Editing Sejanus (section)

== Legacy ==

=== Praetorian Guard ===
The reforms of Sejanus most significantly included the founding of the [[Castra Praetoria]], which established the Praetorian Guard as the powerful political force, for which it is primarily known today.<ref>{{ cite book | last = Durry | first = Marcel | title = Les Cohortes Prétoriennes | year = 1938 | location = Paris | publisher = Editions De Boccard | page = 156}}</ref> Henceforth the Guard was at the disposal of the emperors, and the rulers were equally at the mercy of the Praetorians.<ref>Bingham, p. 234f.</ref> The reality of this was seen in AD 31, when Tiberius was forced to rely upon the [[vigiles]] against the soldiers of his own guard.<ref name="dio-history-lviii-9"/> Although the Praetorian Guard proved faithful to the aging Tiberius, their potential political power had been made clear.<ref>Bingham, p. 65f.</ref> The power Sejanus attained in his capacity as prefect proved [[Maecenas]] right in his prediction to Augustus, that it was dangerous to allow one man to command the guard.<ref>Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/52*.html#24 LII.24]</ref> [[Cassius Dio]] notes that after Sejanus, no other prefect except [[Gaius Fulvius Plautianus]], who commanded the Guard under [[Septimius Severus]], would rise to such influence.<ref>Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/58*.html#14 LVIII.14]</ref>

=== Historiography ===
With the exception of [[Velleius Paterculus]], ancient [[historian]]s have universally condemned Sejanus, although accounts differ regarding the extent to which Sejanus was manipulated by Tiberius or the other way around.<ref name="tacitus-annals-iv-1"/><ref name="boddington-sejanus"/><ref>Seneca the Younger, ''Essays'', [http://www.stoics.com/seneca_essays_book_2.html#%E2%80%98MARCIAM1 To Marcia On Consolation]</ref><ref>Philo, ''On the Embassy to Gaius'' [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book40.html#XXIV XXIV]</ref> [[Suetonius|Suetonius Tranquillus]] asserts that Sejanus was merely an instrument of Tiberius, to hasten the downfall of Germanicus and his family and that he was quickly disposed of once he ceased to be useful.<ref>[[Suetonius]], ''[[On the Life of the Caesars|The Lives of Twelve Caesars]]'', Life of Tiberius [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Tiberius*.html#55 55]</ref> [[Tacitus]], on the other hand, attributes much of the decline of Tiberius's rule after AD 23 to the corrupting influence of Sejanus, although he is generally also harsh on Tiberius.<ref>Tacitus, ''Annals'' [[wikisource:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 3#7|III.7]], [[wikisource:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 6#51|VI.51]]</ref>

Among the writers who fell victim to the regime of Sejanus and its aftermath, were the historians [[Aulus Cremutius Cordus]] and [[Velleius Paterculus]] and the poet [[Phaedrus (fabulist)|Phaedrus]]. Cordus was brought to trial in AD 25 by Sejanus, under accusations of treason. He was charged for having eulogized [[Marcus Junius Brutus]] and spoken of [[Gaius Cassius Longinus]] as the last of the true Romans, which was considered an offence under the ''[[Law of majestas|Lex Maiestatis]]''; the Senate ordered the burning of his writings.<ref>Tacitus, ''Annals'' [[wikisource:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 4#34|IV.34–35]]</ref><ref name="seneca-marcia-i-2-4">Seneca the Younger, ''Essays'', To Marcia On Consolation [http://www.stoics.com/seneca_essays_book_2.html#%E2%80%98MARCIAM1 I.2–4]</ref> His fall is elaborated upon by [[Seneca the Younger]], in his letter to Cordus' daughter Marcia ''[[Ad Marciam, de Consolatione|To Marcia, On Consolation]]''. Seneca tells us that her father most likely incurred Sejanus's displeasure for criticising him because he had commissioned a statue of himself.<ref name="seneca-marcia-xxii-4-6"/> We also know from this source that Cordus starved himself to death.<ref name="seneca-marcia-xxii-4-6"/> Marcia was instrumental in saving her father's work so that it could be published again under Caligula.<ref name="seneca-marcia-i-2-4"/>

[[Phaedrus (fabulist)|Phaedrus]] was suspected of having alluded to Sejanus in his ''Fables'' and received some unknown punishment short of death (Cf. Fables I.1, I.2.24, and I.17).<ref>Phaedrus, ''Fables'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0119&query=book%3D%233 Book III, preface]</ref> Velleius Paterculus was an historian and contemporary of Sejanus, whose two-volume ''The Roman History'' details a history of Rome from the fall of [[Troy]] until the death of Livia Augusta in AD 29. In his work he praised Tiberius and Sejanus, even defending the latter's high position in the government, despite not ranking higher than equestrian.<ref>Velleius Paterculus, ''Roman History'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Velleius_Paterculus/2D*.html#127 II.127–128 II.127–128]</ref> It has been conjectured that he was put to death as a friend of Sejanus.<ref>Cruttwell, C. T. (1878) ''[https://archive.org/details/ahistoryromanli03crutgoog A History of Roman Literature]''. 2nd Ed. London: Charles Griffin & Co. p.345</ref>

