SU UN ASPETTO DELLA DIALETTICA POLITICA NELLA CORTE TARDOANTICA: LA SUFFRAGATIO

Ammianus is an exceptionally valuable witness because he describes intrigue and cor- ruption at the Court (vitiorum omnium seminarium, Amm., 22,4,6). Bureaucrats (adula- tores) prevent access to the emperor, who is domi clausus. The princeps clausus is also an important theme in the Historia Augusta, written by a near-contemporary of Ammianus (cfr. Historia Augusta, Aurel., 43,4; Alex. Sev., 66,2-3). In this new cerimonial world, emeprors were prevented from getting the right information by officials, as in the case of Thalassius, praefectus praetorio praesens, in A.D. 351 (Amm., 14,1,10). We also find the new figure of the suffragator, who recommends someone for an office (for example, in Amm., 16,6,3, we find cubiculariis suffragantibus) Suffragium is a major theme of the legislation in Late Antiquity and we analyse the prominence that Ammianus gives to this practice.