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This article examines the consequences of Justus Lipsius' emendation of Livy 22.10.6, the final sentence of the ver sacrum vowed after the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene in 217 BCE. After a brief discussion of the historical context of the vow, we turn to the text as transmitted by the earliest manuscript, the fifth-century Codex Puteanus. Lipsius rendered the mss. anteidea as antidea, a hapax legomenon. Subsequent editors experimented with a range of other changes in order to facilitate a particular understanding of the clause in question, and this process has had a lasting impact on translations and interpretations of the vow. If we dispense with the historical expectations that complicated the text in the first place, the importance of Lipsius' antidea becomes both simple and clear: in 217, the harsh antithesis between rash and prudent commanders had yet to be articulated, and the collectivity of the Senate and Roman people looked forward to a swift end for the Hannibalic War.

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The volume is generally well produced with few typographical errors or omissions (though note Blösel 2003 and Kragelund 2016, repeatedly cited without the year, p. 22). The bibliography is extensive, although there is limited engagement with J. Rüpke's (inter alios) extensive work on 'lived ancient religions'. This is perhaps an artefact of K.'s organisation of the work as a series of tightly focused studies, but this literature seems relevant to overall questions and themes raised here. K.'s style is combative, but his attempt to advance scholarship on a thorny subject by questioning long-held assumptions is commendable. His work finds its place among a growing literature emphasising the tangible and significant impact that Roman religion and ritual had on quotidian political practice (cf. F. Santangelo, Divination, Prediction, and the End of the Roman Republic [2017]; L. Driediger-Murphy, Roman Republican Augury [2019]), while engaging robustly in the debate surrounding the nature of the Roman constitution (cf. F. Van Haeperen, CCG 23 [2012]; F.J. Vervaet, The High Command in the Roman Republic [2014]; F.K. Drogula, Commanders and Command [2015]). Overall, this work presents a useful, challenging read for scholars of Roman Republican constitutional and religious history.

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