Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to propose a new explanation as to why Nero cancelled proposed trips abroad twice in quick succession in early AD64, first a trip to Achaia, then a trip to the East. Tacitus is our main source for these events (Ann. 15.33-36), while Suetonius casts some additional light on the circumstances surrounding the cancellation of the trip to the East (Nero 19.1). Unfortunately, the surviving fragments of Cassius Dio do not discuss either event. New light will also be shed on the circumstances leading to the prosecution and suicide of Decimus Iunius Silanus Torquatus about the same time as the cancellation of the first trip.
Tacitus opens his account of the year AD64 with the claim that Nero grew more eager by the day to perform in a public venue, and that he had decided to make his first such performance in the theatre at Naples before then crossing over to perform an artistic tour of Achaia (Ann. 15.33). He next recounts how Nero performed in the theatre at Naples, and interpreted it as a good sign that the theatre only collapsed after everyone had safely left it. Nero was more determined than ever to cross to Achaia in order to perform there, and now journeyed inland as far as Beneventum, obviously intending to travel by the Appian Way to the port of Brundisium on the eastern coast, although Tacitus does not actually state this (Ann. 15.34). At Beneventum, Nero attended a gladiatorial display organized by one of his leading courtiers, Vatinius. At about this time (Isdem quippe illis diebus) his second cousin Decimus Iunius Silanus Torquatus (cos. AD53) committed suicide because he had been charged with attempted revolution (Ann. 15.35). Sometime during his stay at Beneventum, Nero seems to have decided to postpone his trip to Achaia. He does not seem to have offered any explanation for this to the general public at the time, so that Tacitus can report only that his reasons for so doing were unclear (causae in incerto fuere). Nero then returned to Rome, but soon began to plan a trip to the provinces of the East, particularly Egypt.
David Woods
Eranos Acta Philologica Suecana (Swedish Journal of Classical Philology), Vol. 102 (2004)
Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to propose a new explanation as to why Nero cancelled proposed trips abroad twice in quick succession in early AD64, first a trip to Achaia, then a trip to the East. Tacitus is our main source for these events (Ann. 15.33-36), while Suetonius casts some additional light on the circumstances surrounding the cancellation of the trip to the East (Nero 19.1). Unfortunately, the surviving fragments of Cassius Dio do not discuss either event. New light will also be shed on the circumstances leading to the prosecution and suicide of Decimus Iunius Silanus Torquatus about the same time as the cancellation of the first trip.
Tacitus opens his account of the year AD64 with the claim that Nero grew more eager by the day to perform in a public venue, and that he had decided to make his first such performance in the theatre at Naples before then crossing over to perform an artistic tour of Achaia (Ann. 15.33). He next recounts how Nero performed in the theatre at Naples, and interpreted it as a good sign that the theatre only collapsed after everyone had safely left it. Nero was more determined than ever to cross to Achaia in order to perform there, and now journeyed inland as far as Beneventum, obviously intending to travel by the Appian Way to the port of Brundisium on the eastern coast, although Tacitus does not actually state this (Ann. 15.34). At Beneventum, Nero attended a gladiatorial display organized by one of his leading courtiers, Vatinius. At about this time (Isdem quippe illis diebus) his second cousin Decimus Iunius Silanus Torquatus (cos. AD53) committed suicide because he had been charged with attempted revolution (Ann. 15.35). Sometime during his stay at Beneventum, Nero seems to have decided to postpone his trip to Achaia. He does not seem to have offered any explanation for this to the general public at the time, so that Tacitus can report only that his reasons for so doing were unclear (causae in incerto fuere). Nero then returned to Rome, but soon began to plan a trip to the provinces of the East, particularly Egypt.
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