A Plague OF Madness THE Contagion OF MUT PDF

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ACTA CLASSICA SUPPLEMENT IV (2009)

ISSN 0065-1141

A PLAGUE OF MADNESS: THE CONTAGION OF MUTINY IN LIVY 28.24-32 Adrienne Aranita City University of New York ABSTRACT In his account of the mutiny at Sucro, Livy develops the metaphors of disease used by Polybius’ description of the same event. Livy goes beyond metaphor by establishing a parallel between the physical disease of Scipio and the mental illness of the Roman troops. Livy’s mutiny at Sucro thus becomes the result of a plague of madness, containing language reminiscent of that used by Sallust and Cicero regarding the Catilinarian conspiracy. This article aims at demonstrating that Livy depicts the events at Sucro as unusual in order to explain them in terms of foreign contagion, the cure of which must involve visual exempla.

Introduction The bare bones of the mutiny at Sucro are set forth in Polybius 11.2530. Troops stationed at Sucro serve as a garrison to protect tribes north of the Ebro. When Scipio falls ill and the soldiers are not promptly paid, sedition breaks out in the Roman camp. While Scipio returns to health, he orders his officers to publicly collect money from prior contributions for the soldiers’ pay. On the day of payment, the thirty-five leaders of the mutiny are led to believe that they will be attending a dinner party and Scipio’s legion are told that they will be marching against Indibilis. After supper, the thirty-five are arrested and brought by the tribunes to the marketplace. Scipio appears before his men, who are astounded by his healthful appearance. In his speech, he scolds the soldiers and attributes the spread of the mutiny to the vicissitudes of a multitude. The thirty-five mutineers are then brought before the rest of the army, bound and naked, to be scourged and beheaded. Those watching are dumbfounded and after the bodies 1

are dragged through the crowd, the rest of the Roman army take oaths of allegiance. Polybius credits Scipio with having nipped danger in the bud. The narrative of Livy 28 corresponds largely with Polybius’s account. In particular, Livy also treats the mutiny at Sucro as a result of a plague of mental disorder. The language he uses, however, reminds more of that used by Sallust and Cicero in their depictions of Catiline and his fellow conspirators, even though Livy would probably not have been directly influenced by these authors. The link between mutiny and madness appears to have become a topos, as in Tacitus’ recollections of the Pannonian and German mutinies of A.D. 14.1 The object of this paper is to demonstrate that Livy deliberately treats the events at Sucro as a manifestation of contagious madness, employing imagery of causes, contagion and cure, in order to provide motivation for both the behaviour of the soldiers and their mild treatment by Scipio when compared to similar situations in Roman military history. Insubordination as contagious disease Polybius likens the evils ‘in a state or an army’, to the ‘tumours and maladies which are born in the body’ and ‘itself can with difficulty be seen beforehand and with difficulty be cured as they happen’.2 The idea of the state as a body thus predates Livy, but one of its most famous instances is found in the second book of this author’s history. In 2.32, Menenius Agrippa uses the metaphor to persuade the plebs to cease their rebellion, for just as body parts must work in harmony for the body to be healthy, the plebs must remain in harmony with the senators. In Livy’s depiction of the mutiny at Sucro, a further two elements are added to the body metaphor: (a) that illness within the state-as-body is contagious, and (b) that physical illness of the leader can cause mental disease among the troops. 1

As shown by Woodman 2006. Woodman’s argument will be used here to support similar associations in Livy. 2 ta; d j ejx aujtw`n tw`n swmavtwn ginovmena fuvmata kai; novsou~ duscere;~ me;n proidevsqai, duscere;~ de; genomevnoi~ bohqei`n; 11.25.2-3. Translations of cited Greek and Latin texts are my own.

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Livy’s parallel depiction of Scipio’s illness and the madness spreading among the troops, appears to be deliberate. In 28.24.15, he states that ‘The falsely believed death of Scipio was clouding their minds’ (mors Scipionis falso credita occaecabat animos). The madness then spreads like a contagious disease, manifesting in open mutiny. However, as the leader gradually recuperates (28.25), the mutiny loses momentum and the men begin to hesitate. Finally, the sight of a healthy Scipio suppresses the internal dissension, thus restoring the health of the body of troops as a whole. Madness as a disease with the tendency to spread contamination is found in both Cicero and Sallust’s treatments of the Catilinarian conspiracy. 3 Sallust describes Catiline’s mental condition in physical terms:4 namque animus impurus, dis hominibusque infestus, neque vigiliis neque quietibus sedari poterat; ita conscientia mentem excitam vastabat. Igitur color ei exanguis, foedi oculi, citus modo modo tardus incessus; prorsus in facie voltuque vecordia inerat. For his impure mind, hostile to gods and men, was unable to rest in either waking or sleeping, for conscience was laying waste to his roused-up mind. Therefore his complexion was pale, his eyes bloodshot, his step now quick, now slow; frenzy was absolutely in his face and expression. Sal. Bellum Catilinae 15.4-5.

