anation. In narrating the central epoch of the history of Rome I have been unable to escape from the influence of the histor

ditional’ and conventional view of the period. Much that has recently been written about Augustus is simply panegyric, wheth

controversial, the learned literature overwhelming in bulk. I have been driven to make a bold decision in the interests o

. For the sake of clearness, conventional labels or titles have often been attached; and the relevant evidence is sometimes

e his eyebrows. Its imperfections are patent and flagrant. It has not been composed in tranquillity; and it ought to be held

e State consummated in solemn and legal ceremony. The corpse had long been dead. In common usage the reign of Augustus is re

Claudii had ruled for a century. 1 The ascension of Caesar’s heir had been a series of hazards and miracles: his constitutio

tions, and Augustus the Princeps, the beneficent magistrate, men have been at a loss to account for the transmutation, and h

a nation, with a stable and enduring government. The tale has often been told, with an inevitability of events and culmina

f the unsuccessful champions of political liberty sympathy has seldom been denied. Cicero was a humane and cultivated man, a

be neutral in the struggle between Caesar and Pompeius had neutrality been possible. Pollio had powerful enemies on either s

e jealously maintained his independence. To tell the truth would have been inexpedient; and adulation was repugnant to his c

broken at Philippi. The parties of Pompeius and of Caesar had hardly been strong or coherent enough to seize control of the

s of Italy, the proportion was clearly much higher than has sometimes been imagined. Of a total of six NotesPage=>010

Roman voter could seldom be induced to elect a man whose name had not been known for centuries as a part of the history of t

n Italy had barely ended. The Samnites, Sulla’s enemy and Rome’s, had been extirpated; and the other Sabellic peoples of the

onsulate. 2 The Fabii and the main line of the Cornelii Scipiones had been saved from extinction only by taking in adoption

was immune from his control. Four years before, Pompeius had not even been a senator. The decay of the Republic, the impulsi

ons and motive of Crassus in this period, as of Caesar, have commonly been misunderstood. PageBook=>030 and resources

en among the plebeian aristocracy: its first consul (in 141 B.C.) had been promoted through patronage of the Scipiones. 4 Su

o, RR 2, 1, 2), the leading authority on goats (ib. 2, 3, 1), who had been a legate of Pompeius in the war against the Pirat

44; Cato minor 30. Cf. Münzer, RA, 349 ff. 2 That it need not have been a serious matter is shown by Ad Att. 1, 13, 3: ‘n

ith no discredit to either. Caesar’s choice was still open had it not been for Cato; and Caesar’s daughter was betrothed to

daughter Marcia, however, was the wife of Cato); and Marcellinus had been a legate of Pompeius (Appian, Mithr. 95; S1G3 750

dest and patriotic principes. 2 Which was harmless enough, had he not been emboldened to announce in the Senate an attack up

may have done much to provoke. 4 Had he dropped Caesar, he might have been entrapped by the Optimates and circumvented by Cr

dious encouragement to Cicero. Cicero, of course, complains of having been let down by the Optimates (ib., passim). 4 Cf.

a military autocracy. Their ambitions and their rivalries might have been tolerated in a small city-state or in a Rome that

lly might appear imminent. It was not so in reality. Pompeius had not been idle. Though proconsul of all Spain, he resided i

was strong enough to harm Pompeius; and Ap. Pulcher may already have been angling for an alliance. 1 The consuls achieved t

e with the aristocracy. Of the candidates for the consulate, Milo had been condemned and exiled, likewise P. Plautius Hypsae

bious. 2 Ad fam. 8, 4, 4. Marcellus’ flogging of a man of Comum had been premature and by no means to the liking of Pompei

ealed the political decline of two great houses. The Pompeii had once been hangers-on of the Scipiones. But the power and sp

querors of Carthage and of Spain, belonged only to the past. They had been able to show only one consul in the preceding gen

-W IV, 1381; 1389; 1393). 4 Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus (cos. 122) had been largely responsible for the conquest and organiza

o swift and sure as to appear pre-ordained; and history has sometimes been written as though Caesar set the tune from the be

listened and consented to an interview, their old amicitia might have been repaired. With the nominal primacy of Pompeius re

onstitution for their own ends many times in the past. Exceptions had been made before in favour of other dynasts; and Caesa

, were all at stake: to Caesar, as he claimed, ‘his dignitas had ever been dearer than life itself. ’2 Sooner than surrender

to be superseded like Lucullus, to be discarded and disgraced as had been Gabinius, the governor of Syria. If he gave way n

lusion followed swiftly. Even Cato was dismayed. 1 It had confidently been expected that the solid and respectable classes i

8, 16, 1. 3 Pompeius’ illness in the summer of 50 B.C. may not have been wholly due to physical causes. 4 Cf. E. Meyer,

to suspend judgement about the guilt of the Civil War. 3 Pompeius had been little better, if at all, than his younger and mo

rdly have survived. A few years, and Pompeius the Dictator would have been assassinated in the Senate by honourable men, at

? Was this a res publica constituta? It was disquieting. Little had been done to repair the ravages of civil war and promo

of the Caesarian party. It might appear that subsequent accounts have been guilty of attributing a part at least of the cult

powers were as considerable as those of a monarch. Caesar would have been the first to admit it: he needed neither the name

sion, this brought a tragic sense of impotence and frustration he had been all things and it was no good. 3 He had surpassed

ory. Yet it is in no way evident that the nature of Brutus would have been very different had he never opened a book of Stoi

his political conduct wholly to be predicted. Brutus might well have been a Caesarian neither he nor Caesar were predestine

o their enemies. Certain of the principes by providential death had been spared the experience of another civil war after

aesar or to the State. During the previous three years Caesar had not been able to influence the consular elections to much

colleague Messalla or his illustrious predecessors, for all four had been involved in flagrant electoral scandals. 2 For

onius Asprenas (Bell. Afr. 80, 4). Q. Marcius Crispus (ib. 77, 2) had been a legate of L. Piso in Macedonia (In Pisonem 54).

