Dubrovnik annals, No. 11, 2007.
Original scientific paper
OBLITI PRIVATORUM PUBLICA CURATE: A Ragusan Political Epigraph and its Historical Background
Nella Lonza
Abstract
This article examines a Latin inscription Obliti privatorum publica curate from the Rector’s Palace in Dubrovnik. It affords basic coordinates for its dating, analyzes the message in the context of the Ragusan political epigraphy, and casts light upon an inscription in the Minor Council Hall, unknown until now. The maxim is being discussed as a theme and topos of diverse philosophical works, political speeches and sermons from antiquity (Plato and Cicero) to the Enlightenment, with emphasis on its reception and adaptation in the Ragusan milieu. On the basis of the identical inscriptions from the Basel Town Hall (H. Holbein the Younger, 1521/2) and Italian village of Lustrola (1690), the author concludes that this political adage did not stem from Dubrovnik, but was probably borrowed from a florilegium widely popular in Europe of the day.
Keywords
Dubrovnik; Basle; Italy; Hans Holbein the Younger; Cicero; Plato; Aristotle; Rector's Palace; epigraphy
Hrčak ID:
18543
URI
Publication date:
8.10.2007.
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