ContestingClementia: the Rhetoric ofSeveritasin Tiberian Rome before and after the Trial of Clutorius Priscus

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article examines a discussion about punishment which took place in Tiberian Rome. Shouldclementiaorseveritasinform the decisions of the judges and what was the proper relationship between the authority of the senate and theclementiaof the princeps? My argument has five parts. I begin (I) by examiningclementiaandseveritasin the work of Velleius Paterculus. I next (II) examine Velleius’ presentation of Tiberius as a figure who adjudicates punishment in his community. I then (III and IV) argue that Velleius’ ideas were the product of and sought to contribute to controversy about the ownership and use ofclementiawhich can be tracked though Tiberius’ principate. Finally (V), I suggest that Tacitus made use of the rhetoric ofclementiaandseveritascurrent in Tiberian Rome and that it influenced his reading ofsaevitiaunder the principate.