It is that, for example, we can see in Cicero, Rhetorica Ad Herennium, 4,9,13:

Our discourse will belong to the Middle type if, as I have said above,'' we have somewhat relaxed our style, and yet have not escended to the most ordinary prose, as follows :

Men of the jury, you see against whom we are waging war — against allies wlio have been wont to light in our defence, and together with us to preserve our empire by their valour and zeal. Not only must they have known themselves, their resources, and their manpower, but their nearness to us and their alliance with us in all affairs enabled them no less to learn and appraise the power of the Roman people in every sphere. When they had resolved to fight against us, on what, I ask you, did they rely in presuming to undertake the war, since they understood that much the greater part of our allies remained faithful to duty, and since they saw that they had at hand no great supply of soldiers, no competent commanders, and no public money — in short, none of the things needful for carrying on the war ? Even if they were waging war with neighbours on a question of boundaries, even if in their opinion one battle would decide the contest, they would yet come to the task in every way better prepared and equipped than they are now. It is still less credible that with such meagre forces they would attempt to usurp that sovereignty over the whole world which all the civilized peoples, kings, and barbarous nations have accepted, in part compelled by force, in part of their own will, when conquered either by the arms of Rome or by her generosity. Some one will ask :  What of the Fregellans ? Did they not make the attempt on their own initiative ? ' Yes, but these allies would be less ready to make the attempt precisely because they saw how the Fregellans fared." For inexperienced peoples, unable to find in history a precedent for every circumstance, are through imprudence easily led into error; whilst those who know what has befallen others can easily from the fortunes of these others draw profit for their own policies.'' Have they, then, in taking up arms, been impelled by no motive ? Have they relied on no hope ? Who will believe that any one has been so mad as to dare, with no forces to depend on, to challenge the sovereignty of the Roman people ? They must, therefore, have had some motive, and what else can this be but what I say ? "  (Translated by Harry Caplan)

In mediocri figura versabitur oratio, si haec, ut ante dixi, aliquantum demiserimus neque tamen ad infimum descenderimus, sic:

«Quibuscum bellum gerimus, iudices, videtis: cum sociis, qui pro nobis pugnare et imperium nostrum nobiscum simul virtute et industria conservare soliti sunt. Ii cum se et opes suas et copiam necessario norunt, tum vero nihilominus propter propinquitatem et omnium rerum societatem, quid omnibus rebus populus Romanus posset, scire <et> existimare poterant. Ii, cum deliberassent nobiscum bellum gerere, quaeso, quae res erat, qua freti bellum suscipere conarentur, cum multo maximam partem sociorum in officio manere intellegerent? Cum sibi non multitudinem militum, non idoneos imperatores, non pecuniam publicam praesto esse viderent? Non denique ullam rem, quae res pertinet ad bellum administrandum? Si cum finitumis de finibus bellum gererent, si totum certamen in uno proelio positum putarent, tamen omnibus rebus instructiores et apparatiores venirent; nedum illi imperium orbis terrae, cui imperio omnes gentes, reges, nationes partim vi, partim voluntate consenserunt, cum aut armis aut liberalitate a populo Romano superati essent, ad se transferre tantulis viribus conarentur. Quaeret aliquis: Quid? Fregellani non sua sponte conati sunt? Eo quidem isti minus facile conarentur, quod illi quemadmodum discessent videbant. Nam rerum inperiti, qui unius cuiusque rei de rebus ante gestis exempla petere non possunt, ii per inprudentiam facillime deducuntur in fraudem: at ii, qui sciunt, quid aliis acciderit, facile ex aliorum eventis suis rationibus possunt providere. Nulla igitur re inducti, nulla spe freti arma sustulerunt? Quis hoc credet, tantam amentiam quemquam tenuisse, ut imperium populi Romani temptare auderet nullis copiis fretus? Ergo aliquid fuisse necessum est. Quid aliud, nisi id, quod dico, potest esse?»

This is that Ovid says on several occasions. Thus in Fasti, 1, 75 et seq. about the celebrations of January 1 to the god Janus:

Behold how Aether glows with sacred fire,
Where incense and odorous nard aspire ;
How lambent flames all tremulously rolled
Up to thy dome, reflect from burnished gold.
Lo! the procession mounts Tarpeia's height;
The garb and festival are sacred white ;
New fasces lead the way ; in purple dye
New consuls in the chairs of ivory.
The unyoked steers, from the Faliscan plain, 
Proffer their necks consentant to be slain ;
And Jupiter from heaven gazing round
Begardeth nothing else, but Boman ground.
Salve, auspicious morn! for ever aye
Return to Romans an auspicious day. 
Jane biformis, what shall I call thee ?
Greece, has no corresponding deity.
Propound the cause, why of Celestials one
May see behind his back the deed that's done,
And at the same time view events before. 
(By Jonh Benson Rose. 1866)

cernis odoratis ut luceat ignibus aether,              
     et sonet accensis spica Cilissa focis?
flamma nitore suo templorum verberat aurum,
     et tremulum summa spargit in aede iubar.
vestibus intactis Tarpeias itur in arces,
     et populus festo concolor ipse suo est,              
iamque novi praeeunt fasces, nova purpura fulget,
     et nova conspicuum pondera sentit ebur.
colla rudes operum praebent ferienda iuvenci,
     quos aluit campis herba Falisca suis.
Iuppiter arce sua totum cum spectet in orbem,              
     nil nisi Romanum quod tueatur habet.
salve, laeta dies, meliorque revertere semper,
     a populo rerum digna potente coli.
Quem tamen esse deum te dicam, Iane biformis?
     nam tibi par nullum Graecia numen habet.              
ede simul causam, cur de caelestibus unus
     sitque quod a tergo sitque quod ante vides.

And then, a little later:

The Orbs is Urbs Romana, and our home.

Romanae spatium est Urbis et orbis idem.

Fasti 2, 667 y ss.

What happened when the Capitol was built ?
When all the gods, yielding to Jove, withdrew,
Save Terminus, the ancients tell us, who
Now shares that fane with Jove : therefore its roof
Is pierced that he may see the stars aloof.
Since then, Termine, thou art not free 
To chop and change about in levity :
Where thou art placed remain, lest so it prove
Thou giv'st to man what thou deny'st to Jove.
If plough or harrow hurtle thee, cry out, 
" This land is mine ; friend, mind what you're about."
There is a road on the Laurentian plain
That marked the limits of the Dardan reign ;
The sixth stone from the city marks the way,
And there a sheep to Terminus we slay.
All nations have their termini, save Rome : 
The Orbs is Urbs Romana, and our home.
(By Jonh Benson Rose. 1866)

quid, nova cum fierent Capitolia? nempe deorum
     cuncta Iovi cessit turba locumque dedit;
Terminus, ut veteres memorant, inventus in aede
     restitit et magno cum Iove templa tenet.              
nunc quoque, se supra ne quid nisi sidera cernat,
     exiguum templi tecta foramen habent.
Termine, post illud levitas tibi libera non est:
     qua positus fueris in statione, mane;
nec tu vicino quicquam concede roganti,              
     ne videare hominem praeposuisse Iovi:
et seu vomeribus seu tu pulsabere rastris,
     clamato "tuus est hic ager, ille tuus".'
est via quae populum Laurentes ducit in agros,
     quondam Dardanio regna petita duci:              
illa lanigeri pecoris tibi, Termine, fibris
     sacra videt fieri sextus ab Urbe lapis.
gentibus est aliis tellus data limite certo:
     Romanae spatium est Urbis et orbis idem.

Pompey's triumphs from the East to the West confirm to the Romans  they are the masters of the world. Plutarch presents us the triple triumphal parade of Pompey, in which the whole empire, all the land that he had conquered, participates.

Plutarch, Pompey 45:

His triumph had such a magnitude that, although it was distributed over two days, still the time would not suffice, but much of what had been prepared could not find a place in the spectacle, enough to dignify and adorn another triumphal procession. Inscriptions borne in advance of the procession indicated the nations over which he triumphed.  These were: Pontus, Armenia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Media, Colchis, Iberia, Albania, Syria, Cilicia, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia and Palestine, Judaea, Arabia, and all the power of the pirates by sea and land which had been overthrown. Among these peoples no less than a thousand strongholds had been captured, according to the inscriptions, and cities not much under nine hundred in number, besides eight hundred piratical ships, while thirty-nine cities had been founded.  In addition to all this the inscriptions set forth that whereas the public revenues from taxes had been fifty million drachmas, they were receiving from the additions which Pompey had made to the city's power eighty-five million, and that he was bringing into the public treasury in coined money and vessels of gold and silver twenty thousand talents, apart from the money which had been given to his soldiers, of whom the one whose share was the smallest had received fifteen hundred drachmas.  The captives led in triumph, besides the chief pirates, were the son of Tigranes the Armenian with his wife and daughter, Zosime, a wife of King Tigranes himself, Aristobulus, king of the Jews, a sister and five children of Mithridates, Scythian women, and hostages given by the Iberians, by the Albanians, and by the king of Commagene; there were also very many trophies, equal in number to all the battles in which Pompey had been victorious either in person or in the persons of his lieutenants.  But that which most enhanced his glory and had never been the lot of any Roman before, was that he celebrated his third triumph over the third continent. For others before him had celebrated three triumphs; but he celebrated his first over Libya, his second over Europe, and this his last over Asia, so that he seemed in a way to have included the whole world in his three triumphs. (Translated by by Bernadotte Perrin)

We also have information on the deeds of Pompey in Diodorus Siculus 40, 4

This is a copy of the inscription that Pompeius set up, recording his achievements in Asia.
Pompeius Magnus, son of Gnaeus, imperator, freed the coasts of the world and all the islands within the Ocean from the attacks of pirates. He rescued from siege the kingdom of Ariobarzanes, Galatia and the territories and provinces beyond there, Asia and Bithynia. He protected Paphlagonia, Pontus, Armenia and Achaïa, also Iberia, Colchis, Mesopotamia, Sophene and Gordyene. He subjugated Dareius king of the Medes, Artoles king of the Iberians, Aristobulus king of the Jews, and Aretas king of the Nabataean Arabs, also Syria next to Cilicia, Judaea, Arabia, the province of Cyrenaica, the Achaei, Iozygi, Soani and Heniochi, and the other tribes that inhabit the coast between Colchis and Lake Maeotis, together with the kings of these tribes, nine in number, and all the nations that dwell between the Pontic Sea and the Red Sea. He extended the borders of the empire up to the borders of the world. He maintained the revenues of the Romans, and in some cases he increased them. He removed the statues and other images of the gods, and all the other treasure of the enemies, and dedicated to the goddess {Minerva} 12,060 pieces of gold and 307 talents of silver. (Translation by by Francis R. Walton)

Perhaps he is Pliny the most exaggerated to remind us of the success of Pompey throughout the Roman world:

"The most glorious, however, of all glories, resulting from these exploits, was, as he himself says, in the speech which he made in public relative to his previous career, that Asia, which he received as the boundary of the empire, he left its centre".

Let's extend this quote

Naturalis Historia:  7, 95 et seq. (26) (27) et seq.

But now, as it belongs fully as much to the glorious renown of the Roman Empire, as to the victorious career of a single individual, I shall proceed on this occasion to make mention of all the triumphs and titles of Pompeius Magnus: the splendour of his exploits having equalled not only that of those of Alexander the Great, but even of Hercules, and perhaps of Father Liber even. After having recovered Sicily, where he first commenced his career as a partizan of Sylla, but in behalf of the republic, after having conquered the whole of Africa, and reduced it to subjection, and after having received for his share of the spoil the title of " Great," he was decreed the honours of a triumph; and he, though only of equestrian rank, a thing that had never occurred before, re-entered the city in the triumphal chariot: immediately after which, he hastened to the west, where he left it inscribed on the trophy which he raised upon the Pyrenees, that he had, by his victories, reduced to subjection eight hundred and seventy-six cities, from the Alps to the borders of Farther Spain; at the same time he most magnanimously said not a word about Sertorius. After having put an end to the civil war, which indeed was the primary cause of all the foreign ones, he, though still of only equestrian rank, again entered Rome in the triumphal chariot, having proved himself a general thus often before having been a soldier. After this, he was dispatched to the shores of all the various seas, and then to the East, whence he brought back to his country the following titles of honour, resembling therein those who conquer at the sacred games—for, be it remembered, it is not they that are crowned, but their respective countries. These honours then did he award to the City, in the temple of Minerva, which he consecrated from the spoils that he had gained: "Cneius Pompeius Magnus, Imperator, having brought to an end a war of thirty years' duration, and having defeated, routed, put to the sword, or received the submission of, twelve millions two hundred and seventy-eight thousand men, having sunk or captured eight hundred and forty-six vessels, having received as allies one thousand five hundred and thirty-eight cities and fortresses, and having conquered all the country from the Mæotis to the Red Sea, dedicates this shrine as a votive offering due to Minerva." Such, in few words, is the sum of his exploits in the East. The following are the introductory words descriptive of the triumph which he obtained, the third day before the calends of October, in the consulship of M. Piso and M. Messala; "After having delivered the sea-coast from the pirates, and restored the seas to the people of Rome, he enjoyed a triumph over Asia, Pontus, Armenia, Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Syria, the Scythians, Judæa, the Albanians, Iberia, the island of Crete, the Basterni, and, in addition to all these, the kings Mithridates and Tigranes."

The most glorious, however, of all glories, resulting from these exploits, was, as he himself says, in the speech which he made in public relative to his previous career, that Asia, which he received as the boundary of the empire, he left its centre. If any one should wish, on the other hand, in a similar manner, to pass in review the exploits of Cæsar, who has shown himself greater still than Pompeius, why then he must enumerate all the countries in the world, a task, I may say, without an end.  (Translation by John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed. )

Verum ad decus imperii Romani, non solum ad viri unius, pertinet victoriarum Pompei Magni titulos omnes triumphosque hoc in loco nuncupari, aequato non modo Alexandri Magni rerum fulgore, sed etiam Herculis prope ac Liberi patris.
igitur Sicilia recuperata, unde primum Sullanus in rei publicae causa exoriens auspicatus est, Africa vero tota subacta et in dicionem redacta Magnique nomine in spolium inde capto, eques Romanus, id quod antea nemo, curru triumphali revectus et statim ad solis occasum transgressus, excitatis in Pyrenaeo tropaeis, oppida DCCCLXXVI ab Alpibus ad fines Hispaniae ulterioris in dicionem redacta victoriae suae adscripsit et maiore animo Sertorium tacuit, belloque civili, quod omnia externa conciebat, extincto iterum triumphales currus eques R. induxit, totiens imperator ante quam miles.
postea ad tota maria et deinde solis ortus missus hos retulit patriae titulos more sacris certaminibus vincentium — neque enim ipsi coronantur, sed patrias suas coronant —, hos ergo honores urbi tribuit in delubro Minervae, quod ex manubiis dicabat:
CN·POMPEIVS MAGNVS IMPERATOR BELLO XXX ANNORVM CONFECTO FVSIS FVGATIS OCCISIS IN DEDITIONEM ACCEPTIS HOMINVM CENTIENS VICIENS SEMEL LXXXIII DEPRESSIS AVT CAPTIS NAVIBVS DCCCXLVI OPPIDIS CASTELLIS MDXXXVIII IN FIDEM RECEPTIS TERRIS A MAEOTIS AD RVBRVM MARE SVBACTIS VOTVM MERITO MINERVAE.
Hoc est breviarium eius ab oriente. triumphi vero, quem duxit a. d. III kal. Oct. M. Pisone M. Messala cos., praefatio haec fuit:
CVM ORAM MARITIMAM PRAEDONIBVS LIBERASSET ET IMPERIVM MARIS POPVLO ROMANO RESTITVISSET EX ASIA PONTO ARMENIA PAPHLAGONIA CAPPADOCIA CILICIA SYRIA SCYTHIS IVDAEIS ALBANIS HIBERIA INSVLA CRETA BASTERNIS ET SVPER HAEC DE REGE MITHRIDATE ATQVE TIGRANE TRIVMPHAVIT.
Summa summarum in illa gloria fuit (ut ipse in conditione dixit, cum de rebus suis disseret) Asiam ultimam provinciarum accepisse eandemque mediam patriae reddidisse. si quis e contrario simili modo velit percensere Caesaris res, qui maior ille apparuit, totum profecto terrarum orbem enumeret, quod infinitum esse conveniet.

In many passages Pliny goes even further and justifies Roman imperialism by its beneficial effects for humanity. In the book 27 of his Natural History tells us about the numerous plants in the world that are collected and transported from anywhere in the world only by effect of the Roman Pax. That is why the Romans are like a second light, as a second sun for humanity, and also as a second nature as he will say in the book 44. I transcribe both passages:

Pliny, 27, 1 y ss:

The further I proceed in this work, the more I am impressed with admiration of the ancients; and the greater the number of plants that remain to be described, the more I am induced to venerate the zeal displayed by the men of former times in their researches, and the kindly spirit manifested by them in transmitting to us the results thereof. Indeed their bounteousness in this respect would almost seem to have surpassed the munificent disposition even of Nature herself, if our knowledge of plants had depended solely upon man's spirit of discovery: but as it is, it is evident beyond all doubt that this knowledge has emanated from the gods themselves, or, at all events, has been the result of divine inspiration, even in those cases where man has been instrumental in communicating it to us. In other words, if we must confess the truth—a marvel surpassed by nothing in our daily experience—Nature herself, that common parent of all things, has at once produced them, and has discovered to us their properties.

Wondrous indeed is it, that a Scythian plant should be brought from the shores of the Palus Mæotis, and the euphorbia from Mount Atlas and the regions beyond the Pillars of Hercules, localities where the operations of Nature have reached their utmost limit! That in another direction, the plant britannica should be conveyed to us from isles of the Ocean situate beyond the confines of the earth! That the æthiopis5 should reach us from a climate scorched by the luminaries of heaven! And then, in addition to all this, that there should be a perpetual interchange going on between all parts of the earth, of productions so instrumental to the welfare of mankind! Results, all of them, ensured to us by the peace that reigns under the majestic sway of the Roman power, a peace which brings in presence of each other, not individuals only, belonging to lands and nations far separate, but mountains even, and heights towering above the clouds, their plants and their various productions! That this great bounteousness of the gods may know no end, is my prayer, a bounteousness which seems to have granted the Roman sway as a second luminary for the benefit of mankind.
(Translation by John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A)

Crescit profecto apud me certe tractatu ipso admiratio antiquitatis, quantoque maior copia herbarum dicenda restat, tanto magis adorare priscorum in inveniendo curam, in tradendo benignitatem subit. nec dubie superata hoc modo posset videri etiam rerum naturae ipsius munificentia, si humani operis esset inventio.
nunc vero deorum fuisse eam apparet aut certe divinam, etiam cum homo inveniret, eandemque omnium parentem et genuisse haec et ostendisse, nullo vitae miraculo maiore, si verum fateri volumus. Scythicam herbam a Maeotis paludibus et Euphorbeam e monte Atlante ultraque Herculis columnas ex ipso rerum naturae defectu, parte alia Britannicam ex oceani insulis extra terris positis, itemque Aethiopidem ab exusto sideribus axe, alias praeterea aliunde ultro citroque humanae saluti in toto orbe portari, inmensa Romanae pacis maiestate non homines modo diversis inter se terris gentibusque, verum etiam montes et excedentia in nubes iuga partusque eorum et herbas quoque invicem ostentante! aeternum, quaeso, deorum sit munus istud! adeo Romanos velut alteram lucem dedisse rebus humanis videntur.

Pliny in 37, 77 (200) ss. assimilates Rome to nature itself and Italy is the governor and second mother of the world; the first is, of course, nature itself.

Having now treated of all the works of Nature, it will be as well to take a sort of comparative view of her several productions, as well as the countries which supply them. Through-out the whole earth, then, and wherever the vault of heaven extends, there is no country so beautiful, or which, for the productions of Nature, merits so high a rank as Italy, that ruler and second parent of the world ; recommended as she is by her men, her women, her generals, her soldiers, her slaves, her superiority in the arts, and the illustrious examples of genius which she has produced. Her situation, too, is equally in her favour ; the salubrity and mildness of her climate ; the easy access which she offers to all nations ; her coasts indented with so many harbours ; the propitious breezes, too, that always prevail on her shores ; advantages, all of them, due to her situation, lying, as she does, midway between the East and the West, and extended in the most favourable of all positions. Add to this, the abundant supply of her waters, the salubrity of her groves, the repeated intersections of her mountain ranges, the comparative innocuousness of her wild animals, the fertility of her soil, and the singular richness of lier pastures.  (Translation by John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., and H. T. Riley, Esq., B.A.)

Etenim peractis omnibus naturae operibus discrimen quoddam rerum ipsarum atque terrarum facere conveniet.
Ergo in toto orbe, quacumque caeli convexitas vergit, pulcherrima omnium est iis rebus, quae merito principatum naturae optinent, Italia, rectrix parensque mundi altera, viris feminis, ducibus militibus, servitiis, artium praestantia, ingeniorum claritatibus, iam situ ac salubritate caeli atque temperie, accessu cunctarum gentium facili, portuosis litoribus, benigno ventorum adflatu. quod contingit positione procurrentis in partem utilissimam et inter ortus occasusque mediam, aquarum copia, nemorum salubritate, montium articulis, ferorum animalium innocentia, soli fertilitate, pabuli ubertate.

Also Cicero in Catiline Orations: 4, 11 (6) compares  Rome with the lux orbis terrarum.

Wherefore, if you decide on this you give me a companion in my address, dear and acceptable to the Roman people; or if you prefer to adopt the opinion of Silanus, you will easily defend me and yourselves from the reproach of cruelty, and I will prevail that it shall be much lighter. Although, O conscript fathers, what cruelty can there be in chastising the enormity of such excessive wickedness? For I decide from my own feeling. For so may I be allowed; to enjoy the republic in safety in your company, as I am not moved to be somewhat vehement in this cause by any severity of disposition, (for who is more merciful than I am?) but rather by a singular humanity and mercifulness. For I seem to myself to see this city, the light of the world and the citadel of all nations, falling on a sudden by one conflagration. I see in my mind's eye miserable and unburied heaps of cities in my buried country; the sight of Cethegus and his madness raging amid your slaughter is ever present to my sight. (Translatión by C. D. Yonge, 1856)

Quam ob rem, sive hoc statueritis, dederitis mihi comitem ad contionem populo carum atque iucundum, sive Silani sententiam sequi malueritis, facile me atque vos a crudelitatis vituperatione populo Romano purgabo atque obtinebo eam multo leniorem fuisse. Quamquam, patres conscripti, quae potest esse in tanti sceleris inmanitate punienda crudelitas? Ego enim de meo sensu iudico. Nam ita mihi salva re publica vobiscum perfrui liceat, ut ego, quod in hac causa vehementior sum, non atrocitate animi moveor (quis enim est me mitior?), sed singulari quadam humanitate et misericordia. Videor enim mihi videre hanc urbem, lucem orbis terrarum atque arcem omnium gentium, subito uno incendio concidentem, cerno animo sepulta in patria miseros atque insepultos acervos civium, versatur mihi ante oculos aspectus Cethegi et furor in vestra caede bacchantis.

The concentrated and visual expression of the whole empire is represented in the famous "Map of Agrippa".
Agrippa ordered to build a map of the whole known world that was placed in the Porticus that had the name of his sister Vipsania, in the Field of Mars and near the Pantheon, and whose purpose was to show that Rome was the center of the world. We could therefore consider the map of the Orbis Terrarum or representation of the whole known world. There are those who think that it was simply a list of places with their dimension and the distance between them rather than a representation of the world. And it is that we have only some written fragments of the description of the map and and we can get some idea for later ones. We can imagine the Roman citizen, planning  a journey or by mere curiosity, observing this huge map of countries and roads.

It is considered that the measures were of great precision, although Pliny observes some error, for example when he speaks of Hispania and of Baetica:

Pliny, Naturalis Historia, 3, 17(3,2,17)

At the present day the length of Bætica, from the town of Castulo, on its frontier, to Gades is 250 miles, and from Murci, which lies on the sea-coast, twenty-five miles more. The breadth, measured from the coast of Carteia, is 234 miles. Who is there that can entertain the belief that Agrippa, a man of such extraordinary diligence, and one who bestowed so much care on his subject, when he proposed to place before the eyes of the world a survey of that world, could be guilty of such a mistake as this, and that too when seconded by the late emperor the divine Augustus ? For it was that emperor who completed the Portico which had been begun by his sister, and in which the survey was to be kept, in conformity with the plan and descriptions of M. Agrippa. (Translation by John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.)

Baeticae longitudo nunc a Castulonis oppidi fine Gadix CCL et a Murgi maritima ora XXV p. amplior, latitudo a Carteia Anam ora CCXXXIIII p. Agrippam quidem in tanta viri diligentia praeterque in hoc opere cura, cum orbem terrarum orbi spectandum propositurus esset, errasse quis credat et cum eo Divum Augustum? is namque conplexam eum porticum ex destinatione et commentariis M. Agrippae a sorore eius inchoatam peregit.

Vitruvius expresses the same idea from another point of view: there was no better place than Rome to conquer the world:

Vitruvius, VI,1, 10-11

But although southern nations have the keenest wits, and are infinitely clever in forming schemes, yet the moment it comes to displaying valour, they succumb because all manliness of spirit is sucked out of them by the sun. On the other hand, men born in cold countries are indeed readier to meet the shock of arms with great courage and without timidity, but their wits are so slow that they will rush to the charge inconsiderately and inexpertly, thus defeating their own devices. Such being nature's arrangement of the universe, and all these nations being allotted temperaments which are lacking in due moderation, the truly perfect territory, situated under the middle of the heaven, and having on each side the entire extent of the world and its countries, is that which is occupied by the Roman people.

In fact, the races of Italy are the most perfectly constituted in both respects—in bodily form and in mental activity to correspond to their valour. Exactly as the planet Jupiter is itself temperate, its course lying midway between Mars, which is very hot, and Saturn, which is very cold, so Italy, lying between the north and the south, is a combination of what is found on each side, and her preeminence is well regulated and indisputable. And so by her wisdom she breaks the courageous onsets of the barbarians, and by her strength of hand thwarts the devices of the southerners. Hence, it was the divine intelligence that set the city of the Roman people in a peerless and temperate country, in order that it might acquire the right to command the whole world. (Translation by Morris Hicky Morgan, 1914)

Cum sint autem meridiane nationes animis acutissimis infinitaque sollertia consiliorum, simul ut ad fortitudinem ingrediuntur, ibi succumbunt, quod habent exsuctas ab sole animorum virtutes; qui vero refrigeratis nascuntur regionibus, ad armorum vehementiam paratiores sunt magnis virtutibus sine timore, sed tarditate animi sine considerantia inruentes sine sollertia suis consiliis refragantur. cum ergo haec ita sint ab natura rerum in mundo conlocata et omnes nationes inmoderatis mixtionibus disparatae, veros inter spatium totius orbis terrarum regionesque medio mundi populus Romanus possidet fines.

Namque temperatissimae ad utramque partem et corporum membris animorumque vigoribus pro fortitudine sunt in Italia gentes. quemadmodum enim Iovis stella inter Martis ferventissimam et Saturni frigidissimam media currens temperatur, eadem ratione Italia inter septentrionalem meridianamque ab utraque parte mixtionibus temperatas et invictas habet laudes. itaque consiliis refringit barbarorum virtutes, forti manu meridianorum cogitationes. ita divina mens civitatem populi Romani egregia temperataque regione conlocavit, uti orbis terrarum imperii potiretur.

If the "orbis terrarum" is the "orbis romanorum" and Rome is a microcosm, Nero, for example, claims that his Domus Aurea is a microcosm also, a small-scale reproduction of the "Roman empire", including forests, lakes and Masterpieces of the entire empire. Texts of Suetonius or Tacitus and many others confirms it.

Suetonius, Nero’s Life, (The Lives of the Twelve Caesars), VI,31

In nothing was he more prodigal than in his buildings. He completed his palace by continuing it from the Palatine to the Esquiline hill, calling the building at first only "The Passage," but after it was burnt down and rebuilt, "The Golden House.1 Of its dimensions and furniture, it may be sufficient to say thus much: the porch was so high that there stood in it a colossal statue of himself a hundred and twenty feet in height; and the space included in it was so ample, that it had triple porticos a mile in length, and a lake like a sea, surrounded with buildings which had the appearance of a city. Within its area were corn fields, vineyards, pastures, and woods, containing a vast number of animals of various kinds, both wild and tame. In other parts it was entirely over-laid with gold, and adorned with jewels and mother of pearl. The supper rooms were vaulted, and compartments of the ceilings, inlaid with ivory, were made to revolve, and scatter flowers; while they contained pipes which shed unguents upon the guests. The chief banqueting room was circular, and revolved perpetually, night and day, in imitation of the motion of the celestial bodies. The baths were supplied with water from the sea and the Albula. Upon the dedication of this magnificent house after it was finished, all he said in approval of it was, "that he had now a dwelling fit for a man." (An English Translation. Publishing Editor. J. Eugene Reed. Alexander Thomson. Philadelphia. Gebbie & Co. 1889.)

Non in alia re tamen damnosior quam in aedificando domum a Palatio Esquilias usque fecit, quam primo transitoriam, mox incendio absumptam restitutamque auream nominauit. de cuius spatio atque cultu suffecerit haec rettulisse. uestibulum eius fuit, in quo colossus CXX pedum staret ipsius effigie; tanta laxitas, ut porticus triplices miliarias haberet; item stagnum maris instar, circumsaeptum aedificiis ad urbium speciem; rura insuper aruis atque uinetis et pascuis siluisque uaria, cum multitudine omnis generis pecudum ac ferarum.
in ceteris partibus cuncta auro lita, distincta gemmis unionumque conchis erant; cenationes laqueatae tabulis eburneis uersatilibus, ut flores, fistulatis, ut unguenta desuper spargerentur; praecipua cenationum rotunda, quae perpetuo diebus ac noctibus uice mundi circumageretur; balineae marinis et albulis fluentes aquis. eius modi domum cum absolutam dedicaret, hactenus comprobauit, ut se diceret “quasi hominem tandem habitare coepisse.”

In a similar way Martial, in his Book "On  the Spectacles", offers us numerous examples of spectacles in Rome with exotic animals, brought from the confines of the empire, of which the Romans  feel themselves owners.

Martial: De spectaculis (On the Spectacles), 2,

Here where, rayed with stars, the Colossus  views heaven anear, and in the middle way tall scaffolds rise, hatefully gleamed the palace of a savage king, and but a single house now stood in all the City. Here, where the far-seen Amphitheatre lifts its mass august, was Nero's mere. Here, where we admire the warm-baths., 1 a gift swiftly wrought, a proud domain had robbed their dwellings from the poor.  Where the Claudian Colonnade extends its outspread shade the Palace ended in its furthest part. Rome has been restored to herself, and under thy governance, Caesar, that is now the delight of a people which was once a master's.
(Translation by Waltr C. A. Ker, M.A.)

Hic ubi sidereus propius uidet astra colossus
     et crescunt media pegmata celsa uia,
inuidiosa feri radiabant atria regis
     unaque iam tota stabat in urbe domus;
hic ubi conspicui uenerabilis Amphitheatri              
     erigitur moles, stagna Neronis erant;
hic ubi miramur uelocia munera thermas,
     abstulerat miseris tecta superbus ager;
Claudia diffusas ubi porticus explicat umbras,
    ultima pars aulae deficientis erat.              
Reddita Roma sibi est et sunt te preside, Caesar,
     deliciae populi, quae fuerant domini.

So in  De spectaculis, 5

That Pasiphae was mated to the Dictaean bull, believe : we have seen it, the old-time myth has won its warrant. And let not age-long eld, Caesar, marvel at itself : whatever Fame sings of, that the Arena makes real for thee. (Translation by Waltr C. A. Ker, M.A.)

Iunctam Pasiphaen Dictaeo credite tauro:
     uidimus, accepit fabula prisca fidem.
Nec se miretur, Caesar, longaeua uetustas:
     quidquid fama canit, praestat harena tibi.

And in  6,b

Ok the lion laid low in Nemea's vasty vale, a deed renowned and worthy of Hercules, Fame used to sing. Dumb be ancient witness ! for after thy shows, O Caesar, we declare that such things are wrought by woman's prowess now. (Translation by Waltr C. A. Ker, M.A.)

Prostratum uasta Nemees in ualle leonem
     nobile et Herculeum fama canebat opus.
Prisca fides taceat: nam post tua munera, Caesar,
     hoc iam femineo Marte fatemur agi.

And in  7

As, fettered on a Scythian crag, Prometheus fed the untiring fowl with his too prolific heart, so Laureolus,  hanging on no unreal cross, gave up his vitals defenceless to a Caledonian bear. His mangled limbs lived, though the parts dripped gore, and in all his body was nowhere a body's shape. A punishment deserved at length he won he in his guilt had with his sword pierced his parent's or his master's throat, or in his madness robbed a temple of its close-hidden gold, or had laid by stealth his savage torch to thee, O Rome. Accursed, he had outdone the crimes told of by ancient lore ; in him that which had been a show before was punishment. (Translation by Waltr C. A. Ker, M.A.)

Qualiter in Scythica religatus rupe Prometheus
     adsiduam nimio pectore pauit auem,
nuda Caledonia sic uiscera praebuit urso
     non falsa pendens in cruce Laureolus.
Viuebant laceri membris stillantibus artus              
     inque omni nusquam corpore corpus erat.
Denique supplicium dignum tulit: ille parentis
     uel domini iugulum foderat ense nocens,
templa uel arcano demens spoliauerat auro,
     subdiderat saeuas uel tibi, Roma, faces.              
Vicerat antiquae sceleratus crimina famae,
     in quo, quae fuerat fabula, poena fuit.

And in  8

Daedalus, now thou art being so mangled by a Lucanian boar, how wouldst thou wish thou hadst now thy wings ! (Translation by Waltr C. A. Ker, M.A.)

Daedale, Lucano cum sic lacereris ab urso,
     quam cuperes pinnas nunc habuisse tuas!

And in 9

Shown along thy Arena's floor, O Caesar, a rhinoceros afforded thee an unpromised fray. Oh, into what dreadful rage fired he with lowered head ! How great was the bull ] to which a bull was as a dummy ! (Translation by Waltr C. A. Ker, M.A.)

Praestitit exhibitus tota tibi, Caesar, harena
     quae non promisit proelia rhinoceros.
O quam terribilis exarsit pronus in iras!
     Quantus erat taurus, cui pila taurus erat!

And in 17

In that, loyal and suppliant, the elephant adores thee which here but now was so fearful a foe to a bull, this it does unbidden, at the teaching of no master ; believe me, it too feels the presence of our God! (Translation by Waltr C. A. Ker, M.A.)

Quod pius et supplex elephas te, Caesar, adorat
     hic modo qui tauro tam metuendus erat,
non facit hoc iussus, nulloque docente magistro,
     crede mihi, nostrum sentit et ille deum.

Etc. etc.

Up to this point,  some texts document the divine status that Rome acquired by virtue of the force and energy emanating from it. I could add  many more. This explains why the "city" par excellence, par “antonomasia”, is Rome.

