BENARIO, The Family of Statilius Taurus

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T C SSIC L ORooL sPUBLISHED BY THE CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE ATLANTIC STATES, INC.

VOL. 64, NO. 3 NOVEMBER 1970 WHOLE NO. 1345

CONTENTSH. W. Benario: The Family of Statilius Taurus . . . 73

G. Moskowitz: Multo Bene is a 2 . . . . . . 76

E. F. Ridington: Some Recent Historical Fiction and Juveniles, XVIII . . 79

T. L. Cracas: What is Reading Latin as Latin ? . . . . 81

Reviews . 86 Notes and News . 98 Books Received . . 98

THE FAMILY OF STATILIUS AURUS

Among the new nobility of the principate, thefamily of Statilius Taurus stands high. One ofOctavian's earliest and most valued supporters,he ennobled his descendants1 and lived into thefuliness of years with influence and prestige. M.Vipsanius Agrippa and Q. Salvidienus Rufus,Octavian's other faithful marshals in the earliestdays, came to diverse ends. Salvidienus sold theyoung Octavian short in the struggle with Antony,and paid for his misjudgment or crime with hislife. Agrippa won Octavian's greatest triumphs

and reaped the rewards of marriage with theemperor's daughter and a share in the tribuniciapotestas. His descendants were the greatest menof the state, and the blood of the man whoseancestry was unknown flowed in the veins of twoRoman emperors.

T. Statilius Taurus' 2 fortune was nearer to thatof Agrippa than that of Salvidienus. Himselftwice consul, in 37 and 26, and praefectus urbis,he was responsible for the construction of Rome'sfirst stone amphitheatre, a monument that everkept his name before the public.3 But unlikemany others of Augustus' foliowers who rose tothe consulate, his family's nobility did not stopalmost at once, but survived into the fourth gen-eration,4 with a total of six consulates and dis-

appearance from the fasti only after signal in-volvement in the machinations of high politics.

His son, similarly named T. Statilius Taurus,5did not reach the consulate. Indeed, he attainedno high office, and historical record is almosttotally silent about him. It seems unquestionablethat he died young, although he did live longenough to marry and sire two sons.

Each of these became consul. The elder,6 thenamesake of father and grandfather, added to hisfamily's prestige not only another consulate, in11 A.D., but also alliance by marriage with the

family of the great M. Valerius Messalla Cor-vinus. The two sons of this union themselvesreached the highest post, but the family nowwas clearly even more intimately involved in theupper echelons of the Roman aristocracy, forMessalla, by background and personal career, wasone of the last surviving representatives of animportant class of men, those who, at first repub-lican and then favoring Antony, had been wonover to support of Octavian's power that the firstT. Statilius Taurus had helped bring about. Itwas Messalla who held the consulship, as col-league with Octavian, in the fateful year ofActium, had subsequently been invested withthe prefecture of the city, although he resignedthe office since he did not know what to do withit, and, years later, proposed that the title ofPater Patriae be given Augustus. Yet he neverforgot where his first allegiance had lain; asCremutius Cordus put it, Messalla Corvinus im-peratorem suum Cassium praedicabat: et uterque

'On the question of nobility under the empire, seeH. Hill, Nobilitas in the Imperial Period,Historia 18 (1969) 230ff., particularly 232 and 238.

2PIR S 615.SS. B. Platner - T. Ashby, Topographical Dictionaryof Ancient Rome (Oxford 1929) 11.

4R. Syme, The Roman Revolution (Oxford 1939)498-9.

5PIR S 616.6PIR S 617.



74 THE CLASSICAL WORLD NOVEMBER 1970

(Polio is the other) opibusque atque honoribusperviguere. Through his daughter, ValeriaMessalina, he was to become the great grandfatherof Nero's third wife.

