07-19-2011, 06:14 AM
I spent a few hours today following up the ideas I suggested yesterday.
Concerning the “great number” of sicae and gladii found in the house of Cethegus (Cicero, In Catalinam 3.8 ), which Cethegus excused with the comment he had always admired good blades (In Catalinam 3.10 “Tum Cethegus, qui paulo ante aliquid tamen de gladiis ac sicis quae apud ipsum erant deprehensa respondisset dixissetque se semper bonorum ferramentorum studiosum fuisse”), apparently the republican pomerium excluded the Aventine (Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 13.14.7). The house was clearly at Rome, but it could have been on the Aventine.
Mary Beard, John North, and Simon Price eds., Religions of Rome Vol. 1 (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1998) pp. 177-181 describes the position of the praetorian camp in terms of the traditional separation of military and civil authority (while noting that the emperors held both kinds of authority inside the city). It doesn't mention any law against bringing arms inside the city.
I don't know enough about gladiators to know where the early games were held. I thought that some were held in the Forum, and some at tombs outside the city?
I can find references to Gallic arms decorating a house in Rome, and a force of Cretan archers being used by Opimius to crush G. Gracchus (both Plutarch, Gaius Gracchus, 16-17), but not proof that the Cretans were present in Rome before Opimius was granted extraordinary powers. So like Nathan, I can't find a positive counterexample, just some things which make me suspicious of the idea.
Concerning the “great number” of sicae and gladii found in the house of Cethegus (Cicero, In Catalinam 3.8 ), which Cethegus excused with the comment he had always admired good blades (In Catalinam 3.10 “Tum Cethegus, qui paulo ante aliquid tamen de gladiis ac sicis quae apud ipsum erant deprehensa respondisset dixissetque se semper bonorum ferramentorum studiosum fuisse”), apparently the republican pomerium excluded the Aventine (Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 13.14.7). The house was clearly at Rome, but it could have been on the Aventine.
Mary Beard, John North, and Simon Price eds., Religions of Rome Vol. 1 (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1998) pp. 177-181 describes the position of the praetorian camp in terms of the traditional separation of military and civil authority (while noting that the emperors held both kinds of authority inside the city). It doesn't mention any law against bringing arms inside the city.
I don't know enough about gladiators to know where the early games were held. I thought that some were held in the Forum, and some at tombs outside the city?
I can find references to Gallic arms decorating a house in Rome, and a force of Cretan archers being used by Opimius to crush G. Gracchus (both Plutarch, Gaius Gracchus, 16-17), but not proof that the Cretans were present in Rome before Opimius was granted extraordinary powers. So like Nathan, I can't find a positive counterexample, just some things which make me suspicious of the idea.
Nullis in verba
I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.
I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.
