Irreversible Corruption
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Irene Leonardis
Abstract
The paper studies the political culture and discourse of the end of the Roman republic through metaphors that articulate the problem of the allegedly irreversible corruption of the Roman body politic. Besides focusing on the verb amputo as having been exploited and possibly reinvented by Cicero for his anti-tyrannical rhetoric, an analysis of various health-illness-cure narratives also reconstructs two competing scenarios developed to solve Roman (political and moral) corruption: amputation and decapitation. The main argument is that this historical moment can be fruitfully decoded through the failing of the body politic scenario framed by Menenius Agrippa’s fable of the belly and the narratives of Cicero’s beheading, which represents the symbolic death of the old res publica and its rebirth with a new head.
Abstract
The paper studies the political culture and discourse of the end of the Roman republic through metaphors that articulate the problem of the allegedly irreversible corruption of the Roman body politic. Besides focusing on the verb amputo as having been exploited and possibly reinvented by Cicero for his anti-tyrannical rhetoric, an analysis of various health-illness-cure narratives also reconstructs two competing scenarios developed to solve Roman (political and moral) corruption: amputation and decapitation. The main argument is that this historical moment can be fruitfully decoded through the failing of the body politic scenario framed by Menenius Agrippa’s fable of the belly and the narratives of Cicero’s beheading, which represents the symbolic death of the old res publica and its rebirth with a new head.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Preface VII
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Part 1: The Discourse(s) of and on Corruption
- Twisted Transfers as Corruption 1
- The Corrupted Speak 47
- Civil War and the Corruption of liberalitas in Tacitus’ Histories 65
- Irreversible Corruption 83
-
Part 2: Corruption in Social Practice and Daily Life
- Creating Evidence for Corruption 111
- Corruption in Greco-Roman Egypt 129
- Ideas of Corruption in Roman Imperial Ports 145
- Suspect Inheritances 167
- Salvian and the Corrupted Church of Southern Gaul 199
-
Part 3: The Politics and Diplomacy of Corruption
- Corruption and Anti-Corruption 223
- Beyond Crime 257
- Usurpation of (and Corruption Involving) the Right of Roman Citizenship in the Republic 287
- Balkan Promises 307
- Index 335
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Preface VII
-
Part 1: The Discourse(s) of and on Corruption
- Twisted Transfers as Corruption 1
- The Corrupted Speak 47
- Civil War and the Corruption of liberalitas in Tacitus’ Histories 65
- Irreversible Corruption 83
-
Part 2: Corruption in Social Practice and Daily Life
- Creating Evidence for Corruption 111
- Corruption in Greco-Roman Egypt 129
- Ideas of Corruption in Roman Imperial Ports 145
- Suspect Inheritances 167
- Salvian and the Corrupted Church of Southern Gaul 199
-
Part 3: The Politics and Diplomacy of Corruption
- Corruption and Anti-Corruption 223
- Beyond Crime 257
- Usurpation of (and Corruption Involving) the Right of Roman Citizenship in the Republic 287
- Balkan Promises 307
- Index 335