Peducaeus, attested in 48 b.c (Appian, BC 2, 48, 197), the former had been a legate of Q. Cicero in Asia (Ad Q. fratrem 1, 1

r-in-law of Brutus. D. Junius Brutus Albinus, a distant relation, had been a legate of Caesar in Gaul. For his pedigree, sho

l aristocrats. 3 Certain distinguished families of that party had not been proscribed; and some rallied soon or late to the

in politics was carried on by men called populares. Pompeius had once been a popularis, using tribunes and the advocacy of r

83 B.C., L. Cornelius Cinna (pr. 44), to whose sister Caesar had once been married, and C. Carrinas, son of the Marian gener

ilinarian P. Cornelius Sulla (a relative of the Dictator Sulla) had been prosecuted in the courts, but rescued by the able

rtisan, author of salutary legislation in defence of provincials, had been an admirable governor of Syria, as the clearest o

e as well as for military experience. His numerous legates might have been the nucleus of a formidable faction. 3 Some of th

sition. The fact that he took up arms against the party in power, had been a Marian and a popularis, was feared for a time b

d recall a family feud against Pompeius; and his consular brother had been won to Caesar by a large bribe. 5 Servilius belon

r. Caesar designated him for the consulate of 44: he cannot then have been only twenty-five, as stated by Appian, BC 2, 129,

licy of Caesar was patent to contemporaries. 3 Justice has not always been done to the generous and liberal traditions of th

avery and degradation: captured by Pompeius Strabo at Asculum, he had been led or carried in a Roman triumph. From obscure y

owerful attraction. In the last decade of the Republic there can have been few intrigues conducted and compacts arranged wit

tical intrigues, the fate of Balbus and the role of Cicero would have been very different. Balbus ruled his native Gades l

ses or high finance against Caesar. 1 The financier Atticus will have been able to forecast events with some accuracy and fa

uch to be regretted that his letters to apprehensive clients have not been preserved. Many of the bankers were already perso

nd among the officers and friends of Pompeius; 3 and it will not have been forgotten that his father had secured Latin right

province, as he reminded the ungrateful men of Hispalis. 5 Gades had been loyal to Rome since the great Punic War, and Caes

nd him building, a sign of opulence and display. 2 Senators who had been adherents of the proconsul, distinguished neutral

τί γἀ⍴ αùτῷ µέλ∊ι’; 3 Dio 43, 47, 3. The total may not really have been quite so large. 4 Ib. 43, 49, 1. Caesar clearly

t, 1,55, 22 M): A primipilaris (Orosius 5, 21, 3). But there may have been others. On the class from which Sulla’s new senat

3. PageBook=>079 Some of Caesar’s equestrian officers may have been ex-centurions. Of the senators stated once to hav

ntemptuous appellation of ‘Gaul’. Catullus’ family would perhaps have been eligible for senatorial rank, if not Virgil’s as

l magistrate at Acerrae (CIL X, 3758). L. Decidius Saxa may also have been an ex-centurion, below, p. 80, n. 1; also the Etr

colonial and Italian element is more conspicuous in Spain, which had been a Roman province for a century and a half. The Pe

ented individuals from the towns of Spain and southern Gaul will have been more acceptable to the Roman aristocracy than the

re. Provincials, freedmen or centurions, their proportion must have been tiny in an assembly that now numbered about nine

eir allotted functions a new government of national concentration had been established. Cicero shuddered to think that he

and the obscure M. Cispius, a man of character and principle who had been condemned on a charge of corruption. 3 Cicero sho

ce a devoted adherent of Cicero, for activities in whose cause he had been NotesPage=>081 1 W. Schur, Bonner Jahrbüch

es it could in truth be proved as well as stated that they had always been there. The Caecinae of Etruscan Volaterrae have t

d risen to drive them out. 8 The attempt was as vain as it would have been to expel the Aleuadae from Thessalian Larisa. Sim

s not known. Caeculus, the god who founded Praeneste, is said to have been their ancestor (Festus, p. 38 L). 4 The consul

ligarchy, not least the dynastic houses of the plebeian nobility, had been growing ever closer and more exclusive. Marius, t

nd advanced partisans to office at Rome. 1 But the Marian party had been defeated and proscribed by Sulla. The restored ol

ested and intelligible even in towns and families that had long since been incorporated in the Roman State, or at least subj

peoples, the Marsi in the forefront, without whom no triumph had ever been celebrated whether they fought against Rome or fo

unification of Italy is often dated much too early. That it can have been neither rapid nor easy is demonstrated by the fac

vilege but to destroy Rome. They nearly succeeded. Not until they had been baffled and shattered in war did the fierce Itali

Silo, cf. Plutarch, Cato minor 2. 3 A large part of Italy must have been outside the control of the Roman government in th

ed, but only in name, not in sentiment. At first the new citizens had been cheated of the full and equal exercise of their f

e full and equal exercise of their franchise, a grant which had never been sincerely made; and many Italians had no use for

rst senator was very recent. 2 But Tusculum, and even Atina, had long been integral members of the Roman State. It was no

ulze, ib.). 6 C. Sallustius Crispus’ town of origin is said to have been Amiternum (Jerome, Chron., p. 151 H). A certain P

us as a muleteer. 3 His career was laborious, but his origin may have been reputable. History has record of a family of Vent

A unity in terms of geography but in nothing else, the peninsula had been a mosaic of races, languages and dialects. The ad

s Salvidienus Rufus perished when cos. des. (in 40). C. Billienus had been a potential consul c. 105–100 B.C., cf. Cicero, B

esson. Nor would a seat in the lower ranks of the Senate at Rome have been an extreme honour and unmixed blessing to the des

can kings or even to an Italian magnate. Of the consulate there had been scant prospect in the past. But the triumph of a

He was correct but other novi homines, socially more eminent, had not been debarred in that period; and Cicero was soon to w

. Didius (98), C. Coelius Caldus (94), and M. Herennius (93) may have been helped by him. 3 L. Licinius Murena (cos. 62),

tary man Ser. Sulpicius Galba alleged personal resentment: he had not been made consul. 5 To the Picene landowner L. Minuciu

t. The Liberators remained ensconced upon the Capitol. Their coup had been countered by the Caesarian leaders, who, in negot

