bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
‘Britannia Statim Omissa’
Authors: Macdonald George
Published: May 2006

Soon after the publication of my recent article on ‘The Dating-Value of Samian Ware’ I learned with much satisfaction that the attack I had endeavoured to meet was in reality no more than the preliminary bombardment of an isolated sector, and that it was to be followed very shortly by a general assault, in which no part of the front would be spared. This is what I have all along hoped for, having every confidence in the impregnability of the position. Nevertheless, hoste vicino, it may not be amiss to strengthen the defences by developing a line of evidence which has not yet been given the prominence to which it is entitled. I mean the literary tradition. Though accidental, the delay in dealing with it has been fortunate. In the interval the discussion has taken a turn which lends to the testimony of Tacitus a degree of significance that may well prove to be decisive, for it is Tacitus alone who counts. Before hearing what he has to say, it will be convenient to clear the ground by dismissing the less important witnesses.
The Legions of Diocletian and Constantine
Authors: Parker H. M. D.
Published: May 2006

In JRS xiii, 1923 (pp. 1–55), Dr. E. Nischer published a paper on ‘The Army Reforms of Diocletian and Constantine,’ in which, in opposition to the opinions of other scholars, including Mommsen, Seeck and Grosse, he attempted to prove that a proper appreciation of the reforms of the two Emperors could only be attained if a sharp distinction were drawn between their respective policies. According to this theory, Diocletian is the augmenter, Constantine the reformer, of the Roman military system, in the sense that the former doubled the number of existing legions, while the latter created the field-army of palatini and comitatenses by disbanding some of the frontier-legions and withdrawing detachments from others to form independent units in his new mobile army. In a note in JRS xv, 1925, Professor Norman Baynes suggested some general grounds for caution in the acceptance of Nischer's opinions, and it is the purpose of this paper to examine more closely the latter's arguments and, while rejecting part of his conclusions, to consider what inferences may safely be drawn from the evidence which we possess for the work of Diocletian and Constantine.
Oriental Senators in the Service of Rome: A Study of Imperial Policy down to the Death of Marcus Aurelius
Authors: Walton C. S.
Published: May 2006

The careers of Roman senators born in the Eastern half of the Empire are interesting and worthy of study for several reasons. They include men who influenced affairs in such different ways as Herodes Atticus and Avidius Cassius, and the rarity of the honour, in the earlier cases at least, led to an unusually large output of inscriptions which form a good source of information as well as an attractive field for conjecture. Besides this, the purely prosopographical interest, it is possible by following up and seeking to account for the gradual increase of the number in connection with other evidence, to supplement our rather meagre knowledge of life in the Greek East, and also, in the period before the death of M. Aurelius, to watch the working of the diarchy at a time when the Senate's prestige was at its highest and the emperors were most concerned to maintain its efficiency.
Notes on the Legislation of Julius Caesar
Authors: Cary M.
Published: May 2006

Discussion of this law (of which the text, so far as it survives, will be found in Bruns, Fontes Iuris Romani, 7th ed., pp. 95–6, or in C.Q. 1925, pp. 185–6) has recently been revived in a remarkable paper by E. Fabricius, in which it is contended that the measure did not form part of the agrarian and colonial legislation of Julius Caesar, as commonly supposed. According to Fabricius, the Lex Mamilia was carried in 109 B.C. by the tribune C. Mamilius Limetanus and by four of his colleagues of the above names; its purpose was primarily to delimit the whole ager privatus of Italy, so far as it had not been marked of by the Gracchan land-commissioners, and incidentally to regulate jurisdiction concerning disputed titles or boundary lines.
Air Reconnaissance in Britain, 1961–64
Authors: Joseph J. K. St.
Published: May 2006

Systematic air reconnaissance of Romano-British sites has continued during the last few years, with results that are summarized in this paper which supplements accounts of earlier surveys already published in this Journal. In both the summers of 1963 and 1964 a prolonged dry spell affected much of eastern Scotland, but this region apart, the weather was not particularly favourable for the development of crop marks in the period under review: the dry spell in central and southern England in 1964 came too late to affect the cereal crops, but was the cause of remarkable differential growth in certain roots, particularly beet.

The greatest gain in information is in the military zone of north Britain, where photography repeated year by year never fails to yield discoveries: in the civil districts of the Province, Romano-British settlements and their agriculture are the most rewarding subjects to study. Nearly every feature here described has been examined on the ground, for only so can an accurate impression be gained of a site in relation to its surroundings: except where noted otherwise, no remains are ordinarily visible on the surface. The records and photographs on which this account is based are housed in the offices of the Committee for Aerial Photography of the University of Cambridge.
The Treaty between Rome and the Achaean League
Authors: Badian E.
Published: May 2006

