La ‘libertas’ nell'Italia del VI secolo

Libertas was an ideological cornerstone of the Ostrogothic Kingdom. Theoderic portrayed himself as the only defender of both the Senate’s and Italy’s freedom in Cassiodorus’ Variae, while South Gaul, which had been occupied by the Ostrogoths after the War of Provence, was restored by the Ostrogothic sovereign to its ‘antiqua libertas’, that is to the freedom that existed at the time of the Roman Empire. Libertas therefore played a fundamental role in the ‘imitatio Imperii’ pursued by Theoderic, who called himself ‘custos libertatis’ in an inscription. During the Gothic War libertas was also claimed by Byzantium, who accused the Goths of having enslaved the Italians. Cassiodorus and Procopius of Caesarea attest that the concept of libertas was at the center of the ideological confrontation that opposed Ravenna and Constantinople during those years. Justinian’s victory resulted in the adoption, by later writers, such as Paul the Deacon, of the imperial meaning of freedom, but the most important consequence of the conflict was another. While Italy was ravaged by the war, many people, such as Cassiodorus, Jordanes and Arator, chose to devote their lives to a third form of freedom, the one achievable by a religious life. From the sixth century onwards, the true defenders of libertas were not kings and generals, but monks and pontiffs.