After the deaths of Antony
and Cleopatra in 30 BC,
Octavian
Caesar took over Antony's eastern domains
and kept Egypt as his
own property.
He did not allow Egyptians to join the Roman Senate
nor would he let a Roman senator live in Egypt
without his permission.
He imposed tribute on Egypt and appointed
the knight Cornelius
Gallus as its governor.
Fearing their radical politics, he would
not allow
Alexandria to have a city council.
Octavian
returned to Rome in 29 BC
wealthier than the state of Rome.
This
enabled him to pay off his veterans as he reduced
60 legions to
28 with about 150,000 men.
He suppressed suspected conspiracies,
occasional riots, and revolts.
He stationed armed police in areas
where bandit
had robbed and enslaved workers,
sometimes in the
name of "worker guilds."
Romans were exhausted by more than a half century of
frequent civil wars and were content to let the young Octavian
rule as he wisely refrained from claiming royal and dictatorial
powers in the manner of Julius
Caesar.
He declined the tribune power Rome offered him and
using
the military title imperator, he and the Senate closed
the
gates of the Janus temple to symbolize the end of war
for
only the third time in Rome's history.
The gates of war soon opened
again, but they were closed
to signify peace twice more during
his long reign.
A triple triumph honored him for conquering Illyricum,
winning at Actium, and annexing Egypt.
Octavian
became princeps (first) in the Senate; he and
Marcus Agrippa
reduced the number of senators from
1000 to 800 in 28 BC and ten
years later to 600.
Octavian
increased from 800,000 to 1,000,000 sesterces
the qualification
for the senatorial order,
though sometimes he helped individuals
to achieve it.
The property qualification for the equestrian order
remained at 400,000 sesterces.
Octavian ordered the first of three
censuses,
and in an empire of nearly one hundred million
he increased
the number of citizens
by a million to more than six million
as
soldiers in the provinces gained citizenship.
Half-way through eight consecutive consulships in 27 BC,
Octavian announced he was
transferring his power to the
Senate and people of Rome, while
at the same time arranging
that he was given control for ten years
over Egypt, Gaul, Spain,
and Syria which he ruled through subordinate
governors.
From this time he was given the name Augustus, and
later the
sixth month in the Roman calendar was named August after
him.
He was still commander-in-chief of the army even though
three
independent proconsuls had armies in
Illyricum, Macedonia, and
Africa.
A military campaign in 26 BC against the Sabaeans secured
the sea trade to Somalia and India.
Much of Asia Minor was annexed as Galatia the next year.
In the
Danube area M. Licinius Crassus had pushed back
the Bastarnae
and pacified the Moesians and Thracians
(in Serbia, Bulgaria,
and Romania) by 28 BC,
and three years later Varro Murena captured
and sold the hostile Salassi tribe into slavery.
After taking a census in Gaul and campaigning in Spain,
Augustus
returned to Rome ill in 24 BC and gave up the
consulship for full
tribunician power by which he could convene
the Senate, propose
legislation, and oversee the judiciary,
resulting in his own imperial
court for "appeals to Caesar."
The restraint of his
imperial power in the city of Rome was
removed while it was made
greater than all provincial
governors, and he could make treaties
without submitting
them to the Senate or the people for ratification.
He now controlled all of the army and most of the tax revenues.
Thus Augustus dated the reign of his principate from the year
23 BC when his powers as imperator and tribune
essentially
made him Rome's first emperor.
Augustus revived the tradition
of electing city magistrates
instead of him appointing half of
them,
and he tried to control bribery by handing out
gold pieces
to the Fabian tribe.
Valuing Roman citizenship as elite, he made
it difficult to
free slaves and impossible for them to become
citizens.
Macedonia proconsul Marcus Primus was tried for
making war on Thrace without authority in 22 BC.
Augustus testified against
him and explained
he did so for the "public interest."
Primus was convicted but not unanimously.
His defense counsel
Murena and Fannius Caepio were then
convicted of treason for threatening
the life of Augustus;
again the verdict was not unanimous,
but
instead of being sent into exile they were executed.
Disease and
hunger stimulated demonstrations in Rome.
Augustus declined the
dictatorship but took control of the
grain supply and solved the
problem.
Even though Agrippa was married to his own niece,
while
he was in Asia, Augustus sent Agrippa to take contro
of Rome
and marry his daughter Julia.
Augustus used diplomacy to get back
Roman standards
and prisoners of war from the Parthians in 20
BC.
Armenia was recognized as a Roman protectorate,
and Tiberius
was sent to expel Artaxes and restore Tigranes.
Rome later lost
control of Armenia
about 7 BC with the death of Tigranes.
Romans elected Augustus censor and made him
supervisor of morals
for five years.
In 17 BC Augustus staged secular games to inaugurate a new
era, and the next year he sent his wife Livia's sons Tiberius
and Nero Drusus across the Alps to annex by force Noricum
and
Raetia (Switzerland, Austria, and Bavaria).
Professional military
service was set at a minimum of
sixteen years for legionaries
and twelve years
for the praetorian guard.
Augustus waited until
after Lepidus died to become
chief priest in 12 BC, the year Agrippa
died.
The same year the army of Drusus invaded western Germany,
but he died accidentally on the return march in 9 BC.
Tiberius,
who had spent four years fighting and enslaving
Pannonians (in
Austria and western Hungary),
took over and transferred resisting
Germans to Gaul.
In 2 BC Augustus received the title Pater Patria as father
of his country he had shaped as an empire.
Professional public
service replaced amateur magistrates,
and the public dole in Rome
was reduced to 200,000.
Demonstrations at public festivals that
had disturbed Rome
with riots in the past were suppressed and
became rare.
The social laws Augustus introduced to increase Rome's
population by punishing those who did not marry and have
children
seem to have been ineffective.
In 10 BC Augustus had insisted
that Tiberius marry his
daughter Julia even though both were reluctant
to do so.
When Julia indulged in various vices, the puritanical
Augustus
had her banished to an island, even though he himself
had
numerous concubines to prove his heterosexuality
and counter
the rumors he had begun his career
giving sexual favors to Julius
Caesar.
Under the administration of Augustus prosperity increased
in
the provinces, as roads were built there and in Italy.
City states
operated fairly autonomously unless he thought
they were ruining
themselves through political irresponsibility.
He granted subsidies
to debt-burdened cities, rewarded cities
that supported Roman
causes, and financed the rebuilding
of those devastated by earthquakes.
Augustus generally encouraged frank opinions and vetoed
a law
that suppressed free speech in preambles of wills.
The succession
hopes Augustus placed in his grandsons
were thwarted by their
early deaths.
Lucius Caesar died at Massilia in 2 CE; that yearGaius Caesar
made an agreement with the Parthian Phraataces,
but
two years later he succumbed to a wound
he received fighting against
Armenian nationalists.
So Augustus adopted Tiberius as his son
in 4 CE and got him
tribunician power and proconsular imperium
for ten years.
This combination of events caused some to suspect
that
Tiberius' mother Livia had the two young men poisoned.
When Tiberius had Dalmatian troops mobilized for a second
campaign
against the Germans in 6 CE, the Dalmatian army,
led by Bato and
discontent with tribute imposed on them,
defeated a Roman contingent,
causing Tiberius to turn back
from Germany to protect Italy.
After
three years the Dalmatian fortress was taken,
and Bato surrendered,
asking that his people be pardoned.
When Tiberius asked him why
he had rebelled against Rome,
Bato replied, "It is you Romans
who are to blame for this.
We are your flocks, yet you do not
send dogs
or shepherds to protect us, but wolves."1
Germans
also resented being treated like slaves by governor
Quintilius
Varus, who levied money from them
as though they were a subject
people.
A Roman attempt to invade Bohemian territory failed in
9 CE
when German forces led by Arminius defeated and killed Varus
and destroyed three Roman legions in the Teutoburg forest,
leaving
western Germany independent of the Roman empire.
With so much
unrest, that year Augustus had to establish a
military treasury
from indirect taxes
to pay for veterans' pensions.
Inheritance
and bequests were taxed at five percent
except for close relations
and the poor.
The sarcastic lawyer Cassius Severus was banished under the
treason law for defaming elite men and women
with licentious writings.
He mentioned the writings of another lawyer Titus Labienus,
who
wrote history from a republican perspective
and committed suicide.
At this time also Ovid's books were withdrawn from libraries.
In an inscription made in his last year called the Res Gestae,
among his many accomplishments Augustus boasted of
providing spectacles
in which 10,000 men fought and
3,500 African beasts were slaughtered.
The tribune powers of Tiberius were renewed in 13 CE,
and as virtual
co-regent with Augustus he naturally
succeeded him when Augustus
died the next year.
After Octavian Caesar
gained sole power over Rome in 30 BC,
Virgil supported the Roman
peace and spent the last eleven
years of his life in Naples composing
the epic poem on
pre-Rome's legendary founder Aeneas.
In 19 BC
he accompanied Augustus on a journey to Greece
but became ill
and died at Brindisi.
Virgil had intended for his unfinished master
work to be burned;
but since it was finished, though not yet revised,
he was persuaded to let Varius and Tucca edit and publish it.
Having written pastoral poetry and celebrated agriculture,
Virgil introduced the Aeneid
as a tale of arms and a man
struggling with the terrible strife
of Mars.
The story begins in Carthage, where Aeneas and several
Trojan
ships were driven by a storm after sailing many strange
seas.
His divine mother Venus tells him how the Phoenician queen
Dido came there to escape her brother.
The Trojan Ileoneus complains
to Dido that they have been
assaulted as they tried to gain a
foothold on the shore.
He asks for permission to land, saying
they are bound for Italy.
Queen Dido offers them protection and
aid.
Aeneas thanks her, and his son Iulus is inspired by Venus'
child
Cupid so that Dido will be attracted to Aeneas.
Dido asks Aeneas to recount the sack of Troy
and how they fled
from there.
The Trojans were tricked by the Greek Sinon to
open
their gates to the large wooden horse that
concealed Achaean warriors.
As Troy was falling, Aeneas saw Helen and was tempted
to take vengeance on the cause of the long war;
but Venus recalled him
from his blind anger
and advised him to save his family instead.
His wife Creusa also asked Aeneas to defend his home.
As Aeneas
was carrying his father and son,
Creusa was lost in the confusion
of the fire;
her ghost consoled him to go on and care for their
son.
Aeneas' father Anchises urged the Trojans to embark
on their
voyage to the western lands of Hesperia.
They visited Thrace,
Crete, and saw the Cyclops in Sicily,
where Anchises died.
From
there they were driven to the coast of Carthage.
