1. The stone, the moment, the genre1. 石碑、时刻、类型
This is the senatus consultum every later SC is, in some sense, a successor to. Its prescript ("Q. Marcius L. f., S. Postumius L. f. cos. senatum consoluerunt n. Octob. apud aedem Duelonai. Sc(ribundo) arf(uerunt) M. Claudi(us) M. f., L. Valeri(us) P. f., Q. Minuci(us) C. f.") is the textbook example of the canonical Republican opening, and Sherk 1970 cites it as the type-specimen of the four-part SC scheme that organises the entire genre. Its archaic Latin makes it linguistically self-dating to within a generation; its bronze-tablet survival makes it the oldest legible senatus consultum extant; and its content — the Senate's drastic suppression of a religious movement — makes it the textbook test case for how Roman law made decisions about provincial communities. 这是后来所有元老院决议在某种意义上都是其继承者的元老院决议. 其开头 ("Q. Marcius L. f., S. Postumius L. f. cos. senatum consoluerunt n. Octob. apud aedem Duelonai. Sc(ribundo) arf(uerunt) M. Claudi(us) M. f., L. Valeri(us) P. f., Q. Minuci(us) C. f.") 是标准共和元老院决议开头的教科书范例, Sherk 1970 引为组织整个类型的四部元老院决议框架的标本. 其古体拉丁语在语言上将其自身定位于一代人之内; 其青铜板留存使其成为现存最古老可读的元老院决议; 其内容 — 元老院对宗教运动的剧烈压制 — 使其成为罗马法对省内社区作决定的教科书测试案例.
2. The full text, with formula highlights2. 完整文本及公式高亮
prescript / convening formula开头 / 召集公式 relatio / transitionrelatio / 过渡 closing approval (censuere)结尾批准 (censuere) publication clause公布条款
2de Bacanalibus quei foideratei esent ita exdeicendum censuere
3neiquis eorum Bacanal habuise velet sei ques esent quei sibei deicerent necesus ese Bacanal habere eeis utei ad praitorem urbanum Romam venirent de que eeis rebus ubei eorum verba audita esent utei senatus noster decerneret dum ne minus senatoribus C adesent quom ea res cosoleretur
4Bacas vir nequis adiese velet ceivis Romanus neve nominus Latini neve socium quisquam nisei praitorem urbanum adiesent is que de senatuos sententiad dum ne minus senatoribus C adesent quom ea res cosoleretur iousisent censuere
5sacerdos nequis vir eset magister ne que vir ne que mulier quisquam eset neve pecuniam quisquam eorum comoinem habuise velet neve magistratum neve pro magistratud ne que virum ne que mulierem quisquam fecise velet
6neve post hac inter sed coniourase neve comvovise neve conspondise neve conpromesise velet neve quisquam fidem inter sed dedise velet
7sacra in oquoltod ne quisquam fecise velet neve in poplicod neve in preivatod neve exstrad urbem sacra quisquam fecise velet nisei praitorem urbanum adieset is que de senatuos sententiad dum ne minus senatoribus C adesent quom ea res cosoleretur iousisent censuere
8homines plous V oinvorsei virei at que mulieres sacra ne quisquam fecise velet neve inter ibei virei plous duobus mulieribus plous tribus arfuise velent nisei de praitoris urbani senatuos que sententiad utei suprad scriptum est
9haice utei in coventionid exdeicatis ne minus trinum noundinum senatuos que sententiam utei scientes esetis
10eorum sententia ita fuit sei ques esent quei arvorsum ead fecisent quam suprad scriptum est eeis rem caputalem faciendam censuere
11at que utei hoce in tabolam ahenam inceideretis ita senatus aiquom censuit utei que eam figier ioubeatis ubei facilumed gnoscier potisit
12at que utei ea Bacanalia sei qua sunt exstrad quam sei quid ibei sacri est ita utei suprad scriptum est in diebus X quibus vobeis tabelai datai erunt faciatis utei dismota sient in agro Teurano
3. Slot-by-slot decomposition (Sherk's four-part Republican SC scheme)3. 逐槽分解 (Sherk 共和元老院决议四部框架)
Sherk 1970 pp. 59–60 organises the Republican senatus consultum into four canonical parts. The SC de Bacchanalibus is his named type-specimen and exhibits all four sequentially. Two additional non-Sherk slots — the multiply-repeated censuere mid-text and the publication apparatus — are added below as scheme-E (a feature of how this particular SC was distributed across the foederati). Sherk 1970 pp. 59–60 将共和元老院决议组织为四部分. SC de Bacchanalibus 是其指定的标本, 顺序展现全部四部. 两个非 Sherk 槽 — 文本中多次重复的 censuere 与公布机制 — 在下方作为 scheme-E (此 SC 在 foederati 之间分发方式的特征) 添加.