Catiline’s madness then infects the minds of the citizens: tanta vis morbi aeque uti tabes plerosque civium animos invaserat (so great was the force of the corruption which, just as if it were a disease, infected many of the minds of the citizens’ Bellum Catilinae, 36.5). 3

Cf. Cic. In Catilinam 1.11: quod hanc tam taetram tam horribilem tamque infestam rei publicae pestem totiens iam effugimus. So often already have we escaped this pestilence, so vile, so horrible and so dangerous to the Republic. 4 Cicero rhetorically makes Catiline’s madness an inborn quality, cf. In Cat. 1:22- 23: Neque enim is es, Catilina, ut te aut pudor a turpitudine aut metus a periculo aut ratio a furore revocarit (‘Nor indeed are you, Catilina, the kind of man whom shame calls away from turpitude, fear from danger or reason from madness’, and 1:25: Ad hanc te amentiam natura peperit, voluntas exercuit, fortuna servavit (‘Nature bore you for such a madness, your own will cultivated you and fortune saved you’).

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If mental disease can be contagious, it also stands in need of remedy. Cicero, referring to the plague of madness induced by Catiline as a physical plague, deliberates over a remedy:5 Si ex tanto latrocinio iste unus tolletur, videbimur fortasse ad breve quoddam tempus cura et metu esse relevati, periculum autem residebit et erit inclusum penitus in venis atque in visceribus rei publicae. Ut saepe homines agri morbo gravi, cum aestu febrique iactantur, si aquam gelidam biberunt, primo relevari videntur, deinde multo gravius vehementiusque adflictantur, sic hic morbus qui est in re publica relevatus istius poena vehementius reliquis vivis ingravescet. If he alone, out of so great a band of robbers, is removed, we shall seem, perhaps, to have been relieved from care and fear for a short amount of time, however, the danger will remain and it will be enclosed deep within the veins and viscera of the Republic. Just as often happens when men who are sick with a grave illness toss and turn with hot fever, if they drink cold water, at first they seem relieved, but then much more gravely and more vehemently are they afflicted, in such a way, this disease which is in the Republic, shall be relieved by the punishment of this man, but shall worsen vehemently with the others left alive.

Cic. In Catilinam 1.316

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Cf. also In Catilinam 1.30: Hoc autem uno interfecto intellego hanc rei publicae pestem paulisper reprimi, non in perpetuum comprimi posse. Quod si sese eiecerit secumque suos eduxerit et eodem ceteros undique conlectos naufragos adgregarit, exstinguetur atque delebitur non modo haec tam adulta rei publicae pestis verum etiam stirps ac semen malorum omnium. ‘However, I understand that with one man killed, this disease of the Republic can be restrained for a short while, but it cannot be suppressed perpetually. But if he exiles himself and leads his followers away with him, and gathers into the same place all the rest of the vagrants he has collected from everywhere, not only this full-grown disease of the Republic, but even the root and seed of all our evils, will be extinguished and destroyed’. 6 Schneider 2004:156 examines Cicero’s position as haruspex, metaphorically gazing upon the terminally ill body of the state in relation to Caesar as ‘invincible conqueror’: ‘Mythical allusions to Odysseus and the underworld had featured as denominators for Caesar and his followers in the correspondence between Atticus and Cicero, during the period of civil war. One could extend this metaphor by presuming that Caesar, from 49 onwards, became in Cicero’s mind the embodiment of a ‘Charon’, who may now be seen as steering a ship of state (a terminally ill res publica) to its final abode – the halls of Hades’. Here, the body-state metaphor is tied into mythological metaphors and Cicero’s role is highlighted: ‘the concept “haruspex”

