Worse than the worst of plagues: Cassius Dio on Commodus’ reign and the second wave of the Antonine plague

“A sickness occurred greater than any I have known—in fact, two thousand often died on a single day in Rome. Many people were also killed in another way, not only in the city, but throughout practically the whole Empire, by evil men: for they would smear little needles with some deadly drugs and for a fee would inject the poison into others, a thing which also happened during the time of Domitian. And while these people died without even a word, Commodus ended up more troublesome to the Romans than all the diseases and criminals together, because among other reasons the people were forced to assign to him out of fear and by command those things which had been bestowed out of respect upon his father through a vote.

“He actually ordered that Rome’s name be changed to ‘Commodiana,’ its army called ‘the Commodians,’ and the day on which these motions were passed ‘Commodiana Day.’ Among the many names he took for himself, one was Herakles. He gave Rome the nickname, ‘Immortal Blessed Inhabited Colony of the Earth,’ since he wanted it to be thought of as his own colony. A golden statue was made in his honour, a thousand pounds in weight, along with a bull and a cow. And finally, all the months of the year were named after him, so that they were counted as follows: Amazon, Undefeated, Lucky, Pious, Lucius, Aelius, Aurelius, Commodus, August, Herakles, Roman, Excellency. For he had taken on different names at different times, but Amazon and Excellency he applied to himself constantly, to show he was absolutely in every way preeminently superior to all people—that is how preeminently insane this piece of shit turned out to be.”

γέγονε δὲ καὶ νόσος μεγίστη ὧν ἐγὼ οἶδα· δισχίλιοι γοῦν πολλάκις ἡμέρας μιᾶς ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ ἐτελεύτησαν. πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ ἄλλως οὐκ ἐν τῷ ἄστει μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ ὡς εἰπεῖν τῇ ἀρχῇ ὑπ' ἀνδρῶν κακούργων ἀπέθανον· βελόνας γὰρ μικρὰς δηλητηρίοις τισὶ φαρμάκοις ἐγχρίοντες ἐνίεσαν δι' αὐτῶν ἐς ἑτέρους ἐπὶ μισθῷ τὸ δεινόν· ὅπερ που καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Δομιτιανοῦ ἐγεγόνει. καὶ οὗτοι μὲν ἐν οὐδενὶ λόγῳ ἀπώλλυντο, ἦν δὲ ἁπάντων νοσημάτων καὶ ἁπάντων κακουργημάτων χαλεπώτερος Ῥωμαίοις ὁ Κόμμοδος, διά τε τἆλλα καὶ ὅτι ἠναγκάζοντο, ἃ τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ κατ' εὔνοιαν ἐψηφίζοντο, ταῦτ' ἐκείνῳ διὰ φόβον ἀπονέμειν ἐξ ἐπιτάγματος. Κομμοδιανὴν γοῦν τήν τε Ῥώμην αὐτὴν καὶ τὰ στρατόπεδα Κομμοδιανά, τήν τε ἡμέραν ἐν ᾗ ταῦτα ἐψηφίζετο Κομμοδιανὰ καλεῖσθαι προσέταξεν. ἑαυτῷ δὲ ἄλλας τε παμπόλλους ἐπωνυμίας καὶ τὴν Ἡρακλέους ἀπήνεγκε. τὴν δὲ Ῥώμην ἀθάνατον εὐτυχῆ κολωνίαν οἰκουμένην τῆς γῆς (καὶ γὰρ ἄποικον αὐτὴν ἑαυτοῦ δοκεῖν ἐβούλετο) ἐπωνόμασεν. καὶ ἀνδριάς τε αὐτῷ χρυσοῦς χιλίων λιτρῶν μετά τε ταύρου καὶ βοὸς θηλείας ἐγένετο, καὶ τέλος καὶ οἱ μῆνες ἀπ' αὐτοῦ πάντες ἐπεκλήθησαν, ὥστε καταριθμεῖσθαι αὐτοὺς οὕτως, Ἀμαζόνιος Ἀνίκητος Εὐτυχὴς Εὐσεβὴς Λούκιος Αἴλιος Αὐρήλιος Κόμμοδος Αὔγουστος Ἡράκλειος Ῥωμαῖος Ὑπεραίρων. αὐτὸς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλοτε ἄλλα μετελάμβανε τῶν ὀνομάτων, τὸν δ' Ἀμαζόνιον καὶ τὸν Ὑπεραίροντα παγίως ἑαυτῷ ἔθετο ὡς καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν ἁπλῶς πάντας ἀνθρώπους καθ' ὑπερβολὴν νικῶν· οὕτω καθ' ὑπερβολὴν ἐμεμήνει τὸ κάθαρμα.

