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Document Details : Title: Salluste, la lex Clodia sur l'annexion de Chypre, et la reconstitution de la préface des Histoires Author(s): VASSILIADES, Georgios Journal: Latomus Volume: 77 Issue: 2 Date: 2018 Pages: 482-506 DOI: 10.2143/LAT.77.2.3284993 Abstract : An ancient commentator of Lucan reports that at the beginning of the first book of his Historiae (Hist. fr. 1.10 M = Adnot. super Lucanum 3.164, p. 90 Endt), Sallust alluded to the lex Clodia de rege Ptolemaeo et de exsulibus Byzantinis, according to which the property of the king of Cyprus should be confiscated for the benefit of the Roman State and the island should pass under Roman rule. The testament of an undetermined ‘Ptolemy’ was the legal foundation of Clodius’ rogatio; Cato was instructed to go to Cyprus and accept this legacy. A reconstruction of the context surrounding this allusion to Cato’s mission suggests that all the interpretations that have been put forward up to now are insufficient. An innovative reading is proposed, which relies on the hypothesis that the conquest of Cyprus was considered by Sallust as another illustration of the decline of Roman foreign policy. |
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