09-10-2002, 01:25 AM
Hi all,<br>
<br>
I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the purposes of Breviaria. I know that the two surviving examples of Eutropius and Festus are generally dismissed (as Syme said 'poor and scrappy productions' and 'who would have bothered to read such works'), there have been arguments that they were intended to justify Valens campaign against the Parthians or to train the ignorant officers in Valens' army (Momigliano, Bird, and Peachin to name three).<br>
<br>
Such an official document seems to be a part of the origin of the work - Augustus left breviaria covering the administration of the empire and the disposition of its armies; and Pompey is said to have written a breviarium of his campaigns in the east. We also have records (although they are not called breviaria) of such summaries left by Trajan and Hadrian among others.<br>
<br>
I was just thinking as I read an earlier thread as to whether these breviaria were originally administrative or military documents which have only survived for us as a form of very brief history. Have we therefore lost a genre of military administration document? Well maybe not lost but misunderstood, and in the case of the two surviving ones, misplaced their genre as history rather than administration.<br>
<br>
Any ideas?<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
<br>
Muzzaguchi / Murray <p></p><i></i>
<br>
I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the purposes of Breviaria. I know that the two surviving examples of Eutropius and Festus are generally dismissed (as Syme said 'poor and scrappy productions' and 'who would have bothered to read such works'), there have been arguments that they were intended to justify Valens campaign against the Parthians or to train the ignorant officers in Valens' army (Momigliano, Bird, and Peachin to name three).<br>
<br>
Such an official document seems to be a part of the origin of the work - Augustus left breviaria covering the administration of the empire and the disposition of its armies; and Pompey is said to have written a breviarium of his campaigns in the east. We also have records (although they are not called breviaria) of such summaries left by Trajan and Hadrian among others.<br>
<br>
I was just thinking as I read an earlier thread as to whether these breviaria were originally administrative or military documents which have only survived for us as a form of very brief history. Have we therefore lost a genre of military administration document? Well maybe not lost but misunderstood, and in the case of the two surviving ones, misplaced their genre as history rather than administration.<br>
<br>
Any ideas?<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
<br>
Muzzaguchi / Murray <p></p><i></i>
Murray K Dahm
Moderator
\'\'\'\'No matter how many you kill, you cannot kill your successor\'\'\'\' - Seneca to Nero - Dio 62
\'\'\'\'There is no way of correcting wrongdoing in those who think that the height of virtue consists in the execution of their will\'\'\'\' - Ammianus Marcellinus 27.7.9
Moderator
\'\'\'\'No matter how many you kill, you cannot kill your successor\'\'\'\' - Seneca to Nero - Dio 62
\'\'\'\'There is no way of correcting wrongdoing in those who think that the height of virtue consists in the execution of their will\'\'\'\' - Ammianus Marcellinus 27.7.9