The second son, Sisenna Statilius Taurus,8 was

consul in 16. With the antiquity of the familynow in the third generation, and with familyconnections loftier through his brother's marriage,he clearly faced no obstacle in gaining thismagistracy in the early years of Tiberius' princi-pate. The rise of novi homines had acceleratedin the last years of Augustus; Tiberius supportedthe claims of nobilitas, and families that tracedtheir ennoblement back as far as triumviral dayswere not too common.9

The two sons of Statilius Taurus and ValeriaMessalina held successive consulates, T. StatiliusTaurus 0l in 44, Taurus Statilius Corvinusil in45. There is no other certain instance on thefasti of the early principate of brothers beingcon-suls in successive years.'2 Evidence to explainthis unusual occurrence is non-existent, but con-jecture may not be out of place.

The murder of Gaius in 41 produced the firstreal crisis of the principate, a crisis in the sensethat, for the first time since the survival to powerof Octavian, there was an opportunity seriouslyto discuss and take action for the restoration ofsenatorial primacy. Such talk had been merewishful thinking in the late summer and earlyfall of 14, when, by possession of the imperiumand tribunicia potestas, Tiberius reduced discus-

sion in the senate to a shameful farce. Yet evenTiberius felt a certain pressure from potentialrivals, the noisiest of whom was Asinius Gallus,son of a great father only recently dead, whoseservices to Julius Caesar surpassed those of anyman who survived into the late days of Augustus'

reign, and who could claim that Vergil's propheticsong about the birth of a savior-child referred tohim.' 3 In the year 69, Galba introduced, in hispresentation speech for Piso, the new concept insuccession, that the best man is chosen, not one

whose only claim is blood. 14 Such a thought mayhave had a certain anachronistic sense in 14, butit was real, as Augustus himself showed when hediscussed potential claimants or capaces imperii. 15

In 37, the succession was even more sure thoughless palatable. Gaius had been, to a degree,groomed to succeed the aged emperor, and theaffection of the praetorian guard and the armiesgave him the purple without challenge. But the

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7Tac. Ann. 4.34.4.8PIR S 613.9F. B. Marsh, The Reign of Tiberius (Oxford1931) 43-4.

'0PIR S 618.11PIR S 595.12C. Velleius Paterculus, perhaps suffectus in 60, and

L. Velleius Paterculus, perhaps suffectus in 61, werein all likelihood brothers. Cf. A. Degrassi, I FastiConsolari dell'Impero Romano (Rome 1952) 16-7,based upon M. Hammond, The Tribunician DayDuring the Early Empire, MAAR 15 (1938) 31.R. Hanslik, RE 8A,1 (1955) 660, s.v. Velleius 10and 11, does not indicate that there is any doubtabout the years of office and the relationship. Thebrothers A. and L. Vitellius were both consuls in48, the latter succeeding the former. The distinc-tion of the Vitellii in that year occasions no sur-prise, after their father had held his third consulatein 47 and had become censorius.

13Tac. Ann. 1.13; Serv. Dan. on Ecl. 4.11.14Tac. Hist. 1.15-6.15Tac. Ann. 1.13.



NOVEMBER 1970 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 75

terrible four years of his reign soured manyRomans, and, on the occasion of his welcomedmurder, the first reaction of the senatorial aris-tocracy was to do away with the principate.16How far along these discussions got, and what

preparations had been made to accomplish this,we do not know, although debate soon turned tochoice of an emperor from their own number.

But the praetorian guard cut short these deli-berations. By chance, Claudius was discoveredquailing behind an arras, not unlike Polonius.He was now in his early fifties; his reputation, inhis own family and among the people, was thatof a fool, although it can be suggested that it tookmore than mere foolishness to survive his madnephew. Yet he was the brother of the greatGermanicus, son of Drusus, and, by adoption, thegrandson of the founder of the empire. His sud-den discovery saved the day for the continuationof the Julio-Claudian principate, and, while re-storation of the republic or choice of a princepschosen from the best were solemnly debated inthe senate-house, a new emperor was imposedupon the state.