During a rainstorm
Aeneas and Dido take refuge in a cave,
where the queen gives herself
without shame to Aeneas.
She calls it a marriage, but soon he
is divinely guided
to resume his destined journey.
Although Dido
complains that she has alienated the Africans
and her Tyrians
with this love,
Aeneas leaves without her anyway.
She vows to
haunt him after her death and to bring enmity
between Carthage
and his descendants.
As his boat is sailing, she climbs a funeral
pyre
and falls upon a sword.
The goddesses of the underworld are
not ready for her,
because her death is neither deserved nor destined
but tragic.
Aeneas and his small fleet return to Sicily, where they celebrate
funeral games in honor of his father Anchises that include a
boat
race, foot race, boxing, archery, and war games.
Apparently the
women are ready to settle down,
for they burn the boats.
The town
of Acestes is founded, but repaired ships
soon allow Aeneas to
push on.
A Sibyl and sacrifices enable him to visit the underworld
of departed spirits, using a golden bough
to be allowed across
Charon's river.
Aeneas sees Dido there and many others.
With Tantalus
are those tormented by the Furies
who hated their brothers while life was theirs or
struck a parent or entangled a dependent in deceit,
or, having found riches, gloated over them alone
setting none aside for their kindred, and of these
there are many indeed; and then others who were
killed for adultery or took part in an unrighteous war,
shamelessly betraying their leige-lords;
all these are imprisoned within,
awaiting their penalty.2
The miserable cries warn people to learn justice
and scorn
no god.
One suffers for selling the homeland for gold,
burdening
her with despotism.
Another in return for bribes posted new laws
and then repealed them.
All the crimes and punishments could not
be listed.
Then they proceed to the Land of Joy
where dwells a band who sustained wounds while
fighting for their homelands, others who while life
was theirs were priests without sin, or faithful seers
whose speech never brought Apollo shame
some who had given life an added graciousness
by inventions of skill, and some who had made
others remember them by being kind.3
Aeneas finds his father Anchises preparing his descendants
to ascend into the upper light.
Observing the future civil war
between the forces of
Julius Caesar
and Pompey, Anchises
warns them,
Ah, sons of mine, never inure your spirits to so
wicked a war, never turn the stout strength of
your homeland on her own vitals!
And you, who are of my own blood and trace
your descent from Olympus, you should be
first in clemency, you should first fling
your weapons from your hands!4
Aeneas and his men sail up the Tiber River to ancient Latium,
sending ambassadors with presents to ask for friendship with
the
Latins, whose king Latinus says they need no law to keep
them
just, because they are just by their own free will.
Ileoneus asks
for a strip of land
for the Trojans which is granted.
Latinus
also promises his daughter Lavinia in marriage to
Aeneas as destined;
but this and Iulus' killing of a favorite stag
cause the jealous
Turnus to become hostile
and gather weapons among the Rutulians.
Venus gets the quarrel she wants.
Aeneas is guided by a dream
to form an alliance with Evander,
but this leads Turnus and the
Latins
to besiege the Trojan camp with their army.
In a night
attack the Trojans Nisus and Euryalus slaughter
many sleeping
Latins before they are caught and killed.
The angry Latins force
the Trojans into an open battle,
and Turnus drives the Trojans
back.
Aeneas gains Etruscans as allies, and with Evander's son
Pallas the Trojans turn the tide of the war,
though Pallas is
killed by Turnus.
Aeneas asks for a twelve-day truce, and Drancas,
who hates
Turnus, persuades the Latins to accept it.
King Latinus is ready
to give the Trojans a tract of land
in friendship, and Drancas
urges him not to allow the violence
and jealousy of Turnus to
stop him
from giving his daughter to Aeneas.
Yet Turnus calls
for more fighting; as the Trojans are preparing,
the battle soon
breaks out again with the woman warrior
Camilla leading the Volscians
for the Latin side.
She is eventually killed, and once again Latinus
asks Turnus
to let Lavinia be Aeneas' bride;
but Turnus is still
determined to fight.
Although King Latinus and Aeneas make a compact
that
would leave the two nations unsubjected,
the Rutulians begin
the fighting again,
voiding the treaty as Latinus flees.
Aeneas,
however, aims to keep the agreement and fight Turnus
alone, but
just then he is wounded by an arrow.
After the arrow is cut out,
Venus heals him quickly with an herb.
Finally Turnus and Aeneas
meet in battle,
and Aeneas wounds him badly in the thigh.
Turnus
asks that he or his dead body be restored to his people;
he acknowledges
defeat and says Lavinia may wed Aeneas.
The poem closes as Aeneas
in a rage
stabs Turnus in the breast, killing him.
Although the greater violence and resistance to just agreements
is portrayed in Turnus, Aeneas and the Trojans nonetheless used
violent means in this founding epic that glorifies the pre-Roman
past as deriving from the ancient people of Troy.
Virgil has tried
to show some intelligent negotiation between
King Latinus and
Aeneas, and poetically he explained the
ancient hostility between Carthage and Rome as
caused
by the curse of jilted queen Dido.
His concepts of the
afterlife in the traditional Greek underworld
re-affirm the ethical
teachings of the Pythagoreans,
Socrates,
and Plato
by showing the consequences of actions
after life in another world
and in future lives.
Horace was born at Venusia in 65 BC to an emancipated slave,
who provided him with a good education in Rome and Athens.
After
the assassination of Julius
Caesar, young Horace joined
Brutus
in Athens and commanded one of his legions
at Philippi in 42 BC.
After the defeat and his father's death, he was pardoned
and returned
to Italy.
He got a job in the treasury and began writing.
With
the help of his friends Virgil and Varius, Horace gained
the patronage
of Maecenas by 38 BC.
In describing a journey he made from Rome
to Brindisi with
Maecenas to a conference between Octavian
and Antony,
he expressed
his deep friendship with Plotius, Varius, and Virgil,
writing
that for him nothing in life
compared to the joy of friendship.
His first collection of Satires was published three years
later.
He became Rome's leading poet in 23 BC
with his three books
of Odes.
After his friend Virgil died in 19 BC,
he published
poetic Epistles.
About five years before his death in 8
BC he published
a fourth book of Odes and his Art of
Poetry.
In his first book of Satires Horace made fun of those
who are so anxious about accumulating more wealth
while not enjoying
what they have.
If one lives within one's means, he asked, what
difference
does it make whether one has a hundred
or a thousand
acres of plowed land?
He advised,
So let's put a limit on the scramble for money.
As your wealth increases, your fear of poverty
should diminish, and having got what you wanted,
you ought to begin to bring that struggle to an end.5
Horace called for moderation between
being a miser or a wastrel.
He noted how fools often in attempting to avoid
one fault rush
into its opposite.
He described the problems of finding sex through
adultery
to show that pain and hardships usually outweigh the
pleasure.
He preferred sex that is easy to get.
He observed that
most people have better vision for seeing
the faults of their
friends than their own.
From world history he learned that justice
arose from the fear of its opposite.
He called for fair penalties
depending
on the seriousness of the offense.
His father warned
him about various vices by citing examples.
The young can be deterred
from doing wrong when they see
the bad reputation of other people.
Horace claimed this freed him from the greater vices so that
he
only had to cope with milder faults.
These could be removed by
time or straight talk from a friend
or by his own reflection.
When he sat down to rest, his mind was not idle;
but he examined
himself.
This is more honest;
this will help to improve my life;
this will endear me to my friends;
that was a dirty trick so-and-so did;
could I ever be so careless as to act like that?
This is the kind of discussion
I hold behind closed lips.6
In his second book of Satires Horace described the benefit
of simple living as decent health,
since accumulated stuff does
harm to people.
He reminded readers that plain food
probably agreed
with them.
Too much meat and sea food turn sweet juices to acid,
producing a sticky phlegm that revolts in the interior.
He recommended
getting rid of surplus wealth by helping
decent people in need,
contributing to decaying temples,
or donating to the land of one's
birth.
He enjoyed the Sabine farm Maecenas gave him and preached
the Stoic doctrine that
avarice, ambition, self-indulgence,
and superstition are forms
of madness, because they are unwise.
Horace took up the question,
Who then is free?
The wise man who is master of himself,
who remains undaunted in the face of poverty,
chains and death, who stubbornly defies his passions
and despises positions of power,
a man complete in himself, smooth and round,
who prevents extraneous elements clinging to his
polished surface, who is such that
when Fortune attacks him she maims only herself.7
In a poem "To the Goddess Fortune" in his first book
of Odes
Horace noted how various peoples fear her.
From
Caesar's efforts in Britain to Roman soldiers' in lands
east of
the Red Sea he blushed for the terror they brought
with ill deeds
and slaying of brothers.
He asked what deed of war have Romans
blenched
from doing out of fear of heaven?
What shrines have they
left unpolluted?
In a poem on Roman virtue in the third book of Odes
he
refused to welcome in his house or sail on a ship with someone
who had violated the secrecy of the Eleusinian
mysteries,
because Jove may strike good men
with the bad when
he is scorned.
He found that justice may halt, but crime seldom
has time
to outrun her vengeance whatever his start.
In "Of
Riches and Contentment" he noted that as riches grow,
care
follows with a thirst for more and more.
Yet to the one who denies
oneself,
Heaven gives so much more.
Horace believed that he could
better enhance his modest
stores by wisely controlling his desires.
Those who crave much, always lack much.
Happy are those to whom
Heaven gives just enough.
In "Of Rome's Decay" Horace compared the gold of
Arabia,
the wealth of India, the Scythians living better in huts,
and the wiser ways of rude Goths
whose fields yield year by year.
There no rich wife rules her husband.
They value their parents'
worth and their virtue in simple faith,
looking appalled at sin.
He longs for a man who could end their deeds of civic wrong.
May
he tame their unblessed wills; for virtue is detested,
and goodness
has vanished.
What benefit can they have if they do not prune
crime.
Where life is tainted, what good is law without morals?
Thus Poverty's inglorious load
Bids man unheard—of things endure and try;
While Virtue's solitary road
He deems too steep, and cowardly passes by.
Let's to Rome's Capitol hand o'er,—
The shouts of flattering mobs invite us there,—
Or in the nearest sea-depths pour
Our pearls, our gems, our gold, a useless ware!
Gold, source of evil last and first,
Away with it, if we for sin repent!
We must this root of greed accurst
Pluck up; and young minds on indulgence bent
We must in sterner studies guide!8
In the fourth book of Odes Horace praised Drusus, Augustus,
and Tiberius, noting that wise schooling extends inborn powers,
and that correctly ordered culture
brings new vigor to brave hearts,
which undrilled manly parts fail in the end.
