Resumen de Dire le vœu sur le champ de bataille
When one examines the notes from ancient authors – those of Titus Livius in particular – relative to the votives from temples in the context of battle, one notes that they are most frequently characterised by the presence of factual elements and lines of recurring expressions. Thus, a number of these notes bring to light the circumstances – sometimes the precise moment of battle – in which the vow was supposed to have been delivered, matching up well in this sphere with the epigraphic tradition of the Republican era. Some of them even retain the styles of diction of the vow, real or reconstructed, that correspond clearly, as much by their content as their style, to those that we know through inscriptions. Whether it is a question of historical facts duly documented or of more or less mythical reconstructions, this tendency towards precision truly reflects the manner of recording of this type of data in the official documents of the roman state, in particular the papal registers, without doubt from the end of the 4th century BC. It also constitutes a characteristic trait even of a type of Latin annal. The analysis of the notes, of which the original text is offered as an appendix to this article, therefore allows, within a historical sphere, an appreciation of the circumstances in which these types of vows were really delivered : originally true ritualistic tools, probably reserved for important military situations, they then became more and more frequent on account of the growth of the prestige that their authors conferred to the construction of votive temples, soon perceived as much as evidence of the support of the gods to its members, old or new, by the roman political class.
