We have Nero to thank for the title of this blog. Or at least the verdict on Nero allegedly passed by Trajan and recorded only in a pair of 4th century epitomes, whose authorship is uncertain and likely influenced by the highly rhetorical accounts of Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. So it’s a slightly longer- and considerably murkier- credit roll, I’m afraid.
At the nub of it all is an idea which for a long time enjoyed currency, namely:
Nero’s first five years of rule were steady and in fact productive. He was mentored well and he respected the precedents of past emperors, Augustus in particular. Thereafter, and following the withdrawal of Seneca, Nero’s natural temperament surfaced and he became cruel, erratic and generally bad at government.
So what’s the connection to being a Classics teacher?
Historiography aside, this notion of flourishing for the first five years is what inspired the vision of this blog. Our hope is that by collecting and sharing the fruits of that flourishing, we can help each other improve as Classics teachers- and encounter some cool stuff on the way.
Still intrigued?
Here are the primary sources for the quinquennium Neronis, along with some modern scholarship.
- Aurelius Victor (?), Epitome de Caesaribus 5
- Suetonius, Life of Nero
- Tacitus, Annals XIII-XVI
- Cassius Dio, Roman History LXIII
- Champlin, E. (2003). Nero, especially ch.2,5
- Griffin, M. (1984). Nero, the End of a Dynasty, ch.1,4,6,7
- Elsner, J. and J. Masters (1994). Reflections of Nero pp.112-127