Literary Texts

Passage 29 shows that there are detailed, lifelike paintings in Trimalchio's house. There is one of a dog, which says 'cave canem', and just such a depiction has been found in Pompeii ~ the mosaic floor in the House of the Tragic Poet.

One is a mural of a slave market, and there is a painting of Trimalchio being led into Rome by Minerva and Mercury. Being led into Rome is a way of associating himself with the Emperors, but it is also ironic because Mercury is the God of business (which is why Trimalchio wants to be associated with him) but he is also the God of tricksters and thieves. Minerva is the Goddess of wisdom, so he wants to seem educated and knowledgeable by including her here.

There are pictures of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and a gladiatorial show, which suggests that Trimalchio wanted to seem cultured, and also that people who did the same weren't really cultured (Eumachia's building/House of Menander/House of Quartio).

Passage 30 mentions an inscription which says Trimalchio is a priest of the Augustan College. This was a college open to freedmen like Trimalchio, and because this is satire it suggests that maybe these priests weren't seen as having any real role, but more as something to laugh at. It also shows how people who advertised their roles in their homes were seen as pompous.

A notice in Trimalchio's house says that he will be out for dinner on the 30th and 31st December ~ this is pompous because the story takes place in the summer, and it shows that Trimalchio is wanting to advertise how hospitable he is because all the other days he will be having people (clients) over to his house.

A slave begs the guests to save him from a flogging, because the steward's clothes had been stolen from him at the baths. This shows the baths may not have been nice places.

The clothes are dyed in genuine Tyrian purple, the colour of the Emperors, but the steward says that they had already been washed once so he wasn't really bothered about them.

Passage 45 talks about a gladiatorial show that is going to be held. There are some "real desperadoes already, and a woman who fights in a chariot, and Glyco's steward who was caught having fun with his mistress". These games are talked about enthusiastically, showing that variety was important in gladiatorial games.

"He'll give us cold steel, no quarter and the slaughterhouse right in the middle where all the stands can see it" ~ shows that good games were bloody and involved good fighting.

"Even if he spent four hundred thousand, his pocket won't feel it and he'll go down in history" ~ shows how games contributed to the reputation of the patrons.

"If he really does it, he'll make off with all Norbanus' votes (...) after all, what good has Norbanus ever done us?" ~ shows that games could win the patron electoral favour.

"He put on some half-pint gladiators, so done in already that they'd have dropped if you blew at them (...) and the reserve was just one corpse after anpther ~ he was practically hamstrung" ~ shows that weak gladiators weren't entertaining and that that wouldn't do the patron any favours.

Passage 71 involves Trimalchio telling his guests what is contained in his will. He is going to free his slaves and leave some of his estate to them, while his wife will inherit the rest.

"The reason I'm telling everyone all this is so my household will love me now as much as if I were dead".

Trimalchio wants his tomb to have a statue of him (like the tomb of Naevolia Tyche, which had a bust of her). He also wants it to be well decorated with wreaths and reliefs (like Eumachia's tomb).

He also wants an inscription on his tomb which says it is not for any of his heirs, but only for himself. This shows his pomposity, egoism, and selfishness.

"A clock in the middle, so that anybody who looks at the time, like it or not has got to read my name".

He also wants an inscription of all of the good things he has done, which was what the Emperor Augustus had.

Passage 77 mentions that Scaurus came to stay in Trimalchio's house and admired it, saying that he "didn't want to stay anywhere else". This links Trimalchio to Scaurus, which suggests that Scaurus didn't really have a good reputation among the people and that he might have been seen as pompous.

"Have a penny, and you're worth a penny. You got something, you'll be thought something" ~ this shows that Trimalchio thinks that having a certain amount of wealth automatically makes puts him in the higher strate of society. As this is satire, this is likely meant to be ironic and show that this actually wasn't the case.

Letter 3.6 to Annius Severus mentions that Pliny has bought a very lifelike bronze statue of an old man, which he is going to put "in a public position in my native town" ~ this shows that public munificence was used to gain reputation locally.

He wants to put it in the temple of Jupiter, because it is a gift "well worthy of a temple and a God" ~ this shows genuine belief in the Gods because Pliny wants to put the temple there in the hope of pleasing Jupiter and his worshippers.

