In the Annales, Tacitus writes about Sejanus, the prefect of the Praetorian Guard under Emperor Tiberius. Tacitus presents him as a ruthless go-getter, stopping at nothing – including murder – to achieve his aim of supremacy. After a short preamble, this is what Tacitus first writes about Sejanus. Take a look at how he expresses it:
non sine rumore Apicio
diviti et prodigo stuprum veno dedisse │ not without a rumour
that he had disposed of his virtue at a price to Apicius, a rich man and
a spendthrift
Tacitus states that Sejanus
committed sexual acts for money and with a male. More than that, the use of stuprum
suggests that Sejanus performed the “woman’s role” in this financial
relationship; for the Romans that was the lowest of the low.
But Tacitus doesn’t ‘state’ it;
he alleges it. In other parts of his work Tacitus argues that he rejects
rumour and relies on authoritative reports. That, however, does not stop him
from including this one – with no stated source – and one that blackens the
character of Sejanus from the outset, serving as the “curtain raiser” for a
stream of negative narrative. “Not without rumour” is really no different from
the ‘safety net’ of the word ‘allegedly’, a word that distances the journalist
from responsibility; it isn’t the journalist who’s saying that a politician is
engaged in disgraceful acts, but other people are. And, both in Ancient Rome
and now, the line between truth and fifty shades of fabrication is blurred.
Note: Sejanus was eventually condemned to death, but not for anything that he allegedly got up to with Apicius!
Far more information about Sejanus is available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejanus
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