In his first Epistle Horace took up the question,
"What
is right and proper?"
He did not feel bound to follow any
master, finding himself
sometimes the man of action in civic affairs,
at other times
more like the hedonistic Aristippus attempting
to master things.
Horace believed that we can all make some progress
in spite of our limitations of greed, craving, ambition,
envy, anger, laziness, drinking, or lust.
Even the unruly can become
more gentle
if they follow a trainer.
He suggested listening and
learning from one wiser than
oneself and to stop caring for foolish
things.
As gold has higher value than silver,
goodness is more
valuable than gold.
Even children chant,
"You will be king
if you do the right thing."9
He asked who gives better advice—the one who says
make money, honestly if you can, or otherwise
by
hook or crook—or the one who gives you practical advice
by
which you can stand up and be free of Fortune's frown.
In his second Epistle he noted that people are quick
to remove
a speck from their eye; but if something is eating at
their soul,
next year is plenty of time.
Horace recommended, "Well
begun is half done.
Dare to be wise.
Start now."10
The one
who postpones the hour of reform is like one
waiting for the river
to pass.
Despise the pleasures that bring pain or harm.
Greed
can never be satisfied; limit your dreams.
Envy wastes people
away and is a torture
worse than that of Sicilian tyrants.
Those
who fail to control their rage are sure to regret
what wounded
feelings cause them to do
in violent vengeance to ease resentment.
Rage is madness.
Restrain your temper, for it will either obey
you or rule you.
Attach yourself to those who are better
and absorb
their wisdom.
In his era Horace found that sport gives rise
to
heated strife and anger, which in turn brings savage feuds
and
war to the death.
Another Epistle notices how some like
the city
and others the country; but it is foolish to blame the
place,
for the mind is the real culprit and never escapes itself.
He chided those who refrain from crime because
they fear punishment,
instead of eschewing sin from love of virtue.
In a second book of Epistles Horace defended poetry
to Augustus, whom he praised for strengthening Rome's
defenses,
promoting decent behavior, and reforming the laws.
Horace's last
epistle has been called "The Art of Poetry."
He allowed
freedom to the poet but recommended
composing a unified whole.
He found that the rules and standards of language
are controlled
by usage.
A poem must be more than just correct; it must be attractive
in order to lead the listener's emotions where it will.
In plays
he believed that the chorus should only side with
the good and
give friendly advice, controlling the furious,
calming those afraid,
praising what is healthy, lawful, just,
and peaceful, keeping
secrets and praying that the gods
leave the proud and help the
wretched.
Moral sense he considered to be the source of proper
writing.
The poet should be clear about what is duty to country
and
friends, what is involved in loving a parent, a brother,
or
in being a judge, and what duties are required of a
general at
the front so that every character
will have their proper features.
A good playwright turns to life and behavior
for models and living
speech.
Propertius was born in Umbria about 50 BC.
His father died
when he was a child,
and he was educated in Rome.
He lost part
of his inheritance when land was given
to the soldiers of Octavian
and Anthony.
For a while he studied law but soon turned to poetry
when he fell in love with a beautiful
and talented woman named
Hostia.
Using the name Cynthia he published a book of poems
in
29 BC about his love trials.
These made his reputation and gained
the attention
of Maecenas, the official patron of the arts for
Augustus.
Propertius died some time before 2 BC.
When he was bitten
by Cynthia and sex, Propertius
wrote how the love god gave him
a distaste for chaste girls.
He did not care for fine fashion
but found that Love wears
no clothes and likes his beauty plain.
He argued that Love will not yield to the power of wealth.
When
love is frustrated, what bliss can wealth afford?
Propertius with
Cynthia prayed to love
but one and to be her one love.
False girls
were blamed by his lady.
He vowed that his dark age would never
change his ways,
suggesting that everyone must learn the law their
path obeys.
Propertius declared that Love is a god of peace
and
that those like him who love hold peace first.
His fighting was
done at his mistress' hands.
He wrote that care grows with gazing
upon a girl
when she is near; love itself is what nourishes love.
Ovid was born about ninety miles east of Rome in Sulmo
on March
20, 43 BC in an equestrian family.
His father had him educated
in rhetoric for a career of public
service; but after serving
in a few minor posts,
he was soon drawn into literature.
Ovid
had two hasty marriages and divorces before he married
and settled
down with an aristocratic woman of the Fabii family.
Ovid's first
literary works were on love, and the circle of his
patron Marcus
Valerius Messala was less tied to Augustan
orthodox morals than
that of Maecenas.
Ovid drew upon myths for his Heroides,
Metamorphoses, and Fasti.
In 8 CE Ovid was suddenly
banished by Augustus, which some
have supposed was related to
the scandalous conduct of the
Emperor's granddaughter Julia.
In
exile Ovid wrote Tristia, and still banished he died in
17 CE.
In The Loves Ovid described his love and passion for
the fictional character Corinna and women in general.
He found
no need for war and made
pardon and peace his prayer.
He noted
though that love vanquishes conscience
and modesty and is followed
by folly, illusion, and madness.
He agreed with Propertius that
love is a naked child,
having no pockets for money; it is not
for sale at any price.
Always the lover, Ovid dared not defend
his absence of morals
nor did he try to smother his faults in
a blanket of lies;
he confessed his faults of passion he hated,
while admitting he could not be anything else.
His passion was
all-embracing, and he wrote there is not a
sweetheart in town
he would be reluctant to love.
He found that our nature always
insists on things
that are denied or forbidden.
To one lover he
objected that she prefers a killer, who has
gained wealth and
title through the slaughter of war,
asking her how she could touch
such a guilty hand.
Ovid took the viewpoint of women in mythology
in his letters
of Heroines to their lovers.
He composed love letters in
poetry from Penelope to Ulysses,
Phyllis to Demophoon, Briseis
to Achilles,
Phaedra to Hippolytus, Oenone to Paris, Hypsipyle
to Jason,
Dido to Aeneas, Hermione to Orestes, Deianira to Hercules,
Ariadne to Theseus, Canace to Macareus, Medea to Jason,
Laodamia
to Protesilaus,
Hypermnestra to Lynceus, and Sappho to Phaon.
Ovid also composed love letters of lovers to each other
or Paris
and Helen, Leander and Hero,
and Acontius and Cydippe.
Ovid composed The Art of Love for those who need
instruction
in loving, for he believed love must be guided by art.
He thanks
Venus that he is a master in love
even though wild Love often
resents him.
He has learned from experience.
Asking for a little
pleasant indulgence, he hopes that stern
looks and modesty will
keep away.
First, he suggested you must make effort to find the
girl
you really can love; second is to win her;
last is to make
love endure.
You must search for the one you can tell that you want no other,
for she will not come floating down from heaven.
Ovid suggested
many places in Rome where one can meet
women, including porticoes,
games, horse races, and parties,
where wine brings passionate
ardor and banishes inhibitions.
One must be confident, and Ovid
assured the reader that
women can always be caught and that love
on the sly is
as delightful to women as it is to men.
Social convention
has men running after women,
because women can hide their desire
better.
Women don't run after men,
just as mousetraps don't run
after mice.
Whether they say yes or no, they are pleased by invitations,
and it cost nothing to try.
Untried delights are tempting pleasures.
Ovid suggested spoiling her by promising much.
She will choose
the right time; you'll know she is in the mood
when she is happy.
You must keep on and not go away until you have won.
She will
not betray you if you are guilty together.
Keep her secrets, and
she will be yours any time.
He warned the reader about loaning
money
to gold-digging women.
Ovid recommended learning the art
of pleading,
because women are moved like the people or the Senate.
He advised keeping clean and your breath and body
free of bad
odors; but don't overdo it,
because a man is not a fairy or a
tart.
When you are successful, don't let it go to your head.
Let
your eyes gaze into hers in a confession;
silence can persuade
more than words.
Ovid had no qualms about getting her husband's
help
by becoming his friend.
He warned against getting into quarrels
over wine.
Praising her with flattery can be effective,
for every
woman believes she has some beauty.
Ovid counseled keeping faith,
returning what is given,
and avoiding violence and fraud,
although
he considered it all right to deceive deceivers.
Ovid even went
so far as to use some force,
believing that women like it; I consider
this reprehensible.
Ovid advised the man to take the initiative
and may ask her outright.
He did suggest retreating if she responds
with arrogant
coldness; many girls desire the coy while hating
the aggressive.
He wrote that telling her you are eager to be
"only a friend"
can work very well, as he discovered
unwilling women
could prove to be proficient in bed.
He warned
against praising your girl to your
best friend unless you want
to lose her.
In the second book of The Art of Love Ovid instructed
the
reader how to hold on to what you have won by art.
Seeking
requires luck, but holding takes talent and skill.
He warned against
philters as senseless and dangerous.
"If you want her to
love you, be a lovable man."11
Ovid recommended adding some
mental distinction
tactfulness, and tolerance, while avoiding
the harshness
that arouses hatred, rancor, resentment, and war.
Stay away from tongue-lashing quarrels.
Love is delicate and is
won with affectionate words.
Ovid discounted the rich who can
provide gifts;
they don't need his art, which is for the poor,
who have only words to present.
Ovid learned from the mistake
of becoming angry
and tearing her hair.
He suggested keeping the
peace with your lady,
having fun, and enjoying all the inducements
of love.
If she resists, yield; you will come away a winner.
Do
whatever she asks; blame whatever she blames;
approve whatever
she approves.
If you have to resort to deception, don't give yourself
away
with a gesture or look that would
spoil the effect of your
words.
To be effective, art must be concealed;
disgrace can take
your credit away.
When your love is young, it may err; but let it be learning
so that you may nourish it toward health.
Ovid condoned playing
around but advised a decent
concealment; don't brag about it.
No lover can love wisely without self-knowledge.
What Ovid did,
he also advised tolerating.
He said not to catch your girls when
they cheat;
let them behave as they wish,
and let them think no
one knows.
Once they are caught, love grows;
then you have to
deal with two guilty parties.
In lovemaking Ovid advised not being
in a hurry,
but to coax it along slowly, teasing with proper delay.
He suggested not going too fast, for pleasure is best
when both
arrive at the goal together.
Ovid instructed the girls in his third book of The Art of
Love.
He suggested you have your fun while you may,
rejoicing
in your springtime.
Do not deny your men the pleasures they crave,
though
he does not want you to be cheap and promiscuous.
Don't
be fearful of unreal loss,
because what you give you also keep.
