Projekttitel: eManual Alte Geschichte
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H. A. III, 5,3-7,12 – Original:
3 Factus imperator nulli eorum quos Hadrianus provexerat successorem dedit fuitque ea constantia ut septenis et novenis annis in provinciis bonos praesides detineret. 4 per legatos suos plurima bella gessit. nam et Britannos per Lollium Urbicum vicit legatum alio muro caespiticio summotis barbaris ducto, et Mauros ad pacem postulandam coegit, et Germanos et Dacos et multas gentes atque Iudaeos rebellantes contudit per praesides ac legatos. 5 in Achaia etiam atque Aegypto rebelliones repressit. Alanos molientis saepe refrenavit.
6. procuratores suos et modeste suscipere tributa iussit et excedentes modum rationem factorum suorum reddere praecepit, nec umquam ullo laetatus est lucro, quo provincialis oppressus est. 2 contra procuratores suos conquerentes libenter audivit. 3 Iis quos Hadrianus damnaverat in senatu indulgentias petiit, dicens etiam ipsum Hadrianum hoc fuisse facturum. 4 imperatorium fastigium ad summam civilitatem deduxit, unde plus crevit, recusantibus aulicis ministris, qui illo nihil per internuntios agente nec terrere poterant homines aliquando nec ea quae occulta non erant vendere. 5 senatui tantum detulit imperator quantum, cum privatus esset, deferri sibi ab alio principe optavit. 6 patris patriae nomen delatum a senatu, quod primo distulerat, cum ingenti gratiarum actione suscepit. 7 tertio anno imperii sui Faustinam uxorem perdidit, quae a senatu consecrata est delatis circensibus atque templo et flaminicis et statuis aureis atque argenteis; cum etiam ipse hoc concesserit, ut imago eius cunctis circensibus poneretur. 8 statuam auream delatam a senatu positam suscepit. 9 M. Antoninum quaestorem consulem petente senatu creavit. 10 Annium Verum, qui postea dictus est Antoninus, ante tempus quaestorem designavit. 11 neque de provinciis neque de ullis actibus quicquam constituit, nisi quod prius ad amicos rettulit, atque ex eorum sententia formas composuit. 12 visus est sane ab amicis et cum privatis vestibus et domesticis quaedam gerens.
7. Tanta sane diligentia subiectos sibi populos rexit ut omnia et omnes, quasi sua essent, curaret. provinciae sub eo cunctae floruerunt. 2 quadruplatores exstincti sunt. 3 publicatio bonorum rarior quam umquam fuit, ita ut unus tantum proscriberetur adfectatae tyrannidis reus, 4 hoc est Atilius Titianus, senatu puniente, a quo conscios requiri vetuit, filio eius ad omnia semper adiuto. periit et Priscianus reus adfectatae tyrannidis, sed morte voluntaria. de qua coniuratione quaeri vetuit.
5 Victus Antonini Pii talis fuit ut esset opulentia sine reprehensione, parsimonia sine sordibus, et mensa eius per proprios servos, per proprios aucupes piscatores ac venatores instrueretur. 6 balneum, quo usus fuisset, sine mercede populo exhibuit nec omnino quicquam de vitae privatae qualitate mutavit. 7 salaria multis subtraxit, quos otiosos videbat accipere, dicens nihil esse sordidius, immo crudelius, quam si rem publicam is adroderet qui nihil in eam suo labore conferret. 8 unde etiam Mesomedi lyrico salarium inminuit. rationes omnium provinciarum adprime scivit et vectigalium. 9 patrimonium privatum in filiam contulit, sed fructus rei publicae donavit. 10 species imperatorias superfluas et praedia vendidit et in suis propriis fundis vixit varie ac pro temporibus. 11 nec ullas expeditiones obiit, nisi quod ad agros suos profectus est et ad Campaniam, dicens gravem esse provincialibus comitatum principis, etiam nimis parci. 12 et tamen ingenti auctoritate apud omnes gentes fuit, cum in urbe propterea sederet, ut undique nuntios, medius utpote, citius posset accipere.