Note: antonomasia, Greek word, ἀντονομασία, from the verb ἀντονομάζω ("antonomázo"), composed of anti- / ant- / anta-, with the meaning of "instead of", "in exchange for", and the verb ὀνομάζω "onomázo"), that means “to denominate, to name”, derived from ὄνομα "ónoma", name. It designates a rhetorical figure that consists of naming a noun by the adjective that expresses its quality or vice versa, because there it is given that quality in an outstanding way.

(To be continued…)

It is its specific and predominant liturgical use that has moved to consider the origin of expression in the blessings of Pope Gregory X in the years 1272 to 1276.

Well, the expression and its genesis has a long history behind it, because in order to make sense we need a city that is different from the rest and a world or an empire that spoke Latin, and that existed many centuries before Pope Gregory X .

First, from the point of view of content, of substance,  the expression "urbi et orbi" refers to a special city, Rome, the "city" par excellence because  it is the head or capital of a huge empire, the orb of the Romans. The famous Vitruvius (ca. 80-70 BC-15 BC) perfectly expressed this idea, shared by the Romans since ancient times:

Vitruvius, De architectura, VI,1,10-11

Hence, it was the divine intelligence that set the city of the Roman people in a peerless and temperate country, in order that it might acquire the right to command the whole world. (Translation by Morris Hicky Morgan, 1914)

ita divina mens civitatem populi Romani egregia temperataque regione conlocavit, uti orbis terrarum imperii potiretur.

From the point of view of linguistic form, the similarity between "urbi" and "orbi" immediately leaps into the ear, they differ only in a phoneme, in this case also in a letter. This is a play on words, a pun. This literary figure is called "paronomasia".

That Rome is "the city par excellence" is a very old concept, proudly shared by the Romans, as I said above. Let us recall how the general story that Livy (59 BC-17 AD) wrote about Rome is precisely called "Ab urbe condita", "Since the founding of the city", and everyone understands that city  can only be Rome.

We will then go into this fact and try to explain briefly how a small village with an origin in the 8th or 7th century BC, beside the Tiber, eventually became the capital of the oldest and most important ancient empire of ancient times by its consequences, and how the "orb" of the known land becomes the "Roman orb." The city also ended up being divinized, like its rulers, and receiving cult directed by priests specialized in it.

Secondly, I will also go a little deeper into the pun, or the literary figure quoted, the paronomasia "urbi et orbi", a figure that we define as "using two or more words, similarly phonetically because only some phoneme is differentiated, but with different meaning ". This paronomasia is also a well-attested literary resource in Roman literature. I will explain some texts later.

I will deal first with the ascension of the little Rome to "urbs" of the Roman "orb",  which is the same as to say "of the world orb".

According to historiography and mythology, Rome was founded in the 8th century BC; With more precision in the year 753, and adjusting more on April 21, the day in which the various foundational legends agree.

Well, with the passage of time it became the capital of a huge empire, to where they led all roads, as the capital city of the world. As a strong and powerful city it is respected and even deified in a long process in which its rulers, the emperors, were also deified.

In the Persian and Egyptian, and then in the Greek, the divinization of kings, of the powerful, was already a tradition. Greece was conquered by the Romans and declared Roman province in the year 197 b.C., and the victorious Rome became  to be considered a powerful and strong city.

This divinization, which was elaborated in the East, was consecrated by the Emperor Hadrian in the first half of the second century AD. Moreover, Rome is identified with the Empire itself, which as a powerful god is articulated in different coordinated members.

On the etymology of the word Rome and Romulus, related to it, not only there is no agreement but diverse proposals, several of them related to the Etruscan world. But for a Greek man, inevitably the word Rome would remind them of their word ῤώμη (rhòme), which means “force”. It would help to deify it as a strong city and inhabited by strong men; strength, force is a property of the gods and assimilated beings; so Rome, which is already strong even in the name, must have something in common with the gods.

Let us see in a few texts how this idea of Rome and its empire is elaborated as a powerful divinity, benefactor of the human race, from its humble origin.

Plutarch refers to the name of Rome at the beginning of the biography of Romulus. I use now to reproduce the detailed account of Plutarch to link with the best known legend about Romulus and Remus:

Plutarch, Parallel Lives, Beginning of the Life of Romulus:

From whom, and for what reason the great name of Rome, so famous among mankind, was given to that city, writers are not agreed. Some say that the Pelasgians, after wandering over most of the habitable earth and subduing most of mankind, settled down on that site, and that from their strength in war they called their city Rome.  Others say that at the taking of Troy some of its people escaped, found sailing vessels, were driven by storms upon the coast of Tuscany, and came to anchor in the river Tiber; that here, while their women were perplexed and distressed at thought of the sea, one of them, who was held to be of superior birth and the greatest understanding, and whose name was Roma, proposed that they should burn the ships;  that when this was done, the men were angry at first, but afterwards, when they had settled of necessity on the Palatine, seeing themselves in a little while more prosperous than they had hoped, since they found the country good and the neighbours made them welcome, they paid high honours to Roma, and actually named the city after her, since she had been the occasion of their founding it.  And from that time on, they say, it has been customary for the women to salute their kinsmen and husbands with a kiss; for those women, after they had burned the ships, made use of such tender salutations as they supplicated their husbands and sought to appease their wrath.

Others again say that the Roma who gave her name to the city was a daughter of Italus and Leucaria, or, in another account, of Telephus the son of Heracles; and that she was married to Aeneas, or, in another version, to Ascanius the son of Aeneas. Some tell us that it was Romanus, a son of Odysseus and Circe, who colonized the city; others that it was Romus, who was sent from Troy by Diomedes the son of Emathion; and others still that it was Romis, tyrant of the Latins, after he had driven out the Tuscans, who passed from Thessaly into Lydia, and from Lydia into Italy. Moreover, even those writers who declare, in accordance with the most authentic tradition, that it was Romulus who gave his name to the city, do not agree about his lineage.  For some say that he was a son of Aeneas and Dexithea the daughter of Phorbas, and was brought to Italy in his infancy, along with his brother Romus; that the rest of the vessels were destroyed in the swollen river, but the one in which the boys were was gently directed to a grassy bank, where they were unexpectedly saved, and the place was called Roma from them.  Others say it was Roma, a daughter of the Trojan woman I have mentioned, who was wedded to Latinus the son of Telemachus and bore him Romulus; others that Aemilia, the daughter of Aeneas and Lavinia, bore him to Mars; and others still rehearse what is altogether fabulous concerning his origin. For instance, they say that Tarchetius, king of the Albans, who was most lawless and cruel, was visited with a strange phantom in his house, namely, a phallus rising out of the hearth and remaining there many days.  Now there was an oracle of Tethys in Tuscany, from which there was brought to Tarchetius a response that a virgin must have intercourse with this phantom, and she should bear a son most illustrious for his valour, and of surpassing good fortune and strength. Tarchetius, accordingly, told the prophecy to one of his daughters, and bade her consort with the phantom; but she disdained to do so, and sent a handmaid in to it.  When Tarchetius learned of this, he was wroth, and seized both the maidens, purposing to put them to death. But the goddess Hestia appeared to him in his sleep and forbade him the murder. He therefore imposed upon the maidens the weaving of a certain web in their imprisonment, assuring them that when they had finished the weaving of it, they should then be given in marriage. By day, then, these maidens wove, but by night other maidens, at the command of Tarchetius, unravelled their web. And when the handmaid became the mother of twin children by the phantom, Tarchetius gave them to a certain Teratius with orders to destroy them.  This man, however, carried them to the river-side and laid them down there. Then a she-wolf visited the babes and gave them suck, while all sorts of birds brought morsels of food and put them into their mouths, until a cow-herd spied them, conquered his amazement, ventured to come to them, and took the children home with him. Thus they were saved, and when they were grown up, they set upon Tarchetius and overcame him. At any rate, this is what a certain Promathion says, who compiled a history of Italy.

But the story which has the widest credence and the greatest number of vouchers was first published among the Greeks, in its principal details, by Diodes of Peparethus, and Fabius Pictor follows him in most points. Here again there are variations in the story, but its general outline is as follows.  The descendants of Aeneas reigned as kings in Alba, and the succession devolved at length upon two brothers, Numitor and Amulius. Amulius divided the whole inheritance into two parts, setting the treasures and the gold which had been brought from Troy over against the kingdom, and Numitor chose the kingdom. Amulius, then, in possession of the treasure, and made more powerful by it than Numitor, easily took the kingdom away from his brother, and fearing lest that brother's daughter should have children, made her a priestess of Vesta, bound to live unwedded and a virgin all her days.  Her name is variously given as Ilia, or Rhea, or Silvia. Not long after this, she was discovered to be with child, contrary to the established law for the Vestals. She did not, however, suffer the capital punishment which was her due, because the king's daughter, Antho, interceded successfully in her behalf, but she was kept in solitary confinement, that she might not be delivered without the knowledge of Amulius. Delivered she was of two boys, and their size and beauty were more than human.  Wherefore Amulius was all the more afraid, and ordered a servant to take the boys and cast them away. This servant's name was Faustulus, according to some, but others give this name to the man who took the boys up. Obeying the king's orders, the servant put the babes into a trough and went down towards the river, purposing to cast them in; but when he saw that the stream was much swollen and violent, he was afraid to go close up to it, and setting his burden down near the bank, went his way.  Then the overflow of the swollen river took and bore up the trough, floating it gently along, and carried it down to a fairly smooth spot which is now called Kermalus, but formerly Germanus, perhaps because brothers are called ‘germani.’ (English Translation by. Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.)

I stop here the story of Plutarch, which goes on beyond.

The power, that this small city reached centuries later, generated in the Greek cities a religious answer, granting cult to Rome and considering it divine in itself or in some specific aspect, because they had not known another city with such power. Generally the cult is to the dea Roma, Godess Rome,but also it can be accompanied of the cult to the town, the demos, to the Roman "benefactors", "evergetes", and of course, to the emperor.

"Evergetes", εὐεργέτης, is a Greek word, from εὐεργετέω, formed by  εύ, eu, ev, meaning "good" and εργετέω, which means "to do" and therefore "to do good" or "to do good works" . It is the title that accompanied some Greek leaders.

At least once the Dionysiac artists of the Isthmus offer sacrifices to the Romans as common benefactors. It is attested in an inscription of Delphi, the one in Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum, number 705

SIG3 705B.45f  

They shattered the jurisdiction of he guild of Artists; they gave some of the sacred offices which they held as pledges, they absconded with money, offerings, and sacred crowns, which they have not as yet returned, as they prevented the performance of sacrifices and libations in accordance with the ancient customs of our guild to Dionysos and to the other gods and to the Romans, our common patrons. (The translation is adapted from A.Johnson, P.Coleman-Norton & F.Bourne, "Ancient Roman Statutes", no.49 )

In the archaeological excavations at Delphi it also appeared an interesting inscription in which a historian named Aristotheos of Troizen (all the scholars locate him  in the middle of the second century BC) publicly read in Delphi part of his History and added his praise of the Romans as benefactors .

Praise, eulogy, panegyric, funeral speech (oratio funebris), lauds are kinds  of speeches in which the virtues of exceptional people are extolled and, when it corresponds, the greatness of cities and lands. In the schools of Rhetoric,it is logically taught its creation.

The commemorative inscription of the honors granted to Aristoteos of Troizen says:

Fouilles De Delphes III 3 no. 124 (Syll.3 702)  FGrH 835 T 1
Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum: 702

With good fortune, it was resolved by the city of Delphi in full assembly with votes as prescribed by law; since Aristotheos son of Nikotheos of Troizen, the historiographer, when he stayed in the city conducted himself in a way worthy of the temple and of his fatherland, and made public readings {akroaseis} of his writings over several days, and also read in public {paranegnō} acclamations for the Romans, the common benefactors of the Greeks; therefore he and his descendants shall be granted by the city proxeny, priority in access to the oracle, priority in receiving justice, inviolability, freedom from all taxes, privileged seating at all the games that the city holds, and the other privileges that are given to the other proxenoi and benefactors of the city.  (The translation is adapted from R.Zelnick-Abramovitz, in "Between Orality and Literacy: Communication and Adaptation in Antiquity", page 180) Jacoby, Felix (Berlin)

Note: proxenos (πρόξενος), plural proxenoi or proxeni (πρόξενοι), "instead of or in favor of a foreigner") or proxeinos (πρόξεινος) is the title and function that a state grants to a citizen of another to care for the Citizens of that state; he is a kind of honorary consul.

We also have Plutarch's account of the wars of Titus Quinctius Flamininus in Greece and the honors paid to him, considering him little less than a god since he is associated with Herakles or with the  Apollo Delfinius himself. Julius Caesar and Augustus would also be worshiped, as we shall see later. Titus Quinctius Flamininus was a politician and military of the Roman Republic. In spite of the opposition of the veterans to whom he had given lands, he was elected consul in 198 b. C. and sent to rule the Macedonian wars against Philippus  V of Macedonia.

Plutarch: Flamininus, , 16

But the hardest toils and struggles fell to Titus when he interceded with Manius in behalf of the Chalcidians. They had incurred the consul's wrath because of the marriage which Antiochus had made in their city after the war had already begun, a marriage which was not only unseasonable, but unsuitable for the king's years, since he was an elderly man and had fallen in love with a girl (the girl was a daughter of Cleoptolemus, and is said to have been most beautiful among maidens). This marriage induced the Chalcidians to take the king's side most zealously and allow their city to be his base of operations for the war. Antiochus, therefore, fleeing with all speed after the battle at Thermopylae, came to Chalcis, and taking with him his girl-wife, his treasure, and his friends, sailed back to Asia; but Manius immediately marched against Chalcis in a rage. He was accompanied, however, by Titus, who tried to mollify and intercede with him and at last won him over and calmed him down by entreaties addressed both to him and the other Romans in authority.

Having been thus saved by Titus, the Chalcidians dedicated to him the largest and most beautiful of the votive offerings in their city, and on them such inscriptions as these are still to be seen: "This gymnasium is dedicated by the people to Titus and Heracles," and again in another place, "This Delphinium is dedicated by the people to Titus and Apollo." Moreover, even down to our own day a priest of Titus is duly elected and appointed, and after sacrifice and libations in his honour, a set hymn of praise to him is sung: it is too long to be quoted entire, and so I will give only the closing words of the song:

"And the Roman faith we revere
, which we have solemnly vowed to cherish;
sing, then, ye maidens, to great Zeus, to Rome, to Titus,
and to the Roman faith:
hail, Paean Apollo!
hail, Titus our saviour!"
(Translation by. Bernadotte Perrin)

So, between the deifying tradition of the East and the immense power of the Romans, one arrives at the deification of Rome, the victorious city and its rulers.

We have numerous epigraphic documents, but few literary ones and for that reason the so-called “himn od Melimnos”  to Rome is very valuable; it  surely must be framed in the celebration of an act of cult to the powerful city of Rome.

Melimnos is a poetess of Lesbos, whose poem is generally dated at the beginning of the second century a. C. Stobaeus transmits to us this hymn of Melimnos, in which Rome is presented as a warrior  goddess whose destiny is both eternal and unique, in Stobaeus 3.7.12. (or in Diehl, Anthology Lyrica Graeca, II: 315-316):

Hail, Roma, daughter of Ares,
Golden-crowned warrior queen
You who live on earth on holy Olympus,
For ever indestructible.

To you alone, most revered one, has Fate
Granted royal glory of unbreakable dominion,
So that, with your sovereign power,
You might lead the way.

Under your yoke of strong leather straps,
The chests of earth and grey sea
Are tightly bound together; with firm hand you govern
The cities of your peoples

The longest eternity, which overthrows everything
And shapes the course of life first in this way, then in that,
For you alone does not change the wind
Which fills the sails of empire.

Indeed, out of all, you alone give birth to
Strong men, wielders of spears,
Sending forth a well-aiming crop of men
Like the fruits of Demeter.
(Translated by Matthew Dillon and Lynda Garland)

Note: Ioannes Stobaeus (V – 6th century a. C.), neo-Platonic doxographer of the 5th-6th century, made an anthology of literary texts of about five hundred authors, called Anthology of Extracts, Sayings and Precepts.

Soon after, and especially in the Empire, it is frequent the creation of temples dedicated to Rome and to the emperor, such as those of Ancyra (present-day Ankara), Pergamon or Lugdunum in the West, dedicated to Rome and Augustus with their corresponding priests.

Suetonius informs us about  the attitude of Augustus with  the erection of temples and statues in his name:

Suetonius:  Augustus, 52

Although he knew that it had been customary to decree temples in honour of the proconsuls, yet he would not permit them to be erected in any of the provinces, unless in the joint names of himself and Rome. Within the limits of the city, he positively refused any honour of that kind. He melted down all the silver statues which had been erected to him, and converted the whole into tripods, which he consecrated to the Palatine Apollo. And when the people importuned him to accept the dictatorship, he bent down on one knee, with his toga thrown over his shoulders, and his breast exposed to view, begging to be excused. ( English Translation, Publishing Editor. J. Eugene Reed. Alexander Thomson. Philadelphia. Gebbie & Co. 1889.)

Templa, quamuis sciret etiam proconsulibus decerni solere, in nulla tamen prouincia nisi communi suo Romaeque nomine recepit. nam in urbe quidem pertinacissime abstinuit hoc honore; atque etiam argenteas statuas olim sibi positas conflauit omnis exque iis aureas cortinas Apollini Palatino dedicauit. Dictaturam magna ui offerente populo genu nixus deiecta ab umeris toga nudo pectore deprecatus est.

Temple of Rome and Augustus. Pergamon      Altar of Rome and Augustus – Lugdudum

Tacitus introduces Tiberius rejecting such honors, unlike Augustus:

Tacitus, Annales,4,37-38 ;

About the same time Further Spain sent a deputation to the Senate, with a request to be allowed, after the example of Asia, to erect a temple to Tiberius and his mother. On this occasion, the emperor, who had generally a strong contempt for honours, and now thought it right to reply to the rumour which reproached him with having yielded to vanity, delivered the following speech:
"I am aware, Senators, that many deplore my want of firmness in not having opposed a similar recent petition from the cities of Asia. I will therefore both explain the grounds of my previous silence and my intentions for the future. Inasmuch as the Divine Augustus did not forbid the founding of a temple at Pergamos to himself and to the city of Rome, I who respect as law all his actions and sayings, have the more readily followed a precedent once approved, seeing that with the worship of myself was linked an expression of reverence towards the Senate. But though it may be par- donable to have allowed this once, it would be a vain and arrogant thing to receive the sacred honour of images representing the divine throughout all the provinces, and the homage paid to Augustus will disappear if it is vulgarised by indiscriminate flattery.

"For myself, Senators, I am mortal and limited to the functions of humanity, content if I can adequately fill the highest place; of this I solemnly assure you, and would have posterity remember it. They will more than sufficiently honour my memory by believing me to have been worthy of my ancestry, watchful over your interests, courageous in danger, fearless of enmity, when the State required it. These sentiments of your hearts are my temples, these my most glorious and abiding monuments. Those built of stone are despised as mere tombs, if the judgment of posterity passes into hatred. And therefore this is my prayer to our allies, our citizens, and to heaven itself; to the last, that, to my life's close, it grant me a tranquil mind, which can discern alike human and divine claims; to the first, that, when I die, they honour my career and the reputation of my name with praise and kindly remembrance."
Henceforth Tiberius even in private conversations persisted in showing contempt for such homage to himself. Some attributed this to modesty; many to self-distrust; a few to a mean spirit. "The noblest men," it was said, "have the loftiest aspirations, and so Hercules and Bacchus among the Greeks and Quirinus among us were enrolled in the number of the gods. Augustus, did better, seeing that he had aspired. All other things princes have as a matter of course; one thing they ought insatiably to pursue, that their memory may be glorious. For to despise fame is to despise merit."Translation by Alfred John Church, William Jackson Brodribb)

Per idem tempus Hispania ulterior missis ad senatum legatis oravit ut exemplo Asiae delubrum Tiberio matrique eius extrueret. qua occasione Caesar, validus alioqui spernendis honoribus et respondendum ratus iis quorum rumore arguebatur in ambitionem flexisse, huiusce modi orationem coepit: 'scio, patres conscripti, constantiam meam a plerisque desideratam quod Asiae civitatibus nuper idem istud petentibus non sim adversatus. ergo et prioris silentii defensionem et quid in futurum statuerim simul aperiam. cum divus Augustus sibi atque urbi Romae templum apud Pergamum sisti non prohibuisset, qui omnia facta dictaque eius vice legis observem, placitum iam exemplum promptius secutus sum quia cultui meo veneratio senatus adiungebatur. ceterum ut semel recepisse veniam habuerit, ita per omnis provincias effigie numinum sacrari ambitiosum, superbum; et vanescet Augusti honor si promiscis adulationibus vulgatur.

Ego me, patres conscripti, mortalem esse et hominum officia fungi satisque habere si locum principem impleam et vos testor et meminisse posteros volo; qui satis superque memoriae meae tribuent, ut maioribus meis dignum, rerum vestrarum providum, constantem in periculis, offensionum pro utilitate publica non pavidum credant. haec mihi in animis vestris templa, hae pulcherrimae effigies et mansurae. nam quae saxo struuntur, si iudicium posterorum in odium vertit, pro sepulchris spernuntur. proinde socios civis et deos ipsos precor, hos ut mihi ad finem usque vitae quietam et intellegentem humani divinique iuris mentem duint, illos ut, quandoque concessero, cum laude et bonis recordationibus facta atque famam nominis mei prosequantur.' perstititque posthac secretis etiam sermonibus aspernari talem sui cultum. quod alii modestiam, multi, quia diffideret, quidam ut degeneris animi interpretabantur. optumos quippe mortalium altissima cupere: sic Herculem et Liberum apud Graecos, Quirinum apud nos deum numero additos: melius Augustum, qui speraverit. cetera principibus statim adesse: unum insatiabiliter parandum, prosperam sui memoriam; nam contemptu famae contemni virtutes.

They are significant the speeches  made by some Greek historians and speakers to Rome. Thus Aelius Aristides (Αίλιος Αριστείδης, in Latin, Aelius Aristides, 118-180) was an eminent sophist of the Second Sophist and Greek orator of the second century. His most famous orations was  “Regarding Rome," which he gave in front of the imperial palace in Rome and in which Aristides glorifies "the Empire and the theory behind it, particularly the Pax Romana," and paints an impressive picture of the Roman achievements, which stand out when it is compared to any other empire or city in history. I transcribe only a small part of this important work, which otherwise has been unequally valued by the critics who have dedicated works to it.

Aelius Aristides: Regarding Rome, 8 and ff.

It is from this that she gets her name, and strength rome) is the mark of all that is hers. Therefore, if one chose to unfold, as it wvere, and lay flat on the ground the cities which now she carries high in air, and place them side by side, all that part of Italy which intervenes would, I think, be filled and become one continuous city stretching to the Strait of Otranto.
Though she is so vast as perhaps even now I have not sufficiently shown, but as the eye attests more clearly, it is not possible to say of her as of other cities, There she stands. Again it has been said of the capital cities of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians -and may no ill omen attend the comparison- that the first would in size appear twice as great as in its intrinsic power, the second far inferior in size to its intrinsic power. But of this city, great in every respect, no one could say that she has not created power in keeping with her magnitude. No, if one looks at the whole empire and reflects how small a fraction rules the whole world, he may be amazed at the city, but when he has beheld the city herself and the boundaries of the city, he can no longer be amazed that the entire civilized world is ruled by one so great.

Some chronicler, speaking of Asia, asserted that one man ruled as much land as the sun passed, and his  statement was not true because he placed all Africa and Europe outside the limits where the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. It has now however turned out to be true. Your possession is equal to what the sun can pass, and the sun passes over your land. Neither the Chelidonean nor the Cyanean promontories limit your empire, nor does the distance from which a horseman can reach the sea in one day, nor do you reign within fixed boundaries, nor does another dictate to what point your control reaches; but the sea like a girdle lies extended, at once in the middle of the civilized world and your hegemony.

Around it lie the great continents greatly sloping, ever offering to you in full measure something of their own. Whatever the seasons make grow and whatever countries and rivers and lakes and arts of Hellenes and non-Hellenes produce are brought from every land and sea, so that if one would look at all these things, he must needs behold them either by visiting the entire civilized world or by coming to this city. For whatever is grown and made among each people cannot fail to be here at all times and in abundance. And here the merchant vessels come carrying these many products from all regions in every season and even at every equinox, so that the city appears a kind of common emporium of the world. (Translation by James H. Oliver)

Note 1: He plays with the already mentioned meaning of the Greek word “rhome”, strength. 2. Again the city and the world orb put in relation.

This relationship established between "orbis" and "urbis" (the City) is indicating the cultural and political union of a world controlled and appropriate by Rome. Even more,  the greatness of Rome is the greatness of the Empire. Rome is the city and the world; Eeen the world is conceived as a city; both concepts are interchangeable .

The Latin poets of the time of Augustus are well aware of this role that has been played by them and their city by the design of the gods. Thus, Tibulus, Ovid, Virgil, Horace, etc.

P.Ovidius Naso:  Amores 2,9

So many men and maidens without love,
Hence with great laude thou maiest a triumph move.
Rome if her strength the huge world had not fild,
With strawie cabins now her courts should build.
The weary souldiour hath the conquerd fields,
His sword layed by, safe, though rude places yeelds.
The Docke in harbours ships drawne from the flouds,
Horse freed from service range abroad the woods.
And time it was for me to live in quiet,
That have so oft serv'd pretty wenches dyet.
Yet should I curse a God, if he but said,
Live without love, so sweete ill is a maide.
(Translate by Christopher Marlowe, Ed.)

Tot sine amore viri, tot sunt sine amore puellae! 
     Hinc tibi cum magna laude triumphus eat.
Roma, nisi inmensum vires promosset in orbem,
     Stramineis esset nunc quoque tecta casis.
Fessus in acceptos miles deducitur agros;
     Mittitur in saltus carcere liber equus;
Longaque subductam celant navalia pinum,
     Tutaque deposito poscitur ense rudis.
Me quoque, qui totiens merui sub amore puellae,
     Defunctum placide vivere tempus erat.
'Vive' deus 'posito' siquis mihi dicat 'amore!'
     Deprecer — usque adeo dulce puella malum est.

Tibullus relates directly the future of Rome with his prophetic name: "Fatal, oh Rome, your name will be to the world"

Tibullus 2.5.39 et seq.

  The Sibyl:

  "High-souled Aeneas, brother of light-winged Love,
  Thy pilgrim ships Troy's fallen worship bear.
  To thee the Latin lands are given of Jove,
  And thy far-wandering gods are welcome there.
  Thou thyself shalt have a shrine
  By Numicus' holy wave;
  Be thou its genius strong to bless and save,
  By power divine!

  O'er thy ship's storm-beaten prow
  Victory her wings will spread,
  And, glorious, rest at last above a Trojan head.
  I see Rutulia flaming round me now.
  O barbarous Turnus, I behold thee dead!
  Laurentum rushes on my sight,
  And proud Lavinium's castled height,
  And Alba Longa for thy royal heir.
  Now I see a priestess fair
  Close in Mars' divine embrace.
  Daughter of Ilium, she fled away
  From Vesta's fires, and from her virgin face
  The fillet dropped, and quite unheeded lay;
  Nor shield nor corslet then her hero wore,
  Keeping their stolen tryst by Tiber's sacred shore!
  Browse, ye bulls, along the seven green hills!
  For yet a little while ye may,
  E'er the vast city shall confront the day!
  O Rome! thy destined glory fills
  A wide world subject to thy sway,–
  Wide as all the regions given
  To fruitful Ceres, as she looks from heaven
  O'er her fields of golden corn,
  From the opening gates of morn
  To where the Sun in Ocean's billowy stream
  Cools at eve his spent and panting team.
  Troy herself at last shall praise
  Thee and thy far-wandering ways.
  My song is truth. Thus only I endure
  The bitter laurel-leaf divine,
  And keep me at Apollo's shrine
  A virgin ever pure."
So, Phoebus, in thy name the Sibyl sung,
  As o'er her frenzied brow her loosened locks she flung.
(Done in English verse by Theodore C. Williams. 1908)

‘Impiger Aenea, uolitantis frater Amoris,
Troica qui profugis sacra uehis ratibus,
iam tibi Laurentes adsignat Iuppiter agros,
iam uocat errantes hospita terra Lares.
illic sanctus eris cum te ueneranda Numici
unda deum caelo miserit indigetem.
ecce super fessas uolitat Victoria puppes;
tandem ad Troianos diua superba uenit.
ecce mihi lucent Rutulis incendia castris:
iam tibi praedico, barbare Turne, necem.
ante oculos Laurens castrum murusque Lauini est
Albaque ab Ascanio condita Longa duce.
te quoque iam uideo, Marti placitura sacerdos
Ilia, Vestales deseruisse focos,
concubitusque tuos furtim uittasque iacentes
et cupidi ad ripas arma relicta dei.
carpite nunc, tauri, de septem montibus herbas
dum licet: hic magnae iam locus urbis erit.
Roma, tuum nomen terris fatale regendis,
qua sua de caelo prospicit arua Ceres,
quaque patent ortus et qua fluitantibus undis
Solis anhelantes abluit amnis equos.
Troia quidem tunc se mirabitur et sibi dicet
uos bene tam longa consuluisse uia.
uera cano: sic usque sacras innoxia laurus
uescar, et aeternum sit mihi uirginitas.’
haec cecinit uates et te sibi, Phoebe, uocauit,

Virgil expresses in three verses the Roman consciousness of his extraordinary mission in this world. Virgil puts in the mouth of Anchises, the father whom the hero Eneas has gone to look in the Underworld, the hell, the spaces of down,  the extraordinary responsibility of the Romans:

He tells us in Aeneid, 6, verses 847 et seq.

Others, I doubt not, shall with softer mould beast out the breathing bronze, coax from the marble features to life, plead cases with greater eloquence and with a pointer trace heaven’s motions and predict the risings of the stars: you, Roman, be sure to rule the world (be these your arts), to crown peace with justice, to spare the vanquished and to crush the proud.” (Translation by H. R. Fairclough)

Excudent alii spirantia mollius aera,
credo equidem, vivos ducent de marmore voltus,
orabunt causas melius, caelique meatus
describent radio, et surgentia sidera dicent:                            
tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento;
hae tibi erunt artes; pacisque imponere morem,
parcere subiectis, et debellare superbos.”

Propertius also puts  urbs with orbi in relation (septem urbs alta iugis, toto quae praesidet orbi) and sings proud of the power of Rome in an elegy in which he presents the confrontation between Augustus and Cleopatra, that is the same as saying the confrontation between Cultures:

Elegies, 3, 11, 55 and seq.:

“Rome, with such a Citizen, thou hadst no cause to fear me”. So said even that sot’s tongue, swamped in endless debauch. The tall city on the Seven Hills, who thrones paramont over the whole world, felt the alarms of war and trembled at a woman’s menace. Gods preserve these walls or ours even as gods founded them! While Caesar lives Rome shall scarcely tremble at Jove” (Translated by J.S. Phillimore, M.A.)

'Non hoc, Roma, fui tanto tibi cive verenda!'
dixit et assiduo lingua sepulta mero.
septem urbs alta iugis, toto quae praesidet orbi,
femineas timuit territa Marte Minas
(non humana deicienda manu).
haec di condiderunt, haec di quoque moenia servant:
vix timeat salvo Caesare Roma Iovem.

Horace sees in the own fortress of Rome the reason of its own ruin by the continuous civil wars, of which it is horrified. Only Augustus will rescue it from the self destruction implanting the Roman pax. In Epodi 16: 1-14:

Another age worn out in civil wars,
   And Rome sinks weighed down by her own sheer forces,
Whom nor the bordering Marsians could destroy;
   Nor Porsena, threatening with Etruscan armies;
Nor rival Capua. Nor fierce Spartacus,
   Nor Allobroge in all revolts a traitor;
Nor fierce Germania’s blue-eyed giant sons;
   Nor Hannibal, abhorred by Romans mothers,
That is the Rome which we, this race, destroy;
   We, impious victims by ourselves devoted,
And to the wild beast and the wilderness
   Restoring soil which Romans called their country.
Woe! on the ashes of Imperial Rome
   Shall the barbarian halt his march, a  victor;
And the wild horseman with a changing hoof
   Trample the site which was the world’s great city,
And –horrid sight- in scorn to winds and sun
   Scatter the shrouded bones of Rome’s first founder.
(Translated by Lord Lytton. 1869)

Altera iam teritur bellis civilibus aetas,
suis et ipsa Roma viribus ruit.
quam neque finitimi valuerunt perdere Marsi
minacis aut Etrusca Porsenae manus,
aemula nec virtus Capuae nec Spartacus acer
novisque rebus infidelis Allobrox
nec fera caerulea domuit Germania pube
parentibusque abominatus Hannibal:
inpia perdemus devoti sanguinis aetas
ferisque rursus occupabitur solum:
barbarus heu cineres insistet victor et Vrbem
eques sonante verberabit ungula,
quaeque carent ventis et solibus ossa Quirini,
(nefas videre) dissipabit insolens.

For Cicero it is evident that Rome is the most powerful city and owner of the world.

Cicero Catiline Orations, 1.4.9.

O ye immortal gods, where on earth are we? in what city are we living? what constitution is ours? There are here,—here in our body, O conscript fathers, in this the most holy and dignified assembly of the whole world, men who meditate my death, and the death of all of us, and the destruction of this city, and of the whole world. I, the consul see them; I ask them their opinion about the republic, and I do not yet attack, even by words, those who ought to be put to death by the sword. (Translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A)

O di inmortales! ubinam gentium sumus? in qua urbe vivimus? quam rem publicam habemus? Hic, hic sunt in nostro numero, patres conscripti, in hoc orbis terrae sanctissimo gravissimoque consilio, qui de nostro omnium interitu, qui de huius urbis atque adeo de orbis terrarum exitio cogitent! Hos ego video consul et de re publica sententiam rogo et, quos ferro trucidari oportebat, eos nondum voce volnero!

Pro Murena 9-10 (21-22)

But to say no more of this, and to return to the contest of studies and pursuits; how can it be doubted that the glory of military exploits contributes more dignity to aid in the acquisition of the consulship, than renown for skill in civil law? Do you wake before the night is over in order to give answers to those who consult you? He has done so in order to arrive betimes with his army at the place to which he is marching. The cook-crow wakens you, but the sound of the trumpet rouses him: you conduct an action; he is marshaling an army: you take care lest your clients should be convicted; he lest his cities or camp be taken. He occupies posts, and exercises skill to repel the troops of the enemy, you to keep out the rain; he is practised in extending the boundaries of the empire, you in governing the present territories; and in short, for I must say what I think, preeminence in military skill excels all other virtues.

It is this which has procured its name for the Roman people; it is this which has procured eternal glory for this city; it is this which has compelled the whole world to submit to our dominion; all domestic affairs, all these illustrious pursuits of ours, and our forensic renown, and our industry, are safe under the guardianship and protection of military valour. As soon as the first suspicion of disturbance is heard of, in a moment our arts have not a word to say for themselves. (Translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A.)