When the Achaeans, in 197 B.C., sent an embassy to Rome, they asked for the conclusion of a formal treaty of alliance, but the matter was held over by the Senate. In 183 we find an Achaean embassy in Rome to ‘renew the alliance,’ and from then on there is frequent mention of it; but we do not know when the treaty was actually concluded. Täubler thinks that the ‘renewal’ was really the first signing of a formal treaty; but this view is generally rejected, as he cannot demolish all the evidence for its existence before that date. Holleaux believes it was signed in 196, and this view is widely held. Aymard puts it in the winter of 194–3, Larsen between 196 and 193, and Horn some time before 189 (with a preference for an earlier date). It is the contention of this paper that careful examination of the evidence enables us to reject some of these proposed solutions as impossible; and that, within the resulting range of the possible, although we have not sufficient evidence for a positive conclusion, there are strong indications pointing towards a particular date.
The Consuls of A.D. 97: Addendum
Authors: Syme Ronald
Published: May 2006

No year can excite a sharper curiosity than that which was introduced by Nerva, the new Emperor, and L. Verginius Rufus, each holding the fasces for the third time. A small but significant fragment of the Ostian Fasti was recently discovered by G. Barbieri. It came too late to be used by A. Degrassi in his Fasti Consolari (1952), but that scholar was fortunately able to publish it in his ‘Aggiunte’ (p. 288), whence JRS XLIII (1953), 150, with brief comments. The fragment carries the names of three consuls, disposed vertically; it was assumed to be the right-hand side of a block, giving the second consul of three successive pairs; and it was reproduced as such. Meanwhile, however, Barbieri himself had published the fragment in the course of 1953.
Virgil and the Wooden Horse
Authors: Austin R. G.
Published: May 2006

In his play Dido Queen of Carthage, compassing Troy's fall, Aeneas' wanderings, and Dido's passion (with the curtain falling not on one corpse but on three), Marlowe makes his Dido say as she begs for the tale of Troy:

‘Many tales go of that city's fall,

And scarcely do agree upon one point:

Some say, Antenor did betray the town;

Others report, 'twas Sinon's perjury;

But all in this, that Troy is overcome,

And Priam dead.’
The Funerary Garden of Mousa Reconsidered
Authors: Fraser P. M. , Nicholas B.
Published: May 2006

The inscription which we published in this Journal, XLVIII, 1958, 117–129 (hereafter referred to as ‘F – N’) from a photograph, has now been collated by Fraser (June, 1961), and we offer here some improved readings, and consider their consequences (I). We also consider (II) some points raised by others.
Roman York: Excavations in 1955
Authors: Ramm H. G.
Published: May 2006

The excavation described below was undertaken by the writer on behalf of the Ministry of Works and the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, but the present article is his own sole responsibility.

The defences of the Legionary Fortress at York were first scientifically examined by the late S. N. Miller in 1925–8 and the report on the work in 1925–7 appeared in this Journal. As a result of his work we have a satisfactory framework into which to fit subsequent and previous discoveries. The structural sequence arrived at by Miller can be briefly summarized as follows:—

Period 1. A campaigning base deduced by Miller from occupation earth in what he considered to be part of the clay rampart of Period 2 and dated by him to the beginning of the governorship of Petillius Cerialis (A.D. 71–4).

Period 2. The first defences of which Miller recognized structural evidence consisted of a massive rampart of clay, dated by him to the close of the governorship of Cerialis.

Period 3. In the early part of the second century stone gates and towers were built and linked by a stone wall. The south-east gate was built in A.D. 108–9, but some work was still being done in Hadrian's reign. The clay bank of Period 2 remained behind the stone wall.

Period 4. At the end of the second century there was an extensive restoration under Severus. A new stone wall was built, at any rate on the south-east side, immediately behind the wall of Period 2 which was completely removed except for the foundations.

Period 5. At the turn of the third and fourth centuries the south-west and north-west sides and part of the north-east side were reconstructed, with projecting multangular corner and interval towers on the river front (fig. 9).
Arretine and early South Gaulish Potters
Authors: Oswald Felix
Published: May 2006

The influence of Arretine on early South Gaulish potters has often been assumed, but direct evidence has hitherto been obscure and difficult to establish. The present note with the accompanying comparative drawings of Arretine and South Gaulish pottery of the Tiberian-Claudian period provides some proof of this influence, which was probably established by direct immigration of certain potters from Arezzo to South Gaul. It is clearly shown in the close imitation of their decorative details by such early South Gaulish potters as Crestus (or Crestio), Senicio with the diminutive variety Seno, Stabilio (with his acanthus or demi-acanthus), Bilicatus, Licinus, etc., and many similar cases might also be cited.

Crestvs, South Gaulish potter shows a scene depicted on an Arretine vessel stamped M PERENN TIGRANI (fig. 15, 1), representing a Dionysiac sacrifice of a sucking pig by a Satyr with a short tail. He is standing on his left leg, his right foot crooked behind his right knee, and he stabs the pig's throat with a triangular knife while holding its right foot. Facing him is a woman, holding the other three legs of the pig; and, at her feet, is a bowl to receive the blood for ritual purposes. The bowl is flanked by stalked, slender flowers, as at Arezzo (Walters, BM, L 107 with acanthus). The same Dionysiac group occurs on a marble medallion in the Naples museum (Museo Borbonico (1843), XIII, Tav. XII).
Roman Gaul, 1940–1944
Authors: Lantier Raymond
Published: May 2006

The following pages contain a brief review of the discoveries made by French archaeologists during the difficult years of the German occupation of France.