Most of Ovid's advice has to do
with cultivating care of the body,
using some makeup, and wearing garments and acting
in ways that
enhance your particular features.
He suggested some delay in answering
a letter,
but don't keep him waiting too long.
Too easy and quick
of a promise can be reckless;
but don't absolutely refuse.
Give
him cause for hope and lessen his fears.
Women also should control
their wild moments of anger;
peace is becoming to humans, but
anger belongs to brutes.
Pride and arrogance are almost as bad;
eyes should be gentle and mild, entreating love.
When he looks
at you, return his gaze and smile sweetly.
Ovid also hated glum
girls.
Giving too easily does not encourage permanent passion;
mix in some rebuffs once in a while with your fun.
Ovid even went
into the art of fooling your husband.
Extending his secrets to
the enemy camp, he gave the easy
assignment of making us believe
we are loved.
Women also ought to know themselves so they can
adapt
their method by taking advantage of their own attributes.
Ovid concluded that he hoped both men and women
would thank him
for showing them the way.
Apparently The Art of Love was banned
by the puritanical
Augustus.
So Ovid wrote a short treatise on "The Remedies
for Love."
He began by apologizing to Love and saying that
those who find love a pleasure may keep on loving;
but for those
who grieve or are oppressed by the tyrant,
his art offers remedies that are preferable to suicide.
How does one recover from love?
It is an art not to allow the heart to be its own pitiful slave.
First, if you are uncertain at all, crush the swelling seeds
of
your passion before they grow.
Watch with your mind what you love
and keep your neck
from the yoke if you suspect it will not please.
Love is fed by delay; but if you want to be free, start today.
Shun leisure and idleness which captivate.
To drive away Venus,
get yourself busy.
Give your mind some work that needs doing.
Remember all her wicked deeds and wanton behavior
that have cost
you so far.
Suffer enough, and you will learn.
Love occupies the
mind by habit, and habit can expel it.
Excess can end your troubles
by getting fed up with it all.
The man who thinks of his woes
will get rid of his love.
Don't be alone, for loneliness can add
to passion.
Find comfort and aid with other people.
If you don't
want it, don't expose yourself to love
by going where she may
be.
Don't repeat, "I don't love her," because too much
"I don't" implies "I do."
Let love falter
and fade slowly.
Ovid considered it wicked and barbarous
to hate a girl you
once loved.
If your passion ends in hatred, either you are still
in love,
or you are still sick.
Women and men joined in love should
never become hostile,
for that is a shame and a disgrace to Venus.
He advised against rushing into a court of law;
let her keep the
presents you gave her,
and don't argue about them.
Don't explain
your decision to leave her by giving reasons
or grievances; she
might correct them,
and you may discover her virtues again.
The
silent is strong, but the lover who reproaches
weakens his case
as if he wanted to lose.
Don't read over love letters but burn
them.
Remembrance can renew love and make the wounds worse.
Such
were the treatments Ovid recommended to the lovesick.
In Metamorphoses Ovid described in poetry how bodies
are transformed into shapes of a different kind.
He began by calling
upon the heavenly powers
that are responsible for all such changes.
The first transformation was from the strife of chaos
to an ordered
cosmos by a natural force that is divine.
Humans were made erect
so that they could
look up to heaven and see the stars.
First
was the golden age when people did what was right
without laws
and threats of punishment.
Untroubled by fears, people enjoyed
a simple and peaceful life
without soldiers, eating foods available
without cultivation.
After Jove overthrew his father Saturn, the
age of silver
brought about the four seasons and the use of agriculture.
Then in the bronze age cruel warfare developed.
Finally in the
iron age various crimes broke out as modesty,
truth, and loyalty
fled and were replaced by
treachery, trickery, deceit, violence,
and greed.
Iron was used to injure humans,
and gold was even more
harmful.
War exploited both metals in bloody conflicts.
People
lived on plunder,
and friends and relatives were no longer safe.
Proper affection faded, and Justice, the last of the immortals,
left the blood-soaked earth.
Violent and cruel humans were contemptuous
of the gods and
had a lust to kill.
Jupiter decides that humans must be destroyed
after Lycaon
laughs at pious prayers and tries to kill him;
for
this Jupiter turns him into a wolf.
Because fire would be too
destructive, Jupiter uses water
to drown all people except the
good
Deucalion and his reverent wife Pyrrha.
Told to throw the
bones of their mother behind them,
they learn from Prometheus
that this could only have the holy
meaning of the stones of mother
earth.
From these stones come men and women
to people the earth
after it dried out.
Ovid reviewed many legendary stories of gods
and goddesses
acting like fallible humans.
Apollo falls in love
with Daphne; refusing his love,
she is turned into a laurel tree.
Jupiter goes after Io and changes her into a cow
because of his
jealous wife Juno.
Phaethon, the sungod's son, dies learning that
he could not handle his father's chariot.
Callisto, another lover
of Jupiter's, is transformed into a bear
and placed in heaven
as a constellation.
The crow is made black for telling on a love
affair
of Phoebus, a warning to informers.
When Mercury steals a herd from Apollo, he bribes a shepherd
to keep quiet about it; but when Apollo doubles the bribe,
Mercury
changes the shepherd into a
touchstone for betraying him.
Ovid
described Envy as a wasted, poisonous, and anxious
creature who
likes nothing but suffering, gnawing at others
and herself in
torment.
She infects Minerva's daughter Aglauros, who becomes
stone.
Jupiter's affair with Europa leads to Cadmus killing a
monstrous
snake and sowing its teeth, which become soldiers that
slay each other, leaving only five who throw down their
weapons
at the bidding of Minerva.
For seeing Diana naked, Actaeon is
changed into a stag
and is attacked by his own hounds,
giving
the hunter another view of the hunt.
Jupiter's affair with Semele
results in her death
and the birth of Bacchus.
Juno believes that
men get more pleasure out of love
than women, but Tiresias, who
experienced both, disagrees.
Juno strikes him blind, but the omnipotent
father
gives him prophetic vision.
Tiresias warns Narcissus about
self-absorption to no avail,
as Narcissus is captivated by the
voice of Echo
and his own image, becoming a flower.
Ovid narrated the tragic story of Pyramus and Thisbe,
who were
separated by a wall of family disapproval
and ended up killing
themselves
because they each thought their partner was dead.
How
the gods and goddesses were reduced by human passions
is described
by Ovid in Juno's plans and the reasons for them.
The son my rival bore has been able to change the
Lydian sailors into fishes and cast them into the sea;
he has induced a mother to tear her son in pieces
and has enshrouded three of the daughters of
Minyas in wings of a strange new kind.
And can Juno do nothing but weep for her wrongs,
unavenged?
Is that enough for me?
Is that the limit of my power?
Why, Bacchus himself teaches me what to do,
and it is right to learn even from one's enemies.
He has shown all too clearly, by Pentheus' murder,
what madness can achieve.
Why should not Ino be driven mad, and perish
by her own frenzy, as her sisters have done?12
Juno also cruelly turned Ino's Phoenician attendants to stone.
Ovid related the heroic adventures of Perseus and how Ceres
causes
a famine after Pluto rapes her daughter Proserpine,
resulting
in her living part of the year in the underworld
like the seeds
of agriculture.
Arachne is changed into a spider for believing
she could
surpass the divine Minerva in weaving,
as Minerva portrays
the crimes of the gods in a tapestry.
Niobe chides Leto for her
childlessness, thinking she is
beyond the reach of Fortune's blows;
but the goddess
causes her to mourn the deaths of all her sons
and daughters.
With divine beings acting so abominably it is not surprising
to find the legendary heroes being cruel also.
Thrace king Tereus
rapes his wife Procne's sister Philomela
and cuts out her tongue
to conceal the deed;
but Philomela sends a robe depicting the
events.
In revenge Procne kills her own son
and feeds the flesh
to Tereus.
Tereus is made a hawk, Procne a swallow,
and Philomela
a nightingale.
Ovid tried to explain Medea's behavior by saying
she is ruled
by desire instead of reason, doing what she knows
in her mind
is worse; in the process of helping Jason she feels
motivated
by love, but she ends up killing her own father
and
her children with a sword.
She almost has Aegeus poison his son Theseus;
but recognized in time, this
hero goes on to throw off the tribute
forced on Athens by Crete's
king Minos.
Scylla betrays her own people because of her love
for Minos,
who rejects her as a traitor and imposes a just settlement
on his captured enemies.
Scylla is turned into a bird.
Cephalus
tests the fidelity of his wife Procris,
finally tempting her himself;
they live happily though
until he accidentally kills her with
a javelin.
In a change of pace Ovid described the humble couple
Baucis
and Philemon, who with no servants live simply but
entertain the
disguised travelers Jupiter and Mercury so well
that Jupiter transforms
their old cottage into a temple,
and they become priestess and
priest.
Their wish is to die together, and they do so, becoming
a
linden and an oak tree with intertwined branches.
Erysichthon
is punished with hunger for chopping down
an oak tree and killing
a man;
then he turns to selling his daughter.
The river Achelous
told Theseus how he insulted Hercules
by saying either Jove was not his father
or else his mother was
an adulteress.
Hercules defeated the river and killed the centaur
Nessus,
who got revenge with a poison shirt
through his jealous
wife Deianira.
For all the labors he performed for Juno,
Hercules
was made a god and placed in the stars.
Jupiter tries to settle competing arguments between gods
and goddesses by saying that fate cannot be changed.
Miletus flees
from the Crete of Minos and founds the city
named after him in
Asia.
Ovid described the incestuous love between his daughter
Byblis and his son Caunus.
In Phaestus on Crete Ligdus told his
wife Telephus
if she bore him a daughter he would destroy the
child.
She raised the girl Iphis as a boy so well that her prayers
to Isis were answered, and Iphis was changed into a man.
Ovid
told the story of the mystical musician Orpheus and his
journey
to the underworld to bring back his late wife Eurydice;
but she
had to return when he looked back.
The artistry of Pygmalion was
so great
that his creation came to life.
Ovid focused on incest
again in telling how Myrrha
loved her father and gave birth to
Adonis
before being changed into the myrtle.
Adonis was killed
by a boar he was hunting.
Orpheus is killed by Thracian women
for scorning their sex,
and the women are turned into trees.
Midas
asks to turn everything he touches into gold
but has to renounce
the ability
so that he can eat and drink.
Ovid included the debate between Ajax and Ulysses
over who
should get the armor of Achilles.
Ulysses wins by arguing that
he served the Greeks
with his mind while Ajax did so with his
body;
the general is greater than the common soldier.
Ovid related
several fantastic tales of humans
who were changed into birds.
