as so written by C. Asinius Pollio, in a Roman and Republican spirit. That was tradition, inescapable. The Roman and the sen

stus from panegyric and revive the testimony of the vanquished cause. That would merely substitute one form of biography for

an statesman cannot stand alone, without allies, without a following. That axiom holds both for the political dynasts of the

m NotesPage=>007 (No Notes) PageBook=>008 a government. That was left to Caesar’s heir, at the head of a new c

might appear to open the final act in the fall of the Roman Republic. That was not the opinion of their enemy Cato: he blame

ue principum amicitias et arma nondum expiatis uncta cruoribus. 3 That formulation deserved and found wide acceptance. 4

ho became firm supporters of the new order. 6 NotesPage=>019 1 That of Q. Servilius Caepio, cos. 106; cf. Münzer, RA,

1 Plutarch, Pompeius 44; Cato minor 30. Cf. Münzer, RA, 349 ff. 2 That it need not have been a serious matter is shown b

est for an augurship against M. Antonius, sent from Gaul by Caesar. 3 That event showed clearly the strength of the opposing

ess the domination of Caesar and the destruction of the Free State. That was the nemesis of ambition and glory, to be thwa

ted in the Senate by honourable men, at the foot of his own statue. That was not the point. The cause of Pompeius had beco

sumed the title of Divi filius as consecration for the ruler of Rome. That was all he affected to inherit from Caesar, the h

ed by covert opposition, petty criticism and laudations of dead Cato. That he was unpopular he well knew. 1 ‘For all his gen

elements planned and carried out the assassination of the Dictator. That his removal would be no remedy but a source of gr

d as the flower of Italy, the pride and bulwark of the Roman State. 3 That would not avail to guard these new Italians, whet

the Senate in the sight and presence of the rehabilitated Gabinius. 2 That assembly now harboured many other clients whom Ci

sed here. 2 The unification of Italy is often dated much too early. That it can have been neither rapid nor easy is demons

occasion, therefore, to exaggerate his work, in motive or in effects. That he was aware of the need to unify Italy will perh

39 B.C.), on whom below, p. 199. PageBook=>094 obscure men. 1 That might be expected: it is the earliest consuls tha

l vice or flagrant cowardice are trivial, ridiculous or conventional. That the private life of the Caesarian soldier was car

cease to be a province at the end of the year and be added to Italy. That would preclude competition for a post of vantage

therefore might be said to have encouraged the designs of Octavianus. That was all they had in common in character, career a

link in a new political alignment between Caesarians and Republicans. That prospect would certainly appeal to his mother-in-

of Cicero preserved none of the letters he received from Octavianus. That is not surprising: the editor knew his business.

mned for cold and brutal treachery towards a parent and a benefactor. That facile and partial interpretation will be repulse

sake of peace and the common good, all power had to pass to one man. That was not the worst feature of monarchy it was the

hampions of liberty and the laws, of peace and legitimate government. That was precisely the question at Rome where and what

best to curb the dangerous and anachronistic liberties of the People. That was the first duty of every Roman statesman. Th

s patently in the right when summoning him to surrender the province. That point Cicero could not dispute. He therefore had

r, by a faction in the Senate and war against the proconsul Antonius. That prospect was cheerfully envisaged. What resources

, the patrician Q. Fabius Maximus (cos. 45 B.C.), had died in office. That left six consulars of the years 48-45. 4 Phil.

there was still no certain knowledge at Rome at the end of the year. That they would in fact not go to their trivial provin

rank upon a private citizen. It had not been done even for Pompeius. That the free vote of the People, and that alone, deci

ple, whether democratic or aristocratic, of the Republican state. 1 That was not the only irregularity practised by the pa

Antonius (and of his agents) should have been declared null and void. That was not done until early in February. The argumen

omise might save appearances: which did not meet the ideas of Cicero. That the embassy would fail he proclaimed in public an

lding with a legion. 5 Besiegers and besieged alike joined Cassius. That was not all. The Caesarian A. Allienus was conduc

so small a share could not compensate the ravages of a long siege. That was not the worst. The conduct of the war by the

save the State’. 5 Octavianus and his army grew daily more menacing. That young man had got wind of a witticism of Cicero h

honoured, lifted up and lifted off. 1 Cicero may never have said it. That did not matter. The happy invention epitomized al

e Republic went over without hesitation. A praetor committed suicide. That was the only bloodshed. The senators advanced to

face as an equal. Antonius had been thwarted and defeated at Mutina. That was enough. It lay neither in the plans nor even

puer qui omnia nomini debes’, as Antonius had said, and many another. That splendid name was now dishonoured. Caesar’s heir

enators or pacific knights, anxiously abstaining from Roman politics. That was no defence. Varro was an old Pompeian, poli

ved in Syria more than eighteen months earlier, and rallied promptly. That was the only weak spot in the forces of the Repub

nd killed. 3 Caesar’s heir would soon be trapped and crushed at last. That way all odds pointed and most men’s hopes. In h