. The funeral oration delivered by Antonius (March 20th) may not have been intended as a political manifesto of the Caesaria

fest to the assassins and to their sympathizers. The harm had already been done. Not the funeral of Caesar but the session o

us forsworn its principles and appealed to arms, their end would have been rapid and violent. The moderates, the party of Ca

terans in Italy, and the Caesarian armies in the provinces would have been too strong. The Liberators had not planned a se

not to be blamed. Of consulars, the casualties in the Civil Wars had been heavy: only two of the Pompeians, professed or ge

avourite. More truly representative of the Roman People should have been the soldiers of the legions and the inhabitants o

whose station and dignity they took up arms against his enemies, had been treacherously slain by those whom he trusted and

s Decimus Brutus and Trebonius before all. The honour of the army had been outraged. Though Rome and the army were degener

his allies did not. The price was civil war. Even had the Liberators been willing to pay it, they could find little to enco

vinces. 1 What happened is obscure the provinces in question may have been allotted on March 18th. Early in April Decimus Br

regretted by many, but not to be avenged; an assertion of liberty had been answered by the Caesarian leaders with concord in

for more than a year. The task was delicate, and Caesar may not have been altogether satisfied with his deputy. Yet there i

t be put down to his cowardice or to Caesar’s distrust. Dolabella had been a great nuisance in 47 B.C., during Caesar’s abse

ed them to be away from Rome: a temporary absence at least might have been admitted by the friends of Brutus, to salvage pol

ortune seemed to smile upon the Roman State and upon Antonius. It had been feared that the assassination of Caesar would hav

r from abounding in ready cash. Most of the debatable money must have been expended in the purchase of lands for the veteran

rty, there were rivals here and potential adversaries. Antonius had been no friend of Dolabella in the last three years: y

was dead. Averse from compromise and firm on principle, he would have been a nuisance to any government: not less so, but fo

. Cornificius held Africa Vetus, without legions; his predecessor had been C. Calvisius Sabinus. PageBook=>111 the pr

nsular marshals evaded undue prominence, Fufius and Caninius, who had been legates of Caesar in Gaul and elsewhere, and Cn.

The tenure of the consular provinces, Syria and Macedonia, which had been assigned to Dolabella and Antonius some two month

1 He objected that a lex curiata ratifying the adoption had not yet been passed (cf. esp. Dio 45, 5, 3; Appian, BC 3, 14,

r recital of lost opportunities. 3 The Ludi Ceriales had apparently been postponed from the end of April to the middle of

the meeting of the Senate announced for August 1st; it may also have been known who was to take the lead, namely the respec

air prospect of concord or a subtle intrigue against the consul had been brought to nought. Antonius, for his part, had

the consul had been brought to nought. Antonius, for his part, had been constrained to an unwelcome decision. In no mood

s and Cassius. His professions, both public and private, had hitherto been couched in a vein of conciliation; his recent spe

his command, hardly even a part of it, the Cisalpina, which may have been Piso’s proposal (cf. Appian, BC 3, 30, 115). It m

in Cicero, Phil. 2. 113; 10, 8. PageBook=>120 July has already been narrated. He might invoke the tribunate, emulatin

never a trace of theoretical preoccupations: if it did, it would have been very different and very short. Lessons might in

riends and a coherent party. For lack of that, the great Pompeius had been forced at the last into a fatal alliance with his

last into a fatal alliance with his enemies the oligarchs. Caesar had been saved because he had a party behind him. It was c

study of political cant and the practice of a dissimulation that had been alien to the splendid and patrician nature of Cae

tain of the veteran soldiers of his bodyguard, alleging that they had been suborned by Octavianus to assassinate him. Octavi

territory of Picenum. 3 The coalition of March 17th had not merely been split and shattered: it was being rebuilt, this t

f. Münzer, Hermes LXXI (1936), 226 ff.; P-W XIX, 38 ff. Q. Pedius had been legate in Gaul (BG 2, 2, 1, &c.) and proconsu

1, 17, 4). No mention of either by Cicero their mere names would have been a damaging revelation. Salvidienus may well have

ames would have been a damaging revelation. Salvidienus may well have been an equestrian officer in Caesar’s army. On the lo

was the same age to within a year as Octavianus, and is said to have been his schoolfellow (Nicolaus, Vita Caesaris 7, 16).

t was in truth what in defamation the most admirable causes had often been called a faction: its activity lay beyond the con

istory for four years: the manner of his return shows that he had not been inactive. 5 The Caesarian Rabirius Postumus also

206). About the last three names few attempts at identification have been made, none satisfactory. Λ∈ύκιος might be Balbus

ps unsavoury individuals, such as Mindius Marcellus, whose father had been active as a business man in Greece. Mindius enric

th come forward to arraign by prosecution a proconsul alleged to have been corrupt, incompetent and calamitous. Piso, howeve

followed Cato and Pompeius in the Civil War. Servilius, however, had been ensnared by Caesar, perhaps with a bribe to his a

ribe to his ambition, the consulate of 48 B.C. Servilius may not have been a man of action yet he governed the province of A

r to destroy the Caesarian party. Cicero claimed that he had always been consistent in his political ideal, though not in

te and entered the ranks of the governing oligarchy. Cicero had never been a revolutionary not even a reformer. In the years

nce to principle and denial of compromise; and he claimed that he had been abandoned by the allies of Cato. Towards Pompeius

e NotesPage=>138 1 Ad Att. 7, 15, 2. 2 He may, however, have been influenced by circumstantial rumours. It was by n

ave it, what better champion than a patriot who boasted never to have been a party politician? As Antonius had once said to

sharp perception that neither the policy nor the party of Caesar had been abolished brought a rapid disillusionment. Even b

esarian position were rudely dispelled. Cicero’s changed decision had been all in vain. He persisted, however, and returned,

en he made his decision to return, Cicero did not know that unity had been restored in the Caesarian party. Again, in the fi

d of the young Caesar: yet the existence of Antonius’ rival must have been reckoned as a political factor by Cicero and P. S

