로마 제정 초기 타키투스의 역사서술 (Tacitus’ Narrative of History in the Early Roman Empire)

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· 저자명 : 차전환

초록

As a politician Tacitus lived a successful life under the principate.
But he was deeply opposed to the politics of princeps, and was committed to the republican freedom of the Senate. Tacitus’ reputation as the greatest Roman historian owed mainly to the Annales and Historiae, which together covered from the death of Augustus in AD 14 to the end of Domitian reign in 96. According to Tacitus, Augustus established a political system which was inherently corrupt, and he traced the degradation of politics through the course of Tiberius’ reign.
Tiberius’ reign took a decisive turn for the worse with the rise of L.
Aelius Seianus. Tacitus accepted the traditional picture of Claudius dominated by wives and freedmen, and women like Messalina and Agrippina took central stage. Nero’s initial quinquennium of relatively good governing ended with the murder of Agrippina, after which Nero followed his own desires without restraint. The narrative then changes to the theme of sexual indulgence, cruelty, and self-degradation.
In the Historiae, Tacitus dealt with the civil wars between Galba,Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasianus. While Tacitus’ narrative on the former three emperors who rose in revolt one after another was quite negative and unfavorable, Vespasianus was not censured for his revolt against Vitellius. It seems that Tacitus valued Vespasianus as an emperor who ended civil war and founded a new dynasty. Galba was regarded as lacking in the moral and mental qualities of an emperor.
Aged Galba was swayed by closest associates, and was not able to win the army. Otho, who had seized power in a military coup, was open to severe censure for luxurious acts and indulging in debauchery.
After Otho’s suicide, Tacitus’ narrative on him changed decisively.
Tacitus emphasized that Otho had hoped to stop the civil war and heighten his honour by suicide. After Otho had committed suicide,Vitellius was in opposition with Vespasianus. Vitellius was denounced most severely, and Vitellius’ defeat and death was described more dramatically than those of Galba and Otho.

영어초록

As a politician Tacitus lived a successful life under the principate.
But he was deeply opposed to the politics of princeps, and was committed to the republican freedom of the Senate. Tacitus’ reputation as the greatest Roman historian owed mainly to the Annales and Historiae, which together covered from the death of Augustus in AD 14 to the end of Domitian reign in 96. According to Tacitus, Augustus established a political system which was inherently corrupt, and he traced the degradation of politics through the course of Tiberius’ reign.
Tiberius’ reign took a decisive turn for the worse with the rise of L.
Aelius Seianus. Tacitus accepted the traditional picture of Claudius dominated by wives and freedmen, and women like Messalina and Agrippina took central stage. Nero’s initial quinquennium of relatively good governing ended with the murder of Agrippina, after which Nero followed his own desires without restraint. The narrative then changes to the theme of sexual indulgence, cruelty, and self-degradation.
In the Historiae, Tacitus dealt with the civil wars between Galba,Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasianus. While Tacitus’ narrative on the former three emperors who rose in revolt one after another was quite negative and unfavorable, Vespasianus was not censured for his revolt against Vitellius. It seems that Tacitus valued Vespasianus as an emperor who ended civil war and founded a new dynasty. Galba was regarded as lacking in the moral and mental qualities of an emperor.
Aged Galba was swayed by closest associates, and was not able to win the army. Otho, who had seized power in a military coup, was open to severe censure for luxurious acts and indulging in debauchery.
After Otho’s suicide, Tacitus’ narrative on him changed decisively.
Tacitus emphasized that Otho had hoped to stop the civil war and heighten his honour by suicide. After Otho had committed suicide,Vitellius was in opposition with Vespasianus. Vitellius was denounced most severely, and Vitellius’ defeat and death was described more dramatically than those of Galba and Otho.

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