4, but he is mere camouflage, perhaps for the PUR of 392–4, Nicomachus Flavianus the younger, whose father had written Annales.

189 Aur. 2. 2.

190 Car. 16. 8, cf. Comm. 13. 7.

191 Alex. 21. 6–8.

192 Alex. 21.6–8.

193 Alex. 15. 6. Jurists, e.g. Ulpian (ibid. 15. 6, 51. 4, 67. 2, 68. 1), are highly esteemed in HA, Scriptor being, like Ammianus, a partisan of the rule of law. ‘Not interested in law or lawyers’ (Syme, , Ammianus, 188Google Scholar) is wide of the mark; cf. e.g. Sev. 21. 9–10 (Papinian), Alex. 26. 5–6, 27. 2, 31. 2–3 (Ulpian and Paul).

194 The ludicrous but accurate reference to the Lex Caninia at Tac. 10. 7 comes from Gaius, Inst. 1. 42–6. Ausonius also used this source: Griphus 63–4, explicable only in the light of Inst. 4. 143–55.

195 Macr. 13. 1 (Trajan issued no rescripts) could plausibly be asserted only by someone who knew that there were no rescripts of Trajan in the Codex Gregorianus, cf. J. Straub, BHAC 1975–6 (1978), 203. D. Liebs, BHAC 1982–3 (1985), 221–37, shows at p. 223 that if rescripts are taken to mean subscriptions Scriptor was correct.

196 Marc. 19. 12, on the veneration of Diocletian for Marcus, is derived from CJ 5. 17. 5 (Diocletian/ Hermogenianus 293 or 294: Honoré, , Emperors and Lawyers (1981), 119–32Google Scholar). A. D. E. Cameron, CR 18 (1968), 17–18; Syme, , Emperors, 272Google Scholar. This is a good example of Scriptor's ability to exploit a small hint: Syme, ibid., 259.

197 Prob. 5. 1: ‘‘et haec quidem epistulis declaratur’ reflects Ulpian's phrasing ‘constitutionibus/rescripto/ epistula/senatusconsulto etc. declaratur’: Dig. 1. 12. 1 pr. (1 off.pr. urb.), 50. 4. 6 pr., 50. 6. 3 pr. (4 off.proc.), 48. 18. 1. 3, 2 3 ( 8 off. Proc), 49. 5. 5. 3 (4 appell.), 17. 2. 32 (13 Sab.), 26. 7. 2.pr. (9 ed.), 11. 4. 1. 2 (11 ed.), 18. 3. 4 pr. (32 ed.). Scriptor will certainly have read Ulp. off. pr. urb., probably also off. proc. and appell.

198 Macr. 13. 1. The point arose in CT 13. 3. 13 (Valentinian 11 ad Pinianum PUR 22 Jan. 387) and 12. 16. 1 (Theodosius/Nicomachus Albino PUR 16 Aug. 389), dates when I take Scriptor to have been working in the office of the PUR.

199 Aur. 43. 1, cf. Macr. 13. 1: ‘hominum imperitorum voluntates’.

200 Symm., Rel. 41. 8.

201 Alex. 31. 1: ‘relegentibus cuncta librariis et iis qui scrinium gerebant’.

202 Car. 7. 2: ‘Gallicanum, quod maxime constantem principem quaerit.… imperium’. The connection with Gaul was discerned by Domaszewski, though his dating to the late sixth century was mistaken, cf. Momigliano, , Secondo Contributo, 114Google Scholar; Syme, , Ammianus, 189–90Google Scholar.

203 Ael. 5. 9: ‘quae etsi non decora, non tamen ad perniciem publicam prompta sunt’; Trig. Tyr. 3. 10: ‘sciatis nusquam gentium reperiri qui possit penitus adprobari’ (attr. Valerian); Aur. 43. 2–5 (attr. Diocletian).

204 Car. 7. 1–2, 10, 16. 2, 8. The position was retrieved by Constantius, who restored Roman rule (‘qui Gallias Romanis legibus redderet’): Car. 18. 3.

205 Ammianus Marcellinus 27. 6.

206 Rufinus 11. 13; Ammianus 31. 19 (comparison with Commodus). Presumably the Lampridius theme (below ad nn. 256–68) depends on this passage of Ammianus.

207 Orosius 7. 34. 9.

208 Gall. 4. 3: ‘Galli, quibus insitum est leves ac degenerantes a virtute Romana et luxuriosos principes ferre non posse’.