Caesar's Gallic campaigns have inspired several important pieces of work in the field. New excavations have been undertaken at Gergovia on the ‘large’ and the ‘small’ camps as well as on the line of the double ditch joining them. These control excavations have made it possible to demonstrate the correctness of statements made by Colonel Stoffel, who had been commissioned by Napoleon III to discover traces of field-works undertaken in Caesar's campaigns. Excavations begun in the large camp at Le Bois-Des-Côtes, on the plateau of Nointel, near Clermont-de-l'Oise (Oise), were interrupted by the war. The discoveries have furnished evidence on ramparts, entrenchments, siege-works, and strategic roads, contemporary with the conquest.
Corrigenda
Authors: Toynbee J. M. C. , Baynes N. H.
Published: May 2006

1. Professor Alföldi and the Roman Contorniates. In a letter to the Editor of this Journal Professor Alföldi has pointed out that I misrepresented his remarks apropos of the New Year and Roman medallions on p. 40 of his Die Kontorniaten, when I stated (JRS 1945, 118) that he declares that all the bronze medallions were New Year gifts. This, I now see, certainly was an inaccurate statement, for which I owe Professor Alföldi an apology. For actually he allows that the medallionissues, once begun, could be extended to other imperial festivals (‘einmal angefangen konnte die Prägung solcher Medaillen auch auf andere Kaiserfeste ausgedehnt werden’). But he does say that we may seek the starting-point of the whole bronze medallion-series in ‘show’ New Year issues, which were thought of as artistic presents for persons of rank (‘wir möchten aber noch viel weiter gehen und den Ausgangspunkt der ganzen Medaillonprägung in Bronze in solchen prunkhaften Neujahrsprägungen suchen, die als kunstvolle Geschenke für vornehme Herren gedacht waren’). That a large proportion of the medallions, taken as a whole, were undoubtedly struck as New Year gifts I fully agree. I am not, however, convinced that we have evidence that the custom of giving New Year presents set going the whole idea of issuing medallions. Apart from Hadrian's silver Felicitas type, which may possibly refer to New Year luck, our earliest gold and silver pieces, of Augustus (Diana, Principes Iuventutis (if genuine)), Domitian (Minerva, Germania), Trajan (Adventus, Providentia Senatus), and Hadrian (Juppiter), contain no obvious New Year allusions; and of the earliest bronze types, those struck under Trajan and Hadrian, only a small proportion—four (New Year formula in wreath, Hadrian in zodiac frame with Seasons, Four Seasons, Tellus with Seasons) out of the seventy-four types known to me—seem to allude specifically to the calendar New Year, and the first two of these may allude to the regnal New Year. Some of the other types of these two Emperors may have been issued at the New Year, but we have no proof of it. There were other public and ceremonial occasions equally suitable for making presents of this kind. New Year allusions on medallions gather volume under Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, and Commodus; but not all of these can be connected with the calendar New Year, and types with a wide variety of other associations still abound. It was not only at the New Year that gifts of coins were made (Suet., Aug. 75); and there would seem to be no reason why a whole range of occasions and contexts, of which the New Year was but one, should not have been envisaged for medallion-issues from the start.
Naval Epitaphs from Misenum in the Nicholson Museum, Sydney
Authors: Fitzhardinge L. F.
Published: May 2006

Among the inscriptions acquired in Italy by Sir Charles Nicholson in the 1850's or 1860's is a small group of sepulchral texts referring to seamen of the Praetorian Fleet at Misenum.

These texts were published in 1945, with a brief commentary, by Mr. G. R. Manton, to whom I am indebted for first drawing my attention to them. They had been previously published, very inadequately, by Reeves in the Catalogue of the Museum of Antiquities of the Sydney University (1870), and four of the seven which compose the group are included (in one case from a very imperfect copy) in CIL x. Of these two are described as found ‘in agro Puteolano’, one ‘in agro Neapolitano’, and one at Misenum. Of the provenience of the remaining three and their history before passing into the hands of Sir Charles Nicholson no record can be traced. It is reasonable to suppose that, like other inscriptions in the collection, they come from the Naples region and ultimately, directly or indirectly, from the naval cemetery at Misenum.
The Latin Studies of Hermann and Wilamowitz
Authors: Fraenkel Eduard
Published: May 2006

A century ago, on the last day of 1848, there died Gottfried Hermann, the greatest classical scholar of his time. As a small token of homage to his memory some brief remarks on his contribution to the study of early Latin poetry may not be out of place here.