The god Vertumnus wins over the fruitful Pomona by telling
her the story of how Iphis hanged himself after
Anaxerete would not
respond to his love;
her heart of stone spread to her whole body.
The legendary Roman heroes Aeneas and Romulus are deified.
Numa inquires into the Greek origins in Italy and is
instructed by Pythagoras at Crotona.
After Numa returns to Latium, the people choose him king;
he introduces
the arts of peace to a society accustomed
only to the violence
of war.
Ovid described the teachings of Pythagoras
to emphasize
his theme of universal change.
Pythagoras
drew near to the gods in his thoughts
and taught the people as
follows:
Do not pollute your bodies with sinful foods from animals
when fruits and vegetables are available.
Only some beasts satisfy
their hunger with flesh.
In the golden age humans did not defile
their lips with
blood and used no snares in a peaceful world.
Someone took the first steps on the road
to crime by swallowing
flesh.
Only self-defense can justify the killing of an animal.
People even enrolled the gods as partners
in their crimes with
sacrifices.
Our souls are immortal and live in new dwellings
after
leaving the old ones.
Everything changes, and nothing really dies
as
the spirit wanders from creature to creature.
The soul stays
the same though
incorporated in different forms.
Ovid concluded with the deification of Julius
Caesar
but explained that it was because of his son.
The reason
is not hard to find, as he stated that the
earth is under the
sway of Augustus.
Ovid sought literary immortality in poetic myths
but revealed
such ethical shortcomings in the gods, goddesses,
and
legendary heroes that Roman religion would have great
difficulty
competing with more universal and spiritual teachings.
In 8 CE about the time Ovid completed Metamorphoses
he was charged with treason by Augustus for The Art of Love
and a related indiscretion that offended the imperial family.
He was allowed to retain his citizenship and property but
was "relegated" to Tomis, a port on the Black Sea
just south
of the Danube delta.
He described his bitter exile and defended
himself in his
Tristia (Sorrows) and his letters
from Pontus.
His wife stayed in Rome to plead his case,
and they
never saw each other again, though he wrote to her.
Realizing
his best hope was to appeal to the Emperor
for clemency, Ovid
compared Augustus to Jupiter many times.
He referred to his early
work as a youthful frolic and
claimed that those arts did not
affect his character.
His main defense and protests of censorship
are in the second book of the Tristia.
To me it is a sad
world when he had to ask whether anyone
could be his friend when
the Emperor is angry at him,
because the crowd is guided, rightly
he added,
by the imperial frown.
He acknowledged the leniency
of the penalty and said
that no punishment could be greater than
having displeased that great man.
Ovid pointed out how many poems
and myths
offended in the same way.
Though his books had been
removed from the libraries,
the manuscripts circulated privately;
his poetry was
influential for centuries, notably on troubadours,
Chaucer, and Shakespeare.
When Augustus died in 14 CE, he left 43,500,000 sesterces
to
the people of Rome, including 300 to every citizen soldier.
Augustus
had insisted that Tiberius adopt his own nephew
Germanicus as
his son.
Agrippa Postumus, the remaining grandson of Augustus,
was murdered, Tiberius explaining illogically that it was
by order
of the late Augustus.
While Tiberius was in the Senate neither
refusing nor explicitly
accepting imperial power, soldiers in
Pannonia took advantage
of the uncertainty to demand their term
of service be limited
to sixteen years and their pay be raised
from two and a half
sesterces per day to four.
(Praetorian guards
received eight.)
Percennius persuaded many tattered troops to
support these
demands, although the officer Blaesus got them to
agree to
sending his own son with a delegation to Rome.
Soldiers
began looting, and Blaesus had some of them flogged.
Tiberius
sent Drusus with two praetorian cohorts.
Drusus promised to bring
their claims before the Senate;
but he insisted they submit to
discipline,
and he ordered Percennius and other leaders executed.
Legions in Germany also mutinied for similar reasons;
but their
numbers were greater,
and they attacked their centurions.
Germanicus
was making assessments in Gaul.
He took the oath of loyalty and
administered it
to his subordinates.
In Germany his soldiers indicated
they would support him
for the throne, which repulsed him so much
he threatened to kill himself.
He promised that the legacies Augustus
left them
would be paid double.
Centurions were kept or dismissed
based on the
recommendations of the tribunes and men.
Germanicus
ordered Caecina to punish the agitators,
or he would execute them
all.
The worst offenders were struck down
in their tents at the
same time.
Led by Germanicus, the Roman army invaded the
unprepared Germans
and ravaged the country of the Marsi.
For three years Germanicus
campaigned beyond the Rhine
and as far as the Elbe.
Italy and
the Gallic and Spanish provinces provided arms
and horses for
the war.
Germanicus wanted another year to finish the war,
but
instead he was given a triumph and then imperial
power over the
eastern provinces,
sharing a consulship with Tiberius in 18 CE.
Not wanting Germanicus to get all the glory,
Tiberius sent Drusus
to Illyricum to gain
experience commanding the troops.
The suspicious
Tiberius revived the treason law and sent
Cnaeus Calpurnius Piso
as governor of Syria to watch
Germanicus, who installed a new
king in Armenia and
entered Egypt without the Emperor's permission
to relieve the grain shortage.
Germanicus returned to Syria, where
he died in 19 CE,
believing he had been poisoned by Piso.
Since
Tiberius was suspected of being involved, he turned
the case over
to the Senate for trial; but after his wife
Plancina's case was
separated from his,
Piso was found with his throat cut, an apparent
suicide.
Germanicus' widow Agrippina
began plotting against Tiberius.
Tiberius continued Augustus' policy of maintaining the
empire without attempting to expand it.
When Thrace became divided and
one king murdered
another in 19 CE, Rome intervened to put Rhoemetalces
II
on the throne and crushed uprisings in 21 and 25.
Impoverished
by taxation for the campaigns of Germanicus,
Gauls rebelled in
21 CE.
Sacrovir organized an army of 40,000 Aedui,
but this was
quelled by Roman legions from the Rhine.
The revolt by Numidian
Tacfarinas in Africa that began in 17
was finally defeated in
24 when Tacfarinas was killed.
In 19 CE the Senate prohibited relatives of Roman
knights from engaging in prostitution and expelled
4,000 ex-slave Jews and votaries of Isis
to suppress banditry in Sardinia;
others had
to stop practicing
Jewish and Egyptian religions or leave Italy.
When the Senate considered how to cut back extravagant
spending
and eating habits, Tiberius sent them a letter
explaining that
provincial resources supported the masters
and slaves of the capital,
supplementing Italy's agriculture.
The historian Tacitus explained
that extravagant eating
eventually declined as rich families were
often ruined
if they did not adopt the frugal domestic habits
of the self-made men.
After sharing a consulship with his son
Drusus,
Tiberius got him tribunician power in 22 CE.
In Rome Sejanus had gained his father's old position as
praetorian
prefect, and the guards were gathered from
Italy into new barracks
at Rome in order to suppress
the many conspiracies Tiberius suspected.
The ambitious Sejanus seduced Livilla, wife of Drusus
and sister
of Germanicus.
They arranged for the eunuch Lygdus
to poison Drusus
in 23 CE.
Two years later the historian Cremutius Cordus starved
himself
to death after he was prosecuted for calling Julius Caesar's
assassins Brutus and Cassius "the last of the Romans."
Tiberius retired from Rome to the island of Capri in 26 CE,
and he never returned to the capital
in the last decade of his
imperial rule.
50,000 people were killed or mutilated at a gladiator
show
when the stadium built cheaply for profit
by an ex-slave
collapsed.
Frisians had their cattle taxed so severely that they
were driven into slavery and in 28 resorted to war
by hanging
soldiers who tried to collect tax.
In 29 CE Sejanus got Tiberius
and the Senate
to banish Agrippina and her son Nero.
Sejanus rose
to be consul in 31; but Tiberius was
alerted to his intrigues,
and later that year
Sejanus was denounced as a traitor and executed
along with several of his political allies.
Tiberius became even harsher on suspected conspiracies,
and
a quarter of the estate could by won by anyone giving
information
resulting in conviction for treason.
Trials held in the Senate
did not always convict, and malicious
prosecutions could rebound
against false accusers.
Many of the suspected committed suicide
so that their
property could be willed to relatives
and their
bodies could be given funerals.
Suetonius wrote that a day did
not go by without an
execution, and sometimes there were as many
as twenty,
including women and children.
After Tiberius learned
that Drusus had been
poisoned by Sejanus and Livilla,
he became
even more ruthless and cruel.
Eventually Agrippina and her two eldest sons were put to death
or forced to commit suicide, while the youngest Gaius (Caligula)
was kept at Capri, where apparently he and Tiberius were
preoccupied
with sexual and sadistic perversions.
The leadership of the Roman
empire
was rapidly beginning to decay.
In 33 CE Tiberius alleviated
a currency crisis by establishing
100,000,000 sesterces for interest-free
loans to debtors.
In 37 Tiberius died and was replaced by Caligula.
Having become king over Judea
in 37 BC, Herod had his old
patron Hyrcanus executed in 30 BC
for conspiring with the Nabataean king.
After defeating Antony
and Cleopatra, Octavian
Caesar
(soon to become Augustus) gave his friend Herod 400 Gauls
who had been Cleopatra's guards, and he added to his Judean
kingdom
Gadara, Hippus, Samaria, and the coastal towns
Gaza, Anthedon,
Joppa, and Strato's Tower.
Even though he was passionately in
love with her, Herod put
his wife Mariamme on trial before the
council for adultery and
attempting to poison him; she was executed
in 29 BC.
Her mother Alexandra was also killed the next year
after
she attempted a rebellion.
During the famine of 24 BC Herod improved
his terrible
reputation by providing grain he bought from Petronius,
the Roman governor of Egypt.
Basking in the friendship of Augustus
and Marcus Agrippa,
who was supervising Asia, Herod gained
a tetrarchy
for his brother Pheroras.
After the death of Zenodorus, who had
promoted banditry,
Herod was given the territory between Trachonitis
and Galilee.
Exempt from paying tribute to Rome, Herod used taxes
for
extensive building; but customs including gladiator combats
he promoted were criticized for being pagan and foreign;
so he
reduced taxes a third to gain goodwill.
His spy system was extensive,
and many dissidents were put to death.
In 20 BC Herod began rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem,
and
most of it was completed in a year and a half.
In 17 BC Herod
required his people to take a loyalty oath
though he exempted
the peaceful Essenes
and the respected Pharisee Hillel.
However,
six thousand Apocalytpic Pharisees
who refused were fined.