Sed ut hoc omisso ad studiorum atque artium contentionem revertamur, qui potest dubitari quin ad consulatum adipiscendum multo plus adferat dignitatis rei militaris quam iuris civilis gloria? Vigilas tu de nocte ut tuis consultoribus respondeas, ille ut eo quo intendit mature cum exercitu perveniat; te gallorum, illum bucinarum cantus exsuscitat; tu actionem instituis, ille aciem instruit; tu caves ne tui consultores, ille ne urbes aut castra capiantur; ille tenet et scit ut hostium copiae, tu ut aquae pluviae arceantur; ille exercitatus est in propagandis finibus, tuque in regendis. Ac nimirum–dicendum est enim quod sentio–rei militaris virtus praestat ceteris omnibus. Haec nomen populo Romano, haec huic urbi aeternam gloriam peperit, haec orbem terrarum parere huic imperio coegit; omnes urbanae res, omnia haec nostra praeclara studia et haec forensis laus et industria latet in tutela ac praesidio bellicae virtutis. Simul atque increpuit suspicio tumultus, artes ilico nostrae conticiscunt. 

Ad Familiares. 4.1.2. / 150 (IV 1)

TO SERVIUS SULPICIUS RUFUS (AT ROME)
CUMAE, APRIL (TOWARDS THE END)
You see how the matter stands: the whole world is parcelled out among men in military command, and is ablaze with war: the city, without laws, law courts, justice, or credit, has been abandoned to plunder and fire. Accordingly, nothing occurs to me, I don't say to hope, but scarcely even to venture to wish. (Translated by Evelyn S. Shuckburgh)

Res vides quomodo se habeat: orbem terrarum imperiis distributis ardere bello; urbem sine legibus, sine iudiciis, sine iure, sine fide relictam direptioni et incendiis: itaque mihi venire in mentem nihil potest non modo, quod sperem, sed vix, iam quod audeam optare;

Paradoxa Stoicorum. 2.18

Do you threaten me with death, to make me depart from all men, or with exile to make me depart from the wicked? Death is terrible for those  whom everything ends with life; but not to those whose praise cannot perish: exile is terrible to those who have their place of habitation  as circumscribed and limited; not to those who believe the whole world  is one city.

Mortemne mihi minitaris, ut omnino ab hominibus, an exilium, ut ab inprobis demigrandum sit? Mors terribilis iis, quorum cum vita omnia extinguuntur, non iis, quorum laus emori non potest, exilium autem illis, quibus quasi circumscriptus est habitandi locus, non iis, qui omnem orbem terrarum unam urbem esse ducunt.

And also for Cornelius Nepos. In  Atticus, 3.3:

He also conducted himself in such a way, that he appeared familiar with the lowest, though on a level with the highest. Hence it happened that they publicly bestowed upon him all the honours that they could, and offered to make him a citizen of Athens; an offer which he would not accept, because some are of opinion that the citizenship of Rome is forfeited by taking that of another city. As long as he was among them, he prevented any statue from being erected to him; but when absent, he could not hinder it; and they accordingly raised several statues both to him and Phidias,254 in the most sacred places, for, in their whole management of the state, they took him for their agent and adviser. It was the gift of fortune, then, in the first place, that he was born in that city, above all others, in which was the seat of the empire of the world, and had it not only for his native place but for his home; and, in the next, it was a proof of his wisdom, that when he betook himself to a city which excelled all others in antiquity, politeness, and learning, he became individually dear to it beyond other men. (Translated by Rev. John Selby Watson, M)

Hic autem sic se gerebat, ut communis infimis, par principibus videretur. quo factum est ut huic omnes honores, quos possent, publice haberent civemque facere studerent: quo beneficio ille uti noluit quod nonnulli ita interpretantur, amitti civitatem Romanam alia ascita. quamdiu affuit, ne qua sibi statua poneretur, restitit, absens prohibere non potuit. itaque aliquot ipsi et Phidiae locis sanctissimis posuerunt: hunc enim in omni procuratione rei publicae actorem auctoremque habebant potissimum.  igitur primum illud munus fortunae, quod in ea urbe natus est, in qua domicilium orbis terrarum esset imperii, ut eandem et patriam haberet et domum; hoc specimen prudentiae, quod, cum in eam se civitatem contulisset, quae antiquitate, humanitate doctrinaque praestaret omnes, unus ei fuit carissimus. 

And also  Livy, who wrote a general history of Rome from its origins, which he entitled "Ab urbe condita" (From the foundation of the city), explains why he dares to take  a work of such magnitude: no doubt the most powerful people have ever been and their emperor, at the time Augustus, deserve it. He tells us in the Preface of his work:

Whether I am likely to accomplish anything worthy of the labour, if I record the achievements of the Roman people from the foundation of the city, I do not really know, nor if I knew would I dare to avouch it;  perceiving as I do that the theme is not only old but hackneyed, through the constant succession of new historians, who believe either that in their facts they can produce more authentic information, or that in their style they will prove better than the rude attempts of the ancients.  Yet, however this shall be, it will be a satisfaction to have done myself as much as lies in me to commemorate the deeds of the foremost people of the world; and if in so vast a company of writers my own reputation should be obscure, my consolation would be the fame and greatness of those whose renown will throw mine into the shade.  Moreover, my subject involves infinite labour, seeing that it must be traced back above seven hundred years, and that proceeding from slender beginnings it has so increased as now to be burdened by its own magnitude; and at the same time I doubt not that to most readers the earliest origins and the period immediately succeeding them will give little pleasure, for they will be in haste to reach these modern times, in which the might of a people which has long been very powerful is working its own undoing.  I myself, on the contrary, shall seek in this an additional reward for my toil, that I may avert my gaze from the troubles which our age has been witnessing for so many years, so long at least as I am absorbed in the recollection of the brave days of old, free from every care which, even if it could not divert the historian's mind from the truth, might nevertheless cause it anxiety. (English  by Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., 1919)

facturusne operae pretium sim, si a primordio urbis res populi Romani perscripserim, nec satis scio nec,  si sciam, dicere ausim, quippe qui cum veterem tum vulgatam esse rem videam, dum novi semper scriptores aut in rebus certius aliquid allaturos se aut scribendi arte rudem vetustatem superaturos credunt. utcumque erit,  iuvabit tamen rerum gestarum memoriae principis terrarum populi pro virili parte et ipsum consuluisse; et si in tanta scriptorum turba mea fama in obscuro sit, nobilitate ac magnitudine eorum me, qui nomini officient meo, consoler.  res est praeterea et inmensi operis, ut quae supra septingentesimum annum repetatur et quae ab exiguis profecta initiis eo creverit, ut iam magnitudine laboret sua; et legentium plerisque haud dubito quin primae origines proximaque originibus minus praebitura voluptatis sint festinantibus ad haec nova, quibus iam pridem praevalentis populi vires se ipsae conficiunt;  ego contra hoc quoque laboris praemium petam, ut me a conspectu malorum, quae nostra tot per annos vidit aetas, tantisper certe, dum prisca illa tota mente repeto, avertam,  omnis expers curae, quae scribentis animum etsi non flectere a vero, sollicitum tamen efficere posset.

And shortly afterwards he informs us that this was predicted, , when he tells us about the disappearance and predictable rise to the heavens of Romulus, and tells us:

Livy, 1,16,6-7

This was Proculus Julius, who, when the people were distracted with the loss of their king and in no friendly mood towards the senate, being, as tradition tells, weighty in council, were the matter never so important, addressed the assembly as follows: “Quirites, the Father of this City, Romulus, descended suddenly from the sky at dawn this morning and appeared to me. Covered with confusion, I stood reverently before him, praying that it might be vouchsafed me to look upon his face without sin. 'Go,' said he, 'and declare to the Romans the will of Heaven that my Rome shall be the capital of the world; so let them cherish the art of war, and let them know and teach their children that no human strength can resist Roman arms.'  So saying,” he concluded, “Romulus departed on high.” It is wonderful what credence the people placed in that man's tale, and how the grief for the loss of Romulus, which the plebeians and the army felt, was quieted by the assurance of his immortality. (Translated by Benjamin Oliver Foster)

manavit enim haec quoque sed perobscura fama; illam alteram admiratio viri et pavor praesens nobilitavit.  et consilio etiam unius hominis addita rei dicitur fides. namque Proculus Iulius, sollicita civitate desiderio regis et infensa patribus, gravis, ut traditur, quamvis magnae rei auctor, in contionem prodit.  “Romulus” inquit, “Quirites, parens urbis huius, prima hodierna luce caelo repente delapsus se mihi obvium dedit. cum perfusus horrore venerabundus adstitissem, petens precibus ut contra intueri fas esset,  'Abi, nuntia,' inquit 'Romanis caelestes ita velle ut mea Roma caput orbis terrarum sit; proinde rem militarem colant, sciantque et ita posteris tradant nullas opes humanas armis Romanis resistere posse.' haec,” inquit, “locutus sublimis abiit.”  mirum quantum illi viro nuntianti haec fides fuerit, quamque desiderium Romuli  apud plebem exercitumque facta fide inmortalitatis lenitum sit.

Lucanus, in his Pharsalia, introduces  Caesar speaking to Rome deified, crowned with the crown of towers:

Lucanus, Pharsalia 1, 183 et seq.

Caesar has crossed the Alps, his mighty soul
Great tumults pondering and the coming shock.
Now on the marge of Rubicon, he saw,
In face most sorrowful and ghostly guise,
His trembling country's image; huge it seemed
Through mists of night obscure; and hoary hair
Streamed from the lofty front with turrets crowned:
Torn were her locks and naked were her arms.
Then thus, with broken sighs the Vision spake:
What seek ye, men of Rome? and whither hence
Bear ye my standards? If by right ye come,
My citizens, stay here; these are the bounds;
No further dare.' But Caesar's hair was stiff
With horror as he gazed, and ghastly dread
Restrained his footsteps on the further bank.
Then spake he, ' Thunderer, who from the rock
Tarpeian seest the wall of mighty Rome;
Gods of my race who watched o'er Troy of old;
Thou Jove of Alba's height, and Vestal fires,
And rites of Romulus erst rapt to heaven,
And God-like Rome; be friendly to my quest.
Not with offence or hostile arms I come,
Thy Caesar, conqueror by land and sea,
Thy soldier here and wheresoe'er thou wilt:
No other's; his, his only be the guilt
Whose acts make me thy foe.' 
(Translated by Sir Edward Ridley)

iam gelidas Caesar cursu superauerat Alpes
ingentisque animo motus bellumque futurum
ceperat. ut uentum est parui Rubiconis ad undas,                 
ingens uisa duci patriae trepidantis imago
clara per obscuram uoltu maestissima noctem
turrigero canos effundens uertice crines
caesarie lacera nudisque adstare lacertis
et gemitu permixta loqui: 'quo tenditis ultra?                 
quo fertis mea signa, uiri? si iure uenitis,
si ciues, huc usque licet.' tum perculit horror
membra ducis, riguere comae gressumque coercens
languor in extrema tenuit uestigia ripa.
mox ait 'o magnae qui moenia prospicis urbis                 
Tarpeia de rupe Tonans Phrygiique penates
gentis Iuleae et rapti secreta Quirini
et residens celsa Latiaris Iuppiter Alba
Vestalesque foci summique o numinis instar
Roma, faue coeptis. non te furialibus armis                 
persequor: en, adsum uictor terraque marique
Caesar, ubique tuus (liceat modo, nunc quoque) miles.
ille erit ille nocens, qui me tibi fecerit hostem.'

And so I could continue to give innumerable examples.
(To be continued…)

It is true that any statement about the ancient world needs many more profound qualifications and knowledge. Thus the situation of Greek women is not the same as that of Roman women, and this in the first centuries than  at the end of the Republic or during the Empire, when their social and legal "status" has undergone important modifications.

It is even striking that while socially her relevant role is  matron of the house, we speak about the free women of the Roman noble families, instead in the Greek-Roman "pantheon" the goddesses, demigoddesses, heroines have an important presence, and if Zeus-Jupiter responds to the paternalistic paradigm of the father-god, the virginal Artemis or Diana represents the autonomous, free and breakthrough woman with the dominant patriarchal system.

Also in art in general and in funeral epigraphy, for example, women are well present and represented.

I mean by all this that any statement about the ancient world, which we usually see with the eyes of the present, needs nuances and fine analysis.

But I do not want to refer to it but to a very current issue, that of sexism in language.

Both Greek and Latin languages are flexible, very flexible languages; that is to say, the words admit diverse forms, generally different endings to express the diverse "grammatical accidents".

We say that Spanish, like many other languages today, is derived from Latin. We could also say that these languages are but a Latin evolved over the years subjected to the influence of the substrate of other languages and various factors. This relationship is appreciated by those who are not specialists in languages, especially in the lexicon or set of words, but also in syntactic structures, despite variations. There are some other less obvious and less expected issues.

Thus for example in Latin there are two grammatical numbers, singular and plural and two there are also in Spanish; (in fact, there remains in Latin a remnant of a third number called dual which is applied to beings or objects that generally appear in pairs, such as two hands, two eyes, two ears, etc.).

In Latin there are three genders, masculine, feminine and neutral. In Spanish the neutral has disappeared, there is only one rest in the article "lo", in the pronoun "ello (it)", etc. So  the masculine and the feminine are only operative.

However, the use of grammatical genders in Spanish has generated, in addition to purely linguistic questions, others of a social and even political kin when "grammatical gender" is identified with "physical sex".

It turns out that language, like other human activities, operates with an invisible "media economy" principle and thus generally it uses substantive or "masculine" adjectives to refer to both men and women. So when we affirm "man is a being endowed with intelligence", we naturally refer to "man and woman", without excluding the latter. In more linguistic terms, we would say that Spanish language "marks" the feminine term, but not the masculine one, which, because it is not "marked", can be used to refer to both genders.

In that has naturally influenced the very historical formation of society, aptly defined as "patriarchal" given the preponderant role played in civilian and social life by the "pater", the father, and not the mother, relegated generally and for many years to the interior of the home and her functions.

But the roles of men and women in society have changed markedly in a process of equalization that has certainly not ended. This process thas not been kind, but has provoked great controversy among "patriarchal", "sexist" people in popular terminology, and "feminists".

This process of equalization has spread to all sectors of society. Thus in democratic countries equality has been achieved in laws, which no longer cover discrimination in the enjoyment of rights based on the gender or sex of individuals. Real equalization in society has obviously not yet been achieved and there is still a great way to go. For example, laws regulating labor and labor relations are not discriminatory, but in our country it is a sad reality that women often charge a lower wage than men, even when they do the same work.

Well, some people consider that language, in which some masculine gender terms are used to refer to masculine and feminine beings together, is discriminatory and "sexist", that is, it exalts gender or masculine sex for the detriment of feminine. Thus language is also a field of confrontation between those who cling to traditional uses and those who demand a renewal that does not hide the reality that approximately half of the human beings which  inhabit the planet earth are women.

The solutions that have been proposed are diverse and their general acceptance is nothing short of impossible. Thus it is proposed to replace the terms of specific gender with others of more abstract meaning, for example using "humanity" instead of "men", or use indistinct or alternatively one or the other, so we would sometimes say "men" and other "women"; "The boys" and "the girls"; or simultaneously use the two, thus "men and women",  "boys and girls", etc.

This question of sexist language is not definitively resolved, despite the normative efforts of some institutions. Moreover, the issue sometimes provokes controversies, such as recently emerged between two academics of  Royal Spanish Academy that has resulted in several articles of replicas and counter-replies loaded with ad hominem arguments.

At this point in the article, more than one reader will ask the story or reason of all this exhibition in a blog dedicated to the ancient Greek-Roman world?

Well, I can not say that this question of the "sexist" use of language arose in the ancient world, but there is evidence as old as the Greek Iliad in which the male and the female term are simultaneously specified and used simultaneously. It was precisely a recent rereading of the Iliad that caused me to stumble with verse 350 of Book XV and that motivated this article with such a long introduction.

Homer says in Illiad, XV, 346-351

And Hector shouted aloud, and called to the Trojans:“Speed ye against the ships, and let be the blood-stained spoils. Whomsoever I shall mark holding aloof from the ships on the further side, on the very spot shall I devise his death, nor shall his  kinsmen and kinswomen give him his due meed of fire in death, but the dogs shall rend him in front of our city.”  (English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D.Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 19)

In this occasion I will also cite the text in Greek so that it can be verified by the reader that the use of " male and female relatives, kinsmen and kinswomen" is not merely an effect of translation, but it is seen in the original: γνωτοί and γνωταί are the masculine form and female of the same word:

Ἕκτωρ δὲ Τρώεσσιν ἐκέκλετο μακρὸν ἀΰσας
νηυσὶν ἐπισσεύεσθαι, ἐᾶν δ' ἔναρα βροτόεντα·
ὃν δ' ἂν ἐγὼν ἀπάνευθε νεῶν ἑτέρωθι νοήσω,
αὐτοῦ οἱ θάνατον μητίσομαι, οὐδέ νυ τόν γε
γνωτοί τε γνωταί τε πυρὸς λελάχωσι θανόντα,   
ἀλλὰ κύνες ἐρύουσι πρὸ ἄστεος ἡμετέροιο.

Let us now turn to this other example of Pausanias (eight hundred years separate it from the previous text), which in his Description of Greece, when speaking about Delphi, referring to Homer and Pindarus and to the source Casotide, says in 10: 24,2:

So these men wrote what I have said, and you can see a bronze statue of Homer on a slab, and read the oracle that they say Homer received:
—“Blessed and unhappy, for to be both wast thou born.
Thou seekest thy father-land; but no father-land hast thou, only a mother-land.
The island of Ios is the father-land of thy mother, which will receive thee
When thou hast died; but be on thy guard against the riddle of the young children.”

The inhabitants of Ios point to Homer's tomb in the island, and in another part to that of Clymene, who was, they say, the mother of Homer.
But the Cyprians, who also claim Homer as their own, say that Themisto, one of their native women, was the mother of Homer, and that Euclus foretold the birth of Homer in the following verses:
—“And then in sea-girt Cyprus there will be a mighty singer,
Whom Themisto, lady fair, shall bear in the fields, A man of renown, far from rich Salamis.
Leaving Cyprus, tossed and wetted by the waves,
The first and only poet to sing of the woes of spacious Greece,
For ever shall he be deathless and ageless.”

These things I have heard, and I have read the oracles, but express no private opinion about either the age or date of Homer. (Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918).

I have already mentioned something about this issue in https://www.antiquitatem.com/en/eucation-of-the-greek-girl-plato

But now I want to highlight a curious and significant fact.

In a special and repeated way the masculine / feminine doublet was sometimes used in the Roman legislative world. There are times when the legislator wants to make it clear linguistically that he refers to "men and women" in a non-discriminatory way. The Roman jurist has opted  the solution of using together the masculine terms and the corresponding feminine in resemblance to some current uses.

I have also found it in a recent visit to the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid, in the known as the "Lex Salpensana", which regulates the citizenship of the town of Salpensa, now Facialcázar, city close to Utrera, in the Hispanic Bética of the time Imperial of Domitian.

It is known that the "Roman Law" is the set of laws that exclusively regulate the life of the "Roman citizen". However, not all inhabitants of the Roman Empire are "citizens" (cives), some of them are related but not Roman citizens, like the "latini", others are foreign friends, but not citizens, "peregrini", pilgrims, whose relations with the Romans is determined by ius gentium; many of them are slaves, that is, men without rights. Each group has its own rights, until in 212 with the so-called Constitutio Antoniniana the Emperor Caracalla considers Roman citizens all free inhabitants of the empire, including those of Hispania, of course.

In a similar way, the Romans  assimilate the territories and cities that they  conquer  and are creating many others with different legal entities, such as "colonies" or "municipia",  "municipalities." Moreover, the different legal qualifications are applied in terms of the quality of their citizens and their assimilation to Rome.

The emperor Titus Flavius Domitianus (51 – 96) assimilated since the year 73 the Hispanic cities to the condition of "Latin cities"; thus he promulgated and granted between the years 81 and 84  the municipality of Salpensa a law with which he granted the "ius Latii", the law of Lazio, the Latin Law, of inferior category and less beneficial than the "ius romanum". Of this law we have only 9 chapters of a plate of the several of which it should have, according to other similar laws, like the Lex Flavia Malacitana, and the Lex Irnitana.

On these laws and their meaning I must write an article at the time, but today I will confine myself to the verification of that linguistic precision which differentiates between the beings of gender and the masculine and feminine sex in the written language, in this case of a law . Of course he does not do it because it considers that the generalist formula is sexist, but for reasons of juridical precision; but who would tell us that this formula that has served and serves as a confrontation when not as exercises of dubious humor, who would tell us that he had already settled in a text two thousand years ago?

National Archaeological Museum of Madrid

I reproduce only the five rubrics in which these uses appear in Latin and in their translation, leaving for another occasion the comment and meaning, not without difficulty.  I use the meritorious  translation of  E. G.  Hardy, in his work Three Spanish Charters and other documents. The Lawbook Exchange Ltd. Clark. New Jersey)

Note: The word "rubric" is derived from the Latin ruber, rubra, rubrum, meaning "red". According The dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy, in its first two meanings, it means:

1. Trait or set of traits, always performed in the same way, which usually are put on the signature after the name and that sometimes replaces it. 2. Label, mark, epigraph

In the fifth, which alreadyit warns that it is in disuse, it means:

5.  Sign in red or red sign.

And it is precisely this fifth that explains the meaning of the previous ones. In the ancient texts, especially legal, the beginning or title of the paragraph was colored "red", and hence derived their meanings.

Note: the English language is less flexible and less often marks the difference between masculine and feminine grammatical genders, which makes it less obvious the masculine-feminine linguistic differentiation in relation to physical sexual differentiation. In any case the differentiation appears: grand-sons/granddaughters, male/ female, freedmen/ freedwomen, free man / free woman,

Rubric 21 

R. MAGISTRATES TO OBTAIN THE ROMAN CITIZENSHIP.
XXI. All persons created duoviri, aediles, or quaestors in accordance with this law shall be Roman citizens, on laying  down the magistracy at the end of the year, together with their parents and wives, and children born in lawful wedlock, and subject to the patria potestas, and in like manner grand-sons and granddaughters being the children of a son, and  subject to the patria potestas, always provided that no more  Roman citizens be created than the number of magistrates proper to be elected in accordance with this law.

R. Ut magistratus civitatem Romanam consequantur. [XXI. . . Qui llvir aedilis quaestor ex hac lege factus erit cives Romani sunto cum post annum magistratu] | abierint cum parentibus coniugibusque {h}ac liberi(s) qui legitumis nuptis quae l siti in potestatem parentium fuerunt item nepotibus ac neptibus filio I nat{al}is [natabus] qui quaeque in potestate parentium fuerint dum ne plures c(ives) R(omani) I  sint qua(m) quod ex h(ac) l(ege) magistratus creare oportet.

Rubric 22

R. PERSONS OBTAINING THE ROMAN CITIZENSHIP TO REMAIN IN THE LEGAL DOMINION', MARITAL CONTROL, AND PARENTAL POWER OF THE SAME PERSONS AS BEFORE.
All persons, male or female, obtaining the Roman citizenship, in accordance with this law, or having obtained it in accordance with an edict of the imperator Caesar Augustus Vespasianus, or the imperator Titus Caesar Augustus, or the imperator Caesar Augustus Domitianus, father of his country, shall be in the parental power or marital control o legal dominion of that person, having been made a Roman citizen by this law, to whom such dependence would be proper, if the said persons had not been transferred into the Roman citizenship; and the said persons shall have the same right of choosing a legal guardian, which they would have, if they had been born of Roman citizen, and had not exchanged their citizenship.

R. Ut qui civitat(em) Roman(am) consequantur, maneant in eorundem m(ancipio) m(anu) potestate.
XXII. Qui quaeque ex h(ac) l(ege) exve edicto imp(eratoris) Caesaris Aug(usti) Vespasiani, imp(eratoris)ve Titi Caesaris Aug(usti), aut imp(eratoris) Caesaris Aug(usti) Domitiani, p(atris) p(atriae), civitatem Roman(am) consecutus consecuta erit. Is ea in eius, qui c(ivis) R(omanus) h(ac) l(ege) factus erit, potestate manu mancipio, cuius esse deberet, si civitate Romana mutatus mutata non esset, esto idque ius tutoris optandi habeto, quod haberet si a cive Romano ortus orta neq(ue) civitate mutatus mutata esset.

Rubric 23

R. PERSONS OBTAINING THE ROMAN CITIZENSHIP TO RETAIN RIGHTS OVER FREEDMEN.
XXIII. In the case of all persons, male female, obtaining  the Roman citizenship in accordance with this law, or having obtained it in accordance with an edict of the imperator  Caesar Vespasianus Augustus or the imperator Titus Caesar Vespasianus Augustus or the imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus, there shall be the same rights and the same conditions in respect to freedmen or freedwomen, whether their own or their fathers', such freedmen and freedwomen not having come into the Roman citizenship, and likewise in respect to the goods of the said freedmen and freedwomen, and to the services imposed in consideration of their freedoms as would have existed, if the said persons had not exchanged their citizenship.

.R. Ut qui c(ivitatem) R(omanam) consequentur, iura Iiberatorum retineant.
XXIII. Qui quaeve [ex] h(ac) l(ege) exve edicto imp(eratoris) Caes(aris) Vesp(asiani) Aug(usti), imp(eratoris)ve Titi Caes(aris) Vespasian(i) Au(gusti) I aut imp(eratoris) Caes(aris) Domítiani Aug(usti) c(ivitatem) R(omanam) consecutus consecuta erit: is in | libertos libertasve suos suas paternos paternas, qui quae in c(vitatem) R(omanam) non | venerit, deque bonis eorum earum et is, quae libertatis causa inposita | sunt, idem ius eademque condicio esto, quae esset, si cìvitate mutatus I mutata non esset.

Rubric 28.

R. CONCERNING THE MANUMISSION OF SLAVES BEFORE  A DUOVIR.
XXVIII. In the case of any citizen of the municipium Flavium Salpensanum, being possessed of Latin rights, manumitting one of his slaves, male or female, from servitude to liberty  and ordering the said slave to be free man or  free woman at the court of the duovirs  charged with the  highest jurisdiction in the said municipium, always provided that no ward in law and no unmarried woman and no widow  shall manumit such person or order such person to he free man or free woman unless represented by a gnardian, then  the person so manumitted and so ordered to be free shall be a free man or a free woman, possessed of the best rights whereby Latin freedmen are  shall be free persons, provided that a person less than twenty years of age shall only manumit when that number of the decuriones by which decrees may lawfully be made shall have approved just cause of manumission.

R. De servis aput IIvir(um) manumittendis. XXVIII. Si quis municeps munici Flavi Salpensani, qui Latinus erit, aput Ilvir(os), | qui iure dicundo praeerunt eius municipi, servom suom servamve suam | ex servitute in libertate[m] manumiserit, liberum liberamve esse iusserit, | dum ne quis pupillus neve quae virgo mulierve sine tutore auctore | quem quamve manumittat, liberum liberamve esse iubeat: qui ita | manumissus liberve esse iussus erit, liber esto, quaeque ita manumissa | liberave [esse] iussa erit, libera esto, uti qui optum[o] iure Latini libertiní li Iberi sunt erunt; dum is qui minor XX annorum erit ita manumittat, | si causam manumittendi iusta[m] esse is numerus decuríonum, per quem | decreta h(ac) l(ege) facta rata sunt, censuerit. 

Rubric 29

R. CONCERNING THE ASSIGNMENT OF A LEGAL GUARDIAN.
XXIX. As respecting persons, male or female, being citizens of the mllnicipium Flavium Salpensanum, and not being wards in law, who have no legal guardian or one whose legal  existence is uncertains if the said persons shall bave made demand  of the duovirs, charged with the highest juriSdiction in the said municipium, that they shall assign a guardian, at the same time specifying the person whom they desire to be  so assigned, then the magistrate, of whom such demand is made, shall take cognizance of the case, acting on the views  of all his colleagues, whether one or more than one, who are at the time present in the said municipium or within  the boundaries thereof, and, if they shall approve, shall assign the guardian so specified. But if the person, male  37 female, in whose name such demand is made, is a ward in law, or if the magistrate, from whom such demand is made,  shall have no colleague, or no colleague within the boundaries of the said municipium,u then the said magistrate, from whom  such demand shall have been made, shall within the ten days  next following take cognizance of the case, and acting on a  decree of the decuriones, passed in the presence of not less than two-thirds of the said decuriones, shall assign the person  specified by the applicant as his legal guardian,45 provided tha.t thereby the right of tutelage be not withdrawn from  a legally constituted guardian6 The guardian so granted by this law to the said person, provided that thereby the right of tutelage be not withdrawn from a legally constituted guardian, shall be as lawfully appointed as though he were a Roman citizen, and as though the nearest agnate, being a Roman citizen, had been made guardian.

Cui tutor non erit incertusve erit, si is eave municeps municipi Flavi Salpensani erit, et pupilli pupillaeve non erunt, et ab IIviris, qui iure dicundo praeerunt eius municipi, postulaverit, uti sibi tutorem det, et eum, quem dare volet, nominaverit: tum is, a quo postulatum erit, sive unum sive plures collegas habebit, de omnium collegarum sententia, qui tum in eo municipio intrave fines municipi eius erunt, causa cognita, si ei videbitur, eum qui nominatus erit tutorem dato. Sive is eave, cuius nomine ita postulatum erit, pupillus pupillave erit, sive is, a quo postulatum erit, non habebit collegam, collegave eius in eo municipio intrave fines eius municipi nemo erit: tum is, a quo ita postulatum erit, causa cognita in diebus X proximis, ex decreto decurionum, quod cum duae partes decurionum non minus adfuerint, factum erit, eum, qui nominatus erit, quo ne ab iusto tutore tutela abeat, ei tutorem dato. Qui tutor hac lege datus erit, is ei, cui datus erit, quo ne ab iusto tutore tutela abeat, tam iustus tutor esto, quam si is civis Romanus et ei adgnatus proximus civis Romanus tutor esset.

Similar expressions appear in the other laws with content also similar and that is because  I avoid repeating them.

Neither should we ignore the ease with which the people were «manipulated», impressed, to make damaging agreements even against democracy itself, when there emerge the «demagogues» who even impose «tyrants».

Let us remember something as well known as the etymology of democracy, demagogy, tyranny:

Democracy: from the Greek nouns δῆμος, (demos = village, people) and κράτος (krátos = power): government of the people.

Demagogy: from Greek δῆμος –dēmos-, village, people and ἄγω –ago-, to run, to direct. According to the RAE (Real Academia Española, Royal Spanish Academy) Dictionary:

Political practice consisting in winning with praise the popular favor and also Degeneration of the democracy, in which politicians, by means of concessions and compliments to the elementary feelings of the citizens, try to obtain or to maintain the power.

Tyranny: from the Greek τύραννος (tyrannos) meaning  "master"; it appears to be a non-Indo-European, but  Lydian term; it has also been related to the Etruscan term "turan", which means “dama, lady”  applied to Venus. According to the RAE:

"person who obtains against the law the government of a State, especially if he governs it without justice and in accordance with his will"; And also: "a person who abuses his power, superiority or strength in any concept or matter, and also simply who imposes that power and superiority to an extraordinary degree."

See https://www.antiquitatem.com/en/tyranny-democracy-thucydides-dictator

Well, I'm going to tell an episode that occurred in Italy where Hannibal moved himself during the Second Punic War, defeating and annihilating the Latin armies and occupying one after another numerous cities, generating a sense of panic and total fear among all the Romans.

Specifically it occurs in Capua, capital of Campania about thirty kilometers from Naples, southern Italy, one of the most prosperous and wealthy and even more luxurious cities than the famous Sybaris and Crotona, according to the testimony of Polybius The Histories, VII, 1, y III, 91,6; Cicero, De Lege Agraria, II,95 ; or Strabo V,4,3. Capua  was communicated with Rome by the famous Via Apia from 312 BC.

We have tried sometimes about Sybaris or Crotona in this same blog.

https://www.antiquitatem.com/en/bed-of-roses-princess-and-pea-andersen

https://www.antiquitatem.com/en/zeuxis-virgins-of-crotone-imitation

In this episode we will observe the ease with which the malleable "mass" of citizens is handled by a skillful individual and what can happen when the people as a whole and each of its members are confronted with their own responsibility.

The citizens of Capua "hated" their senators who acted haughtily without consideration or even kept in touch with them, but when they had occasion to break up with them, they were unable to agree and propose substitutes for those whom they wished to make disappear . I reproduce a beginning text perhaps too long, but necessary to situate the facts in context.

Titus Livius, (Livy) , from his History of Rome from, Ab Urbe Condita Libri , book 23, chapters 1-4.

After the battle of Cannae and the capture and plunder of the camps, Hannibal had moved at once out of Apulia into Samnium, being invited into the land of the Hirpini by Statius Trebius, who promised that he would turn over Compsa to him. Trebius was a Compsan of high rank among his people, but opposed by the party of the Mopsii, a family made powerful by the favour of the Romans.  After the news of the battle of Cannae, and when the coming of Hannibal had been made known by utterances of Trebius, since the Mopsii had left the city, it was handed over to the Carthaginians without resistance and a garrison admitted. There Hannibal left all his booty and the baggage, divided his army, and ordered Mago either to take over such cities of that region as were deserting the Romans or to compel them to desert in case they refused. He himself made his way through the Campanian region to the Lower Se, intending to attack Neapolis, that he might have a seaport. On entering the territory of the Neapolitans, he stationed some of the Numidians in ambush, wherever he conveniently could (and most of the roads are deep-cut and the turnings concealed). Other Numidians he ordered to ride up to the gates, making a display of the booty they were driving along before them from the farms. Against these men, because they seemed to be few in number and disorganized, a troop of cavalry made a sally, but being drawn into the ambush by the enemy's purposely retreating, it was overpowered.  And not a: man would have escaped if the proximity of the sea and the sight of vessels, chiefly of fishermen, not far from the shore had not given those who could swim a way of escape.  However a number of young nobles were captured or slain in that battle, among them, Hegeas, a cavalry commander, who fell as he rashly pursued the retreating. From besieging the city the Carthaginian was deterred by the sight of walls such as by no means invited an attacker.

