Damian McBride’s revelations about back-stabbing in Gordon’s imperial court raise a serious question: what was in it for him? The Roman delator (‘informer’) was not some little squirt from central casting, but a man on the up with an eye on power.
The model delator, as the historian Tacitus describes him, was one Hispo, who, ‘poor, obscure, impatient, creeping to the emperor’s cruel nature by his secret accusations, spelled danger to anyone of eminence, and won power from the emperor, but hatred from everyone else. He was the model which allowed imitators to exchange poverty for wealth, to inspire dread in place of contempt, and destroy fellow citizens — and eventually themselves’. His ambition was to ‘gain priesthoods, consulships, offices’ and make a fortune in the process, because a successful prosecution for high treason (maiestas) — the usual charge against political opponents — brought financial rewards in the form of a share of the victim’s property.
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