Hermann, who owes his fame to his work on Greek poetry, had a knowledge of the language of Rome and an instinctive sense of its potentialities such as few scholars possessed. He spoke and wrote Latin with lucidity, ease, and grace: it was to him the natural medium for the expression of his thought. A keen interest in Plautus had been roused in him at an early stage by his teacher Reiz, who was the first after an interval of darkness to rekindle Bentley's torch. Late in life, looking back over more than fifty years, Hermann said: ‘Plautum praeceptor meus Reizius pro sponsa mihi esse voluit.’ When Reiz was engaged in correcting the proofs of his edition of the Rudens he used the young Hermann as his amanuensis. Hermann (Elementa doctrinae metricae p. xiii) has left us a delightful picture of this collaboration: on the one side the elderly professor, all kindliness and modesty, distrustful of himself, relying on painstaking care and meticulous circumspection; on the other the impetuous youngster, impatient of tiresome hesitation and confident that his divination and his strong rhythmical instinct were enough to recover the metre and the true reading of a controversial passage.
Severan Art and Architecture at Lepcis Magna
Authors: Ward-Perkins J. B.
Published: May 2006

To the student of the art of imperial Rome, and in particular to the student whose views are founded on the monuments of Rome itself, the age of the Severi is often felt to be one of promise rather than fulfilment. It is not until the latter part of the third century, on the eve of the new age, that the pagan architecture of the imperial capital comes to its final, rich flowering in such monuments as the Aurelian Walls, the Baths of Diocletian, and the Basilica of Maxentius. The Baths of Caracalla, the additions to the Flavian Palace on the Palatine and the vanished Septizonium remind us that in the meanwhile monumental architecture was dormant only; but the centre of interest and of experiment has shifted to more practical fields; and it is rather to the houses and warehouses of Ostia that we have to look for evidence of the continued development of Roman architectural ideas. In the field of sculpture we are somewhat better served.
The God Nocturnus in Plautus' Amphitruo
Authors: Stewart Zeph
Published: May 2006

In the opening scene of Plautus' Amphitruo the slave Sosia, sent ahead in the night to announce his master's return, approaches Amphitruo's house, where Mercury is awaiting him. In the course of the prologue (113–4) Mercury has already explained that Jupiter has lengthened the night to allow himself a longer stay with Alcumena. Sosia, soliloquizing, suddenly looks up and notices that the stars are not moving; unheard by Sosia, Mercury comments on his words:—

Sosia: Certe, edepol, si quicquamst aliud quod credam aut certo sciam, credo ego hac noctu Nocturnum obdormiuisse ebrium. nam neque se Septentriones quoquam in caelo commouent, neque se Luna quoquam mutat atque uti exorta est semel, nee Iugulae neque Vesperugo neque Vergiliae occidunt. ita statim stant signa, neque nox quoquam concedit die.
Two Archaic Inscriptions from Latium
Authors: Weinstock Stefan
Published: May 2006

This inscription (pl. XII, 1, 2), a dedication to Castor and Pollux, the Kouroi, was found in 1959 during Professor F. Castagnoli's and Dr. L. Cozza's excavations at Pratica di Mare, the site of ancient Lavinium, by the eighth of a series of thirteen altars. It has been published by Castagnoli with a valuable commentary. It is engraved on a bronze tablet (29 cm. by 5 cm.), reads from right to left, and is attributed by Castagnoli, with reference to the inscriptions of the Forum (CIL 12, 1 = ILS 4913 = Degrassi 3) and of Tivoli (CIL 12, 2658 = Degr. 5), to the fifth century B.C. Another more recent inscription engraved on a bronze tablet of the same size was found a few years ago in the same place: ‘Cerere auliquoquibus/Vespernam poro.’
On the Foundation of Constantinople: A Few Notes
Authors: Alföldi A.
Published: May 2006

The literary sources relating to the foundation of Constantinople can be evaluated afresh if the numismatic material is reconsidered. On this subject O. Voetter, J. Maurice, and O. Seeck have already done valuable work; yet it would bear further study.

Everyone knows the little bronze coins struck on the occasion of the foundation of Constantinople on 11th May, 330, one type of which commemorates Constantinople as the mistress of the seas, while another portrays the old capital, recalling the legend of its origin, with the wolf and twins. The significance of these twin types can be grasped better in a still larger issue struck at the same time. Maurice classed these coins in the larger issue which bear the bust of Rome as having been struck at Rome, and those bearing that of Constantinople as having been struck in the latter city; and this incorrect classification has obscured the parallelism of the type, which was of great importance for imperial propaganda. It is clear that both groups were struck at Rome in the same issue.
Roman History, 58–56 B.C.: Three Ciceronian Problems
Authors: Balsdon J. P. V. D.
Published: May 2006

Est postridie decretum in curia, populi ipsius Romani, et eorum qui ex municipiis convenerant admonitu, ne quis de caelo servaret, ne quis moram ullam adferret. Pro Sestio, 129.

Time and again Cicero abused Clodius for having, in his tribunate, both rescinded the lex Aelia Fufia of 153 B.C. and also destroyed the censorship. The ‘destruction of the censorship’ was, in fact, a seemingly just and reasonable bill to the effect that for the future no senator might be expelled from the Senate unless, after he had been given the opportunity of answering the charges against him, both censors were in agreement over his expulsion. It would, therefore, be reasonable to suppose that the ‘rescinding of the lex Aelia Fufia’, too, was far less drastic a measure than Cicero's vituperative language implies, even if there was not, as there is, abundant evidence in the years following Clodius' tribunate that the lex Aelia Fufia remained on the statute book.
The Casting Technique of Romano-British Lead Ingots
Authors: Whittick G. Clement
Published: May 2006