us was later to recall with bitter rebuke. 1 Octavianus has sometimes been condemned for cold and brutal treachery towards a

possessed by an overweening opinion of his own sagacity: it had ever been his hope to act as political mentor to one of the

tion legalized. The offensive was therefore launched earlier than had been expected. Now came the last and heroic hour, in

after March 17th when concord and ordered government might still have been achieved. Now, at last, a chance had come to re

ut simply the ancestral constitution of Rome as it was or should have been a century earlier, namely a stable and balanced s

treatise was published in 51 B.C. About the same time Cicero had also been at work upon the Laws, which described in detail

ero’s political feuds, however spirited at the outset, had not always been sustained with constancy. 1 Cicero might rail at

able youth. The speeches in defence of Vatinius and Gabinius have not been preserved. One learns, however, that the strange

of devout but harmless Pythagorean practices; 8 and Gabinius had once been called a ‘vir fortis’, a pillar of Rome’s empire

testable as Antonius. From youth he had revelled in cruelty: such had been his lusts that no modest person could mention the

derided as a wild Celtiberian:6 he was a partisan of Antonius. Had he been on the right side, he would have been praised no

a partisan of Antonius. Had he been on the right side, he would have been praised no less than that man from Gades, the irr

ing at regnum or dominatio that was too simple, too crude. It had all been heard before: but it might be hard to resist the

ather than a programme. If the political literature of the period had been more abundantly preserved, it might be discovered

pty names. Roman discipline, inexorable in the wars of the State, had been entirely relaxed. The soldiers, whether pressed i

he traditional phrases were useful and necessary had not the Republic been rescued from tyranny and restored to vigour? Octa

ith their kinsman and leader M. Junius Brutus, whether or no they had been implicated in the Ides of March. Like Brutus hims

ealed a marked deficiency in vigour, decision and authority. ‘We have been let down by the principes’; such was the constant

frica and of Illyricum were in the hands of Caesarians. Macedonia had been almost completely stripped of its garrison. Anton

discordance of policy and aim. The programme of Cicero had already been established and made public on December 20th. On

invoked to confer senatorial rank upon a private citizen. It had not been done even for Pompeius. That the free vote of the

friends of Antonius, however, it meant that a declaration of war had been averted; for the advocates of concord, a respite

gal until the legislation of Antonius (and of his agents) should have been declared null and void. That was not done until e

d two years as the tenure of a consular province: but that might have been contested, for Antonius’ command was not a normal

nate and hence subject to Caesar’s ordinance. Secondly, the law had been passed in defiance of the auspicia: but that plea

cia: but that plea was very weak, for the authority of sacred law had been largely discredited by its partisan and unscrupul

n effect a public enemy and beyond the law. Cicero himself had always been an advocate of peace. But this was different a ju

tivities of this influential and wealthy country gentleman could have been described in very different terms. 2 Ad fam. 12

ands; and not only Macedonia Vatinius the governor of Illyricum had been unable to prevent his legions from passing over.

n, the living and the dead, new and extraordinary honours had already been devised. 2 A thanksgiving of fifty days was decre

n of Octavianus. Hirtius and Pansa, at the head of armies, might have been able to arrest hostilities after the defeat of An

n the Senate showed their hand. The position of M. Brutus had already been legalized. Shortly after the news of Mutina, the

idus was not as vigilant against the dangers of fraternization as had been the generals of Pompeius. He did not wish to be n

in the elevated phrases now universally current, how his soldiers had been unwilling to take the lives of fellow-citizens. T

ly against the will of the ambiguous Lepidus; further, his troops had been solicited by envoys of Antonius and Lepidus. 2

were elected. There was no leadership, no policy. A property-tax had been levied to meet the demands of the armies of the R

ear perception of the dangers of their equivocal alliance. He had not been deluded then. 2 But during the months after Mutin

ion of Octavianus. 4 Who was the destined colleague? It may well have been the ambiguous P. Servilius, for to this summer, i

d fallen, Brutus in Macedonia heard a report that Cicero had actually been elected. 2 Of a later proposal there is evidence

guiding and repressing the inordinate ambitions of youth. It had ever been Cicero’s darling notion to play the political cou

brother of the Caesarian leader was a valuable hostage. Brutus had been desperately unwilling to provoke a civil war, rea

ile for the sake of concord. 8 NotesPage=>169 1 The rumour had been spread by Cicero’s enemies, Phil. 14, 15 f. 2 A

oss to Italy without Cassius and the resources of the East would have been a fatal step. The Caesarian generals would have u

nts of a familiar kind. 5 The argument of youth and merit had already been exploited by Cicero. 6 The Senate refused. The sw

nd for the consulate in absence8 a move of conciliation that may have been NotesPage=>171 1 Ad M. Brutum 1, 16, 1: ‘p

oning with Antonius, whom he could now face as an equal. Antonius had been thwarted and defeated at Mutina. That was enough.

ecrees of outlawry against Antonius and Lepidus for Lepidus, too, had been declared a public enemy. The last six months of

ivil war for several years. 5 As for the islands, it may already have been feared, and it was soon to be known, that some of

have been feared, and it was soon to be known, that some of them had been seized by the adventurer Sex. Pompeius, acting in

ate rights of citizenship no disproportionate revenge for men who had been declared public enemies. Rome shivered under fe

turning and died upon the spot, of his own will. 2 The scene may have been impressive, but the prophecy was superfluous. The

alive who remembered Sulla. Often enough before now proscriptions had been the cause of secret apprehension, the pretext of

ices of cupidity and treachery. The laws and constitution of Rome had been subverted. With them perished honour and security

t they invoked indulgence and made allowances. Regrets there may have been to see a fine soldier and a Roman noble like Anto

. For Antonius there was some palliation, at least when consul he had been harried by faction and treason, when proconsul ou

ory, that of knights. In all, nearly 100 names of the proscribed have been recorded (Drumann-Groebe, Gesch. Roms I2, 470 ff.

