From Wednesday 22 September with the newspaper the culture and language course curated by Elisabetta Cantone: one issue every Wednesday. Here an excerpt from the first volume
The Eternal City. Thus was defined Rome, in a verse of the poet Tibullus (Elegie II, 5). And, although more than two thousand years have passed, these words still go along with the name of the Italian capital. Today as then, Rome synonymous with power and institutions: seat of the political palaces, which alternate with the glories of ancient times, between a column and a triumphal arch. In Rome, institutions are embodied in stone and brick. In Rome, power has a face and becomes a man.
If there is a red thread that spreads from 753 BC, the year of the mythical foundation, to our present it is precisely this bond, which seems inseparable, between Rome and power. Almost as if the latter had a natural home in the city on the banks of the Tiber, and there was a fatal attraction. Because of this, talking about Rome means talking about politics.
The history of ancient Rome, the history of its political-institutional evolution. A story that fascinates us and still concerns us, since by delving into its nuances we discover the roots of our civilization: from the Republic to the law, echoes and roots of contemporary ones can be recognized in the institutions of Rome.
It is also necessary to consider the elements of discontinuity with the past, natural fruits of historical development: we cannot say that we are still living according to the laws and customs of nothing public Ciceronian. And yet, even what in subsequent periods was born again and is still different, the result of what was in the past.
Rome, in fact, far from collapsing and disintegrating in 476 after Christ with the fall of the Western Empire, transplanted its institutions and its bureaucratic apparatus into the nascent medieval world, transforming them from pagans to Christians and offering the newcomers, the barbarians , all he had learned in twelve centuries of political school. In this way, thanks to the ability to adapt and be reborn in new forms, Rome never dies completely. And, indeed, the eternal city.
Rome, a city-state in central Italy, had the strength and the ability to become the capital of a vast empire. To be precise, in the period of maximum expansion (117 AD, under the emperor Trajan) it came to control a vast territory that extended from northern Britain (present-day Scotland) to the banks of the Euphrates, from present-day Portugal to the Sea Black, from the Danube to the African coast.
The Roman Empire in terms of population size, ability to assimilate and integrate peoples and duration it is unmatched in Western history. It was probably for this image of unlimited and invincible power that, in subsequent historical periods, he was chosen as a model by emperors and dictators: from Charlemagne to Napoleon Bonaparte, to Benito Mussolini.
But how did a single city manage to conquer most of the then known world and hold power for so long? The Greek historian Polybius also wondered (206-118 BC), one of the main witnesses of the political history of Rome. Which of men is so mad and lazy that he does not want to know how and thanks to what kind of political regime almost the entire inhabited world has been subjected and has fallen under the sole dominion of the Romans in less than fifty-three years, which does not appear to have never happened till now? (Polybius, Stories, I, 1, 5-6).
The historian finds the answer in the so-called mixed constitution of Rome. We must not think of a Constitution as it is understood in the contemporary era. With this term Polybius – and ancient historians in general – indicated the form of government. In particular, in his vision, the Roman Republic was a mixed constitution because it was based on a triad of institutions that represented a harmonious synthesis of the three main forms of government: the consulate in which monarchical power was embodied, the Senate which represented the aristocracy and the rallies, the image of democracy. Thanks to the coexistence of all three forms, Rome had managed to give itself a political organization capable of balancing the tendency to institutional degeneration inherent in every form of government. In this way Rome increased its power and was able to control a vast territory, thanks to the bureaucratic links and internal organization.
In summary, institutional strength, coupled with military prowess, made Rome the center of the world, according to Polybius’s keen eye.
The series on newsstands
The first volume of the Latin language and culture course is out on Wednesday 22 September at newsstands with Corriere della Sera, at a price of € 6.90 plus the cost of the newspaper. The book, of which we anticipate an initial passage above, dedicated to Politics and edited by Costanza Motta. The whole series is called Latino. Culture and language at the roots of the West and by Elisabetta Cantone. Each title contains a part dedicated to an aspect of Roman civilization and a part of the Latin course: in the case of the first volume the grammar topics are Latin morphology, the first declension, the indicative and present infinitive. Furthermore, in each book there is a section on an important author of Latin literature: in the case of the volume on newsstands tomorrow it is the historian Tito Livio. The second volume of the series, edited by Linda Pedraglio, will be La guerra and will be released on 29 September. This will be followed by: La societ, curated by Elisabetta Cantone (6 October); Values and traditions, curated by Carmen Arcidiaco (13 October); Free time, curated by Elisabetta Cantone (20 October); Philosophy, curated by Carmen Arcidiaco (October 27); The city, curated by Linda Pedraglio (November 3).
September 20, 2021 (change September 20, 2021 | 20:35)
© Time.News