In Cassius Dio’s account of imperial Rome, the Flavian Dynasty represents all the strengths and weaknesses of monarchical rule. The strength is represented with Vespasian, his display of modesty and understanding of the need to cooperate and share power with the senatorial elite. The weakness is described through the nepotism, betrayal, and uncontrolled ambition for glory and prestige that helped Domitian to power and forced the return of tyrannical rule upon the Romans. In this chapter, I shall discuss the way in which the Flavian narrative serves as a microcosm in the Roman History to demonstrate the reason for which dynastic succession was incapable of providing the stability needed for monarchical rule to reach its full constitutional and political potential.
Giustino: Storie Filippiche. Florilegio da Pompeo Trogo. Premessa di G. Traina; Saggio introd., nuova trad. e note di A. Borgna. Santarcangelo di Romagna: Rusconi Libri 2019, 701 pp.
This essay focuses upon a fragmentary Latin inscription found in Monselice in 1837. Giuseppe first Furlanetto published it in 1847. In 1872, Theodor Mommsen published it as CIL V 2484. However, among Furlanetto’s work materials there is a manuscript note that relates to the same inscription, but shows an intact epigraphic text. Maria Silvia Bassignano published it in 1997, maintaining that the inscription was a forgery. The digitization of the note in EDF, a re-examination of all extant documentation, the books of Livy, and a new analysis of the original inscription, now in Brescia, allow a reassessment of the whole matter, and prompt some methodological and epistemological remarks on the notion of epigraphic forgery.
* La sezione intitolata « Protagonismo femminile nella X Regio : un possibile esempio di liberalitas civica ? » è di Sara Nicolini, mentre quella intitolata « Praefectura T[aruisanorum] ? Risvolti amministrativi di un'integrazione problematica » è di Antonio Pistellato. La parte introduttiva è invece comune.
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