Cassius Dio, Roman History, 72.14–15

“Omens like these” – plague and the fall of the Republic

More plagues and social change from Cassius Dio, this time, around 44 BCE …

“In addition to omens like these, a bright light moved across across the sky from east to west and a new star was seen for many days.* And at times the light of the sun seemed to grow dim and even disappear, at other times it appeared in three circles, and one of these was even enclosed in a fiery wreath of sheaves, a thing which, for those people, very evidently came true if ever a prophecy did: for there were three men in power—Caesar, Lepidus and Antony, I mean—and of them Caesar afterwards secured his victory.

“Now, when these things occurred, there were all kinds of oracles predicting the destruction of the Republic. Crows flew into the temple of the Dioscuri and pecked out the names of the consuls Antony and Dolabella, which were somewhere inscribed on a tablet. During the night, many dogs would gather in the city and howl, especially near the house of Lepidus, the high priest. Meanwhile, the Eridanus (i.e., the Po) flooded a large part of the surrounding countryside, and when it receded it left behind a huge number of serpents on the land; and from the sea, untold numbers of fish were thrown onto the shore at the mouth of the Tiber.

“What came next was a virulent plague, which affected practically all of Italy, and because of it, it was voted that the Curia Hostilia would be rebuilt and the place where the naumachia** had taken place would be filled in. But it seemed not even this could put a stop to the horror, since, among other things, when Vibius was performing the sacrificial rite at for New Year’s day, one of his lictors suddenly fell down and died.”

πρὸς δὲ δὴ τούτοις τοιούτοις οὖσι λαμπὰς ἀπ' ἀνίσχοντος ἡλίου πρὸς δυσμὰς διέδραμε, καί τις ἀστὴρ καινὸς ἐπὶ πολλὰς ἡμέρας ὤφθη. τότε φῶς τοῦ ἡλίου ἐλαττοῦσθαί τε καὶ σβέννυσθαι, τοτὲ δὲ ἐν τρισὶ κύκλοις φαντάζεσθαι ἐδόκει, καὶ ἕνα γε αὐτῶν στέφανος σταχύων πυρώδης περιέσχεν, ὥστ' εἴπερ τι ἄλλο, καὶ τοῦτο ἐναργέστατα αὐτοῖς ἐκβῆναι· οἵ τε γὰρ ἄνδρες οἱ τρεῖς ἐδυνάστευον, λέγω δὲ τὸν Καίσαρα καὶ τὸν Λέπιδον καὶ τὸν Ἀντώνιον, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν ὁ Καῖσαρ μετὰ τοῦτο τὴν νίκην ἔλαβεν.

τότε δ' οὖν ταῦτά τε ἐγένετο, καὶ λόγια πρὸς κατάλυσιν τῆς δημοκρατίας φέροντα παντοῖα ᾔδετο. κόρακές τε ἐς τὸ Διοσκόρειον ἐσπετόμενοι τὰ τῶν ὑπάτων τοῦ τε Ἀντωνίου καὶ τοῦ Δολοβέλλου ὀνόματα, ἐνταῦθά που ἐν πινακίῳ ἐγγεγραμμένα, ἐξεκόλαψαν. καὶ κύνες πολλοὶ νυκτὸς κατά τε τὴν ἄλλην πόλιν καὶ πρὸς τῇ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως τοῦ Λεπίδου οἰκίᾳ μάλιστα συστρεφόμενοι ὠρύοντο. ὅ τε Ἠριδανὸς ἐπὶ πολὺ τῆς πέριξ γῆς πελαγίσας ἐξαίφνης ἀνεχώρησε, καὶ παμπληθεῖς ἐν τῷ ξηρῷ ὄφεις ἐγκατέλιπε. καὶ ἰχθῦς ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης ἀμύθητοι κατὰ τὰς τοῦ Τιβέριδος ἐκβολὰς ἐς τὴν ἤπειρον ἐξέπεσον.

