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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009
In one of his latest papers, published the year before his death, Sir Ronald Syme surveyed the modern scholarly literature on ‘The date of Justin and the discovery of Trogus’ and argued that Justin's abbreviated version of the Historiae Philippicae of the Augustanhistorian PompeiusTrogus (not an epitome in the strict sense of that word) was composed in the later fourth century, specifically in ‘the vicinity of 390’ not in the Antonine or Severan period, as so many have contended. Syme's central argument was lexicographical: he drew attention to a number of words in Justin's vocabulary which point to a date in the fourth century rather than the second or third.
1 Syme, R., Historia 37 (1988), 358–71= Roman Papers 6 71, reiterated in ‘Trogus and the H.A., some consequences,’ Institutions, societe et vie politique dans I'Empire romain au IV siecle ap.J.-C. Actes de la table ronde autour de Ioeuvre dAndre Chastagnol (Paris, 20–21 Janvier 1989)(Rome, 1992), pp.11–Google Scholar 20. There is also a survey of modern opinions in L. Santi-Amantini, Giustino, Storie Filippiche: Epitoma da Pompeo Trogo (Milan, 1981), pp. 9-11.
Syme firmly discounted the arguments of C. Edson, in his review of O. Seel, Pompei Trogi fragmenta (Leipzig, 1956), that the panegyric delivered in Rome on 1 March 321 takes material from Justin rather than from Trogus (CP 56 [1956], 198-204, esp. 203, comparing Pan. Lat. 4 [10].20 with Justin 7.1.5–12).
2 Conte, G. B., Latin Literature: A History, translated by Solodow J. B., revised byFowler, D. and Most, G. W.(BaltimoreandLondon, 1994), pp.551–2Google Scholar
3 Alonso-Nunez, J. M., Latomus54 (1995), 356Google Scholar
4 Yardley, J. C.andHeckel, W., Justin, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus, Books 11–12:Alexander the Great (Oxford,1997), pp.1, 8–13. The specific argument for a date earlier than 230 advanced by Develin R., in his introduction to Yardley's earlier complete translation, Justin: Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus(Atlanta,1994), p.4, is fallacious.Google Scholar
5 Norden E.,Antike Kunstprosa2(Leipzig,1909), p.300n.3; cf.TeufTel, W S., Geschichte der romischen Literatur 27(Leipzig, 1920), p. 441§ 261.5;Matthews, J. F., OCD5 (1996), 1215.Google Scholar
6 Kroll, W., RE 10 (1919), 957: ‘Auf das 4. Jhdt. weist nichts, und die Sprache wurde dann einen anderen Charakter tragen.’Google Scholar
7 TLL 5.1 (1909), 2130. Unfortunately, Hey spoils a good case by also citing as an example of the post-Diocletianic use of the word Julius Victor, Ars Rhetorica 3.2: ‘de re tantum
8 Seeck O., RE 5 (1905), 1869
9 Jonge, P. de,Sprachlicher und historischer Kommentar zu Ammianus Marcellinus XIV 1–7 (Groningen, 1935), pp.23–4(on 14.7.7).Google Scholar
10 See the list of ‘Military commanders, 260–284’ at PLRE 1 (1971), 1116; cf.Jones, A. H. M., Later Roman Empire1(Oxford, 1964), pp.44,4849.Google Scholar
11 Yardley J. C., Justin(1994), p. 208
12 SeeSteele R. B., ‘Pompeius Trogus and Justin, AJP 38 (1917), 19–41, esp. 24–5.
13 Alonso– Nufiez J. M., Latomus 54 (1995),352–4, argues that Trogus wrote significantly later on the strength of supposed references to (1) the death of the Parthian king Phraates IV in 2 B.C. (42.4.16), (2) the consecration of the temple of Mars Ultor in the same year (42.5.12), and (3) events in Afghanistan which occurred in A.D. 6 (41.6.3). None of these alleged allusions is at all persuasive.
14 See, respectively, PIR2 C 605; A 1513; A697; A 1482 + 698;Birley A. R.,The African Emperor Septimius Severus2(London, 1988), pp. 117–20,130; PIR2 O 107; A 1610.
15 Augustus boasts of the hostages in Res Gestae 32.2: although Velleius Paterculus 2.94.4 connects their surrender with Tiberius' mission to Armenia in 20, Strabo reports that they were received by Titius as governor of Syria (16.1.28, 748C)-which fixes the date as c 10 B.C., cf. Millar F., in Schiirer E., The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ(175 BC.-A.D. 135), revised by Vermes G. and Millar F., 1(Edinburgh, 1973), p.257.
16 I am most grateful to my colleague Michael Dewar for sympathetic comments on my arguments-though I must leave to another the full study of Justin's language which he has urged me to undertake