Dal Commentario isagogico alla epistola ad Oppiano. Riscritture politiche varroniane

Gelliius in his Noctes Atticae 14.7.1-8 reports a summary of a Varronian writing on the Senate. Pompeius, consul for the first time (70 B:C:), asked Varro to write him a small book of instruction on how to convene and consult the Senate. This commentarius was lost. Varro revisited the subject in one epistula to Oppianus. It is this rewriting that Gellius can read. In this article we discuss when Varro wrote this second version of the book . We reflect also on the role of Varro's antiquarian knowledge on the Roman political and institutional life.commentarius, epistula varro, senate