La forma breve della prosa nella storiografia latina d'età imperiale e tarda

This study aims to examine some more significant texts of the Latin historiographical
tradition of the imperial age to identify the features and possibilities
of the short form of writing in prose. In fact, the short form is not imposed by
the limits and difficulties of the writer or by the incompetence and haste of the
public, but corresponds to a precise determination of the author in accordance
with a rhetorical approach and in response to the literary taste of the time,
which can be documented in several areas and particularly in the encyclopaedic
genre. Considered in these respects, the work of Eutropius and the whole tradition
of breviarii appears, both from a literary and rhetoric point of view, a very
interesting laboratory of writing and style, and not just a repertoire of texts for
school use only.