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Livy, in making his Scipio characterise his troops as insane and lacking reason (did they really expect to make Sucro their home and take over Spain?) seems to be utilizing models for madness and madmen as provided by Cicero and Sallust. In his turn, Livy appears to have been followed by Tacitus. In a comparison of Livy’s account with Tacitus’ treatment of the Pannonian and German mutinies of A.D. 14, Woodman notes Tacitus’ use of medical terms such as status and causa,7 the latter occurring in Livy 28.27.11, as the officers go around to the troops inquiring about the cause of their furor. Woodman remarks that vis, ‘violence’ is ‘almost technical of disease as in 28.29.3: vis morbi…in vestras mentes invasit’, explaining that ‘in the ancient world, fever was often thought to be associated with madness…and there can be no doubt about the continuing madness of the Pannonian soldiers.’8 We thus observe a double analogy, between body and state on the one hand, and physical disease and mental derangement in crowds on the other. As physical disease wreaks havoc on the human body, the multitude may get infected with mental disease which may become a plague to the republic. Causes of the plague: crowd susceptibility and foreign infection While the parallel between Scipio’s illness and the soldiers’ mutiny in Livy seems to be deliberate, he nowhere claims the physical sickness to have been the cause of the mutiny. Like Polybius, who regards indolence and inactivity as the cause for the festering of evils and disease, Livy blames indiscipline, lack of battle and otium, is used in a metaphorical sense to epitomise Cicero’s role as a close examiner of the vicissitudes of the res publica’, Schneider 2004:9. Through examination of this role, Schneider 2004:12-13 also demonstrates different ways in which the state may be perceived as a body: ‘Cicero was cast in the role of a practical analyst tackling Roman problems by employing an external theoretical basis for analysis. Like the traditional haruspex, who often in times of crisis inspects the entrails of sacrificial animals, Cicero is seen analysing the internal structure of the metaphorical carcass of the res publica which by his time has become in his view that of a sacrificial victim’. Cicero may also play the haruspex role in his account of the Catilinarian conspiracy, but with a concentration on healing the sick state. 7 Woodman 2006:313 8 Woodman 2006:315

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also acknowledging the payment issue as a real contributing factor: Flagitatum quoque stipendium procacius quam ex more et modestia militari erat (‘Likewise the pay was demanded in a manner more frivolous than what suited the habit and modesty of a soldier’, 28.24.8). But Scipio’s speech in Livy differs significantly from that of Polybius, as noted by Walsh: ‘Whereas Polybius shows that Scipio dealt with the prosaic question of the troops’ pay grievance, Livy completely ignores the topic, and makes Scipio’s theme the soldiers’ dereliction of duty; he cannot decide whether to call them citizens, soldiers or foes…’9 His dilemma of how to address the soldiers results from their ‘madness’, an illness affecting the state and therefore the citizen status of the soldiers. Polybius finds the cause of the mutiny in typical crowd behaviour. His Scipio likens crowds to the movement of the sea caused by the winds: Tau`ta d j ejsti; diovti pa`~ o[clo~ eujparalovgisto~. uJpavrcei kai; pro;~ pa`n eujavgwgo~. o{qen aijei; to; paraplhvsion pavqo~ sumbaivnei periv te tou;~ o[clou~ kai; th;n qavlattan. kaqavper ga;r kajkeivnh~ hJ me;n ijdiva fuvsi~ ejsti;n ajblabh ;~ toi`~ crwmevnoi~ kai; stavsimo~, o{tan d j eij~ aujth;n ejmpevsh/ ta; pneuvmata biva/, toiauvth faivnetai toi`~ crwmevnoi~ oi|oiv tine~ a]n w\sin oiJ kuklou`nte~ aujth;n a[nemoi. To;n aujto;n trovpon kai; to; plh`qo~ ajei; kai; faivnetai kai; givnetai pro;~ tou ;~ crwmevnou~ oi{ou~ a]n e[ch/ prostavta~ kai; sumbouvlou~. All crowds are easily misled and easily driven to every error, therefore a multitude always shares the same vicissitudes as the sea, for just as in its own nature, the sea is harmless and still, when blasts fall upon it with violence, it becomes like the character of the encircling winds: thus a multitude also appears and becomes like the character which its leaders and advisors are. (11.29.9-10).

The metaphor of the sea reflects the mental mobility of a crowd, making it possible for leaders to impose their own character upon a multitude.10 In this regard, Cicero’s definition of madness as cited by 9

Walsh 1961:99 C.f. Austin’s note on the first simile in the Aeneid (1.148-156): ‘Virgil, at the outset of his epic, has used a rhetorical tovpo~ to give striking expression to the power and the responsibility of pietas: a parable for his generation.’ But Virgil reverses the way 10