===Literary interpretations===
Sejanus's fall is depicted in the section in [[Juvenal]]'s Satire X on the emptiness of power.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/JuvenalSatires10.htm |title=A.S.Kline translation, lines 56–113 |publisher=Poetryintranslation.com |access-date=2013-12-25}}</ref> This reviews the destruction of his statues after the ''[[damnatio memoriae]]'' judgment and reflects on the fickleness of public opinion. The dramatist [[Ben Jonson]]  borrowed from the poem for some passages in his ''[[Sejanus: His Fall]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=1086137|title=Seventeenth-Century Translations of Juvenal|first1=G. L.|last1=Brodersen|first2=J.|last2=Selden|date=1 January 1953|journal=Phoenix|volume=7|issue=2|pages=57–76|doi=10.2307/1086137}}</ref> The play is seen as a topical reference to the fall of the former royal favourite, [[Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex]], executed for treason two years before.  Sejanus is also a leading figure in another Roman history play of about this time, the anonymous ''Tragedy of Claudius Tiberius Nero'' (1607).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/iemls/renplays/ctneroindex.html |title=Online introduction and text |publisher=Extra.shu.ac.uk |access-date=2013-12-25}}</ref>

Making contemporary political points in this way through reinterpretation of distant historical episodes was now common. In 17th century France, the fall of the powerful [[Cardinal Mazarin]] was celebrated in a political pamphlet that also drew parallels with the career of Sejanus, ''L'Ambitieux ou le portraict d'Aelius Sejanus en la personne du Cardinal Mazarin'' (Paris, 1642). In England other royal favourites were seen in these terms too. [[George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham]], is the target of an anonymous manuscript Roman tragedy, ''The Emperor's Favourite''.<ref>Siobhan C. Keenan, “Staging Roman History, Stuart Politics, and the Duke of Buckingham: The Example of The Emperor’s Favourite [https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre?article=1305&context=earlytheatre Early Theatre 14.2 (2011)]</ref> The prudent need for anonymity is suggested by the arrest of [[Sir John Eliot]], who was sent to the [[Tower of London]] for his outspoken criticism of the Duke in the 1626 parliament, comparing him to Sejanus.<ref>John Forster, ''Lives of Eminent British Statesmen'', London 1836, [https://books.google.com/books?id=K7E1AAAAMAAJ&dq=Sejanus+Strafford&pg=PA44 p.42ff]</ref>

Following Buckingham's death in 1628, when it was safer to do so, a translation of a history by [[Pierre Matthieu]] was published under the title, ''The Powerful Favourite, the life of Aelius Sejanus''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=HOpbAAAAQAAJ Volume 1, Google Books]</ref> This was followed in 1634 by another translation, [[Sir Thomas Hawkins]]' ''Politicall Observations upon the Fall of Sejanus'', which had originally been titled ''Della peripetia di fortuna'' (Of Changes of Fortune) by its author, Giovanni Battista Manzini.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=w8JlAAAAcAAJ Google Books]</ref><ref>Siobhan C. Keenan, [http://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/eth/article/viewFile/15918/13543 "Staging Roman History, Stuart Politics, and the Duke of Buckingham: The Example of The Emperor’s Favourite"], ''Early Theatre'' 14.2 (2011)</ref> Later in the century [[Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury]], was the target of the four-page political pamphlet ''Sejanus, or The popular favourite, now in his solitude, and sufferings'', signed with the pseudonym Timothy Tory (1681).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bz1oAAAAcAAJ&dq=Sejanus%2C+or+The+popular+favourite%2C+now+in+his+solitude%2C+and+sufferings&pg=PA1 Google Books]</ref> The story of Sejanus, with reference to the Earl's imprisonment in the Tower on a charge of treason, is interpreted as an argument for [[absolute monarchy]], direct rule without the intermediary of politicians.<ref>W. Thomas, Wilfrid Laurier University 2006, ''The Crafting of Absalom and Achitophel: Dryden’s Pen for a Party'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=DEk9DgAAQBAJ&dq=Sejanus%2C+or+The+popular+favourite%2C+now+in+his+solitude%2C+and+sufferings&pg=PA57 pp.52–7]</ref>

The name of Sejanus continued to be pressed into political service during the 18th century. Prime Minister [[Robert Walpole]] was attacked in 1735 in the course of a popular skit, ''C----- and country: A play of seven acts...the whole concluding with the grand masque, call'd, The downfall of Sejanus''; its authorship is attributed to 'a masquerader' and in the printed version the masque precedes the play, although it is performed last. This gives the clue of how to take what is to follow and consists of a conversation between [[Punch and Judy|Punch]] and the [[Hanging#Methods of judicial hanging|Hangman]], opening with the question 'Is this same Sejanus to go out of the World like a Man, or to die the Death of a mad Dog? For he has lived like a sad One, from the first Day that the Emperor Tiberius took him into Favour.'<ref>{{cite book |author= Masquerader |year=1735 |title= C----- and Country. A Play of Seven Acts. |type= In which will be revived, the Entertaining Scene of the Blundering Brothers. To which is Added, The Comical Humours of Punch. The Whole concluding with the Grand Masque, call'd ''The Downfall of Sejanus'' |location= London, ENG |publisher= T. Monger |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5LcOAAAAQAAJ |access-date= April 5, 2017 }}</ref> A subtler attack on a later prime minister occurred in 1769 when Jonson's ''Sejanus'' was reissued under the title of ''The Favourite''. This was prefaced with a tongue-in-cheek dedication to [[John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute|Lord Bute]], denying that there can be any comparison between the conduct of Sejanus and that of his lordship.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-TAJAAAAQAAJ&q=%22Strafford+%22+Sejanus&pg=PR1|title=The Favourite|last1=Jonson|first1=Ben|year=1770}}</ref>