| Sherk | Slot槽 | Surface text表面文本 | Formula UID |
|---|---|---|---|
| A.1 | Convening magistrates | Q. Marcius L. f. Sp. Postumius L. f. cos. | (prescript slot — see §13.2 typology) |
| A.2 | Convening verb | senatum consoluerunt | F.LAT_SENATUM_CONSOLUERUNT |
| A.3 | Date | Nonis Octobribus (7 October) | — |
| A.4 | Place | apud aedem Duelonai (temple of Bellona) | — |
| A.5 | Witnesses (scribundo arfuerunt) | M. Claudi(us) M. f., L. Valeri(us) P. f., Q. Minuci(us) C. f. (three named senators) | F.LAT_SCRIBENDO_ADFUERUNT (archaic form) |
| B | Theme / Relatio | de Bacanalibus quei foideratei esent ita exdeicendum (on the Bacchanals for those allied [with us], thus is to be announced) | — |
| C.1 | Decree 1: prohibition of Bacchanal-holding | neiquis eorum Bacanal habuise velet — and the praetor-urbanus + 100-senator quorum exception | — |
| C.2 | Decree 2: prohibition of male attendance (citizens, Latins, allies) | Bacas vir nequis adiese velet ceivis Romanus neve nominus Latini neve socium quisquam ... | — |
| C.3 | Decree 3: prohibition of officers, common funds, oaths | sacerdos nequis vir eset magister ne que vir ne que mulier quisquam eset neve pecuniam ... | — |
| C.4 | Decree 4: prohibition of secret rites | sacra in oquoltod ne quisquam fecise velet neve in poplicod neve in preivatod ... | — |
| C.5 | Decree 5: maximum 5 persons (2 men + 3 women) | homines plous V oinvorsei virei at que mulieres sacra ne quisquam fecise velet ... | — |
| D | Mark of Approval (×4) | censuere after each decree section | F.LAT_CENSUERE (4 instances — the corpus's densest occurrence) |
| D.aux | Capital-penalty clause | sei ques esent quei arvorsum ead fecisent quam suprad scriptum est eeis rem caputalem faciendam censuere | — |
| E.1 | Publication clause (assembly announcement) | haice utei in coventionid exdeicatis ne minus trinum noundinum — announce in assembly for at least three market-days | (parallel to F.LAT_PROPONI_IN_PUBLICO, attested in 1 record only) |
| E.2 | Bronze-tablet inscription order | at que utei hoce in tabolam ahenam inceideretis ... utei que eam figier ioubeatis ubei facilumed gnoscier potisit — engrave this on a bronze tablet and have it affixed where it can most easily be read | — |
| E.3 | Dispersal-order clause | utei ea Bacanalia sei qua sunt exstrad quam sei quid ibei sacri est ita utei suprad scriptum est in diebus X quibus vobeis tabelai datai erunt faciatis utei dismota sient in agro Teurano — within 10 days of the tablets reaching you, in the Teuran field, any extant Bacchanalia (save anything sacred there) shall be dispersed | — |
Notice the cluster of censuere approvals (D ×4): the Senate did not vote once on a single composite decree but four times on four discrete prohibitions, each formally validated. This is what Raggi & Buongiorno 2020 mean when they say the SC structure "registers the deliberations assumed by the patres around the topic of discussion, and finally the discessionis eventus abstracted in the formulation censuere." A multi-issue SC is structurally a sequence of mini-SCs glued together. 注意 censuere 批准的集群 (D ×4): 元老院并非对单一综合决议投票一次, 而是对四个独立禁令投票四次, 每次正式确认. 这正是 Raggi & Buongiorno 2020 所言: SC 结构"记录 patres 围绕讨论议题作出的决议, 最终以 censuere 抽象出 discessionis eventus". 多议题 SC 在结构上是粘合在一起的迷你 SC 序列.
