Journal article
Declamatory fictions and the Crimen Maiestatis — Seneca, Controuersiae 9.2
- Abstract:
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This paper examines what Seneca, Controuersiae 9.2 can contribute to understanding of the maiestas laws under Augustus and Tiberius. In this period, two distinct judicial spaces are known to have hosted cases tried under these laws: the traditional Republican standing court and the new senatorial court, which supplanted its predecessor at the latest from the years immediately following the accession of Tiberius. Yet in the same period a third judicial space acquired new prominence: the schoolrooms of the declaimers, in which teachers of rhetoric, their pupils and sundry adult performers gathered to participate in the fictional trial fοr maiestas laesa of L. Quinctius Flamininus. Moving between these spaces and considering the interrelationship of the different statutes that they employed, this paper shows how the superficially escapist practice of trying Flamininus could also offer a vehicle for reflection on the drastic legal and political changes taking place in the world outside. Building on close analysis of the contribution of Votienus Montanus, the paper seeks to reconstruct key provisions of the hypothetical late Augustan lex Iulia maiestatis. It finally details how many of those quoted in the exercise risked or actually underwent prosecution for maiestas or themselves launched such prosecutions.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 511.0KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1017/s0075435825100476
Authors
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Journal:
- Journal of Roman Studies More from this journal
- Publication date:
- 2025-11-11
- Acceptance date:
- 2025-05-06
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1753-528X
- ISSN:
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0075-4358
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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2122125
- Local pid:
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pubs:2122125
- Deposit date:
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2025-05-06
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Matthew Leigh
- Copyright date:
- 2025
- Rights statement:
- © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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