White-ecce Iterum Crispinus

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ECCE ITERUM CRISPINUS

It

is

an

unrealized

tribute to

Juvenal's

gift

for vivid

presenta-

tion

that

prosopographers

are still

seeking

a niche in

the

gallery

of

Imperial

officialdom

in

which to

place

the

figure

of

Crispinus

the

Egyptian.

He has been

variously

identified

as

praefectus

praetorio,

Imperial

secretary, praefectus

annonae,

and

praefectus

Aegypti.

1

These

titles, however,

are not

recorded

in

histories or inscriptions, which maintain total silence about

Crispinus. They

have been

inferred

from four

literary

texts

which

do

not

actually

name

any post

at all: Martial 7.99 and

8.48,

and Juvenal's

first

and

fourth satires.

But if we

put

out

of

mind the

theories and attend

only

to the

poems,

Martial

and

Juvenal do not

give

us the

least

reason to

suppose

that

they

had

in view an

official

of

any

kind.

The

Crispinus

of Juvenal is an

equestrian

parvenu

given

to

profligate spending.2 The most obtrusive trait in the portrayal of

him is his

dandyism.

It

keynotes

his

first

appearance

in satire

one

(lines

26-29):

...

cum

verna

Canopi

Crispinus Tyrias

umero revocante

lacernas

ventilet aestivum

digitis

sudantibus

aurum

nec

sufferre

queat

maioris

pondera

gemmae.

The same theme identifies him again when he returns to take a

seat

in

Domitian's

council

(4.108-9):

et

matutino

sudans

Crispinus

amomo

quantum

vix

redolent

duo

funera

.

. .

Crispinus

is

registered

in RE

4

(1901)

1720-21,

Crispinus

5,

and in PIR2

C

1586;

both

articles

were

written

by

Stein and take the

position

that

Crispinus

was

probably praefectus praetorio. The suggestion that he was "Sekretar oder

Studienrath"

was made

by

O.

Hirschfeld,

Untersuchungen

aufdem

Gebiete

der

romischen

Verwaltungsgeschichte

(Berlin

1877) 223;

that he

was

praefectus

annonae,

by

R.

Syme,

Tacitus

(Oxford

1958)

636;

that

he

was

praefectus

Aegypti,

by

J.

G.

Griffith,

Greece and

Rome

16

(1969)

145-46.

2

For

his

class,

see

4.32;

for his

wealth, 4.5-7;

15;

29-31.

377



PETER

WHITE.

Consider also the

characterization

"purpureus

magni

.

.

.

scurra Palati" in line 31. No matter how much sarcasm has been

distilled

in

this

phrase,

it

must

contain at

least

the minimum

truth

that

Crispinus

acted or tried to act

the

part

of

a

wit at

Domitian's

court.

This

is

not

decisive

against

the

possibility

of

an

official

role,

but in

the absence

of

positive

evidence

for

one,

it

is at

least

incongruous.

Finally,

the

description

in

4.2-4:

. . .

monstrum

nulla virtute

redemptum

a vitiis,

aegrae

solaque

libidine fortes

deliciae,

viduas tantum

aspernatus

adulter.

Deliciae

usually

describes some

object

which rouses

the

sensa-

tion

of

delight.

But

the Romans associated

the

word

as

much

with

the idea of

pure

sensation

as with

any particular

delight;

it

sometimes

comes

to

mean an

addiction

to the

exquisitely

sen-

sual.

This is the sense

it has

in

Seneca's

epigrammatic

remark

(Epist.

86.7)

"eo

deliciarum

pervenimus

ut nisi

gemmas

calcare

nolimus,"

and in

Juvenal's sarcastic

exclamation

(6.46)

about a

man

who

hopes

to

marry

a

chaste

wife,

"delicias hominis "

In

the

passage

just

quoted

from satire

four, however,

the

word is

transferred from

the

quest

of sensations to

the

addict

of them:

"a

decrepit

sensualist,

robust

only

in his

lust."3

To the

picture

of

a wit and

a

dandy,

Juvenal here

adds

that

of

a

worn-out

voluptuary.4

These

three

aspects

of his character

are

consistent

with

one

another,

but difficult to

reconcile

with the

qualities

of

a

high

equestrian

officer,

especially

under

Domitian,

who sub-

jected

his functionaries

to

a

demanding

code

of

accountability.5

A

praefectus

praetorio (vel

annonae

vel

Aegypti)

would

nor-

3

The

new

Oxford

Latin

Dictionary

cites one

other

example

of

this

use,

from

Pliny

HN

22.99:

"ipsae

suis manibus deliciae

preparant

hunc

cibum

(mush-

rooms)

solum

et

cogitatione

ante

pascuntur."