with Sex. Pompeius on the western seas and in the islands. There had been delay and warning enough. For the Triumvirs it wa

soon, saving their lives but making a sacrifice in money. 2 There had been an extenuating feature of faction- contests at Ro

the more eminent, through family connexions and social influence, had been able to evade proscription, such as the father of

n the lists. 5 Pollio’s rivals among the Marrucini will likewise have been found there:6 his own father-in-law was also pros

company of Plancus. 6 Urbinius Panapio (Val. Max. 6, 8, 6) may have been a Marrucine: an Urbinia certainly married the Mar

amiae from Formiae or the Vinicii of Cales, who are not known to have been proscribed, either enjoyed protection already or

senator, now perished for his wealth; 5 so did M. Fidustius, who had been proscribed by Sulla, and the notorious C. Verres,

ing real property only. 2 Hitherto the game of politics at Rome had been financed by the spoils of the provinces, extorted

as dominant at Rome. In December of the year 44 B.C. the Senate had been able to count only seventeen ex-consuls, the majo

nerals joined Cassius in Syria. 9 Trebonius the proconsul of Asia had been put to death by Dolabella; but his quaestor P. Le

ck and inaugurate an epoch, as clearly manifest in its consuls as had been the last and transient supremacy of the oligarchy

military command in the wars of the Revolution. 2 The Republic had been abolished. Whatever the outcome of the armed stru

p. 1001. PageBook=>203 In the meantime, Brutus and Cassius had been gathering the wealth and the armies of the East.

he avenging of Caesar and the extermination of the Liberators had not been Antonius’ policy when he was consul. But with Cae

his purple cloak and cast it over the body of Brutus. 3 They had once been friends. As Antonius gazed in sorrow upon the Rom

o his thoughts. Brutus had divined it Antonius, he said, might have been numbered with Cato, with Brutus and with Cassius:

d civilized regions Umbria, Etruria and the Sabine country, which had been loyal to Rome then, but had fought for the Marian

is province and unite the territory to Italy had not yet, it appears, been carried out, perhaps owing to the recalcitrance o

bus and Pompeius as open and active allies. The affair of Perusia had been sadly mismanaged. This time the enemies of Octavi

and won Africa for the Caesarians, cf. above, p. 189, n. 5. Fango had been sent by Octavianus after Philippi to take over fr

re was the gathering of funds in the East in which perhaps he had not been very successful. 2 He felt that he was well out o

id. Ahenobarbus struck his flag and joined Antonius. 1 He had already been secured by Pollio. 2 Brundisium, the gate of It

the landed class in Italy from the soldiery; and Antonius himself had been inactive during the War of Perusia. His errors ha

the dynasts resigned possession of Africa, which for three years had been the theatre of confused fighting between generals

t citizen? No enemy in Italy, Marsian or Etruscan, no foreign foe had been able to destroy Rome. Her own strength and her ow

ermes LXXIII (1938), 237 ff. 2 The last Ludi Saeculares at Rome had been celebrated in 149 B.C. They were therefore due to

tis iam legere et quae sit poteris cognoscere virtus. 2 It may have been rehandled and made more allegorical in form. 3

xii (1932), 135 ff. The widely prevalent belief that Virgil must have been writing about a child of Octavianus derives from

the Caesarian party, should in truth have ruled over a world that had been pacified by the valour of his father pacatumque

e their way to Rome. Of Antonius’ men, the Republican Ahenobarbus had been dispatched to Bithynia to facilitate the Caesaria

e larger share of credit for making peace when the fortune of war had been manifestly on his side. The complacency of the

exposed to the raids of tribes from Albania and southern Serbia, had been neglected during the Civil Wars and demanded atte

of Samosata. Ventidius departed, and in November the Picene, who had been led a captive by Pompeius Strabo fifty-one years

ge Jerusalem surrendered (July, 37 B.C.). The authority of Rome had been restored. It remained to settle the affairs of th

the disposal of the vassal kingdoms certain arrangements had already been made by Antonius. During the course of the follow

il the end of 33 B.C.3 By then, it was presumed, the State would have been set in order and the organs of government repaire

tonius departed. Before long the conviction grew upon him that he had been thwarted and deceived. He may have hoped that his

arms, no thought in his mind the chance to suppress Caesar’s heir had been offered repeatedly three years before, by fortune

tired of Octavia. Anything that reminded him of her brother must have been highly distasteful. His future and his fate lay i

pg227-242 PageBook=>227 AT Brundisium Caesar’s heir had again been saved from ruin by the name, the fortune and the

principles of any of the Pompeii, into whose fatal alliance they had been driven or duped. Ahenobarbus kept away from Sex.

uestion. Whether the discarded Scribonia took another husband has not been recorded. 7 NotesPage=>229 1 Suetonius, Di

38 B.C. A P. Scipio became consul suffect in 35 B.C.: perhaps he had been previously married to Scribonia, before 40 B.C.

a and the diplomacy of Maecenas. Lacking either of them he might have been lost. Antonius was induced to come to Tarentum in

People never forgave the brutal and thankless Titius, whose life had been saved by Pompeius several years earlier. 3 The

ss of honour by twenty-four years. The ruin of Lepidus had no doubt been carefully contrived, with little risk to its auth

contemporaries. 6 Appian indicates that the soldiers had carefully been worked upon (BC 5, 124, 513), and Dio (49, 12, 1)

criptions. During the campaign in Sicily the presence of Maecenas had been urgently required at Rome; 3 and there had been d

sence of Maecenas had been urgently required at Rome; 3 and there had been disturbances in Etruria. 4 The cessation of war,

, 5 f. 8 Above, p.113. PageBook=>234 disturbances, order had been restored by land and sea. 1 The formulation, thou

himself. Of his victories the more considerable part, it is true, had been the work of his lieutenants. His health was frail

party in Rome and throughout the whole of Italy. How desperate had been his plight at the time of the War of Perusia has

ate had been his plight at the time of the War of Perusia has already been described. He was saved in war and diplomacy by h

ia, revealed only by inscriptions (Syria xv (1934), 33 ff.), may have been sent by Antonius to help his ally and may have pa

aurus followed his unholy example. 4 Most of the colleges had already been crammed full with the partisans of the Triumvirs.