39 B.C.), the compact of the dynasts a mere respite in the struggle. That was not to be known. At the end of 40 B.C. the do

ing lands and founding colonies more on provincial than Italian soil. That was politic and perhaps necessary. Of the legio

Few senators can have believed in the sincerity of such professions. That did not matter. Octavianus was already exploring

the party of Antonius, by contrast, became more and more Pompeian. That was not the only advantage now resting with Octav

ears when Rome yet displayed the name and the fabric of a free state. That was not so long ago. But they had changed with th

roves near Jericho and the monopoly of the bitumen from the Dead Sea. That munificence did not content the dynastic pride an

and useful. Many of these men had never yet sat in the Roman Senate. That mattered little now, it is true. They NotesPage

hroned Armenian, was led in golden chains to pay homage to Cleopatra. That was not all. Another ceremony was staged in the g

been represented as a ‘sacred marriage’. 2 A flagrant anachronism. That ‘ritual marriage’, though fertile with twin offsp

e should be a siren: she must be made a Fury ‘fatale monstrum’. 2 That was the point where Antonius was most vulnerable,

ianus; he proposed a motion of censure which was vetoed by a tribune. That closed the session. Octavianus meanwhile muster

Cleopatra had finally triumphed. Antonius formally divorced Octavia. That act, denoting the rupture of his amicitia with Oc

eunuchs, her mosquito-nets and all the apparatus of oriental luxury. That was absurd; and they knew what war was like. On a

tonius stripped of his powers and of the consulate for the next year. That office he allotted to an aristocratic partisan, V

abandoned the Albanian coast and the western end of the Via Egnatia. That might appear an error: it was probably a ruse. An

a more delicate problem. ‘A multitude of Caesars is no good thing. ’3 That just observation sealed the fate of Ptolemy Caesa

upon unworthy and criminal aliens the dominions of the Roman People. That did not matter now. The gifts to the NotesPage=

pporting rival claimants to the insecure throne of Parthian monarchy. That kingdom, indeed, though difficult to an invader a

city did a hero win divine honours in life and divinity after death. That was the lesson of Romulus: it was enunciated in p

n des Prinzipats, 8 ff. 3 BMC, R. Emp. 1, 112. 4 Dio 53, 1, I ff. That this was done in virtue of censoria potestas is s

sular authority over a large provincia, namely Spain, Gaul and Syria. That and nothing more. 1 For the rest, proconsuls were

14). Dio does not explicitly mention a grant of proconsular imperium. That such there was, however, is clear enough. Premers

ed and checked by wise counsellors. PageBook=>314 into Heaven. That was too much like Caesar the Dictator. Moreover,

d repair the body politic. 4 But Pompeius was sinister and ambitious. That princeps did not cure, but only aggravated, the i

Cicero’s character and Cicero’s style; and Pollio detested Plancus. That much more than the memory and the oratory of Cice

receiving form and shape in the New Republic of Caesar Augustus. 3 That would be comforting, if true. It only remains to

the ideal state that was realized under the Principate of Augustus. 1 That is an anachronism: the theorists of antiquity sit

ar to Cicero: the speeches of his peers and rivals have all perished. That being so, the resurgence of phrases, and even of

e forma revocata. ’2 The words have a venerable and antiquarian ring. That is all; and that is enough to show them up. Sue

tem of government, the identity of the agents and ministers of power. That task has all too often been ignored or evaded.

ed for proconsuls of consular rank, with a tenure longer than annual. That would be most unfortunate. 3 Among the ex-consuls

ain, Gaul and Syria, becoming proconsul of all those regions himself. That was NotesPage=>326 1 Dio 53, 12. Dio assig

rnors of provinces. To begin with, they are praetorian in a majority. That was to be expected. Consulars who had governed va

dumb, even if the Princeps were an infant, an idiot or an absentee. That would take time. Augustus’ provincia at once call

allowed to retain his military imperium within the gates of the city. That was only one part of the scheme: he now devised a

west, lacking, however, authority over the provinces of the Senate. 1 That was to come later and later too the jealously gua

his raid into the land of the distant and proverbial Garamantes. 3 That was not all. The appointment of a pair of censors

to Republican practices and a beginning of social and moral reform. 4 That process was to be celebrated as the inauguration

ge and honour and would reveal all too barely the realities of power. That would never do. M. Vipsanius Agrippa was an awkwa

at little power resided in the decorative office and title of consul. That was novel and revolutionary. Not indeed that a sh