4

Perhaps

Juvenal intended

his

readers

to

catch

a

reference

to

Crispinus'

illness and old

age

in 1.29

"nec

sufferre

queat

maioris

pondera

gemmae,"

and in

the macabre simile of 4.108-9 "sudans

Crispinus

amomo /

quantum

vix redolent

duo

funera."

5

According

to

Suetonius

in

his

life

of

Domitian,

8.2 and 9.2. This

stern

supervision helped

to

bring

about his assassination:

the

most

energetic

of

the

conspirators

was

a

freedman

procurator

under indictment

for

embezzlement

(Suetonius

V.

Dom.

17).

378



ECCE

ITERUM

CRISPINUS.

mally

have

reached

his

post

only

after

years

of

diligent

and

effective service in lower employments. Could Juvenal's Cris-

pinus

have

kept

up

the

pace?

The

portrait

of

the

Satires,

which one

might

otherwise

have

dismissed as malicious

invention,

finds remarkable

corrobora-

tion

in

two

well-intentioned

epigrams

written

by

Martial. 8.48

is

addressed to

a thief who has

purloined

Crispinus'

purple

cloak:6

Nescit

cui dederit

Tyriam Crispinus

abollam,

dum mutat

cultus

induiturque togam.

quisquis

habes,

umeris sua

munera

redde,

precamur:

non

hoc

Crispinus

te sed abolla

rogat.

non

quicumque

capit

saturatas murice vestes

nec nisi deliciis

convenit

iste color.

si te

praeda

iuvat

foedique

insania

lucri,

qua

possis

melius

fallere,

sume

togam.

The

crescendo

builds

in

the second last

couplet:

Martial obvi-

ously sensed that Crispinus' conceit of his own elegance offered

the

front most vulnerable

to

flattery.

This

poem,

according

to

the book-dates

of

Friedlaender,

would have

been written about

the

year

93,

at

least

six or seven

years

after the

time

of which

Juvenal

was

speaking

in

satire four. At both times

the

Egyptian

left

the

same

impression,

registered

in

the

word

deliciae

by

the

one

poet

as

by

the

other:

the

impression

of

a

man

devoted

to

fastidious

luxury.

The

other

epigram (7.99)

antedates

the first

by

about

a

year.

It

probably

introduced a

brochure

of

poems

which

Martial

sent

to

Crispinus:

Sic

placidum

videas

semper,

Crispine,

Tonantem

nec

te

Roma

minus

quam

tua

Memphis

amet:

carmina

Parrhasia si

nostra

legentur

in

aula,

-namque

solent sacra

Caesaris

aure frui-

dicere

de

nobis

ut

lector

candidus

aude:

'Temporibus praestat non nihil iste tuis,

nec

Marso nimium minor est

doctoque

Catullo.'

hoc

satis

est:

ipsi

cetera

mando

deo.

6

Rare

audacity

indeed,

if

Crispinus

were

a

high

official with

soldiers

on

his

staff.

379





ECCE ITERUM

CRISPINUS.

The

argument

is not

cogent.

To

begin

with,

one cannot

assert

that Fuscus and Crispinus are the only non-senators at the

council

of

Juvenal

four without

proclaiming

more than

is

known. The

identity

of

Montanus

in line

107

and of

Pompeius

in

line 110has not

yet

been

established,

and so

their

standing

must

remain

conjectural.

In

fact,

we have

every

reason to assume

that

at

any

ordinary

consilium,

both

senators

and

knights

would

have been

present.

Since

the

consilium

principis

to

a

large

extent retained the

character of

the

consilium

amicorum

from

which it evolved, the individuals consulted might as easily be

drawn from the ordo

equester

as

from the

Senate.

And

more

important,

it

was an

unofficial

body,

inclusion

in

which

did not

presuppose,

for

either senator

or

knight,

the tenure

of

any

official

post.'0

Of the

ordinary practice,

there

is

a

pertinent

illustration.

An

epigraphically

attested conclave which took

place,

like the

council of Juvenal

four,

in

Domitian's Alban

palace,

and in about

the same

year

as the dramatic

date of

the

satire, included splendidi viri utriusque ordinis.

