Tacitus, Annals 15.22

Bad omens in the later part of Nero’s reign.

isdem consulibus gymnasium ictu fulminibus conflagravit, effigies in eo Neronis ad informe aes liquefacta. et motu terrae celebre Campaniae oppidum Pompei magna ex parte proruit; defunctaque virgo Vestalis Laelia, in cuius locum Cornelia ex familia Cossorum capta est.

While the same consuls were in office [i.e. AD 62], a gymnasium was struck by lightning and burned down, and a statue of Nero which was in it melted into a shapeless lump of bronze. And Pompeii, a populous town in Campania, largely collapsed in an earthquake. And Laelia, a Vestal Virgin, died; in her place Cornelia, from the family of the Cossi, was chosen.

Tacitus, Dialogue on Orators 41.5

nemo eodem tempore adsequi potest magnam famam et magnam quietem.

No one can simultaneously achieve great renown and great tranquillity.

A nice aphorism, extracted from a longer sentence.

Tacitus, Annals 14.44

In a Senate speech on the punishment of rebellious slaves, Gaius Cassius discusses the Roman practice of decimation, pour encourager les autres.

nam et ex fuso exercitu cum decimus quisque fusti feritur, etiam strenui sortiuntur. habet aliquid ex iniquo omne magnum exemplum, quod contra singulos utilitate publica rependitur.

For when every tenth man from a defeated army is killed with a club, the lot falls on even the brave men. Every great precedent has some injustice about it: the public good balances out the individual men.

Tacitus, Histories 1.39

initio caedis orto difficilis modus.

When a massacre has begun, putting a stop to it is hard.

Tacitus, Annals 14.17

Rioting, and the political response to it, in AD 59.

sub idem tempus levi initio atrox caedes orta inter colonos Nucerinos Pompeianosque gladiatorio spectaculo, quod Livineius Regulus, quem motum senatu rettuli, edebat. quippe oppidana lascivia in vicem incessentes probra, dein saxa, postremo ferrum sumpsere, validiore Pompeianorum plebe, apud quos spectaculum edebatur. ergo deportati sunt in urbem multi e Nucerinis trunco per vulnera corpore, ac plerique liberorum aut parentum mortes deflebant. cuius rei iudicium princeps senatui, senatus consulibus permisit. et rursus re ad patres relata, prohibiti publice in decem annos eius modi coetu Pompeiani collegiaque, quae contra leges instituerant, dissoluta; Livineius et qui alii seditionem conciverant exilio multati sunt.

At the same time, among the people of Nuceria and Pompeii, dreadful bloodshed originated from a trivial beginning at a gladiatorial show which Livineius Regulus (who, as I have said, was expelled from the Senate) was putting on. Casting abuse at each other, in the way that people in country towns tend to do, they took up insults, then rocks, and finally swords. The people of Pompeii, in whose city the show was taking place, were the stronger. Thus many of the Nucerians, their bodies maimed with wounds, were brought to Rome, and many bewailed  the deaths of their children or parents. The emperor [Nero] entrusted the trial of this matter to the Senate, and the Senate entrusted it to the consuls. When it was referred back to the Senate [i.e. after the consuls had investigated], the Pompeians were forbidden from holding any public gathering of this sort for ten years, and the associations which they had created contrary to the laws were dissolved. Livineius and the others who had provoked the discord were punished with exile.

Tacitus, Annals 1.1

The famous opening of Tacitus’ Annals: the first clause forms a hexameter.

urbem Romam a principio reges habuere; libertatem et consulatum L. Brutus instituit.

From the beginning Rome was under the control of kings; Lucius Brutus established liberty and the consulship.

Tacitus, Annals 14.50

At the moment of typing (Sunday morning), in common with every other resident of England and Wales, I’m legally prohibited from revealing the name of a footballer who is attempting to prevent anyone from knowing about his alleged extra-marital affair. As this graph* and this graph reveal, his attempt has utterly and catastrophically failed, and by the time the post you’re now reading makes it onto the internet the injunction may well have been lifted, since the information it attempts to keep private is firmly in the public domain: current estimates are that about 50% of the UK population knows the name.

The whole sorry episode is an example of the Streisand Effect, a phenomenon which was by no means unknown in the Roman world. It’s discussed by the ever-cynical Tacitus:

haud dispari crimine Fabricius Veiento conflictatus est, quod multa et probrosa in patres et sacerdotes composuisset iis libris, quibus nomen ‘codicillorum’ dederat. adiciebat Tullius Geminus accusator venditata ab eo munera principis et adipiscendorum honorum ius. quae causa Neroni fuit suscipiendi iudicii, convictumque Veientonem Italia depulit et libros exuri iussit, conquisitos lectitatosque, donec cum periculo parabantur: mox licentia habendi oblivionem attulit.

A not dissimilar charge brought Fabricius Veiento to ruin. The accusation was that he had composed many lampoons against senators and priests, in those books to which he had given the name of Codicils. The prosecutor, Tullius Geminus, claimed that the favours of the emperor, and the right of receiving promotions, had also been offered for sale by him. For this reason it was Nero himself who undertook the trial. He convicted Veiento, banished him from Italy, and ordered his books to be burned. The books were sought after and eagerly read for as long as it was dangerous to get hold of them. Soon, when the possession of them was again allowed, they were forgotten about.

*The spike was even more pronounced on Saturday, eclipsing even the previous high when the name was first revealed nearly a month ago.