Jean-Baptiste-Louis Crevier

Crevier's History of the Roman Emperors in an English edition of C.E.1755

Jean-Baptiste-Louis Crevier (C.E.1693 – 1765), French scholar and historian.

History of the Roman emperors from Augustus to Constantine:

• [[Seiano | ^[sic]]] is known throughout the world as the most renowned example of the prodigious rise and frightful fall of a favorite, who ^[sic] of fortune of him. (volume III, book VI, p. 7)
• Sejano had everything that was necessary to train those great villains, authors of the overthrow of states and of the most terrible revolutions. A body of the strongest and most robust to tolerate fatigue: an immoderate audacity, combined with a profound dissimulation: the talent of making oneself acceptable and dear, and of discrediting and degrading others: he knew how to make equal use of flattery and arrogance according to need: he showed an external air of modesty, while internally he was devoured by the desire to reign. And to succeed he sometimes employed liberality, and the lure of luxury and debauchery, most often activity and vigilance, qualities commendable in themselves, but which become extremely ^[sic], when they are not he pretends to have them only to satisfy ambition. (volume III, book VI, pp. 8-9)
• This famous man, [[[Gnaeus Domitius Afro]]]' often praised by Quintilian as the greatest orator he had heard, was born in Nimes, a Roman colony, and having moved to Rome to improve his fortune, he was currently walking the path of honors. He had been Praetor a short time before; but since he held only a mediocre rank in the City, he sought opportunities to make a name for himself at whatever cost. He therefore accused Claudia [Pulcra, great-granddaughter of Augustus] of adultery with Furnius, of spells, and of magical operations directed against the Emperor. (volume III, book VI, pp. 29-30)
• It was more difficult to gain access to Sejano than to the Emperor. The favor of an audience with this insolent Minister was only obtained with very warm requests, and with the willingness to serve him in his ambitious projects. It is stated that the spectacle of the servants, exhibited on this occasion before his eyes, greatly increased his arrogance. (volume III, book VI, pp. 44)
• [...] History does not instruct only with the story of virtues: it presents ^[sic] of every ^[sic], but always lessons, when one knows how to take advantage of them. (volume III, book VII, pp. 139)
• [[[Caligula]]] No Prince ever found more favorable dispositions in those who had to obey him when he ascended the Throne. He was loved by the Armies and the Provinces, who almost all had seen him as a child in the company of his father Germanicus, whom he accompanied not only to the Rhine, but also to the East. The incredible love of the Roman People for Germanicus fell on his son, and the misfortunes of his family had made this feeling even more tender: by adding that of commiseration. He emerged from a tyranny, under which he had groaned for a long time, and the hatred against Tiberius changed into affection for Cajo . (volume III, book VII, pp. 143)
• [[Trajan|^[sic]]] had none of those vices which directly ^[sic] society, and he also possessed to a high degree the contrary virtues, modesty, clemency, the love of justice, and the alienation of pomp, and a judicious liberality, which found inexhaustible sources in his wise and prudent economy. Humankind, happy under his Government, has given him to share his recognition with an esteem and admiration that still exists today. (volume IX, book XVIII, p. 43)
• [Trajano] I have spoken more than once of his passion for wine, by which he was, according to one Author, obliged to take the ^[sic] precaution of forbidding the execution of the orders, which he gave after a long lunch. His unnatural debaucheries must cover him with eternal infamy. I also venture to count among his defects his insatiable ardor for the war, the good events of which made him rise in pride, and the sinister successes of which caused him great affliction in the last years of his life. (volume IX, book XVIII, p. 44)
• Commodus had demonstrated himself from his early years as he was later to progress: devoid of elevation of soul, feeling, and courage, succumbing to all bad impressions, and contumacious to any kind of good , which we wanted to inspire him; a very strong inclination to pleasure, and a violent aversion to fatigue. If he had any ability, he had it only for those things, which did not befit his rank. He knew how to joust, dance and sing: he was a comedian and gladiator. But the teachers that his father placed around him to form his intellect and heart, and the lessons of wisdom and virtue that he himself gave him, found neither input nor good will in this Prince. (volume X, book XX, p. 10)
• Cleandro was part of all the pleasures, or rather, of all the debaucheries of Commodus, and having thus gained his confidence, he was for some time the rival of Perenne, and in the end supported by the faction of the freedmen of the palace, of which he was the leader, he came to ruin it. Heir to his power, he abused it with all the wickedness typical of a vile soul, and brought into the ministry all the vices of a servile condition. Everything was for sale with him, the positions of the Senators, the commands of the army, the governments of the Provinces, and the Prefectures, and he was paid dearly for them. (volume X, book XXI, p. 74)
• To multiply his earnings, Cleander multiplied his offices, and appointed, which had never been seen before, twenty-five Consuls for a single year. He respected neither the Laws nor things judged. Anyone who had money to give him was sure to be ^[sic]<ref>acquitted, an ancient form of part. past of absolve . </ ref>, whatever crime he had committed; or reinstated, if he had previously been convicted, and very often still with increased dignity and splendor. (volume X, book XXI, p. 75)
• [Cleander] he did not immediately take up the position of Prefect of the Praetorium, too disproportionate to the baseness of his condition, but paved the way for it by degrading it and degrading it with frequent changes. He made and unmade the Praetorian Prefects as he pleased. He had one that lasted five days, and another that lasted six hours. Finally, when Cleander believed he had reduced this powerful office in proportion to his rank, he conferred it on himself, taking two colleagues, who were his creatures, and who depended entirely on him. Then three Praetorian Prefects were seen for the first time. (volume X, book XXI, p. 76)
• The glory of Pertinax equaled and even surpassed the splendor of his dignities. He had proven himself equally capable of military and civilian employment. A good and skilled warrior, his name had become the terror of the Barbarians; and he had at the same time been able to maintain discipline with severity among the restless and seditious troops. In the Government of Rome he conducted himself with such sweetness, affability and goodness that he won the love of everyone. Simple model with such a sign, which even then recognized Lolliano Avito as his protector <ref> This senator from Vittore is called Lollio Genziano. But he is certainly the same one that Capitolinus in the life of Pertinax n. 1 names Lolliano Avito. [N.d.A.] </ Ref>, to whom he had become at least equal, but for whom he always retained great reverence and gratitude, having been the first author of his fortune; enemy of luxury, and lover of frugality, History accuses him of nothing other than excessive economy, and the habit of promising more than he intended to keep in order to please with nice words those whom he could not satisfy with Opera. (volume X, book XXI, p. 108)

