Secrets of Power:
Tacitus on the Soul of Despots and Despotism
A Discussion Seminar
"Even to say his name turns tyrants pale." —Chénier, a Red Tacitist
"He also teaches tyrants how to found a tyranny." —Guicciardini, a Black Tacitist
Join us at AAI this Spring for a seminar on Tacitus’ Annals.
Starting February 4, we will meet for 7 weeks every Tuesday from 7 pm to 8:30pm at the Abigail Adams Institute at 14 Arrow St, Ste G10 in Cambridge.
There is no cost to the program, and each week's readings will be provided to all participants.
The translation of the Annals that we will be using is by Cynthia Damon (Penguin Books, 2012).
Refreshments will be provided at each session.
Open to Undergraduates and graduate Students
At Harvard and boston area universities
At a time of cynicism, demagoguery, and vitriolic partisanship in our politics, the strength, or even the goodness, of republican institutions may no longer seem self-evident to us. In ages past, when political liberty itself became a matter of debate and doubt, there was one thinker all sides, from Thomas Jefferson to Machiavelli, have turned to for wisdom: the great analyst, biographer, and historian of the Roman empire — Tacitus (AD 56 - 120). He has been hailed as the amoral master of despotism's dark and secret arts (the "arcana imperii"), himself coolly wielding the highest of powers under the emperors; but, paradoxically, also as the great liberator who dared to tear down the smiling façades of tyranny and give the empire the infamy its wickedness so richly deserved, that "depraved speeches and deeds should have fear of posterity and disgrace" (iii.65.1).
We will closely read and discuss key passages from Tacitus' Annals, concentrating on the reigns of the emperors Tiberius and Nero, exploring questions such as:
What makes a people willing to give up its liberty?
Could anything have prevented the establishment of despotism in Rome, or was it inevitable?
Why do the emperors call themselves "first citizen" and continue to uphold the external forms of the republic? If the brute fact of the regime is power and fear, why bother with lies, pretense, and hypocrisy?
Why does Tacitus emphasize the extension of treason to cover speech, even private speech, as especially corrupting?
Could anyone good and public-spirited advance in a despotic society? Is there a path open between suicidal defiance of the ruler and grotesque servility?
Why did Tiberius and Nero become increasingly paranoid and savage over time? Why should unchecked power and freedom have this effect, and what does that reveal about human nature? Are there any who would be immune?
Is there space for any political life under the empire?
