Ronald Syme (1903-1989) was a classical scholar. Although born in
He is the author
of several books. His main work The Roman Revolution was first published in
1939. Since then it has been reprinted several times. Among other works I can
mention Tacitus (2 volumes, 1958), Sallust (1964), and History in Ovid (1978).
In the
1960s, Syme began to focus on the controversial Historia Augusta (abbreviated HA). He wrote
two books and several articles on this topic:
(1)
Ammianus and the Historia Augusta (1968)
(2)
Emperors and Biography (1971)
(3) Historia
Augusta Papers (1983; a collection of fifteen articles written since 1971).
Ammianus
and the Historia Augusta (which is under review here) was reprinted by
Sandpiper Books in 2001. It is still in print and not expensive. The main text
is divided into 30 short chapters, including an introduction and an epilogue.
At the end of the book we find a bibliography, an index of names (but no topics),
and an index of HA passages discussed in the book.
It is an
academic work: quotations from ancient sources are given in the original
language (usually Latin), and in most cases they are not translated into
English. Quotations from modern scholars are also given in the original
language (sometimes German or French). In addition, the author assumes the
reader has a basic knowledge of Roman history.
For these
reasons this book is not recommended for the beginner. If, on the other hand,
you are already familiar with ancient history, and if you wish to learn more,
this book might be just the right one for you.
What is the
HA? It is a collection of imperial biographies which covers emperors, princes,
and usurpers. According to the text, these biographies were written by six
different authors during the reign of Diocletian and Constantine the Great,
i.e. around the year AD 300.
Syme does
not accept this. He thinks there is only one author, although he is not able to
provide his name. Moreover, he wants to move the date of publication to the
reign of Theodosius, i.e. about one hundred years later. To more specific, he
believes the HA was published in 395.
Syme is not
the first to make this claim. Hermann Dessau - a German scholar, who lived 1856-1931
– first presented this theory in an article published in 1889. Dessau
Modern
scholars often mention or quote a passage from the HA. When this happens, they
usually issue a warning, such as: “This source is unreliable and should be used
with extreme caution.” But in most cases they do not go any further than that. While
the warning is justified, it is not really helpful, because we are not told how
or why this source is considered unreliable.
Syme can
tell us. He is ready to face the problems and the questions which are connected
with the HA. He is ready to approach the HA from many different angles in order
to determine authorship and the date of publication. He is prepared to study
every single statement in order to find out what is true and what is false, in
order to sift fact from fiction. It is a difficult process which demands
patience and knowledge. Fortunately, Syme had both these qualities.
In general,
the early biographies are relatively reliable, because the author had several
sources he could follow. He did not have to invent much. The later biographies,
on the other hand, are relatively unreliable, for two reasons: the author was
running out of sources, and at the same time he was getting more experienced.
He had learned the tricks of the trade. He knew how to invent what he needed:
names, places, events, even official sources.
Spurious
names are equipped with inverted commas in the text as well as in the index.
There are many of them. To give just two examples, we have ‘Ceionius Postumus’ and
‘Clodius Celsinus’ on page 155. This system is very helpful, because it reminds
the reader how many bogus names there are in the HA.
Ammianus is
mentioned in the title of the book. Who is he and why is he mentioned? Ammianus
Marcellinus (born 320/325/330) was a soldier in the Roman army. He was from the
eastern part of the empire and his first language was Greek, but he also knew
Latin. When he retired from the army, he decided to become a historian and wrote
an account of the Roman Empire in Latin - Res Gestae - in 31 books. The early books are lost, but
the later books are preserved. We do not know exactly when these books were
written, but modern scholars agree that it was somewhere between 382 and 397.
To be more specific, Syme believes the RG was published in 392.
Ammianus is
mentioned because maybe he or rather his work can help us when we wish to
determine when the HA was published. If a key point in the RG can be found in
the HA, we have proof that the HA was written and published after the
publication of the RG. Syme can show several parallel points, but he says we
cannot be sure of them. They could be explained in another way. We do not have
proof, he says, but we are close. It is possible and likely that the author of
the HA had read the RG, that he remembered some of the points made there and
used them in his own work.
Among modern
scholars who study Roman history, Syme is considered one of the most important
in the twentieth century.
When you
read this book, you will understand why. When you read this book, you will see
a great scholar in action.
He has his
own distinct style of writing. His sentences are not long and complicated. He
likes short statements. He likes to say: “So far so good.”
He likes
the odd word. The word “sundry” appears more than ten times.
[Pages 2,
4, 11, 20, 21, 78, 79, 103, 161, 177, 181, 210]
He likes
the odd phrase. He says “not but what” instead of “nevertheless.”
[Pages 84,
122, 161]
He is not
afraid to make strong statements about ancient sources. On page 86 he says:
“The scholia on Latin poets tend to be ignorant or silly on points of history.”
On page 110 he returns to this topic and says: “The scholia on the Latin poets
are a sad chapter in the history of scholarship.”
What is
important is that his word carries a lot of weight. Why? Because he is a
careful and methodical scholar, who knows his topic very well: not merely the ancient
sources but also relevant modern scholarship.
When he
wants to make a case, he presents his arguments and his evidence. You can see
what he does. Step by step. If there is no proof, he will say so himself. As regards
the authorship and the date of publication of the HA, there is no proof, but he
is right when he says his theory is possible and likely; and if you ask me, his
arguments are very convincing.
Perhaps
some modern scholar wants to disagree with him. If so, I think it must be about
how to interpret a minor detail. As far as I can see, there are no obvious or
factual mistakes in this work.
The HA is a
controversial source. We should not believe everything in it. On the other
hand, we should not discard the whole work, just because it is difficult to
evaluate. On page 205 Syme says: “Features of that genre in any age may be
adduced for comparison. It is a mixture of fact and fiction.”
In this
review I would like to mention three recent examples from the world of
journalism:
** Janet
Cooke (born 1954) worked for the Washington Post. A story published in that
paper in September 1980 won the Pulitzer Prize in April 1981. Later that year
her story was exposed as a fraud.
** Stephen
Glass (born 1972) worked for the New Republic
** Jayson
Blair (born 1976) worked for the New York Times. In 2003 he resigned from the
paper after it was revealed that much of his work was based on fraud.
The anonymous
author of the HA worked much in the same way as these modern reporters. He
invented and added details when he needed them in order to make his account
seem more credible. He transformed himself into six different authors and
transported the whole package about one hundred years into the past. Syme
explains not only how but also why this was done.
Ammianus
and the Historia Augusta is great work by a great scholar. If you want to know
how history could be written in antiquity and how it should be written in our
own times, you should read this book. It is highly recommended.
* * *
Ronald Syme,
Ammianus
and the Historia Augusta,
Oxford
University Press, hardcover, 1968,
Reprinted
by Sandpiper Books, hardcover, 2001, 238 pages
* * *
Ronald Syme (1903-1989)
This picture is borrowed from Wikipedia
* * *
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