However, Pliny doesn't necessarily want his name on there. "Have it inscribed with my name and official titles if you think they should appear too" ~ this suggests that maybe public munificence (for some people, at least) was more about generosity than gaining a name for themselves. It also suggests genuine belief in the Gods again because only Jupiter and the people who run the temple will know that he put the statue there if his name is not inscribed on it.

Letter 6.16 to Cornelius Tacitus shows that Pliny was proud of the region and of Pliny the Elder, his uncle ~ "he perished in a catastrophe that destroyed the loveliest regions of the earth".

He portrays his uncle as heroic, because he "went on board himself with the intention of bringing help to many more people besides Rectina".

"His body was found intact and uninjured, still fully clothed and looking more like sleep than death" ~ we know that people died quickly in the eruption and that most bodies were still intact because of the bodies that were preserved. However, this may also be Pliny romanticising a bit, and not wanting to mention that his uncle would have been in agony.

Letter 6.20 to Cornelius Tacitus mentions how the eruption affected the area. "We saw the sea sucked away and apparently forced back by the earthquake (...) sea creatures were left stranded on dry sand" ~ we know that this happened because Pompeii and Herculaneum were built on the coast, but no longer are.

"Many besought the aid of the Gods, but still more imagined there were no Gods left, and that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness for evermore" ~ shows genuine belief in the Gods.

Letter 7.18 to Caninus Rufus discusses where the recipient's money should go after he is dead. "Consider the security of a benefaction more than one's own gains" ~ this suggests that public munificence may have been more about generosity than glory.

Pliny the Elder's Natural History talks about the killer whale that ended up in Ostia's harbour. It mentions that Emperor Claudius (who had built the harbour) set out in person with the praetorian cohorts and "provided the Roman people with a show". This shows that they were using dealing with the whale as entertainment and to further Claudius' reputation. Pliny was there personally so this is a first hand account.

Strabo's Geography tells us that Ostia had no port because of the "alluvial deposits brought down by the Tiber", so we know that the river was silting up.

Suetonius' Life of Claudius mentions the danger of fires in ancient cities, and explains that Claudius recruited fire-fighters to help counteract this. We know that he stationed some firefighters at Ostia to help protect the grain.

There was a sense of urgency to Claudius' works in Ostia because in Rome, a shortage of grain led Strabo to comment that a mob "stopped Claudius in the Forum and pelted him so hard with curses and stale crusts that he had difficulty in regaining the Palace by a side-door". It mentions that he started to underwrite winter losses for grain shippers who were willing to risk the bad weather.

It also mentions that his "public works, though not numerous, were important". This shows that he was valued as an Emperor and that people viewed what he did as important, therefore helpful.

It also tells us exactly how he constructed Portus.

Tacitus' Annals mention the amphitheatre riots at Pompeii. They tell us that violence and killing broke out between the spectators from Pompeii and the spectators from Nuceria, and that many Nucerians were mutilated or killed. Emperor Nero himself told the Senate to investigate, and this resulted in Pompeii being banned from holding similar gatherings for ten years, and also the sponsor of the show, Livineius Regulus along with other instigators of the riots, being exiled.

They also mention an incident in which Nero had dumped a load of grain which had "deteriorated in storage" into the Tiber. This may have been why changes were made to the Great Warehouse in Ostia, to try and prevent grain from rotting.

Nearly two hundred corn ships had been destroyed by a violent storm in the Claudian harbour, so this shows that the harbour was not working because it was dangerous.

Vitruvius' De Architectura tells us that there are public parts of a Roman's house into which anyone can wander, and private parts which require an invitation.

"Men of everyday fortune" do not need entrance courts or anything built in grand style because they are more likely to go round to other people's houses than entertain in their own homes.

"Those who do business in country produce" must have stalls and shops at the entrance to their houses, and also storerooms so they can keep their produce in good condition.

"Capitalists and farmers of revenue" need comfortable and showy houses which are safe from robbery.

"Advocates and public speakers" need roomier, more beautiful homes to hold meetings in.

"Men of rank" have social obligations to their fellow citizens, so they need regal houses with spacious atria and peristyles "appropriate to their dignity". They also need libraries, picture galleries and basilicas, fashioned in a style similar to the corresponding public buildings.