brill.com/mnem Roman Optimism Before Cannae: The Vow of the Ver Sacrum (Livy 22.10)

This article examines the consequences of Justus Lipsius ’ emendation of Livy 22.10.6, the final sentence of the ver sacrum vowed after the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene in 217 BCE. After a brief discussion of the historical context of the vow, we turn to the text as transmitted by the earliest manuscript, the fifth-century Codex Puteanus. Lipsius rendered the mss. anteidea as antidea, a hapax legomenon. Subsequent editors experimented with a range of other changes in order to facilitate a particular under-standing of the clause in question, and this process has had a lasting impact on trans-lations and interpretations of the vow. If we dispense with the historical expectations that complicated the text in the first place, the importance of Lipsius ’ antidea becomes both simple and clear: in 217, the harsh antithesis between rash and prudent com-manders had yet to be articulated, and the collectivity of the Senate and Roman people looked forward to a swift end for the Hannibalic War