., 14, 3; Velleius 2, 81, 2; Virgil, Aen. 8, 684. 3 Salvidienus had been imperator before becoming a senator (BMC, R. Rep.

win no support along or near the coast of Dalmatia. These dangers had been threatened or experienced in Caesar’s war against

d 34 B.C. His was the glory. NotesPage=>240 1 It has sometimes been argued that Octavianus in these years made vast c

xtended his power. L. Vinicius was one of the new consuls: he had not been heard of for nearly twenty years. Complete darkne

and engineer, were solid and visible: the other minister Maecenas had been working more quietly and to set purpose. It was h

a man called Vipsanius, or the elephant of Cornificius. It would have been vain to point in extenuation to their valour in w

highest rewards. The practice of public speaking at Rome had recently been carried to perfection when Hortensius, the master

eginning for the success of agricultural and military operations, had been carefully maintained by the aristocracy to intimi

tes rerum humanarum et divinarum, in forty-one books, appears to have been composed in the years 55–47 B.C. It was dedicated

oyed in historical reconstruction. 6 His Lycoris is alleged to have been Volumnia (the freedwoman of P. Volumnius Eutrapel

ormerly the mistress of Antonius. Her subsequent attachments have not been recorded. PageBook=>253 abandoned poetry f

he mannered frivolity and imitated graces of the Eclogues had already been touched by contemporary politics and quickened to

cipating his return and triumph, in a tone and manner that would have been fitting if the whole collection were being dedica

ion but fruitful and productive beyond comparison; 1 Italy had barely been touched by the wars; and it would have been an an

rison; 1 Italy had barely been touched by the wars; and it would have been an anachronism to revert from vine and olive to t

est with Antonius. Rome had witnessed a social revolution, but it had been arrested in time. After the next subversion of pu

acing not only impoverished citizens but aliens and slaves. There had been warning signs. The conservative NotesPage=>2

of the franchise. In times of peace and unshaken empire the Roman had been reluctant to admit the claims of foreign peoples:

Sosius was left in charge of Syria, Furnius of Asia. Ahenobarbus had been governor of Bithynia since the Pact of Brundisium

who held Macedonia with the command of Antonius’ Balkan army, has not been recorded. From their base in Armenia the legion

pito). 2 Plancus’ second imperatorial salutation (ILS 886) may have been won earlier, in 40-39 B.C. PageBook=>265 a

atter of the conference at Tarentum, the role of Octavia has probably been embellished. Compare the judicious remarks of Lev

ife, perhaps Censorinus had as well. Other partisans may already have been verging towards Caesar’s heir or neutrality with

was later remarked that certain of his most intimate friends had once been Antonians. 1 Evidence is scanty. Yet it could b

Sosius and Canidius, above, p. 200. PageBook=>268 Antonius had been a loyal friend to Caesar, but not a fanatical Cae

s of Parma ; 3 young Sentius Saturninus, a relative of Libo, had also been among the companions of Pompeius. But Catonians

e preparing. The cause or rather the pretext was the policy which had been adopted by Antonius in the East and the sinister

ien princes any extensive or valuable territories that had previously been provinces of the Roman People. The system of depe

f the knights. The empire, and especially the empire in the East, had been the ruin of the Republic. NotesPage=>272 1

in the argument is from intentions intentions which can hardly have been as apparent to Antonius’ Republican followers (a

r a god. Years before, in the company of his Roman wife, Antonius had been hailed as the god Dionysus incarnate. 3 NotesPa

on of Antonius might have moved farther in this direction. He had not been in Rome for six years : had his allegiance and hi

an leaders. Failing Cleopatra and her children, Octavianus would have been reduced to inferior expedients, mere detestation

rd of covenants, which was a mistake. Antonius complained that he had been excluded from raising recruits in Italy; that his

ad been excluded from raising recruits in Italy; that his own men had been passed over in the allotment of lands; that Octav

So far official documents and public manifestoes, of which there had been a dearth in the last few years. Lampoon and abuse

d been a dearth in the last few years. Lampoon and abuse had likewise been silent under the rule of the Triumvirs. Now came

were only eleven years from Hirtius and Pansa. Then the new year had been eagerly awaited, for it brought a chance to secur

, the statement and attitude of Octavianus is perfectly clear: he had been Triumvir for ten years (Res Gestae 7). A master i

L. Cornelius and Cn. Pompeius on the Fasti. These consuls might have been designated for office at an earlier date. L. Corn

a ruinous decision. Antonius was at Ephesus; his army had recently been raised to the imposing total of thirty legions1 a

rovided for the war. 2 Canidius prevailed: it was alleged that he had been bribed. The compromising ally remained. In earl

by personal allegiance. Generous but careless, in the past he had not been NotesPage=>280 1 BMC, R. Rep. n, 526 ff.

nephew Titius, he deserted and fled to Rome. 4 Plancus had never yet been wrong in his estimate of a delicate political cri

in his estimate of a delicate political crisis. The effect must have been tremendous, alike in Rome and in the camp of Anto

leges that this corrupt character, ‘in omnia et omnibus venalis’, had been detected in peculation by Antonius. PageBook=&g

o Alexandria. 4 Her favourite oath, it was even stated (and has since been believed), was ‘so may I deliver my edicts upon t

ivil population were suppressed by armed force for the soldiers had been paid. To public taxation was added private intimi

phil.-hist. Abt., N.F. 15 (1937). PageBook=>286 Italy then had been foreign, and the activities of Drusus precipitate

as a reality. More recently, Perusia. For any contest it would have been difficult enough to enlist Italian sentiment. Ita

posed. In the military colonies and they were numerous there can have been little difficulty. Though many of the veterans ha

ast and West between the two dynasts after the Pact of Brundisium had been prejudicial to Italian economy as well as alarmin

ggle. One man, however, stood firm, the uncompromising Pollio. He had been a loyal friend of old to Antonius, of which fact

d him. Pollio in reply claimed that in mutual services Antonius had been the gainer: his own conscience was clear. 1 But h

e transactions and it can be well understood. His comments would have been frank and bitter. Octavianus, supported by the

public enemy. 1 The winter passed in preparation. An oath had also been administered to the provinces of the West. As in

he Caesarian cause. Men from Spain and Gallia Narbonensis had already been admitted to the Senate by Caesar the Dictator; an

later to be known as a historian and authority on rhetoric, must have been a man of some substance if he could secure senato

ius on August 16th, probably of the same year: Autronius may not have been the immediate successor of L. Cornificius in Afri

quality was another matter. Since the Pact of Brundisium Antonius had been unable to raise recruits in Italy. The retreat fr