Hannibal then directed his march to Capua, which was pampered by its long-continued prosperity and the favour of fortune, but, along with the general corruption, especially from the licence of the common people, who enjoyed an unlimited freedom. As for the senate, Pacuvius Calavius, a noble who was at the same time of the people's party, but had gained his influence by base arts, had made it subservient both to himself and to the common people. He, being in their highest office, as is happened, in the year of the defeat at Lake Trasumennus, thought that the commons, long hostile to the senate, would use the opportunity of a revolution and dare to commit a great crime, namely, if Hannibal should come into the region with his victorious army, they would slay the senators and hand over Capua to the Carthaginians.  A bad man, but not utterly abandoned, he preferred to dominate a state still intact rather than one that had been wrecked, yet believed that none was intact if deprived of its deliberative body. He accordingly entered upon a scheme to save the senate and at the same time to make it submissive to himself and to the commons. Summoning the senate he began by saying that, unless it should prove necessary, a plan to revolt from the Romans would by no means have his approval, since he had  children by a daughter of Appius Claudius and had given a daughter in marriage to Marcus Livius at Rome. But, he went on to say, something much more serious and more to be dreaded was impending; for the common people were not aiming to rid the state of the senate by a revolt, but by the massacre of the senate wished to hand over the republic, left helpless, to Hannibal and the Carthaginians. From that danger he could free them if they should leave it to him, and, forgetting civil conflicts, trust him. When, overcome by fear, they unanimously left matters to him, “I will shut you up,” he said, “in the Senate House and, just as if I were myself a sharer in the crime intended, by approving plans which it would be vain for me to oppose, I will find a way to save you. For this accept a pledge, as you yourselves desire.” Having given the pledge he went out, ordered the Senate House to be closed and left a guard before the entrance, that no one might be able to enter the Senate House or leave it without his order.
Then calling the people to an assembly he said: “You have often desired, Campanians, to have the power to exact punishment from a base and odious senate. That power you have, not by riotously storming, with great danger to yourselves, the houses of individuals who defend them with garrisons of clients and slaves, but you have the power secure and unrestricted. As they are shut up there, every man of them, in the Senate House, seize them, left alone, unarmed! And do nothing in haste or at haphazard. I will give you the right to decide their fate in each separate case, so that each shall pay the penalty he has deserved.  But above all things you should vent your wrath with due regard to the conviction that your safety and advantage are worth more than wrath. For it is these senators that you hate, I think; it is not your wish to have no senate at all. In fact you must either have a king —save the mark! —or else a senate, the only deliberative body in a free state. And so you have two things to do at the same time —to do away with the old senate, and to choose a new one. I will order the senators to be called one by one and will consult you as to their fate. Whatever is your opinion in each case shall be done, but before punishment is inflicted on the guilty one you will choose in his place a brave and active man as a new senator.”He then sat down, and after the names had been placed in the urn, he ordered the first name drawn by lot to be called and the man himself to be led out of the Senate House. On hearing the name every man shouted his loudest, that he was a bad man and base and deserved punishment.  Upon that Pacuvius said: “I see what your verdict is in this man's case; therefore in place of a bad man and base nominate a good and just senator.” At first there was silence from their inability to suggest a better man. Then when someone, overcoming his timidity, named a man, at once there was a much louder outcry, some saying they did not know him, others taunting him, now with shameful conduct, now with low rank and sordid poverty and the disreputable nature of his trade or business. All the more was this done in the case of the second and third senator called. So it was clear that people were dissatisfied with the man himself, but had no one to put in his place. For nothing was gained by once more naming the same men, who had been named only to be reviled. And the rest were much lower in rank and less known than those who first came to mind. Accordingly men slipped away, saying that the most familiar evil is the most endurable, and bidding Pacuvius release the senate from confinement.

In this way Pacuvius, having made the senate much more subservient to himself than to the common people by saving their lives, ruled without arms, as all now gave way to him. Thereafter the senators, forgetting their rank and freedom, flattered the common people, greeted them, invited them graciously, entertained them at well appointed feasts;  invariably undertook cases, appeared as counsel, or as jurors gave a verdict, only for that side which was the more popular and better suited to win favour with the populace.  Moreover, nothing was done in the senate otherwise than if a meeting of the common people was being held there. The state had always been inclined to luxury, not only from defects in character, but also from the abundant opportunity for indulgences and the beguilement of all the charms of sea and land. But at that time, thanks to the servility of the leading men and the licence of the common people, they were so unrestrained that no limit was set to passion or to expense.  To their contempt for laws, the magistrates, the senate, there was now added, after the defeat at Cannae, their disparagement of the Roman power also, for which there used to be some respect. All that held them back from at once revolting was that the long-established right of intermarriage had united many distinguished and powerful families with the Romans, and that, although a considerable number were serving on the Roman side, the strongest bond was the three hundred horsemen, noblest of the Campanians, who had been chosen to garrison Sicilian cities by the Romans and sent thither.
(Translated by Frank Gardener Moore)

Hannibal post Cannensem pugnam castraque capta ac direpta confestim ex Apulia in Samnium moverat, accitus in Hirpinos a Statio Trebio pollicente se Compsam traditurum. compsanus erat Trebius nobilis inter suos; sed premebat eum Mopsiorum factio, familiae per gratiam Romanorum potentis.  post famam Cannensis pugnae volgatumque Trebi sermonibus adventum Hannibalis cum Mopsiani urbe excessissent, sine certamine tradita urbs Poeno praesidiumque acceptum est. ibi praeda omni atque impedimentis relictis, exercitu partito Magonem regionis eius urbes aut deficientis ab Romanis accipere aut detractantis cogere ad defectionem iubet, ipse per agrum Campanum mare inferum petit, oppugnaturus Neapolim, ut urbem maritimam haberet. ubi fines Neapolitanorum intravit, Numidas partim in insidiis—et pleraeque cavae sunt viae sinusque occulti—quacumque apte poterat disposuit, alios prae se actam praedam ex agris ostentantis obequitare portis iussit.  in quos, quia nec multi et incompositi videbantur, cum turma equitum erupisset, ab cedentibus consulto tracta in insidias circumventa est;  nec evasisset quisquam, ni mare propinquum et haud procul litore naves, piscatoriae pleraeque, conspectae peritis nandi dedissent effugium.  aliquot tamen eo proelio nobiles iuvenes capti caesique, inter quos et Hegeas, praefectus equitum, intemperantius cedentes secutus cecidit.  ab urbe oppugnanda Poenum absterruere conspecta moenia haudquaquam prompta oppugnanti.
inde Capuam flectit iter luxuriantem longa felicitate atque indulgentia fortunae, maxime tamen inter corrupta omnia licentia plebis sine modo libertatem exercentis.  senatum et sibi et plebi obnoxium Pacuvius Calavius fecerat, nobilis idem ac popularis homo, ceterum malis artibus nanctus opes. is cum eo forte anno quo res male gesta ad Trasumennum est in summo magistratu esset, iam diu infestam senatui plebem ratus per occasionem novandi res magnum ausuram facinus ut, si in ea loca Hannibal cum victore exercitu venisset, trucidato senatu traderet  Capuam Poenis, inprobus homo sed non ad extremum perditus, cum mallet incolumi quam eversa re publica dominari, nullam autem incolumem esse orbatam publico consilio crederet, rationem iniit qua et senatum servaret et obnoxium sibi ac plebi faceret. vocato senatu cum sibi defectionis ab Romanis consilium placiturum nullo modo, nisi necessarium fuisset,  praefatus esset, quippe qui liberos ex Appii Claudii filia haberet filiamque Romam nuptum M. Livio dedisset; ceterum maiorem multo rem magisque timendam instare; non enim per defectionem ad tollendum ex civitate senatum plebem spectare, sed per caedem senatus vacuam rem publicam tradere Hannibali ac Poenis velle; eo se periculo posse liberare eos, si permittant sibi et certaminum in re publica obliti credant,—cum omnes victi metu permitterent,  “claudam” inquit “in curia vos et, tamquam et ipse cogitati facinoris particeps, adprobando consilia quibus nequiquam adversarer, viam saluti vestrae inveniam. in hoc , fidem, quam voltis ipsi, accipite.” fide data egressus claudi curiam iubet, praesidiumque in vestibulo relinquit, ne quis adire curiam iniussu suo neve inde egredi possit.
tum vocato ad contionem populo “quod saepe” inquit “optastis, Campani, ut supplicii sumendi vobis ex improbo ac detestabili senatu potestas esset, eam non per tumultum expugnantes domos singulorum, quas praesidiis clientium servorumque tuentur, cum summo vestro periculo; sed tutam habetis ac liberam; clausos omnis in curia accipite, solos, inermis. nec quicquam raptim aut forte temere egeritis; de singulorum capite vobis ius sententiae dicendae faciam, ut quas quisque meritus est poenas pendat; sed ante omnia ita vos irae indulgere oportet, ut potiorem ira salutem atque utilitatem vestram habeatis. etenim hos, ut opinor, odistis senatores, non senatum omnino habere non voltis; quippe aut rex, quod abominandum, aut, quod unum liberae civitatis consilium est, senatus habendus est. itaque duae res simul agendae vobis sunt, ut et veterem senatum tollatis et novum cooptetis.  citari singulos senatores iubebo de quorum capite vos consulam; quod de quoque censueritis fiet; sed prius in eius locum virum fortem ac strenuum novum senatorem cooptabitis quam de noxio supplicium sumatur.”  inde consedit et nominibus in urnam coniectis citari quod primum sorte nomen excidit ipsumque e curia produci iussit ubi auditum est nomen, malum et inprobum pro se quisque clamare et supplicio dignum.  tum Pacuvius “video quae de hoc sententia sit; date igitur pro malo atque inprobo bonum senatorem et iustum.” primo silentium erat inopia potioris subiciundi; deinde cum aliquis omissa verecundia quempiam nominasset, multo maior extemplo clamor oriebatur, cum alii negarent nosse, alii nunc probra nunc humilitatem sordidamque inopiam et pudendae artis aut quaestus genus obicerent. hoc multo magis in secundo ac tertio citato senatore est factum, ut ipsius paenitere homines appareret, quem autem in eius substituerent locum deesse, quia nec eosdem nominari attinebat, nihil aliud quam ad audienda probra nominatos, et multo humiliores obscurioresque ceteri erant eis qui primi memoriae occurrerant. ita dilabi homines, notissimum quodque malum maxime tolerabile dicentes esse iubentesque senatum ex custodia dimitti.

hoc modo Pacuvius cum obnoxium vitae beneficio senatum multo sibi magis quam plebi fecisset, sine armis iam omnibus concedentibus dominabatur.  hinc senatores omissa dignitatis libertatisque memoria plebem 'adulari; salutare, benigne invitare, apparatis accipere epulis,  eas causas suscipere, ei semper parti adesse, secundum eam litem iudices dare quae magis popularis aptiorque in volgus favori conciliando esset;  iam vero nihil in senatu agi aliter quam si plebis ibi esset concilium. prona semper civitas in luxuriam non ingeniorum modo vitio sed afluenti copia voluptatium et inlecebris omnis amoenitatis maritimae terrestrisque,  tum vero  ita obsequio principum et licentia plebei lascivire ut nec libidini nec sumptibus modus esset. ad contemptum legum, magistratuum, senatus accessit tum, post Cannensem cladem, ut, cuius aliqua verecundia erat, Romanum quoque spernerent imperium.  id modo erat in mora ne extemplo deficerent, quod conubium vetustum multas familias claras ac potentis Romanis miscuerat,  et cum militarent aliquot apud Romanos, maximum vinculum erant trecenti equites, nobilissimus quisque Campanorum, in praesidia Sicularum urbium delecti ab Romanis ac missi.

In short, Capua fell into the hands of Hannibal, who set the camp there during the winter, but the luxury and comfort of life in this luxurious city so weakened his army and relaxed its discipline that as soon the cold passed, he removed it immediately to restore the spirit of sacrifice that must accompany every good soldier.

Cicero reminds it in the text whose reference I quoted earlier, De Lege Agraria, II, 95:

The Campanians were always proud from the excellence of their soil, and the magnitude of their crops, and the healthiness, and position, and beauty of their city. From that abundance, and from this affluence in all things, in the first place, originated those qualities; arrogance, which demanded of our ancestors that one of the consuls should be chosen from Capua: and in the second place, that luxury which conquered Hannibal himself by pleasure, who up to that time had proved invincible in arms. (Translated by C. D. Yonge)

DE LEGE AGRARIA ORATIO SECVUNDA CONTRA P. SERVILIVM RVLLVM TR. PLEB. IN SENATV
Cicero Leg. Agr. II. 95 Campani semper superbi bonitate agrorum et fructuum magnitudine, urbis salubritate, descriptione, pulchritudine. Ex hac copia atque omnium rerum adfluentia primum illa nata est adrogantia qua a maioribus nostris alterum Capua consulem postularunt, deinde ea luxuries quae ipsum Hannibalem armis etiam tum invictum voluptate vicit.

But this is another matter.

In any case, the anecdote of the citizens who mistreated their senators may perhaps move to some reflection current populist leaders willing to consult the people whenever they assume it coincident with their objectives. In our current societies democracy is representative, that is, the citizens elect their representatives in them they delegate their right to participate in political life in some aspects. Only on rare occasions of special importance it is resorted to referendum or consultation of all citizens entitled to participate.

Note: "referendum" is a verbal form called "gerundive" that means "obligation of …" from the verb re-fero, re-ferre, composed of re- (back, again) and fero, to carry. Consequently it means "to be consulted".

In the political context, therefore, it refers to the procedure by which a question or matter "must be taken or returned … to the people", that is to say, “it must to be consulted” with all the citizens who hold the sovereignty for ratification .

The RAE (Real Academia Española, Royal Spanish Academy) Dictionary , with its plausible concision, defines it as:

"Procedure by which popular laws or decisions are submitted to the popular vote with a decision-making or consultative character".

Plebiscite is a synonymous word with an absolutely Latin flavor. It is formed of plebis, genitive of plebs, which means plebs, people (remember the initial division of Roman citizens between "patricians", with all the rights and "plebeian"  who  would have to achieve them with a long struggle for equality, and "scitum", from the verb scio, scire, to know, and its inchoative compound  "sciscere", which initially means to inform, to try to know, and secondarily to deliberate, to vote, to decree, to solve.

Thus Cicero says  in Philippics I, 10,26

"Consules iure populum rogaverunt, populusque iure scivit",

that  translated says:

"the consuls according to law consulted the people and the people resolved according to law."

The Dictionary of the RAE (Real Academia Española; Royal Spanish Academy) defines it with all clarity and precision as follows:

From Latin  Plebiscītum .
1. Resolution taken by an entire town by majority vote
2. Enquiry that the public powers submit to the direct popular vote to approve or reject a certain proposal on a political or legal issue.
3. . In ancient Rome, a law which the plebs established at the suggestion of their tribune, separately from the upper classes of the republic, and which at first forced only the plebeians, but later all the people.

I avoid the pettifogger, never better denominated, discussion of the technical difference between plebiscite and referendum, which has produced not a few articles.

I will refer to an episode of the Second Punic War, also peppered with a story of corruption, which explains how this system was generated. All wars, before and now are always time and opportunity for big business, to which no matter  whether or not the benefits are stained with innocent blood.

Livy tells us the episode in his  The History of Rome from its origin (Ab urbe condita), on the book XXV, 3 et seq.

Rome is definitely facing up to Carthage because  its expansion in the Mediterranean and because it considers that  the Punics or Carthaginians are threat to their survival. This war began developing in Hispania, where the Carthaginians are already well established; It is then developed in the Italian territory itself, where Hannibal is gone from Hispania through the passes of the Alps in winter, and finally it will end years after with the destruction of Carthage. Hannibal`s  victorious campaigns in Italy (Ticino, Trebia, Trasimene, Cannas …) widespread panic among Romans.

It is precisely the situation of need of the Scipios in Hispania which forces  them to send a letter in 215 to the Senate of Rome for help. The expenses for war are such than the State does not have enough money to cope with them and therefore it resorted to the collaboration of the capitalists or  "publicans" who have been benefiting by the contracts of the State. These "publicani" or citizens with economic resources form three companies to supply the army. Given the circumstances of insecurity of time and distances that have to be transported some resources, it is included in the contract a clause according the which  the risk of shipwreck  must be borne by the State. We can imagine widespread panic situation by the presence of Hannibal  in Italy itself and the successive victories with which he is crushing the Roman armies.

In that context there were two individuals, two “publicani" who not enough happy with the lawful profits simulated accidental sinking of ships loaded with waste material and little valuable  to collect them as well.

From the foregoing we will draw important consequences about the constitution of these societies, but the episode has a second part very revealing. When fraudsters are discovered and reported to the Senate, it does not act immediately against them, given the affinity and convergence of interests in many cases between the class and families of the senators with the "publicans".  It must to be the people through their special representatives, the tribunes of the plebs (today we would say “the popular action”), which  demanded responsibilities and initiated legal proceedings.

While meeting the people's congress, it was interrupted by the violent action of the publicans, willing to avoid the conviction of one of their powerful members. Given the evidence of the charges and the danger of the situation, the Senate had no choice but to intervene more decisively.

I would conclude that it is equally as scandalous that contractors defraud the State that the State itself has no interest in punishing the fraudsters.

We leave for super specialists whether these tenants were really from the class or ordo of the "publicans" and on the historicity of supply contracts for the army, because this appears to be an isolated case in the historical context of late III century BC.

In any case, it does not take much imagination to set the resemblance to actual situations in which large powerful criminals avoid the action of justice, managed largely by people related to their social group. It is true that the ancient and modern situations do not are exactly alike and we should not exaggerate the resemblance, but once again we reaffirm the motto of this blog, "Nihil novum sub sole" "Nothing new under the sun".

As it is demanded for this blog, what is said, it must to be found in existing texts and there nothing is better than to reproduce the writings of Livy. In a later article I will explain how far  the interests of individuals and companies are confused with the public and state.

Livy,  The History of Rome (Ab urbe condita), book XXV, 3 et seq:

Quintus Fulvius Flaccus and Appius Claudius entered upon their consulship, the former for the third time. And the praetors received by lot the following assignments: Publius Cornelius Sulla, the duties of praetor urbanus and praetor peregrinus, previously two separate offices;  Gnaeus Fulvius Flaccus, Apulia, Gaius Claudius Nero, Suessula, Marcus Junius Silanus, Etruria.  To the consuls were assigned by decree the war with Hannibal and two legions each. The one was to take over his troops from Quintus Fabius, consul in the previous year, the other from Fulvius Centumalus. Of the praetors, Fulvius Flaccus was to have the legions which had been at Luceria under the praetor Aemilius, Nero Claudius the one which had been in the Picene district under Gaius Terentius. They were themselves to enlist more recruits for the same. To Marcus Junius the city legions of the previous year were given for Etruria.  For Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Publius Sempronius Tuditanus their commands and provinces, Lucania and Gaul, with their armies, were continued.  And the same was done for Publius Lentulus, within the limits of the old province in Sicily, and for Marcellus, whose province was Syracuse and up to the former boundaries of Hiero's kingdom. The fleet was assigned to Titus Otacilius, Greece to Marcus Valerius, Sardinia to Quintus Mucius Scaevola, the Spanish provinces to Publius and Gnaeus Cornelius. In addition to the old armies two city legions were enrolled by the consuls, and the total that year amounted to twenty-three legions.

The consular levy was hampered by the conduct of Marcus Postumius of Pyrgi, which almost occasioned a serious insurrection. Postumius was a tax-farmer, who in many years had had no equal in dishonesty and avarice in the state, except Titus Pomponius Veientanus, whom the Carthaginians under Hanno's command had captured in the preceding year, while he was rashly ravaging the country in Lucania. These men, since the state assumed the risk from violent storms in the case of shipments to the armies, had falsely reported imaginary shipwrecks, and even those which they had correctly reported had been brought about by their own trickery, not by accident. They would put small cargoes of little value on old, battered vessels, sink them at sea, after taking off the crews in small boats that were in readiness, and then falsely declare that the shipments were far more valuable.  This dishonesty had been reported in the previous year to Marcus Aemilius, the praetor, and by him brought before the senate, but it was not branded by any decree of the senate, because the senators were unwilling to offend the tax-farmers as a class at such a crisis.

The people proved a more unsparing avenger of dishonesty; namely, two tribunes of the plebs, Spurius and Lucius Carvilius, were at length aroused, and seeing that the affair was unpopular and notorious, imposed a fine of two hundred thousand asses upon Marcus Postumius. When the day for his protest against this fine arrived, the assembly of the commons was so large that the open space on the Capitol could scarcely contain the crowd. After the arguments were concluded, there seemed to be but one hope, namely, if Gaius Servilius Casca, a tribune of the plebs who was a blood-relative of Postumius, should interpose his veto before the tribes should be called to vote. The tribunes provided witnesses,cleared the people away, and the urn was brought, that they might determine by lot in which tribe the Latins should vote. Meantime the tax-farmers pressed Casca to adjourn that day's hearing before the assembly. The people protested; and it so happened that the first seat at the end of the platform was occupied by Casca, whose mind was swayed at once by fear and shame. Finding in him no sufficient protection, the publicans, in order to prevent action, rushed in a wedge through the space cleared by removal of the crowd, while at the sametime they reviled the people and the tribunes. And it had almost come to a battle when Fulvius, the consul, said to the tribunes, “Do you not see that you are reduced to the ranks, and that this means an insurrection if you do not promptly dismiss the popular assembly?” it was said, a man whose exile would have been followed by the ruin of the city, had allowed himself to be condemned by the angry citizens;  that before his time the decemvirs, under whose laws they were then still living, and later many leading men in the state, had submitted to the judgment of the people in their cases; that Postumius of Pyrgi had wrested the vote from the Roman people, had brought to naught an assembly of the plebs, reduced the tribunes to the ranks, drawn up a battle-line against the Roman people, had taken his position, to separate the tribunes from the people and to prevent the tribes from being summoned to vote. Nothing had restrained men from slaughter and battle but the forbearance of the magistrates in yielding for the moment to the mad audacity of a few men, and in allowing themselves and the Roman people to be worsted, also in that, as regards the voting, which the defendant would have prevented by force of arms, they had of their own accord suspended it, to avoid giving excuse to those eager for the fray.  These words were interpreted by all the best citizens as deserved by an outrageous occurrence, and the senate declared that this violence had been employed against the state, setting a dangerous precedent. Thereupon the Carvilii, tribunes of the people, in place of the procedure to fix the amount of the fine, at once named a day for Postumius' appearance on a capital charge, and ordered that if he did not furnish sureties he should be seized by an attendant and taken to prison. Postumius furnished sureties, but did not appear. The tribunes put the question to the plebs and the plebs ordained that, if Marcus Postumius should not appear before the first of May, and on being summoned on that day should not reply nor be excused, it should be understood that he was in exile, and be decided that his property should be sold and himself refused water and fire. The tribunes then began to name a day for the appearance on a capital charge of each of those who had been instigators of riot and sedition, and to demand sureties from them.  At first they threw into prison those who did not give security, and then even those who were able to do so. Avoiding this danger many went into exile.   (Translation by Frank Gardener Moore. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940.)

Q. Fulvius Flaccus tertium Appius Claudius consulatum ineunt.  et praetores provincias sortiti sunt, P. Cornelius Sulla urbanam et peregrinam, quae duorum ante sors fuerat, Cn. Fulvius Flaccus Apuliam, C. Claudius Nero Suessulam, M. Iunius Silanus Tuscos. consulibus bellum cum Hannibale et binae legiones decretae; alter a Q. Fabio superioris anni consule, alter a Fulvio Centumalo acciperet;  praetorum Fulvi Flacci quae Luceriae sub Aemilio praetore, Neronis Claudi quae in Piceno sub C. Terentio fuissent legiones essent; supplementum in eas ipsi scriberent sibi. M. Iunio in Tuscos legiones urbanae prioris anni datae. Ti. Sempronio Graccho et P. Sempronio Tuditano imperium provinciaeque Lucani et Gallia cum suis exercitibus prorogatae;  item P. Lentulo qua vetus provincia in Sicilia esset, M. Marcello Syracusae et qua Hieronis regnum fuisset; T. Otacilio classis, Graecia M. Valerio, Sardinia Q. Mucio Scaevolae, Hispaniae. et Cn. Corneliis. ad veteres exercitus duae urbanae legiones a consulibus scriptae, summaque trium et viginti legionum eo anno effecta est. dilectum consulum M. Postumii Pyrgensis cum magno prope motu rerum factum impediit. publicanus erat Postumius, qui multis annis parem fraude avaritiaque neminem in civitate habuerat praeter T. Pomponium Veientanum, quem populantem temere agros in Lucanis ductu Hannonis priore anno ceperant Carthaginienses. hi, quia publicum periculum erat a vi tempestatis in iis quae portarentur ad exercitus et ementiti erant falsa naufragia et ea ipsa quae vera renuntiaverant fraude ipsorum facta erant, non casu. in veteres quassasque naves paucis et parvi pretii rebus impositis, cum mersissent eas in alto exceptis in praeparatas scaphas nautis, multiplices fuisse merces ementiebantur. ea fraus indicata M. Aemilio praetori priore anno fuerat ac per eum ad senatum delata nec tamen ullo senatus  consulto notata, quia patres ordinem publicanorum in tali tempore offensum nolebant. populus severior vindex fraudis erat, excitatique tandem duo tribuni plebis, Spurius et L. Carvilii, cum rem invisam infamemque cernerent, ducentum milium aeris multam M. Postumio dixerunt. cui certandae cum dies advenisset, conciliumque tam frequens plebis adesset ut multitudinem area Capitolii vix caperet, perorata causa una spes videbatur esse si C. Servilius Casca tribunus plebis, qui propinquus cognatusque Postumio erat, priusquam ad suffragium tribus vocarentur, intercessisset.  testibus datis tribuni populum summoverunt, sitellaque lata est, ut sortirentur ubi Latini suffragium ferrent.  interim publicani Cascae instare ut concilio diem eximeret; populus reclamare; et forte in cornu primus sedebat Casca, cui simul metus pudorque animum versabat. cum in eo parum praesidii esset, turbandae rei causa publicani per vacuum summoto locum cuneo inruperunt iurgantes simul cum populo tribunisque.,  nec procul dimicatione res erat cum Fulvius consul tribunis “nonne videtis” inquit “vos in ordinem coactos esse et rem ad seditionem spectare, ni propere dimittitis plebis concilium?”. plebe dimissa senatus vocatur et consules referunt de concilio plebis turbato vi atque audacia publicanorum:  M. Furium Camillum, cuius exilium ruina urbis secutura fuerit, damnari se ab iratis civibus passum esse;  decemviros ante eum, quorum legibus ad eam diem viverent, multos postea principes civitatis iudicium de se populi passos:  Postumium Pyrgensem suffragium populo Romano extorsisse, concilium plebis sustulisse, tribunos in ordinem coegisse, contra populum Romanum aciem instruxisse, locum occupasse, ut tribunos a plebe intercluderet, tribus in suffragium vocari prohiberet. nihil aliud a caede ac dimicatione continuisse homines nisi patientiam magistratuum, quod cesserint inpraesentia furori atque audaciae paucorum vincique se ac populum Romanum passi sint et comitia,  quae reus vi atque armis prohibiturus erat, ne causa quaerentibus dimicationem daretur, voluntate ipsi sua sustulerint. haec cum ab optimo quoque pro atrocitate rei accepta essent, vimque eam contra rem publicam et pernicioso exemplo factam senatus decresset,  confestim Carvilii tribuni plebis omissa multae certatione rei capitalis diem Postumio dixerunt ac, ni vades daret, prendi a viatore atque in carcerem duci iusserunt.  Postumius vadibus datis non adfuit.  tribuni plebem rogaverunt plebesque ita scivit, si M. Postumius ante kal. maias non prodisset citatusque eo die non respondisset neque excusatus esset, videri eum in exilio esse bonaque eius venire, ipsi aqua et igni placere interdici.  singulis deinde eorum qui turbae ac tumultus concitatores fuerant, rei capitalis diem dicere ac vades poscere coeperunt.  primo non dantis, deinde etiam eos qui dare possent in—carcerem coiciebant; cuius rei periculum vitantes plerique in exilium abierunt.  hunc fraus publicanorum, deinde fraudem audacia protegens exitum habuit.  comitia inde pontifici maximo creando sunt habita; ea comitia novus pontifex M. Cornelius Cethegus habuit.

In these present times they appear occasionally comparisons of the fall of the Roman Empire with the present time of tensions between East and West. More specifically similarities are seen between the events of the year 378 which end with the defeat of the Romans at Adrianople, present-day Edirne in Turkey at the current borders of Greece and Bulgaria and the death of Emperor Valens in battle and the wars in Iraq and Syria, which move millions of displaced fugitives from one place to another.

I do not intend to take the comparison to the extent that some "ideologues",  certainly interested, intended  saying that so as the admission of the "barbarians" ended with the Roman Empire, just so  the admission of many fugitives and immigrants, almost all Muslims, will  end with the "Western civilization". Is this an exaggerated conclusion, in many cases xenophobic, rejecting the different. I do not will follow this path, without ignoring therefore the serious problems  that a little thoughtful intervention by the West in the East, intervention, in the background selfish and imperialistic, has caused.

I will just transcribe some texts of the History of Ammianus, covering the years cited, in which the erratic and selfish policy of the Roman emperors concerning the admission of immigrants and fugitives from the war, produces effects that remind us with all clarity to some current events.

The borders of the Empire are on the Danube, the called Ister, that from the center of Europe flows to the Black Sea. On the other side they inhabit several Goths peoples  and further east unknown tribes, of which unlimited cruelties and ways of life far removed from Western civilization are counted. One of these tribes is the  Alans  and another  the Huns;  all kinds of rumors about his savagery and cruelty are narrated.

Well, the Huns are allied with the Alans, no less rough and wild, and push the Goths, more civilized and Christianized even (arrians), to the border of the Danube, river of enormous flow that  difficult to cross.

The Goths ask the emperor that allows them to enter the Empire and settle them in this privileged area of peace and wealth.

It would be easy to translate all of this into modern language: the Huns and their cruelty are the ISIS or DAESH and its vileness, the Goths are the immigrants or refugees fleeing from the war, the Roman Empire is the European Union, the indecisive, contradictory and selfish policy of the emperor is this of the Brussels and other European countries, some specific details, such as transport, claims control runaways and corruption in the management of aid, are so similar to current than they produce certainly astonishment.

It matters little that these events occur a little further north than the current ones, in Thrace, in a territory that is now part correspond to Turkey and part to Bulgaria. Now they occur a little further south and east, between Syria and Turkey and the nearby Greek islands like Lesbos.

I leave it to the reader's consideration the draw any conclusion, if it is to be drawn, but history should serve to avoid making the same mistakes in similar situations and to better understand some facts and their causes.

Ancient Thrace projected on the current political map. The red blue corresponds to the Danube and red point to the situation of Adrianople, in modern Turkey, point very close to the Greek and Bulgarian borders, ie at the gates of Europe; the green point Greek is the  island of Lesbos

Who  best tells it us is Ammianus, Greek writer who was born about 330, although he writes in Latin, in his “The Roman history”, Res Gestae (Rerum gestarum Libri XXXI), Book 31

The book begins with a paragraph that lightened of Roman fondness for omens, is certainly prescient:

31.1.1: Meanwhile Fortune's rapid wheel, which is always interchanging adversity and prosperity, armed Bellona in the company of her attendant Furies, and transferred to the Orient melancholy events, the coming of which was foreshadowed by the clear testimony of omens and portents.
…

31.2.1 'However, the seed and origin of all the ruin and various disasters that the wrath of Mars aroused, putting in turmoil all places with unwonted fires, we have found to be this. The people of the Huns, but little known from ancient records, dwelling beyond the Maeotic Sea near the ice-bound ocean, exceed every degree of savagery.

Ammianus, collecting the popular opinion, paints the Huns with the most terrifying features:

31.2.3 But although they have the form of men, however ugly, they are so hardy in their mode of life that they have no need of fire nor of savory food, but eat the roots of wild plants and the half-raw flesh of any kind of animal whatever, which they put between their thighs and the backs of their horses, and thus warm it a little.
….

31.2.5 They dress in linen cloth or in the skins of field-mice sewn together, and they wear the same clothing indoors and out. ..

He also describes them as extraordinary horsemen and hardened warriors without fear for their own life and naturally, faithless, fickle, irrational and without respect for the gods:

31.2.11 In truces they are faithless and unreliable, strongly inclined to sway to the motion of every breeze of new hope that presents itself, and sacrificing every feeling to the mad impulse of the moment. Like unreasoning beasts, they are utterly ignorant of the difference between right and wrong; they are deceitful and ambiguous in speech, never bound by any reverence for religion or for superstition. …

31.2.12 This race of untamed men, without encumbrances, aflame with an inhuman desire for plundering others' property, made their violent way amid the rapine and slaughter of the neighbouring peoples as far as the Halani, once known as the Massagetae.

He describes  below  the many peoples who live across the Ister, especially the Alans, who extend  to eastward and "they are divided into large and populous nations" wandering from place to place with their cattle and wagons, without a fixed place to stand them.

The following paragraph can give us an idea  of  the fierceness of the "Alans" in war:

31.2.22 …. and there is nothing in which they take more pride than in killing any man whatever: as glorious spoils of the slain they tear off their heads, then strip off their skins 1 and hang them upon their war-horses as trappings.

Well, according to Ammianus, it occurs an alliance of the Huns with the Alans and they attack the Goths and expel them from their territory.  These people cause mass movements of Goths (who already maintained relations with the Romans and even some of them had been Christianized) to the Roman frontiers:

31.3.8 …  But while this well-planned work was being pushed on, the Huns swiftly fell upon him, and would have crushed him at once on their arrival had they not been so loaded down with booty that they gave up the attempt.

And now it begins the story of the terrible exodus which has many similarities with today:
Most of the Goths known as Tervingi, expelled from their lands, are driven by the Romans to Thrace with the consent of the emperor Valens after they  promise to deliver rewards  and military aid. The Gretungs  Goths also secretly cross the Ister with their ships.

31.4.1 Therefore, under the lead of Alavivus, they took possession of the banks of the Danube, and sending envoys to Valens, with humble entreaty begged to be received, promising that they would not only lead a peaceful life but would also furnish auxiliaries, if circumstances required.

31.4.2 While this was happening in foreign parts, terrifying rumours spread abroad that the peoples of the north were stirring up new and uncommonly great commotions: that throughout the entire region which extends from the Marcomanni and the Quadi to the Pontus, a savage horde of unknown peoples, driven from their abodes by sudden violence, were roving about the river Hister in scattered [p. 403] bands with their families.

31.4.3. In the very beginning this news was viewed with contempt by our people, because wars in those districts were not ordinarily heard of by those living at a distance until they were ended or at least quieted for a time.

31.4.4 But when the belief in what had taken place gained strength, and was confirmed by the coming of the foreign envoys, who begged with prayers and protestations that an exiled race might be received on our side of the river, the affair caused more joy than fear; and experienced flatterers immoderately praised the good fortune of the prince, which unexpectedly brought him so many young recruits from the ends of the earth, that by the union of his own and foreign forces he would have an invincible army; also that instead of the levy of soldiers which was contributed annually by each province, there would accrue to the treasuries  a vast amount of gold.

31.4.5. In this expectation various officials were sent with vehicles to transport the savage horde, and diligent care was taken that no future destroyer of the Roman state should be left behind, even if he were smitten with a fatal disease. Accordingly, having by the emperor's permission obtained the privilege of crossing the Danube and settling in parts of Thrace, they were ferried over for some nights and days embarked by companies in boats, on rafts, and in hollowed tree-trunks  ; and because the river is by far the most dangerous of all and was then swollen by frequent rains, some who, because of the great crowd, struggled against the force of the waves and tried to swim were drowned; and they were a good many.

31.4.6 With such stormy eagerness on the part of insistent men was the ruin of the Roman world brought in. This at any rate is neither obscure nor uncertain, that the ill-omened officials who ferried the barbarian hordes often tried to reckon their number, but gave up their vain attempt; as the most distinguished of poets says:

Who wishes to know this would wish to know
How many grains of sand on Libyan plain By Zephyrus are swept. (Virg., Georg. II, 106 ff.)

31.4.7 Well then, let the old tales revive of bringing the Medic hordes to Greece; for while they describe the bridging of the Hellespont, the quest of a sea at the foot of Mount Athos by a kind of mechanical severing, * and the numbering of the armies by squadrons at Doriscus, 2 later times have unanimously regarded all this as fabulous reading.

