Codex Fori Mussolini - 1932
The Codex
Fori Mussolini tells the story of Italy and Fascism, from the First
World War up to the year 1932. It consists of three sections. The first section
begins with the First World War and the unstable political situation in Italy
that followed it. Benito Mussolini is introduced as a man of superhuman
qualities and intellect who suddenly appears, determined to restore Italy to
prosperity and power. The second section presents some of Mussolini’s political
projects in Italy from his seizure of power (1922) up until the moment of
writing (ca. 1932): the Lateran accords; the improvement of the Italian navy
and air force; the introduction of the system of corporations; several building
projects in Rome and elsewhere in Italy; road construction and excavations of
ancient remains; achievements in agriculture and the stabilisation of the Lira.
The section concludes with general praise of Mussolini’s personal qualities and
an affirmation of his regime. The third and longest section deals with the
Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB: the regime’s youth organization) and its
architectural prestige project, the Foro Mussolini. This section also mentions
the first head of the ONB, Renato Ricci (1896–1956), and details ONB’s
educational activities. Next, the text deals with the Foro Mussolini, a project
Ricci conceived to promote ONB’s activities and to commemorate the achievements
of Fascism. After describing the location and the buildings and facilities of
the Foro, the text focuses on the marble obelisk under which the Codex was
buried; it also details the discovery of the block of marble from which it was
carved, its transportation to Rome and its erection. The Codex ends
by praising the obelisk’s eternal commemorative power.
The Codex
Fori Mussolini was written on parchment decorated by Enrico Brignoli
in the workshop of Nestore Leoni (1862–1947). It was deposited in a metal box,
containing a few gold coins, under the marble obelisk at the Foro Italico in
Rome, erected to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Fascist regime in
1932 (on the Foro Italico, the obelisk, and the deposit itself, see Lamers and
Reitz-Joosse 2017: 28-81).
The text presented here is taken from the edition by Lamers and Reitz-Joosse (2017: 84-95), as is the English translation that accompanies it. The critical notes follow the abbreviations from this edition, which follows the latest known authorized version of the text (S/C). The Codex was first printed in a rambling edition in the Bollettino dell’Opera Nazionale Balilla in 1932 (Amatucci 1932 = B), which was reprinted without substantial corrections (and new errors) in Il Foro Mussolini in 1937 (Amatucci 1937). A better and revised version of the text was published in the educational journal Scuola e cultura in 1933 (Amatucci 1933a = S), which was republished as a separate brochure in the same year (Amatucci 1933b = C). For the details of these editions and their mutual differences, see Lamers and Reitz-Joosse (2017: 8-9).
Bibliography
Latin texts
Amatucci, Aurelio Giuseppe. 1932. ‘Codex Fori Mussolini’. Bollettino
dell’Opera Nazionale Balilla 7 (2) (15 November): 3-5.
———. 1933a. Codex Fori Mussolini. Florence: Le Monnier.
———. 1933b. ‘Codex Fori Mussolini’. Scuola e cultura: Annali dell'istruzione media 9 (2): 153–58.
———. 1937. ‘[Codex
Fori Mussolini]’. In Il Foro Mussolini, edited by Opera Nazionale
Balilla, 103–4. Milan: Bompiani.
Secondary sources
Lamers, Han, and Bettina Reitz-Joosse. 2016a. ‘Lingua Lictoria: The Latin
Literature of Italian Fascism’. Classical Receptions Journal 8
(2): 216–52.
———. 2016b. The Codex Fori Mussolini: A Latin Text of Italian Fascism.
London [etc.]: Bloomsbury.
Sacré, Dirk. 2020. ‘Die neulateinische Literatur in Mussolinis Italien’.
In Studies in the Latin Literature and Epigraphy of Italian Fascism,
edited by Han Lamers, Bettina Reitz-Joosse, and Valerio Sanzotta, 13–50.
Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 46. Leuven: Leuven University Press.
Han Lamers & Bettina
Reitz-Joosse
VERGIL, Ecl. 4.5.
ON THE OCCASION OF THE FIRST DECENNALE OF THE RESTORED FASCES
HAIL!
by Aurelio Giuseppe Amatucci, painted with miraculous skill
by Enrico Brignoli at Rome in the workshop of Nestore Leoni, and placed
in the base of the monolithic obelisk of the Foro Mussolini on 27 October 1932.
Critical Notes
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1) sint BF : essent SC
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2) aspera BF : asperrima SC
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3) bonus BF : optimus SC
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4) euersasque se BF : euersasque SC
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5) susceperit BF : suscepit SC
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6) artem aliquam BF : aliquam artem SC
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7) asque BF : atque SC
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8) Lictoriis BF : his Lictoriis SC
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9) extera gentes F : exteras gentes BSC
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10) animam BF : animum SC
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11) FORUM MUSSOLINI F : Forum Mussolini BSC
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12) extitit F: exstitit SC
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13) adulescentium BF : iuuentutis SC
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14) F has vertical lines on both sides of the number; BSC have the same vertical lines with the addition of a horizontal line on top.
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15) Tirrheno BF : Tyrrheno SC
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16) Divi Pauli portum BF : divi Pauli portum SC
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17) Divi Pauli portu BF : divi Pauli portu SC
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18) MCMXXX (VIII) BF : MCMXXX SC
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19) V. Oct. BF : V Kal. Nou. SC
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20) FORI MUSSOLINI F : Fori Mussolini SC
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21) XI a fasc. instaur. BF : OB FASC. INSTAUR. DECENNALIA PRIMA FELICITER SC
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22) Hic codex … p. Chr. n. om. BF