Herod
ordered a harbor to be constructed at Strato's Tower;
the new
city called Caesarea was completed in 10 BC and
included colossal
statues of Augustus as
Olympian Jupiter and Rome as Juno.
Herod's
sister Salome and his brother Pheroras resented
Mariamme's Hasmonean
sons Aristobolus and Alexander,
getting the king to recall Antipater,
his oldest son by Doris.
About 13 BC when Antipater was in Rome,
Herod brought his sons Aristobolus and Alexander to be
tried before
Augustus, who managed to reconcile them,
probably because they
were innocent.
Both Augustus and Agrippa recognized the right
of Jews to
send sacred money to Jerusalem, and they did not compel
them to come before a judge on the Sabbath.
Herod had not allowed the Nabataean Sylleus to marry his
sister
Salome, because he would not convert to Judaism.
When Herod returned
from Rome, he found that the Arab
government of Sylleus had been
supporting robbers in Trachonitis.
Herod had many of the robbers'
relatives killed; this caused
the robbers to do even more damage
out of revenge.
Herod insisted that Sylleus repay the sixty talents
he had lent
him for Obadas and to turn over the robbers.
Sylleus
did not, even though he was required to do so by
Saturninus, the
Roman governor in Syria.
Instead Sylleus went to Rome and complained
to Augustus
that Herod's armies had killed 2,500 in a war on Arabians.
So Herod sent as his ambassador Nicolaus of Damascus,
who persuaded
Augustus Caesar that
the charges of Sylleus were false.
Augustus
condemned Sylleus to die
and was reconciled with Herod.
Eurycles persuaded Herod to put Aristobolus and Alexander
in
chains, and by order of a council of Herod's friends and
with Caesar's permission they were executed in 7 BC.
Though Herod was
deceived,
the Jews blamed Antipater for his brothers' deaths.
Some Pharisees were executed for prophesizing that the
kingdom
would come to Herod's brother Pheroras and his wife.
When Pheroras
died, his wife and Antipater
were accused of poisoning him.
After
Antipater returned from Rome, he was prosecuted by
Nicolaus for
causing the deaths of his brothers Aristobolus
and Alexander by
his slanders and for plotting against other
possible heirs of
Herod; he was condemned by Herod and
Varus, Roman legate of Syria.
Herod put Antipater in chains and sent letters
to Caesar about
his crimes.
At the age of 70 Herod became ill.
The rabbis Judas ben Sepphoraeus
and Matthias ben Margalus
persuaded some zealots to tear down
the golden eagle over the
great gate of the temple because it
violated Mosaic law.
Herod had those who climbed onto the roof
and these rabbis burnt alive.
Then near death Herod ordered prominent
men in every village
of Judea taken to the hippodrome with the
mad idea of killing
them after his death so that people would
mourn
and not be happy when he died.
In misery Herod tried to
stab himself,
which caused Antipater to plot from his prison.
This in turn led Herod to have Antipater executed five days
before
his own death in 4 BC.
Salome wisely had the prisoners in the
hippodrome released
before the king's death was announced.
Herod's last will instructed his son Archelaus to take his
ring
to Caesar to approve his kingship.
(Having had nine wives,
Herod still had six surviving sons.)
Archelaus promised to be
kind to the people by reducing taxes;
but some, protesting Herod's
treatment of the rabbis and those
removing the eagle, stoned the
soldiers sent against them.
So Archelaus sent in an army that
killed about three thousand men.
Archelaus sailed for Rome, and
Varus returned to Antioch,
while Roman prefect Sabinus went to
Jerusalem and took
400 talents from the temple; his ruthless search
for money
stimulated increased revolts, causing Varus to bring
Syria's
other two Roman legions to besieged Judea.
The Jewish
rebel army fled Jerusalem
as the people welcomed Varus.
The Galilean
Judas ben Ezekias and his followers took
possession of the fortress
in the Galilee capital Sepphoris.
Varus set fire to it and sold
the inhabitants as slaves,
though Judas escaped.
The Roman army
rounded up and crucified about 2,000 rebels.
A delegation of Jews with petitions from thousands complained
to Caesar that Herod had been tyrannical
and impoverished their
nation.
According to Josephus they asked to govern themselves
as part of the province of Syria.
Antipas also traveled to Rome
to claim the kingship,
but Augustus confirmed Herod's last will
by making Archelaus
ethnarch over half of Herod's kingdom.
Antipas,
who had been left the kingdom in an earlier will,
was made tetrarch
of Galilee and Peraea,
and Philip was left Gaulanitis, Trachonitis,
Batanaea, and Panias.
Archelaus was criticized for marrying his
sister-in-law Glaphyra
after she bore children to his brother
Alexander,
because it was considered a violation of Mosaic law.
After ten years of rule Archelaus was banished by Augustus
Caesar
to Vienne in Gaul when Jews complained
he had treated them brutally.
In 6 CE Augustus sent Coponius as prefect to Judea with the
power of inflicting capital punishment, while Syrian governor
Quirinius ordered a census of the population in order to tax
everyone
12 years and older
and to levy income tax on cattle and crops.
The Galilean Judas called this taxation slavery
and raised a revolt.
His party of Zealots accepted Zadok's belief that to obey
Roman
law was to disregard the laws of God;
they called for a republic
under God.
A few Samaritans tried to pollute the temple by throwing
in
human bones; this increased hatred and
caused temple authorities
to exclude Samaritans.
Valerius Gratus governed Judea for Rome
from 15 CE to 26.
Herod Antipas built a city named after Tiberius
near
Lake Gennesaret, where he had his court 24-26 CE,
but it
was shunned for having been a battlefield.
Philip constructed
Caesarea Philippi near the source of the
Jordan and ruled until
33 CE.
Sejanus recommended Tiberius appoint Pontius Pilate,
who
was sent to Judea in 26 CE
and governed there for ten years.
Pilate
introduced Caesar's images on ensigns into the city
but had to
remove them
after many Jews were willing to die in protest.
He
also aroused a demonstration when he took money
rom the temple
to construct an aqueduct.
He sent soldiers disguised as Jews to
disperse
the crowd by killing and wounding many.
Josephus described three main sects of Jews as the Pharisees,
Sadducees, and the Essenes, plus a fourth he called the Zealots.
The majority followed the Pharisees, who believed the soul is
immortal and that the human will can act virtuously or viciously;
the latter are imprisoned after death but the former live again.
In this era the greatest of the Pharisee rabbis (teachers)
were
Hillel and Shammai.
The disciples of Hillel were known for being
peaceful
and gentle with the conciliatory spirit
exemplified by
their liberal master.
The followers of Shammai had the stern severity
and strictness of their conservative teacher.
The school of Hillel
found Roman taxation so unjustifiable
that they found ways to
escape it.
When a man came to Shammai and asked to be instructed
in the whole law while standing on one foot,
Shammai sent him
away.
To the same request Hillel welcomed him with
the golden
rule that he should not do to others
what he thought hateful to
himself.
This being the whole law, he urged him to go and study.
Born in Babylon, Hillel came to Judea
and began teaching about
30 BC.
He introduced the principle of intention
to discussions
of the law,
noting the differences between an event
that is incidental
and a conscious action.
For example, there is a difference between
falling off a bridge and jumping.
Furthermore one may jump with
the intention of swimming
or with the purpose of drowning.
Hillel
urged people to love peace, cherish humanity,
and bring people
closer to the law.
He warned that those who publicize their own
name lose it,
and those who do not increase knowledge, diminish
it.
Using one's talent for selfish purposes is spiritual suicide.
He asked if he cannot rely on himself, on whom can he rely?
If
he is selfish, what good is he?
If the time is not now, when is
it?
He advised not condemning anyone
until you have stood in their
place.
He said that more flesh means more worms,
more wealth more
worry, more women more witchcraft,
more concubines more lechery,
more slaves more thievery,
more law more life, more study more
wisdom, more counsel
more enlightenment, and more justice more
peace.
The liberal teachings of Hillel dominated Jewish culture
for more than five centuries.
Except for the sexism
they must
have been a beneficial influence.
The Sadducees did not believe in any life after death;
they
also believed people choose good or evil and that
fate plays no
role at all; and they followed the law
as closely as they could.
The few aristocratic Sadducees when in positions of
authority had to listen to the ideas of the Pharisees
though because of
the people.
The Essenes taught immortality of souls
and greatly emphasized
virtue and its rewards.
They did not offer sacrifices
but had
their own rites of purification.
They shared their possessions
in common
so that none were rich or poor.
Josephus estimated there
were about four thousand Essenes
who did not marry nor keep servants.
Other people's children could join their community
after probationary
periods lasting three years.
They refrained from pleasure-seeking
as a vice
and regarded mastery of passions a virtue.
Their leaders
were elected by everyone in the community.
They emphasized silence
and
temperance in eating and drinking.
Only in personal aid and
charity were they allowed to go
outside their leaders' instructions.
They believed in speaking truthfully
but not in swearing by God.
After revering God comes justice and not harming any person
of
one's own accord or by another's bidding.
The Essenes believed
in keeping faith with all people
and obeying rulers ordained by
God.
Stealing was forbidden,
and they did not participate in armed
robbery.
They were expected not to hide anything from the group
nor to give away the group's secrets.
Cases were tried by juries
of at least one hundred,
and offenders might be expelled.
Josephus
attributed their living a century or longer
to their simple life,
and he noted there was a second sect
of Essenes that did believe
in marriage.
In 1947 writings were found at Qumran by the Dead Sea of an
ancient community called Secacah most likely of Essenes,
the Greek
term used by Josephus, Philo,
and the elder Pliny (23-79), who
described them as follows:
On the west side of the Dead Sea, away from
the coast, where there are harmful vapors,
lives the solitary tribe of the Essenes.
This tribe is remarkable beyond all others
in the whole world, because it has no women,
has rejected sexual desires, is without money
and has only the company of palm-trees.
Day by day the crowd of refugees is renewed
by hordes of people tired of life and driven there
by the waves of fortune to adopt their customs.
Thus through thousands of age—-
incredible to relate—the race in which
no one is born lives for ever;
so fruitful for them is other men's
dissatisfaction with life!13
Calling themselves sons of Zadok, this community began
in the
second century BC and flourished until there was a
major earthquake,
which may have been the one mentioned
by Josephus in 31 BC.
The
community was restored during the reign of
Archelaus (4 BC-6 CE)
but was destroyed
in the war with the Romans in 68 CE.
The Community Rule may have been written in the late
2nd century BC and probably regulated
the community until the
end.