Here was a blow to the morale of the senatorialorder perhaps unparalleled in two-thirds of acentury. The respublica restituta had seemed sonear, and proved to be so distant. Claudius hadnot suggested himself as a potential emperor toanyone, and the shock of finding him on the throneof the Caesars clearly offended many senators,who no doubt considered themselves better

qualified to be emperor, if there had to be anemperor. It is perhaps partially because of thisbitterness that Claudius turned more and moreto his own household for assistance and support,since the senatorial and equestrian orders, whichhad worked so well with Augustus and Tiberius,withheld their cooperation. 17

It may be that Claudius tried in two diverseways to conciliate this bitterness. The moreobvious was the invasion of Britain, therebyshowing himself a true successor of Julius Caesarand an imperator in the sense of Rome's expan-sionist past, with the first major campaign in aquarter of a century. The emperor himself tookthe field, and his successes were great enough towarrant extension of the pomerium and the build-ing of an arch, whose inscription announced hisachievement, quod reges Britannorum XI devictos

sine ulla iactura in deditionem acceperit gentesquebarbaras rans Oceanum primus in dicionem populiRomani redegerit. 8 But the bulk of the actualmilitary command was in the hands of two novihomines, Aulus Palutius and Vespasian, splendidgenerals whose ancestry posed no threat to theemperor. They could safely be entrusted withthe command of legions.

It was otherwise with leading figures of thesenatorial order. A man with a distinguishedname, particularly if his forebears had had favorwith Augustus, might take advantage of the op-portunity to challenge the emperor, given thechance to consort with the army. Men such asthese had to be placated in another way; it isperhaps for this reason that some significant namesappear on the consular fasti early in the reign.Claudius unquestionably was trying to win theirallegiance and support.

Claudius himself was consul ordinarius in thefirst two full years of his principate; these werehis second and third consulates, necessary forprestige and a basis for comparison with Tiberius.But in 44, the ordinarii bear names with sugges-tive overtones. They are T. Statilius Taurus andC. Sallustius Crispus Passienus, the latter consulfor the second time.

Crispus Passienus, the son of one of the ordinariiof 4 B.C. (a year falling within the small gap be-tween Augustus' twelfth and thirteenth consul-ships), L. Passienus Rufus, inherited the name,the wealth, and the influence of Sallustius Cris-

pus. 19 Sallustius Crispus, nephew of theeminent historian and adopted, probably post-humously, into the name and property of thatdistinguished man, lived a long and influentiallife as adviser to Augustus and to Tiberius. Hisadoption of Crispus Passienus was surely influen-tial in advancing the latter's life and career, whichsaw him become a comes of Gaius, twice consul,proconsul of Asia in 42-3, and husband first ofDomitia, aunt of Nero, and then of the youngerAgrippina. Iteration of the consulship wassufficiently uncommon under the Julio-Claudiansto mark especially a man who obtained this dis-tinction. During this period, with the exception,of course, of members of the imperial family, onlyfive men gain a second consulate (T. StatiliusTaurus, M. Vinicius, D. Valerius Asiaticus, C.Antistius Vetus, and Crispus Passienus) and onlytwo a third (M. Vipsanius Agrippa and L.Vitellius). 20

16M. P. Charlesworth, CAH 10 (1934) 666ff.170n the general relationship between Claudius and

the senate, see V. M. Scramuzza, The EmperorClaudius (Cambridge, Mass. 1940) 63, and D.McAlindon, Senatorial Opposition to Claudiusand Nero, AJP 77 (1956) 113-32, especially 115.

18CIL 6.920, 31203.19R. Syme, Tacitus (Oxford 1958) 328.20H. W. Benario, The End of Sallustius Crispus,

CJ 57 (1961-2) 321-2.



76 THE CLASSICAL WORLD NOVEMBER 1970

Claudius, we all know, had been a student ofthe historian Livy. Perhaps Crispus Passienuswas given a second consulate not only to placatethe senatorial aristocracy but also to call to mindthe name of the republican historian, rerum

Romanarum florentissimus auctor.21The designation of the two Statilii in successive

years no doubt played to their distinguished nameand the position in nobility that had accrued fromAugustus' famed supporter. And they weregrandsons of the orator Messalla, whom Claudiusin his youth may well have known.

