Bloomsbury (2016) h/b 139pp £64.99 (ISBN 9781475226950)
This slim volume presents the first critical edition of the Codex Fori Mussolini, a short text in classicizing Latin produced by the philologist A.G. Amatucci and chronicling the rise of Italian fascism under Il Duce. Emblematic for that rise (so we are meant to believe) is the dictator’s institution of the Opera Nazionale Balilla, a Fascist paramilitary youth organization, and his construction of a Roman-style forum in 1932 in order to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Fascist rule. The illuminated parchment text to this day remains immured as a foundation deposit underneath the obelisk that was erected in the very forum whose construction the text narrates.
The book has all the usual trappings: a lengthy introduction (1-81), Latin text and translation (84-95), a short list of 22 textual variants (97), lemmatic commentary (99-122), a timeline of Italian Fascism (123-124), bibliography (125-135), and index (137-139). The actual Codex Fori Mussolini is of course still located under the obelisk and can only ever be ‘found’ if the obelisk is taken down (a point to which I shall return), but L. and R–J. have collated three different witnesses to the text, which have all appeared in print: B(olletino dell’Opera Nazionale Balilla, 1932), S(cuola e cultura, 1933), which also exists as an offprint C(odex Fori Mussolini, 1933), and, finally, F (Il Foro Mussolini, 1937). As the authors explain (pp. 8-9), B may be closest to the actual Codex in time, but has become warped in the printing process, while F, based on B, in removing some errors adds some of its own; consequently, they follow S/C, which is the last version edited by Amatucci himself (apparently there is no contamination between S/C and F).
Those accustomed to editions of classical texts with their lengthy apparatus critici may ask what necessitated a book-length study of this very short text, especially since the variants between S/C and B, F are few and often inconsequential, but that would be to miss the point. It seems only appropriate to reproduce the text of the Codex as a book, the modern descendent of the ancient/medieval codex, rather than one or two shorter articles: as the authors explain, this format was part of a deliberate strategy to manipulate the reader’s interpretation of the text. More importantly, although the Latin text had already been printed several times before and snippets have appeared in English since (e.g. P. Aischer [2000], ‘Mussolini’s Forum and the Myth of Augustan Rome.’ The Classical Bulletin 6.2, 117-140), a full-blown discussion of the appropriation of the classical past and the strategies of Fascist self-representation in this document had been lacking. In this last respect the Codex is, well, fascinating: although it follows Fascist propaganda in stressing the continuities between ancient Rome (especially under Augustus) and medioevo Italy on the one hand and Mussolini’s everlasting achievements in Italy (and its empire) on the other, the Codex’s placement beneath the obelisk served to ensure that it could only be read after the Forum had been destroyed and Fascism had come to an end. The introduction and commentary do an excellent job in bringing out these, and other, tensions and in disentangling fact and rhetoric.
L. and R-J. are to be congratulated for bringing this interesting document to a wider public. The book has been proofread meticulously (I have found only three errors, none of which serious) and is lavishly illustrated. One complaint: a price-to-page ratio of nearly 1:2 or 50 pence per page would make even Brill shudder; while those interested in (the afterlife of Latin in) Fascist times will happily save up, it is hoped that this is not a sign of things to come and that a more affordable paperback will follow soon.
Gary Vos