Tradução de Sobre a Natureza Humana, um texto em dialeto dórico transmitido unicamente por Estobeu (Eclogarum, I. 49.27) e atribuído a Aesara de Lucânia, pitagórico.

Summary This paper investigates the ties of the Statilius family to the Caesarian party and to Roman politics more generally during the last decades of the Roman Republic. After establishing the gens Statilia's origin and potential political position in Lucania, it contests earlier suppositions about what started the family's prominence in Rome proper. The paper argues that, instead of the Statilii catapulting into prominence at Rome during the time of the Augustan novus homo Titus Statilius Taurus, their involvement began (...) earlier, as part of the equestrian branch of the conspiratorial followers of Catiline, a datum which might provide enlightenment about the „missing clients“ of Julius Caesar's early career. (shrink)

Summary My paper aims to clarify the subsequent steps of Rome’s encroachment on Etruria in the aftermath of the Pyrrhic War. As is well known, the Latin colony of Cosa was founded in 273 BC on the Tyrrhenian coast to the north of Vulci; moreover, in the years 264–245 BC, four citizen colonies were founded on the Caeretan coast, namely Castrum Novum, Pyrgi, Alsium and Fregenae. Unfortunately, it is not easy to reconstruct precisely what the Roman movements in Etruria were, (...) or how the Etruscans reacted to them. Above all, it is difficult to determine whether a colonial foundation like Cosa – which was contemporary with the establishment of Paestum in Lucania – was part of a broader and coherent strategy that the Romans had been following in their expansion into the Italian peninsula. By evaluating all the available evidence, I will try to demonstrate that the foundation of Cosa depended more upon particular contingencies than upon any preconceived plan for the conquest of Italy. (shrink)