Princeps salutaris and saluberrima lex: The language of the health and the defence of legitimacy in the political discourse of the Late Roman power
Abstract
Our proposal analyzes the longevity of practices related to the use of metaphors and allegories linked to the proper exercise of power, focusing interest on those associated with the use of a lexicon connected to the field of health. In this sense, it must be counted among the techniques used to emphasize the defense of legitimacy in government tasks. This is an issue that can be observed particularly in two of the vehicles of official expression employed for this purpose in the Later Roman Empire: literature of an epidictic nature and imperial constitutions. In addition, the language of health will be useful to discredit and disqualify those who, on the contrary, are represented as public nuisances.
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