The striations visible on the side and end surfaces of Romano-British ingots of lead aroused comment at an early date. They have sometimes been explained in the past as caused by the grain of wood used as a pattern for the mould—an explanation which neither accords well with their actual appearance as seen on many ingots nor with a variety of technical evidence now available which leads to the almost certain conclusion that the moulds were made of smoothed clay: but more generally the striations have been held to prove that casting was done plecemeal by the ladling of a series of small batches of metal into the mould, and early writers thus claim to have discerned from nine or ten up to twenty-seven or thirty ‘layers’ produced in ingots by such a method. This was the view categorically stated by W. Gowland in his important study of Roman lead at the beginning of this century: ‘Roman lead smelting furnaces used in Britain did not possess tap-holes, but … the lead was taken out … by means of a ladle,’ and he went on to say that the structure of many of the ingots reveals that they ‘consist not of solid blocks of lead, but of a series of distinct layers, tolerably uniform in thickness, which can be more or less easily separated from one another. Such a structure can only have been produced by pouring the lead into the mould in successive portions with a sufficient interval of time between each to allow of one solidifying before the next was added’.
The Hippodrome at Thessaloniki
Authors: Vickers Michael
Published: May 2006

The hippodrome at Thessaloniki is well known as the scene of the bloodbath of A.D. 390, so vividly described by Gibbon. This occurred when the emperor Theodosius, enraged that his magister militum Buthericus had been killed in a riot, enticed people into the hippodrome by the promise of games, and had between 7,000 and 15,000 put to death. But apart from the events connected with this incident, the ancient sources are silent concerning the hippodrome (with the exception of a single inscription which will be discussed below). This important monument of the ancient city must be reconstructed indirectly, therefore, by employing the accounts of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century travellers, and by examining recent archaeological finds in the light of the mediaeval city-plan and of what is known of hippodromes elsewhere in the Roman world.
The Composition of the Historia Augusta: Recent Theories
Authors: Syme Ronald
Published: May 2006

The student of the Roman Empire cannot do without the HA. For the years 117–284 it is the sole Latin source of any compass. Hence a double challenge. First, to segregate fact from fiction. Second, to ascertain the purpose and date of the enigmatic product. If that were done the result would contribute to understanding another period of imperial history.

In the process, in the long controversy that began in 1889 (the epochal year of Hermann Dessau) the literary approach suffered neglect and obscuration. It would have been advisable to start from structure, composition and authorship. The larger part of the HA is fabrication. If the inventions were put under scrutiny, the path lay open to uncover the manner and methods of the imposture, to deduce a personality—and to divine a purpose, if any.
Sabazius and the Jews in Valerius Maximus: a Re-examination
Authors: Lane Eugene N.
Published: May 2006

There has long been accepted as a fact in the study of the cult of Sabazius an ostensible reference to Jews who, as early as 139 B.C., worshipped Sabazius, and were expelled from Rome by the praetor peregrinus Cornelius Hispalus. The source of this information is often given without qualification as Valerius Maximus, 1, 3, 2. Even Eisele's thorough and generally sceptical article, s.v. ‘Sabazius’, in Roscher's Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (1909), accepts the statement and gives the usual indication of its source. The passage is generally cited as follows:

Cn. Cornelius Hispalus praetor peregrinus, M. Popilio Laenate, L. Calpurnio consulibus, edicto Chaldaeos citra decimum diem abire ex urbe atque Italia iussit, levibus et ineptis ingeniis fallaci siderum interpretatione quaestuosam mendaciis suis caliginem inicientes. Idem Iudaeos, qui Sabazi Iovis cultu Romanos inficere mores conati erant, repetere domos suas coegit.
‘Imperial’ Rescripts A.D. 193–305: Authorship and Authenticity
Authors: Honoré Tony
Published: May 2006

This article summarizes some of the results of an inquiry into third-century rescripts which has been proceeding for the last seven years but of which nothing has so far been published. The main source, the Codex Justinianus, contains some 2491 items dated between A.D. 193, when we first have a substantial number of texts, and 305, which are certainly or probably private rescripts, as I shall call them, i.e. subscriptiones. These were written answers given by the emperor to petitions by private individuals on points of law. If these written answers, which were in some sense the concern of the imperial office a libellis, are reassembled from the titles under which they are grouped in the Codex, and are read in complete chronological order, the reader is struck by the fact that their style is consistent over a period which varies from a few months to several years.
The periods of consistent style, however, do not coincide with the reign of a particular Augustus or Augusti. Some twenty such periods and hence some twenty third-century composers of rescripts, who are clearly not emperors, can be distinguished in this way. In half a dozen cases there is evidence, again drawn from the style of composition, that the composer is one of the jurists known to us independently from the pages of Justinian's Digest; for example, Papinian, Ulpian, Menander, Modestinus or Hermogenianus. In two cases the evidence for the identification is set out in some detail below. It seems, therefore, that the composition of rescripts of any importance was the responsibility of professional lawyers, acting in their capacity of imperial secretaries a libellis, an office which Papinian at least is known to have held.
The Authorship of the Historia Augusta: Two Computer Studies
Authors: Marriott Ian
Published: May 2006

