I’m trying to figure out who (if anyone) has talked about Larcius the first dictator in Dionysius of Halicarnassus as model for good Roman leadership at the end of the Republic and beginning of the Principate. Basically, I’m checking to see who has read the passage the way I want to read it. This brought me to Dowling’s book on Clementia, p. 4. She mostly focuses on the Empire, but puts the concept in an earlier context. Here’s the bit I wanted to share with you (Clicking on this photo will make it bigger):
Basically, I just want to put in a footnote pointing out that ἐπιείκεια as the Greek word for Clementia can be pushed much earlier on the basis of Dionysius 5.76.1:
οὓς πρὸς συγγενεῖς καὶ φίλους ἀναγκαζόμενοί τινες ἀναιροῦνται, ἐπιεικεστέρων μᾶλλον ἢ δικαιοτέρων ᾤετο δεῖν αὐτοῖς διαλύσεων.
those [sc. wars] which men are forced to undertake against kinsmen and friends, he thought they ought to be settled by an accommodation in which clemency outweighed the demands of justice. (Cary Trans.)
Liv Mariah Yarrow 