Edict against Latin Instructors of Rhetoric

92 BC as dictated by censors Domitius Ahenobarbus ad Lucius Licinius Crassus
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Republican Era)

EDICTUM ADVERSUS LATINOS RHETORES

Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus L. Licinius Crassus censores ita edixerunt:

[So the censors Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Lucius Licinius Crassus have declared publicly:]

Renuntiatum est nobis esse homines, qui novum genus disciplinae instituerunt, ad quos iuventus in ludum conveniat;

[Any men, who have set up any unusual type of firm to which our youths might convene for school, will incur our denunciation;]

eos sibi nomen imposuisse Latinos rhetoras;

[Same for men who have taken upon the title of "Latin rhetoricians"]

ibi homines adulescentulos dies totos desidere.

[men in this field only spend the whole day lusting for young boys.]

Maiores nostri, quae liberos suos discere et quos in ludos itare vellent, instituerunt.

[Our forefathers have already established which books they wanted taught and which schools they wanted attended.]

 haec nova, quae praeter consuetudinem ac morem maiorum fiunt, neque placent neque recta videntur.

[These unusual things, transgression against our tradition and national customs, neither seem worthwhile or proper.]

Quapropter et iis, qui eos ludos habent, et iis, qui eo venire consuerunt, videtur faciundum, ut ostenderemus nostram sententiam, nobis non placere.

[Wherefore, we feel obligated to show our displeasure towards any men who set these schools up, and those who have consent to attend them, and so have we made our judgment public.]