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Octavia
and the timing of Nero’s comet(s)
-
Also
Considering the Many Thunderbolts, the Earthquake, the Volcanic Eruption, and
the Other Terrifying Events of Nature Closely Associated in Time With that One
Comet During Nero’s de Facto Reign.
Abstract:
Considering the many details provided by Tacitus, in his work The
Annals, and by Seneca in his play Octavia, as quoted below, a fairly clear
picture is emerging; outlining the concurrent events of a comet, the 1st
eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, constant and severe thunderbolts, an earthquake
demolishing Pompeii, the consequential fears and panic among the people, and
multiple other events which are probably causatively interrelated one to
another; all of which also makes it clear that the comet referred to in
Seneca’s play Octavia is the one at the end of December 46 CE.
Considerations:
According to
Tacitus, Octavia, Nero’s wife, was only 19 years
old when she was killed (cf. the
excerpt out of Tacitus’ The Annals below.) Seneca, in his play Octavia, is
quoting Octavia as saying:
“I am ever mindful of my murdered brother, I wish that
the ruler of the heavenly gods would make ready to cut short with his
lightnings, the terrible life of that cruel emperor—that deity, who so
often shakes the earth with his
frightful thunderbolts and
terrifies our very souls with his awful igneous displays and novel wonders
(fresh prodigies). But I have witnessed of late a blazing phenomenal splendor
in the heavens,6 a comet that has exposed to my view its ominous
fiery torch, (tail) just where slow-moving Boötes, stiff as it were with the
Arctic cold, drives his wagon at each turn of the night continually…”
(Lucius Annaeus Seneca,
Octavia,
translated, with notes, by Watson Bradshaw.
Is this a
correct translation of Seneca’s work? If it is, How likely is a 19 year old
girl to reference a comet eight years in the past as “of late”? Especially if
there was another comet seen only about half a year in the past?
According to my
study within it appears as though Octavia was killed in the latter half of 47
CE. The last comet, prior to that event, was first observed in December 46 CE,
while the last previous comet, Claudius’ comet, had been seen in March and
April 39 CE. Seneca was killed in 49 CE during the consulship of Silius Nerva
and Atticus Vestinus.
It may seem of
some importance then to establish whether or not the translator’s words “of
late” in the above quote finds support also in the underlying Latin text:
“Oc[tavia:] Iungentur ante saeua sideribus freta
et ignis undae, Tartaro tristi polus,
lux alma tenebris, roscidae nocti dies,
quam cum scelesti coniugis mente impia 225
mens nostra, semper fratris extincti memor.
utinam[1] nefandi[2] principis[3] dirum[4] caput[5]
obruere[6] flammis[7] caelitum[8] rector[9] paret[10],
qui[11] saepe[12] terras[13] fulmine[14] infesto[15] quatit[16]
mentesque[17] nostras[18] ignibus[19] terret[20] sacris[21] 230
nouisque[22] monstris[23]; uidimus[24] caelo[25] iubar[26]
ardens[27] cometen[28] pandere[29] infaustam[30] facem[31],
qua[32] plaustra[33] tardus[34] noctis[35] alterna[36] uice[37]
regit[38] Bootes, frigore[39] Arctoo[40] rigens[41]:
en[42] ipse[43] diro[44] spiritu[45] saeui[46] ducis[47] 235
polluitur[48] aether[49], gentibus[50] clades[51] nouas[52]
minantur[53] astra[54], quas[55] regit[56] dux[57] impius[58].
