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This paper argues that Cicero's critique of Epicureanism in De finibus is motivated by a concern about its degrading effect on the moral sensibility of Rome's best men. In place of earlier objections to Epicureanism, which centered on its inability to explain or recommend the virtuous conduct of Roman maiores, De finibus focuses on its inability to do so properly and, more prospectively, to assist boni in the work of maintaining the dignity and respectability of Roman civic life. Responding to optimates like Cassius who claimed that Epicureanism was compatible with Roman politics because it treats virtue as being necessary for pleasure, Cicero holds that instrumentalizing virtue in this way is actually a grave corruption of it. Not only do Epicureans debase politics by reducing it to considerations of utility alone: they also introduce deeper forms of civic confusion by distorting and abusing the very idea of honorableness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A literary criticism of the book "Histories" by Cornelius Tacitus is presented. Topics include the political conditions of the Roman Empire; depiction of different varieties of leadership, governance, control, and compulsion that human beings may exercise over each other; and consideration of res publica for the common good and citizen's liberty.

At the end of 1939 and in the first part of the next year, Carol II tried to adopt a reconciliation policy, which determined the appointment of Gheorghe Tătărescu as the President of the Council of Ministers from Romania. Depicting the internal and external context that led to the formation of Tătărescu Cabinet or finding the main reasons for the "government of concentration" are some of the most important issues that will be taken into consideration in the next pages, another concern being to identify the main aspects of Carol II's reconciliation policy. Moreover, by analysing the above-mentioned topics, it will be very important to highlight the role played in the monarchic authority regime by the Tătărescu Government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy is the property of Boom uitgevers Den Haag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Magistrates were high rank public servants who, in the age of the republic, will undertake the duties of kings of the previous ages, as the magistrates form that political-judicial institution which would undergo important transformation as a result of the social tension of the Roman society, caused by the fight between the patricians, representatives of the traditions and the plebs who will play a significant role in the Roman state as a result of the important changes which occurred when Rome became a universal state on one hand; on the other hand, it occurred as a result of the territorial expansion determined by the great conquests and the change in Roman economy, from a closed autarchic one to a flourishing stock economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new type of urban economy is emerging in many cities of the world based on innovation and soft-technology among micro and small enterprises. This movement back to the city has been promoted by both bottom-up and top-down interventions. The Maker Movement, start-ups tailored policy agendas and shared service accommodations set ups are all different facets of business regulations oriented to promoting entrepreneurial ventures as a way to trigger new economic growth in lagging urban environments. This paper looks at the case of Rome and compares it with other cases and policy interventions around the world. The results raise concerns about the efficacy of policy mobility in this connection. The planning system still fails to address the impact these activities might have settling on an existing urban fabric and giving new life to derelict areas of the city. The few implemented regeneration strategies that exist have mainly emulated past experiences of creative cities and clusters. Yet, from an economic point of view, start-ups have become the new panacea in neo-liberalised job markets. The remaking of new urban economies is influencing contemporary processes of regeneration in cities of both developed and developing world and a better understanding of its dynamics is needed to inform future policy making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In autumn 303 Diocletian visited Rome to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of his reign. Even though there is no explicit documentary confirmation, Constantine was most likely a member of his entourage. During this visit Constantine probably met Fausta, his future wife, and he would have learned about the city's new fortifications. He also could have met many important senators and their sons, and he would have evaluated Diocletian's behavior as a Tetrarchic emperor at Rome. This experience would strongly influence Constantine's own actions and policies when he returned to Rome in October 312. He defeated Fausta's brother, Maxentius, he promoted senators, and he expanded senatorial rank. He also adopted a "senatorial" style of emperorship that rejected or transformed aspects of Diocletian's Tetrarchic model of imperial rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Romanitas: Revista de Estudos Greco-Latinas is the property of Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Mommsen — followed more recently by Brennan and Ferrary — proposed that laws were passed in around 228 and in 198 that constitutionally ‘fixed’ Sicily and Sardinia, and later Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior, as praetorian prouinciae. This paper challenges that theory. It first examines the ancient evidence, comprising two ambiguous passages from Livy's Ab Vrbe Condita. It then offers a counter-hypothesis that elucidates the people's rôle in forestalling and/or resolving political disputes over the allocation of provincial commands. It will show that this rôle was crucial for mitigating the harmful effects of élite competition and, in turn, maintaining political stability in Rome. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The recent debate over "republican" conceptions of freedom as non-domination has reinvigorated philosophical discussions of freedom. However, "neo-Roman" republicanism, which has been characterized as republicanism that respects equality, has largely ignored the work of Alexis de Tocqueville, although he too took his task to be crafting a republicanism suited to equality. I therefore provide a philosophical treatment of the heart of Tocqueville's republicanism, including an analysis of his conception of freedom as freedom in combined action and a philosophical reconstruction of his primary argument for the importance of this kind of freedom. A comparison of Philip Pettit's and Tocqueville's republicanism exposes limitations in the neo-Roman conception of freedom as non-domination and its ideal of the free citizen and shows why neo-Roman republicanism, to live up to its motivating ideals, should accommodate elements of "neo- Athenian" republicanism and freedom in combined action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The New Romanian Civil Code introduces the landlord's legal obligation to maintain the property safe and free from health hazards (implied warranty of habitability). The present article offers an analysis of the concept of housing safety and also presents the historical evolution of the regulations surrounding this concept from the standpoint of two legal systems, the civil law and common law legal system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Romanian legislation should provide the possibility of compensation for procedures that take excessive time. Given that there are many similar cases based on requests made against Romania are currently pending before the Court concerning the excessive length of the criminal or civil procedure, the Court concluded that there is a systemic problem that requires the adoption of legislative reforms in Romania to ensure the right to a fair trial within a reasonable time. This was the conclusion in the case Vlad and others against Romania from November 23rd 2013 and now we face the same problem. The aspects which will be analyzed concern in particular the reasonableness of the length of proceedings that must be assessed taking into account the circumstances of the case and the following criteria: the complexity of the case, the conduct of the applicants and of the relevant authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pliny the Younger's letter to Trajan regarding the Christians is a crucial subject for the studies on early Christianity. A serious quarrel among scholars concerning its genuineness arose between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th; per contra, Plinian authorship has not been seriously questioned in the last few decades. After analysing various kinds of internal and external evidence in favour of and against the authenticity of the letter, a modern stylometric method is applied in order to examine whether internal linguistic evidence allows one to definitely settle the debate. The findings of this analysis tend to contradict received opinion among modern scholars, affirming the authenticity of Pliny's letter, and suggest instead the presence of large amounts of interpolation inside the text of the letter, since its stylistic behaviour appears highly different from that of the rest of Book X. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this article is to study the process of formalization of the res publica from the second to the first century bc. The first part analyzes the uncertainty of the res, defining it as the result of the interaction between citizens. The second part studies a shift in the description of the res publica: the passage from a division into partes to an approach in terms of formae. This evolution, which led to a reduction of its elements and a rationalization of its working, also reveals a will to put an end to conflicts. The mixed constitution and the ideological need for consensus became the new model for part of the elite. This process of reduction of the res publica ended with the Augustan invention of the SPQR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents views of historian Joachim Whaley, on the Roman Empire between 1493-1806. Various topics discussed include literary works on Empire's history, his focus on constitutional and political history, Jewish life in the Empire, its historiography and disintegration of territorial law in the region.

The article presents a report from a June 22-25, 2016 ancient political history conference in Dublin, Ireland on the life and legacy of Roman dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix. Topics of presentations delivered include the role of plebians in electing Sulla Felix, Sulla's military victories, and Sulla's military campaigns against Numidian king Jugurtha.