Tarn, CAH X, 100. 2 The casualties in Media and Armenia have often been over-estimated. PageBook=>295 augmented th

age of attack and that stimulating dose of patriotic fervour that had been administered to the army of the West. Yet, in the

rd side and invest his position proved a signal failure. The plan had been turned against him—he was now encompassed and shu

here is no indication of the date of his desertion. He had previously been with Sex. Pompeius. 3 Plutarch, Antonius 63; Di

n’s theory it can be argued, with Kromayer, that Antonius had already been severely defeated at sea, baffled on land. 6 Th

le itself is all a mystery—and a topic of controversy. There may have been little fighting and comparatively few casualties.

rruntius, an ex-Pompeian. 3 Sosius’ peril and Sosius’ rescue may have been artfully staged. Neither of the rivals in the c

an Samos when he was himself recalled by troubles in Italy. There had been a plot—or so it was alleged. It was suppressed at

was a son of the relegated Lepidus: his wife, Servilia, who had once been betrothed to Octavianus, bravely followed him in

easure the convenience of a Roman politician. The adversary must have been redoubtable indeed! It was not the glorious battl

1, II, 4 (Proculeius); Plutarch, Antonius 79 (Gallus). Proculeius had been holding a naval command at Ccphallcnia after the

firmed their titles when he did not augment their territories. It had been an essential part of his propaganda to demonstrat

ia directly administered by Rome was considerably smaller than it had been after Pompeius’ ordering of the East, thirty year

rchic. 2 The frontier itself was not an urgent problem. Armenia had been annexed by Antonius, but Armenia fell away during

e final stabilization of the revolutionary age. The War of Actium had been fought and won, the menace to Italy’s life and so

mausoleum beside the Tiber; and public sacrifices for his safety had been celebrated by a Roman consul. 3 The avenging of C

nd infusing it with new vigour. The attempts of earlier statesmen had been baulked by fate—or rather by their own ambition,

er be evaded on the plea of wars abroad or faction at home. Peace had been established, there was only one faction left—and

der to rule? He had resigned the title of Triumvir, but it might have been contended that he continued unobtrusively to exer

y to exercise the dictatorial powers of that office, had the question been of concern to men at the time. From 31 B.C onward

estion been of concern to men at the time. From 31 B.C onwards he had been consul every year. But that was not all. The youn

to the discretion of the Senate and the People. By what right had it been in his hand? He indicates that it was through gen

ower—‘per consensum universorum potitus rerum omnium. ’1 It has often been believed that the words allude to the coniuratio

the wishes of the chief men in his party. For loyal service they had been heavily rewarded with consulates, triumphs, pries

d with consulates, triumphs, priesthoods and subsidies; some had even been elevated into the patriciate. Octavianus could co

ear upon him. Some informal exchange of opinion there may well have been . No record would be likely to survive, when an im

ely to survive, when an important public event of the year has barely been preserved, let alone understood in full significa

a. An arbitrary decision denied him the title of imperator, which had been conceded since Actium to other proconsuls, and to

further below, p. 336. 2 According to Dio (51, 24, 4) he would have been entitled to the spolia opima, єἴπєρ αὐτʋκράτωρ στ

he firm allies or kinsmen among them, the course of events might have been different. 1 There is a mysterious calamity in th

of the Senate and deplored the death of a friend. 2 Gallus may have been recalled from Egypt in 28 B.C. With the proconsul

known, save that each was once a partisan of Antonius. 3 Who had not been ? Neither Gallus nor Crassus is even mentioned by

s the offence as ‘temerati crimen amici’. Gallus may, after all, have been simply sacrificed to conciliate the feelings of a

was ready to hand. The leading statesmen of the Republic had commonly been called principes, in recognition of their authori

ed—or was soon to found—the Roman State anew. He might therefore have been called Romulus, for the omen of twelve vultures h

ame, in semblance and in theory the sovranty of Senate and People had been restored. It remains to discover what it all amou

had not yet recovered from their ravages. Spain, a vast land, had not been properly conquered; Gaul cried out for survey and

n of powers a close parallel from the recent past might properly have been invoked: it is pretty clear that it was not. Th

s. Lacking any perception of the dogma of progress—for it had not yet been invented—the Romans regarded novelty with distrus

ptimus status civitatis’. The character and purpose of this work have been variously, sometimes extravagantly, estimated: Ci

ously, sometimes extravagantly, estimated: Cicero’s Republic has even been regarded as a tract for the times, recommending t

PageBook=>320 opinion of Augustus, for the Revolution had now been stabilized. Neither the Princeps nor any of his a

indispensable. What fairer blend of libertas and imperium could have been discovered? A champion of the ‘higher legality’ s

e had got long ago, in the War of Mutina. In politics his mentors had been Philippus and Balbus. To retain power, however, h

d among the hard and palpable realities of Roman politics, could have been deceived. The Princeps speaks of a restoration of

ity of the agents and ministers of power. That task has all too often been ignored or evaded. Augustus proposed himself to

ily and in Illyricum, he had governed Africa and Spain, he had thrice been acclaimed imperator by the legions. 1 A second co

to Antonius, thence to the better cause. 3 The father of Norbanus had been general, along with Saxa, in the campaign of Phil

893. 2 Dio 51, 23, 1. 3 Above, pp. 189 and 268. His son may have been married to a granddaughter of Cn. Domitius Calvin

t army of twenty legions or more. In recent years these provinces had been governed by proconsuls, usually consular in rank.

