Looking for Seneca’s Historiae in Suetonius’ Life of Tiberius

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to identify potentially Senecan material in Suetonius’ Life of Tiberius, the site of one of the two generally accepted references to the Historiae (Tib. 73.2 = FRHist 74 F1). Given the paucity of the evidence for the Historiae the discussion is necessarily speculative, but suggestive connections are found especially in material pertinent to equites Romani or tendentiously proCaligula. If Seneca’s Historiae did herald a new golden age presided over by Caligula, this might explain the work’s apparent neglect by subsequent historians. Traces of the elder Seneca’s Historiae are difficult to detect in the ancient literary tradition, but Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars is a good place to look, since the scholarly biographer supplies one of the two generally accepted references to the Historiae (Tib. 73.2 Appendix F1);1 he also seems to have used material that originated in Seneca’s rhetorical works for his De grammaticis et rhetoribus.2 The principal aim of this paper is to identify potentially Senecan material in Suetonius’ Life of Tiberius, the site of that reference to the Historiae. Identifying Suetonius’ sources is a large and complex project and one – given the disappearance of most of those sources – in which success is ultimately unattainable. Jacques Gascou devoted some 300 pages of his monumental Suétone  1 I take this opportunity to express my lively gratitude to Maria Chiara Scappaticcio for the invitation to participate in a stimulating conference devoted to the Historiae of Seneca the elder. I am also grateful to John Ramsey for sharing with me his expertise on equestrian jury panels. In what follows, citations of Suetonius refer to Kaster (2016). Citations without title refer to the Life of Tiberius. Fragments of the Roman historians are cited from FRHist. 2 Suetonius borrows the language of the elder Seneca for his notice on Albucius Silus (rhet. 30.4, cf. contr. 7.praef. 4.6). A debt to our Seneca has also been conjectured in Suetonius’ lost notice on Cestius Pius (rhet. fr. 1), who “is one of the main figures in Sen.’s memoirs” (Kaster (1995) 327). Suetonius cites “Seneca” in the Life of Virgil, paraphrasing a passage that may have come from a lacuna in the elder’s Controuersiae but has also been attributed to a lacuna in the younger’s Epistulae morales; see Grisart (1961) and Kaster (1995) Appendix 4, “Suetonius and the elder Seneca.” On the basis of some surprising gaps in Suetonius’ material on topics treated in the elder Seneca’s rhetorical works Kaster (1995) 355–359 postulates that Suetonius’ direct source was an unidentified intermediary, not Seneca himself. On Suetonius’ source at 73.2, where he cites again ‘Seneca’ without further qualification, see n. 67 below. Open Access. © 2020 Maria Chiara Scappaticcio, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110688665 008 Cynthia Damon Looking for Seneca’s Historiae in Suetonius’ Life of Tiberius Abstract: The aim of this paper is to identify potentially Senecan material in Suetonius’ Life of T berius, the site of one of he two generally ac epted r ferences to he Historiae ( . 73.2 = FRHist 74 F1). Given the paucit of the evid nc for the Historiae th discussion is necessarily speculative, bu suggesti e connections are f und especially in material pertinent to equites Romani or tend ntiously proCaligula. If Seneca’s Historiae did herald a new golden ge presided over by Ca ligula, this might explain the work’s appare t neglect by subs quent historians. The aim of this paper is to identify potentially Senecan material in Suetonius’ Life of T berius, the site of one of he two generally ac epted r ferences to he Historiae ( . 73.2 = FRHist 74 F1). Given the paucit of the evid nc for the Historiae th discussion is necessarily speculative, bu suggesti e connections are f und especially in material pertinent to equites Romani or tend ntiously proCaligula. If Seneca’s Historiae did herald a new golden ge presided over by Ca ligula, this might explain the work’s appare t neglect by subs quent historians. Traces of the elder Seneca’s Historiae are difficult to detect in the ancient literary tradition, but Suetonius’ Lives of th Caesars is a good place to look, sinc the scholarly biographer s ppl es one of the two generally accept d references to Historiae (Tib. 73.2 Appendix F1);1 he also seems to have used material that rigina ed in Seneca’s rhetorical works for his De grammaticis et rhetoribus.2 The p n cipal a m of this paper is to identify potentially Senecan mat rial in Suetonius’ L fe of Tiberius, the site of hat reference to he Historiae. Identifying Su tonius’ sources is a large and compl x project and one – given the disappearance of mo t of tho e sources – in which success is ultimately unattainable. Jacqu s Gascou devoted s me 300 pages of his monumental Suéto e  1 I take this opportunity to express my lively gratitude to Maria Chiara Scappaticcio for the invitation to participate in a stimulating conference devoted to the Historiae of Seneca the elder. I am also grateful to John Ramsey for sharing with me his expertise on equestrian jury panels. In what follows, citations of Suetonius refer to Kaster (2016). Citations without title refer to the Life of Tiberius. Fragments of the Roman historians are cited from FRHist. 2 Suetonius borrows the language of the elder Seneca for his notice on Albucius Silus (rhet. 30.4, cf. contr. 7.praef. 4.6). A debt to our Seneca has also been conjectured in Suetonius’ lost notice on Cestius Pius (rhet. fr. 1), who “is one of the main figures in Sen.’s memoirs” (Kaster (1995) 327). Suetonius cites “Seneca” in the Life of Virgil, paraphrasing a passage that may have come from a lacuna in the elder’s Controuersiae but has also been attributed to a lacuna in the younger’s Epistulae morales; see Grisart (1961) and Kaster (1995) Appendix 4, “Suetonius and the elder Seneca.” On the basis of some surprising gaps in Suetonius’ material on topics treated in the elder Seneca’s rhetorical works Kaster (1995) 355–359 postulates that Suetonius’ direct source was an unidentified intermediary, not Seneca himself. On Suetonius’ source at 73.2, where he cites again ‘Seneca’ without further qualification, see n. 67 below.