209 Alex. 59. 5; Trig. Tyr. 3. 6: ‘novarum rerum semper … cupidi’.

210 Gall. 4. 5; Trig. Tyr. 3. 6, 10. 14. For Proculus as foreshadowing Argobast, who subdued the Alamanni see Quad. Tyr. 13. 4; Syme, , Ammianus, 76Google Scholar.

211 Sev. 4. 1 and note the severitas of Maximus, an excellent urban prefect: Maximus 5. 10.

212 Ausonius, Griphus intro. 17–21; cf. Cento Nuptialis intro. 19–27; Parent. 18. 1: ‘Qui ioca laetitiamque colis, qui tristia damnas’; Lib. Protrepticus ad Nep., intro. 9–11: ‘si qua tibi in his versiculis (nam vereor, ut multa sint) videbuntur fucatius concinnata quam verius …’.

213 Ausonius, Griphus, 52–5: ‘postremo si etiam tibi obscurus fuero, cui nihil neque non lectum est neque non intellectum, turn vero ego beatus, quod adfectavi, adsequar, me ut requiras, me ut desideres, de me cogites’.

214 c. 334–64; Ausonius, Praef. 1. 17, 20, 24.

215 Ibid., intro. 16.

216 Gall. 9. 1; some semi-serious: Geta 4. 5.

217 Maximinus 24. 5, 33. 3–4; Gord. 10. 1, 19. 9, 22. 1; Maximus 1. 2, 11. 1, 15. 1, 4–5, 16. 2, 7, 17–18.

218 i.e. Ausonius imagined as being in Rome, on the Tiber: in HA Tiberianus often means ‘in Rome’ and Galhcanus ‘in Gaul’ or ‘like a Gaul’.

219 i.e. Iulius Ausonius, a just man: PLRE 1 Ausonius 5 (PPO Illyrici 377); Ausonius, , Epicedion in Patrem; Parentalia 1Google Scholar.

220 Syme, , Ammianus, 169Google Scholar.

221 Ausonius, , Epicedion 52Google Scholar; Parentalia 1. 4.

222 Above, nn. 151–2.

223 Trig. Tyr. 24. 1.

224 Victor Caes. 33. 14; Eutropius 9. 10 (proclaimed emperor at Bordeaux c. 270).

225 Trig. Tyr. 25. 3.

226 Ammianus, 207, 211.

227 Ausonius, Praef. 1. 17, 20.

228 Trig. Tyr. 1. 1: ‘pedestri adloquio’, cf. Prob. 21. 1: ‘pedestris sermo’.

229 Trig. Tyr. 1. 1, 11. 6, 33. 8; Prob. 1. 6, 2. 6–7; Car. 21. 2.

230 Voss, W. E., Recht und Rhetorik in den Kaisergesetzen der Spätantike (1982), 22 ff.Google Scholar; Honoré, op. cit. (n. 1), 136–44.

231 Quad. Tyr. 15. 9.

232 CT 13. 3. 11 (23 May 376).

233 CT 4. 17. 4, 11. 30. 44 (29 Nov. 384). His correspondence with Ausonius at this period has not been preserved.

234 Symm., Rel. 17.

235 Files of the urban prefect (e.g. Aur. 9. 1), of the senate, documents in the Bibliotheca Ulpia. No reason to doubt that Scriptor sometimes consulted them, which is not to deny that often he could not find what he wanted or had no time to look or simply preferred to invent.

236 Learned men deserve public office: Sev. 21.8: ‘ne homini (Papiniano) per se et per scientiam suam magno deesset et dignitas’; Tac. 4. 4: ‘ecquis melius quam litteratus imperat?’

237 Symm., Ep. 1. 20.

238 Syme, , Ammianus, 176Google Scholar.

239 Trig. Tyr. 2. 3, cf. Aur. 32. 2.

240 e.g. Aur. 2. 1–2, Quad. Tyr. 1. 3 (Vopiscus on Pollio); Prob. 2. 7 (Vopiscus on Capitolinus and Lampridius).

241 Marc. 19. 4; Nig. 9. 3; Ael. 2. 9; Elag. 35. 2.

242 Gord. 34. 3.

243 Dessau, op. cit., 384–5.

244 Avid. 1. 7 as ‘ipsius Veri epistula indicat’!

245 Prob. 21. 4.

246 Macr. 13. 3, cf. Avid. 9. 7; Nig. 6. 5; Alb. 4. 4; Macr. 13. 3; Elag. 2. 2; Trig. Tyr. 10. 4–7, 33. 2; Car. 8.5.

247 Nig. 6. 6.

248 Claud. 13. 5.

249 Avid. 3. 4, cf. Sev. 19. 8; Alb. 13. 1; Carac. 9. 3; Macr. 13. 4; Maximin. 28. 2; Gord. 6. 6, 19. 1; Maximus 7. 6; Aur. 6. 1.

