ABSTRACT
The reflections of modern scholars on the ancient concept of 'security' are drawn from the texts of Lucretius, Cicero and Seneca, collected and analysed on several occasions, with partly shared considerations. The slow development of the political concept of securitas would terminate at around the middle of the first century ad: from Cicero's first reflections one must wait for Seneca's works for the conception and the consecration of Securitas as a virtus of the emperor. Between the thirties and the twenties of the last century of the Republic, a few decades after Cicero's views and 'political' theory were elaborated, Maecenas had the opportunity to act in Rome as Urbis Custos. Augustus' concrete programme regarding the security of places is clearly outlined by Suetonius: in order to halt the diffusion of armed bands of brigands, Augustus planned the installment of stationes in strategic points on the Italian peninsula with the purpose of preventing robberies and kidnappings.