The paper investigates the social and political concept 'cum dignitate otium' in Cicero's writings. The concept is commonly translated as "leisure with dignity". The meaning is not so simple. The concept can be either a political or a social category. As a political category, 'cum dignitate otium' means "peace with dignity" that the best citizens, optimates, wealthy and powerful statesmen had in the Roman society of Cicero's times. It was optimates' activity contrasted to other people's activities. Cicero also used the concept 'cum dignitate otium' in a social sense. It meant "peaceful leisure full of studies" or "peace in private affairs". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Hellenistic Age the island of Rhodes stands at a superb economic and cultural and position in the Mediterranean, while Rome is the superpower that dominates the known world of the time, being an enormous empire state, an offspring of a realistic, enforceable legal and political thought. Quite apart from a naval, economic, political and cultural significant power the island of Rhodes becomes a land of education for many eminent Roman personalities. Molon Apollonius was a truly cult figure of Rhodes, a brilliant jurist, orator and teacher of diplomacy and rhetoric. He was recognized as a remarkably distinguished scholar of law, diplomacy and rhetoric even by the supreme Romans Julius Caesar and Cicero, who travelled to Rhodes exclusively in order to become his students. The Roman politicians acknowledging his skills and faculties offered him the rostrum to address the Roman Senate in Greek language, an unprecedented honour for a foreign diplomat from their provinces. And Cicero mentions: Graeca leguntur in omnibus fere gentibus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Roman persecution of Christians was sporadic and localised for much of the first three centuries of the church's existence, it is argued here that such persecution was nevertheless crucial in the creation and shaping of a distinct Christian identity. The primary deviance of the radical Jewish sect that had surrounded Jesus himself created a 'sticky reputation' that endured even when the church had become largely politically and socially conservative. Periodic outbreaks of violence towards those labelled Christians by the authorities created a transactional relationship, in which the victims and their co-religionists responded by the explicit adoption of a deviant identity and experienced the corollary reconstruction of the self in terms of attitudes, mores and affiliations (secondary deviance). This transaction halted a drift towards religious syncretism that might otherwise have seen Jesus take his place within the henotheistic Roman Pantheon, and thus ensured the survival of the Christian faith as monotheistic and oppositional to Roman religio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the civil wars in Rome due to conflicts between citizen armies from 88 BCE to 197 CE. Topics discussed include the Sullan war of 88 to 82 BCE, the Flavian war of 68-69, and the Severan war of 193-197 CE; political system and republican government during the years; and increasing tendency to settle political disputes with violence.

This paper examines the language of power and authority in the Italian Alps, after the Roman pacification of the area in 14 b.c. The focus of the examination is an arch set up at Segusio to Augustus by a local dynast named Cottius, which allows us to consider how the incorporation of the region into the Roman Empire was perceived and presented from a ‘local’ point of view, and how we might use our interpretations to construct ideas of identity and power relationships integral to early imperial provincial administration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An inscription found in Aphrodisias in 2014 is recognized as a fragment of a dossier concerning Diocletian's currency regulation. This dossier, probably consisting of two edicts and a letter, was inscribed on two blocks of the civic basilica wall. The new fragment belongs to the letter that accompanied the edicts. The reference to the diocese suggests that the letter was addressed to the rationalis of the diocese of Asia. The new fragment belongs to the bottom right corner of the upper block. Thus, it provides new possibilities for the reconstruction of the fragments of the upper block. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper situates Roman actions undertaken against Christians amidst an unofficial pattern of measures employed throughout the imperial period to manage the expanding influence of freelance religious experts. Questions about the historical circumstances of martyrdom or persecution tend to proceed from the assumption that Christians were perceived and dealt with as a distinct religious community. However, the penalties alleged by writers such as Paul and Justin were more commonly issued against self-authorized individuals (magi, astrologers, prophets, diviners, philosophers, and so forth) than against undifferentiated religious groups. Thus, I propose that Roman motivations for investigating and punishing Christians, at least in the first and second centuries, are best understood in relation to the wider phenomenon of freelance expertise and the range of concerns that it engendered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper offers a challenge to the conventional view of the lex sacrata which the Romans believed to have accompanied the establishment of the plebeian tribunate. According to most scholars, the lex sacrata was not technically a lex (law), but was rather an oath sworn by the plebs, enjoining them to protect the persons of the tribunes and to punish with death anyone who should harm the holders of this office. Originally it was only this oath that gave the tribunes their power, which developed into a true office of the Roman state only gradually. This interpretation serves as one of the major props in the widely-held interpretation of the early Roman Republic as being characterized by a "struggle of the orders" in which the plebeians formed a revolutionary "state within the state," separate and distinct from the legitimate state, which was controlled by the patricians. By reexamining the sources for the traditional interpretation of the lex sacrata, this paper shows that all of the evidence suggests that the lex sacrata which guaranteed the inviolability of the plebeian tribunes was, in fact, a law of the Roman community, and that there is little if any support for the "oath" interpretation. With this understanding, a major prop in the communis opinio about the early Republic is undermined. Finally, the paper offers an alternative hypothesis for the role of leges sacratae in the development of the Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of honour, pride and shame on the life aspects of the androcentric ancient Romans such as social, political and military. Topics discussed include the authoritative body that dominates the Roman political institution, the citizens' homosexual engagements, and the use of public shaming punishment in the military.