Projekttitel: eManual Alte Geschichte
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Übersetzung: David Magie
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Übersetzung:
3 After his accession to the throne he removed none of the men whom Hadrian had appointed to office, and, indeed, was so steadfast and loyal that he retained good men in the government of provinces for terms of seven and even nine years. 4 He waged a number of wars, but all of them through his legates. For Lollius Urbicus, his legate, overcame the Britons and built a second wall, one of turf, after driving back the barbarians. Through other legates or governors, he forced the Moors to sue for peace, and crushed the Germans and the Dacians and many other tribes, and also the Jews, who were in revolt. 5 In Achaea also and in Egypt he put down rebellions and many a time sharply checked the Alani in their raiding.
6. 1 His procurators were ordered to levy only a reasonable tribute, and those who exceeded a proper limit were commanded to render an account of their acts, nor was he ever pleased with any revenues that were onerous to the provinces. 2 Moreover, he was always willing to hear complaints against his procurators. 3 He besought the senate to pardon those men whom Hadrian had condemned, saying that Hadrian himself had been about to do so. 4 The imperial pomp he reduced to the utmost simplicity and thereby gained the greater esteem, though the palace-attendants opposed this course, for they found that since he made no use of go-betweens, they could in no wise terrorize men or take money for decisions about which there was no concealment. 5 In his dealings with the senate, he rendered it, as emperor, the same respect that he had wished another emperor to render him when he was a private man. 6 When the senate offered him the title of Father of his Country, he at first refused it, but later accepted it with an elaborate expression of thanks. 7 On the death of his wife Faustina, in the third year of his reign, the senate deified her, and voted her games and a temple and priestesses and statues of silver and of gold. These the Emperor accepted, and furthermore granted permission that her statue be erected in all the circuses; 8 and when the senate voted her a golden statue, he undertook to erect it himself. 9 At the instance of the senate, Marcus Antoninus, now quaestor, was made consul; 10 also Annius Verus, he who was afterwards entitled Antoninus, was appointed quaestor before the legal age. 11 Never did he resolve on measures about the provinces or render a decision on any question without previously consulting his friends, and in accordance with their opinions he drew up his final statement. 12 And indeed he often received his friends without the robes of state and even in the performance of domestic duties.
7. 1 With such care did he govern all peoples under him that he looked after all things and all men as if they were his own. As a result, the provinces all prospered in his reign, 2 informers were abolished, 3 the confiscation of goods was less frequent than ever before, and only one man was condemned as guilty of aspiring to the throne. 4 This was Atilius Titianus, and it was the senate itself that conducted his prosecution, while the Emperor forbade any investigation about the fellow-conspirators of Atilius and always aided his son to attain all his desires. Priscianus did indeed die for aspiring to the throne, but by his own hand, and about his conspiracy also the Emperor forbade any investigation. 5 The board of Antoninus Pius was rich yet never open to criticism, frugal yet not stingy; his table was furnished by his own slaves, his own fowlers and fishers and hunters. 6 A bath, which he had previously used himself, he opened to the people without charge, nor did he himself depart in any way from the manner of life to which he had been accustomed when a private man. 7 He took away salaries from a number of men who held obvious sinecures, saying there was nothing meaner, nay more unfeeling, than the man who nibbled at the revenues of the state without giving any service in return; 8 for the same reason, also, he reduced the salary of Mesomedes, the lyric poet. The budgets of all the provinces and the sources of revenue he knew exceedingly well. 9 He settled his private fortune on his daughter, but presented the income of it to the state. 10 Indeed, the superfluous trappings of royal state and even the crown-lands he sold, living on his own private estates and varying his residence according to the season. 11 Nor did he undertake any expedition other than the visiting of his lands in Campania, averring that the equipage of an emperor, even of one over frugal, was a burdensome thing to the provinces. 12 And yet he was regarded with immense respect by all nations, for, making his residence in the city, as he did, for the purpose of being in a central location, he was able to receive messages from every quarter with equal speed.