There was another young man, descended fromperhaps even greater forebears, who will havehad his following in the senate and among thearistocracy. This was Asinius Gal]us, grandsonof Asinius Pollio and son of Tiberius' gadfly. Hehimself did not attain the consulate, but that the

family of the Asinii was not without influenceunder Tiberius is shown by the consulates of hisbrothers C. Asinius Pollio in 23 and M. AsiniusAgrippa in 25. And there is another brother,Ser. Asinius Celer, in 38 and a great grandson ofPollio, M. Asinius Marcellus, in 54. AsiniusPollio never came over to support the princeps,but his descendants play an important part inthe history of the principate.

If Claudius hoped to win the support of thesenobles by the deference he showed them in ad-vancement, he cannot be said to have succeeded. 2 2

For in 46 there was an attempt upon his position.Conspirverunt autem ad res novas Gallus Asiniuset Statilius Corvinus, Pollionis ac Messalae ora-torum nepotes, assumptis compluribus libertisipsius atque servis. 3 This would surely havestruck students of late republican history as astrange alliance.

Statilius Taurus did not join the uprising ofhis brother, nor did his consular colleague, Cris-pus Passienus. But the wealth and estates ofeach led to his death; the latter was poisoned byhis wife Agrippina, the former committed suicideafter being prosecuted for extortion and magicalpractices in the year 53. It was Agrippina'syearning for the gardens of the Statilii that ledto these legal maneuverings. The undergroundbasilica outside the Porta Maggiore is probablywithin the extent of these gardens. Is the wor-ship that was held here in any way connected

with the charge of magicae superstitiones?24With his death came to an end the significant

place of the family of Statilius Taurus on the fastiof the Roman state. He had consolidated his ownposition and influence by faithful service toOctavian, and the benefit of his name lasted forthree further generations, a long span in thepicture of the ever-changing aristocracy of theRoman principate.

EMORY UNIVERSITY HERBERT W. BENARIO

21Tac. Ann. 3.30.22The view here expressed differs in essentials from

that of D. McAlindon, Claudius and the Senators,AJP 78 (1957) 284-5.

23Suet. Claud. 13.

24Tac. Ann. 12.59; A. D. Nock, CAH 10 (1934) 500;P. MacKendrick, The Mute Stones Speak (NewYork 1960) 182ff.

MULTO BENE S A 2

While Ubi est Sparta? is a 4. If you'rewondering what kind of weird dialect Latinistsmay be conjuring up, rest assured this means ofcommunicating will not confuse your presentlearnings, only enhance them.

This new language is called interaction analysis,and as you have noticed, it consists of symbols,namely, numbers which stand for behaviors thatteachers and students use when they interact inthe classroom. The purpose of these symbols isto provide teachers with a concrete, precise meansof studying, observing, and communicating aboutteaching. By describing and labeling the be-haviors teachers and students use in the classroommuch of value can be gained.

Educators and researchers have continuallysearched for ways to improve teaching. Yet,why, with all the preparation given teachersalong with technology and innovative practices,isn't teaching more effective than it is? Why isit that many teachers teach as they were taughtrather than by the ideals in which they professto believe? And why do teachers still teach inways which are irrational, rather than accordingto principles of psychology and good sense?

Back in 1929, John Dewey wrote that a gooddeal of what went on in education resulted from

routine, tradition, accident and transitory ac-cidental influences. 1 He reasoned that this wasso because the field of education lacked the exis-tence of systematic methods of inquiry, whichwhen they are brought to bear on a range of facts,enable us to understand them better and tocontrol them more intelligently, less haphazardly,

'John Dewey, The Source of a Science in Educa-tion, Kappa Delta Pi Lecture Series (New York1929) 10.

BENARIO, The Family of Statilius Taurus

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