This article investigates the narrative roles of voice and silence as signifiers of political authority in Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita. I focus on two episodes in which the theme of voice is a pervasive presence: the mission of the Latin praetor Titus Annius Setinus to the Roman Senate (8.3.8–6.7) and the suppression of a proposal concerning the admission of Latins into the Senate in 216 BCE (23.22). The historian sets the two accounts – both concerning the integration of the Latins into the Roman state – in an explicit relationship with one another. I argue that a central thread of both is their representation of the debates over the extension of political rights to foreigners as contests in authoritative speech.

Voice, Silence, and Authority: Two Debates over the Integration of Latins in Livy's Ab Urbe Condita

Virginia Fabrizi
2023-01-01

Abstract

This article investigates the narrative roles of voice and silence as signifiers of political authority in Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita. I focus on two episodes in which the theme of voice is a pervasive presence: the mission of the Latin praetor Titus Annius Setinus to the Roman Senate (8.3.8–6.7) and the suppression of a proposal concerning the admission of Latins into the Senate in 216 BCE (23.22). The historian sets the two accounts – both concerning the integration of the Latins into the Roman state – in an explicit relationship with one another. I argue that a central thread of both is their representation of the debates over the extension of political rights to foreigners as contests in authoritative speech.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11574/230240
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