Critical Source Analysis: Velleius Paterculus and the Sejanus Episode

Critical Source Analysis: Velleius Paterculus and the Sejanus Episode
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Critical Source Analysis: Velleius Paterculus and the Sejanus Episode
Velleius Paterculus is a popular Roman military, politician, and historian whose works reveal important information about the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. Velleius composed a compendium of Roman history that are dated to the origins in AD 29. Through the works, we can understand important aspects about the Roman, especially the issues related to its rulers. In the first book, Velleius Paterculus captures the era between the death of Julius Caesar to that of Augustus. Another important aspect about the Roman World captured through the source is the life of Tiberius, which is explained in form of a eulogy. Through the accounts provided by Velleius. We can get an overview of the imperial version of the happenings that were described later by the works of Tacitus. Velleius was an important official during the reign of Augustus, and also served as the praetor of Tiberius. Throughout the work, we can see that he had a high admiration of Tiberius as well as Sejanus. This is clearly seen through the source, although it can never be deduced whether the admiration was out of genuine love or prudence. Another important aspect that we can deduce from the source is that Velleius died during his early thirties, which is the main reason why he did not capture the fall of Sejanus.[ADDIN CSL_CITATION {"citationItems":[{"id":"ITEM-1","itemData":{"author":[{"dropping-particle":"","family":"Dawson","given":"Christopher","non-dropping-particle":"","parse-names":false,"suffix":""}],"id":"ITEM-1","issued":{"date-parts":[["2009"]]},"publisher":"Brock University","title":"The Princeps Optimus: towards a new reading of Velleius Paterculus' history","type":"article-journal"},"uris":["/documents/?uuid=a414c712-ba81-488a-bf1a-35e16699abb9"]}],"mendeley":{"formattedCitation":"Christopher Dawson, “The Princeps Optimus: Towards a New Reading of Velleius Paterculus’ History,” 2009.","plainTextFormattedCitation":"Christopher Dawson, “The Princeps Optimus: Towards a New Reading of Velleius Paterculus’ History,” 2009.","previouslyFormattedCitation":"Christopher Dawson, “The Princeps Optimus: Towards a New Reading of Velleius Paterculus’ History,” 2009."},"properties":{"noteIndex":1},"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"}Christopher Dawson, “The Princeps Optimus: Towards a New Reading of Velleius Paterculus’ History,” 2009.]
Sejanus was an ambitious soldier, close friend, and confidant of Emperor Tiberius. Through the source, we can see that Sejanus rose to power and became a powerful imperial bodyguard. He died in AD 31. Sejanus was responsible for the reforms during the reign of Emperor Augustus. Through his input, the imperial bodyguard evolved to become an important arm of the then government, influencing different aspects of how issues were run within the country. The source also shows how Sejanus accumulated much power by influencing Tiberius and eliminating political opponents. Due to the amount of trust, he had earned from the Emperor, he was left in ...