(, "Origins") is the title of a lost work on

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

and

Italian history The history of Italy covers the ancient period, the Middle Ages, and the modern era. Since classical antiquity, ancient Etruscans, various Italic peoples (such as the Latins, Samnites, and Umbri), Celts, '' Magna Graecia'' colonists, and ...

Cato the Elder Marcus Porcius Cato (; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor ( la, Censorius), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write hi ...

, composed in the early-2nd centuryBC.

According to Cato's biographer

Cornelius Nepos Cornelius Nepos (; c. 110 BC – c. 25 BC) was a Roman biographer. He was born at Hostilia, a village in Cisalpine Gaul not far from Verona. Biography Nepos's Cisalpine birth is attested by Ausonius, and Pliny the Elder calls him ''Pad ...

, the ''Origins'' consisted of seven books. Book I was the history of the founding and kings of Rome. Books II and III covered the origins of major Italian cities and gave the work its title. The last four books dealt with the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

, its wars, and its growing power,

''Life of Cato'', §3
focused on the period between the onset of the

First Punic War The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was the first of Punic Wars, three wars fought between Roman Republic, Rome and Ancient Carthage, Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the early 3rd century BC. For 23 years ...

up to 149BC. When Cato wrote, there had been four major works devoted to

Roman history The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced m ...

: Naevius and

Ennius Quintus Ennius (; c. 239 – c. 169 BC) was a writer and poet who lived during the Roman Republic. He is often considered the father of Roman poetry. He was born in the small town of Rudiae, located near modern Lecce, Apulia, (Ancient Calabri ...

had written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

verse and Fabius Pictor and Alimentus had written in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

prose. The two poetic works closely tied the history of Rome to its gods. The two prose works apparently hewed closely to the

annals Annals ( la, annāles, from , "year") are a concise historical record in which events are arranged chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction between ann ...

of the pontifex maximus. Feeling no need to follow precedent, Roman or otherwise, Cato declared: In his books on the Italian cities, Cato apparently treated each individually and drew upon their own local traditions. The latter books include at least two of Cato's political orations verbatim, something thought to have been unique in ancient historiography. The first was his oration to the

Roman Senate The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

against declaring war on

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

in 167BC. The other was his oration to the Senate supporting legislation to establish a special court of inquiry regarding Sulpicius Galba's treatment of the Lusitani. Although he avoided mentioning military commanders by name, the work's surviving fragments suggest that he also focused a great deal of attention on his own campaigns as a general.

History

The ''Origins'' is a lost work, with no complete text surviving to the modern day. Its fragments in other works have been collected and translated.

Influence

Ancient authors considered the ''Origins'' to have influenced the style of

Sallust Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (; 86 – ), was a Roman historian and politician from an Italian plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became during the 50s BC a partisa ...

. Quintilian cites an anonymous epigram that calls him the "great thief of the words of old Cato". Festus felt that the last four books on Rome's rising power "outweighed the rest", but later Roman historians largely disregarded the ''Origins'' because it eschewed consular dating. and highlighted his own political career so heavily. Though

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

pointedly remarked that Cato was "a man to minimize his own achievements", his near contemporary

Dionysius of Halicarnassus Dionysius of Halicarnassus ( grc, Διονύσιος Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἁλικαρνασσεύς, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary styl ...

cites Cato's first three books in his history, calling Cato among the "most learned of the Roman historians".Dionysius of Halicarnassus, ''Roman Antiquities,'' 1.11.1. In the present day, the ''Origins'' is considered to be the beginning of proper

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians h ...

and considered to have been an important work in the development of

Latin literature Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings written in the Latin language. The beginning of formal Latin literature dates to 240 BC, when the first stage play in Latin was performed in Rome. Latin literature ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * . * *. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of London * * * {{citation , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3C8QjsJ8rOoC , title=Libri Annales Pontificum Maximorum: The Origins of the Annalistic Tradition , last=Frier , first=Bruce W. , location=Rome , publisher=American Academy , date=1979 , isbn=0472109154 . Latin histories Ancient city of Rome History books about ancient Rome Works by Cato the Elder

Contents

History

Influence

References

Notes

Bibliography