* I.e., cutting a canal through the isthmus of the peninsula on which the mountain stands.

31.4.8 For after the countless swarms of nations were poured through the provinces, spreading over a great extent of plain and filling all regions and every mountain height, by this new evidence the trustworthiness also of old stories was confirmed. First Fritigern and Alavivus were received, and the emperor gave orders that they should be given food for their present needs and fields to cultivate.

31.4.9 During this time, when the barriers of our frontier were unlocked and the realm of savagery was spreading far and wide columns of armed  men like glowing ashes from Aetna, when our difficulties and imminent dangers called for military reformers who were most distinguished for the fame of their exploits: then it was, as if at the choice of some adverse deity, that men were gathered together and given command of armies who bore stained reputations. At their head were two rivals in recklessness: one was Lupicinus, commanding general in Thrace, the other Maximus, a pernicious leader.

31.4.10 Their treacherous greed was the source of all our evils. I say nothing of other crimes which these two men, or at least others with their permission, with the worst of motives committed against the foreign new-comers, who were as yet blameless; but one melancholy and unheard-of act shall be mentioned, of which, even if they were their own judges  of their own case, they could not be acquitted by any excuse.

31.4.11 When the barbarians after their crossing were harassed by lack of food, those most hateful generals devised a disgraceful traffic; they exchanged every dog that their insatiability could gather from far and wide for one slave each, and among these were carried off also sons of the chieftains.

31.4.12 During these days also Vithericus, king of the Greuthungi, accompanied by Alatheus and Saphrax, by whose will he was ruled, and also by Farnobius, coming near to the banks of the Danube, hastily sent envoys and besought the emperor that he might be received with like kindness.

31.4.13 ….. When these envoys were rejected, as the interests of the state seemed to demand, and were in doubt what course to take, ….

Tervingi, driven by hunger, insecurity and ill-treatment, and commanded by Alavivus and Frigiternus, rebel against Valents  and join to Lupicinus.

31.5.1. But now the Theruingi, who had long since been permitted to cross, were still roaming about near the banks of the river, detained by a twofold obstacle, both because, through the ruinous negligence  of the generals, they were not supplied with the necessaries of life, and also because they were purposely held back by an abominable kind of traffic.

31.5.2 When this became clear to them, they muttered that they were being forced to disloyalty as a remedy for the evils that threatened them, and Lupicinus, fearing that they might soon revolt, sent soldiers and compelled them to move out  more quickly.

31.5.3 The Greuthungi took advantage of this favourable opportunity, and when they saw that our soldiers were busy elsewhere, and that the boats that usually went up and down the river and prevented them from crossing were inactive, they passed over the stream in badly made craft and pitched their camp at a long distance from Fritigern.

31.5.4 But he with his natural cleverness in foresight protecting himself against anything that might happen, in order to obey the emperor's commands and at the same time join with the powerful Gothic kings, advanced slowly and in leisurely marches arrived late at Marcianopolis. There another, and more atrocious, thing was done, which kindled the frightful torches that were to burn for the destruction of the state.

31.5.5. Having invited Alavivus and Fritigern to a dinner-party, Lupicinus posted soldiers against the main body of the barbarians and kept them at a distance from the walls of the town; and when they asked with continual entreaties that they might, as friendly people submissive to our rule, be allowed to enter and obtain what they needed for food, great wrangling arose between the inhabitants and those who were shut out, which finally reached a point where fighting was inevitable. Whereupon the barbarians, becoming wildly excited when they perceived that some of their kindred were being carried off by force, killed and despoiled a great troop of soldiers.

Well, Ammianus continues to describe the situation of misery and despair that causes riots and clashes.

31.5.8 When report, that spiteful nurse of rumours, spread abroad what had happened, the whole nation of the Theruingi was fired with ardour for battle, and amid many fearful scenes, portentous of extreme dangers, after the standards had been raised according to their custom and the doleful sound of the trumpets had been heard, predatory bands were already rushing about, pillaging and burning the country-houses and making whatever places they could find a confusion of awful devastation.

Ammianus tells how the Goths, who had been taken earlier, rebel, kill the inhabitants of Adrianople, join Frigitern and rush to plunder Thrace. In the looting they are joining them all who had a bad situation:

31.6.5.  They approved the counsel of the king, who they knew would be an active participator in the plan, and advancing cautiously they spread over every quarter of Thrace, while their prisoners or those who surrendered to them pointed out the rich villages, especially those in which it was said that abundant supplies of food were to be found. Besides their native self-confidence, they were encouraged especially by this help, that day by day great numbers of their countrymen flocked to them, including those who had been sold some time before by the traders, as well as many other persons, whom those who were half-dead with hunger when they first crossed into the country had bartered for a drink of bad wine or bits of the poorest of bread.

31.6.7. With such guides nothing that was not [p. 425] inaccessible and out of the way remained untouched. For without distinction of age or sex all places were ablaze with slaughter and great fires, sucklings were torn from the very breasts of their mothers and slain, matrons and widows whose husbands had been killed before their eyes were carried off, boys of tender or adult age were dragged away over the dead bodies of their parents.

31.6.8. Finally many aged men, crying that they had lived long enough after losing their possessions and their beautiful women, were led into exile with their arms pinioned behind their backs, and weeping over the glowing ashes of their ancestral homes.

Ammianus tells us yet colorful the atrocities of the war and how mercilessly and indiscriminately hits  people and their families:

31.8.7. Then there were to be seen and to lament acts most frightful to see and to describe: women driven along by cracking whips, and stupified with fear, still heavy with their unborn children, which before coming into the world endured many horrors; little children too 1 clinging to their mothers. Then could be heard the laments of high-born boys and maidens, whose hands were fettered incruel captivity.

31.8.8. Behind these were led last of all grown-up girls and chaste wives, weeping and with downcast faces, longing even by a death of torment to forestall the imminent violation of their modesty. Among these was a freeborn man, not long ago rich and independent, dragged along like some wild beast and railing at thee, Fortune, as merciless and blind, since thou hadst in a brief moment deprived him of his possessions, and of the sweet society of his dear ones; had driven him from his home, which he saw fallen to ashes and ruins, and sacrificed him to a bloodthirsty victor, either to be torn limb from limb or amid blows and tortures to serve as a slave.

I think that nothing detracts the story of Ammianus from the chronic and visual reports that reporters today offer us about episodes of the war in Syria.

I invite the reader to complete reading the rest of the book 31 of the History of Ammianus, where wars and battles of enormous cruelty are reported in this and other areas of borders, until the end with the account of the episode more serious and echo in antiquity:

There comes a time when he is the emperor himself, Augustus Valens, who is directly involved in the fight and precipitates the battle of Adrianople to not share the victory with his nephew Gratian, who victorious comes to aid. Valens  loses the battle and dies burned refuged in a cabin. For many historians this is the evidence of the beginning of the inexorable "fall of the Empire."

We can read how tells how the death of Valens on 9 August 378:

31.13.11 To these ever irreparable losses, so costly to the Roman state, a night without the bright light of the moon put an end.

31.13.12 At the first coming of darkness the emperor, amid the common soldiers as was supposed (for no one asserted that he had seen him or been with him), fell mortally wounded by an arrow, and presently breathed his last breath; and he was never afterwards found anywhere. For since a few of the foe were active for long in the neighbourhood for the purpose of robbing the dead, no one of the fugitives or of the natives ventured to approach the spot.

31.13.14 Others say that Valens did not give up the ghost at once, but with his bodyguard  and a few eunuchs was taken to a peasant's cottage near by, well fortified in its second storey; and while he was being treated by unskilful hands, he was surrounded by the enemy, who did not know who he was, but was saved from the shame of captivity.

31.13.15 For while the pursuers were trying to break open the bolted doors, they were assailed with arrows from a balcony of the house; and fearing through the inevitable delay to lose the opportunity for pillage, they piled bundles of straw and firewood about the house, set fire to them, and burned it men and all.

(An English Translation. John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935)

The consequences were that in the year 382, four years after the Battle of Adrianople, Theodosius signed a treaty guaranteeing the Goths to enjoy autonomy within the Empire, and yet in 395 they attacked Constantinople; between 395 and 397 they invaded Greece, Thessaly, Macedonia; between 401 and 402 they invade Italy and sack Rome in 410. In the year 456 they entered Hispania, at the western end of the Empire. In the year 475 Romulus Augustulus (Little Augustus, he was only 15 years old) was deposed by Odoacer king of the Heruli and with him just the Western Empire ends.

Latin text

31.1.1: Inter haec  Fortunae volucris rota, adversa prosperis  semper alternans, Bellonam furiis in societatem adscitis, armabat, maestosque transtulit ad Orientem eventus, quos adventare praesagiorum fides clara monebat, et portentorum.
…
31.2.1 Totius autem sementem exitii et cladum originem diversarum, quas Martius furor incendio insolito 1 miscendo cuncta concivit, hanc comperimus causam. Hunorum gens monumentis veteribus leviter nota, ultra paludes Maeoticas glacialem oceanum accolens, omnem modum feritatis excedit.

31.2.3 In hominum autem figura, licet insuavi, ita victu  sunt asperi, ut neque igni neque saporatis indigeant cibis, sed radicibus herbarum agrestium, et semicruda cuiusvis pecoris carne vescantur, quam inter femora sua equorumque  terga subsertam, fotu calefaciunt brevi.
….
31.2.5 Indumentis operiuntur linteis vel ex pellibus silvestrium murum consarcinatis; nec alia illis domestica vestis est, alia forensis.

31.2.11 Per indutias infidi et inconstantes, ad omnem auram incidentis spei novae perquam mobiles, totum furori incitatissimo tribuentes. Inconsultorum animalium ritu, quid honestum inhonestumve sit, penitus ignorantes, flexiloqui et obscuri, nullius religionis vel superstitionis reverentia aliquando districti, …

31.2.12 Hoc expeditum indomitumque hominum genus, externa praedandi aviditate flagrans immani, per rapinas finitimorum grassatum et caedes, ad usque Halanos pervenit, veteres Massagetas, …

31.2.22 …nec quicquam est quod elatius iactent, quam homine quolibet occiso, proque exuviis gloriosis interfectorum, avulsis capitibus, detractas pelles pro phaleris iumentis accommodant bellatoriis.

31.3.8 …  Fama tamen late serpente per Gothorum reliquas gentes, quod invisitatum  antehac hominum genus, modo, nivium ut turbo montibus celsis, ex abdito sinu coortum apposita quaeque convellit et corrumpit: populi pars maior, quae Athanaricum attenuata necessariorum penuria deseruerat, quaeritabat domicilium remotum ab omni notitia barbarorum, diuque deliberans, quas eligeret sedes, cogitavit Thraciae receptaculum gemina ratione sibi conveniens, quod et caespitis est feracissimi, et amplitudine fluentorum Histri distinguitur ab arvis patentibus iam peregrini fulminibus Martis: hoc quoque idem residui velut mente cogitavere communi.

31.4.1 Itaque duce Alavivo ripas occupavere Danubii, missisque oratoribus ad Valentem, suscipi se humili prece poscebant, et quiete victuros se pollicentes, et daturos (si res flagitasset) auxilia.

31.4.2 Dum aguntur haec in externis, novos maioresque solitis casus versare gentes arctoas, rumores terribiles diffuderunt: per omne quicquid ad Pontum a Marcomannis praetenditur et  Quadis, multitudinem barbaram abditarum nationum, vi subita sedibus pulsam, circa flumen Histrum, vagari cum caritatibus suis disseminantes.

31.4.3. Quae res aspernanter a nostris inter initia ipsa accepta est, hanc ob causam, quod illis tractibus non nisi peracta aut sopita audiri procul agentibus consueverant bella.

31.4.4 Verum pubescente fide gestorum, cui robur adventus gentilium addiderat legatorum, precibus et obtestatione petentium, citra flumen suscipi plebem extorrem: negotium laetitiae fuit potius quam timori, eruditis adulatoribus in maius fortunam principis extollentibus, quae  ex ultimis terris tot tirocinia trahens, ei nec opinanti offerret, ut collatis in unum suis et alienigenis viribus, invictum haberet exercitum, et pro militari supplemento, quod provinciatim annuum pendebatur, thesauris accederet auri cumulus magnus.

31.4.5. Hacque spe mittuntur diversi, qui cum vehiculis plebem transferant truculentam. Et navabatur opera diligens, nequi Romanam rem eversurus relinqueretur, vel quassatus morbo letali. Proinde permissu imperatoris transeundi Danubium copiam, colendique adepti Thraciae partes, transfretabantur in dies et noctes, navibus ratibusque et cavatis arborum alveis agminatim impositi, atque per amnem longe omnium difficillimum, imbriumque crebritate tunc auctum, ob densitatem nimiam contra ictus aquarum nitentes quidam, et natare conati, hausti sunt plures.

31.4.6 Ita turbido instantium studio orbis Romani pernicies ducebatur. Illud sane neque obscurum est neque incertum, infaustos transvehendi barbaram plebem ministros, numerum eius comprehendere calculo saepe temptantes, conquievisse frustratos, ut eminentissimus memorat vates,

‘Quem qui scire velit, Libyci velit aequoris idem
Discere, quam multae zephyro truduntur 2 harenae. (Virg., Georg. II, 106 ff.)

31.4.7 Resipiscant tandem memoriae veteres, Medicas acies ductantes ad Graeciam: quae dum Hellespontiacos pontes, et discidio quodam fabrili, mare sub imo Athonis pede quaesitum exponunt et turmatim apud Doriscum exercitus recensitos, concordante omni posteritate, ut fabulosae sunt lectae.

31.4.8 Nam postquam innumerae gentium multitudines, per provincias circumfusae, pandentesque se in spatia ampla camporum, regiones omnes et cuncta opplevere montium iuga, fides quoque vetustatis recenti documento firmata est. Et primus cum Alavivo suscipitur Fritigernus, quibus et alimenta pro tempore, et subigendos agros tribui statuerat imperator.

31.4.9 Per id tempus nostri limitis reseratis obicibus, atque (ut Aetnaeas favillas armatorum agmina diffundente barbaria), cum difficiles necessitatum articuli correctores rei militaris poscerent aliquos claritudine gestarum rerum notissimos: quasi laevo quodam numine deligente, in unum quaesiti potestatibus praefuere castrensibus homines maculosi: quibus Lupicinus antistabat et Maximus, alter per Thracias comes, dux alter exitiosus, aemulae ambo  temeritatis.

31.4.10 Quorum insidiatrix aviditas materia malorum omnium fuit. Nam (ut alia omittamus, quae memorati vel certe, sinentibus eisdem, alii perditis rationibus in commeantes peregrinos adhuc innoxios deliquerunt) illud dicetur, quod nec apud sui periculi iudices absolvere ulla poterat venia, triste et inauditum.

31.4.11 Cum traducti barbari victus inopia vexarentur, turpe commercium duces invisissimi cogitarunt, et quantos undique insatiabilitas colligere potuit canes, pro singulis dederunt  mancipiis, inter quae et filii  ducti sunt optimatum.

31.4.12 Per hos dies interea etiam Vithericus Greuthungorum rex cum Alatheo et Saphrace, quorum arbitrio regebatur, itemque Farnobio, propinquans Histri marginibus, ut simili susciperetur humanitate, obsecravit imperatorem legatis propere missis.

31.4.13 …..Quibus (ut communi rei conducere videbatur) repudiatis, et quid capesserent anxiis, …

31.5.1. At vero Theruingi, iam dudum transire permissi, prope ripas etiam tum vagabantur, duplici impedimento adstricti, quod ducum dissimulatione perniciosa, nec victui congruis sunt adiuti, et tenebantur consulto nefandis nundinandi commerciis.

31.5.2 Quo intellecto, ad perfidiam instantium malorum subsidium verti mussabant, et Lupicinus ne iam deficerent pertimescens, eos admotis militibus adigebat ocius proficisci.

31.5.3 Id tempus opportunum nancti Greuthungi, cum alibi militibus occupatis, navigia ultro citroque discurrere solita, transgressum eorum prohibentia, quiescere perspexissent, ratibus transiere male contextis, castraque a Fritigerno locavere longissime.

31.5.4 At ille genuina praevidendi sollertia, venturos muniens casus, ut et imperiis oboediret, et regibus validis iungeretur, incedens segnius, Marcianopolim tarde pervenit itineribus lentis. Ubi aliud accessit atrocius, quod arsuras in commune exitium faces furiales accendit.

31.5.5. Alavivo et Fritigerno ad convivium corrogatis, Lupicinus ab oppidi moenibus barbaram plebem, opposito milite, procul arcebat, introire ad comparanda victui necessaria, ut dicioni nostrae obnoxiam et concordem, per preces assidue postulantem, ortisque maioribus iurgiis inter habitatores et vetitos, ad usque necessitatem pugnandi est ventum. Efferatique acrius barbari, cum necessitudines hostiliter rapi sentirent, spoliarunt interfectam militum magnam manum.

31.5.8 Haec ubi fama rumorum nutrix maligna dispersit, urebatur dimicandi studio Theruingorum natio omnis, et inter metuenda multa periculorumque praevia maximorum, vexillis de more sublatis, auditisque triste sonantibus classicis, iam turmae praedatoriae concursabant, pilando villas et incendendo, vastisque cladibus quicquid inveniri poterat permiscentes.

31.6.5. Laudato regis consilio, quem cogitatorum norant fore socium efficacem, per Thraciarum latus omne dispersi caute gradiebantur, dediticiis vel captivis vices uberes ostendentibus, eos praecipue, ubi alimentorum reperiri satias dicebatur, eo maxime adiumento, praeter genuinam erecti fiduciam, quod confluebat ad eos in dies ex eadem gente multitude, dudum a mercatoribus venundati, adiectis plurimis quos primo transgressu necati inedia vino exili vel panis frustis mutavere vilissimis.

31.6.7. Nec quicquam nisi inaccessum et devium praeeuntibus eisdem mansit intactum. Sine distantia enim aetatis vel sexus, caedibus incendiorumque magnitudine cuncta flagrabant, abstractisque ab ipso uberum suctu parvulis et necatis, raptae sunt matres et viduatae maritis coniuges ante oculos caesis, et puberes adultique pueri per parentum cadavera tracti sunt.

31.6.8. Senes denique multi, ad satietatem vixisse clamantes, post amissas opes cum speciosis feminis, manibus post terga contortis, defletisque gentilium favillis aedium ducebantur extorres.

31.8.7. tunc erat spectare cum gemitu facta dictu visuque praedira, attonitas metu feminas flagris concrepantibus agitari, fetibus gravidas adhuc immaturis, antequam prodirent in lucem, impia tolerantibus multa, implicatos alios matribus parvulos, et puberum audire lamenta, puellarumque nobilium, quarum stringebat fera captivitas manus.

31.8.8. Post quae  adulta virginitas, castitasque nuptarum, ore abiecto, flens ultima ducebatur, mox profanandum pudorem optans morte (licet cruciabili) praevenire. Inter quae cum beluae ritu traheretur ingenuus paulo ante dives et liber, de te, Fortuna, ut inclementi querebatur et caeca, quae eum puncto temporis brevi opibus exutum et dulcedine caritatum, domoque extorrem, quam concidisse vidit in cinerem et ruinas, aut lacerandum membratim, aut serviturum sub verberibus et tormentis crudo devovisti victori.

31.13.11  … Diremit haec numquam pensabilia damna, quae magno rebus stetere Romanis, nullo splendore lunari nox fulgens.

31.13.12 Primaque caligine tenebrarum, inter gregarios imperator, ut opinari dabatur (neque enim vidisse se quisquam vel praesto fuisse adseveravit), sagitta perniciose saucius ruit, spirituque mox consumpto decessit, nec postea repertus est usquam. Hostium enim paucis spoliandi gratia mortuos per ea loca diu versatis, nullus fugatorum vel accolarum illuc adire est ausus.

31.13.14 Alii dicunt Valentem animam non exhalasse confestim, sed cum candidatis et spadonibus paucis, prope ad agrestem casam relatum, secunda contignatione fabre munitam, dum fovetur manibus imperitis, circumsessum ab hostibus, qui esset ignorantibus, dedecore captivitatis exemptum.

31.13.15 Cum enim oppessulatas ianuas perrumpere conati qui secuti sunt, a parte pensili domus sagittis incesserentur, ne per moras inexpedibiles populandi amitterent copiam, congestis stipulae fascibus et lignorum, flammaque supposita, aedificium cum hominibus torruerunt.

Trees, plants in general, play an important role in the symbolic and religious life of all the peoples. In many cases and places they are sacred elements; and there are sacred forests where the genius or sacred power of divinity hide and sacred trees, inhabited by the gods, consecrated or identified with them. Each species is related to a deity and to a specific function. Its elements, such as leaves or , are used as symbols or simply as decorative elements. Thus, for example, crowns of various kinds are used according to their meaning.

We know how Athena, the Minerva of the Romans, gave Athens her name and tree, the olive tree. The tree of Dionysus or Bacchus, god of wine, of course must be the vine and ivy. Myrtle is this of the Venus, goddess of love.

Virgil clearly expressed it, for example, in their Bucolics,VII, 61-64:

CORYDON

“The poplar doth Alcides hold most dear,
the vine Iacchus, Phoebus his own bays,
and Venus fair the myrtle: therewithal
Phyllis doth hazels love, and while she loves,
myrtle nor bay the hazel shall out-vie.”
(J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1895.)

Populus Alcidae gratissima, uitis Iaccho,
Formosae myrtus Veneri, sua laurea Phoebo;
Phylis amat corylos; illas dum Phyllis amabit,
Nec myrtus uincet corylos, nec laurea Phoebi.

The laurel is the tree of Phoebus or Apollo, the sun god, the god of wisdom, of artistic creation, of poetry, music and divination. The laurel is the tree in which the virgin nymph Daphne, pursued by Apollo, to escape the god, was transformed.

The laurel, always green, is a tree that is therefore associated with the fire of the sun and the prophecy.

Apollo issued oracles * to men who request it. In his famous sanctuary of Delphi, forced destination for the Greek, to know the future, he issued them by a priestess or a medium, the Pithia, the Pythoness **.

* From Latin oraculum and this from orare, speak, etymologically it means message, parliament.

** At Delphi Apollo killed the  Python snake; hence the term also applies to a powerful and feared constrictor snake that kills its victims by suffocation curling environment.

It seems that the oracle was obtained from the fire, throwing bay leaves to it;  if the leaves frizzle and crackle,  this was good signal and if they did not frizzle, the signal was bad. Who obtained a good oracle, they returned home crowned with laurel. In addition laurel caused premonitory dreams.

In the Renaissance, Alciatus reminds us in his Book of Emblems,  CCX  (aliter CCXI)  the laurel knows the future and placed near produces precognitive dreams:

The laurel tree

Knowing what is to come, the laurel tree bears signs of safety: placed under a pillow, it creates dreams that come true.

Praescia venturae laurus fert signa salutis:
Subdita pulvillo somnia vera facit

In the same Book of emblems reminds us an appointment of Tibullus on the same issue:

Tibullus, Book II, 5, v. 79 et seq.

Such was the olden time. O Phoebus, now
Of mild, benignant brow,
Let those portents buried be
In the wild, unfathomed sea!
Now let thy laurel loudly flame
On altars to thy gracious name,
And give good omen of a fruitful year
Crackling laurel if the rustic hear,
He knows his granary shall bursting be,
And sweet new wine flow free,
  …. (Translated by Theodore C.Williams. Boston and New York Houghton Mifflin Company. The Riverside Press. Cambridge,1908)

Haec fuerant olim; sed tu iam mitis, Apollo,
prodigia indomitis merge sub aequoribu.
Et succensa sacris creepitet bene laurea flammis
Omine quo felix et sacer annus erit.
Laurus ubi bona signa dedit, gaudete coloni:
Distendet spicis horrea plena Ceres…

And another of Propertius Book. II, 28, 35

Now cease the wheels whirled to the magic chant, the altar fire is dead and the laurel lies in ashes. (Translated by H.E. Butler,M.A. The Loeb Classical Library)

The chanting of magic, the whirling bullroarers cease, and the laurel lies scorched in the quenched fires.  (Translated by A. S. Kline)

Deficiunt mágico torti sub carmine rhombi,
Et iacet extincto laurus adusta foco

And Lucretius  in his De Rerum Natura, VI, 154-155

Nor is there aught that in the crackling flame
Consumes with sound more terrible to man
Than Delphic laurel of Apollo lord.
(Transated by William Ellery Leonard, Ed.)

Nec res ulla magis quam Phoebi Delphica laurus
Terribili sonitu flamma crepitante crematur

The laurel is a symbol of glory; the palm is symbol of victory and the olive branch of peace. The leaves of various plants are used to crown the winners.

A corona is a circular leaf ornament or tree branches, flowers or herbs metal ornament that is placed around the head in recognition or memory of the special value of a person's intelligence, his art or his military merits.

In ancient Greece they will likely be used initially as a decorative element and later used in the world of athletic games (ex. Olympics) as a reward for the winners and also of poetic games. Recall that with athletic games,  poetic and literary competitions are also held.

From the world of competitive sport certainly it went  to the world of the war (from which incidentally athletic games come ) and from Greece came to Rome. Although today what really is estimated is  actually prize money,  the Crown or similar tool as a symbol of victory is still used.

As I said above, probably it came into use as merely ornamental element and soon served to crown the victors in the poetic or literary games that were developed in parallel with athletic games, of which the Olympics are the best example, but also "Pythian" in honor of Apollo and the "Isthmian" in honor of Neptune. We may even think that in the case of the Pythian games at first only artistic competitions are held, as befits the god Apollo, and eventually athletic competitions would be added as  in Olympia in honor of Zeus. And again in Olympia art competitions would be introduced, like the "Pythian".

In relation to the Pythian games and laurel we can quote a few lines from Ovid, I century before and after Christ, so far from their origin, but they are illustrative. Ovid in his poem recalls the victory of Apollo over the serpent Python.

Ovid, Metamorphoses I, 445-ff.

Lest in a dark oblivion time should hide
the fame of this achievement, sacred sports
he instituted, from the Python called
“The Pythian Games.” In these the happy youth
who proved victorious in the chariot race,
running and boxing, with an honoured crown
of oak leaves was enwreathed. The laurel then
was not created, wherefore Phoebus, bright
and godlike, beauteous with his flowing hair,
was wont to wreathe his brows with various leaves.
(Translated by Brookes More. Boston. Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922.)

Neve operis famam posset delere vetustas,
instituit sacros celebri certamine ludos,
Pythia perdomitae serpentis nomine dictos.
Hic iuvenum quicumque manu pedibusve rotave
vicerat, aesculeae capiebat frondis honorem:
nondum laurus erat, longoque decentia crine
tempora cingebat de qualibet arbore Phoebus.

So soon they also meant the triumph of the great athletes, who conferred so much honor to their hometowns. Since the athletic games, in turn, are clearly related to the military tasks of the early Greek warrior aristocrats, it could easily bee moved the meaning of laurel to the military world and thus prove the military glory.

This meaning is especially developed among the Romans, who were almost always at war throughout his history. With laurel the undefeated generals and emperors are crowned, and the victorious weapons are adorned with laurel, such as spears, bows of ships or letters and tablets which brought news of victory. So Roman generals at the ceremony of victory, who also in their hands carry a branch of laurel, and the lictors and soldiers parading in the procession.

Even a small digression, I will comment that the Romans greatly developed the typology of the crowns as symbols of very specific functions; on another occasion I will comment in more detail. Suffice now a hasty catalog of crowns: obsidionalis (for breaking the siege of a city), civica (for saving the life of a Roman citizen), navalis (for being the first in the collision or by a naval victory) muralis ( for being the first to climb a wall), castrensis (for going into the enemy camp), triumphalis (the triumph is the greatest reward the General winner), etc. There are also the convivalis (of the banquet), the funebris (it needs no explanation), the nuptialis (for wedding), the natalitia (for birth: of olive if a boy, of wool if a girl), etc.

Going back to early Greece, Pindar (518? -438 BC), for example, tells us how the winner is crowned with olive leaf crowns on the occasion of the chariot race of the year 452 B.C. . In Olympic IV, 11ff, dedicated to his friend Psaumis of Camarina:

For the procession comes in honor of Psaumis' chariot; Psaumis, who, crowned with the olive of Pisa, hurries to rouse glory for Camarina. (Translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990.)

And Pliny, who described the various types of laurel reminds us how properly the laurel is the decorative element, in Natural History, XV, 39 (127):

The laurel is especially consecrated to triumphs, is remarkably ornamental to houses, and guards the portals of our emperors and our pontiffs: there suspended alone, it graces the palace, and is ever on guard before the threshold. Cato speaks of two varieties of this tree, the Delphic and the Cyprian. Pompeius Lenæus has added another, to which he has given the name of "mustax," from the circumstance of its being used for putting under the cake known by the name of "mustaceum." He says that this variety has a very large leaf, flaccid, and of a whitish hue; that the Delphic laurel is of one uniform colour, greener than the other, with berries of very large size, and of a red tint approaching to green. He says, too, that it is with this laurel that the victors at Delphi are crowned, and warriors who enjoy the honours of a triumph at Rome. The Cyprian laurel, he says, has a short leaf, is of a blackish colour, with an imbricated edge, and crisped. (John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed)

Laurus triumphis proprie dicatur, vel gratissima domibus, ianitrix Caesarum pontificumque. sola et domos exornat et ante limina excubat .  duo eius genera tradidit Cato, Delphicam et Cypriam. Pompeius Lenaeus adiecit quam mustacem appellavit, quoniam mustaceis subiceretur: hanc esse folio maximo flaccidoque et albicante; Delphicam aequali colore viridiorem, maximis bacis atque e viridi rubentibus ac victores Delphis coronare ut triumphantes Romae; Cypriam esse folio brevi, nigro, per margines imbricato crispam.

Virgil remembers how the sailors placed wreaths of flowers  (and laurel in the prows of boats in victory and peace, in his Georgics, I, 303-304:

As laden keels, when now the port they touch,
And happy sailors crown the sterns with flowers.
(Translated by J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900.)

Ceu pressae cum iam portum tetigere carinae,
Puppibus et laeti nautae imposuere coronas

Pliny also reminds us it in  Natural History XV, 40 (133):

This tree is emblematical of peace: when a branch of it is extended, it is to denote a truce between enemies in arms. For the Romans more particulary it is the messenger of joyful tidings, and of victory: it accompanies the despatches of the general, and it decorates the lances and javelins of the soldiers and the fasces which precede their chief.  (Translated by John Bostock, M.D.,F.R.S. and H.T. Riley, Esq. B.A. 1855)

Ipsa pacifera, ut quam praetendi etiam inter armatos hostes quietis sit indicium. Romanis praecipue laetitiae victoriarumque nuntia additur litteris et militum lanceis pilisque, fasces imperatorum decorat.

Saint Isidore also considered the laurel as a symbol of glory and victory. In his Etymologies XVII, 7.2 he derives its name from the word laus (praise), and explains why it crowns the head of the winners:

"Laurel" (Laurus) is so called from the word laudis (praise). The heads of the victors were crowned with praise with this tree.  Among the ancients it was called laudea; then the letter D was abolished and replaced by R and it was called laurus, just like auriculis (ears) which was at first pronounced audiculae and medidies (midday) which is now pronounced meridies. The Greeks call this tree  δάφνη (Dafne) δαφνην  because it never loses its verdure; and for this reason the winners are crowned with him. The common people believe that this is the only tree that can not be struck by lightning.

Laurus a verbo laudis dicta; hac enim cum laudibus victorum capita coronabantur. Apud antiquos autem laudea nominabatur; postea D littera sublata et subrogata R dicta est laurus; ut in auriculis, quae initio audiculae dictae sunt, et medidies, quae nunc meridies dicitur. Hanc arborem Graeci  δάφνην (dafnen)  vocant, quod numquam deponat viriditatem; inde illa potius victores coronantur. Sola quoque haec arbor vulgo fulminari minime creditur.

Apollo, whose tree is the laurel, is the patron god of poetry, of music and of the arts in general. Its perennial verdure is the best symbol of the enduring value of poetry and art. A greater specialization seems to require the laurel for epic poetry which sings  the victorious heroes and the myrtle for lyric  and pastoral poetry:

Virgil, Bucolic: VIII 11-13:

Take thou these songs that owe their birth to thee,
and deign around thy temples to let creep
this ivy-chaplet 'twixt the conquering bays.
(Translated by J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1895.)

…accipe iussis
Carmina coepta tuis, atque hanc sine tempora circum
Inter uictrices hederam tibi serpere laurus.

This symbolic value of the literary glory survived in the Middle Ages, it gained new importance in the Renaissance and endures today.

Mostly it has been used, appropriated, translated, recreated the famous fable or myth of Apollo and Daphne. Daphne δάφνη is precisely the Greek name for the laurel. The myth was divulged by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, I, 452 et ff.:

Apollo, proud of their victory over the serpent Python, mocked Cupid, who being  a child used arms of an adult; Cupid took revenge wounding him with a golden arrow and inflaming his heart with an irresistible love for the nymph Daphne while he  wounded her with an arrow of lead, which generated disgust and rejection.The supplications  of Apollo were useless , and they did not soften the heart of the nymph; Apollo, desperate chases her through the woods and he is about to reach her  when Dafne implores the help of his father, Peneus River, who turns her into laurel; Apollo desperate and tearful embraces the tree, which made its emblem and its tree. And the laurel is also the symbol of unrequited and unhappy love.

Well, no Medieval or Renaissance literary or Baroque author who does not remember, imitate or reproduce this myth.

I will comment on a curious question. Often in the literature, with an epic or lyrical character appears a comic element that downplays the grandeur of earlier. Thiat happens with laurel: given its culinary value to flavor stews and cooked, it is not uncommon in the Baroque Literature of contrasts appear burlesque versions of the value of laurel.

An example is the famous Spanish playwright and poet Lope de Vega, who under the name of his heterónimo Tomé Burguillos, is the author of this great sonnet which ridicules the desire of poets to receive laurels and awards. I offer only Spanish text without translation to avoid damaging the poem:

Llevóme Febo a su Parnaso un día,
y vi por el cristal de unos canceles
a Homero y a Virgilio con doseles,
leyendo filosófica poesía
Vi luego la importuna infantería
de poetas fantásticos noveles,
pidiendo por principios más laureles
que anima Dafne y que Apolo cría.
Pedile yo también por estudiante,
y díjome un bedel: “Burguillos, quedo:
que no sois digno de laurel triunfante”
“¿Por qué?”, le dije; y respondió sin miedo:
“Porque los lleva todos un tratante
para hacer escabeches en Laredo.”

This comic contrast between the two functions of laurel, the sublime to crown the head of the poets and this of the prosaic culinary seasoning, remains a continuing reflection today. For example, the writer, journalist and Spanish writer Manuel Vicent reminds us in his article in the newspaper El País of 22 July 2001 "Glory":

.. So they you want you, dedicated to the verses in the horatian village, between chickens and lettuce, you contemplating the twilight and they filling the sack. The laurel  has two destinations: the head of the hero or the stew. Maybe one day you were a rebel: it was that day when you were willing to die for no bend yourself. That is the moment of glory that belongs to you.