(L. ANNAEI SENECAE OCTAVIA: lines 222-237)
Looking at the above (cf.
the footnotes at each of the most relevant words!) I do find two word
potentially supporting the English translation’s “of late.” One of these
words, “tardus,” may be translated “late.” Perhaps this is the word Watson
Bradshaw, the translator, is basing his words “of late” upon? Else, and perpaps
more likely, Bradshaw is basing those words upon the Latin word ‘nouisque, ’
which word may be translated “recent... the latest, last, hindermost... a short
time ago... last of all, finally”? So there appears to be some support for the
words translated “of late,” nonetheless, whether or not, the words “of late”
find solid support in the Latin text, or whether the Latin word ‘tardis’
is intended to reference the late hour of night or the “slow Boötes,” “slow-moving
Boötes,”
etc. and the Latin word ‘nuesque’ is intended to reference “novel wonders (fresh prodigies)” or “singular, unusual, unheard of” events, it seems far
fetched for a 19 year old to give reference to an event that occurred when she
was only 11 years old, especially when considering the much more recent
cometary event that occurred less than a year before Octavia was killed.
Considering also Tacitus’
statement, “An earthquake too demolished
a large part of Pompeii, a populous town in Campania,” which event, as I have found within, took place in the latter
half of 46 CE, and which event, associated with the first eruption of Mt.
Vesuvius in 46 CE (the 2nd eruption occurred August 24, 66 CE,) likely explains several
additional expressions in this same uttering of Octavia: “shakes the earth,” “frightful thunderbolts,” “igneous
displays,” and more.
Accordingly, I find it most
likely, based upon Seneca’s Octavia and upon Tacitus’s The Annals, that Seneca’s reference to a comet as put
into words uttered by Octavia, is not referring to the 39 CE comet, nor to any
other comet but the one seen at the end of December 46 CE.
Considering all these
concurrent and terrifying events, the constant thunderbolts, the comet, the
earthquake, Mt. Vesuvius’ eruption, “igneous displays,” and the fears, panic,
damage and deaths associated by these natural events, is there any wonder
people were filled with fear and the ever consequent irrational behaviour and
the panic associated with, and multiplying the basis for, such devastating fear
- the deeds of Nero not excluded?!
Excerpts out of Tacitus’ The Annals, Books XIV:48, 63, 64, and XV:22-23 (emphasis added:)
48. In the consulship
of Publius Marius and Lucius Asinius…
63. Nero
meanwhile declared by edict that the prefect had been corrupted into a design
of gaining over the fleet, and added, in forgetfulness of his late charge
of barrenness against Octavia, that, conscious of her profligacies, she
had procured abortion, a fact he had himself ascertained. Then he confined
her in the
64. And now the
girl, in her twentieth year, with centurions and soldiers around her, already removed
from among the living by the forecast of doom, still could not reconcile
herself to death. After an interval of a few days, she received an order that she was to die, although she protested that she was now
a widow and only a sister, and appealed to their common ancestors, the
Germanici, and finally to the name of Agrippina, during whose life she had endured
a marriage, which was miserable enough indeed, but not fatal. She
was then tightly bound with cords, and the veins of every limb were opened; but
as her blood was congealed by terror and flowed too slowly, she was killed
outright by the steam of an intensely hot bath. To this was added the yet more
appalling horror of Poppaea beholding the severed head which was conveyed to
And for all this
offerings were voted to the temples. I record the fact with a special object.
Whoever would study the calamities of that period in my pages or those of other
authors, is to take it for granted that as often as the emperor directed
banishments or executions, so often was there a thanksgiving to the gods, and
what formerly commemorated some prosperous event, was then a token of public
disaster. Still, if any decree of the Senate was marked by some new flattery,
or by the lowest servility, I shall not pass it over in silence.
22. This opinion
was hailed with great unanimity, but the Senate's resolution could not be
finally passed, as the consuls decided that there had been no formal motion on
the subject. Then, at the emperor's suggestion, they decreed that no one was to
propose to any council of our allies that a vote of thanks ought to be given in
the Senate to propraetors or proconsuls, and that no one was to discharge such
a mission.
During the same consulship a
gymnasium was wholly consumed by a stroke of lightning, and a statue of Nero
within it was melted down to a shapeless mass of bronze. An earthquake too
demolished a large part of
23. During
the consulship of Memmius Regulus and Verginius Rufus, Nero welcomed
with something more than mortal joy the birth of a daughter by Poppaea, whom he
called
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