Pompeius Trogus and the Romanization of History (Note to Iust. 41.2.1-2)

This paper aims to demonstrate that, despite Justin’s Epitoma being a work better suited for reading in fragments than as a continuous whole, it must be considered as a cohesive unit from a philological perspective to avoid underestimating its most significant and pervasive features. Among these, the color Romanus stands out—namely, the application of Roman terminology to foreign countries, an essential strategy by which Trogus seeks to make the history of civilizations distant in time and space more accessible to his audience. Through a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the color Romanus, this study offers a new interpretation of one of the most debated passages of the Epitoma (Iust. 41.2.1–2) and critically reassesses Alfred von Gutschmid’s famous conjecture, probulorum.