250 In Ausonius the series begins with Julius Caesar and Hadrian is the fifteenth emperor.

251 The order of composition is controversial: Cameron, A. D. E., JRS 61 (1971), 254–67Google Scholar answered by Syme, , JRS 62 (1972), 123 ff. = Papers, 12–29. I have assumed, apart from the subsidiary lives (above n. 21), chronological orderGoogle Scholar

252 Did. 6. 7 despite the dissenting view in 7.3.

253 Did. 8. 7–8.

254 Pert. 9. 9, 13. 2.

255 Marc. 12. 1, 14. 1.

256 Macr. 2. 3–4, 7. 1.

257 Syme, , Emperors, 54–77Google Scholar.

258 Marc. 7. 5.

259 The name suggests Vulcacius Rufinus, PPO in Gaul 354.

260 Gall. 4. 3–4, above, n. 208; Trig. Tyr. 3. 7: ‘Galli novarum rerum semper sunt cupidi’; Quad. Tyr. 7. 1: ‘Gallus, ex gente hominum inquietissima et avida semper vel faciendi principis vel imperil’.

261 e.g. Avid. 2. 6.

262 Gall. 4. 5 (Postumus); Quad. Tyr. 13. 4 (Proculus); Trig. Tyr. 3. 6 (Postumus); 10. 14 (Claudius, Macrianus, Ingenuus, Postumus, Aureolus).

263 Nig. 3. 5–6, 10. 1–9.

264 Alb. 7. 2, 9. 6, 12. 1. It may be that Albinus obliquely celebrates Ceionius Rufinus Albinus PUR 389–91.

265 Alb. 13. 3–10.

266 Syme, Papers, 46–62.

267 Diad. 8. 5–9. 3.

268 Is he assigned this character as a warning that even the very young can be cruel (Honorius was nine in 394 as was Diadumenianus in 217)?

269 ‘The labels are an afterthought’: Syme, Emperors, 74. Perhaps, since it is easier after several lives have been written to see into what categories they might be divided.

270 Prob. 2. 7.

271 Ausonius, Griphus 63, 88.

272 Maximin. 1. 1 explains Scriptor's change of practice.

273 Syme, , Emperors, 255Google Scholar.

274 Is ‘Trebellius Pollio’ connected with rebellio, an unusual word which HA uses to mean a rebel (Marc. 29. 4; Avid. 9. 11; Gall. 19. 6), his most ambitious piece being Triginta Tyranni? Vopiscus, whose style Marriott regards as most characteristically Scriptorial (JRS 69 at p. 70), seems to me most closely to represent Scriptor's considered views.

275 Prob. 21. i; Syme, , Emperors, 288Google Scholar.

276 Claud. 18. 4.

277 Above nn. 67–85.

278 A generalized version of the Cento, of which Ausonius, Cento Nuptialis presented a recent model.

279 Tac. 19. 6.

280 Prob. 10. 1; cf. Car. 3. 7; Tac. 13. 5.

281 Syme, , Ammianus, 157–8Google Scholar.

282 Tac. 14. 1, 16. 4.

283 ICUR (n.s. ed. Silvagni) 1. 1449 (14 Apr. 393).

284 Zosimus 4. 55.

285 Valentinian was proclaimed Augustus by the troops at age 4 and, after an ineffective reign, committed suicide at age 21.

286 Hence for ‘teque, Tacite Auguste, convenio’ read ‘Theodosie Auguste’.

287 When the orator speaks of those monsters ‘Nerones dico et Heliogabalos et Commodos’, it may be Scriptor who adds ‘seu potius semper Incommodos’.

288 Maecius Memmius Furius Baburius Caecilianus Placidus PUR 346–7; Faltonius Probus Alypius PUR 391; Nicomachus Flavianus PUR 392–4.

