{"id":1910,"date":"2019-12-18T13:13:59","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T12:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.accademiadeglizucconi.com\/?page_id=1910"},"modified":"2020-02-02T02:21:36","modified_gmt":"2020-02-02T01:21:36","slug":"una-nota-sugli-oppii-di-velia-ed-il-divorzio-di-cicerone","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.accademiadeglizucconi.com\/?page_id=1910","title":{"rendered":"Una nota sugli Oppii di Velia ed il divorzio di Cicerone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">A Note on the Oppii from Velia <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">and Cicero&#8217;s Divorce<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>Koenraad Verboven<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">In Cicero&#8217;s letters to Atticus of the year 49 we find a number of passages related to a further unknown transaction between Terentia and the &#8216;Oppii from Velia&#8217;. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">The passages are usually assumed to refer to a debt Terentia would have owed to <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">the Oppii. She is thought to have been unable to repay the debt and Cicero would <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">have commissioned Atticus to come to an agreement with the creditors. Three <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">months later Cicero would have turned to the Oppii for a new loan to enable him <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">to leave Italy to join Pompey&#8217;s army (see below for the references). <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">The Oppii Velienses are mostly considered to have been wealthy bankers or <em>f<\/em><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>aeneratores<\/em> who lent money to Terentia and who tried to recover the debt in <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">January 49. In the midst of the financial turmoil following the outbreak of the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Civil War they would have belonged to the small group of ultra-rich financiers <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">desperately trying to recover their outstanding debts and hoarding their cash fortunes, thus further aggravating the general financial crisis <strong>(1)<\/strong>. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Although nothing is known of the Oppii from Velia apart from what can be <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">inferred from what Cicero has to say about them in connection with their controversy with Terentia, they are usually situated in the family circles of the Oppii <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">who are attested as <em>negotiatores<\/em> in the East. Caesar&#8217;s <em>procurator<\/em> C. Oppius as <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">well is often linked to both the Oppii <em>negotiatores<\/em> and the Oppii Velienses. Some <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">scholars go so far as to identify Caesar&#8217;s <em>procurator<\/em> with one of the Oppii from<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Velia <strong>(2)<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(1)<\/strong> C. T. BARLOW, Bankers, Moneylenders, and Interest Rates in the Roman Republic, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Michigan University Microfilms International, 1978, p. 255; G. MASELLI, Argentaria. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Banche e banchieri nella Roma republicana, Bari, 1986, p. 57 ; F. MUNZER, Oppius. 12 <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">in : RE 35 Hb., 1939, col. 738 ; E. DENIAUX, Clienteles et pouvoir a l&#8217; epoque de Cic\u00e9ron, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Rome, 1993, p. 533 ; for the financial crisis see M. W. FREDERIKSEN, Caesar, Cicero and <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">the Problem of Debt in JRS 56, 1966 ; K. VERBOVEN, Caritas nummorum. Deflation in the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Late Roman Republic? in MBAHG 16, 1997, p. 48-50 ; for the problem of hoarding see <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">DIO 61,38,1.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(2)<\/strong> Thus O. PERLWITZ, Titus Pomponius Atticus. Untersuchungen zur Person eines einflussreichen Ritters in der ausgehenden romischen Republik, Stuttgart, 1992, p. 108. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">F. MUNZER, Oppius [no 1], p. 738 prefers to link them with L. Oppius M. f., who was a <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">negotiator in Philomelium in Bithynia. On L. Oppius M. f. from Philomelium see <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">E. DENIAUX, Clienteles et pouvoir [no 1], p. 532-533. Oppii are attested on Delos: ILLRP <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">748 ; J. HATZFELD, Les Italiens residant a Delos in BCH 36, 1912, p. 60. We also know an <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Oppia, married to M. Mindius qui Eli{de} negotiatus est (CICERO, Fam. 13,26; 28). Since M. Mindius was the frater of the senator L. Mescinius Rufus and Mindii and Mescinii were both active on Delos, Oppia as well may have belonged to the Delian Oppii (cf. J. HATZFELD, O.C., p. 51-52). See also M. Oppius Nepos initiated in the mysteries of the Cabiroi in Samothrace (1. HATZFELD, Les trafiquants italiens dans l&#8217;Orient hellenistique, Paris, 1919, p. 59, n. 2 (CIL 3,721\u00bb. On Caesar&#8217;s procurator see C. NICOLET, L&#8217;ordre equestre a l&#8217;epoque republicaine (312-43 avo f.-C.), Vol. 2, Paris, 1974, p. 964; F. MUNZER, Oppius. 9 in RE 35 Hb., 1939, col. 729-736.