From jmpfund@bgnet.bgsu.edu Sun Apr 30 11:45:51 2000 Received: from mxu1.u.washington.edu (mxu1.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id LAA50430 for ; Sun, 30 Apr 2000 11:45:50 -0700 Received: from sp07.notesnet.bgsu.edu (sp07.notesnet.bgsu.edu [129.1.7.7]) by mxu1.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.02/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id LAA23013 for ; Sun, 30 Apr 2000 11:45:47 -0700 Received: from [129.1.190.241] ([129.1.190.229]) by sp07.notesnet.bgsu.edu (Lotus Domino Release 5.0.2b) with ESMTP id 2000043014464461:3327 ; Sun, 30 Apr 2000 14:46:44 -0400 X-Sender: jmpfund@popj.bgsu.edu Message-Id: In-Reply-To: <390BB6F8.7FF9A53@nimbus.temple.edu> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2000 14:50:27 -0400 To: classics@u.washington.edu From: "James M. Pfundstein" Subject: Re: Bragging and Fragging (was: Michael Taylor) X-MIMETrack: Itemize by SMTP Server on MAIL03/SERVER/BGSU(Release 5.0.2b |December 16, 1999) at 04/30/2000 02:46:45 PM, Serialize by Router on MAIL03/SERVER/BGSU(Release 5.0.2b |December 16, 1999) at 04/30/2000 02:46:54 PM, Serialize complete at 04/30/2000 02:46:54 PM Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Not every assassination of an emperor will count as fragging, of course, but Janice "Machiavelli" Siegel's examples are well-taken. I'd add the death of Gallienus (early in Ch. 11 of Gibbon's *Decline and Fall*, on-line at Project Gutenberg; his Latin sources, the Historia Augusta, Eutropius and Aurelius Victor, are on-line at the Latin Library). I wonder if the murders of officers and non-coms during a mutiny really count as fragging? It seems to me that this usually refers to the secret murder of a superior officer (about which the truth might or might not come out afterwards). But since R.H. Clayton mentions him, Centurion "Give Me Another" Lucilius appears briefly in Tacitus' *Annals*, in the account of the military rebellions that followed the death of Augustus. Tacitus, *Annales* 1.23: centurio Lucilius interficitur cui militaribus facetiis vocabulum "cedo alteram" indiderant, quia fracta vite in tergo militis alteram clara voce ac rursus aliam poscebat. Balme and Morwood (authors of the *Oxford Latin Course*) grafted him onto Brutus' army, so that the young Quintus [Horatius Flaccus] could encounter him. JMP("Pfraga") At 12:30 AM -0400 4/30/2000, Janice Siegel wrote: >In re: "fragging" - Machiavelli has done a lot of your legwork for you, >guys... > >Machiavelli's Prince, chapter 19: > >"Severus, because he knew what a coward Julian the emperor was, persuaded the >army he had under his command in Slavonia that it was a good idea to march on >Rome to revenge the death of Pertinax, who had been killed by his praetorian >guard..." and > >"You should try merely to avoid giving grave injury to anyone you employ who >comes close to you in the course of business. Antoninus had done just this, >for he had outragesouly put to death a brother of the centurion who killed >him, and had repeatedly threatened the centurion's own life; yet he employed >him as a bodyguard. This was foolhardy, and the disastrous outcome could have >been predicted." > >"Now we come to Commodus, who had no difficulty in holding to power, because >he had inherited it, being the son of Marcus. All he had to do was follow in >his father's footsteps, and he would have been satisfactory to both soldiers >and populace. But, because he was by nature cruel and brutal, he began to >ingartiate himself with the soldiers and too encourage them to be >undisicplined, so he would be able to give his own rapacity free rein against >the people. On the other hand, he did not maintain his own dignity. Often, >when he went to the amphitheater, he came down and fought with the gladiators, >and he did other things that were despicable and incompatible with imperial >majesty. So he became contemptible int he eyes of his soldiers, so there was >soon a conspiracy against him and he was killed." > >"There remains for us to discuss the character of Maximinus...So everybody was >worked up with disain for his humble origins (shepherd in Thrace) and agitated >with hatred arising from their fear of his ferocity. First Africa rebelled, >and then the senate and the whole population of Rome; soon all Italy was >conspiring against him. His own army turned against him. They were laying >siege to Aquileia, but were finding it hard to take the city, to which was >added their distaste for his cruelty. Seeing so many united against him, they >lost their fear of him and killed him." > >Lots more interesting discussion about how in theold days leaders had to cater >to the desires of their soldiers over their populace (because the soldiers >were more feared), but "now all rulers, with the exception of the sultans of >Turkey and of Egypt, need to be more concerned to satsify the populace than >the soldiers, for the populace are the greater threat." > >Cheers, Janice > >Janice Siegel >Temple University >http://nimbus.temple.edu/~jsiegel .