From jmpfund@bgnet.bgsu.edu Sun Nov 28 00:11:46 1999 Received: from mxu4.u.washington.edu (mxu4.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id AAA76086 for ; Sun, 28 Nov 1999 00:11:44 -0800 Received: from sp07.notesnet.bgsu.edu (sp07.notesnet.bgsu.edu [129.1.7.7]) by mxu4.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.08) with ESMTP id AAA28400 for ; Sun, 28 Nov 1999 00:11:44 -0800 Received: from [129.1.190.248] ([129.1.190.248]) by sp07.notesnet.bgsu.edu (Lotus Domino Release 5.0.1a) with ESMTP id 1999112803085757:10637 ; Sun, 28 Nov 1999 03:08:57 -0500 X-Sender: jmpfund@popj.bgsu.edu Message-Id: In-Reply-To: <007701bf391f$ec7938c0$1a5637d2@hpcustomer> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 03:12:43 -0500 To: classics@u.washington.edu From: "James M. Pfundstein" Subject: Re: Quinquennium Neronis (was 'Nussbaum in NYT') X-MIMETrack: Itemize by SMTP Server on MAIL03/SERVER/BGSU(Release 5.0.1a|August 17, 1999) at 11/28/99 03:08:58 AM, Serialize by Router on MAIL03/SERVER/BGSU(Release 5.0.1a|August 17, 1999) at 11/28/99 03:09:03 AM, Serialize complete at 11/28/99 03:09:03 AM X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Not having the text at hand (what text is it, by the way?), I'll accept Chris. Erhardt's correction that the identification of the "quinquennium Neronis" with the early years of Nero is a guess. That doesn't mean it's a bad guess, though (the notion of a competent soldier-emperor who refrained from the death penalty for treason gaping in admiration for Nero's later reign doesn't really seem plausible, but I suppose stranger things have happened), nor did I in fact deduce any further "facts"-- I raised a question. (The assertion that Seneca and Burrus were beneficial influences over the policies of Nero's early principate doesn't rest on any alleged remark of Trajan's, of course, but on evidence such as a series of references in Tacitus too well-known to need citing.) JMP At 4:39 PM -0500 11/27/1999, Ehrhardt wrote: >Sorry, we don't know what five years Trajan meant when he referred to the >'quinquennium Neronis'; it's a modern guess that it must be A.D. 54-59. >Why not the years of magnificence: re-building Rome, Macellum (cf. Trajan's >market), Golden House, 'Golden Day' of Tiridates of Armenia in Rome >(inspiration for Trajan's, disastrous, Parthian War?), completion of harbour >at Ostia (compare Nero's architectural and public works coins with >Trajan's), etc.? No, I can't prove that, either, but one shouldn't take >guesses for facts, and then deduce, or infer, other 'facts' from them. > > Chris. Ehrhardt > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: James M. Pfundstein >> But it was while Seneca and Burrus were running the empire that the >> celebrated "quinquennium Neronis" occurred-- the standard for good >> government used by the archetypal good emperor, Trajan. (I think this >> reference is in Aurelius Victor, but I'm not sure. L&S, for once, were no >> help.) Whether this was worth the moral compromises Seneca made along the >> way is a moot question-- in the sense that it's worth discussing, not cut >> and dried. >> >> But one man's moot is another man's poison (as Claudius remarked, munching >> a mushroom). >> >> JMP >> >> .