ἐπεγένετο μὲν οὖν καὶ [ὁ] λοιμὸς ἐπ' αὐτοῖς πάσῃ ὡς εἰπεῖν τῇ Ἰταλίᾳ ἰσχυρός, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τό τε βουλευτήριον τὸ Ὁστίλιον ἀνοικοδομηθῆναι καὶ τὸ χωρίον ἐν ᾧ ἡ ναυμαχία ἐγεγόνει συγχωσθῆναι ἐψηφίσθη· οὐ μέντοι καὶ ἐνταῦθα στήσεσθαι τὸ δεινὸν ἐδόκει, ἄλλως τε καὶ ἐπειδὴ τοῦ Οὐιβίου τὰ ἐσιτήρια τῇ νουμηνίᾳ θύοντος ῥαβδοῦχός τις αὐτοῦ ἔπεσεν ἐξαίφνης καὶ ἀπέθανεν.

Cassius Dio, Roman History, 45.17.4–9

*a comet is reported to have appeared after Julius Caesar’s assassination.

**ναυμαχία (naumachia): a massive trench, commissioned by Julius Caesar in 46 BCE, was dug near the Tiber and filled with water. He had thousands of prisoners of war fight a staged sea-battle in it. What connection the senate saw between the sea battle and the ensuing plague isn’t clear to me, and my books are at the office.

“I suppose the same thing happened in foreign countries as well...” Cassius Dio on the Plague at the time of Augustus

Looks like we will pass 1,000,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the next few minutes. So let’s rewind.

22 BCE or so. Plague in Italy. No one left to work the land. The people want Augustus named dictator.

“The year after that, when Marcus Macellus and Lucius Arruntius were consuls, the city was flooded again when the river overflowed, and many things were struck by lightning, even the statues in the Pantheon, so that the spear fell from Augustus’ hand as well. And then, as the Romans suffered from disease and from famine—for the plague had come to all of Italy and no one worked the land; I suppose the same thing happened in foreign countries as well—they, thinking that these things had happened to them for no other reason but that they didn’t have Augustus as a consul, wished him to be appointed dictator. They locked the senate in their chamber and, threatening to burn them to ashes, they forced them to take a vote. And after this, taking the twenty-four rods, they came to Augustus, bidding him to be named dictator and to become commissioner of the grain supply, just as Pompey once had been.”

τῷ δ' ἐπιγιγνομένῳ ἔτει, ἐν ᾧ Μᾶρκος τε Μάρκελλος καὶ Λούκιος Ἀρρούντιος ὑπάτευσαν, ἥ τε πόλις πελαγίσαντος αὖθις τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἐπλεύσθη, καὶ κεραυνοῖς ἄλλα τε πολλὰ ἐβλήθη καὶ οἱ ἀνδριάντες οἱ ἐν τῷ Πανθείῳ, ὥστε καὶ τὸ δόρυ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Αὐγούστου χειρὸς ἐκπεσεῖν. πονούμενοι οὖν ὑπό τε τῆς νόσου καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ λιμοῦ (ἔν τε γὰρ τῇ Ἰταλίᾳ πάσῃ ὁ λοιμὸς ἐγένετο καὶ τὴν χώραν οὐδεὶς εἰργάσατο· δοκῶ δ' ὅτι καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔξω χωρίοις τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο συνηνέχθη) νομίσαντες οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι οὐκ ἄλλως σφίσι ταῦτα συμβεβηκέναι, ἀλλ' ὅτι μὴ καὶ τότε ὑπατεύοντα τὸν Αὔγουστον ἔσχον, δικτάτορα αὐτὸν ἠθέλησαν προχειρίσασθαι, καὶ τήν τε βουλὴν κατακλείσαντες ἐς τὸ συνέδριον ἐπηνάγκασαν τοῦτο ψηφίσασθαι, ἀπειλοῦντές σφας καταπρήσειν, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τὰς ῥάβδους τὰς τέσσαρας καὶ εἴκοσι λαβόντες προσῆλθον αὐτῷ, δικτάτορά τε ἅμα δεόμενοι λεχθῆναι καὶ ἐπιμελητὴν τοῦ σίτου, καθάπερ ποτὲ τὸν Πομπήιον, γενέσθαι.

Cassius Dio, Historiae Romanae 54.1.1–3