The most widespread and best-known use of computers in stylistic analysis has been in the attempts to resolve questions of disputed authorship. Here, the computer's ability to store the whole known corpus of an author's work and to compare it with the disputed work in many ways which would be inexpressibly tedious, if not impossibly lengthy, by hand, is an invaluable aid. Many studies have been carried out on classical texts where the authorship is doubtful, but these studies have most often had undisputed texts against which a disputed work could be compared. The Historia Augusta presents a different situation: there are six ‘authors’ to whom varying amounts of the work are assigned.
The Religious Position of Livy's History
Authors: Liebeschuetz W.
Published: May 2006

The History of Livy is extraordinarily full of references to the gods and their worship. In this way it differs strikingly from the writings of Sallust and Tacitus, not to mention the Commentaries of Caesar. This fact has been interpreted in various ways. Kajanto has argued that, the frequent references to religious matters notwithstanding, events in Livy's History are mainly determined by human beings, not by gods and fate. Bayet sees in Livy a pure agnostic who has grasped the importance of the religious factor in history. On the other hand, Stübler maintains that Livy was traditionally orthodox and supplemented tradition with a belief in the mission of the emperor Augustus as a god and son of a god to save Rome. An intermediate position is taken up by Walsh who sees in Livy a Stoic who can continue to respect traditional beliefs and practices because they have been given a symbolic place in a comprehensive philosophical system.
Promotion and Patronage in Equestrian Careers
Authors: Saller R. P.
Published: May 2006

In general histories of the Principate a prominent place is often given to the growth of bureaucracy, characterized especially by the equestrian procuratorial service. Along with a growth in size, it is said, came the development of an organization regulated by guidelines—the ‘formation of the rigid framework of a civil service, one that was to a certain extent more and more impersonal’. Thus, with regard to promotion, ‘the procurator's career had a precise promotion ladder, on which the scale of remuneration conferred a surprisingly modern character’. This view carries with it wide-ranging general and specific implications. It suggests that Roman government of the early empire reached a fairly sophisticated level of rational organization in which friendship and patronage, so vital to the workings of Republican politics, declined in importance, as bureaucratic rules played an increasingly decisive role in the appointment and promotion of procurators. More specifically, it has been thought that once the rules have been discovered, missing steps in individual careers can be interpolated with confidence.
People in Pliny
Authors: Syme Ronald
Published: May 2006

Alluding to the scanty sources for the reign of Trajan, the historian Gibbon came out with a melancholy pronouncement: ‘the glimmerings of an abridgement or the doubtful light of a panegyric’. Gibbon's mind was on warfare and government. A later age is drawn to a wider and more subtle theme: the study of society. A document of unique value exists, the correspondence of Pliny. It illuminates class and rank and behaviour—and a whole region of Northern Italy. For other lands of the Roman West the evidence is poor and scattered. The written record has little more to disclose than the families of Seneca and Julius Agricola or the pedigree of the Antonine emperors. One has recourse to inscriptions and the study of nomenclature.

Pliny reveals persons of all orders, from consular magnates to small men and local friends. He also covers a wide range in time, from several long-lived survivors who had come to manhood under Claudius and Nero to youths of predictable promise whose consulates would adorn the first years of Trajan's successor. Further, the interrelation with other types of evidence is highly instructive. The information is abundant enough to permit some negative inferences. It is worth giving a thought to categories and groups that are absent from the correspondence or sparsely on show. Other ‘circles’ may therefore be surmised in the life of the capital. The categories are both social and regional. Certain cities of the North happen to make no contribution.
Sponsione Provocare: Its Place in Roman Litigation
Authors: Crook John
Published: May 2006

Two of the Herculaneum Tablets, though fragmentary and obscure, furnish evidence that justifies a re-examination of the role played in Roman law and society by the institution which is the subject of this paper:

Tab. Herc. LXXXIII:

L. V[e]nidius En[ny]chus testand[i ca]usa dixs[i]t

[L.] An[n]io Rufo se honoris ius emerere [ut]

si vellet ex numero decurionum aut au[gus]-

talium nominatis a se decem de petition[ibus]

nostris discep[t]atorem dicas ra[t]ione posc[

[…]e H[S] M[‐]me sibi debere s[t]i[puletur] …

LXXXIV:

…] quem et superius nom[i]-

n[a]s[ti…] Fes[ti]nium Proculum

disc[e]ptatorem paratus sum ire,

si minus necessario c[oa]ctus a te spo(n)-

sionem tecum faciam. VAC.
A Roman Representation of the ΚΕΡΑΜΟΣ ΤΡΩΙΚΟΣ
Authors: Crawford Michael
Published: May 2006

The denarii of M'. Fonteius, to be dated about 107 B.C., fall into two basic varieties, the first much more common than the second:

The heads of the Dioscuri on the obverse of the first variety presumably allude to the Tusculan origin of the moneyer, the ship perhaps to the transmarine origin of the family of the founder of Tusculum; but the symbolism of the second variety, for reasons which are unclear, is considerably more complex. The letters P P are generally held to stand for Penates Publici (rather than pecunia publica) and the obverse type is interpreted as reflecting the identification of the Dioscuri and the Penates. The arguments normally advanced for this view, however, are not entirely cogent.
Electoral Bribery in The Roman Republic
Authors: Lintott Andrew
Published: May 2006