4. English translation4. 英文翻译
The consuls Quintus Marcius son of Lucius and Spurius Postumius son of Lucius consulted the Senate on the Nones of October at the temple of Bellona. For the redaction there were present Marcus Claudius son of Marcus, Lucius Valerius son of Publius, and Quintus Minucius son of Gaius.
Concerning the Bacchanals of those who are in alliance, the following was decreed to be announced:
None of them shall wish to hold a Bacchanal. If there are any who say it is necessary for them to hold a Bacchanal, let them come to the urban praetor at Rome; and concerning these matters, when their statements have been heard, let our Senate decide — provided that not less than 100 senators are present when the matter is deliberated. They so decreed.
No man, whether Roman citizen, Latin, or ally, shall wish to attend the Bacchae, unless they have approached the urban praetor and he, by the resolution of the Senate (no fewer than 100 senators being present when the matter was deliberated), has ordered it. They so decreed.
No man shall be priest; no man or woman shall be a master; and none of them shall wish to have a common treasury; and none of them shall wish to make any man or any woman an official, whether magistrate or pro-magistrate. After this they shall not wish to swear oaths together, nor vow, nor pledge, nor make agreements together; nor shall any of them wish to give pledges of faith among themselves.
No one shall wish to perform rites in secret. Nor shall anyone wish to perform rites in public, or in private, or outside the city, unless they have approached the urban praetor and he, by the resolution of the Senate (etc.), has ordered it. They so decreed.
No more than five persons in all, men and women together, shall wish to perform rites; nor shall there be present among them more than two men, more than three women, except by the resolution of the urban praetor and Senate, as above written.
You shall publish this in an assembly for no fewer than three market-days, that you may know the Senate's decision. Their decision was as follows: if any persons shall have acted contrary to what is above written, the Senate decided that a capital case is to be made against them. They so decreed.
And you shall have this engraved on a bronze tablet — the Senate has judged it right — and you shall order it to be fixed up where it can be most easily known. And, as is above written, within 10 days from when the tablets are given to you, you shall ensure that any Bacchanalia that may exist outside [the prescribed conditions] — except for anything sacred there — are dispersed in the Teuran field.
5. Historical context — the Bacchanalia affair of 186 BCE5. 历史背景 — 公元前 186 年 Bacchanalia 事件
Livy's account at 39.8–19 narrates the scandal that produced this SC. According to him, the cult had spread from Etruria to Rome; a young initiate, Publius Aebutius, was warned away from it by his lover, the freedwoman Hispala Faecenia, who described its sexual and criminal abuses to the consul Postumius. The Senate (concerned about a *coniuratio*, a sworn conspiracy, of the kind politically explosive throughout the Republic) reacted with the suppression this SC documents. Modern historiography reads the affair as a confluence of (a) elite anxiety about religious autonomy, (b) the consuls' political need for a high-visibility case in 186 BCE, and (c) the regulatory implications of Rome's expanding alliance system — the *foederati* clause makes explicit that the prohibition extends beyond Roman citizens to the entire Italian network. Livy 在 39.8–19 中叙述了产生此 SC 的丑闻. 据他所言, 该崇拜从 Etruria 传至罗马; 一位年轻入会者 Publius Aebutius 受其情人、被释奴 Hispala Faecenia 的警告, 后者向执政官 Postumius 描述了其性虐与犯罪行为. 元老院 (担忧整个共和时期政治上极具爆炸性的"共谋", *coniuratio*) 以本 SC 所记的压制作回应. 现代史学将此事件解读为 (a) 精英对宗教自治的焦虑、(b) 公元前 186 年执政官对高知名度案件的政治需要、(c) 罗马扩张联盟系统的监管意涵之合流 — *foederati* 条款明确将禁令扩及罗马公民之外的整个意大利网络.
The bronze tablet found at Tiriolo is the copy that was sent from Rome to the federate communities of Bruttium for posting "where it can most easily be known" — exactly as the SC orders at §E.2. Its survival is the unique historical accident that lets us read a Republican SC in the form in which it actually circulated; all other Republican SCs we possess are literary citations or later imperial-era inscribed copies. 在 Tiriolo 出土的青铜板是从罗马发至 Bruttium 联邦社区的副本, 按 SC §E.2 命令"贴于最易识别之处". 其存活是独特的历史巧合, 使我们能以共和 SC 实际流通形式阅读; 我们所拥有的其他所有共和 SC 皆为文献引用或后来帝国时期的刻本.
