01-21-2013, 05:20 PM
Quote:I've just written a whole section on adlocutio from 235-395 for my thesis
Were you not writing something about the Herculiani and Joviani? Or was that somebody else? Apologies if so - and best of luck with your viva!
Quote:I think the idea of claques may be important.
Very important, I'd say, and seldom registered in the sources. Late imperial panegyrics in particular are full of the soldiers 'crying aloud with one voice' or whatever - which always reminds me of those 'spontaneous expressions of popular joy' common in various 20th century dictatorships! I was reading the sources on Constantine's acclamation recently, and there were surely quite a few things going on behind the scenes then too...
Possibly in the case of Valentinian, above, the emperor-selection was too rushed to get the soldiers properly 'on message' (as today's spin-people would have it), and an opposing faction managed to get in there first and prime the crowd. Only Valentinian's own blistering performance on the podium carried the day.
Nathan Ross