But Laurel does not exhaust its virtuality in this symbolic work; its branches also serve as a shield against lightning, which increases the idea of symbol of immortality. Pliny tells us how Tiberius crowned himself with bay when there was a storm:

Naturalis Historia, book XV,  40 (134-135):

Another reason, too, may be the fact, that of all the shrubs that are planted and received in our houses, this is the only one that is never struck by lightning…. It is said that when it thundered, the Emperor Tiberius was in the habit of putting on a wreath of laurel to allay his apprehensions of disastrous effects from the lightning.

et quia manu satarum receptarumque in domos fulmine sola non icitur. ..Ti. principem tonante caelo coronari ea solitum ferunt contra fulminum metus.

Saint Isidore picked up the belief in his Etymologies (XVII, 7, 1), as we saw above:

The common people believe that this is the only tree that can’t  be struck by lightning.

Sola quoque haec arbor vulgo fulminari minime creditur.

Even today in some towns, they are placed on the balconies branches of laurel to ward off the danger of lightning.

Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) had very easy to pun on the name of his immortal beloved, Laura, "Laurel" in many poems of his Songbook; so, Song XXIX:

She is a star on earth, and she keeps
her chastity as laurel stays green,
so no lightning strikes her, no shameful breeze
can ever force her.
(Translated by: A.S.Kline)

ch'è stella in terra, et come in lauro foglia
conserva verde il pregio d'onestade,
ove non spira folgore, né indegno
vento mai che l'aggrave.

and in song CXXIX

where the breeze is fragrant
with fresh and perfumed laurel.
(Translated by: A.S.Kline)

ove l'aura si sente
d'un fresco et odorifero laureto.

Also the laurel is a common element in the ideals gardens (locus amoenus) ideal scene, despite the redundancy, for love. So  Petronius does it in his Satyricon , chap. CXXXI,8,

Shorn of its top, the swaying pine here casts a
summer shade
And quivering cypress, and the stately plane
And berry-laden laurel. A brook's wimpling waters strayed
Lashed into foam, but dancing on again
And rolling pebbles in their chattering flow.
It was Love's own nook,
(Translation by W. C. Firebaugh)

Mobilis aestiuas platanus diffuderat umbras
et bacis redimita Daphne tremulaeque cupressus
et circum tonsae trepidanti uertice pinus.
Has inter ludebat aquis errantibus amnis
spumeus, et querulo uexabat rore lapillos.
Dignus amore locus …

And even occasionally it may appear in funeral environments, recalling the perennial glory of the deceased.

Finally, only the olive tree can compete in the ancient world in symbolic value with laurel.

So the meaning of laurel as a symbol of artistic and military triumph was preserved throughout the Middle Ages and of course in the Renaissance, where it can also be a symbol of triumph in love, given the similarities with these the poets present the two battles, war and love, and in Baroque periods and so to this day. Appointments are innumerable. And even a piece remains of its  magic value in the custom of placing branches on the balconies, custom now generally Christianized by putting olive branches in Palm Sunday.

I will transcribe as an example of the emblem of Alciato cited above aimed at Charles V for his campaign in Tunisia and two quotes from Cervantes in Don Quixote with evident ironic tone:

Alciato's Book of Emblems
Emblem 211

The laurel tree is owed to Charles for his victory over the Poeni:
may such garlands adorn victorious heads.

Debetur Carolo superatis Laurea Poenis:
  Victrices ornent talia serta comas.

Don Quixote (II, 18):  

When Don Lorenzo had finished reciting his gloss, Don Quixote stood up, and in a loud voice, almost a shout, exclaimed as he grasped Don Lorenzo's right hand in his, "By the highest heavens, noble youth, but you are the best poet on earth, and deserve to be crowned with laurel, not by Cyprus or by Gaeta—as a certain poet, God forgive him, said—but by the Academies of Athens, if they still flourished, and by those that flourish now, Paris, Bologna, Salamanca. Heaven grant that the judges who rob you of the first prize—that Phoebus may pierce them with his arrows, and the Muses never cross the thresholds of their doors. Repeat me some of your long-measure verses, senor, if you will be so good, for I want thoroughly to feel the pulse of your rare genius." (Translated by John Ormsby)

Don Quixote (II, 55):

(aimed for his donkey)

! O comrade and friend, how ill have I repaid thy faithful services! Forgive me, and entreat Fortune, as well as thou canst, to deliver us out of this miserable strait we are both in; and I promise to put a crown of laurel on thy head, and make thee look like a poet laureate, and give thee double feeds."

Etymological note: “laureate”, of course,  means crowned with laurel. Who perform  secondary education are the laureates with the bacca, which according to the dictionary of the Royal Academy is the fruit or berry laurel; they  are bacca laureati, ie "bachelors" (word derived from "Baccalaureatus").

I then offer a long quotation from Pliny, at the end of Book XV on the bay, their classes, their symbolism and wonders. This gives us an idea of the importance that the laurel was in the ancient world and detail with which it is studied.

Pliny, Natural History, 39-40
39. (30.)—The laurel; thirteen varieties of it.

The laurel is especially consecrated to triumphs, is remarkably ornamental to houses, and guards the portals of our emperors and our pontiffs: there suspended alone, it graces the palace, and is ever on guard before the threshold. Cato speaks of two varieties of this tree, the Delphic and the Cyprian. Pompeius Lenæus has added another, to which he has given the name of "mustax," from the circumstance of its being used for putting under the cake known by the name of "mustaceum." He says that this variety has a very large leaf, flaccid, and of a whitish hue; that the Delphic laurel is of one uniform colour, greener than the other, with berries of very large size, and of a red tint approaching to green. He says, too, that it is with this laurel that the victors at Delphi are crowned, and warriors who enjoy the honours of a triumph at Rome. The Cyprian laurel, he says, has a short leaf, is of a blackish colour, with an imbricated edge, and crisped.
Since his time, however, the varieties have considerably augmented. There is the tinus for instance, by some considered as a species of wild laurel, while others, again, regard it as a tree of a separate class; indeed, it does differ from the laurel as to the colour, the berry being of an azure blue. The royal laurel, too, has since been added, which has of late begun to be known as the "Augustan:" both the tree, as well as the leaf, are of remarkable size, and the berries have not the usual rough taste. Some say, however, that the royal laurel and the Augustan are not the same tree, and make out the former to be a peculiar kind, with a leaf both longer and broader than that of the Augustan. The same authors, also, make a peculiar species of the bacalia the commonest laurel of all, and the one that bears the greatest number of berries. With them, too, the barren laurel is the laurel of the triumphs, and they say that this is the one that is used by warriors when enjoying a triumph—a thing that surprises me very much; unless, indeed, the use of it was first introduced by the late Emperor Augustus, and it is to be considered as the progeny of that laurel, which, as we shall just now have occasion to mention, was sent to him from heaven; it being the smallest of them all, with a crisped short leaf; and very rarely to be met with.
In ornamental gardening we also find the taxa employed, with a small leaf sprouting from the middle of the leaf, and forming a fringe, as it were, hanging from it; the spadonia, too, without this fringe, a tree that thrives remarkably well in the shade: indeed, however dense the shade may be, it will soon cover the spot with its shoots. There is the chamædaphne, also, a shrub that grows wild; the Alexandrian laurel, by some known as the Idean, by others as the "hypoglottion," by others as the "carpophyllon," and by others, again, as the "hypelates." From the root it throws out branches three quarters of a foot in length; it is much used in ornamental gardening, and for making wreaths, and it has a more pointed leaf than that of the myrtle, and superior to it in softness, whiteness, and size: the seed, which lies between the leaves, is red. This last kind grows in great abundance on Mount Ida and in the vicinity of Heraclea in Pontus: it is only found, however, in mountainous districts.
The laurel, too, known as the daphnoides, is a variety that has received many different names: by some it is called the Pelasgian laurel, by others the euthalon, and by others the stephanon Alexandri. This is also a branchy shrub, with a thicker and softer leaf than that of the ordinary laurel: if tasted, it leaves a burning sensation in the mouth and throat: the berries are red, inclining to black. The ancient writers have remarked, that in their time there was no species of laurel in the island of Corsica. Since then, however, it has been planted there, and has thrived well.

40.—Historical anecdotes connected with the laurel.

This tree is emblematical of peace: when a branch of it is extended, it is to denote a truce between enemies in arms. For the Romans more particularly it is the messenger of joyful tidings, and of victory: it accompanies the despatches of the general, and it decorates the lances and javelins of the soldiers and the fasces which precede their chief. It is of this tree that branches are deposited on the lap of Jupiter All-good and All-great, so often as some new victory has imparted uni- versal gladness. This is done, not because it is always green, nor yet because it is an emblem of peace—for in both of those respects the olive would take the precedence of it—but because it is the most beauteous tree on Mount Parnassus, and was pleasing for its gracefulness to Apollo even; a deity to whom the kings of Rome sent offerings at an early period, as we learn from the case of L. Brutus. Perhaps, too, honour is more particularly paid to this tree because it was there that Brutus earned the glory of asserting his country's liberties, when, by the direction of the oracle, he kissed that laurel-bearing soil. *

(Note *: He alludes to the circumstance of the priestess being asked who should reign at Rome after Tarquin; upon which she answered, "He who first kisses his mother;" on which Brutus, the supposed idiot, stumbled to the ground, and kissed the earth, the mother of all.)

Another reason, too, may be the fact, that of all the shrubs that are planted and received in our houses, this is the only one that is never struck by lightning. It is for these reasons, in my opinion, that the post of honour has been awarded to the laurel more particularly in triumphs, and not, as Massurius says, because it was used for the purposes of fumigation and purification from the blood of the enemy.

In addition to the above particulars, it is not permitted to defile the laurel and the olive by applying them to profane uses; so much so, indeed, that, not even for the propitiation of the divinities, should a fire be lighted with them at either altar or shrine. Indeed, it is very evident that the laurel protests against such usage by crackling as it does in the fire, thus, in a manner, giving expresssion to its abhorrence of such treatment. The wood of this tree when eaten is good as a specific for internal maladies and affections of the sinews.
It is said that when it thundered, the Emperor Tiberius was in the habit of putting on a wreath of laurel to allay his apprehensions of disastrous effects from the lightning. There are also some remarkable facts connected with the laurel in the history of the late Emperor Augustus: once while Livia Drusilla, who afterwards on her marriage with the Emperor assumed the name of Augusta, at the time that she was affianced to him, was seated, there fell into her lap a hen of remarkable whiteness, which an eagle let fall from aloft without its receiving the slightest injury: on Livia viewing it without any symptoms of alarm, it was discovered that miracle was added to miracle, and that it held in its beak a branch of laurel covered with berries. The aruspices gave orders that the hen and her progeny should be carefully preserved, and the branch planted and tended with religious care. This was accordingly done at the country-house belonging to the Cæsars, on the Flaminian Way, near the banks of the Tiber, eight miles from the City; from which circumstance that road has since received the title "Ad gallinas." From the branch there has now arisen, wondrous to relate, quite a grove: and Augustus Cæsar afterwards, when celebrating a triumph, held a branch of it in his hand and wore a wreath of this laurel on his head; since which time all the succeeding emperors have followed his example. Hence, too, has originated the custom of planting the branches which they have held on these occasions, and we thus see groves of laurel still existing which owe their respective names to this circumstance. It was on the above occasion, too, that not improbably a change was effected in the usual laurel of the triumph. The laurel is the only one among the trees that in the Latin language has given an appellation to a man, and it is the only one the leaf of which has a distinct name of its own,—it being known by the name of "laurea." The name of this tree is still retained by one place in the city of Rome, for we find a spot on the Aventine Mount still known by the name of "Loretum," where formerly a laurel-grove existed. The laurel is employed in purifications, and we may here mention, incidentally, that it will grow from slips—though Democritus and Theophrastus have expressed their doubts as to that fact.We shall now proceed to speak of the forest trees.  (Translated by  John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855).

Naturalis Historia, XV, 39-40

Laurus triumphis proprie dicatur, vel gratissima domibus, ianitrix Caesarum pontificumque. sola et domos exornat et ante limina excubat. duo eius genera tradidit Cato, Delphicam et Cypriam. Pompeius Lenaeus adiecit quam mustacem appellavit, quoniam mustaceis subiceretur: hanc esse folio maximo flaccidoque et albicante; Delphicam aequali colore viridiorem, maximis bacis atque e viridi rubentibus ac victores Delphis coronare ut triumphantes Romae; Cypriam esse folio brevi, nigro, per margines imbricato crispam.  postea accessere genera: tinus — hanc silvestrem laurum aliqui intellegunt, nonnulli sui generis arborem — differt colore; est enim caerulea baca. accessit et regia, quae coepit Augusta appellari, amplissima et arbore et folio, bacis gustatu quoque non asperis. aliqui negant eandem esse et suum genus regiae faciunt longioribus foliis latioribusque.

iidem in alio genere bacaliam appellant hanc quae vulgatissima est bacarumque fertilissima, sterilem vero earum, quod maxime miror, triumphalem eaque dicunt triumphantes uti, nisi id a Divo Augusto coepit, ut docebimus, ex ea lauru quae ei missa e caelo est, minima altitudine, folio crispo, brevi, inventu rara. accedit in topiario opere Thasia, excrescente in medio folio parvola veluti lacinia folii, et sine ea spadonina, mira opacitatis patientia, itaque quantalibeat sub umbra solum implet.  est et chamaedaphne silvestris frutex et Alexandrina, quam aliqui Idaeam, alii hypoglottion, alii danaen, alii carpophyllon, alii hypelaten vocant. ramos spargit a radice dodrantales, coronarii operis, folio acutiore quam myrti ac molliore et candidiore, maiore, semine inter folia rubro, plurima in Ida et circa Heracleam Ponti, nec nisi in montuosis. id quoque quod daphnoides vocatur genus in nominum ambitu est; alii enim Pelasgum, alii eupetalon, alii stephanon Alexandri vocant. et hic frutex est ramosus, crassiore ac molliore quam laurus folio, cuius gustatu accendatur os, bacis e nigro rufis. notatum antiquis, nullum genus laurus in Corsica fuisse, quod nunc satum et ibi provenit.

40
Ipsa pacifera, ut quam praetendi etiam inter armatos hostes quietis sit indicium. Romanis praecipue laetitiae victoriarumque nuntia additur litteris et militum lanceis pilisque, fasces imperatorum decorat.  ex iis in gremio Iovis optimi maximique deponitur, quotiens laetitiam nova victoria adtulit, idque non quia perpetuo viret nec quia pacifera est, praeferenda ei utroque olea, sed quia spectatissima in monte Parnaso ideoque etiam grata Apollini visa, adsuetis eo dona mittere, oracula inde repetere iam et regibus Romanis teste L. Bruto, fortassis etiam in argumentum, quoniam ibi libertatem publicam is meruisset lauriferam tellurem illam osculatus ex responso et quia manu satarum receptarumque in domos fulmine sola non icitur.  ob has causas equidem crediderim honorem ei habitum in triumphis potius quam quia suffimentum sit caedis hostium et purgatio, ut tradit Masurius, adeoque in profanis usibus pollui laurum et oleam fas non est, ut ne propitiandis quidem numinibus accendi ex iis altaria araeve debeant. laurus quidem manifesto abdicat ignes crepitu et quadam detestatione, interna eorum etiam vitia et nervorum ligno torquente. Ti. principem tonante caelo coronari ea solitum ferunt contra fulminum metus.

Sunt et circa Divum Augustum eventa eius digna memoratu. namque Liviae Drusillae, quae postea Augusta matrimonii nomen accepit, cum pacta esset illa Caesari, gallinam conspicui candoris sedenti aquila ex alto abiecit in gremium inlaesam, intrepideque miranti accessit miraculum. quoniam teneret in rostro laureum ramum onustum suis bacis, conservari alitem et subolem iussere haruspices ramumque eum seri ac rite custodiri: quod factum est in villa Caesarum fluvio Tiberi inposita iuxta nonum lapidem Flaminiae viae, quae ob id vocatur Ad Gallinas, mireque silva provenit. ex ea triumphans postea Caesar laurum in manu tenuit coronamque capite gessit, ac deinde imperatores Caesares cuncti. traditusque mos est ramos quos tenuerunt serendi, et durant silvae nominibus suis discretae, fortassis ideo mutatis triumphalibus.  unius arborum Latina lingua nomen inponitur viris, unius folia distinguntur appellatione; lauream enim vocamus. durat et in urbe inpositum loco, quando Loretum in Aventino vocatur ubi silva laurus fuit. eadem purificationibus adhibetur, testatumque sit obiter et ramo eam seri, quoniam dubitavere Democritus atque Theophrastus.

Nunc dicemus silvestrium naturas.

According to Hobbes man advances, from the «state of nature«,of  «war of all against all» (bellum omnium contra omnes), to an organized society; first to a state of «natural law» that prevents man threatening life and then to a state of positive law, the result of social pact.

So, with Locke and his «Two Treatises of Government» and Rousseau and his «Social Contract»  he addresses  in modern times the origin of society. Also ancient thinkers as Plato in his Republic and Aristotle raised this issue, but that deserves a lengthy article that on occasion I will.

Isn’t Hobbes the author of the famous phrase homo homini lupus

Well, it is true that Hobbes used the expression «Homo homini lupus» in a given context, but never he claimed the paternity, which does not apply to him, but he has probably been the one who has contributed more to its size and knowledge in modern era.

But if Hobbes did not create that sentence, then who did?

Some time ago  good friends of renowned intellectual prestige raised the issue in one of the most widespread social networks. It suggested me the possibility to dig a little deeper into the origin and meaning of that phrase.

First it is convenient to know a little more detail on Hobbes‘s phrase in context, or at least in the paragraph in which it is immersed.

Hobbes used the phrase at the beginning of the work «De cive», «On the citizen» in the dedication to the Earl of Devonshire. Actually the initial and full title was «Elementa Philosophica de Cive», «Philosophical elements about the citizen.»

Since the book begins with a general assessment of ancient Rome and its empire, and this blog is specifically about  the Antiquity, I would reproduce a more extensive part than the mere reproduction of the phrase in question. In passing the reader will see how until  into the twentieth century all intellectual and thinker was a connoisseur of classical Antiquity; it is now when  we move towards a quasi absolute ignorance that deprive young people of knowledge of much of their own identity.

The work was written in Latin, the international language of science and thought even then, and published in 1642 in Paris and the translation into English appeared in 1651  with the title  Philosophicall rudiments Concerning government and society  So I will offer the texts in the  two versions.

To the Right Honourable, William, Earle of Devonshire,

My most honoured Lord
May it please your Lordship,
It was the speech of the Roman people (to whom the name of King had been render’d odious, as well by the tyrannie of the Tarquins, as by the Genius and Decretals of that City) ‘Twas the speech I say of the publick, however pronounced from a private mouth, (if yet Cato the Censor were no more than such) That all Kings are to be reckon’d amongst ravenous Beasts.  But what a Beast of prey was the Roman people, whilst with its conquering Eagles it erected its proud Trophees so far and wide over the world, bringing the Africans, the Asiaticks, the Macedonians, and the Achaeans, with many other despoyled Nations, into a specious bondage, with the pretence of preferring them to be Denizens of Rome? So that if Cato’s saying were a wise one, ‘twas every whit as wise that of Pontius Telesinus; who flying about with open mouth through all the Companies of his Army, (in that famous encounter which he had with Sylla) cryed out, That Rome her selfe, as well as Sylla, was to be raz’d; for that there would alwayes be Wolves and Depraedatours of their Liberty, unlesse the Forrest that lodg’d them were grubb’d up by the roots. To speak impartially, both sayings are very true; That Man to Man is a kind of God; and that Man to Man is an arrant Wolfe. The first is true, if we compare Citizens amongst themselves; and the second, if we compare Cities. In the one, there’s some analogie of similitude with the Deity, to wit, Justice and Charity, the twin-sisters of peace: But in the other, Good men must defend themselves by taking to them for a Sanctuary the two daughters of War, Deceipt and Violence: that is in plaine termes a meer brutall Rapacity: which although men object to one another as a reproach, by an inbred custome which they have of beholding their own actions in the persons of other men, wherein, as in a Mirroir, all things on the left side appeare to be on the right, & all things on the right side to be as plainly on the left; yet the naturall right of preservation which we all receive from the uncontroulable Dictates of Necessity, will not admit it to be a Vice, though it confesse it to be an Unhappinesse. Now that with Cato himselfe, (a person of so great a renowne for wisdome) Animosity should so prevaile instead of Judgement, and partiality instead of Reason, that the very same thing which he thought equall in his popular State, he should censure as unjust in a Monarchical, other men perhaps may have leisure to admire. But I have been long since of this opinion, That there was never yet any more than vulgar prudence that had the luck of being acceptable to the Giddy people; but either it hath not been understood, or else having been so, hath been levell’d and cryed downe.

Populi Romani,memoria Tarquiniorum, et civitatis instituto, Regibus iniqui, vox erat (Excellentiss.Domine) prolata ore Marci Catonis Censoris, Reges omnes de genere esse bestiarum rapacium. Ipse autem Populus Romanus, qui per Africanos, Asiaticos,Macedonicos, Achaicos, caeterosque a spoliatis gentibus cognominatos cives, totum fere orbem terrarum diripuerat, qualis bellua erat? Non minus ergo quam Cato, sapienter dixit Pontius Telesinus.Is praelio ad Portam Collinam contra Syllam circumvolans ordines exercitus fui; vociferatusque, eruendam delendamque ipsam Romam, adiiciebat, numquam defuturos Raptores Italicae libertatis Lupos, nisi sylva, in quam refugere solerent, esset excisa.
Profecto utrumque vere dictum est, Homo homini Deus, et Homo homini Lupus. Illud, si concives inter se; Hoc, si civitates comparemus. Illic iustitia et charitate, virtutibus pacis, ad similittudinem Dei acceditur; Hic propter malorum pravitatem, recurrendum etiam bonis est, si se tueri volunt, ad virtutes Bellicas,vim et dolum, id est, ad ferinam rapacitatem. Quam etsi hominess pro convitio invicem obiiciant, more innato, facta sua in personis alioru, tanquam in speculo,sinistra dextra; dextra sinistra existimantes; vitium tamen esse non sinit profectum a necessitate conservationis propriae ius naturale. Quod autem Catoni,viro spientiae celebratissimae, odium pro iudicio, affectus pro ratione imponere in tantum potuit, ut quod aequum in populo suo, idem reges facere iniquum censeret, mirari fortasse alii poterunt, ego sane in ea opinione iam diu sum,neque egregiam sententiam unquam fuisse quae placuit populo, neque sapientiam vulgari maiorem vulgo agnosci posse; quipped quam vel non intelligent, vel intelligentes aequant.

Note how the Latin phrase «profecto utrumque vere dictum est …» «truly it has been said ...»  implies that Hobbes is not the creator, but the phrase existed when it was said.

What is the origin of the phrase homo homini lupus?

Since antiquity it is cited as probable origin and Latin sentence, closer to quote of Hobbes, a passage from the comedy of Plautus (254-184 BC) Asinaria (The Comedy of Asses). It is a typical comedy in which it is developed a complicated tangle between a father, his authoritarian and rich wife, a  son in love and their slaves scheming for their masters.

The argument is summarized at the beginning of the work itself:

ARGUMENT

An old gentleman, whose wife is the head of the household,
desires to give his son financial support in a love affair.
He therefore had some money, brought to Saurea in payment
for some asses, counted out to a certain rascally servant of
his own, Leonida. This money goes to the young fellow’s
mistress, and he concedes his father an evening with her.
A rival of his, beside himself at being deprived of the
girl, sends word, by a parasite, to the old gentleman’s
wife, of the whole matter. In rushes the wife and drags her
husband from the house of vice.(Translation by Paul Nixon. ambridge, Massachusetts Harvard University Press. London William Heinemannn Ltd.           First printed 1916)

ARGVMENTVM
Amanti argento filio auxiliarier
Sub imperio vivens volt senex uxorio.
Itaque ob asinos relatum pretium Saureae
Numerari iussit servolo Leonidae.
Ad amicam id fertur. cedit noctem filius.
Rivalis amens ob praereptam mulierem,
Is rem omnem uxori per parasitum nuntiat.
Accurrit uxor ac virum e lustris rapit.

Was Plautus the creator of the phrase?

The phrase in question appears in a passage in which the Leonid’s slave pretends to be the house manager for a merchant give him the money from the sale of some asses and he give it to the boy to turn he can give it to the girl and her matchmaker or Celestina, only hungry for money. But the merchant is not fooled.

Plautus, Asinaria Act II, scene IV, v. 484 y ss.

LEONIDA: How now, whip-knave? How say you, hang-dog? Do you suppose that we shall run away from our master? Go this instant then to our master, where you were citing us just now, and where you were wishing to go.

THE ASS-DEALER: What, now at last? Still, you shall never get a coin of money away from me, unless Demænetus shall order me to give it.

LEONIDA:Do so. Come, move on then. Are you to offer insults to another person, and are they not to be repeated to yourself? I’m a man as much as you are.

THE ASS-DEALER: No doubt such is the fact.

LEONIDA: Follow me this way, then. With your good leave10 I would now say this: not a person has ever accused me by reason of my deserving it, nor is there in Athens one other individual, this day, whom they would think they could as safely trust.

THE ASS-DEALER: Perhaps so: but still, you shall never this day persuade me to entrust to you, whom I don’t know, this money A man to a man is a wolf11, not a man, when the other doesn’t know of what character he is.

LEONIDA: Now at last you are appeasing me12: I was sure that this day you would give satisfaction to this poor head of mine; although I’m in mean garb, still, I’m well to do, nor can an estimate of my means be formed from it.

THE ASS-DEALER: Perhaps so.

LEONIDA: Still more then I tell you: Periphanes, a merchant of Rhodes, a rich man, in the absence of my master, himself alone paid over to me, in private, a talent of silver, and trusted me, nor was he deceived in it.

THE ASS-DEALER: Perhaps so.

LEONIDA: And you, too, yourself, as well, if you had enquired about me of other people, would, i’ faith, I’m quite sure, have entrusted to me what you now have with you.

THE ASS-DEALER: I don’t deny it. (Exeunt.) 
(The Comedies of Plautus. Henry Thomas Riley. London. G. Bell and Sons. 1912.  Translation by Henry Thomas Riley)

LEONIDA. Quid, verbero? ain tu, furcifer? erum nos fugitare censes?
ei nunciam ad erum, quo vocas, iam dudum quo volebas.  

MERCATOR. Nunc demum? tamen numquam hinc feres argenti nummum, nisi me
dare iusserit Demaenetus.

LEONIDA. Ita facito, age ambula ergo.
tu contumeliam alteri facias, tibi non dicatur?
tam ego homo sum quam tu.

MERCATOR. Scilicet. ita res est.

LEONIDA. Sequere hac ergo.
praefiscini hoc nunc dixerim: nemo etiam me accusavit
merito meo, neque me alter est Athenis hodie quisquam,
cui credi recte aeque putent.

MERCATOR. Fortassis. sed tamen me
numquam hodie induces, ut tibi credam hoc argentum ignoto.
lupus est homo homini, non homo, quom qualis sit non novit.

LEONIDA. Iam nunc secunda mihi facis. scibam huic te capitulo hodie
facturum satis pro iniuria; quamquam ego sum sordidatus,
frugi tamen sum, nec potest peculium enumerari.

MERCATOR. Fortasse.

LEONIDA. Etiam ~ nunc dico Periphanes Rhodo mercator dives
absente ero solus mihi talentum argenti soli
adnumeravit et mihi credidit, nequest deceptus in eo.

MERCATOR. Fortasse.

LEONIDA. Atque etiam tu quoque ipse, si esses percontatus
me ex aliis, scio pol crederes nunc quod fers.

MERCATOR. Haud negassim.—

Exactly in verse 495 it is said: «Lupus est homo homini, non homo, quom qualis sit non novit» , that  can be translated literally as

«Wolf is the man for man, and not man, when he does not know  who is the other»

and with a less literal translation as

When a person is unknown for you, he is for you as a wolf, not a man.

So the phrase does not appear in Plautus with the transcendence that it is used later when acquires the category of sentence, maxim, proverb, etc .; rather, it is used in a context of personal relationships and in a comic scene of inconsequential matter. This is a very important difference with Hobbes, where it refers the previous state of nature of men, before the establishment of human society.

Having said all this, we can ask too, was Plautus the creator of the phrase?

Plautus is the most important comedy writer  in Latin. Like almost all Latin  literature and culture, the theater is also indebted to the Greeks. Plautus is not only inspired by Greek on comedies but sometimes practically he translates and adapts them to the new Roman scene. He sometimes uses several Greek comedies to compose one Latin work;  this mixture  was called «contaminatio”, and this practice generated considerable discussion on what might be called «literary criticism«.

Well, the comedy «Asinaria» is a translation from  a Greek comedy called «The carrier» Onagos, οναγός, as it is  told in the preface to the same work that usually accompanies the edition:

Preface, v.6 ss.

Enough enough! Sit down–and be sure you put that in your bill! (to audience) Now I shall say why I have come out before you here and what I wished: I have come to acquaint you with the name of this play. For as far as the plot is concerned, that is quite simple.

Now I shall say what I said I wished to say: the Greek name of this play is ONAGOS: Demophilus wrote it: Maccus translated it into a foreign tongue. He wishes to call it THE COMEDY OF ASSES, by your leave. It is a clever comedy,full of drollery and laughable situations. Do oblige me by being attentive, that now too, as in other days, Mars may be with you. (Translation by Henry Thomas Riley)

nunc quid processerim huc et quid mihi voluerim
dicam: ut sciretis nomen huius fabulae;
nam quod ad argumentum attinet, sane brevest.
nunc quod me dixi velle vobis dicere,
dicam: huic nomen graece Onagos fabulae;               10
Demophilus scripsit, Maccus vortit barbare;
Asinariam volt esse, si per vos licet.
inest lepos ludusque in hac comoedia,
ridicula res est. date benigne operam mihi,
ut vos, ut alias, pariter nunc Mars adiuvet. 

Does he took the book? Therefore does Plautus took from  the Greek work the phrase which then, with a little modification,  has become so famous? Most likely this occurred; it is very likely that the phrase was already on comedy of Demophilus, but we don’t have an undeniable knowledge of it.

Used by Demophilus or by other Greeks, the phrase sound more or less as is stated many years later in Erasmus: Ἄνθρωπος ἀνθρώπου λύκος (ánthroposs anthropou Lykos).

Homo homini deus, man is a god to man

In any case, in the Greek world is well and often known a phrase that is precisely the opposite of the above: ἄνθρωπος ἀνθρώπου δαιμόνιον (anthropos anthropou daemon), on Latin it has produced «homo homini deus» and on English “Man to man is a kind of God”.

This is precisely the phrase that appears in Hobbes opposed to «man is a wolf to man«, although it is precisely this that has won more fortune.

ἄνθρωπος ἀνθρώπου δαιμόνιον (anthropos anthropos daimonion) is a sentence or phrase common in Greek and testified on numerous occasions and of course also its correspondent on Latin «Homo homini deus«.

In Greek, for example, it appears on the «Corpus paroemiographorum graecorum» at least four times: in the case of Zenobios, I, 91; in Diogenianus or pseudo Diogenianus, I, 80 and I, 46; Michael Apostolios, III, 10, and Gregory of Cyprus I, 50.

In Latin, the comic poet Ceecilius (ca 280-ca.168 BC) used a verse that is preserved through the appointment of Symmachus, the fourth century author, who uses it in a letter of thanks:

Symmachus, Letters IX,114:

Playwright Ceecilius correctly  said: man is a god to man, if he knows his duty. »
Recte Caecilius comicus inquit

   Homo homini deus est, si suum officium sciat.

Caecilius seems imbued with Stoic philosophy and pro-Hellenic  Circle of Scipions. Recall that Terence had written in his Heautontimorumenos, v. 77, the famous phrase

«homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto»,

I am a man, and nothing that concerns a man do I deem a matter of indifference to me (The Comedies of Terence. Henry Thomas Riley. Ney York. Harper and Brothers. 1874).

But it is convenient produce the whole letter, very short letter, moreover, because it helps us to understand the extent in the use of this phrase and the reason for its use

Playwright Ceecilius correctly  said: man is to man a god when he recognizes his duty I can say that this sentence agrees with you, who has selflessly applied vigilant attention to our affairs. Since then the memory lives in our hearts, the praise in our mouths and the glory of your action and your interest not only flourishes momentarily but it will live forever as my reason promises me. Now even it would be appropriate a neater speech to thank it, if I don’t feared to give the impression of having paid once all I have to owe. He does not support receiving a benefit who is quick to liberate the link and he does not seem to accept mutual aid as a friend if he blushes by a delay in showing gratitude. But the nature of my character is different: I hasten to pay pecuniary interest and I desire to owe  for a long time testing the repayment  of evidences of consideration. Good luck.

SYMMACHUS . . . . . Recte Caecilius comicus: Homo, inquit, homini deus est, si suum officium sciat. Hanc ego in te dixerim sententiam convenire, qui nostris negotiis curam vigilem praestitisti. Hinc in pectore memoria, laus in ore versatur. Nec in praesentia modo floret facti et studii tui gloria, sed, ut mens augurat, aevum vigebit. Prolixior agendis gratiis sermo etiam nunc competeret, ni vererer, ne simul totum videar expunxisse, quod debeo. Impatiens est accepti beneficii, qui nexu properat liberari: nec videtur mutuam operam quasi amicus accipere, si erubescit ad moram gratiae. Alia mei ingenii ratio est. Pecuniae fenus accelero persolvere: officiorum vices diu opto debere. Vale.

This is a letter of thanksgiving for a well-received  and in the ancient world it is widespread the idea that who does good, who does a benefit to someone, the benefactor, he is a god. This helps to understand the extent of the deification of rulers, because they are benefactors (some of them are called precisely so ,Evergetes, benefactor, such as Ptolemy III Euergetes, (Greek: Πτολεμαίος Ευεργέτης), who lived c. 282-222 BC, third pharaoh of the Ptolemaic dynasty) and also the extension and trivialization, if it is preferred, to  anyone who favors a similar person. It is therefore a sentence that is very used to recognize a favor for someone.

Interestingly in the same comedy «Asinaria» this idea is used, although in a burlesque context, as it befits the comedy, when the slave requires a divine treatment for the favor of giving the money, in verse 712:

Argyippus. How about it now? There’s a good fellow! Seeing you two have had your fill of sport with me, going to give us the money, are you?

Libanus. Oh well, if you put me up an altar and statue, yes, and offer me up an ox here the same as a god: for I’m your goddess Salvation, I am.

Leonida. Come, sir, get rid of that chap, won’t you, and apply to me in person, yes, and let me have those statues and supplications he ordered for himself.

Argyrippus. Ah, and by what name does your godship pass?

Leonida. Fortune, yes sir, Indulgent Fortune.
(Translator Paul Nixon. The Project Gutenberg)

ARGYRIPPUS. Quid nunc, amabo? quoniam, ut est libitum, nos delusistis,
datisne argentum?
LIBANUS. Si quidem mihi statuam et aram statuis
atque ut deo mi hic immolas bovem: nam ego tibi Salus sum.
LEONIDA: Etiam, tu, ere, istunc amoves abs te atque –ipse me adgredere atque illa, sibi quae hic iusserat,mihi statuis supplicasque?
ARGYRIPPUS: Quem te autem divom nominem?
LEONIDA: Fortunam, atque Obsequentem

The Latin texts in which this idea of the divinity of benefactor man appears, are infinite. I just put two very significant examples.