6. Scholarship synthesis6. 学术综合
Sherk 1970 — the SC de Bacchanalibus as type-specimen of the Republican four-part scheme
"From a close comparison of all the known texts, therefore, it is possible to work out the scheme of Republican decrees. A. The Prescript. … The S.C. de Bacchanalibus begins: [Q-] Marcius L. f., S(p.) Postumius L. f. cos. senatum consoluerunt n(onis) Octob. apud aedem Duelonai. Sc(ribendo) arf(uerunt) M. Claudi(us) M. f., L. Valeri(us) P. f., Q. Minuci(us) C. f. …"
Sherk 1970, The Municipal Decrees of the Roman West, pp. 59–60. The full passage is excerpted in dossier_workspace/excerpts_latin_sc.md §5.1.
Kupfer 2004 — language and Textgattung of the inscription
Kupfer's 2004 article ("Anmerkungen zu Sprache und Textgattung des senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus, CIL I² 581") is the dossier's single most direct linguistic-genre treatment of the SC de Bacchanalibus. The paper, in the dossier's general knowledge bibliography (Bucket 2 / Bucket 5), reads the archaic spellings — foideratei, oinvorsei, ahena, tabolam, poplicod, preivatod, oquoltod — as both philologically datable to the early second century and as identifying markers of the SC genre's stylistic resistance to vernacular drift. The SC is in this sense a *legal-formal register* maintained against contemporary speech for the sake of authority — the same posture Sherk and Lebek document in their Imperial-era SC studies, with the same SC-genre register maintained 200+ years later.
Kupfer 2004 ("Anmerkungen zu Sprache und Textgattung des senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus, CIL I² 581") 是项目语料库中对 SC de Bacchanalibus 最直接的语言-类型处理. 该文在项目 general knowledge 文献库 (Bucket 2 / Bucket 5) 中, 将古体拼写 — foideratei, oinvorsei, ahena, tabolam, poplicod, preivatod, oquoltod — 既解读为可在文献学上定年于公元前二世纪早期, 又作为识别 SC 类型文体抵御白话漂移的标记. SC 在此意义上是为了权威而维持于当代言语之外的*法律正式语域* — 与 Sherk 和 Lebek 在其帝国时期 SC 研究中所记同样的姿态, 同样的 SC 类型语域维持 200 多年.
Raggi & Buongiorno 2020 — the three-part structural rereading
"Each senatus consultum is a juridical act … this explains the textual standardisation of the SCs essentially in three parts. The praescriptio, which contained summary information on the place and date of the meeting … and the names of the senators … who had assisted in the redaction of the act in writing. Two further parts synthesised the principal phases of the discussion: the relatio … and the decretal part (decretum), which restored the decisional phase, registering the deliberations assumed by the patres around the topic of discussion and, finally, the discessionis eventus abstracted in the formulation censuere indicating the final approval of what was decided."
Raggi & Buongiorno 2020, pp. 102–103. Excerpted in dossier_workspace/excerpts_latin_sc.md §5.4.
Lebek 1999 — the diachronic stability of SC formulae across 200+ years
Lebek 1999 documents that the SC de Cn. Pisone Patre (20 CE) uses essentially the same scribendo adfuerunt mechanism the SC de Bacchanalibus uses (here in the archaic scribundo arfuerunt spelling). The two SCs are 206 years apart but employ the same formal scaffolding — the same convening verb (with imperial-era variants), the same witness-list slot, the same censuere closing. This is the longest diachronic stability the dossier corpus can document for any formula type, and is the central pedagogical claim of INSTRUCTOR_WK13.md Exercise 6 (which contrasts the SC de Beguensis of 138 CE against this very text).
Lebek 1999 记录了 SC de Cn. Pisone Patre (公元 20 年) 使用本质上与 SC de Bacchanalibus 相同的 scribendo adfuerunt 机制 (此处为古体拼写 scribundo arfuerunt). 两个 SC 相隔 206 年, 但采用相同的形式脚手架 — 相同的召集动词 (帝国时期变体)、相同的证人列表槽、相同的 censuere 结尾. 这是项目语料库可记录的任何公式类型最长的历时稳定性, 是 INSTRUCTOR_WK13.md 练习 6 (将公元 138 年的 SC de Beguensis 与本文本对比) 的核心教学主张.
