5.0186 Rs: Law and Order (2/49)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 25 Jun 91 16:14:39 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0186. Tuesday, 25 Jun 1991.
(1) Date: Tue, 25 Jun 91 10:37:29 GMT (12 lines)
From: viden@logos.class.gu.se (Gunhild Viden)
Subject: Re: 5.0179 Qs: ... Law&Order Topos
(2) Date: Tue, 25 Jun 91 10:32:04 PDT (37 lines)
From: Alain Gowing <alain@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Law and order topos
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 91 10:37:29 GMT
From: viden@logos.class.gu.se (Gunhild Viden)
Subject: Re: 5.0179 Qs: ... Law&Order Topos
Timothy Reuter's topos question: To me this looks like a continuation
of the classical rhetorical tradition. What comes to my mind are the
Leges novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes (vol. 2 of the Cod.
Theod.), where the emperors often refer to their clementia, pietas,
cura etc. concerning their subjects.
Gunhild Viden
University of Goteborg, Classical dept.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------49----
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 91 10:32:04 PDT
From: Alain Gowing <alain@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Law and order topos
One classical parellel that comes to mind is found in the Roman Oration
of the second century AD rhetor Aelius Aristides, a panegyric of both
Rome and the emperor Antoninus Pius:
It is you [Pius] again who have best proved the general assertion,
that Earth is mother of all and common fatherland. Now indeed it is
possible for Hellene or non-Hellene, with or without his property, to
travel wherever he will, easily, just as if passing from fatherland to
fatherland. Neither Cilician Gates nor narrow sandy approaches to
Egypt through Arab country, nor inaccessible mountains, nor immense
strecthes of river, nor inhospitable tribes of barbarians cause
terror, but for security it suffices to be a Roman citizen, or rather
to be one of those united under your hegemony.
Or. 26.100 Keil (trans. J.H. Oliver)
Banditry and piracy were of course serious concerns in antiquity, and it
is not surprising that a professional rhetor like Aristides -- who spent
a good part of his life travelling from one city to another -- should
frequently allude to and praise the increased security afforded a
voyager by the imperial administration. Tourism in general increased
significantly in the second century AD (hence the need for and
popularity of Pausanias' guidebooks), and in large part this must have
resulted from a sense that traveling was now a relatively safe occupation.
Whether or not the passage quoted above constitutes a "topos", I cannot
say. It may have *become* a topos, but one might look to the
later panegyrics for confirmation; and I cannot think of anything
earlier than Aristides.
Alain M. Gowing alain@u.washington.edu
Dept. of Classics
Univ. of Washington