In Western Europe to-day we tend to assume automatically that electoral bribery is pernicious, in that it distorts the democratic process, the selection by the people of their own representatives, by shifting whatever power lies in the generality of the electorate back into the hands of the people who seek office, so that a democratic procedure becomes in effect oligarchic. We even term bribery the presentation of attractive policies to the electorate by a person or party, which we believe will not be in the people's long-term interest or will be rapidly discarded in favour of policies which suit those in power. Such judgements may be superficial and too dependent on the presumption that without bribery elections will be free. It is arguable that in specific societies and in specific historical contexts bribery may on the contrary make elections less predictable, dissolving the existing ties by which the electorate are already bound to those seeking office, rather than reinforcing them. Alternatively, bribery may be regarded as an accepted part of the political scene, which does not materially affect the result of elections and thus the course of political history. In Roman politics it is hard to refute the suggestion that the sort of people who actually held magistracies was not seriously influenced by electoral bribery, even though on occasions this may have determined that one man rather than another should be consul or praetor.
Roman Inscriptions 1986–90
Authors: Gordon Richard , Beard Mary , Reynolds Joyce , Roueché Charlotte
Published: May 2006

This survey does not aim at completeness. It is a personal selection, on the one hand, of recent epigraphic work which is of significance and interest to an ancient historian, and, on the other hand, of those epigraphic ‘tools of the trade’ which are important for anyone trying to interpret an inscription. But we start with some more narrowly epigraphic topics.

If the death of Louis Robert and concern for the future of theBulletin épigraphiqueovershadowed the last review, it is fitting that this should begin with the good news of the rebirth of theBulletin, produced since 1987 by an international, although largely French, team of specialists and edited by Ph. Gauthier. The archicubal verve may be missing, but the coverage of the new version is good and adds usefully to that of the old.
Petitio et Largitio: Popular Participation in the Centuriate Assembly of the Late Republic
Authors: Yakobson Alexander
Published: May 2006

It seems to be generally accepted that electoral bribery, together with various other forms of munificence aimed at securing electoral advantage, was widespread in the late Republic. The sources repeatedly describe how the magistracies of the Republic were sought and won by providing feasts, entertainment, and often money, to the urban plebs. At the same time, the centuriate assembly, which elected the higher magistrates, is generally thought to have been dominated by the rich. The urban plebs, according to the prevailing view, was ‘practically disfranchised’ in this assembly.
Nepos and the Generals
Authors: Dionisotti A. C.
Published: May 2006

This paper begins in the year 1569, when a hefty commentary on the Lives of Cornelius Nepos was published in Paris by one of the Royal Professors, Denys Lambin (known to classicists as Lambinus). The event intrigued me for two reasons. Firstly because, in France at that time, history was not a proper subject for professors. A professor could deal in Greek and Latin poetry, in oratory, philosophy, maths or Hebrew, or of course in the degree subjects theology, medicine and law; but history, including ancient history, was mostly a popular interest among the cultured ruling class, who preferred to read it in elegant vernacular versions, like Amyot's Diodorus and Plutarch, not in the dusty didactic form of text and commentary. So why did a professor, famous for his work on poetry and philosophy, suddenly devote himself to Nepos? The second puzzle was that, within weeks of publishing this commentary, Lambinus was violently attacked for it, and came close to losing both his job and his life. How, I wondered, could commenting on Nepos so seriously endanger the health?
Phenology of Festuca pallescens in relation to topography in north‐western Patagonia
Authors: Bertiller Monica B. , Irisarri Maria P. , Ares Jorge O.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. The phenological changes in populations of Festuca pallescens (St. Yves) Parodi at different topographic positions and exposure along an altitudinal gradient (600 ‐ 1100 m) were investigated during two growing seasons in northwestern Patagonia. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to describe the relationship between phenology and environment during the entire growing season. Analysis of variance was also performed at each sample date to detect significant environmental factors influencing phenology at different sites. The sum of maximum air temperatures was identified as the environmental variable best correlated with the seasonal variation of phenological events of Festuca pallescens over the period of two growing seasons, explaining 93.2 % of the total variance.

Significant differences between sites were observed at each sample date. Main effects of altitude and topographic position and two‐way interactions between altitude and topographic position, and topographic position and exposure were also detected as significant. Phenology was delayed at increased altitude.

Differences in phenology between topographic sites at the same altitude were not detected during the entire growing season and were only observed in the reproductive phase. At this time, the phenology was significantly delayed at high topographic positions on the slopes as compared with low and mid positions. At high altitudes in the valley (950 m a. s. 1.), where steep slopes and humid conditions prevail, phenology was delayed on western exposures and low positions. The results adequately summarize and quantify the effect of spatial and temporal environmental variation on the phenological development of Festuca pallescens in northwestern Patagonia.
Vegetation patterns and nutrient status of two mixed mires in the southern Alps
Authors: Gerdol Renato
Published: May 2006

