Parentes alere: imperatori, giuristi e declamatori

The Alimenta requirement was of legal importance for the family, according to the prevailing doctrine, only during the principality, developing through cognitio extra ordinem and the imperial constitutions. The analysis here focuses on the obligation of children towards their parents, where two rescripts are fundamental: those of Antoninus Pius and Divi Fratres, as well as two sententiae attributed to Hadrian, the authenticity of which seems to be accepted today. But, besides the later imperial provisions, the jurists of the first principality were already theorizing about the feeding of parents by their children. In such a context, to better understand the transition from moral duty to legal duty, the author has focused on the world of rhetorical literature, as this has often been the subject matter of rhetoricians. One of the most common provisions in the schools of rhetoric is the one which requires children to provide food for their parentes, under pain of being chained. Because lawyers had a thorough rhetorical training, both this rule and the arguments put forward in the demonstrative part of their rhetorical speeches may have played a decisive role in further legal theorization.