I'

A

knowledge

of

how

the

emperor's

consilium was

ordinarily

composed,

however,

may help very

little to

appreciate

what

transpires

in the

council of

Juvenal four. That

conclave was

a

fiction and a

farce.

Juvenal's

poem

parodies

an

epic

by

Statius

on

Domitian's

war

against

the

Germans,

or more

precisely,

it

parodies

a

consilium

described

in this

epic.12

The

poet's

treat-

social distinction equal to that on the maternal side. Social class isjust as plainly

at

issue

in

the

passage

from

Fronto's third

letter to Antoninus

Pius

(van

den

Hout

p.

157),

concerning

the

Prefect

Q.

Marcius

Turbo:

"[Censorius Niger]

Turboni

Marcio

et

Erucio Claro

erat

familiarissimus,

qui

duo

egregi

viri

alter

equestris

alter

senatori

ordinis

primari

fuerunt".

Princeps

equitum,

then,

cannot be said

to

be a

title,

official or

semi-official,

attached

to the

office of

Praetorian

Prefect.

10

The

composition

of

the

council is

well

described

by

J.

Crook,

Consilium

Principis

(Cambridge

1955) 23-26;

to

which

add

the

comments

of A. N.

Sherwin-White,

The

Letters

of

Pliny:

A

Historical And

Social

Commentary

(Oxford 1966)391-92. It is

peculiar

that

Crook,

having argued

in the

early

pages

of

his book that view of the

consilium

which

I

have

summarized,

should have

agreed

in

his

discussion

of

Juvenal four

with the

traditional view that all

the

participants

except

Fuscus and

Crispinus

were

senators.

'

CIL

IX 5420.

12

See

G.

Highet,

Juvenal the

Satirist

(Oxford

1954)

p.

256,

n.

1.

381



PETER

WHITE.

ment

of his

material n

general,

and

of

Crispinus

n

particular,

oughtto bejudged primarily rom a literarystandpoint,rather

than from a

historical one.

If

Juvenal's

characters consist

mainly

of

eminent

Flavian

senators,13

his

is

because,

first,

he is

following

his Statian

model

(we

know that he

transplanted

at

least three of

Statius'

councillors

into his

own

poem),14

and

secondly,

because

by contrasting

he

dignity

of his characters

with

the

meanness of

their

employment

he sees a

way

to

dramatize

he

circumstancesof

life

under

a

tyranny.

Neverthe-

less, it is essential to rememberhat whatJuvenalsets beforeus

is

not

a

real council

debating

an issue of war

or

policy,

but an

imaginary

ouncil

about

a

fish.

He

is

likely

to have introduced

any

of

the

emperor's

cronies who had

gained notoriety

for

prodigal

gourmandise,

simply

because

they

suited

his

subject

matter.

Montanus,

the

connoisseur

of

Neronian

carouses,

who

receives more

attention

n

the

poem

than

anyone

else,

may

be

one such

character.And

Crispinus,

whose

extravagance

n

the

fish-market ook up lines 1-36,mightreasonablybe considered

another.

PETERWHITE

UNIVERSITY

OF CHICAGO

13

The

word

proceres

in

lines

73 and

144,

however,

must not

be

thought

to

specify

senatorial

rank

or official

position.

This word does not

bear

any

kind of

political

connotation,

and is

in fact avoided

in

the

language

of

ordinary

political

life. Caesar

never

uses

it,

and in all of Cicero's

writings,

it occurs

only

once, in

the

mock-epic

context of ad

Fam.

13.15.1. The

poets,

on

the

other

hand,

employ

it

often,

Ovid for

example

seventeen

times,

and Statius

eighteen

times;

Juvenal

has

surely

taken

it

over from

the

poem

he

burlesques.

Proceres

is

a

more

poetic

way

of

sayingprincipes

civitatis,

which

is the

definition

of it

given

by

Varro

(on

the evidence of

Servius,

on Aeneid 1.740) and Festus (290.21 Lindsay). In

Juvenal's terms

it

can be

ironically

but

appropriately

extended

to

Crispinus,

who

in virtue of

his wealth was

named

princeps

among

the

knights

at

line 32.

14

The four

lines

of

Statius'

poem

which

were

preserved

by

Valla's

Probus

commentary

(P.

Wessner,

Scholia

in

Juvenalem

pp.

61-62)

enumerate

the

names of Vibius

Crispus,

Fabricius

Veiento,

and

Acilius Glabrio.

382

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White-ecce Iterum Crispinus