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| ancient
censorship |
Date:
Fri, 9 Feb 1996
From:
Kotliar
Subject:
Ancient censorship
Since net censorship is a hot issue these days, I wonder if anyone
has an examples of conspicous decress or acts of censorship in the
Ancient world that might be instructive for the modern debate. A few
years ago I saw an exhibit at the New York public library entitled
500 years of censorship. So with the world wide web blackening its
pages I thought maybe it might be fun to bring some notorious acts
of censorship from much earlier. For example how did various ancient
societies respond to "dangerous ideas" circulated from
other societies, or illustrated erotic manuscripts. Some ancient
societies must have been more prudish than their neighbors.
Date:
Fri, 9 Feb 1996
From:
cuibono
Subject:
Re: Ancient censorship
in rome, the first example that comes to mind is the decree de
bacchanalibus (186 bc, if i remember rightly), but beyond that,
there were numerous purges , i.e. large scale book burnings,
throughout the late republic and empire of magical/astrological
books. the theodosian law code also provides numerous examples of
censorship of "magicians" and "astrlogers."
Date:
Fri, 9 Feb 1996
From:
"p.d. snider"
Subject:
Re: Ancient censorship
The
first thing I thought of when I saw this post was a passage of
Tacitus _Annals_ 4,34, which depicts the speech of Aulus Cremutius
Cordus, who was charged with the new charge of praising Brutus and
describing Cassius as the "last of the Romans" in his
History. The speech points out that Augustus tolerated Livy's
pro-Pompeian attitude, only calling him a Pompeian. He also notes
that Asinius Pollio and M. Valerius Mesalla Corvinus showed
Republican sentiments, but both lived out their lives safely.
Further, Julius Caesar tolerated Cicero's, M. Furius Bibaculus and
Catullus' abuse. However, what I find particularly striking is
Tacitus summery in which he notes that Cremutius' books survived the
attempt to burn them after this trial. He concludes "This makes
one deride the stupidity of people who believe that today's
authority can destroy tomorrow's memories. On the contrary, the
repressions of genius increase its prestige. All that tyrannical
conquerors and imitators of their brutalities, achieve is their own
disrepute and their victims' renown." A distinct point.
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| Culled
from the
UMich
archive of ancien-l. |
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