45.1 conferendis pecuniis pervastata [sc. est] Italia: The juxtaposition of these two phrases makes horrifyingly clear again Nero’s abuse of the country for his own ends. The strengthened verb pervastata (‘thoroughly ravaged’) suggests his ruthless exploitation of Italy. Clearly vast sums of money were needed for the building projects. Cf. Suetonius, Nero 38.3: conlationibusque non receptis modo verum et efflagitatis provincias privatorumque census prope exhausit (‘and from the contributions which he not only received, but even demanded, he nearly bankrupted the provinces and exhausted the resources of individuals’). More generally, as John Henderson points out, this is how capital cities of empires work, and not just Nero’s – the exotica and the scum of the earth are scoured and flood in, as we have seen, and the resources of the world are put at the service of beautifying, ennobling, and in case of disaster of putting them back on their feet, back on top, where they presume they belong.

provinciae eversae [sc. sunt] sociique populi et quae civitatium liberae vocantur [= et eae civitatium quae liberae vocantur]: eversae, which here refers to financial ruin, takes three subjects: provinciae, socii populi, and civitates liberae, though Tacitus presents the last item in such a way as to show that Nero and his agents made a mockery of the attribute ‘free.’ civitates liberae were specially privileged states such as Athens that were supposed to be immune from taxation – hence the ironical vocantur.

inque eam praedam etiam dii cessere: The polysyndeton continues (-que). In addition, the use of the word praeda to describe Nero’s fundraising is telling: it is used primarily in a military context for the booty stripped from a defeated enemy. Its use here paints Nero’s action as ruthless, thieving and hostile to his own subjects – and the gods. Tacitus’ use of the gods as subjects unable to withstand the emperor’s onslaught dramatically magnifies Nero’s greed and sacrilege, an effect helped by the emphasising etiam. As often, Tacitus does not leave Nero’s crime as simple rapacity, but introduces connotations of sacrilege and brutality as well.

spoliatis in urbe templis: An ablative absolute. spoliatis implies military booty seized from a defeated foe, but here is used to convey the savage execution of Nero’s fund-raising campaign. The targets of his greed and desperation are the temples of the gods within the city of Rome: in urbe makes clear that Nero’s abuse of the city did not stop at the building of the Domus Aurea. Pliny the Elder, after listing the greatest works of Greek art in Rome in his Natural History, finishes by saying (34.84): ‘And among the list of works I have referred to all the most celebrated have now been dedicated by the emperor Vespasian in the Temple of Peace and his other public buildings; they had been looted by Nero, who conveyed them all to Rome and arranged them in the sitting-rooms of his Golden House.’

egestoque auro quod triumphis, quod votis omnis populi Romani aetas prospere aut in metu sacraverat: egesto auro is another ablative absolute that leads into a quod-clause, in which Tacitus details what kind of gold is at issue: the material investment made by successive generations of Roman magistrates in their communication with the divine sphere, either in situations of triumph (quod triumphis ~ prospere) or of crisis (quod votis ~ in metu; Roman generals vowed gifts to the gods in return for their support on the battlefield; it was often a measure of last resort to avert defeat). The anaphora quod ... quod... lays emphasis on the many grand occasions on which these golden statues had been dedicated to the temples. The totalising omnis ... aetas makes explicit Nero’s abuse of the shared and ancient Roman heritage, emphasised by the formal term populi Romani. The polarities prospere aut in metu, set off by variatio (adverb; in + abl.), cover the whole range, suggesting that all precious objects were fair game to Nero. Finally, the verb sacraverat reminds us of the holy origin of these items and Nero’s irreligiosity.

triumphis: The triumph was the highest honour which could be awarded to a victorious Roman general. Nero perverts this sacred ritual. Far from celebrating public service and dedicating great riches to the Roman people, he steals from the accumulated public treasure for his own uses.

45.2 enimvero: Highly emphatic, denoting the culmination of the list of Nero’s victims.

per Asiam atque Achaiam: The provinces of Achaea (mainland Greece) and Asia (Turkey) were the richest in statuary and religious wealth.

non dona tantum sed simulacra numinum abripiebantur: The non ... tantum, sed ... construction emphasises Nero’s lack of restraint, whilst the violent verb abripiebantur underlines his rapacity. And again, Tacitus points to the sacrilegious nature of Nero’s plunder. The Greek travel writer Pausanias (writing in the mid-second century) tells us that Nero stole 500 statues from Delphi alone (10.7.1), while also swooping up treasures from other sanctuaries such as Olympia (6.25.9; 6.26.3).

missis in eas provincias Acrato ac Secundo Carrinate: Tacitus uses an ablative absolute to name Nero’s agents: Acratus, one of Nero’s freedmen, mentioned later in the Annals but otherwise unknown, and Secundus Carrinas, who was believed to have been the son of an orator exiled by Caligula. A right pair, this, ‘Uncontrollable’ Greekling [akrates in Greek ethics is someone without command over himself or his passions] plus Roman-sounding ‘Winner’, for the dirty work.

ille [sc. erat] libertus cuicumque flagitio promptus: A freedman rather than a senatorial official being sent to collect money was, for Tacitus, a sign of the unhealthy influence of ex-slaves at the imperial court. Almost by definition, such creatures were depraved and Acratus is no exception: Tacitus stresses that his immorality knew no bounds.

hic Graeca doctrina ore tenus exercitus animum bonis artibus non induerat: Secundus Carrinas apparently studied philosophy (Graeca doctrina), but only superficially (ore tenus: lit. ‘as far as his mouth’, i.e. he talked the talk but did not bother to walk the walk): his mind (animus) remained unaffected by the exposure to the excellent education (cf. bonis artibus) he received. Tacitus revels in hypocrisy of this sort, and here stresses this with the simple and scathing contrast between ore and animum: a wonderfully concise and acid description of a hypocrite.

Footnotes