Abstract
[Piso Frugi and the subversa pudicitia] In F 40 Cornell L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi complains that, in 154 bc, during the censorship of C. Cassius Longinus and M. Valerius Messala, pudicitia was subversa. The explanations offered up to now in order to clarify the connection between this quite cryptic statement and the year 154 hardly appear to be compelling. In the present work we assume that at Fast. 5, 229-230 Ovid mistakes the consuls of 173 bc (M. Popilius Laenas and L. Postumis Albinus, Aulus’ son) for those of 154 bc (L. Postumius Albinus, Spurius’son, and Q . Opimius). Consequently, the ludi Florales became annual in 154 bc, rather than in 173 bc as up to now believed, also due to the lack of opposition by that year’s censors. Such games were characterized by impressive lasciviousness and debauchery, and it was for this reason that Piso saw in that year the collapse of pudicitia, one of the basic values of the mos maiorum.
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