Velleius Paterculus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Velleius Paterculus (* around 20/19 BC; † after 30 AD) was a Roman historian . Although his first name is given by Priscian as Marcus, some researchers identify him with Gaius Velleius Paterculus , whose name appears in an inscription on a North African milestone.

Life

Velleius Paterculus belonged to a Campanian knightly family . His grandfather was Praefectus fabrum under Tib. Claudius Nero , his father was also an officer. He joined the army at a young age and served as a military tribune under Publius Vinicius in Thrace , Macedonia and Greece . 1 v. He served under Gaius Caesar in the east and was an eyewitness to the meeting between Gaius Caesar and the Parthian king Phraates V on the Euphrates in 2 AD . Velleius Paterculus was made Equestrian Prefect and served as legatus for eight years in Germania and Pannonia under Tiberius . He also took part in the suppression of the Pannonian uprising. He stayed mainly in Pannonia until 9 AD and accompanied Tiberius on his Germania campaigns from 9 to 11 AD.

For his services he became quaestor in year 6 and praetor in year 15, together with his brother . He was still alive in the year 30, which can be deduced from the fact that his work contains many references to the consulate of Marcus Vinicius in that year. He also praises the powerful Praetorian prefect Sejan , who was executed 31; the work must have been written in AD 30/31.

plant

Historia romana , 1600

The work called Historia Romana (“Roman History”), the original title of which has not been passed down, consists of two books dedicated to Vinicius. It covers the time from the end of the Trojan War to the death of Livia in the year 29 and basically represents a world-historical outline from a Roman perspective. From the first book, which was written up to the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC. Chr., Large parts including the beginning are lost. Later history, especially the time from Caesar's death (44 BC) to the death of Augustus (14), is treated in much more detail. Brief notes are devoted to Greek and Roman literature , although Plautus , Horace and Properz are not mentioned. Its chronology is inconsistent. Caesar, Augustus, and Tiberius take up most of the Historia . The work is the only surviving example of Roman historiography in the period between Livy and Tacitus (albeit with gaps) and is an important source despite the panegyric glorification of Tiberius. The second book mentions a “mighty war” ( immensum bellum ) against Germanic tribes.

The style of the work is characterized by sentences , hyperbolas and antitheses . The sometimes pointed style points to the Silver Latinity , which is continued in Seneca and Suetonius . Velleius Paterculus said he intended to write a full history of the later period, including the civil wars between Caesar and Pompey and the wars of Tiberius. Nothing of this has been handed down. Probably he did not get to continue his literary work because the political circumstances after 30 AD no longer allowed it. Its main sources were Catos Origines , the annals of Hortensius Hortalus , Pompeius Trogus , Cornelius Nepos and Livius.

Velleius Paterculus was little known in ancient times and in the Middle Ages. It seems to have been read by Lucan and imitated by Sulpicius Severus . Lucan's scholiasts mention him; likewise Priscian in one place. The text, which was only preserved in a mangled manuscript, was very difficult to read; the document was discovered by Beatus Rhenanus in 1515 in the Abbey of Murbach in Alsace and is now considered lost.

Lore

The text has only survived on a manuscript from the 8th century that was only discovered in 1515 by Beatus Rhenanus in the Alsatian monastery of Murbach and is now lost. However, there is a copy of it by Bonifacius Amerbach in the University Library of Basel .

The editio princeps was published in Basel in 1520 by Johann Froben , edited by Beatus Rhenanus. There are early editions by Justus Lipsius , Jan Gruter , Nikolaes Heinsius the Elder and Pieter Burman the Elder .

Current issues

  • WS Watt (Ed.): Vellei Paterculi Historiarum ad M. Vinicium consulem libri duo . 1988; improved reprint Teubner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-8154-1873-9 .
  • Velleius Paterculus, Ad M. Vinicium Consulem libri duo , edited and commented by Maria Elefante (Bibliotheca Weidmanniana). Olms, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 1997, ISBN 3-487-10257-9 (for this edition see Ulrich Schmitzer, in: Gymnasium. Volume 105, 1998, pp. 368-370 and Robin Seager, in: Journal of Roman Studies . Volume 88, 1998, pp. 197 f.).
  • Velleio Patercolo, I due libri al console Marco Vinicio. Introd., Testo e trad. A cura di Maria Elefante (= Studi latini. Volume 35). Naples 1999, reprint 2000.
  • Marion Giebel (translator and publisher): Historia Romana. Roman history. Latin / German . Reclam, Stuttgart 1989; bibliographically amended edition 1998, ISBN 3-15-008566-7 .

Comments

Commentary notes include the outputs:

  • Velleius Paterculus, Ad M. Vinicium Consulem libri duo. Edited and commented by Maria Elefante (Bibliotheca Weidmanniana). Olms, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 1997, ISBN 3-487-10257-9 (commentary in Italian).
  • Velleius paterculus, Histoire Romaine. Tome I: livre 1, ed. Et trad. Joseph Hellegouarc'h (Edition Budé). Paris 1982, ISBN 2-251-01298-2 .
  • Velleius paterculus, Histoire Romaine. Tome II: livre 2, texte établi et trad. Par Joseph Hellegouarc'h (Edition Budé). Paris 1982, ISBN 2-251-01298-2 .

Comment from book 2:

  • Velleius Paterculus, The Caesarian and Augustan Narrative (2.41-93). Ed. with a Commentary by Antony J. Woodman (CCTC 25). Cambridge 1983, ISBN 0-521-25639-9 .
  • Velleius Paterculus, The Tiberian Narrative (2.94-131). Ed. with a Commentary by Antony J. Woodman (CCTC 19). Cambridge 1977, ISBN 0-521-21397-5 .

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ CIL 8, 10311 .
  2. ^ Schmitzer, Velleius Paterculus and the interest in history in the age of Tiberius , Heidelberg 2000, p. 293.
  3. ↑ Manfred Landfester u. a. (Ed.): History of ancient texts: Author and work dictionary. The new Pauly. Supplements, Volume 2. Metzler, Stuttgart 2007, pp. 632f.
  4. ↑ digitized version
personal data
SURNAME Velleius Paterculus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman historian
DATE OF BIRTH around 19 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH at 31