• [Pertinax] The esteem for his virtue was universal. When the news of the death of Commodus and the election of Pertinax reached the Provinces, the people hesitated to believe it. They feared that this was not a trap set by Commodus to have the opportunity to exercise his cruelties and his robberies. In that uncertainty many Governors took the decision to wait for the confirmation, and also to have the couriers imprisoned, being certain that if the news were true, Pertinax would have quickly forgiven them for a fault, which did not proceed from bad will. The peoples allied to the Empire had no less advantageous ideas of him. His ^{[sic] [sic]} filled him with joy; and they sent ambassadors to congratulate the Senate and the Roman people. (volume X, book XXI, p. 117)

• If Niger was a severe General towards his soldiers, on the other hand he was their protector against injustice. The Roman soldiers were in a certain way ^[sic] of those who commanded them, and the custom had been introduced for them to pay certain supposed taxes, which degenerated into harassment. He suppressed these exactions in the army of which he had command; he forbade the ^[sic] to receive anything from their soldiers, and had two of them stoned to death, who had been guilty of this sort of extortion against his prohibition. He frequently had a beautiful saying on this subject. He said that an Officer must make himself feared and respected by his soldiers, and that he can never obtain this unless he is without fault and without blemish in what concerns interest. (volume X, book XXII, p. 153)

Bibliography:

• Jean-Baptiste-Louis Crevier, History of the Roman emperors from Augustus to Constantine, volume III, for Francesco Rossi stamp. of the Public, Siena, C.E.1777.
• Jean-Baptiste-Louis Crevier, History of the Roman emperors from Augustus to Constantine, volume IX, for Francesco Rossi stamp. of the Public, Siena, C.E.1777.
• Jean-Baptiste-Louis Crevier, History of the Roman emperors from Augustus to Constantine, volume X, for Francesco Rossi stamp. of the Public, Siena, C.E.1777.