Municipal Virtues in the Roman Empire: The Evidence of Italian Honorary Inscriptions (German Edition)

## Preface This work is an expanded and revised version of my doctoral dissertation which I completed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1988. Many thanks go to my dissertation director, George Houston, and to Jerzy Linderski for their guidance and encouragement throughout the various stages of this project. I also acknowledge Dennis Kehoe for his helpful comments on several parts of the manuscript. With support from the National Endowment for the Humanities I was able to travel to the University of Helsinki in summer of 1992 to consult with Heikki Solin on his additions to the tenth volume of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinorum. I thank Professor Solin and his assistant Mika Kajava for their willingness to share their work in progress with me. A semester research leave awarded by the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Notre Dame and a summer research grant from the College's Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts provided me valuable uninterrupted time to devote to writing the manuscript. A generous grant from the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts has also made possible the publication of this work. For their technical expertise in helping me to prepare the final version of the manuscript, I wish to thank Cheryl Reed, Sherry Reichold and David Klawiter of the University of Notre Dame. Finally, I am deeply grateful to my husband, Tadeusz, who read tirelessly through many drafts of the manuscript and whose virtues of patience and equanimity greatly supported me throughout the entire project. South Bend, Indiana January 1996 'The scholarship on virtues in Roman literature falls into three broad categories: 1) comprehensive treatments of Roman virtues in several different authors and genres, e.g. Fuchs, Hellegouarc'h, Meister, Earl (1967), Lind, Pöschl (1980); 2) studies limited to one or only a few virtues in several authors and genres, e.g. Fraenkel, Burck, Eisenhut, Wagenvoort, Manning; 3) studies focusing on virtues in the work of a single author, e.g. Pöschl (1940), Vielberg, Moore. 2 The best introduction to the imperial virtues and their political and religious influence is Wickert. See also Charlesworth (1937), Béranger, Fears, whose bibliography is invaluable, and Wallace-Hadrill. Other works focusing on specific imperial virtues include Liegle, Charles worth (1936), and Kloft. 3 See, for example, Lattimore 285-300, Curchin (1982), and Curchin (1983). ^Useful introductions to and discussions of the form and language of Latin honorary inscriptions are provided by Kajanto and Cagnat 257-63. Neither of these studies, however, aims to assemble or analyze a clearly defined group of honorary texts, nor do they give much consideration to the inscriptions' praise vocabulary beyond mentioning its appearance within the larger context of the honorand's family name and public offices. 7 Eck's first article on this topic (1984a) argued expressly for further investigation into this area, 211: "Eine systematische Bearbeitung von Ehreninschriften entweder bestimmter Regionen oder auch einzelner sozialer Gruppen...ware jedenfalls eine wünschenswerte und wohl auch ergebnisreiche Arbeit." Two fuller discussions of the topic by Eck (1984b, 1991) have thus far followed. 8 Texts of these inscriptions are provided in Appendix 1, ns. 59-81. Examples of those inscriptions without any such language include: Abbreviations 7 Preface 8 Introduction 9 I. Generic Vocabulary of Praise: Fostering Patronage through Exempla 17 Honor 18 Merita and Beneficia 20 Honorary Epithets: Optimus, Dignissimus, Praestantissimus 29 II. Financial Generosity 37 Descriptions of Private Munificence 39 Munificentia, Liberalitas and Largitio 42 Benignitas and Bontias 50 III. Personal Motivations for Patronage 53 Amor and Adfectio 54 Benevolentia and Spes 58 Voluntas and Studium 60 Obsequium and Reverentia 61 Honorificentia 63 Pietas 64 IV. Administrative Virtues 69 Administrative Integrity 70 Civic Service 80 Political Influence 85 V. Virtues and Epithets of Personal Character 91 Modestia and Verecundia 91 Pudicitia, Castitas and Probitas 93 Singularis, Incomparabilis, Rarissimus 96 Conclusion 99 Virtues in Action 99 Choice of Vocabulary 100 Virtues and Social Context 104 Regional and Chronological Observations 107 Appendices 113 1. Corpus of Inscriptions 113 2. Regional Distribution of Inscriptions 241 3. Chronological Distribution of Inscriptions 243 4. Social Make-up and Distribution of Honorands 247 5. Social Make-up and Distribution of Dedicators 253 6. Attribution of Terms of Praise by Type of Dedicator 259 7. Chronological Distribution of Key Terms of Praise 263 8. Comparative Virtues from the Literary Exempta and the Coins of Antoninus Pius and Septimius Severas 265 Bibliography 269 Indices 281

The volumes published in the series "Beiträge zur Altertumskunde" comprise monographs, collective volumes, editions, translations and commentaries on various topics from the fields of Greek and Latin Philology, Ancient History, Archeology, Ancient Philosophy as well as Classical Reception Studies. The series thus offers indispensable research tools for a wide range of disciplines related to Ancient Studies.

The volumes published in the series "Beitrge zur Altertumskunde" comprise monographs, collective volumes, editions, translations and commentaries on various topics from the fields of Greek and Latin Philology, Ancient History, Archeology, Ancient Philosophy as well as Classical Reception Studies. The series thus offers indispensable research tools for a wide range of disciplines related to the Ancient Studies. Elizabeth Forbis. Revision Of The Author's Thesis (doctoral)--university Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, 1988. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [261]-271) And Indexes.