Julius Caesar and Cornelius Tacitus provide characterizations of early Germanic (barbarian) society around, respectively, 50 BC and 50 AD. The earlier date corresponds to expansion of Rome to the Rhine and Danube. During the subsequent century Germanic governance institutions changed in a number of ways. In particular, (1) temporary military commanders elected from the nobility gave way to standing retinues under the leadership of professional commanders, (2) public assemblies met more frequently and regularly, (3) councils made up of nobility gained agenda control in the assemblies, and (4) these councils relinquished their control over the allocations of land. I account for these constitutional exchanges in light of Rome's encroachment. This encroachment brought new sources of wealth as well as constraints on the expansion of Germans into new lands. Incentives favored a reallocation of resources away from pastoralism and towards both sedentary farming and raids across the frontier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information is provided regarding the summer school session "Political Participation: Ideas, Forms and Modes since Antiquity" held at Bielefeld University from May 18, 2015 to May 22, 2015. Topics include the political participation of immigrants, political participation during the archaic and classic periods of ancient Greece, and Roman citizenship during the late Republican period and in Imperial Rome. Presenting scholars included Uwe Walter, Oliver Panichi, and Umberto Mazzone.

This article examines constructions of Roman citizenship in Roman state art, arguing that beginning in the late republic a broader concept of citizenship was prevalent--one rooted largely in shared culture and defined in opposition to a "barbarian" other. From this reading of state art, two arguments emerge: First, the emphasis on enculturation created an ever-moving line between Roman and barbarian. Second, the subject position created subjected both the Roman viewer and non-Roman subject. The article then turns to a reading of Greek orator Aristides's Regarding Rome to show that the concept of citizenship stressed in state art is clearly present, though not necessarily well received. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the Roman Empire, the Greek elites expressed the greatest respect for the emperors and celebrated the advantages of Roman domination. But behind the brilliant façade, certain factors of complexity were at work. This article uses the notion of "figured speech" to detect covert advice or reservation in the works of Dio of Prusa, known as Dio Chrysostom, and Aelius Aristides, two important representatives of Greek literature and the so-called Second Sophistic (first to second century CE). By "figured speech" ancient rhetoricians meant the cases in which orators resorted to ruses to disguise their intentions, by using indirect language to get to the points they wanted to make. Our method consists of linking certain texts by Aristides and Dio and passages from theoretical treatises together to make clear the precise procedure of figured speech that is used in each case: eloquent silence, "the hidden key," blame behind praise, generalization, and speaking through a mask. Figured speech is an avenue of research that is opening up to interpret Greek rhetoric and literature better. The Greek case is particularly rich, and it could help analyze the return of the same phenomenon in other epochs and other cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Niccolò Machiavelli is the father of modern constitutionalism. Constitutionalism began anew in the modern world with the study of the ancient republics and it was Machiavelli who inaugurated this revived science of politics. Five hundred years after the composition of Il Principe and the Discorsi we are still working out the implications of applying reason to the structures of law and government in pursuit of justice and the common good. Modern constitutionalism and ancient republicanism share three central beliefs: first, that government should serve justice and the common good; second, that government should do so through known and stable laws; third, that these will best be secured through the checks and balances of a well-designed constitution. Machiavelli took the theories and experiences of republican Rome and applied them to his own era. This application of reason to constitutional design transformed the politics of emergent modernity and reconfigured government throughout the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historische Zeitschrift is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Evidence for the conflict between two rival candidates for the bishopric of Rome following the death of Zosimus at the end of 418 comes from a group of twenty-five letters, most of which are official letters to and from Emperor Honorius (the rest being from