It begins with the admonition to seek God with one's entire
heart and soul, doing what is good and right as commanded
by Moses
and all the prophets in order to abstain from evil
and hold to
the good; truth and justice are emphasized.
The community is advised
to love the children of light
and hate the children of darkness.
Those devoted to the truth should bring all their knowledge,
abilities,
and possessions to the community of God in order to
purify their
knowledge, order their abilities
according to God's ways, and
use their possessions
according to wise counsel.
Thus sins may
be expiated in contemplating the light of life
in the spirit of
justice and humility,
as one is cleansed by the spirit of holiness.
Those coming from the truth they identified as from the light,
those from falsehood as springing from darkness.
The ways of enlightening the human heart involved
making straight
the paths of true justice and revering the
laws of God in a spirit
of humility, patience, charity,
goodness, understanding, and intelligence.
Wisdom trusts God and depends on His loving kindness.
The counsels
of the spirit to the children of truth in this world
are a spirit
of discernment in every purpose, zeal for just laws,
holy intent
with a steadfast heart, charity to all who are
of the truth, purity
which detests unclean idols,
humble conduct sprung from understanding,
and faithfully concealing the mysteries of truth.
The ways of
the false spirit are greed,
slackness in the search for justice,
lies, pride, deceit, cruelty,
bad temper, folly, insolence, lustful
deeds, unclean lewdness,
blasphemy, blindness, deafness,
stubbornness,
and heaviness of heart.
Rules are defined for the community of those who have freely
pledged themselves to be converted from all evil and to cling
to all God's commandments according to divine will.
They shall
practice in common truth and humility, justice,
uprightness, charity,
and modesty.
They shall rebuke one another but in truth, humility,
and charity,
not in anger, ill temper, stubbornly, or with envy.
Instead of letting hate develop, one should rebuke another
on
the same day so the other will not develop guilt.
One should admonish
another before witnesses
before accusing a companion before the
congregation.
Those of lesser rank in the community were to obey
the greater in matters of work and money.
In common they ate,
prayed, and deliberated.
After two years of training one may be
examined and,
if the congregation agrees, enter the community,
merging
one's property then and offering counsel to the community.
Violation of the strict rules might result in penance for ten
days
for interrupting a companion or for as long as a year for
deliberately lying about property or for insulting a companion.
They resolved not to pay anyone recompense for evil
but to pursue
goodness, because God is the judge of all
the living and will
render people their rewards.
They refrained from envy
and did
not desire the riches of violence.
The Damascus Rule may have been written about 100 BC
and refers to an age of wrath 390 years after God gave the
people
of Israel into the hands of
Babylonian king Nebuchadrezzar in
587 BC.
Since the Alexandrian Jew Demetrius miscalculated
the
time from this event to the accession of
Ptolemy IV in 221 BC by 28 years.
Adjusting for the likely repetition of this error
would put the
"age of wrath" in 169 BC, certainly a
time of turmoil in Judea
when Antiochus IV Epiphanes
tried to
replace Judaism with Hellenic religion.
The predecessors of the
Essenes
apparently began about this time.
According to the Damascus
Rule after twenty years
of groping like the blind, a teacher
of justice arose
to guide them and make known to them the traitors
led by a scoffer who lied to them.
Seeking smooth things and illusions
they justified the wicked
and condemned the just, pursuing them
with the sword.
According to Qumran texts the teacher of justice
opposed
the wicked priest and was persecuted and exiled.
The wicked
priest visited the teacher of justice;
but because of the iniquity
he did to this teacher and his
counsel, the wicked priest was
delivered into the hands
of his enemies, who took vengeance on
his body.
This wicked priest has been identified by some scholars
as the Maccabean high priest Jonathan,
who was captured and killed
in 142 BC.
The Damascus Rule states that God became angry
and ravaged
many.
The God of wisdom made known to them the Holy Spirit
by
his anointed ones and proclaimed the truth.
The sons of Zadok
would stand at the end of days.
God forgave the holy, who justified
the just and condemned the wicked.
And until the age is completed, according to the
number of those years, all who enter after them
shall do according to that interpretation of the
Law in which the first were instructed.
According to the Covenant which God made
with the forefathers, forgiving their sins,
so shall He forgive their sins also.
But when the age is completed, according to
the number of those years, there shall be
no more joining the house of Judah,
but each man shall stand on his watchtower.14
Satan shall unleash his three nets of fornication, riches,
and profanation of the temple.
The text refers to converts of
Israel
sojourning in the land of Damascus.
During the age of wickedness
they should take care to act
according to the Law, love each person
as oneself
and help the poor, needy, and strangers.
They should
keep from fornication and rebuke
their brothers without rancor.
They expected a Messiah to come out of Aaron and Israel.
They
practiced purification by water.
No one should shed the blood
of a Gentile for riches and gain.
Priests should be between the
ages of thirty and sixty
and be learned in the Book of Meditation
as well as in all the judgments of the Law.
The earnings of two
days out of the month should be
given to the fatherless, the poor,
the needy, the aged sick,
the homeless, the captives of foreign
people,
and virgins with no kin.
Later texts reflect changed conditions after the Romans
took
control of Judea following the
brutal civil wars over the throne.
A rule for the sons of Zadok in the last days refers to the
coming
of a Messiah, who shall extend his hand over the
bread and bless
all the congregation of the community.
The War Rule also
probably written during the Roman period
unleashed the attack
of the sons of light against
the sons of darkness and the army
of Satan.
This document expresses the hope of salvation for the
people of God with dominion and destruction
for all the company
of Satan.
God's "greatness shall shine eternally to the peace,
blessing, glory, joy, and long life of all the sons of light"15
after battle destroys the sons of darkness.
This degeneration
from the spiritual dualism into a call for the
massive violence
of war would eventually lead to the revolt
against Rome and the
demise of the Essene community.
Philo Judaeus lived in Alexandria, Egypt
and died about 45
CE, but it is not known when he was born.
Josephus wrote that
Philo was from a most noble family.
Philo's brother Alexander
Lysimachus was Alexandria's
tax administrator and extremely wealthy.
Philo's extensive writings make it apparent that he was
well educated
in Greek culture and Jewish customs.
He acknowledged his secular
studies of grammar,
geometry, and music, but he considered philosophy
practiced in the service of God the highest pursuit.
Philo was
much influenced by Plato
and
other Greek philosophers.
He agreed with Socrates that the only
thing
we can truly know is our own ignorance,
because God alone
is wise.
To the four cardinal virtues of wisdom, justice, courage,
and temperance, he added religious faith and humanity,
making
repentance a virtue also.
Philo emphasized the value of equality
and traced it back
to Moses' concept
of justice.
Although he criticized mob rule, Philo believed any
form
of government could be democratic if it treated
all people
as equal before the law.
He suggested that the goal of history
is to unite
the whole world in a single state
under a democratic
constitution.
A treatise he wrote to "prove that every person who is
virtuous
is also free" suggests that slavery of the soul
to vices
and passions is worse than slavery of the body to a master.
Similarly the freedom of mastering the passions
is better than
physical security.
In truth only the one who has God alone for
a leader is free
and may be a leader of others.
If desires are
what enslave, why is a wise person
not enslaved by desires too?
Philo's brilliant answer is that the wise desire
only virtue or
what comes from virtue.
Since the wise are virtuous, they cannot
fail to attain their aim.
Philo exhorted his readers to fix their
affections on truth,
the holiest of possessions instead of on
idle fancies
related to citizenship, race, ownership,
and physical
matters; study the nature of the soul.
For if the soul is driven by desire,
or enticed by pleasure, or diverted from its course
by fear, or shrunken by grief, or helpless in the
grip of anger, it enslaves itself and makes him
whose soul it is a slave to a host of masters.
But if it vanquishes ignorance with good sense,
incontinence with self-control, cowardice with
courage and covetousness with justice,
it gains not only freedom from slavery
but the gift of ruling as well.16
In the outside world Philo noted the wisdom of the Persian
Magi and the virtue of the naked philosophers of India;
but he
described the Essenes of Palestinian Syria in detail.
For Philo
the Essenes were above all others in
devoted service to God, not
sacrificing animals,
but studying to keep their minds holy and
pure.
They do not store up silver or gold, but he believed their
contentment and frugality made those poor rich.
They avoid any
inducements to coveting and have no slaves,
helping each other
and condemning masters as unjust
and a corruption of the principle
of equality.
Wishing to surpass others in fortune causes
alienation
of affection and hatred instead of friendship.
Philo noted that the Essenes devote their attention to
moral philosophy, especially on the seventh day,
using divine laws as
instruction.
The three criteria for what is right they use are
the love of God, the love of virtue, and the love of humanity.
The first involves a pure life, avoiding oaths and falsehood,
and looking on God as the cause of all good and no evil.
Their
virtues involve abstaining from coveting, ambition,
and indulging
in pleasures, and positive qualities include
temperance, endurance,
moderation, simplicity, good temper,
humility, obeying laws, and
steadiness.
Love of humanity means goodwill, equality, and fellowship.
The Essenes put their wages into a common stock to be
available
to all; the sick were thus not neglected.
Philo observed that
even cruel tyrants and hypocritical
oppressors could not bring
accusations against the
holy Essenes, because their traditions
of
eating together and fellowship were well respected.
In another passage on the Essenes from his
"Defense of
the Jews" Philo reported that they did not take
wives because
they considered them selfish and jealous,
beguiling the morals
of the husband.
Children are likely to become a person's first
care,
and then one does not treat other children the same;
thus
a person passes from freedom into slavery.
Philo also wrote about the Jewish sect of the therapeutae
or healers in a "Treatise on a Contemplative Life."
They call themselves that because they aim to heal souls
of their
passions and vices by mastering pleasures, appetites,
fears, griefs,
covetousness, injustice, and other follies.
They believe that
undue care for money wastes time,
which should be economized because,
as Hippocrates said,
life is short, and art is long.
They pray
at sunrise and sunset, and the daytime is devoted
to meditation
and the practice of virtue.
They consult the writings of many
ancient men and use
allegorical interpretations for philosophical
meaning.
For six days each week individuals retire in solitude
in monasteries,
but on the seventh day they meet in sacred
assembly in a chamber
dividing the men from the women.
They do not eat meat but bread
with salt only to assuage
hunger and drink water just to alleviate
thirst.
They consider wine folly and note that costly seasonings
and sauces excite desire, the most insatiable of all beasts.
In
their clothing they also practice simplicity.
The origin of their
simplicity is truth, and they consider
falsehood the basis of
pride.
Philo contrasted them to athletes, who won victories in
the
daytime but drank wine and committed insults and injuries
at night, criticizing those imitating the luxury
and extravagance
of the Italians.
