Conceptions and Sources
tion to him and her services in the troubled period of theTriumvirate of
Octavian, Antonius, Lepidus, has recently received renewed attention.^44 If
nothingelse,itwoulddeservethisattentionasoneofthefewpiecesofnar-
rative or rhetorical prose to survive from the reign of Augustus, the most
importanteraof Latinpoetry.LikethealreadyfamousLatinpapyruscon-
tainingafewlinesofthepoetryofCorneliusGallus,^45 itisthusofprimeim-
portanceasevidenceforthestyle,grammar,orthography,andspellinginuse
inthisperiod.Itisalsooneofthefewextendedbiographical,oratanyrate
personal,recordsofanindividual,probablyofequestrianrank,availableto
usefromthisperiod.Thetextoffersnotonlyreflectionsofhistoricalevents
(the purchase of the house of Milo, the proscriptions of , the husband’s
flight, the wife’s prostration before the feet of Lepidus to petition for his
restoration),butevidenceoninheritanceandthehandlingoffamilyprop-
erty,theconductexpectedofwivesandtheimportanceofchild-bearingto
marriage.Inotherwords,itisacentraldocumentforthevaluesofRoman
society.Inthisconnectionitmaybesignificantthatthesurvivingtext,which
ispackedwithexpressionsrelatingtomoraldutiesandobligations,contains
onlyasinglepassingreferencetoreligiousobservance.
.TheTabulaofBanasa.ThebronzetabletfromBanasainMorocco,finally
published in , is perhaps our finest documentary item of evidence for
thearchivalproceduresoftheRomanemperorsandforthelimitsandcon-
sequencesofthegrantingofcitizenship,aswellasaffordingsomeglimpses
ofsocialstructureinamarginalareaoftheempire.^46 Inviewofthealmost
completestateofthetextanditsexceptionalcharacterasaformaldocument,
itseemsworthwhiletoreproduceitinfull(omittingafewtechnicaldetails):
[c...] Copy of a letter of our emperors Antoninus and Verus,
Augusti, to Coiiedius Maximus: we have read thelibellus[petition]
of Julianus the Zegrensian attached to your letter, and although the.ILS;M.Durry,Éloge funèbre d’une matrone romaine(Paris, ); new edition
withphotographsbyE.Wistrand,TheSo-CalledLaudatioTuriae(Göteborg,).SeeN.M.
Horsfall,‘‘SomeProblemsinthe‘LaudatioTuriae,’’’BICS():.
. R.D.Anderson,P.J.Parsons,andR.G.M.Nisbet,‘‘ElegiacsbyGallusfromQuasr
Ibrîm,’’JRS():,withpls.–.
. W.SestonandM.Euzennat,‘‘Undossierdelachancellerieromaine,laTabula Bana-
sitana, étude de diplomatique,’’CRAI(): ; A. N. Sherwin-White, ‘‘TheTabulaof
BanasaandtheConstitutio Antoniniana,’’JRS():;W.Williams,‘‘FormalandHis-
torical Aspects of Two New Documents of Marcus Aurelius,’’ZPE (): on pp.
–;F.Millar,The Emperor in the RomanWorld(London,),,,,–,;
U.Schillinger-Häfele,‘‘DerUrheberderTafelvonBanasa,’’Chiron():.