A340 Quotations

Question 0

do ut des

Answer 0

Literally translated as ‘I give (do) so that (ut) you may give (des)’ - but the Latin is much more catchy! (Euergetism (also called evergetism), derived from the Greek word “εὐεργετέω,” meaning “doing good deeds,” was the ancient practice of high-status and wealthy individuals in society distributing part of their wealth to the community.)

This was a legal concept, but was primarily a religious concept which underpinned the Roman practice of sacrifice, libations and offerings. The idea of do ut des also influenced other areas of Roman life, particularly the idea of patronage.

What do you think about this concept? What does it suggest about Roman perceptions of themselves and the world around them?

Question 1

Imperium sine fine

Answer 1

It means something like ‘dominion (imperium) without (sine) end (fine)’, but as always with Latin, the shades of meaning are problematic. imperium came to suggest ‘empire’ as well as the more abstract notion of ‘control’ or ‘power’, and fine is not necessarily a temporal end, but can mean a physical border. It’s a tricky phrase, so it’s better to learn the Latin than the English.
It comes from Book 1 of Virgil’s Aeneid, written early in Augustus’ reign, when Jupiter gives a prophecy about the growth and development of the Roman people. It became a hugely famous quotation throughout the Roman world, defining the spread of Roman power.

Question 2

Tacitus

Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.

Answer 2

where they make a desert, they call it peace’

This is a very famous description of Roman civilising practices (from Chapter 30 of the Agricola), often quoted in relation to the concept of ‘empire’. The important thing, as always, is the context: this is the (imaginary) speech of the British chieftain Calgacus. It’s a great speech - but it’s in the mouth of an enemy of Rome. Here’s some more of it:

‘We, at the farthest limits both of land and liberty, have been defended to this day by the remoteness of our situation and of our fame. The extremity of Britain is now disclosed; and whatever is unknown becomes an object of magnitude. But there is no nation beyond us; nothing but waves and rocks, and the still more hostile Romans, whose arrogance we can not escape by obsequiousness and submission. These plunderers of the world, after exhausting the land by their devastations, are rifling the ocean: stimulated by avarice, if their enemy be rich; by ambition, if poor: unsatiated by the East and by the West: the only people who behold wealth and indigence with equal avidity. To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace’

Question 3

oderint dum metuant’,

Answer 3

which translates as ‘let them hate, as long as they fear’. According to Suetonius (Gaius 30), this was a favourite saying of Caligula, taken from the tragic poet Accius. What do you think about this? Was Caligula mad as a box of frogs, or are there useful parallels to be drawn with your recent study of Domitian?

Question 4

Civis Romanus sum

Answer 4

Which means ‘I am a Roman citizen’. It was famously used by Cicero in his orations against Verres (a nasty chap who governed his provinces in a conspicuously corrupt manner), in recounting Verres’ punishment of a man despite the man shouting out ‘civis Romanus sum’, which should have ensured his right to protection.

Question 5

scilicet externae superbiae sueto non inerat notitia nostri apud quos vis imperii valet, inania tramittuntur

Answer 5

I’m back to Tacitus again! I can’t help it - he’s just so brilliant…

Annals 15.31. The Roman general Corbulo is putting on a display of Roman military glory and hospitality for the Parthian Tiridates, who is about to surrender to Nero. Tacitus writes of Tiridates: ‘Accustomed to foreign arrogance, he had no knowledge of us, who value the reality of empire and disregard its empty show’ (scilicet externae superbiae sueto non inerat notitia nostri apud quos vis imperii valet, inania tramittuntur).

The phrase I like here is ‘vis imperii’, (the ‘vis’ of ‘imperium’) which the translators (Church and Brodribb) render as ‘the reality of empire’. Now we know that ‘imperium’ is a slippery term, but what about ‘vis’? It’s a word that is usually used for violence or force, or perhaps spirit: it’s another wide-ranging term. So what does Tacitus think is the ‘vis’ of ‘imperium’, and why does Tiridates not recognise it?

(This is why I love Tacitus - you can debate a phrase for hours, and still not be entirely sure what he means!)