Abstract. Two mixed‐mire complexes in the southern Alps (Italy) were analyzed for vegetation patterns and water and peat chemistry. Six vegetation units were distinguished, representing three phytosociological orders, the Sphagnetalia magellanici, Scheuchzerietalia palustris and Caricetalia fuscae. Boundaries between these units are sharp and marked by difference in calcium concentrations in mire water and pH values. Relatively high Ca concentrations (up to 150 |j.eq/l) were measured at ombrotrophic sites. They mirror similarly high concentrations in precipitation and are probably correlated with dry deposition of calcium‐rich particles. Phosphorous appears to be the main differentiating nutrient between the units; no significant differences are found for nitrogen. The vegetation is mainly characterized by the distributional pattern of Caricetalia fuscae species, being restricted to minerotrophic sites.
Reproductive biology in a tropical shrubland of Venezuelan Guayana
Authors: Ramirez Nelson
Published: May 2006

Plant sexual systems were evaluated in a tropical shrubland community of Venezuelan Guayana. Of 89 plant species, 73.0% were hermaphrodite, 12.4% monoecious, 10.1 % submonoecious, and 4.5 % dioecious. Temporal variation of sexual expression showed that hermaphrodite species were mostly adichogamous and monoecious, submonoecious species dichogamous (protandrous andprotogynous). Herkogamy was an important mechanism promoting cross‐pollination. Of 38 hermaphrodite species, 39.5 % were herkogamous. Plant sexual systems were not associated with life form. Most species were pollinated mostly by large and medium‐size bees. Pollinator specificity and pollen load transportation, were higher for monoecious species than for hermaphrodite, submonoecious and dioecious ones. Both pollinator specificity and pollen transportation were not significantly different among representatives of the latter three sexual systems. Plant sexual systems were significantly associated with dispersal syndromes; dioecious species had bird‐dispersal syndromes, the other sexual systems mostly anemochory, epizoochory and endozoochory; but many hermaphrodites were anemochorous.
BOOK REVIEWS
Authors: Stohlgren Thomas J.
Published: May 2006

Holland, M. M., Risser, P. G. & Naiman, R. J. (eds.) 1991. Ecotones: The Role of Landscape Boundaries and Restoration of Changing Environments.

Goldammer, J. G. (ed.) 1990. Fire in the Tropical Biota. Ecosystem Processes and Global Challenges.
Floristic fluctuations in annual pastures: the role of competition at the regeneration stage
Authors: Peco B. , Espigares T.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. Many studies have shown the existence of large between‐year fluctuations in the floristic composition of annual Mediterranean pastures, and these fluctuations have been linked to autumn rainfall patterns. It has been postulated that differing interannual weather patterns may play a decisive role in competitive processes, especially during the period of germination and seedling establishment. Removal experiments in conjunction with rainfall manipulation in a phytotron were conducted to test whether competition affects germination and seedling mortality under different autumn rainfall patterns, in pastures at three successional stages after last being ploughed.

Early and late autumn rains affect the floristic composition as certain species germinate better under certain conditions than others in each successional stage. In general, however, competition is not manifested through the inhibition of new germination once the space has been occupied, and density‐dependent mortality is found only for a few species.
Spatio‐temporal patterns in post‐burn succession on Brittany heathlands
Authors: Gloaguen J. C.
Published: May 2006

Heathlands in the Paimpont area, Brittany, were ravaged by numerous fires in the summer of 1976. The period in which the fires occurred, and their intensity had important consequences for recolonization processes. In the tall Ulex europaeus heathland described in this paper, fire occurred relatively late (mid‐July), and was of high intensity. Colonisation was mainly from propagules, often from species foreign to the original heathland.

Plant succession together with vertical and horizontal structure was studied in permanent plots over 13 yr. Three stages were distinguished. Vertical structure varied greatly among the three stages. It was very simple in the colonisation phase, became more complicated during the competition phase, but became simpler again in the stabilisation phase. This was particularly evident for the moss layer, which, 13 yr after the fire, was made up of Polytrichum commune alone. Mosses showed interspecific competition with size as the decisive factor: the large mosses gradually eliminated the smaller ones.

Horizontal structure was studied using spatial autocorrelation, which provided some indication of the distinctive ‐ness and scale of spatial pattern. Some species were weakly aggregated such as Ceratodon purpureus, Polytrichum pili‐ferum, and P. juniperinum, whileothers, like the P. formosum‐P. commune complex, Agrostis curtisii and Ulex minor were strongly aggregated.

In the current community, 13 yr after the fire, a mosaic can be distinguished with three components: (1) a moss layer of Polytrichum commune on which a herbaceous layer, dominated by Agrostis curtisii has developed; (2) a birch wood (both Betulapéndula and B. pubescens), which established on the Polytrichum ‐ Agrostis combination; (3) patches of Ulex minor heathland, with a few Frica and Calluna plants.

Extreme simplicity and stability are the two prominent features of the present vegetation state.
BOOK REVIEWS
Authors: van Andel Jelte
Published: May 2006

Book reviewed in this article:

Pyšek, P., Prach, K., Rejmánek, M. & Wade, M. (eds.) 1995. Plant Invasions ‐ General aspects and special problems. xi+263 pp., with subject index and index of taxa. SPB Academic Publishing, Amsterdam. ISBN 90‐5103‐097‐5. Price: USD 50.‐.; NLG 80.‐.