Roman History and Historiography

Cassiodorus was a prominent participant in the political, intellectual, and religious life of 6th-century ce Italy, and a learned scholar of the classical and Christian traditions. As a member of the administration of the Gothic government under Theoderic and his successors, he advanced through what may be considered the late-Roman cursus honorum. He was also witness to the dramatic political and religious debates of the day, including volatile interactions between the royal court at Ravenna, the Senate at Rome, and the emperor in Constantinople. Justinian’s Gothic War in Italy effectively ended his political career, after which he first became an exile in Constantinople, and then the founder of a school for Christian learning (Vivarium) on his ancestral estates in southern Italy. The literary works that he produced span the spectrum of his personal experiences and attest to the intellectual and cultural range of people living during the 6th century: panegyrics, a chronicle, ethnography, letters, treatises on reading, grammars, Christian exegesis, and ecclesiastical history.

Aulus Cremutius Cordus, the historian, writing under *Augustus (Suet.Tib. 61. 3) and *Tiberius, treated the period from the Civil Wars to at least 18 bce (Suet. Aug. 35. 2). Refusing to glorify Augustus, he celebrated *Cicero, *Brutus, and *Cassius, ‘the last Roman’. Prosecuted at the instigation of *Sejanus (Tac. Ann. 4. 34 f.), he committed suicide (25 ce). His work was burnt, but copies, preserved by his daughter, were published in abridged form under *Gaius (1) (Cass. Dio 57. 24. 4). *Pliny (1) the Elder and Seneca the Younger (L. *Annaeus Seneca (2)) used his work.

Athenian notable and historian (3rd cent. CE), author of (1) an account of the Successor-period (Τὰ μετὰ Ἀλέξανδρον), lost; (2) a History from mythical times to ce 269/70 in twelve books (fragments survive); and (3) a Scythian History (Σκυθικά) covering the Gothic Wars from ce 238 to Aurelian; preserved largely in *Zosimus, it has many Thucydidean echoes (see thucydides(2)). The ancient tradition (SHA Gall. 13. 8) that he personally led Athenian resistance to the *Heruli in ce 267 has been doubted, perhaps unreasonably (G. Martin).

‘Which of the gods was it that brought the two together in strife?’, asks the Iliad as it launches its narrative (1.8); early in the Odyssey*Zeus complains that mortals blame the gods when they are responsible for their own sufferings (1.32–3). Both poems however swiftly complicate any attempt to limit explanations to either the human or the divine level. Achilles and Agamemnon quarrel, Achilles kills Hector, and Odysseus gets home, largely because they are the people that they are, but gods often intervene too. The Greeks win because they are better fighters; they also win because more gods are on their side. The poems also suggest another form of explanation, not tracing events to their origins but relating them to a familiar pattern of human life. Suffering is the lot of humanity (Il. 24.525–6); outrages like those of the suitors are punished. Life is like that, and one should not be surprised.

Florus, the name of three Latin authors, is usually, but not unanimously, identified as the same man. (1) Lucius Annaeus (Iulius in Cod. Bamberg) Florus, Roman historian, author of the Epitome bellorum omnium annorum DCC (‘Abridgement of all the Wars over 700 Years’); wrote no earlier than *Antoninus Pius to judge from pref. 8 and 1. 5. 5–8. His work is an outline of Roman history with special reference to the wars waged up to the reign of Augustus, with the suggestion that the latter had brought peace to the world. Some manuscripts describe it as an *epitome of *Livy; but it is sometimes at variance with Livy. The author also made use of *Sallust, *Caesar, and in one passage (pref. 4–8) probably the elder Seneca (see annaeus seneca (1), l.); and there are reminiscences of *Virgil and Lucan (see annaeus lucanus, m.

Aulus Furius Antias (i.e. of Antium), (fl. 100 bce), friend of Q. *Lutatius Catulus (1) (Cic.Brut. 132), epic poet influenced by Ennius and in turn influencing Virgil. From his Annales, a historical poem in at least eleven books, A. *Gellius (NA 18. 11) quotes six hexameters.

Author of a compendium of Roman history. The arrangement is annalistic (see annals), with digressions; most of the material seems to come ultimately from *Livy, but he knows other authors too, notably *Sallust. The remains, preserved in a now largely illegible London palimpsest, come from books 2 (?), 28, 3 (?), 35, 36, referring to events of 165–162, 105, and 86–77 bce. Post-Hadrianic in date, the work shows an interest in curiosities, prodigies, anecdotes, and antiquarian explanations of institutions. Servius also quotes his Cena (‘Dinner’) for a detail of ancient drinking practice.

Livy (Titus Livius), the Roman historian, lived 59 bce– 17ce (although Syme has argued for 64 bce– 12ce). He was born and died at *Patavium , the most prosperous city of northern Italy, famed for its stern morality. C. *Asinius Pollio criticized Livy's Patavinitas (Paduanism), but the import of this remark is unclear. An epitaph from Padua recording a T. Livius with two sons and a wife Cassia Prima may be his (ILS 2919). In a letter he urged his son to imitate *Demosthenes (2) and *Cicero , and this or another son wrote a geographical work. A daughter married L. Magius, a rhetorician. We do not know when Livy came to Rome or how much time he spent there; but he was on good personal terms with *Augustus (see below) and encouraged the young *Claudius , future emperor, to write history. Apart from, perhaps before beginning, his major work he also wrote philosophical dialogues.

Marius Maximus, biographer of twelve emperors from *Nerva to *Elagabalus, continuator and imitator of *Suetonius. He is probably the Marius Maximus who governed Syria, Africa, and Asia, was *praefectus urbi in ce 217–18, and held his second consulship in 223. His biographies mixed the anecdotal and scurrilous with the diligent quotation of lengthy documents. Like Suetonius, he arranged his material by categories. His work influenced the *Historia Augusta and provided some of its material (he is quoted there 26 times): he may even have been the main source, at least for some Lives (especially Elagabalus), though the issue is fiercely disputed. *Ammianus Marcellinus 28. 4. 14 deplores the taste of those who were still reading him.