Projekttitel: eManual Alte Geschichte
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Autor_in: Falk Wackerow
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H. A. III, 5,3-7,12
Leitfragen:
1) Was kennzeichnete die Herrschaft des Antoninus Pius?
2) Warum ist so wenig über ihn bekannt?
3) Wie wurde seine Regierungszeit rezipiert?
Kommentar:
Antoninus Pius (86-161 n. Chr.) entstammte einer Senatorenfamilie aus dem transalpinen Gallien. Als Sohn eines Senators von konsularem Rang wurde er früh mit der Politik vertraut gemacht und verdiente sich seine Sporen in der Ämterlaufbahn. Der steile Aufstieg seiner Karriere begann, als Kaiser Hadrian ihn aus den Männern von konsularem Rang, die für die Verwaltung Italiens zuständig waren, auswählte, Aufsicht über den Landstrich mit den kaiserlichen Gütern zu üben. Später, nachdem er von Hadrian als Statthalter nach Kleinasien geschickt worden war, diente er als Berater am kaiserlichen Hof. Selbst an die Macht kam Antoninus Pius durch Zufall: Der designierte Thronfolger, Hadrians Adoptivsohn Aelius Verus, starb, und so adoptierte der Kaiser kurzerhand den altgedienten und in Politik und Administration erfahrenen Senator. Hadrian verband die Adoption mit der Bedingung, dass Antoninus Pius wiederum die Neffen seiner Frau zu Thronfolgern bestimmte. Diese sollten nach seinem Tod auch tatsächlich als Aelius Verus und Marcus Aurelius regieren. Die überdurchschnittlich lange Regierungszeit von 23 Jahren war weder durch große Skandale, tiefgreifende Reformen noch militärische Bedrohungen geprägt, was wahrscheinlich der Grund für die dürftige Überlieferung ist. Im Vergleich zur Hadriansvita in der Historia Augusta ist diejenige des Antoninus Pius nur etwa halb so lang. Auch Parallelquellen existieren mit Ausnahme einiger Fragmente des Cassius Dio sowie einem kurzen Abschnitt in Mark Aurels Selbstbetrachtungen kaum. Wichtige Vorkommnisse hätten sich wohl in den Quellen niedergeschlagen, weswegen davon auszugehen ist, dass die Regierungszeit weitgehend ereignislos verlief. Die in der Historia Augusta aufgezählten Kriegszüge sind wohl in ihrer Bedeutung übertrieben und eher als Abwehr vereinzelter Angriffe anzusehen. Ohnehin lag Antoninus Pius aufgrund seiner großen Erfahrung die Verwaltung näher. Er beließ Männer auf ihren Posten, die sich unter seinem Vorgänger verdient gemacht hatten und unternahm auch sonst keine großen Veränderungen im Regierungssystem des Reiches. Übereifrige Steuereintreiber und Provinzvorsteher ließ er bestrafen, was ihm bei der Bevölkerung zu Ansehen verhalf. Gleichzeitig reduzierte er den Prunk am Hof auf das Allernötigste und gab sich zumindest nach außen bescheiden. Er wurde dafür gelobt, ein offenes Ohr für die Anliegen und Beschwerden seiner Untertanen insbesondere in den Provinzen zu haben und zeigte Milde gegenüber den durch Hadrian Verurteilten. Möglicherweise orientierte sich Mark Aurel später an dieser Herrschaftsauffassung seines Vorgängers. Insgesamt gesehen war die Regierungszeit des Antoninus Pius einer der ruhigsten und an Krisen ärmsten Abschnitte der römischen Geschichte, weswegen er zwar als guter Kaiser, jedoch nicht als herausragender Princeps in Erinnerung blieb.