Amici e nemici di Roma: nota esegetica a Cassio Dione 72.13.3 Boiss.

This paper offers an exegetical note on Cassius Dio 72.13.3 (Exc. UG 59), reconstructing the affair of the Quadic rex Φούρτιος/Furtius, a pro-Roman sovereign installed by Marcus Aurelius and subsequently deposed by the Quadi themselves in favour of Ariogaesus. Through comparison with several cases of the enthronement of reges externi holding functional citizenship, the author situates the Roman practice of designating favoured sovereigns among the Danubian peoples. The competing Germanic and Sarmatian etymologies of the name Φούρτιος are discussed, proposing the identification of the deposed rex with an original Κούρτιος of Iazygian extraction, connected to the Dacian governor C. Curtius Iustus. The paper closes with an analysis of the fate of Ariogaesus, exiled to Egypt, read as an instance of a Roman practice of clemency toward deposed reges socii.