Virgil in the first of his famous Ecloges  thanks Augustus that their land don’t will be confiscated to give them to a soldier. Virgil considered him a «god«:

Virigil, Ecloge I, v.6-8)

TITYRUS
O Meliboeus, ‘twas a god vouchsafed
this ease to us, for him a god will I
deem ever, and from my folds a tender lamb
oft with its life-blood shall his altar stain.
His gift it is that, as your eyes may see,
my kine may roam at large, and I myself
play on my shepherd’s pipe what songs I will.
(Vergil. Eclogues. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1895.)

O Meliboee, deus nobis haec otia fecit.
Namque erit ille mihi semper deus: illius aram
Saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus.
Ille meas errare boves, ut cernis, et ipsum
Ludere quae vellem calamo permisit agresti.

Pliny says in his Naturalis Historia, 2,7.18-19

Whereas in very deed, a god unto a man is he, that helpeth a man; ; and this is the true and direct pathway to everlasting glorie. In this way went the noble Romans in old time: and in this tract at this day goeth, with heavenlly pace, Vespasian Augustus, both he and his children: Vespasian, I say, the most mightie ruler of the whole world: whiles hee relieveth the afflicted State of the Romane Empire and Commonweale. And this is the most auncient manner of requitall to such benefactours, That they should be canonized gods. And hereof came the names as well of all other gods, as of the stars and planets (which I have mentioned before) in recognisance of mens good deserts.  (Translated into English by Philemon Holland)

deus est mortali iuvare mortalem, et haec ad aeternam gloriam via. hac proceres iere Romani, hac nunc caelesti passu cum liberis suis vadit maximus omnis aevi rector Vespasianus Augustus fessis rebus subveniens.

hic est vetustissimus referendi bene merentibus gratiam mos, ut tales numinibus adscribant. quippe et aliorum nomina deorum et quae supra retuli siderum ex hominum nata sunt meritis. Iovem quidem aut Mercurium aliterve alios inter se vocari et esse caelestem nomenclaturam,

The  thought of Pliny concerning the gods is also here clearly implied: it is next to atheism: God is for a mortal to help mortals.

The second, homo homini lupus, probably existed as opposed to the first, leading to the double sentence, which may exist in Demóphilus, or in other authors.

The image of the wolf as particularly cruel animal man is without doubt on the relationship of the wolf with the dog, which incidentally is the  «faithful friend» of man, the man’s best friend,  and probably the first domesticated animal perhaps 40,000 years ago. The scientific names of both subspecies are «canis lupus» for the wolf and  «canis lupus familiaris» for the dog, due to  their genetic proximity.

They are countless  passages in which the dog is the man’s best fried, (hominis canis optimus amicus); Recall for example the dog that recognized Ulysses, Argos, when he returns to Ithaca; or what about the dog as guardian of the master’s house when  throughout the Empire appears the famous phrase «Cave Canem», «beware of the dog» on the door of the property?. If domestic canis is the best, the wild canis is the worst in the popular imagination and experience.

I’ll leave for another time any reference to the myth of «lycanthropy» or conversion of man into a wolf and the fact that he was precisely Licaón (man whom Zeus turned into a wolf) who gave laws to humans and make possible the abandonment of wildlife and the development of human society under rules of law.

Among other Latin texts next to the phrase «homo homini lupus«, we have the verse of Ovid (43 B.C.-8 AD) in Tristia V, VII elegy, vv. 45-46:

“Vix sunt homines hoc nomine digni. Quamquam lupi, saevae plus feritatis habent”

Recall how Ovid, forced into exile in Pontus, on the edge of the Empire, beside the Black Sea, spends his days in sorrow and homesickness or nostalgia. Punished for a fault that has never known exactly, he was unable to come back to Rome that gave him so much glory. He wrote these «sad poems,» «Tristia«.

Although the article is perhaps on too long with too many texts, I can not resist playing a few verses in which to frame the said and by the way they report us on how hard it is to be  exiled to a mundane poet of success in the world’s capital , Rome.

He, asked by his friends how he spends his days, writes among other things:

Tristia, V,VII ,  37 et ss:

But yet I have no anxiety to be praised, and I have no care for future glory, which had, more to my comfort, better been obscured. I occupy my mind with my pursuits, and I beguile my sorrows ; I try, too, thereby to deceive my cares. What should I do, in preference, alone on these solitary shores ? or what occupation wouldst thou rather that I should endeavour to seek ? If I look at the place, it is odious ; and there cannot, in all the world, be one more wretched than it. If I look at the men : the men are hardly worthy of that name, and they have more savage ferocity than wolves.

They regard not laws, but right yields to might, and justice, overcome, lies prostrate under the warlike sword. They poorly repel the cold, with skins and flowing trowsers ; and their faces are rough, covered with long hair. Yestiges of the Greek language are remaining, in a few words : this, too, has become barbarous, through the Getic pronunciation.

There is no one among this people who can by chance translate into Latin, words in general use. I, ivho am a poet of Rome (pardon me, ye Muses), am compelled to say many things in the Sarmatian language. I am ashamed, I confess it ; for now, from long disuse, scarcely do the Latin expressions occur to me ; and I have no doubt but that there are no few barbarisms in this little work. That is not the fault of the man, but of the place. But, that I may not lose all acquaintance with the Ausonian tongue, and my voice become dumb in its native language, I talk to myself, and I run over the unaccustomed words, and repeat the unfortunate exponents 12 of my pursuits. (Translation by Henry T.Riley, B.A. London. MDCCCLI)

nec  tamen, ut lauder, vigilo curamque futuri
nominis, utilius quod latuisset, ago.
detineo studiis animum falloque dolores,
experior curis et dare verba meis.
quid potius faciam desertis solus in oris,
quamve malis aliam quaerere coner  opem?
sive locum specto, locus est inamabilis, et quo
esse nihil toto tristius orbe potest,
sive homines, vix sunt homines hoc nomine digni,
quamque lupi, saevae plus feritatis habent.
non metuunt leges, sed cedit viribus aequum,
victaque pugnaci iura sub ense iacent.
pellibus et laxis arcent mala frigora bracis,
oraque sunt longis horrida tecta comis,
in paucis remanent Graecae vestigia linguae,
haec quoque iam Getico barbara facta sono.
unus in hoc nemo est populo,
qui forte Latine quaelibet e medio reddere verba queat.
ille ego Romanus vates—ignoscite, Musae!—
Sarmatico cogor plurima more loqui.
en pudet et fateor, iam desuetudine longa
vix subeunt ipsi verba Latina mihi.
nec dubito quin sint et in hoc non pauca libello
barbara . non hominis culpa, sed ista loci.
ne tamen Ausoniae perdam commercia linguae,
et fiat patrio vox mea muta sono,
ipse loquor mecum desuetaque verba retracto,
et studii repeto signa sinistra mei.

Seneca had expressed the wickedness of man without resorting to comparison with the wolf in his Epistle to Lucilius number 103, in which he notes the need of  to distrust men.

As it is not too long , I will  transcribe it fully for  provide the reader  the knowledge of one of the 124 letters with moral advice that Seneca wrote to his friend Lucilius, although the specific phrase that refers to the matter at hand is:

but it is from his fellow-man that a man’s everyday danger comes

«Ab homine homini quotidianum periculum”.

So the idea of potential evil of man to his fellow is a well-spread idea.

Epistle to Lucilius number CIII. On the Dangers of Association with our Fellow-Men

Why are you looking about for troubles which may perhaps come your way, but which may indeed not come your way at all? I mean fires, falling buildings, and other accidents of the sort that are mere events rather than plots against us. Rather beware and shun those troubles which dog our steps and reach out their hands against us. Accidents, though they may be serious, are few – such as being shipwrecked or thrown from one’s carriage; but it is from his fellow-man that a man’s everyday danger comes. Equip yourself against that; watch that with an attentive eye. There is no evil more frequent, no evil more persistent, no evil more insinuating. Even the storm, before it gathers, gives a warning; houses crack before they crash; and smoke is the forerunner of fire. But damage from man is instantaneous, and the nearer it comes the more carefully it is concealed.

You are wrong to trust the countenances of those you meet. They have the aspect of men, but the souls of brutes; the difference is that only beasts damage you at the first encounter; those whom they have passed by they do not pursue. For nothing ever goads them to do harm except when need compels them: it is hunger or fear that forces them into a fight. But man delights to ruin man.

You must, however, reflect thus what danger you run at the hand of man, in order that you may deduce what is the duty of man. Try, in your dealings with others, to harm not, in order that you be not harmed. You should rejoice with all in their joys and sympathize with them in their troubles, remembering what you should offer and what you should withhold.  And what may you attain by living such a life? Not necessarily freedom from harm at their hands, but at least freedom from deceit. In so far, however, as you are able, take refuge with philosophy: she will cherish you in her bosom, and in her sanctuary you shall be safe, or, at any rate, safer than before. People collide only when they are travelling the same path.  But this very philosophy must never be vaunted by you; for philosophy when employed with insolence and arrogance has been perilous to many. Let her strip off your faults, rather than assist you to decry the faults of others. Let her not hold aloof from the customs of mankind, nor make it her business to condemn whatever she herself does not do. A man may be wise without parade and without arousing enmity. Farewell.
(Translated by Richard Mott Gummere, A Loeb Classical Library edition 1925)

Quid ista circumspicis, quae tibi possunt fortasse evenire, sed possunt et non evenire ? Incendium dico, ruinam, alia, quae  nobis incidunt, non insidiantur; illa potius vide, illa devita, quae  nos observant, quae captant. Rariores sunt casus, etiam si graves, naufragium facere, vehiculo everti; ab homine homini cotidianum periculum. Adversus hoc te expedi, hoc intentis oculis intuere. Nullum est malum frequentius, nullum pertinacius, nullum blandius.

Ac  tempestas minatur antequam surgat, crepant aedificia antequam corruant, praenuntiat fumus incendium; subita est ex homine pernicies et eo diligentius tegitur, quo propius accedit.
Erras, si istorum tibi qui occurrunt vultibus credis; hominum effigies habent, animos ferarum, nisi quod illarum perniciosus  est primus incursus; quos transiere, non quaerunt. Numquam enim illas ad nocendum nisi necessitas incitat; aut  fame aut timore coguntur ad pugnam; homini perdere hominem libet.

Tu tamen ita cogita, quod ex homine periculum sit, ut cogites, quod sit hominis officium. Alterum intuere, ne laedaris, alterum ne laedas. Commodis omnium laeteris, movearis incommodis et memineris, quae praestare debeas, quae cavere.

Sic vivendo quid consequaris ? Non te ne noceant, sed ne fallant. Quantum potes autem, in philosophiam recede: illa te sinu  suo proteget, in huius sacrario eris aut tutus aut tutior. Non arietant inter se nisi in eadem ambulantes via. Ipsam autem philosophiam non debebis iactare; multis fuit periculi causa insolenter tractata et contumaciter.

Tibi vitia detrahat, non aliis exprobret. Non abhorreat a publicis moribus nec hoc agat, ut quicquid non facit, damnare videatur. Licet sapere sine pompa, sine invidia. Vale.

But he also wrote «Man is a sacred thing for man«, «Homo homini res sacra«, in the letter 95.33.

he letter is long and with it Seneca  lashes  against gluttony and waste, origin of many diseases of body and soul. Here I will simply transcribe the paragraph in which the phrase appears, advising the reader the full reading of this «epistula«.

Epistle to Lucilius number  XCV, 33:

33. One needs the rapid hand, the master-craft.

Men seek pleasure from every source. No vice remains within its limits; luxury is precipitated into greed. We are overwhelmed with forgetfulness of that which is honourable. Nothing that has an attractive value, is base. Man, an object of reverence in the eyes of man, is now slaughtered for jest and sport; and those whom it used to be unholy to train for the purpose of inflicting and enduring wounds, are thrust forth exposed and defenceless; and it is a satisfying spectacle to see a man made a corpse.
(Translated by Richard Mott Gummere, A Loeb Classical Library edition 1925)

[33] …voluptas ex omni quaeritur. Nullum intra se manet vitium; in avaritiam luxuria praeceps est. Honesti oblivio invasit. Nihil turpest, cuius placet pretium. Homo, sacra res homini, iam per lusum ac iocum occiditur et quem erudiri ad inferenda accipiendaque vulnera nefas erat, is iam nudus inermisque producitur satisque spectaculi ex homine mors est.

Many years later the Spanish Dominican Francisco de Vitoria (1483-1546), who made a remarkable contribution to the  international law and whose name it bears today a Spanish private university of conservative orientation, refers to these verses of Ovid when he writes:

It is against natural law that man rejects man without cause, because man is not a wolf to man, as Ovid said, but a man (Relección primera. De los Indios,III,3ª ed. a cura de T.Urdanoz. Madrid 1960,p.709).

“Contra ius naturale est, ut homo hominem sine aliqua causa aversetur. “non enim homini homo lupus est, ut ait Ovidius, sed homo”.

At the same period of Vitoria, a famous humanist, Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536) used the same phrase, contrasting the two terms and he does it precisely on one of his most famous works, in Adagia,  which was printed not less than twenty times prior to De Cive of Hobbes; The Adagia  were published  first time in 1508.

Actually Erasmus starts from the Greek proverb of Zósimus, though he does not say, an he  devotes to the subject  two adages, numbers 69 and 70 of the First Chiliade.  The first is dedicated to comment on the phrase «Homo homini deus» and the second to «Homo homini lupus».

Note: Chiliade is a word derived from Greek “kilo” (thousand)  an it means «thousand»
The first, the adage 69, that he spent to  Ἄνθρωπος ἀνθρώπου δαιμόνιον, «Homo homini deus,» is very long. It begins with a long reference to the «deification» among the ancients.

I,I,70  Homo homini deus. Man is a god to man

Not far from this is the phrase Ἄνθρωπος ἀνθρώπου δαιμόνιον, Man is a god to man, usually said abount one who has conferred sudden and unlooked for salvation, or who has brought help by some great benefaction. To be a god, thought the ancients, was simply and solely of value to mortal men;

Non admodum hinc abludit et illud:Ἄνθρωπος ἀνθρώπου δαιμόνιον, id est
Homo homini deus, quod dici solet de eo, qui subitam atque insperatam attulit
salutem aut qui magno quopiam beneficio juvit. Antiquitas, enim nihil aliud
existimabat esse deum quam prodesse mortalibus…

So «homo homini deus» is a saying, an adage,  that men are wont to say. The ancient believed that to be god is nothing but to be beneficial to mortals.

Erasmus is then based on the authority of Homer and Hesiod and Strabo and Horace and Juvenal and Pliny and Virgil and Ovid and Plutarch and St. Paul and Gregory of Nyssa, to give examples of benefactors who are gods or considered as such. He ends clarifying under what conditions a Christian can use the expression without offending God.

Certainly Pliny, with his phrase «Deus est mortali iuvare mortalem«, discussed above, shows his inclination towards atheism and his little reverence for the gods, as the own Erasmus takes charge of  highlight in this adage. Pliny does not admit a supreme deity to take care of men, but he believes that it is the world itself or some Nature which  directs everything:

Pliny in the Natural History, book 2, is more clearly referring to the Greek proverb, but speaks as irreverently about the gods as he does a little later about the immortality of souls and foolish about the resurrection of bodies. For after gibing at the multiplicity of gods, and utterly refusing to attribute the care of mortals to the one supreme divinity which he takes to be either the world or some kind of Nature, he says: ‘To be a god is to bring aid to a mortal, though mortal oneself. And this is the way to eternal glory. (Translated by Margaret Mann Phillips. University of Toronto Press)

Plinius Secundus libro Naturalis historiae secundo manifestius Graecam παροιμίαν
indicavit, sed tam impie sentiens de diis quam paulo post de animarum
immortalitate deque corporum resurrectione desipienter. Nam cum et multitudinem
deorum irrisisset et uni illi summo, quem aut mundum hunc aut naturam nescio
quam esse putat, prorsus ademisset curam mortalium, Deus est, inquit, mortali
iuvare mortalem. Et haec ad aeternam gloriam via.

The second adage, 70, is much shorter

I,I,70  Homo homini lupus  Man is a wolf to man

Ἄνθρωπος ἀνθρώπου λύκος. Man is a wolf to man. Almost the opposite of the foregoing, and in a way derived from it apparently, is the phrase of Plautus in the Asinaria, ‘Man is a wolf to man.’ Here we are warned not to trust ourselves to an unknown person, but to beware of him as of a wolf. ‘A man is a wolf and not a man,’ he says, ‘to the one who knows nothing of his character.’  (Translated by Margaret Mann Phillips. University of Toronto Press)

Ἄνθρωπος ἀνθρώπου λύκος, id est Homo homini lupus. Superiori quasi
diversum est ac velut hinc effictum videtur, quod usurpavit Plautus in Asinaria, Homo homini lupus. Quo monemur, ne quid fidamus homini ignoto, sed perinde atque a lupo caveamus:

     Lupus est (inquit) homo homini, non homo, qui qualis sit non novit.  (Plauto, Asinaria 495)

And  Francis Bacon (1561-1616), who operates on a subject on Justice and State, as Hobbes, says in his Instauratio Magna, in De dignitate et augmentis Scientiarum, in Liber VI, C.iii . Exempla antithetorum XX,:

It is owing to justice that man to man is a god, not a wolf. (Editor: Joseph Devey)

“Iustitia debetur, quod homo homini sit Deus, non lupus”

Note: François Tricaud, in his article: «Homo homini Deus», «Homo homini lupus» :Sources de Recherches de deux Formules Hobbes «, doesn’t know this quote; he states that Bacon is  doesn’t  use the double formula: “. … deus… lupus”.

And also the same Bacon, in a similar context in Liber VIII, caput II, in the parable XXV, which he called «Fons turbatus pede, et vena corrupta,  est iustus cadens coram impio» and in that he warns  it is necessary to  avoid unjust trial because the injustice of judge corrupts the sources of the law:

XXV.—: A just man falling before the wicked, is a troubled fountain and a corrupted spring
This is a caution to states, that they should have a capital regard to the passing an unjust or infamous sentence in any great and weighty cause, where not only the guilty is acquitted, but the innocent condemned. To countenance private injuries, indeed, disturbs and pollutes the clear streams of justice, as it were, in the brook; but unjust and great public sentences, which are afterward drawn into precedents, infect and defile the very fountain of justice. For when once the court goes on the side of injustice, the law becomes a public robber, and one man really a wolf to another. (Editor: Joseph Devey)

25. Fons turbatus pede, et vena corrupta, est justus cadens coram impio.
EXPLICATIO. Praecipit Parabola, rebuspublicis ante omnia cavendum esse de iniquo et infami judicio, in caussa aliqua celebri et gravi; praesertim ubi non absolvitur noxius, sed condemnatur insons. Etenim injuriae inter privatos grassantes turbant quidem et polluunt latices justitiae, sed tanquam in rivulis; verum judicia iniqua qualia diximus, a quibus exempla petuntur, fontes ipsos justitiae inficiunt et inquinant. Postquam enim tribunal cesserit in partes injustitiae, status rerum vertitur tanquam in latrocinium publicum: fitque plane, ut homo homini sit lupus.

Later also in J. Owen (died 1793):

“Homo homini lupus, homo homini deus” (Epigrammata,1606,III,23),

There are works such as the Dictionary of the Proverbs in England in the 16th and 17th Centuries, of MP Tilley in which numerous references are given prior to Hobbes.

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) in his Ethica, IV, scholium of the second corollary of Proposition XXXV, says, thinking on Hobbes, that the phrase «Homo homini Deus» «was almost in all mouths» (omnibus fere in ore ), thus indicating the frequency and knowledge of the sentence in question.

Montaigne (1533-1592) in France, said in referring to marriage in Essais, III, ch.IV:

It is a convention to which it is referred timely manner  what is said,  , homo homini o Deus o lupus”

“C’est une convention à laquelle se raporte bien à point ce qu’on dict, homo homini o Deus o lupus”

Montaigne also, therefore, presents the sentence as something that often is said.

And in Spain Baltasar Gracian (1601-1658) in his Criticón, I, IV, page 32 of the edition of the Austral collection Espasa-Calpe, referring to men also used:

«Everyone is a wolf to the another»

“cada uno es un lobo para el otro”

At this point, after all these quotes, which  may seem too many to some readers, we can ask ourselves again: Did you read Hobbes the comedy of Plautus?

He could  read it, but if the words of Plautus had become a sentence and its dissemination was so extensive that it was almost on everyone’s lips, as Spinoza said and it was included in the collections of proverbs or phrases, Hobbes did not need the full knowledge of the Comedy of Plautus. Indeed it is likely that Hobbes  knew it from Erasmus, given the fame of his Adagia, or more likely from Bacon, with him Hobbes lived  even a few months; therefore he never demand   the authorship.

With this long exposure I have tried to deepen the origin of the phrase in question. We would now deepen the meaning of the phrases in each author and context, their proverbial use in Greek, on  Demophilus, ?, ¿Plautus, Caecilius, Virgil, Pliny and other Latin authors, Erasmus, Hobbes, etc.

I will not now thinking about the contents of sentences; I leave the reader the task; but instead I do want to leave a few open issues to the reader’s consideration.

The first question is the widespread belief in the ancient world according to which the gods are benefactors of the men  and hence the man who helps his fellow man is a god or similar to gods.

Man who favors his fellow man is also a god

This is also also in relation to  the «evergetism» (from  Greek εύεργετέω and  ευεργετισμός, meaning «doing good«, «to do good, to do  good works») or benefactor function  of governors, rich and powerful, and to the deification of kings and leaders.

Is Pliny, contemptuous of the traditional gods, saying us that the only god who  exists for man is another man when he does good to his fellow men?

If the English translation of Hobbes «Homo homini lupus» is translated as «Man to Man is a kind of God«, are you saying that man is God, a god or something similar to God, something divine?
Or Is Hobbes saying something similar to what Pliny said, when he joins  in one sentence  «homo homini lupus» and «homo homini deus? That is, is Hobbes saying us  that man ceases to be a wolf to become God when he creates the state and social institutions that guarantee its survival and the bourgeois ideal of survival and reciprocity? That is, is Hobbes  more revolutionary  in the fund with the phrase homo homini deus than  his most successful phrase homo homini lupus might make believe?

In the author in whom  there is no doubt of the meaning of the phrase Homo homini deus est is the materialist Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872), for whom the idea of God is nothing but the alienated man projected towards a fictional being and far from humanity itself.

I think there are already many questions, there are several more, to finish an article too long. So I leave the answers to the will of the wise reader.

I shall exemplified a similar proverb with which the Spanish writer and philosopher Miguel de Unamuno, slightly changing the form  (there is also homo homini canis) and meaning  (the man, some men are like lapdogs in the service of another man) published in the Spanish magazine «Sphere» number 106, an article entitled «Homo hominis canis«, in which he said verbatim:

«Homo homini lupus, man is a wolf to man, Hobbes said, but it could very well be changed the aphorism and say: Homo hominis canis, man is a dog of man. And there are more canine or doggy men than or not lupins or wolfish men”.

“Homo homini lupus, el hombre es un lobo para el hombre, dijo Hobbes, pero podría muy bien cambiarse el aforismo y decir: Homo hominis canis, el hombre es un perro del hombre.Y hay más hombres caninos o perrunos que no lupinos o lobunos”.

In this culture the water, which was profusely used, was fundamental. So as necessary was than  sometimes the Romans transported it from springs at tens of kilometers through aqueducts and pipelines that continue to cause us a deep impression.

In the built city there are several essential elements: the square or forum, temples, civil administration buildings as the Basilica, and of course, the baht, spa or  “thermae”, sportive  and cultural complex where added to several pools to satisfy the desire of citizen pleasure there is also a gymnasium where the citizens train and keep the body fit.

Note: “thermae” meants “warm baths”, from Greek θερμός , thermos = warm, name that also we apply to the cooking vessel that keeps hot the food, especially the drinks.

In all of this, the Greek experience, which took several centuries ahead to initially rough Roman,  was fundamental. The Roman architect Vitruvius widely discussed in his De Architectura the conditions of urban buildings of the city in his book V especially.

Curious note: "gym-nasium," is originally a Greek word gymnasion, assigned to the Latin as "gymnasium”. It comes from gymnos (γυμνός), gymnos, meaning "naked" and refers to the practice of physical training and performing the various sports training naked. Who trains or practice gym exercise is the "gymnast".

Incidentally I would say that this nudity allows  anoint or smear the body with toning oil. That oil, mixed with natural sweat and sticky powder after training must  to be removed with a scraper which in Latin is called "strigilis". Recall the famous Greek statue of Lysippos “The Apoxyomenos”,  in which an athlete is being used that instrument. See https://www.antiquitatem.com/en/hadrian-thermae-roman-bads-strigilis

As I said, the relaxed Greek and eastern customs  soon were settled in the mighty Rome and were creating spas and gyms increasingly grandiose. Vitruvius spends  all Chapter 9 of Book V of his De architectura to the construction of these buildings:
Vitruvius 5.9.9 

As it appears that we have given an adequate account of them, next will follow descriptions of the arrangements of baths.  (Translate by Morris Hicky Morgan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. London: Humphrey Milford. Oxford University Press. 1914.)

Quoniam haec nobis satis videntur esse exposita, nunc insequentur balinearum dispositionum demonstrationes.

And he continues  specifying the conditions on chapter 10.

The first sports-cultural complex with  these large-scale characteristics  built in Rome was the one commanded by the Emperor Nero and which was opened the year 61.

The construction of these baths and gym  is told by the all the historians of the period, reflecting its grandeur, which also impressed the whole society. Martial,  the poet, who was born in Bilbilis, the current Calatayud in Spain, in the year 40 and went to Rome around the year 64, for return to his hometown 34 years later, where he died six years later,  uses  the reference as a synonym topic of great, as we will see below

We read texts that give us account of the event belonging to Tacitus, Suetonius and Dio Cassius.

Tacitus, XIV, 47

Nero, the same year, established a gymnasium, where oil was furnished to knights and senators after the lax fashion of the Greeks. (Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb.Maxmillan and Co. London.1869)

gymnasium eo anno dedicatum a Nerone praebitumque oleum equiti ac senatui Graeca facilitate.

Suetonius, Nero, XII,3

He was the first who instituted, in imitation of the Greeks, a trial of skill in the three several exercises of music, wrestling, and horse-racing, to be performed at Rome every five years, and which he called Neronia. Upon the aedication of his bath and gymnasium, he furnished the senate and the equestrian order with oil. He appointed as judges of the trial men of consular rank, chosen by lot, who sat with the praetors. At this time he went down into the orchestra among the senators, and received the crown for the best performance in Latin prose and verse, for which several persons of the greatest merit contended, but they unanimously yielded to him. The crown for the best performer an the harp, being likewise awarded to him by the judges, he devoutly saluted it, and ordered it to be carried to the statue of Augustus. ( Translation by J. Eugene Reed. Alexander Thomson. Philadelphia. Gebbie & Co. 1889.)

Instituit et quinquennale certamen primus omnium Romae more Graeco triplex, musicum gymnicum equestre, quod appellauit Neronia; dedicatisque thermis atque gymnasio senatui quoque et equiti oleum praebuit. magistros toto certamini praeposuit consulares sorte, sede praetorum. deinde in orchestram senatumque descendit et orationis quidem carminisque Latini coronam, de qua honestissimus quisque contenderat, ipsorum consensu concessam sibi recepit, citharae autem a iudicibus ad se delatam adorauit ferrique ad Augusti statuam iussit.

Dio Cassius, LXI, 21

These things, then, he did to celebrate the shaving of his beard; and in behalf of his preservation and the continuance of his power, he instituted some quadriennial games, which he called Neronia. In honour of this event he also erected the gymnasium,6 and at its dedication made a free distribution of olive oil to the senators and knights. 2 The crown for lyre-playing he took without a contest; for all others were debarred, on the assumption that they were unworthy of being victors. And immediately, wearing the garb of this guild, he entered the gymnasium itself to be enrolled as victor. Thereafter all other crowns awarded as prizes for lyre-playing in all the contests were sent to him as the only artist worthy of victory. (Loeb Classical Library, 9 volumes, Greek texts and facing English translation: Harvard University Press, 1914 thru 1927. Translation by Earnest Cary.)

Martial, VII, 34

How does it possibly come, Severus, that Charinus, the worst rascal in the world, did one thing well ? Do you ask ? I will tell you, and briefly. What was worse than Nero ? What is better than Nero's warm baths ? See, at once some one of the malicious crowd is ready to say in sour tones : " What do you set above the many structures erected by our Master and God?" I set Nero's warm baths above the baths of a pathic. (Translation by Walter C. A. Ker, M.A. The Loeb Classical Library)

Quo possit fieri modo, Severe,
Ut vir pessimus omnium Charinus
Unam rem bene fecerit, requiris?
Dicam, sed cito. Quid Nerone peius?
Quid thermis melius Neronianis?
Non deest protinus, ecce, de malignis,
Qui sic rancidulo loquatur ore:
'Quid tu tot domini deique nostri
Praefers muneribus?' Neronianas
Thermas praefero balneis cinaedi.

Well, there is a curious anecdote of interest in connection with the inauguration of this complex. It is the appearance on the scene of the inauguration of a famous contemporary cynic philosopher, well respected by the intelligentsia of the moment by his moral integrity, Demetrius. This critical philosopher to the power, without mincing words and unwisely  ruined the opening ceremony thought for the greater glory of the emperor. The text, although living and descriptive, it is still cold and almost of attorney. It is necessary that the reader make a small stretch of the imagination, whom  can help to compare with picturesque and grotesque, contemporary current events, also needed of a "cynical" voice to reduce the "ego" of the governor.

Note: Although it is well known by the generality, let me informed reader, to comment that the word "ego" is  the  Latin person pronoun of first person, which we translate as "I". From it quite clear terms derived meaning, according to this etymology, as egoism" and "egotism",  egocentrism,…  So well known is the term than often we say about someone full of himself that he has "a highly developed ego".

Well Demetrius criticized the famous Baths of Nero inaugurated in 61 because unhygienic and very expensive in the same opening ceremony. At that time escaped the wrath of the Emperor, but when one year later the baths collapsed as a result of lightning, the words of Demetrius were considered the cause of the collapse and Demetrius was sent into exile by Tigellinus, the praetorian prefect (chief top police and executive arm) of Nero.

But it is better tell us all the ancient texts themselves:

About the  lightning,Tacitus tells us in Tacitus. Annales XV.22:

In the same consulate, the Gymnasium was struck by lightning and burned to the ground, a statue of Nero, which it contained, being melted into a shapeless piece of bronze.

Isdem consulibus gymnasium ictu fulminis conflagravit effigiesque in eo Neronis ad informe aes liquefacta.

And Philostratus, Life of Apollonius IV 42 (it is necessary that we will put in  a little imagination on our part to color the story):

Now Demetrius being attracted to Apollonius, as I have said above in my account of the events at Corinth, betook himself subsequently to Rome, and proceeded to court Apollonius, at the same time that he launched out against Nero. In consequence our sage's profession was looked at askance, and he was thought to have set Demetrius on to proceed thus, and the suspicion was increased on the occasion of Nero's completion of the most magnificent gymnasium in Rome:[1] for the auspicious day was being celebrated therein by Nero himself and the great Senate and all the knights of Rome, when Demetrius made his way into the gymnasium itself and delivered himself of a philippic against people who bathed, declaring that they enfeebled and polluted themselves; and he showed that such institutions were a useless expense.
He was only saved from immediate death as the penalty of such language by the fact that Nero was in extra good voice when he sang on that day, and he sang in the tavern which adjoined the gymnasium, naked except for a girdle round his waste, like any low tapster.
Demetrius, however, did not wholly escape the risk which he had courted by his language; for [the praetorian prefect] Tigellinus, to whom Nero had committed the power of life and death, proceeded to banish him from Rome, on the plea that he had ruined and overthrown the bath by the words he used; and he began to dog the steps of Apollonius secretly, in the hope that he would catch him out too in some compromising utterance.  (Translated by F.C. Conybeare)

It is easy to imagine the face that they would put the entire Roman high society, with Emperor Nero to his head, listening to the cynical gadfly Demetrius (Socrates, from whom he learned many things his pupil Antisthenes, founder of the Cynic school,  is considered by himself  in Plato's Apology of Socrates  a “gadfly”;  we would say today in more explicit language “pain in the neck” or more colloquial pain in the ass)  ruin the event with two heavy motivated reviews:  that is a waste of resource  and also in public bathrooms all you can catch is a disease …

Started our imaginative process, we can assume that at the opening ceremony not just "they cut the ribbon" but that senators and the other guests were bathed and smeared with oil.  Therefore gives us rise  the explicit reference of  the cited authors that Nero gave them the oil, at the Greek way.

It is also a cause for reflection the attitude of "policeman" Tigellinus regarding Apollonius secretly spy to catch him in the act and then, punch …

Without any doubt, it would have been very appropriate  in our time the presence of some cynical philosopher as Demetrius in the ghostly opening of an airport without airplanes, a freeway without cars or a bridge without river.
          …….
Postscript Note: First the word "posdata”, “postscript" means or refers to the "already offered, and given, and exposed," especially to the date or dating that closes the document and therefore I want to adjectival this note, because it comes to below the  text and date of the article.

Secondly with the note I want to explain the term "inaugurate", with them I headlined the article. The Romans, like many other  people, did not perform any action of public nor private importance unconnected with the feel of the gods. The augurs were the priests, from Etruscan origin,  who "predicted" or scrutinized the will of the gods or the future; the "omen" , augurium, figured in various ways, such as observing the flight of birds, operation called  “auspicium”, “auspices” from “avis”, bird,  and spicere, to see,  meant the agreement of the gods. The favorable omen,  augurium,  was especially necessary when engaging in battle;  do not forget that Rome is a great empire founded on the strength of their legions. Who had a "omens", a particularly favorable “augurium” was the emperor Octavian Caesar and because it he is called "Augustus", that means  something like "favored, loved by the gods."; "ausugustus" is translated into Greek as ἱερὸν, hieron, sacred.

He lived in the manner of cynics, no frills, no attachment to wealth or power. Like other Greeks, he went to Rome, center of power,  as a young man in time of Emperor Caligula. He was a friend of Seneca and he won the respect of  the Roman  intellectuals, whose cliques he ran with remarkable success pronouncing his lectures.

Part of his life, reflected in a few texts allows us to recreate the atmosphere of tyranny and oppression to which they are subjected thinkers, philosophers, intellectuals when they dare to express their views freely and to criticize the actions of the powerful. This atmosphere of terror was especially oppressive under Domitian.

