Author: Giovannini, Adalberto
Title: Le senatus consultum ultimum. Les mensonges de Cicéron
Review/Collection: "Athenaeum", 100
Year edition: 2012
Keywords: Histoire - Storia - History, Politique - Politica - Politics
Description: In the last century of the Republic, the Roman state was several times confronted with situations of violent threat induced by Roman citizens. In order to meet these threats, the Senate took measures of emergency, ordering the magistrates to take the necessary steps towards protecting the Republic. In modern research, this kind of senatorial decree is called senatus consultum ultimum (SCU ) and it is generally admitted that its main effect was to deprive the alleged enemies of the state of their legal right to the prouocatio ad populum, and thus to give the magistrates the power of putting these alleged enemies of the state to death without judgement. The purpose of this article is to show that the aim of the SCU was totally different: it was a call to arms ordering Roman citizens to fight against other Roman citizens and to kill them if necessary. I am also trying to show that Cicero’s presentation of the Catilinarian conspiracy is not quite reliable and that sometimes the orator deliberately lies. [Author]
Works:
Link: https://access.archive-ouverte.unige.ch/access/metadata/dd211326-f82d-4d21-a67c-09985d7966ed/download
Author initials: Giovannini 2012
Title: Le senatus consultum ultimum. Les mensonges de Cicéron
Review/Collection: "Athenaeum", 100
Year edition: 2012
Keywords: Histoire - Storia - History, Politique - Politica - Politics
Description: In the last century of the Republic, the Roman state was several times confronted with situations of violent threat induced by Roman citizens. In order to meet these threats, the Senate took measures of emergency, ordering the magistrates to take the necessary steps towards protecting the Republic. In modern research, this kind of senatorial decree is called senatus consultum ultimum (SCU ) and it is generally admitted that its main effect was to deprive the alleged enemies of the state of their legal right to the prouocatio ad populum, and thus to give the magistrates the power of putting these alleged enemies of the state to death without judgement. The purpose of this article is to show that the aim of the SCU was totally different: it was a call to arms ordering Roman citizens to fight against other Roman citizens and to kill them if necessary. I am also trying to show that Cicero’s presentation of the Catilinarian conspiracy is not quite reliable and that sometimes the orator deliberately lies. [Author]
Works:
Link: https://access.archive-ouverte.unige.ch/access/metadata/dd211326-f82d-4d21-a67c-09985d7966ed/download
Author initials: Giovannini 2012
