GRST 205 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Aelius Aristides, Roman Citizenship, One Story

• School: University of Calgary
• Department: Greek and Roman Studies
• Course: GRST 205
• Professor: Lindsay Gayle Driediger- Murphy

Document Summary

How did non-romans view the empire? (2) literary and material evidence for emperors" response to complaints: e. g. stories about emperor, tiberius (=gibbs box 15. 4 p. 345) Once a man lay wounded, and a swarm of flies hovered over his wounds. A passer-by took pity on him and was about to step up and shoo them off. The wounded man, however, betted him not to. He said, you would put me in a worse position if you drove the flies off. For since these flies have already had their fill of my blood, they no longer feel such a pressing need to harass me and are somewhat lethargic. But if others were to come with a fresh appetite, they would attack my now weakened body, and that would indeed be the death of me. ". This passage means that the empire is like a wounded man, and these flies are sucking his blood.