Elsewhere in Europe there were other dramatic adaptations of the story. They included Jean de Magnon's rhyming tragedy, ''Sejanus'' (1647) and Henri van der Zande's ''De dood van Elius Sejanus of Spiegel voor der vorsten gunstelingen'' (The death of Sejanus, a mirror for the favourites of princes, Amsterdam 1716).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jZQTAAAAQAAJ&q=Sejanus&pg=PP1|title=Sejanus|last1=Magnon|first1=Jean|year=1647}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAMUAAAAQAAJ|title=De dood van Elius Sejanus of Spiegel voor der vorsten gunstelingen|last1=Zande|first1=Henri van der|year=1716}}</ref> Later there was another recycling of Jonson's tragedy in England by the Irish actor [[Francis Gentleman]]. Abridged and 'improved' by some additions of his own, he published his ''Sejanus, a tragedy: as it was intended for the stage'' (1752), when he could not get it acted.<ref>See the preface, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_jAJAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22An+attempt+at+altering+a+piece+of+his%22&pg=PR5 pp.v-xiii]</ref> Later plays include a 5-act tragedy by A.Arterton (1875) and the privately printed ''Sejanus: A Tragedy in Five Acts'' by P. J. A. Chaulk  (1923)

A later fictional treatment of the historical episode appeared as the first story of [[Edward Maturin]]'s ''Sejanus, and Other Roman Tales'' (New York 1839).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/sejanusandother00matugoog#page/n14/mode/2up |title=pp.1–55 Web archive text |access-date=2013-12-25}}</ref> It also figures in [[Robert Graves]]' ''[[I, Claudius]]'' (1934).<ref>{{Cite book|chapter=Chapters 21-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NSnaF4l1nVMC|title=I, Claudius|isbn=9780141911748|last1=Graves|first1=Robert|date=2006-08-03| publisher=Penguin Books Limited }}</ref>  In this Antonia sends the letter of accusation to Tiberius via Claudius, after discovering her daughter is plotting with Sejanus. And since [[Pontius Pilate]] was a nominee of Sejanus and implicated in his anti-Jewish policies, it encouraged the inclusion of Sejanus in novels dealing with the circumstances of [[Jesus Christ]]'s crucifixion.<ref>Gary DeLashmutt, "Sejanus and the Chronology of Christ's death", [http://www.xenos.org/essays/sejanus.htm Xenos Christian Fellowship] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141221045019/http://www.xenos.org/essays/sejanus.htm |date=2014-12-21 }}</ref> The first of these was [[Miles Gerald Keon]]'s ''Dion and the Sibyls: A Classic Christian Novel'' (London, 1866);<ref>Later published by the Catholic Publication Society in New York in 1872: {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TAsiAAAAMAAJ&q=Sejanus |title=Dion and the Sibyls |last1=Keon |first1=Miles Gerald |year=1872 |publisher=Christian Publication Society |isbn=9782952916264 }}</ref> later examples include Paul L. Maier's ''Pontius Pilate'' (Grand Rapids MI 1968)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gy4OAwAAQBAJ|title=Pontius Pilate|isbn=9780825497216|last1=Maier|first1=Paul L|year=1968|publisher=Kregel Publications }}</ref> and Chris Seepe's ''The Conspiracy to Assassinate Jesus Christ'' (Toronto 2012).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theconspiracytoassassinatejesuschrist.com/background.html |title=Background |website=The Conspiracy to Assassinate Jesus Christ |access-date=2017-04-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170420213921/http://www.theconspiracytoassassinatejesuschrist.com/background.html | archive-date = 2017-04-20}}</ref>

The aim of some later novels has been to concentrate as much on local colour as on the story. This was true of [[William Percival Crozier]]'s historical romance ''The Fates Are Laughing'' (1945), which was written by a classicist with an eye for detail and set during the fall of Sejanus and the reign of Caligula.<ref>[http://www01.us.archive.org/stream/fatesarelaughing00croz/fatesarelaughing00croz_djvu.txt Full text] at the University of Florida libraries</ref> It is equally true of some recent detective novels set in Roman times. David Wishart's ''Sejanus'' (London, 1998) features Marcus Corvinus, and James Mace's ''Empire Betrayed: The Fall of Sejanus'' (2013) focused on a military colleague, Aulus Nautius Cursor.<ref>[http://legionarybooks.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/overview-of-my-upcoming-novella-empire.html Author's summary]</ref>