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">This article proposes to analyse in detail the ambiguous evidence we have on <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">the Oppii from Velia. It will be shown that their identification as bankers or <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">financiers, related to Caesar&#8217;s procurator C. Oppius, has no serious foundation. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">However, the case of the Oppii from Velia may shed some light on Cicero&#8217;s alienation and subsequent divorce from Terentia. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Let us start by looking at the texts. We are dealing with parts of seven letters <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">to Atticus written between January 23 and April 22 of 49 BCE:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>Aenigma [sacconum (succonum ?) de Velia]<\/em> <strong>(3)<\/strong> <em>plane non intellexi; est<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>enim numero Platonis obscurius<\/em> <strong>(4)<\/strong>. (Cicero, Att. 7,13,5, Mintumae,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">23\/1\/49)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>lam intellexi tuum aenigma; Oppios enim de<\/em> <strong>(5)<\/strong> <em>Velia saccones<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">(succones ?) dices. In eo aestuavi diu. Quo aperto reliqua patebant et cum<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>Terentiae summa congruebant.<\/em> (Cicero, Att. 7,13a,1, Mintumae, 24<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Jan. 49)<\/span><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">De Oppiis egeo consili. Quod optimum factu videbitur facies. Cum<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>Philotimo loquere, atque adeo Terentiam habebis Idibus<\/em>. (Cicero, Att.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">7,22,2, Formiae, 9 Feb. 49)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>De HS XX (milibus) Terentia tibi rescripsit.<\/em> (Cicero, Att. 7,26,3, Formiae,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">13 Feb. 49 ?)<\/span><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Ad Philotimum scripsi de viatico sive a Moneta (nemo enim solvit) sive ab<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>Oppiis, tuis contubernalibus.<\/em> (Cicero, Att. 8,7,3, Formiae, 21 Feb. 49)<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(3)<\/strong> Probably a gloss taken from the next letter, cf. R. Y. TYRELL &amp; L. C. PURSER (rev., <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">comm. &amp; intr.), The Correspondence of M. Tullius Cicero. IV, London &amp; Dublin, 1918, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">p. 28, no. 308; D. R. SHACKLETON BAILEY, Cicero&#8217;s Letters to Atticus. IV, Cambridge, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">1968, p. 306, and J. BAYET (texte etabli et traduit), Ciceron. Correspondance. Tome V, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Paris, 1964,p. 111.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(4)<\/strong> Plato&#8217;s famous (and mysterious) &#8216;nuptial number&#8217;, crucial to his theory of eugenetics in Rep. 8,546 (see J. M. A. ADAM (ed., not., comm.), The Republic of Plato. Vol. 2, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Cambridge, 1902, p. 264-312), in this letter obviously referring to Terentia. When Cicero <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">wrote down these words he didn&#8217;t realise yet that Atticus was writing about Terentia&#8217;s <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">nomen Oppianum. Atticus must in some way have referred to the numerus Platonis in his <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">letter to Cicero, thus hinting to the solution of the aenigma.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(5)<\/strong> The manuscripts read ex Velia, but the gloss in the previous letter reads de Velia. D. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">R. SHACKLETON BAILEY, Cicero&#8217;s Letters to Atticus In. 3], p. 306-307) prefers de Velia as <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">the lectio difficilior.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Tu \u2191optimus\u2191 (= ab Oppiis ? <\/span><\/em><strong><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">(6)<\/span><\/strong><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">) Terentiae dabis. lam enim urbis nullum<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>periculum est.<\/em> (Cicero, Att. 10,4,12, Cumae, 14 Apr. 49)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>De Oppiis Veliensibus quid placeat cum Philotimo videbis.<\/em> (Cicero, Att.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">10,7,3, Cumae, 22 Apr. 49).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">First of all we should note that whichever explanation we may accept, there is <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">nothing to prove that the debt in question resulted from a loan. Although this is <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">certainly <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">possible, we may also be dealing with a <em>legatum<\/em> or with a <em>nomen transcripticium a re in personam<\/em> owed on account of something sold between the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Oppii and Terentia <strong>(7)<\/strong>. But let us assume, for the sake of the argument, that we <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">are dealing with a loan. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Reading these passages it becomes clear that they may be interpreted in two <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">different ways: either the Oppii were creditors, Terentia was a debtor and Cicero <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">was looking for a loan, or the Oppii were Terentia&#8217;s debtors and Cicero counted <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">on their repayment for money to leave Italy. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">The traditional interpretation is based largely on the reading of <em>saccones<\/em> in the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">manuscripts, which would be a scornful <em>ad hoc<\/em> derivation from <em>saccus<\/em>, &#8216;moneybag&#8217;, formed by analogy with e.g. <em>bucco<\/em>, &#8216;fool&#8217;. The <em>saccones de Velia<\/em> are then <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">the &#8216;moneybags from Velia&#8217;, which would obviously refer to the banking business the Oppii would have conducted. Bosius and Sch\u00fctz however proposed the alternative reading <em>succones<\/em>, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">derived from <em>su(c)cus<\/em>, &#8216;juice&#8217; <strong>(8)<\/strong>. The argument is that <em>sucus<\/em> in Greek is <em>\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2 (pr. opos) <\/em><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">which would make succones a pun on the name of the Oppii of the kind of which <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">we find numerous examples in Cicero&#8217;s letters <strong>(9)<\/strong>. In Petronius, we encounter the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">adjective <em>sucos(s)us<\/em> in the sense of wealthy <strong>(10)<\/strong>. Maselli translates the term as <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">&#8216;the suckers&#8217; (&#8216;succhioni&#8217;), interpreting it as a metaphor for usurers who suck <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">other people&#8217;s juice, i.e. their money <strong>(11)<\/strong>. This is also the explanation of Lewis <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">and Short, who derive the word from sugo &#8211; to suck <strong>(12)<\/strong>. However, this seems <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">unlikely to be correct. Both <em>sugo<\/em> and <em>sucosus<\/em> are derived from <em>sucus<\/em>, while<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(6)<\/strong> See D. R. SHACKLETON BAILEY, Cicero&#8217;s Letters to Atticus [no 3], p. 405.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(7)<\/strong> For a nomen transcripticium a re in personam see e.g. CICERO, Fam. 7,23,1-3 ; cf. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">R. M. THILO, Der Codex accepti et expensi im Romischen Recht, Gottingen, 1980, p. 304; <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">for a legatum owed to Terentia cf. CICERO, Att. 13,46,3.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(8)<\/strong> See D. R. SHACKLETON BAILEY, Cicero&#8217;s Letters to Atticus [no 3], p. 306-307; J. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">BAYET, Ciceron. Correspondance [no 3], p. 111 ; contra R. Y. TYRELL &amp; L. C. PURSER, The <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Correspondence of M. Tullius Cicero, [no 3], p. 28-29, no. 308,1.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(9)<\/strong> See e.g. Att. 6,2,3 (a pun on Dicearchus the geographer and Dicearchus &#8216;someone <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">from Dicearchia&#8217;, the Greek name for Puteoli). Cf. D.R. SHACKLETON BAILEY, Cicero&#8217;s <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Letters to Atticus [no 3], p. 306-307 for other examples.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(10)<\/strong> PETRONIUS 38,6.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(11)<\/strong> G. MASELLI, Argentaria [n.1], p.57, n. 43.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(12)<\/strong> Ch. T. LEWIS &amp; Ch. SHORT, A Latin Dictionary, Oxford, 1966, p. 1789: &#8216;[once] <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">s\u00fbco (succ-), \u00f4nis, m. [sugo], a sucker; of a usurer&#8217;.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>succo<\/em> would be very atypical as <em>nomen agentis<\/em> of <em>sugo<\/em>. Succo is most likely an <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>ad hoc<\/em> derivation from <em>sucus<\/em>, signifying something in the nature of &#8216;a juicy&#8217; , <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">someone possessing much &#8216;juice&#8217;, i.e. money. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">However, even if we accept the meaning of &#8216;suckers&#8217; for <em>succones<\/em> it is highly <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">unlikely that Atticus would have used this notion to denote <em>faeneratores<\/em>, since <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">he was on a very good basis with many of their most prominent representatives <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">and seems to have practised <em>faeneratio<\/em> himself. He would undoubtedly have <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">found the term more appropriate to denote a fraudulent debtor who sucked other <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">people&#8217;s &#8216;juice&#8217; \/ money <strong>(13)<\/strong>. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Maselli adduces two more reasons to consider the Oppii from Velia as argentarii <strong>(14)<\/strong>. Firstly, he regards Velia not as the town in Lucania but as the hill by the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">same name in Rome <strong>(15)<\/strong>, which he claims to have been a centre of the banking <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">community in the city. To substantiate his point he refers to three inscriptions <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">mentioning argentarii on the Velia hill. However, none of these three inscriptions <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">actually mentions <em>argentarii de Velia<\/em>. Two inscriptions refer to <em>argentarii<\/em> on the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>forum vinarium<\/em>, which is usually situated in the vicinity of the <em>portus vinarius<\/em> at <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">the <em>Emporium<\/em> <strong>(16)<\/strong>. The third inscription refers to an <em>argentarius de Velabro<\/em> active <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">on the Velabrum &#8211; the stretch of land reaching from the <em>forum<\/em> to the <em>Pons <\/em><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>Sublicius<\/em> &#8211; at least half a mile from the Velia hill, which lay on the other end of <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">the <em>forum<\/em> <strong>(17)<\/strong>. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Maselli&#8217;s second argument is based on Att. 8,7,3 where Cicero mentions the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Oppii as an alternative to the Moneta to get the money from that he needed to <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">leave Italy. It is not clear what is meant by the Moneta. We are certainly dealing <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">with the temple of Juno Moneta where the Republican Mint was situated, but on <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">what basis did Cicero hope to get money here ? The passage is often seen as <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">proof that private citizens could bring their silver to the Mint to have it struck<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(13)<\/strong> cf. e.g. CICERO, Att. 4,15,7 . Note also that Atticus was pressing hard on Q. Cicero <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">to make him repay an outstanding debt of 20,000 HS (Att. 7,18,4 ; 10,15,4 ; 11,2). Cf. also <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Off. 2,84 for Cicero&#8217;s sympathies with the faeneratores.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(14)<\/strong> G. MASELLI, Argentaria In. 1], p. 57.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(15)<\/strong> Also F. MUNZER, Oppius In. 1], col. 738. D. R. SHACKLETON BAILEY, Cicero&#8217;s <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Letters to Atticus In. 3], p. 306-307 rejects the identification because Cicero calls the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Oppii Atticus&#8217; conturbernales in Att. 8,7,3 and Atticus lived on the Quirinal, but either <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">possibility should be left open.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(16)<\/strong> CIL 6,9181-9182. cf. S.B. PLATNER &amp; Th. ASHBY, A topographical Dictionary of <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Ancient Rome, London, 1929, p. 245 ; J. MOREAU, La vie financiere dans le monde <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">romain. Les metiers de manieurs d&#8217;argent. (IV siecle av. J.-C. &#8211; III siecle ap. J.-C.), Rome, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">1986, p. 116 (see here for the argentarii de foro vinario in general). Note that we are dealing with inscriptions from the late first century CE, more than a hundred years after <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Cicero&#8217;s death (cf. J. ANDREAU, O.C., p. 286-287).<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(17)<\/strong> CIL 6, 9183 ; cf. J. ANOREAU, La vie financiere In. 15], p. 110 ; S.B. PLATNER &amp; <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Th. ASHBY, A Topographical Dictionary In. 14], p. 549-550. The inscription dates from <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">between 59 CE and 120 CE (J. ANDREAU, O.C., p. 287).<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">into coins or to sell it in exchange for new coins. But nothing indicates that <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Philotimus (who was sent to collect the money) had any silver with him <strong>(18)<\/strong>. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Shackleton Bailey suggests that the temple of Juno Moneta -like so many other <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">temples &#8211; functioned as a deposit bank <strong>(19)<\/strong>. However, even so Masselli&#8217;s argument carries little weight because the Oppii are not compared to the Mint <em>functionally<\/em>, but are merely mentioned together <em>pragmatically<\/em> as a possible source of <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">money. There are two ways for Cicero to get the money needed to leave Italy: <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">the Moneta or the Oppii. Nothing is implied about any financial activities the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Oppii might have had. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">The text does show that Cicero considered the Oppii as a possible source of <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">money. This, however, does not necessarily imply that Cicero expected a (new) <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">loan from the Oppii. It would be strange indeed if the Oppii would be prepared <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">to give a new loan to Cicero after all the difficulties they had had recovering their <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">former loan from Terentia. The fact that the civil war was still raging undecided <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">and that the credit market had totally collapsed makes the assumption even more <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">unlikely <strong>(20)<\/strong>. In fact, Cicero considered turning to the mint to raise the cash he <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">needed because no one repaid his debts any more. Why would the Oppii have <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">been prepared to lend more money under these conditions? <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">The only argument left to assume that the Oppii were Terentia&#8217;s creditors <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">rather than vice versa is that they were rich (<em>succones<\/em>). However, this does not <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">necessarily mean they had cash ready at hand. We hear of numerous senators and <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">knights encountering financial difficulties at the outbreak of the civil war without actually being poor. L. Egnatius Rufus e.g. owed money to Q. Cicero that he <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">could not repay despite his willingness and the fact that he was <em>nec parum locuples<\/em> <strong>(21)<\/strong>. Moreover, <em>succones<\/em> was presumably a pun on the name of the Oppii. If <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">the Oppii were in financial straits, the pun would be even more biting because it <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">would be ironical. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Everything falls into place if we assume that it was not Terentia who owed <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">money to the Oppii, but the Oppii who owed money to Terentia and that Cicero <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">counted on the Oppii repaying their debt to get the money he needed to leave the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(18)<\/strong> cf. M. H. CRAWFORD, Le probleme des liquidites dans I&#8217;Antiquit\u00e9 classique in Ann. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">(ESC) 26, 1971, p. 12311232; C. HOWGEGO, The Supply and Use of Money in the Roman <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">World (200 B.C.-A.D. 300) in JRS 82,1992, p. 18-19 ; F. BEYER, Geldpolitik in der romischen Kaiserzeit: von der Wiihrungsreform des Augustus bis Septimius Severus, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Wiesbaden, 1995, p. 52-53. Note however that Cicero was at this time a proconsul with a <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">military assignment in Campania and not a simple private citizen. This may have given <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">him the right (or the pretext !) to tum to the Mint for money.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(19)<\/strong> D. R. SHACKLETON BAILEY, Cicero&#8217;s Letters to Atticus [no 3], p. 334.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(20)<\/strong> On the credit crisis see M. W. FREDERIKSEN, The Problem of Debt [no 1]; <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">K. VERBOVEN, Caritas [no 1], p. 48-54. Cf. e.g. CAESAR, B.C. 3,1,2: cum fides tota Italia <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">esset angustior.<\/span><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(21)<\/strong> CICERO, Au. 7,18,4.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">This alternative reading is reinforced by Att. 10,4,12 where we read: Tu <em>\u2191<\/em><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><em>optimus\u2191 Terentiae dabis<\/em>. Unfortunately, the crucial word here is corrupted, but <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">the correction <em>ab Oppiis<\/em> &#8211; proposed among others by Shackleton Bailey &#8211; <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">seems plausible. The reading implies that Atticus had received the money the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Oppii owed, but was not sure what to do with it until Cicero wrote him to give it <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">to Terentia in Rome. Why didn&#8217;t the Oppii hand over the money directly to <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Terentia? In the first place perhaps because they paid up only because Atticus <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">had pressed them. The term contubemales in Att. 8,7,3 indicates that Atticus had <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">some influence over them. Secondly, perhaps because Atticus had handled the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">affair since the very beginning. Thirdly, perhaps because Cicero had long <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">planned to use the money for his travel expenses. If it had to be brought or transferred to him, Atticus had better contacts to arrange the matter safely than <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Terentia. Cicero&#8217;s explanatory words <em>iam enim urbis nullum periculum est<\/em> after <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">his commission to Atticus to hand over the money to Terentia, indicates that safety precautions were his main motivation. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Pleading against this interpretation is the strict separation according to Roman <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">law between husband&#8217;s and wife&#8217;s patrimony. The Oppii owed money to <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Terentia, not to Cicero. Strictly speaking, Cicero had no right to this money. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Suzanne Dixon, however, showed, using the very example of Cicero and his family, that the separation of property was not so strict in reality. We may note in this <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">connection that Atticus wrote to Cicero about the <em>nomen Oppianum<\/em> and not to <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Terentia or Philotimus. Given the exceptionally grave political and military situation it should not surprise us that Cicero appropriated money owed <em>de iure<\/em> to <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Terentia <strong>(22)<\/strong>. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Accordingly, there is no reason to believe that the Oppii were bankers, <em>faeneratores<\/em> or businessmen. All we know of them is that they probably owed money <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">to Terentia and that they were probably rich, but the source of their wealth or the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">origin of their debt to Terentia cannot possibly be identified. Consequently, there <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">is nothing to link the Oppii Velienses with any of the Oppii <em>negotiatores<\/em> in the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">east or with Caesar&#8217;s <em>procurator<\/em> C. Oppius. The Oppii Velienses become just one <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">of the many Oppii known from the Late Republic. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">However, the question remains whether Cicero finally did get the money from <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">the Oppii. When he divorced Terentia three years later, Plutarch claims that <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Cicero justified his divorce by claiming that she had refused to provide him with <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">the money he needed to leave Italy in 49. Plutarch&#8217;s words only make sense if <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">the money was Terentia&#8217;s. If it had been Cicero&#8217;s own money, Terentia&#8217;s fault <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">would have been much more serious, since technically she would have been <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">guilty of theft. Apparently, this is not what Cicero accused her of. However, if <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Terentia had any money in 49, then why was she unable to repay the Oppii,<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><strong>(22)<\/strong> S. DIXON, Family Finances: Terentia and Tullia in B. RAWSON (ed.), The Family <\/span><\/em><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em>in Ancient Rome, London &amp; Sydney, 1986, p. 93-1<\/em><\/span>20.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">assuming that she owed money to the Oppii and not vice versa ? Conversely, if <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Terentia did not have any money in 49, then how could Cicero blame her for not <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">providing him with viaticum? Significantly the only reference we have in the letters of 49 to Cicero&#8217;s need for money to cover travel expenses is Att. 8,7,3 where <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Cicero says that he sent Philotimus to the Mint and to the Oppii Velienses to raise <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">the money he needed. We may therefore venture to believe that when the Oppii <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">eventually paid back their debt to Terentia via Atticus (recorded in Aft. 10,4,12) <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Terentia refused to hand the money over to Cicero as planned. This would then <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">explain the allegation made against Terentia and the justification used for the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">divorce in 46 <strong>(23)<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\">Ghent University (Belgium). 2001&nbsp; Koen VERBOVEN.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em><strong>(23)<\/strong> PLUTARCHUS, Cic. 41,2:&nbsp;<\/em><\/span> &nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Note on the Oppii from Velia and Cicero&#8217;s Divorce Koenraad Verboven In Cicero&#8217;s letters to Atticus of the year 49 we find a number of passages related to a further unknown transaction between Terentia and the &#8216;Oppii from Velia&#8217;. The passages are usually assumed to refer to a debt Terentia would have owed to<a href=\"http:\/\/www.accademiadeglizucconi.com\/?page_id=1910\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Una nota sugli Oppii di Velia ed il divorzio di Cicerone<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.accademiadeglizucconi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1910"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.accademiadeglizucconi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.accademiadeglizucconi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.accademiadeglizucconi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.accademiadeglizucconi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1910"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.accademiadeglizucconi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2121,"href":"http:\/\/www.accademiadeglizucconi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1910\/revisions\/2121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.accademiadeglizucconi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}