7. Matrix-Hub companion (magalia.wiki)7. 配套 · magalia.wiki 铭文矩阵
⚜ The SC de Bacchanalibus is treated as the Republican benchmark in the matrix-hub genre-overview page.《巴库斯崇拜决议》在 matrix-hub 的体例总览页中被列为共和期标杆。
- Senatus consulta as a genre — comparative slot tables across six Tiberian-cluster documents, with the Bacchanalibus as the Republican anchor; methodological sibling of this case study's slot decomposition.提比略期六篇文献之槽位比较表，以本决议作为共和期锚点；本案例槽位分解之方法论姊妹。
8. Cross-references8. 互参
Within the formula dossier项目内
- Formula bank entries: F.LAT_SENATUM_CONSOLUERUNT (the only attestation in the entire corpus) · F.LAT_SCRIBENDO_ADFUERUNT (53 corpus attestations) · F.LAT_CENSUERE (29 corpus attestations, 4 of which are in this text).
- Diachronic counterparts: all 53 SC records carrying scribendo adfuerunt — including SCpP (20 CE) and SC Beguensis (138 CE). The 350-year span shows the formula's stability.
- Cross-influence network: in the Cross-influence tab, F.LAT_SENATUM_CONSOLUERUNT appears as a Latin node connected to F.LAT_CENSUERE (bridge-cooccurrence) and via F.LAT_SCRIBENDO_ADFUERUNT to the Greek calque F.GRAFOMENON_PARESAN.
- Institution tree: the inscription sits at roman:senatus_romanus (90 records); the diff-view against greek_civic:Athens:boule_kai_demos shows the structural homology with no literal lexical overlap.
- Geography: pinned at Tiriolo, Bruttium (38.95 N, 16.51 E) — see all senatus-romanus records on the map.
- Workbench Exercise 3: the lacunose-fragment exercise "Closing mark of approval — SC de Bacchanalibus" in ../restoration.html, targeting censuere.
To the wider epigraphic literature至更广文献
- The only SC roughly contemporary that survives epigraphically is the SC de Tiburtibus (CIL I² 586 = ILS 19, ca. 159 BCE) — much shorter, also bronze, also archaic spelling, but lacking the multiply-decree structure.
- The bilingual SC de Asclepiade (78 BCE, CIL I² 588) is the next-richest Republican-era SC; it is case study #5 (planned).
- For Greek-translation parallels, see Sherk/Viereck 1969 Roman Documents from the Greek East, the canonical corpus of SCs translated into Greek for circulation in Eastern provinces.
8. Bibliography8. 参考文献
- Eberle, L. P. 2024. The Edicts of the Praetors: Law, Time and Revolution in Ancient Rome. Oxford. (Wider Republican legal context.)
- Kupfer, A. C. 2004. "Anmerkungen zu Sprache und Textgattung des senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus, CIL I² 581." (In the dossier
general knowledgefolder: 2004 kupfer anmerkungen zu sprache und textgattung des senatus consultum de bacchanalibus cil i2 581.pdf.) The single most focused linguistic-genre study of this inscription. - Lebek, W. D. 1999. "Das Senatus consultum de Cn. Pisone patre und Tacitus." ZPE 128: 183–211. (For the diachronic-stability argument.)
- Livy, Ab urbe condita 39.8–19. (The literary narrative.)
- Raggi, A. & Buongiorno, P. 2020. Il senatus consultum de Plarasensibus et Aphrodisiensibus del 39 a.C.: pp. 102–103 (the three-part structural rereading). Münster: Acta Senatus.
- Sherk, R. K. 1970. The Municipal Decrees of the Roman West. Arethusa Monographs III, Buffalo. (pp. 59–60: the SC de Bacchanalibus as type-specimen.)
- Walsh, P. G. 1996. "Making a Drama out of a Crisis: Livy on the Bacchanalia." Greece & Rome 43.2: 188–203.
Bibliography audited (M18): only entries with a matching file in the dossier's local general-knowledge folder are retained. Foundational external editions (e.g. Inscriptiones Graecae, Reynolds 1982 Aphrodisias and Rome) are referenced in-line by inscription number where needed but not listed as bibliography items.
For the full thematic bibliography of all SC scholarship in the dossier, see dossier_workspace/general_knowledge_thematic.md Bucket 2.