PROCURATOR LUDI MATUTINI O PROCURATOR SALTUS LAURENTINI NELL’ISCRIZIONE DI GUAGNO (CORSICA)?

Abstract

According to vulgate restorations, a fragmentary inscription reused in the church of Saint-Antoine at Guagno-les-Bains in Corsica (AE 1984, 450) commemorated the refurbishing of a small temple of Diana by a [procurator ludi Matu]tini et bestiarum at the request of a guild of venatores (fam[ilia venatoria postulante]). This article makes the case for a different interpretation of the inscription: namely, that a [procurator saltus Lauren]tini et bestiarum [Africanarum] – that is, the manager of the imperial vivarium at Laurentum – restored a small temple of Fortuna, which was the property of a college of slaves and freedmen of the Plautii Silvani: [aedem Fortun]ae Aug(ustae) Salutaris fam[iliae fundi / Silvaniani] quam Martialis Silv[ani l(ibertus) fecerat]. The inscribed slab must then have arrived in Corsica from Rome circa 1856, when the church of Saint-Antoine was built.