Referring to banquets described by Plato
and Xenophon,
Philo disapproved
of the Greeks' practice of promiscuous
homosexual love as taking
away courage
and making them feminine men.
Philo preferred these
who follow the precepts of Moses.
The therapeutae do not use slaves,
but the younger serve
the older.
They sing sacred songs, which gives them a beautiful
experience of intoxication though it makes them
more awake and
sharper in understanding.
Philo affirmed love of peace and hatred of war in his essay
"On the Confusion of Tongues."
Those who rejoice in
oneness reverence the
concert of virtues and live calmly.
Yet
this life is not idle but one of high courage in
fighting against
those who attempt to break treaties.
Men may plunder, rob, kidnap,
spoil, sack, outrage, maltreat,
violate, dishonor, and murder
by treachery;
but in war they do so without disguise if they are
stronger.
People aiming at money or reputation direct all their
actions
like arrows against a target,
disregarding equity while
pursuing what is unjust.
In the pursuit of wealth fellowship is
turned aside for hatred;
benevolence becomes hypocrisy and flattery.
One becomes the enemy of friendship and truth,
a defender of falsehood,
slow to help, quick to harm,
ready to slander, reluctant to champion
the accused,
clever at cheating, faithless to one's promise, a
slave of anger,
enthralled by pleasure, protecting the bad,
and
corrupting the good.
Yet Philo believed that even if we are not yet fit to become
children of God, we may become children of its invisible image,
the most holy Word (Logos).
Philo observed that humans
are the only creature who,
knowing good and evil, may choose the
worse and may be
convicted of deliberate and pre-meditated sin.
He believed that God is the cause of all good
but of nothing that
is bad;
the province of evil things God gave to the angels.
Philo
concluded that confusion is an appropriate name
for vice as can
be seen in every fool.
Yet the work of God is to bring
everyone
in full harmony with the virtues.
Philo suggested exposing the worthless person of wealth
not
by refusing abundance; but instead of wasting money
on vices,
one could use it for good purposes by contributing
to needy friends
and one's country, providing dowries
for poor families, and putting
private property into a
common stock to share it with all deserving
of kindness.
Instead of being conceited, honor can be used to
help
worthy people secure better positions
and to improve the
worse by counsel.
At a banquet one can be a good example of moderation.
In philosophy Philo compared logic to the walls and fences
that
protect the plants, but he found the fruit in ethics.
Philo wrote long works on the ten commandments
and the special
laws of Moses.
This led him into
a discussion of the virtues.
He considered piety the queen of
the virtues;
he discussed wisdom and temperance, warning against
desire that can stimulate many crimes and follies.
In turning
to justice he believed a judge
should be permeated by pure justice.
In trying a case the judge should realize that he is on trial
too
and must assign what each deserves without being affected
by supplication and lamentation.
The first instruction is not
to accept idle hearing,
what today is called "hearsay"
evidence.
The second is not to accept any gifts
even from the
just side of a case.
Philo's third instruction is to scrutinize
the facts
rather than the litigants in order to be impartial.
In addition the judge should not pity a poor person
in giving
judgment, though in private life
one is encouraged to give to
the poor.
Philo considered equality the mother of justice
and
a spiritual sun.
In his essay "On the Virtues" Philo began with courage
by which he meant knowledge not "the rabid war fever
which
takes anger for its counselor."17
He found the reckless daring
in war that slaughters
many antagonists not a noble achievement
but a savage and bestial practice.
Others live on enduring sickness,
poverty, and old age,
yet healthy in soul with high-minded and
staunch valor;
never dreaming of touching weapons of defense,
they render the highest service to the commonwealth
by their excellent
advice guided by unflinching
consideration of what is beneficial
to restore the life
of each individual in their country's public
life.
Those who train themselves in wisdom cultivate true courage.
Wise temperance also preserves the health
of the soul by preserving
one's powers.
Philo considered philanthropy or humanity
the sister
virtue to piety.
Moses did not
allow himself to be swayed by
family affection to favor his own
connections.
Philo also believed this love extended from people
to animals
and even to plants, and he gave numerous examples from
the laws of Moses how all creatures are to be respected.
Philo found arrogance to be vice
as treating others worse out
of pride.
Repentance is a useful virtue in rectifying
things that
have gone wrong.
To convert from sin to a blameless life shows
wisdom.
On the political level Philo hoped to see mob-rule
transformed
into democracy in which good order is observed.
Philo aimed at
the integration of mouth, heart, and hand
by having words, actions,
and intentions
correspond to each other.
He held that nobility
depends on the acquisition of virtue,
not on merely being born
to excellent parents.
Women may aspire to this nobility also by
unlearning the errors of their breeding.
Philo could find no more
mischievous doctrine than believing
that justice would not avenge
the wickedness of the children
of good parents or that honor will
not be the reward
of good actions by children of the wicked.
The
law assesses every person on their own merits.
In an essay "On Rewards and Punishments" Philo observed
how blessings come to those who fulfill the laws
by their actions, for God glorifies and rewards
moral excellence that is divine.
He noted that pride as the adversary of truth
can be hard to remove,
though it can be subdued by a stronger power.
God is perceived
by itself alone
just as light enables one to see everything else.
To those who acquire wisdom by meditation and practice,
sight
is given.
After the practice of youth comes the contemplation
of old age, for nothing good can be done
without contemplation
based on knowledge.
Philo believed deeply in providence and defended it
in a dialog
with his nephew Alexander.
Philo argued that God does not always
immediately
punish vice just as a loving parent has pity
on a
prodigal child, hoping for reform.
Also the bad may seem to prosper
because
what the world values as good is not the same as
what
is good spiritually in God's view.
He cited the example of Socrates, who in poverty
never
sought wealth but considered only virtue as good.
Philo gave the
examples of tyrants like Polycrates
who suffered a miserable death
and Dionysius of Sicily
who
lived constantly in fear.
Dionysius
invited one who asserted the happiness
of the tyrant's life to
dinner
and suspended a sharp ax over his head by a thread.
Too
anxious to enjoy the feast,
the guest would not sit on the throne.
Many have been punished for committing
sacrilegious robberies.
Philo argued that earthquakes, pestilences, and thunderbolts
are
natural events not caused by God's wrath,
because God causes nothing
evil.
The wisest humans are not impelled
to feast on animals like
savage beasts.
Philo wrote about Flaccus, the Roman governor
of Egypt from
32 to 38 CE.
The trouble began during the visit of Herod Agrippa
on his
way to fulfill his kingship of Philip's tetrarchy to which
the new emperor Gaius Caligula had appointed him.
Anti-Semitic
Alexandrians made fun of Herod Agrippa
by saluting a lunatic in
the gymnasium as a king;
then they desecrated synagogues with
images of Caligula.
Philo complained that the governor allowed
this
even though with a million Jews in Alexandria and Egypt,
there was a danger that such behavior could spread.
Flaccus issued
a proclamation denouncing Jews as aliens.
He even allowed mobs
to pillage the Jews
as though they were sacking a city.
Jewish
senators were flogged.
Usually at the time of the Emperor's birthday
they were allowed to take down the bodies of the crucified,
but
instead Flaccus ordered the crucifixion of the living.
Philo noted
that a search for weapons
among the Jews found none.
A month later
Flaccus was accused by Isidorus and Lampo;
these two had previously
urged him
to persecute Jews and had perverted justice.
After being
convicted in a trial Flaccus had his property
confiscated and
was exiled from Rome.
Later Caligula, believing those in exile
had it too easy,
ordered Flaccus and several others killed.
Philo wrote about his diplomatic mission
to Emperor Caligula
in his Embassy to Gaius.
Philo observed that the beginning
of Caligula's reign
began with great optimism; but after the sorrow
of the
Emperor's sickness, the rejoicing over his recovery
was
soon soured by the forced suicides of
Tiberius Gemellus and Macro and the murder of
Caligula's father-in-law Silanus.
Excuses for
these crimes soon gave way to
consternation over Caligula's claims
to divinity.
Philo noted that the Emperor could not compare well
to the labors of Heracles, the gifts of Dionysus,
the missions
of Hermes, the healing and prophecy of Apollo,
nor Ares protecting
the weak.
The Jews particularly resented his claim to godship,
and the Alexandrians used this to conduct
the pogrom described
in Flaccus.
In contrast Philo praised the rulership of
Augustus
and his respect for Jewish institutions.
A slave named
Helicon helped to delude Caligula
into believing the Alexandrians
really worshipped him.
Philo was one of five Jewish ambassadors, who tried to
conciliate
Caligula; but they were ignored.
News arrived that the Emperor
had ordered a statue
of himself installed in the temple at Jerusalem;
that followed after the Jews
destroyed an altar set up by the
Jamneians.
Rome's Syrian governor Petronius
tried to conciliate
the Jews.
Jews said they would rather die and asked to send
another
embassy to the Emperor.
Instead Petronius tried to delay the project
with a letter.
Caligula got angry and insisted
the statue be completed
soon.
Herod Agrippa arrived in Rome
but collapsed before the Emperor.
After recovering, Agrippa wrote Caligula a long letter
to plead
for the Jews.
This persuaded the Emperor to cancel his order,
but he pursued alternate strategies.
Finally Philo's embassy was
presented to Caligula,
but he dismissed them as fools
without
really listening to their concerns.
The part of Philo's work that
described how
Caligula suffered for his wickedness is lost.
1. Cassius Dio, Roman History 56:16 tr. Ian Scott-Kilvert.
2. Virgil, The Aeneid 6:608-615 tr. W. F. Jackson Knight.
3. Ibid., 6:659-664.
4. Ibid., 6:832-836.
5. Horace, Satire 1:1:92-94 tr. Niall Rudd.
6. Ibid., 1:4:134-138.
7. Ibid., 2:7:83-88.
8. Horace, Odes 3:24:41-53 tr. John Marshall.
9. Horace, Epistle 1:1:59-60 tr. Niall Rudd.
10. Ibid., 1:2:40-41.
11. Ovid, The Art of Love 2:108-109 tr. Rolphe Humphries.
12. Ovid, Metamorphoses 4:423-431 tr. Mary M. Innes.
13. Pliny the Elder, Natural History 5:73 tr. John F. Healy.
14. The Damascus Rule IV tr. G. Vermes,
The Dead Sea
Scrolls in English, p. 100-101.
15. The War Rule I, Ibid., p. 124.
16. Philo, "Every Good Man Is Free" 159, tr. F. H. Colson.
17. Philo, "On the Virtues" 1, tr. F. H. Colson.
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