Nobilitas e merita nell’epistolario di Simmaco e nell’ideologia senatoria tardoantica

Abstract

This work compares the content and the mutual relationship between two essential components
of the aristocratic identity of the late Roman senators, the nobilitas and the merita,
in the letters of Symmachus and in the late ancient Roman inscriptions dedicated to
Roman senators. The nobilitas, that is, the reference to the history and traditions of the
family of origin, can be limited to a generic reference or extended into a praise of varying
length, in some cases even with the citation of illustrious ancestors. The merits, the
personal contribution to this history, often consist only of the cursus honorum, implying
the qualities with which the positions had been exercised; sometimes these virtues are
explicitly recalled and composed in small rhetorical praises. In the case of honorary inscriptions
dedicated by cities or provinces, the picture is sometimes further enriched by

adding a brief or relatively broad reference to the specific merits acquired in the administration
or patronage of the dedicating community. The judge of the merits and honors
given to these senators is the emperor himself or the senate, with the emperor approving
the judgment of the senate.