Augustus alone the advancement of novi homines under the Principate? That is to leave out the influence of his adherents. T

hey were liberated from control and restored to Republican freedom. That there was change and development is clear. The mi

d in 29-28 B.C. PageBook=>370 The Senate had been purged once. That was not enough for Augustus. He may have hoped to

red members. He professed half that size to be ideal and desirable. 1 That would have been harsh and narrow; even with a Sen

abolished by a statesman who claimed to have restored the Free State. That was left to Augustus’ successor, no doubt in virt

unamiable, or at least unpopular, like Titius, Tarius and Quirinius. That was no bar. Others were not merely his allies, bo

for those political pests, the demagogue and the military adventurer. That did not mean that the direction of the government

et tanta negotia solus, res Italas armis tuteris, moribus ornes. 1 That was polite homage. Agrippa was gone, Taurus perha

fortem in primis, belli ac rei militaris peritum (In Pisonem 54). 2 That is, on the assumption that Labienus was, from the

eriod of his sojourn as vicegerent of the eastern lands (17-13 B.C.). That was one solution of the political danger. But Agr

e staff of slaves and workmen which he had recruited and trained. 5 That could not go on. After 19 B.C. there were no more

nors of provinces. 4 Yet not entirely at the expense of the Senate. That body even regains for a time the prerogative of c

debate and determine the paramount questions of governmental policy. That was the work of other bodies, which kept and left

to be his colleague, ib. 1, 24. 3 Suetonius, Divus Aug. 58, 2. 4 That is, if the magister fratrum Arvalium on the fragm

may not have given the Princeps the power of making war and peace. 2 That was not necessary. Embassies from foreign powers

Tiberius retired‘ne fulgor suus orientium iuvenum obstaret initiis’. That was the reason which Tiberius himself gave at a l

d his prayer that they should inherit his position in their turn. 2 That was too much. Tiberius and Drusus had received sp

erist offered to go to Rhodes and bring back the head of the exile. 3 That was excessive. There were other symptoms. Nemausu

om some authorities substituted Cn. Piso (cos. 7 B.C.) for Arruntius. That is not the only uncertainty here. The MS. of Taci

r to Seianus’ son (Tacitus, Ann. 6, 30). Tiberius did not remove him. That was not from fear of a civil war, as Tacitus repo

him unwilling to contemplate the execution of one of his own blood. 2 That interpretation was not meant to shield Augustus b

for a statesman of resolution ’iustum et tenacem propositi virum’. 3 That way a mortal had ascended to heaven. Though bitte

which he declined, professing it inconsistent with the ‘mos maiorum’. That office savoured of regimentation, its title was a

e old spirit of firm, dignified and decent worship of the Roman gods. That was the moral source of Rome’s power: nam quant

oncepts of economic science, or reveal the manner of their operation. That would be inexpedient. The political theorists of

ow reconciled to Rome: it might be added that the other was a Picene. That was no palliation. These men before all others sh

etiam rusticitatis antiquae retinet ac servat. ’ PageBook=>453 That there was a certain duplicity in the social progr

s. 453 1 Odes 2, 15, 10 ff. 2 Dio 56, 10, 3. PageBook=>454 That will not suffice to prove that the Princeps was m

bits of a whole people and restore the ideals of a governing class. That the official religion of the Roman People was for

of Roman morality, was forced to express his doubts to the Senate. 1 That a change later came over the Roman aristocracy wa

the Italian bourgeoisie. 2 But they were a tough and military stock. That was what was wanted. Nor indeed was recruiting

however, no systematic exploitation of literature on the grand scale. That was left for Augustus. Propaganda outweighed arms

ple. PageNotes. 461 1 Virgil, Aen. 6, 726 f. PageBook=>462 That did not matter. The New State had its lyric poet,

4 The character of the epic hero is neither splendid nor striking. That was not intended. The perpetual guidance lavished

domination, but the unity of Rome and Italy, reconciliation at last. That was his mission: nec mihi regna peto: paribus s

s not unhappy in his last choice, a virtuous and excellent woman. 1 That did not matter. Ovid was a disgrace. He had refus

the Princeps: the proceeds went towards dedications in the temples. 2 That was not all. When Augustus carried out his organi

egular and more productive. The publicani were superseded or reduced. That did not mean an end of oppression and injustice.

the present order. For the sake of peace, the Principate had to be. That was admitted. But was Augustus the ideal Princeps

against the Principate but against the Princeps. PageBook=>480 That might be doubted. The person and habits of August

mic historian. 2 Livy had come to history from the study of rhetoric. That was not the only defect that Pollio could discove

. 6 Labienus’ writings were officially condemned and publicly burned. That did not matter, said Cassius Severus, who had the

nto the reign of Augustus produced no more consuls after that time. That was not all. To Roman and aristocratic pride the

y Asprenas the proconsul of Africa (Ann. 1, 53). PageBook=>494 That was fitting. From the day when the great ancestor

man and Republican virtue. The Principate was not a monarchy in name. That made it all the worse. The duty of rule was a gri

eat courtier, an artist in adulation and the husband of princesses. 1 That was the end of a Sabine family. Passienus could n

ancient families whose names embodied the history of Republican Rome. That was not the worst. Political liberty had to go, f

liberty; and political rights are a means, not an end in themselves. That end is security of life and property: it could no

rves. 4 The New State might be called monarchy, or by any other name. That did not matter. Personal rights and private statu

t their own or mulcted of their lands for the benefit of the legions. That was over. The Republic was something that a prude

e ‘Guardian of the Roman Empire and Governor of the Whole World’. 1 That the power of Caesar Augustus was absolute, no con