I reproduce a letter of Seneca to his friend Lucilius in which he records the affection and respect that he has to Demetrius:

Seneca, Letters to Lucilius LXII

We are deceived by those who would have us believe that a multitude of affairs blocks their pursuit of liberal studies; they make a pretence of their engagements, and multiply them, when their engagements are merely with themselves. As for me, Lucilius, my time is free; it is indeed free, and wherever I am, I am master of myself. For I do not surrender myself to my affairs, but loan myself to them, and I do not hunt out excuses for wasting my time. And wherever I am situated, I carry on my own meditations and ponder in my mind some wholesome thought.  When I give myself to my friends, I do not withdraw from my own company, nor do I linger with those who are associated with me through some special occasion or some case which arises from my official position. But I spend my time in the company of all the best; no matter in what lands they may have lived, or in what age, I let my thoughts fly to them.  Demetrius, for instance, the best of men, I take about with me, and, leaving the wearers of purple and fine linen, I talk with him, half-naked as he is, and hold him in high esteem. Why should I not hold him in high esteem? I have found that he lacks nothing. It is in the power of any man to despise all things, but of no man to possess all things. The shortest cut to riches is to despise riches. Our friend Demetrius, however, lives not merely as if he has learned to despise all things, but as if he has handed them over for others to possess. Farewell. (Translated by Richard Mott Gummere. A Loeb Classical Library edition; volume 1 published 1917)

Mentiuntur, qui sibi obstare ad studia liberali turbam negotiorum videri volunt; simulant occupationes et augent et ipsi se occupant. Vaco, Lucili, vaco et ubicumque sum, ibi meus sum. Rebus enim me non trado, sed commodo, nec consector perdendi temporis causas. Et quocumque constiti loco, ibi cogitationes meas tracto et aliquid in animo salutare converso.

Cum me amicis dedi non tamen mihi abduco, nec cum illis moror, quibus me tempus aliquod congregavit aut causa ex officio nata civili,  sed cum optimo quoque sum; ad illos, in quocumque loco, in quocumque saeculo fuerunt, animum meum mitto.

Demetrium, virorum optimum, mecum circumfero et relictis conchyliatis cum illo seminudo loquor, illum admiror. Quidni admirer? Vidi nihil ei deesse. Contemnere aliquis omnia potest, omnia habere nemo potest. Brevissima ad divitias per contemptum divitiarum via est. Demetrius autem noster sic vivit, non tamquam contempserit omnia, sed tamquam aliis habenda permiserit. Vale.

Philostratus  presents him in Corinth (circa 61) and as friend of Apollonius of Tiana, but this is not very reliable source for some, although Lucian attest their stay in Corinth in "Against ignorance, 19":

Philostratus, Life of Apollonius, IV, 25

Now there was in Corinth at that time a man named Demetrius, who studied philosophy and had embraced in his system all the masculine vigor of the Cynics. Of him Favorinus in several of his works subsequently made the most generous mention, and his attitude towards Apollonius was exactly that which they say Antisthenes took up towards the system of Socrates: for he followed him and was anxious to be his disciple, and was devoted to his doctrines, and converted to the side of Apollonius the more esteemed of his own pupils. (Translation by F.C. Conybeare,  1912, in the Loeb Classical Library).

He was banished at the first time by Tigellinus, the praetorian prefect of Nero in the year 62 because  his ironic comments critical to the monarchy, on the inauguration of a great gym for the emperor. See https://www.antiquitatem.com/en/nero-inaugurates-a-gym-demetrius

At the same time he was also banished another cynical called Isidore, whom also I will comment.
On a occasion  the emperor Caligula (governed from 37 to 41) wanted to make him a gift with a small amount of money that the proud philosopher rejected. Seneca tells us, On Duties VII, 11.1-2:

When, therefore, Gaius Caesar offered him two hundred thousand sesterces, he laughingly refused it, thinking it unworthy of himself to boast of having refused so small a sum. Ye gods and goddesses, what a mean mind must the emperor have had, if he hoped either to honour or to corrupt him. I must here repeat a proof of his magnanimity. I have heard that when he was expressing his wonder at the folly of Gaius at supposing that he could be influenced by such a bribe, he said, "If he meant to tempt me, he ought to have tried to do so by offering his entire kingdom."(Translated by Aubrey StewartTranslated 1887)

De beneficiis VII,11,1-2

Itaque cum C.1 Caesar illi ducenta donaret, ridens reiecit ne dignam quidem summam iudicans, qua non accepta gloriaretur. Di deaeque, quam pusillo animo illum aut honorare voluit aut corrumpere ! Reddendum egregio viro testimonium est ; ingentem rem ab illo dici audivi, cum miraretur Gai dementiam, quod se putasset tanti posse mutari. " Si temptare," inquit, " me constituerat, toto illi fui experiendus imperio."

Demetrius criticized the famous Baths of Nero inaugurated in 61 because unhygienic and excessively costly. When a year later collapsed as a result of lightning, the words of Demetrius were considered  the cause of the collapse  and Demetrius was sent into exile by Tigellinus, the praetorian prefect (the chief of police and executive arm) of Nero.

Philostratus tells us in Life of Apollonius IV 42.

Now Demetrius being attracted to Apollonius, as I have said above in my account of the events at Corinth, betook himself subsequently to Rome, and proceeded to court Apollonius, at the same time that he launched out against Nero. In consequence our sage's profession was looked at askance, and he was thought to have set Demetrius on to proceed thus, and the suspicion was increased on the occasion of Nero's completion of the most magnificent gymnasium in Rome: for the auspicious day was being celebrated therein by Nero himself and the great Senate and all the knights of Rome, when Demetrius made his way into the gymnasium itself and delivered himself of a philippic against people who bathed, declaring that they enfeebled and polluted themselves; and he showed that such institutions were a useless expense.

He was only saved from immediate death as the penalty of such language by the fact that Nero was in extra good voice when he sang on that day, and he sang in the tavern which adjoined the gymnasium, naked except for a girdle round his waste, like any low tapster.
Demetrius, however, did not wholly escape the risk which he had courted by his language; for [the praetorian prefect] Tigellinus, to whom Nero had committed the power of life and death, proceeded to banish him from Rome, on the plea that he had ruined and overthrown the bath by the words he used; and he began to dog the steps of Apollonius secretly, in the hope that he would catch him out too in some compromising utterance. (Translation by F.C. Conybeare,  1912, in the Loeb Classical Library

Philostratus again gives us some reason why the Emperor Nero didn’t sentenced to death Demetrius and other sophists. He says it in Life of Apollonius VII 16:

"My sovereign, sophists ar all prattle and flippancy; and their art is all show, and they are so eager to die because they get no good out of life; and therefore they don't wait for death to come of itself, but try to anticipate and draw it on themselves by provoking those who hold the sword.

This I think was the reason which weighed with Nero and prevented his being drawn on by Demetrius into slaying him. For as he saw that he was anxious for death, he let him off not because he wished to pardon him, but because he disdained to put him to death. Moreover in the case of Musonius the Tyrrhenian, who opposed his rule in many ways, he only kept him in the island called Gyara. (Translation by F.C. Conybeare,  1912, in the Loeb Classical Library)

There is also a story  of Philostratus that relates  Demetrius to Musonius Rufus, master of Epictetus. On the occasion of the conspiracy of Piso against Nero on 65-66 year, Seneca was forced to suicide opening veins with his wife Pompeia Paulina and his  nephew Lucanus. For the same reason they were expelled from Rome philosophers, especially the Stoics, among them Musonius Rufus, master of Epictetus.

Phiostratus, an  unreliable source, as I said, according to some authors, makes the two men coincide in Greece: Musonius was there condemned to dig the Isthmus of Corinth, as a thousand times it has happened with prisoners and dissidents sentenced to hard labor for building  great and dangerous public works.

The story, despite its curious interest does not seem very credible to the historians, although they are no serious grounds to doubt; in any case we will read the text of Philostratus, Life of Apollonius V, 19:

At Athens he was initiated by the same hierophant of whom he had delivered a prophecy to his predecessor; here he met Demetrius the philosopher, for after the episode of Nero's bath and of his speech about it, Demetrius continued to live at Athens, with such noble courage that he did not quit Athens even during the period when Nero was outraging Greece over the games.

Demetrius said that he had fallen in with Musonius at the Isthmus, where he was fettered and under orders to dig; and that he addressed to him such consolations as he could, but Musonius took his spade and stoutly dug it into the earth, and then looking up, said: "You are distressed, Demetrius, to see me digging through the Isthmus for Greece; but if you saw me playing the harp like Nero, what would you feel then?"

But I must pass over the sayings of Musonius, though they were many and remarkable, else I shall seem to take liberties with the man, who uttered them carelessly. (Translation by F.C. Conybeare,  1912, in the Loeb Classical Library)

This conspiracy also led the condemnation of  Barea Soranus and Thrasea Petus, patrician, stoic, who was master of Demetrius, who comforted him at the time and day when the sentence came.
Thrasea is who uttered the phrase, according to Epictetus:

"I would rather be killed to-day than banished to-morrow."

Epictetus recommends accept things as they come with wise stoicism. Discourses I, 1, 21

…..What then should a man have in readiness in such circumstances? What else than "What is mine, and what is not mine; and permitted to me, and what is not permitted to me." I must die. Must I then die lamenting? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into exile. Does any man then hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and contentment? "Tell me the secret which you possess." I will not, for this is in my power. "But I will put you in chains." Man, what are you talking about? Me in chains? You may fetter my leg, but my will not even Zeus himself can overpower. "I will throw you into prison." My poor body, you mean. "I will cut your head off." When, then, have I told you that my head alone cannot be cut off? These are the things which philosophers should meditate on, which they should write daily, in which they should exercise themselves.

Thrasea used to say, "I would rather be killed to-day than banished to-morrow." What, then, did Rufus say to him? "If you choose death as the heavier misfortune, how great is the folly of your choice? But if, as the lighter, who has given you the choice? Will you not study to be content with that which has been given to you?"  (Translation by George Long)

I will transcribe the information that Tacitus gives us in his Annals about  the decision  and death of Thraseas, an episode that still moves us today.
 
Tacitus, Annals, XVI, 21

Nero after having butchered so many illustrious men, at last aspired to extirpate virtue itself by murdering Thrasea Pætus and Barea Soranus. Both men he had hated of old, Thrasea on additional grounds, because he had walked out of the Senate when Agrippina's case was under discussion, as I have already related, and had not given the Juvenile games any conspicuous encouragement. Nero's displeasure at this was the deeper, since this same Thrasea had sung in a tragedian's dress at Patavium, his birth-place, in some games instituted by the Trojan Antenor. On the day, too, on which the prætor Antistius was being sentenced to death for libels on Nero, Thrasea proposed and carried a more merciful decision. Again, when divine honours were decreed to Poppæa, he was purposely absent and did not attend her funeral. All this Capito Cossutianus would not allow to be forgotten. He had a heart eager for the worst wickedness, and he also bore ill-will to Thrasea, the weight of whose influence had crushed him, while envoys from Cilicia supported by Thrasea's advocacy, were accusing him of extortion.

34
Then, as evening approached, the consul's quæstor was sent to Thrasea, who was passing his time in his garden. He had had a crowded gathering of distinguished men and women, giving special attention to Demetrius, a professor of the Cynic philosophy. With him, as might be inferred from his earnest expression of face and from words heard when they raised their voices, he was speculating on the nature of the soul and on the separation of the spirit from the body, till Domitius Cæcilianus, one of his intimate friends, came to him and told him in detail what the Senate had decided. When all who were present, wept and bitterly complained, Thrasea urged them to hasten their departure and not mingle their own perils with the fate of a doomed man. Arria, too, who aspired to follow her husband's end and the example of Arria, her mother, he counselled to preserve her life, and not rob the daughter of their love of her only stay.

35
Then he went out into a colonnade, where he was found by the quæstor, joyful rather than otherwise, as he had learnt that Helvidius, his son-in-law, was merely excluded from Italy. When he heard the Senate's decision, he led Helvidius and Demetrius into a chamber, and having laid bare the arteries of each arm, he let the blood flow freely, and, as he sprinkled it on the ground, he called the quæstor to his side and said, "We pour out a libation to Jupiter the Deliverer. Behold, young man, and may the gods avert the omen, but you have been born into times in which it is well to fortify the spirit with examples of courage." Then as the slowness of his end brought with it grievous anguish, turning his eyes on Demetrius. . . . (Complete Works of Tacitus. Tacitus. Alfred John Church. William Jackson Brodribb. Sara Bryant.)

Annales, XVI,21

Trucidatis tot insignibus viris ad postremum Nero virtutem ipsam excindere concupivit interfecto Thrasea Paeto et Barea Sorano, olim utrisque infensus et accedentibus causis in Thraseam, quod senatu egressus est cum de Agrippina referretur, ut memoravi, quodque Iuvenalium ludicro parum spectabilem operam praebuerat; eaque offensio altius penetrabat, quia idem Thrasea Patavi, unde ortus erat, ludis †cetastis† a Troiano Antenore institutis habitu tragico cecinerat. die quoque quo praetor Antistius ob probra in Neronem composita ad mortem damnabatur, mitiora censuit obtinuitque; et cum deum honores Poppaeae decernuntur sponte absens, funeri non interfuerat. quae oblitterari non sinebat Capito Cossutianus, praeter animum ad flagitia praecipitem iniquus Thraseae quod auctoritate eius concidisset, iuvantis Cilicum legatos dum Capitonem repetundarum interrogant.

XVI, 34
Tum ad Thraseam in hortis agentem quaestor consulis missus vesperascente iam die. inlustrium virorum feminarumque coetus frequentis egerat, maxime intentus Demetrio Cynicae institutionis doctori, cum quo, ut coniectare erat intentione vultus et auditis, si qua clarius proloquebantur, de natura animae et dissociatione spiritus corporisque inquirebat, donec advenit Domitius Caecilianus ex intimis amicis et ei quid senatus censuisset exposuit. igitur flentis queritantisque qui aderant facessere propere Thrasea neu pericula sua miscere cum sorte damnati hortatur, Arriamque temptantem mariti suprema et exemplum Arriae matris sequi monet retinere vitam filiaeque communi subsidium unicum non adimere.

XVI, 35
Tum progressus in porticum illic a quaestore reperitur, laetitiae propior, quia Helvidium generum suum Italia tantum arceri cognoverat. accepto dehinc senatus consulto Helvidium et Demetrium in cubiculum inducit; porrectisque utriusque brachii venis, postquam cruorem effudit, humum super spargens, propius vocato quaestore 'libamus' inquit 'Iovi liberatori. specta, iuvenis; et omen quidem dii prohibeant, ceterum in ea tempora natus es quibus firmare animum expediat constantibus exemplis.' post lentitudine exitus gravis cruciatus adferente, obversis in Demetrium …
At this point the Annals are broken off because surely the death of its author prevented him from continuing.  The missing lines in the codex  free us to attend the end of  so dramatic episode.

But I do not will deprive interested readers of another fragment of the work of Suetonius, that shows the cruelty with which Nero ordered suicides. Suetonius tells us, ( his work, in which mainly anecdotes are collected, must be read critically, knowing that, as secretary of Hadrian, he  had before official archives).

Suetonius, Nero 37

The only charge objected against Paetus Thrasea was, that he had a melancholy cast of features, and looked like a school-master. He allowed but one hour to those whom he obliged to kill themselves; and, to prevent delay, he sent them physicians " to cure them immediately, if they lingered beyond that time ;" for so he called bleeding them to death. There was at that time an Egyptian of a most voracious appetite, who would digest raw flesh, or any thing else that was given him. It was credibly reported, that the emperor was extremely desirous of furnishing him with living men to tear and devour. Being elated with his great success in the perpetration of crimes, he declared. " that no prince before himself ever knew the extent of his power." (Suetonius: The Lives of the Twelve Caesars; An English Translation,  Publishing Editor. J. Eugene Reed. Alexander Thomson. Philadelphia. Gebbie & Co. 1889.)

(37.1)…Paeto Thraseae tristior et paedagogi uultus.
(37.2) mori iussis non amplius quam horarum spatium dabat; ac ne quid morae interueniret, medicos admouebat qui cunctantes continuo curarent: ita enim uocabatur uenas mortis gratia incidere. creditur etiam polyphago cuidam Aegypti generis crudam carnem et quidquid daretur mandere assueto, concupisse uiuos homines laniandos absumendosque obicere.
(37.3)elatus inflatusque tantis uelut successibus negauit “quemquam principum scisse quid sibi liceret”,

But against these powerful dictators, free men, as  Demetrius, can tell them, as Arrian tells in Epictetus, Discourses I , 25.21 to 23:

I will live in Gyarus, but it seems like a great smoke to live in Gyarus; and I depart to the place where no man will hinder me from living, for that dwelling place is open to all; and as to the last garment, that is the poor body, no one has any power over me beyond this. This was the reason why Demetrius said to Nero, “You threaten me with death, but nature threatens you.” (George Long. translator. London. George Bell and Sons. 1890.)

In the year 75, under the emperor Vespasian, he was expelled for the second time, together with other philosophers, to the Cyclades islands. Some think that the expulsion was in the year 71 according to Dio Cassius 65 (66) 13 and Suetonius, Vespasian 13.

We read the text of Dio Cassius, Roman History 65 (66) 12 et seq.

Helvidius Priscus, the son-in law of Thrasea, had been brought up in the doctrines of the Stoics and imitated Thrasea's frankness of speech, sometimes unseasonably. He was at this time praetor, but instead of doing aught to increase the honour due to the emperor he would not cease reviling him. Therefore the tribunes once arrested him and gave him in charge of their assistants, a procedure at which Vespasian was overcome by emotion went out of the senate-chamber in tears, saying merely: "My successor shall be my son or no one at all."

Inasmuch as many others, too, including Demetrius the Cynic, actuated by the Stoic principles, were taking advantage of the name of philosophy to teach publicly many doctrines inappropriate to the times, and in this way were subtly corrupting some of their hearers, Mucianus, prompted rather by anger than by any passion for philosophy, inveighed at length against them and persuaded Vespasian to expel all such persons from the city.
…..
Mucianus made a great number of remarkable statements to Vespasian against the Stoics, asserting, for instance, that they are full of empty boasting, and that if one of them lets his beard grow long, elevates his eyebrows, wears his coarse brown mantle thrown back over his shoulder and goes barefooted, he straightway lays claim to wisdom, bravery and righteousness, and gives himself great airs, even though he may not know either his letters or how to swim, as the saying goes. They look down upon everybody and call a man of good family a mollycoddle, the low-born slender-witted, a handsome person licentious, an ugly person a simpleton, the rich man greedy, and the poor man servile.

And Vespasian immediately expelled from Rome all the philosophers except Musonius; Demetrius and Hostilianus he even deported to islands. Hostilianus, though he decidedly would not desist when he was told about the sentence of exile (he happened to be conversing with somebody), but merely inveighed all the more strongly against monarchy, nevertheless straightway withdrew.  Demetrius, on the contrary, would not yield even then, and Vespasian commanded that this message should be given to him: "You are doing everything to force me to kill you, but I do not slay a barking dog."

It became strikingly clear that Vespasian hated Helvidius Priscus, not so much on his own account or that of his friends whom the man had abused, as because he was a turbulent fellow who cultivated the favour of the rabble and was for ever denouncing royalty and praising democracy. Helvidius' behaviour, moreover, was consistent with this opinion of him; for he banded various men together, as if it were the function of philosophy to insult those in power, to stir up the multitudes, to overthrow the established order of things, and to bring about a revolution.  He was Thrasea's son-in law and affected to emulate his conduct, but he fell far short of doing so. For whereas Thrasea, though living in Nero's time and displeased with him, nevertheless had neither said nor done anything that was insulting to him, save merely that he refused to share in his practices, Helvidius, on the other hand, bore a grudge against Vespasian and would not let him alone either in private or in public. Thus by his conduct he was courting death and by his meddlesome interference he was destined eventually to pay the penalty. (Loeb Classical Library, 9 volumes, Greek texts and facing English translation: Harvard University Press, 1914 thru 1927. Translation by Earnest Cary.)

It's funny how similar  I find this fearful attitude of power against anyone  movement and social behavior at the time, with which personally I experienced ( I am old few years) in the aftermath of  Franco dictatorship in Spain: long beard, different clothing to conventional, They meddle with everyone, pick on everyone, persuade people with their talk ,  etc.)

But Suetonius paints us Vespasian as caring and benevolent, against the use of excessive punishment. About Demetrius and Vespasian he says:

Suetonius, Vespasian 13:

Demetrius, the Cynic philosopher,1 who had been sentenced to banishment, meeting him on the road, and refusing to rise up or salute him, nay, snarling at him in scurrilous language, he only called him a cur. (English Translation, Publishing Editor. J. Eugene Reed. Alexander Thomson. Philadelphia. Gebbie & Co. 1889.)

Demetrium Cynicum in itinere obuium sibi post damnationem ac neque assurgere neque salutare se dignantem, oblatrantem etiam nescio quid, satis habuit canem appellare.

His relationship with Titus seems to have been better. Philostratus tells us how Apollonius recommended  Titus that he should serve of the teachings of the master Demetrius. He tells us in his Life of Apollonius, VI, 31

"And for myself, O man of Tyana," answered Titus, "can you give me any precepts as to how to rule and exercise the authority of a sovereign?"

"Only such rules," replied the other, "as you have laid upon yourself; for in so submitting yourself to your father's will, it is, I think, certain that you will grow like him. And I should like to repeat to you on this occasion a saying of Archytas, which is a noble one and worth committing to memory. Archytas was a man of Tarentum who was learned in the lore of Pythagoras, and he wrote a treatise on the education of children, in which he says:

Let the father be an example of virtue to his children, for fathers also will the more resolutely walk in the path of virtue because their children are coming to resemble them.
But for myself, I propose to associate with you my own companion Demetrius, who will attend you as much as you like and instruct you in the whole duty of a good ruler."

"And what sort of wisdom, O Apollonius, does this person possess?"

"Courage," he replied, "to speak the truth unabashed by anyone, for he possesses the constancy and strength of character of a cynic."

And as Titus did not seem very pleased to hear the name of dog,[1] he continued: "And yet in Homer, Telemachus, when he was young, required, it appears, two dogs, and the poet sends these to accompany the youth to the market place of Ithaca, in spite of their being irrational animals; but you will have a dog to accompany you who will bark in your behalf not only at other people, but at yourself in case you go wrong, and he will bark withal wisely, and never irrationally."

"Well," said the other, "give me your dog to accompany me, and I will even let him bite me, in case he feels I am committing injustice."

"I will write him a letter, for he teaches philosophy in Rome."

"Pray do so," said Titus, "and I wish I could get someone to write to you in my behalf, and induce you to share with me my journey to Rome."

"I will come there," said the other, "whenever it is best for both of us." (Translation by F.C. Conybeare,  1912, in the Loeb Classical Library).

And little later, in Life of Apollonius VI 33, he gives us the letter:

But the letter to Demetrius ran as follows:

"Apollonius, the Philosopher, sends greeting to Demetrius the cynic.
     I have made a present of you to the Emperor Titus, that you may instruct him how to behave as a sovereign, and take care that you confirm the truth of my words to him, and make yourself, anger apart, everything to him. Farewell." (Translation by F.C. Conybeare,  1912, in the Loeb Classical Library).

In the year 75 Titus wants to marry Jewish princess Berenice, a relationship that the people do not look kindly; Diogenes the Sophist and a certain Heras criticized in the theater the vices of the emperors and that fed the royal anger and they were punished for it, as Cassius Dio tells us, Roman History LXV 15, 3-5:

Berenice was at the very height of her power and consequently came to Rome along with her brother Agrippa. 4 The latter was given the rank of praetor, while she dwelt in the palace, cohabiting with Titus. She expected to marry him and was already behaving in every respect as if she were his wife; but when he perceived that the Romans were displeased with the situation, he sent her away. 5 For, in addition to all the other talk that there was, certain sophists of the Cynic school managed somehow to slip into the city at this time, too; and first Diogenes, entering the theatre when it was full, denounced the pair in a long, abusive speech, for which he was flogged; and after him Heras, expecting no harsher punishment, gave vent to many senseless yelpings in true Cynic fashion, and for this was beheaded. (Loeb Classical Library, 9 volumes, Greek texts and facing English translation: Harvard University Press, 1914 thru 1927. Translation by Earnest Cary.)

Demetrius perhaps lived until the time of Domitian, who created a great  atmosphere of terror. To  Domitian  they were  awarded two ejections of philosophers (philosophy proved to be a high risk activity) and also astrologers and "mathematical",  term that may relate to teachers in general. The first took place in the year 89 and the second, more violent, in 93/95. Let's see what Dio Cassius says in History of Rome LXVII 13.2:

As censor, likewise, his behaviour was noteworthy. He expelled Caecilius Rufinus from the senate because he acted pantomimes, and rest Claudius Pacatus, though an ex-centurion, to his master, because he was proved to be a slave.  But the deeds now to be related — deeds which he performed as emperor — cannot be described in similar terms. I refer to his killing of Arulenus Rusticus because he was a philosopher and because he called Thrasea holy, and to his slaying of Herennius Senecio because in his long career he had stood for no office after his quaestorship and because he had written the biography of Helvidius Priscus.  Many others also perished as a result of this same charge of philosophizing, and all the philosophers that were left in Rome were banished once more. One Juventius Celsus, however, who had taken a leading part in conspiring with certain others against Domitian and had been accused of this, saved his life in a remarkable way.  When he was on the point of being condemned, he begged that he might speak to the emperor in private, and thereupon did obeisance before him and after repeatedly calling him "master" and "god" (terms that were already being applied to him by others), he said: "I have done not of this sort, but if I obtain a respite, I will pry into everything and will not only bring information against many persons for you but also secure their conviction." He was released on this condition, but did not report any one; instead, by adding different excuses at different times, he lived until the death of Domitian. (Loeb Classical Library, 9 volumes, Greek texts and facing English translation: Harvard University Press, 1914 thru 1927. Translation by Earnest Cary.)

The following text of Philostratus perfectly describes the atmosphere of concern and fear in which many times they they have been numerous intellectuals, awaiting the decision of the tyrant and doubting whether to run away to be spared.

Philostratus, Life of Apollonius VII 10-12

… and having landed at Corinth and worshipped the Sun about midday, with his usual rites, embarked in the evening for Sicily and Italy. And falling in with a favorable wind and a good current that ran in his direction, he reached Dicaearchia [Puteoli] on the fifth day.
There he met Demetrius who passed for being the boldest of the philosophers, simply because he did not live far away from Rome, and knowing that he had moved to get out of the way of the tyrant, yet said by way of amusing himself: "I have caught you in your luxury, dwelling here in the most blessed part of happy Italy, if indeed she be happy, here where Odysseus is said to have forgotten in the company of Calypso the smoke of his Ithacan home."

Thereupon Demetrius embraced him and after sundry pious ejaculations said: "O ye gods, what will come upon philosophy, if she risks the loss of such a man as yourself?"

"And what risks does she run?" asked he.

"Those, surely, a foreknowledge of which brought you here," said the other; "for if I do not know what is in your mind, then I do not know what is in my own. But let us not conduct our conversation here, but let us retire where we can talk together alone, and let only Damis be present whom, by Heracles, I am inclined to consider an Iolaus  of your labors."

With these words, Demetrius led them to the villa in which [the Roman orator] Cicero lived of old, and it is close by the city. There they sat down under a plane tree where the grasshoppers were chirping to the soft music of the summer's breeze, when Demetrius glancing up at them, remarked: "O ye blessed insects and unfeignedly wise, it would seem then that the Muses have taught you a song which is neither actionable, nor likely to be informed against; and they made you superior to all wants of the belly, and settled you far above all human envy to live in these trees, in which you sit and sing in your blessedness about your own and the Muses' prerogative of happiness." 

Now Apollonius understood the drift of this apostrophe, but it jarred upon him as inconsistent with the strenuous professions of his friend. "It seems then," he said, "that, though you only wanted to sing the praises of grasshoppers, you could not do it openly, but came cowering hither, as if there were a public law against anyone praising the grasshoppers."

"I said what I did," he replied, "not by way of praising them, but of signifying that while they are left unmolested in their concert halls, we are not allowed even to mutter; for wisdom has been rendered a penal offense. And whereas the indictment of Anytus and Meletus ran: Socrates commits wrong in corrupting youth and introducing a new religion, we are indicted in such terms as these: So and so commits wrong by being wise and just and gifted with understanding of the gods no less than of men, and with a wide knowledge of the laws.

And as for yourself, so far forth as you are cleverer and wiser than the rest of us, so much the more cleverly is the indictment against you drawn up; for Domitian intends to implicate you in the charges for which Nerva and his associates were banished."

"But for what crime," said Apollonius, "are they banished?"

"For what is reckoned by the persecutor to be the greatest of latter-day crimes. He says that he has caught these persons in the act of trying to usurp his throne, and accuses you of instigating their attempt by mutilating, I think, a boy."

"What, as if it were by an eunuch, that I want his empire overthrown?"

"It is not that," he replied, "of which we are falsely accused; but they declare that you sacrificed a boy to divine the secrets of futurity which are to be learned from an inspection of youthful entrails; and in the indictment your dress and manner of life are also impugned, and the fact of your being an object of worship to some. This then is what I have heard from our Telesinus, no less your intimate than mine."

"What luck," exclaimed Apollonius, "if we could meet Telesinus: for I suppose you mean the philosopher who held consular rank in the reign of Nero."

"The same," he said, "but how are we to come across him? For despots are doubly suspicious of any man of rank, should they find him holding communication with people who lie under such an accusation as you do. And Telesinus, moreover, gave way quietly before the edict which has lately been issued against philosophers of every kind, because he preferred to be in exile as a philosopher, to remain in Rome as a consul."

"I would not have him run any risks on my account anyhow," said Apollonius, "for the risks he runs in behalf of philosophy are serious enough.

But tell me this, Demetrius, what do you think I had better say or do in order to allay my own fears?"

"You had better not trifle," said the other, "nor pretend to be afraid when you foresee danger; for if you really thought these accusations terrifying, you would have been away by now and evaded the necessity of defending yourself from them."

"And would you run away," said Apollonius, "if you were placed in the same danger as myself?"

"I would not," he replied, "I swear by Athena, if there were someone to judge me; but in fact there is no fair trial, and if I did offer a defense, no one would even listen to me; or if I were listened to, I should be slain all the more certainly because I was known to be innocent. You would not, I suppose, care to see me choose so cold-blooded and lavish a death as that, rather than one which befits a philosopher.

And I imagine that it behoves a philosopher to die in the attempt to liberate his city or to protect his parents and children and brothers and other kinsfolk, or to die struggling for his friends, who in the eyes of the wise are more precious than mere kinsfolk, or for favorites that have been purchased by love. But to be put to death not for true reasons, but for fancy ones, and to furnish the tyrant with a pretext for being considered wise, is much worse and more grievous than to be bowed and bent high in the sky on a wheel, as they say Ixion was.
But it seems to me the very fact of your coming here will be the beginning of your trial; for though you may attribute your journey hither to your quiet conscience, and to the fact that you would have never ventured upon it if you were guilty, Domitian will credit you with nothing of the kind; but will merely believe that you ventured on so hardy a course because you possess some mysterious power. For think, ten days, they say, have not elapsed since you were cited to appear, and you turn up at the court, without even having heard as yet that you were to undergo a trial.

Will not that be tantamount to justifying the accusation, for everyone will think that you foreknew the event, and the story of the boy will gain credit therefrom? And take care that the discourse which the say you delivered about the Fates and Necessity in Ionia does not come true of yourself; and that, in case destiny has some cruelty in store, you are not marching straight to meet it with your hands tied, just because you won't see that discretion is the better part of valor.

And if you have not forgotten the affairs of Nero's reign, you will remember my own case, and that I showed no coward's dread of death. But then one gained some respite: for although Nero's harp was ill attuned to the dignity that befits a king, and clashed therewith, yet in other ways its music harmonized not unpleasantly with ours, for he was induced thereby to grant a truce to his victims, and stay his murderous hand. At any rate he did not slay me, although I attracted his sword to myself as much by your discourses as by my own, which were delivered against the bath; and the reason why he did not slay me was that just then his voice improved, and he achieved, as he thought, a brilliant melody.

But where's the royal nightingale, and where the harp to which we can today make our peace-offerings? For the outlook of today is unredeemed by music, and full of spleen, and this tyrant is as little likely to be charmed by himself, as by other people. It is true that Pindar says in praise of the lyre that it charms the savage beast of [the war god] Ares and stays his hand from war; but this ruler, although he has established a musical contest in Rome, and offers a civic crown for those who win therein, nevertheless slew some of them, for whom it was the proverbial swan-sung that they piped or sang.

And you should also consider our friends and their safety, for you will certainly ruin them as well as yourself, if you make a show of being brave, or use arguments which will not be listened to.

But your life lies within your reach; for here are ships -you see how many there are- some about to sail for Libya, others for Egypt, others for Phoenicia and Cyprus, others direct to Sardinia, other still for places beyond Sardinia. It were best for you to embark on one of these provinces; for the hand of tyranny is less heavy upon these distinguished men, if it perceives that they only desire to live quietly and not put themselves forward."

Damis was so impressed by the arguments of Demetrius that he exclaimed:
(Translation by F.C. Conybeare,  1912, in the Loeb Classical Library).

The following text describes the anguish of those who, feeling persecuted, feared engage others with their mere contact and relationship. How many times they should have produced similar situations, given the inaction of the remaining citizens.

Let us read Philostratus, VII, 14-15:
I know, Demetrius, how clever you are at chopping logic, and this, I believe, is why you will tender me some further advice, such as this: But you must not resort to those you have named, but to men with whom you have never had anything to do, and then your flight will be secure; for you will find it easier to lie hidden among people who do not know you.
Well, let me examine this argument too, and see whether there is anything in it. For this is how I regard it: I consider that a wise man does nothing in private nor by himself alone; I hold that not even his inmost thoughts can be so devoid of witness, that he himself at least is not present with himself; and whether the Pythian inscription was suggested by Apollo himself, or by some man who had a healthy conscience, and was therefore minded to publish it as an aphorism for all, I hold that the sage who 'knows himself, and has his own conscience as his perpetual companion, will never cower before things that scare the many, nor venture upon courses which others would engage upon without shame. For being the slaves of despots, they have been ready at times to betray to them even their dearest; because just as they trembled at imaginary terrors, so they felt no fear where they should have trembled.

But Wisdom allows of none these things.
……..
I think then that I have clearly shown you, and that truth itself will convince you, that my conscience will convict me wherever I go, whether to people that know me, or to people that do not, supposing I were to betray my friends; but I will not betray even myself, but I will boldly wrestle with the tyrant, hailing him with the words of the noble Homer: Ares is as much my friend as thine."

Damis was so impressed by this address, he tells us, that he took fresh resolution and courage, and Demetrius no longer despaired of Apollonius, but rather praising and agreeing with his appeal, wished godspeed to him in his perilous enterprise and to his mistress Philosophy for whose sake he braved so much.

And he led them, Damis says, to where he was lodging; but Apollonius declined and said: "It is now eventide, and about the time of the lighting up of the lamps and I must set out for the port of Rome, for this is the usual hour at which these ships sail. However we will dine together another time, when my affairs are on a better footing; for just now some charge would be trumped up against yourself of having dined with an enemy of the Emperor. Nor must you come down to the harbor with us, lest you should be accused, merely for having conversed with me, of harboring criminal designs."

Demetrius accordingly consented, and after embracing them he quitted them, though he often turned back to look towards them and wiped tears from his eyes. (Translation by F.C. Conybeare,  1912, in the Loeb Classical Library).

Demetrius died around AD 90. He had a long life; certainly he could overcome the pitfalls with skill and the help of the goddess Fortuna.