uiris CAMBRIDGE GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS GENERAL EDITORS DSESB/ASTIERIJENG Regius Professor of. Greek, University of. Cambridge PnuirLiP HARDIE Reader in Latin Literature, University of Cambridge RricHuagD HUNTER Reader in Greek and Latin Literature, University of Cambridge E. J. KENNEY Emeritus Kennedy Professor of Latin, Uniwersity of Cambridge a pU. .* B MEL LIE JUCI NBIPD NS DIALOGVS Db ORATORIBVS EDITED BY ROLAND MAYER Professor of. Classics, University of London JICAMBRIDGE 4D» UNIVERSITY PRESS 506:91UV [2 / V [ || Snc ——--— ! PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 'The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cB2 2nu, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York wv 10011-4211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, vic 3166, Australia Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 80o1, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org (O Cambridge University Press 2001 'This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2001: Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeset in Baskerville and New Hellenic Greek [A0] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data " Tacitus, Cornelius. 7'., Dialogus de oratoribus / Tacitus ; edited by Roland Mayer. p. cm. — (Cambridge Greek and Latin classics) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes. ISBN O 521 47040-4 (hardback) tsBN o 521 46996 1 (paperback) 1. Dialogues, Latin. 2. Oratory, Ancient. 1. Mayer, Roland, 1947— rr Title. ri. Series. PA6706.D5 T34 2001 808.5'10937—dc21 00-062142 ISBN O 521 47040 4 hardback ISBN O 521 46996 t paperback CONTENTS Preface page vii Abbreviations and references viii Introduction I I The background I 2 Tacitus? career 6 3 The Agricola 8 4 Fame 9 5 he state of oratory 12 6 The Dialogus 16 7 Authenticity 18 8 Date of composition 22 9 The style of the work D 10. 7 he layout of the Dialogus 31 II Characters and characterization 44 19 The transmission of the text 47 GOUIRSNIESDODDAA:GUTUDTSDIOPGA SEVI SED ES ORATORIBVS 51 Commentary 87 Works cited by author and date 217 Indexes 222 I Latin words l SUR 222 2 General 229 LP]n PRIEEAGLE Old Sippy's one-time headmaster, Mr Waterbury, 'author of *Some Little-Known Aspects of Tacitus" and muck like that', would have been among the first to welcome a new English-language commen- tary on the Dialogus de oratoribus (see 'Inferiority complex of old Sippy', in P. G. Wodehouse, Very good, 7eeves (London 1930) 49). In- deed a century is a long time to leave a work of such interest and flair unequipped with the sort of introduction and notes an anglo- phone undergraduate might want. University teachers too are con- stantly in need of manageable prose works for their classes and sem- inars (poetry will always be well served), and it is surprising that the Dialogus, a brillant work by a classic author in a reasonably familiar style, has not attracted a commentator m English since the final dec- ade of the nineteenth century, when to be sure there was something of a glut. 'The present work has benefited greatly both from a visit to the Fondation Hardt at Vandoeuvres (made possible by the British Academy and the Fonds National pour la Recherche Scientifique), and from the assistance and advice of eminent colleagues: Professor R. H. Martin of the University of Leeds, and Professor M. Winter- bottom of Oxford University were unfailingly helpful in their notes upon the commentary, and the reader owes them as much as does the editor himself for improvements in clarity and precision. As usual the Series Editor, Professor E. J. Kenney, read and advised upon the whole work, and, also as usual, he is owed my warmest thanks for his support. I should also like to thank Pauline Hire and Susan Moore for their help and interest. vil ABBREVIATIONS AND REFERENCES CAH (eds.) A. K. Bowman et al, 7/e Cambridge ancient history, x: The Augustan empire 43 BC — AD 69. (2nd edn) Cambridge 1995. CHCL (eds.) E. J. Kenney and W. V. Clausen, 7he Cam- bridge history of classical literature, ut: Latin. literature. Cambridge 1982. (eds.) H. Cancik and H. Schneider, Der neue Pauly. Stuttgart and Weimar 1996- . Enciclopedia dell'arte antica, classica e orientale. Rome 1958—66. A. Gerber and A. Greef, Lexicon Taciteum. Leipzig 1903. B. L. Gildersleeve and G. Lodge, Latin grammar. London 1895. HRL M. von Albrecht, A history of Roman literature from Livius Andronicus to Boethius with special regard to its in- fluence on world literature. 2 vols. Leiden, etc. 1997. J. B. Hofmann and A. Szantyr, Lateinische Syntax und Stilistik. Munich 1965. ILS (ed.) H. Dessau, /nscriptiones Latinae selectae. 5, vols. Berlin 1892-1916. R. Kühner and C. Stegmann, Ausführliche Gramma- tik der lateinischen Sprache. 4th edn rev. A. Thier- felder. 2 vols. Munich 1962. S. A. Handford, 77e Latin subjunctive. London 1947. R. G. M. Nisbet and M. Hubbard, A commentary on Horace: Odes Book I 1970; Book II 1978. Oxford. E. C. Woodcock, A new Latin syntax.. London 1959, repr. 1985. (eds.) S. Hornblower and A. Spawforth, 77e Oxford classical dictionary. 3rd edn. Oxford 1996. (ed.) P. G. W. Glare, Oxford Latin dictionary. Oxford 1968-82. Otto A. Otto, Die Sprichwórter und. sprichwórtlichen Re- densarten der Rómer. Leipzig 1890, repr. 1962. viii ABBREVIATIONS AND REFERENCES ix PIR Prosopographia Imperii Romani saec. I, I1, III. 2nd edn. Berlin 1933- . (ed.) T. Klauser, Aeallexikon für Antike und Christen- tum: Sachwürterbuch zur Auseinandersetzung des Christen- tums mit der antiken Welt. Stuttgart 1950— . RE (eds.) A. Pauly, G. Wissowa and W. Kroll, Real- Encyclopádie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Stutt- gart 1894—1972. Roby H. J. Roby, A grammar of the Latin language from Plautus to Suetonius. Part 11 Syntax. London 1889. Schanz-Hosius M. Schanz and C. Hosius, Geschichte der rómischen Literatur bis zum Gesetzgebungswerk des Kaisers fustinian (Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft, vrrm.r,2.). 4th edn. Munich 1927, 1935. THEE Thesaurus linguae Latinae. Munich 1900— . Except where there might be ambiguity, the name of Tacitus is omitted from references to his other works. See also the list of Works cited by author and date, below pp. 217—21. » — is the source of" or 'leads to'. « — 'is derived from'.