In 2005 R. published his biography of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius (Antonin le Pieux. 138–161. Le siècle d'or de Rome). The current volume is a useful supplement to that work in that it provides a mélange of primary sources that illuminate various aspects of the emperor's reign, many of which document points from the biography. Included are selections from the standard texts such as the Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Fronto, Pausanias, Aurelius Victor, Tertullian, Eutropius, Aelius Aristides, Orosius, Lucian and the emperor Julian. In addition, R. and his collaborators provide translations of several judicial texts, particularly from the Digest, and of numerous inscriptions. All of these are in French translations and, unfortunately, do not include the original Greek or Latin. However, it is in bringing these together in one place that the volume makes its greatest contribution to scholarship because these are less frequently collected and consulted and they shine light on the Antonine period from a broader perspective of the imperial government's process and its impact on its citizens and non-citizens alike, outside of the normal focus on events in Rome. R. provides insightful commentary on the content of various passages and at times refers to other sources on the particular topic under discussion. The book also includes various indexes and a glossary of technical terms.
R. organises the early chapters of texts around Antoninus' family and early career prior to his selection as Hadrian's successor and then focusses on aspects of Roman law, finances, administration and relations with individual provinces and with foreigners along the Empire's borders. Other topics are the emperor's public beneficence through distributions, entertainment and building projects, the emperor and religion, the private life of Antoninus, and his death and apotheosis. For example, an inscription from Phrygia documents the erection of a statue to Antoninus' wife Faustina when he was only a provincial governor and one from Rome refers to a concubine he took after Faustina's death. Selections from the Digest illuminate Antoninus' humanity through his concern for limiting the use of torture in the penal system, for protecting slaves against the cruelty of their masters, and for supporting the idea that an accused person should not be mistreated, as though he were already guilty, prior to trial. A coin showing the emperor presenting a crown to the king of the Quadi signifies a diplomatic success in maintaining the Pax Romana along the Danube, at least for the duration of his reign. In his conclusion, R. states correctly that Antoninus failed to recognise the changes that were developing between the Romans and the Germanic tribes along their borders and therefore did not prepare his successor to deal with them more effectively. In spite of this, however, R. is comfortable with associating Antoninus' name with the dynasty of second-century emperors and with a golden age.
Although the book includes several inscriptions from coins, it is here and especially in connection with religion that additional texts would have been helpful. R. does comment on the coins related to Bacchus/Dionysus and Cybele, which supplements effectively his discussion of those deities in his biography of Antoninus, but this leaves a somewhat distorted view of the emperor's religious coin-types because R. omits reference to those connected with the Ludi Saeculares and the 900th anniversary of Rome's birth, to which he only refers with a quote in the section on spectacles. R. does mention coin-types on Rome's origins, but does not explain why these were particularly relevant at that time. In his biography he alludes to these games and related coin-types, but does not go into detail on these or on the coins connected with ‘religious renewal’, on which the emperor portrays Rome's protective deities and more obscure gods who had not been on coins in recent years and who had never been on bronze coins before. These include Jupiter Stator, Ops, the Tiber god, Jupiter Latius and Bonus Eventus. Including discussion of these important issues would have broadened coverage of Antoninus' religious policy. In addition, although this would have resulted in a significantly larger volume, providing the original Greek and Latin texts as well as French translations would have made the work more useful to a wider audience as a basic source on Antoninus. Nevertheless, the book does include valuable texts and commentary on a very interesting and less-understood Roman emperor, and that is sufficient to make it worth reading.