289 Above, nn. 147–54.

290 Honoré, op. cit. (n. 1), 209–16.

291 Though a thorough analysis of the HA speeches would be desirable.

292 CT 15. 14. 7 (10 Oct. 388: ‘omne … nullus … nullus …’), 10. 22. 2 (18 Oct. 388: ‘omnibus …’, 1. 5. 9 (2 March 389: ‘si quos …, siquos …’), 8. 11. 5 (28 Apr. 389: ‘nihil …’), 2. 4. 5 (2 May 389: ‘universa …. ante omnia … nullis …’), 16. 5. 1 (4 May 389: ‘omnes … nec quemquam … non …, non …, non …, non …, non …, non … nihil habeant commune’), 8. 4. 16 (5 May 389: ‘nullo …, nulla … '), 16. 5. 18 (17 June 389: ‘ex omni orbe terrarum … nihil sit commune’), 2. 8. 19 (7 Aug. 389: ‘omnes dies … ’), 9. 35. 5 (6 Sept. 389: ‘nulla supplicia’), 16. 5. 19 (26 Nov. 389: ‘omni modo propellantur’), 6. 30. 12 (15 Jan. 390: ‘nullus … ’), 3. 17. 4 (21 Jan. 390: ‘ne quid …, ne quid …, 15. 1. 26 (16 Jan. 390: ‘quantum …, per quos …, quatenus’), 15. 1. 27 (4 Apr. 390: ‘omnino non … summam omnem …’, 15. 1. 28 (4 May 390: ‘nihil … ’), 9. 7. 6 (14 May 390: ‘omnes … nihil’). Another trait of style may be a fondness for strings of three rulers—Tac. 6. 4: ‘Nerones … et Heliogabalos et Commodos’, 6. 9: ‘imitare Nervas Traianos Hadrianos’; cf. Epit. de Caesar. 48. 11; ‘ut Cinnam Marium Syllamque atque universos dominantium’.

293 e.g. CT 16. 5. 17, 4 Apr. 389: ‘nihil ad summum habeant (Eunomiani) commune cum reliquis’; 16. 5. 18, 17 June 389: ‘nihil ad summum his (Manichaeis) sit commune cum mundo’; 9. 7. 6, 14 May 390: ‘nihil enim discretum videntur habere (cinaedi) cum feminis’; 15. 14. 7, 10 Oct. 388: total abrogation of acts of ‘Maximus infandissimus tyrannorum’.

294 Tac. 6. 8.

295 Honoré, op. cit. (n. 1), 216.

296 e.g. Sev. 15. 5; Alb. 5. 6; Geta 3. 3; Diad. 4. 6; Alex. 14. 3; Maximin. 20. 2; Gord. 22. 2; Maximus 15. 6; Trig. Tyr. 27. 1. For other diminutives see Elag. 26. 4 (‘puerulos’), Macr. 14. 1 (‘putidulus’), Prob. 2. 2 (‘Turdulus’), Tac. 11. 8 (‘minutulas litteras’), CT 12. 16. 1 (Theodosius-Nicomachus, 16 Aug. 389: ‘minusculis corporibus’).

297 And as a reply from the grave to Ambrose, De ob. Theod. 6: ‘nec movet aetas (Honorii); fides militum imperatoris perfecta est aetas’, 8: ‘fides ergo auget aetatem’.

298 Tac. 7. 1: ‘Hac oratione et Tacitus ipse vehementer est motus et totus senatorius ordo concussus’.

299 Matthews, J., ‘The Historical Setting of the ‘Carmen contra paganos” (Cod. Par. Lat. 8084)’, Historia 19 (1970), 464–79.Google Scholar

300 PLRE 1 Flavianus 15.

301 Tac. 7– 51.

302 Tac. 7. 5–7

303 Tac. 8. 1–2.

304 A reader with a good memory would later note without surprise that Scriptor ‘could not find’ the senatus consultum: Prob. 7. 1; Syme, , Ammianus, 99Google Scholar.

305 Tac. 9. 6.

306 Tac. 13. 5.

307 Augustine, Civ. Dei 18. 5. 3, cf. Sozomen 7. 22. 7–8.

308 Tac. 15.4: ‘non magna haec urbanitas haruspicum fuit’.

309 e.g. invented documents: Aur. 17. 1 (‘fidei causa, immo ut alios annalium scriptores fecisse video’).

310 Alex. 64. 3.

311 e.g. Alex. 57. 2–3.

312 e.g. Alex. 59. 8, 63. 5–6.

313 Avid. 2. 7, 13. 9; Sev. 21. 9; Niger 3. 5, 10; Elag. 35. 2; Aur. 11. 10, 36. 2–3, 37. 1, 42. 4; Car. 10, 15. 6.

314 Syme, , Emperors, 280Google Scholar. Still more dismissive: Barnes, T. D., The Sources of the Historia Augusta (1978), 13Google Scholar: ‘begins as something which approximates to history … but ends as almost unadulterated fiction’.