other imperial officials and the emperor's sister), all but one of which are found in the Collectio Avellana. Interestingly, we have nothing preserved from the two episcopal claimants about this matter. The group of letters chronicle imperial concern for the preservation of public order. Do we have here an example of imperial interference in episcopal elections in Rome? In this article a careful examination of the letters reveals that Honorius was concerned only that the Roman church's procedures had been followed ( Collectio Avellana, Ep. 15), which should determine who was lawful bishop. Sociological Conflict Theory is employed to investigate the nature of the evidence to address issues of the nature of the dispute and its participants, what values were contested, how it escalated, and how it was resolved. Such an approach makes clear that our evidence focuses on the role of the emperor and only incidentally tells us of the thinking and strategy of the two candidates. The final decision was made not on the merits of the candidates and the legality of one of the two elections, but upon Eulalius' violation of the conditions imposed upon the two rivals while the dispute was to be settled. Despite the emperor's concern only to facilitate the church settling this conflict itself, in the end it was an imperial measure that determined the outcome of the disputed election. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For Hannah Arendt, a twentieth-century German–American political theorist, there is probably no concept more distinctive to Roman politics, and more associated with the Roman senate, than auctoritas. In this article, I explore an ambiguity and tension that lies at the heart of auctoritas and of Roman republican politics: the tension between continuity and tradition, on the one hand, and authoring and augmenting, on the other hand. I look first at how Cicero and Sallust negotiated this tension. I then examine how Arendt looks to this past, seeing the breakdown of auctoritas as symptomatic of a more modern loss of memory, both of tradition and of the authoring spirit (even the revolutionary spirit) that gives rise to those traditions. The tension that exists in auctoritas, the question of how one can author within history, has implications for Arendt’s understanding of participatory politics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article discusses the views of late antique authors of the senatorial elite on the subject of the Republican institutions, in particular the assemblies and the Senate. It focuses mainly on the works of fourth- and sixth-century panegyrists and historians, pagans and Christians, belonging or close to the Roman senatorial elite. An insight into this topic is provided through the discussion of specific points, respectively: the memory of late Republican assemblies, the meaning of the consulship, the renewed role of the Senate in the body of the Empire, the interpretation of the Republic with itsexempla in the theory of the ages of Rome, and finally Boethius’s critique of the decadence of the Senate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The significance of the Roman Senate to the development of American institutions is a much-debated topic; and concentration on the details of constitutional organization can obscure broader questions of classical reception in American political thought. This article argues that direct influence of Roman forms on Americal political institutions is difficult to demonstrate, and in many cases the absence of such influence is obvious in the light of the actual forms adopted. The importance of Rome is evident, however, in the claims of eighteenth and nineteenth century American writers that their government drew on ancient models. This phenomenon is to be understood as an aspect of a wider debate about representation and the role of an aristocracy, in which ancient mixed-government theory could be presented as a valuable contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Senate was a central element in the political organization of Republican Rome, despite a considerable degree of imprecision over its exact functions and powers. As subsequent periods attempted to understand and use the Roman Republic, its Senate proved both a resource and an obstacle to that process, and its continuing importance in the reception history of Rome is to be understood in relation to the difficulty of reaching firm conclusions about what it could and could not do. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the reception of the Republican Senate in Rome during the Imperial age. Topics mentioned include the definition of the terms "Republic" and "Empire," the functions and differences between the Republican senate and the Imperial senate, and the writings and views of politicians and historians Tacitus and Pliny the Younger on the Senate and on the role of the emperor.