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Woodman is significant: Mens motu quasi morbo perturbata (‘The mind disturbed by some movement as if by a disease’ (Tusc. Disp. 3.11). This notion of movement, also emphasized by Tacitus, ‘describe[s] a kind of group hysteria, with the soldiers behaving as if they were under direction (32.3).’ While Polybius does not explicitly explain the soldiers’ behaviour as insanity, he nonetheless from the very beginning of the section depicts the masses as easily swayed.11 Livy develops this notion into a form of madness corresponding to Cicero’s definition. His Scipio also uses sea imagery: Sed multitudo omnis sicut natura maris per se immobilis est, et venti et aurae cient; ita aut tranquillum aut procellae in vobis sunt (‘But every crowd is just like the sea: immobile in itself, with the winds and breezes shaking it up. Thus in you there are both calm and storms’ 28.27.11). Woodman points out that in both Livy and Tacitus the soldiers ‘alternate between loud uproar and sudden silence.’ Tacitus’ expression in 25.2, repente quies is very similar to Livy’s repentina quies (28.25.11). The silence (and its effect) is so sudden that it is indeed similar to the movements of the sea. Livy starts describing the sedition as madness long before the scene of Scipio’s speech. Already in the first reference to furor which occurs soon after Scipio falls ill (28.24.10), the men is said to have hoped that their madness would spread like a contagious disease to the tribunes as well: Forma tamen Romanorum castrorum constabat una ea spe quod tribunos ex contagione furoris haud expers seditionis defectionisque rati fore… Nevertheless one hope kept the appearance of the Roman camp – the men believed that the tribunes would be by no means immune from the sedition and defection because of the contagion of madness.

the simile is used in Polybius, Livy and other authors, for in the Aeneid, ‘it illustrates nature by the behaviour of man, instead of the reverse process, and the man in control is a ‘vir pietate gravis’, a Roman ideal.’ 11 The effects of war on states and individuals are also described in Thucydides and Diodorus’ accounts on the revolution at Corcyra as creating a temperament akin to the madness (and its spread) that is described in Livy’s account; cf. Diod. 13.48; Thuc. 3.82.2

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Livy seems to imply that they may have even been aware of their own madness – or at least of the patterns of contagion. But they misjudged both the extent of its spread and Scipio’s actual condition, believing him to be near his death. When the tribunes are not infected, it sets off the main events of the seditio: the tribunes are chased out and the fasces and secures, which Livy stresses are insignia summi imperii, are seized. These are signs that the mutineers have run amok. One of the reasons the soldiers offer for their mutiny, is the lack of gratitude shown after the defection of the Iliturgi. Prior to the mutiny, the Iliturgi not only defected – and perhaps set a mutinous example for the Romans – but also killed the men who had sought refuge with them from Castulo after the latter’s defection to Carthage. Hence, they added scelus to their defectionem (Iliturgitani prodendis qui ex illa clade ad eos perfugerant interficiendisque scelus etiam defectioni addiderant 28.19.2-3). A pattern emerges and there are three defections that occur in a row, each influenced by one before: Castulo, Iliturgis and now, Sucro. Influence, in this case, may be synonymous with infection. Scipio destroys the Iliturgi in punishment and Castulo, having heard of the disaster of the Iliturgi, surrenders to Scipio. If Roman contact with the Iliturgi is indeed infection, then surely, otium and disgruntlement over late payment is equivalent to the festering of infection and the spread of contagion. In his speech, Scipio even compares his men to the Iliturgi and Lacetani, saying that at least the leaders of their furor, Mandonius and Indibilis, were royal (28.27.5), while Scipio’s men chose to follow an Umbrian and a Calenian. By this distinction, not found in Polybius, Livy’s account stresses the foreign sources of the instigations and the madness they spread. Whereas Polybius depicts Sucro as a separate incident, Livy’s account is intertwined with the treachery of the Spanish chieftains Mandonius and Indibilis, who are presented as influencing the behaviour of Scipio’s troops. After finding out that Scipio did not die from his illness, Mandonius and Indibilis return to their own territories, and the mutiny at Sucro also comes to a stop: nec iam erat aut civis aut externus cum quo furorem suum consociarent (‘now there was neither citizen nor foreigner with whom [the mutineers] could share their madness’ 28.25.12). The treachery of Mandonius and Indibilis is depicted as 8

enveloping that of the mutineers, as if by contamination. The madness came from outside Roman ranks. Remedies for insubordinate insanity: spectacle, substitutional expiation, fear In the scene of a healthy Scipio appearing before the crowd, the accounts of Polybius and Livy display an interesting difference: the way in which the crowd reacts. In Polybius, the soldiers are first simply curious of, and then amazed by, their commander’s condition (27.7-8). In Livy, Scipio’s appearance has a far greater effect. Prior to his speech, the soldiers are much more agitated and they intend to be threatening – ferociter in forum ad tribunal imperatoris ut ultro territuri succlamationibus concurrunt (‘fiercely in the forum, they rush to the tribunal of the commander, about to further terrify him with their clamours’; 28.26.12). When they see Scipio in good health, however, the agitation immediately quiets down: Tum omnis ferocia concidit et, ut postea fatebantur, nihil aeque eos terruit quam praeter spem robur et colos imperatoris, quem adfectum visuros crediderant, voltusque qualem ne in acie quidem aiebant meminisse (28.26.14-15). Then all ferociousness died down, as after they admitted, nothing scared them as much as the robustness and colou...