TY - BOOK AU - Simon,Isabelle TI - An Aspect of Imperial Largesse: The Sparsiones of Missilia in Rome (First Century BC to Third Century AD) PY - 2009///. N1 - 10 N2 - The Roman emperor was expected to practice liberalitas, one of the imperial virtues. During the first three centuries of the Principate, imperial liberalitas included different types of bounties. We focus on the public distributions of money, food, clothes, and various objects called sparsiones de missilia. This paper aims at explaining the way these benefactions were conferred and what they symbolized. It highlights the role played by Fortuna in the sharing out of the different kinds of goods. The originality of these gifts partly consists in their random sharing. The Prince also appeared to be an omnipotent benefactor thanks to them UR - https://shs.cairn.info/journal-revue-historique-2008-4-page-763?lang=en&redirect-ssocas=7080 ER -