proconsuls, usually consular in rank. Thus all Spain, it appears, had been under one governor, with several legates as his s

l authority, succeeded by an enhanced consular imperium, had recently been employed to control the armed proconsuls. But the

riumvirate had replenished the ranks of the consulars—there must have been now about forty men of this rank—and after the Pa

more conspicuous. Most of them were young enough, for advancement had been swift and dazzling. Yet the novi homines like Q.

lands, restless and unsubdued, called for attention. A beginning had been made; 3 and the work of conquest was to be prosec

ife, Augustus returned to Rome towards the middle of 24 B.C. He had been away about three years: Rome was politically sile

ttempt to reconstruct the true history of a year that might well have been the last, and was certainly the most critical, in

secured condemnation of the offender. 4 Varro Murena the consul had been among the defenders of the proconsul of Macedonia

ciates of Augustus, Cornelius Gallus, the first Prefect of Egypt, had been recalled and disgraced. The tall trees fall in

ecline of ancient patriotism had brought low a great people. Ruin had been averted but narrowly, peace and order restored bu

ace, Odes 1, 2, is quite relevant here, though the poem may well have been composed as early as 29 or 28 B.C. 2 Dio 53, 32

eived imperium mains is explicitly stated by Dio, ought never to have been doubted and is confirmed, if that were needed, by

execution of his duty of pacifying the wild tribes of the Taurus had been killed in battle. 1 Rome inherited: M. Lollius, a

t seem secure, governed by a viceroy of equestrian rank yet there had been Cornelius Gallus. The next prefects, M. Aelius Ga

tably be reckoned from this year. The legal and formal changes have been summarily described, the arguments indicated whic

ve been summarily described, the arguments indicated which might have been invoked for their public and plausible justificat

Narbonensis and Cyprus, no great loss to Gaul and Syria. 1 There had been successful operations in Gaul and in the Alpine l

ve, despite the authentic details of his sayings and habits that have been preserved, despite the inferences plausibly to be

liance they might destroy him. The marriage with Livia Drusilla had been a political alliance with the Claudii, though not

ing quaestor in the next year. PageBook=>341 Even had they not been the step-sons of the Princeps, Tiberius and Drusu

e patrician Claudii, the Nerones. There was closer kin. Octavia had been employed in her brother’s interest before and kne

ars earlier the marriage of his nephew to his only daughter Julia had been solemnized in Rome. Already in 23 the young man w

t his trial, M. Primus the proconsul of Macedonia alleged that he had been given secret instructions by Marcellus as well as

ay of his life, like the fantastical conceits of his verse, must have been highly distasteful to Augustus as to Agrippa. A

ervices and the sake of his counsel. Yet the position of Maecenas had been compromised. He could not withstand Agrippa. Maec

trusive but ever present in counsel and ready for action. Agrippa had been through all the wars of the Revolution and had wo

erhaps already married, to Agrippa’s daughter Vipsania. The match had been contrived long ago by Livia, that astute politici

ey are not even appropriate to a later date, when Agrippa’s power had been accorded status and definition before the law. Ag

assume the inheritance of sole power, to become all that Augustus had been . The nobiles would not have stood it. Agrippa is

idus lacked capacity, Antonius cunning and temperance: Octavianus had been too ambitious to be a loyal partner. Now that one

in the years between the Pact of Brundisium and the War of Actium had been alarming, because it corresponded so clearly with

n the names of the foundation-members; and subsequent accessions have been indicated from time to time. It grew steadily in

ncy and magnanimity, some of the minor partisans of Antonius may have been allowed to retain senatorial rank, in name at lea

pirations for land and security would be recognized, the soldiers had been able to baffle politicians, disarm generals and a

g the lands of the proscribed. Their number and their gains must have been very great: during Octavianus’ preparations befor

the last generation of the Republic the financiers had all too often been a political nuisance. When at variance with the S

wars of the Revolution and the rule of the Triumvirate. Knights had been of much more value in the armies of Rome than the

ectured that men like Ventidius, Salvidienus and Cornelius Gallus had been praefecti fabrum. Under the Principate, however,

made by the Tarraconenses will support the conjecture that Magius had been a procurator in Spain. 7 Strabo, P. 618, cf. PI

of a ‘municipalis adulter’. 2 Seianus’ father, Seius Strabo, may have been no more than a knight in standing, a citizen of V

Under the new regulations, access to the Senate might appear to have been made more difficult, being restricted to those in

er the Senate. If it was thus in colonies and municipia that had long been a part of the Roman State, or in wealthy cities o

old civilization, what of the backward regions of Italy that had only been incorporated after the Bellum Italicum? Cicero ha

whose own Sabine or Etruscan origins, though known and admitted, had been decently masked, for the most part, long ago by a

rom Canusium. 3 These dim characters with fantastic names had never been heard of before in the Senate or even at Rome. Th

that type, nearly anticipated, however, by Salvidienus. Nor had there been a consul with a name ending in ‘-a’ since the Etr

a (cos. A.D. 3) was highly respectable, the grandson of a man who had been ‘equestris ordinis princeps’. Nothing definite is

hem from the Italia whose name, nation and sentiments had so recently been arrayed in war against Rome. But Italy now extend

grew stronger with time. The votes of confidence of the municipia had been invoked in the crisis of civil war: they were not

y danger of reaction. The greater number of his partisans had already been promoted and rewarded. NotesPage=>366 1 Su

may be Corduba, Lugdunum, or even Pisidian Antioch. 6 It cannot have been Augustus’ aim to depreciate or retard the provinc

joined perhaps from a disinterested patriotism. The old families had been decimated by a generation of civil wars: the sons

the quaestorship could be held, forty- two the consulate. Caesar had been hasty and arbitrary: the Triumvirs were brutal am

the grosser anomalies, men designated to the consulate who had never been senators, such as Balbus the Elder and Salvidienu

robably established in 29-28 B.C. PageBook=>370 The Senate had been purged once. That was not enough for Augustus. He

professed half that size to be ideal and desirable. 1 That would have been harsh and narrow; even with a Senate of six hundr

ndidates for office, calling for various expedients. 2 The Senate had been purified: it was rejuvenated in two ways, by knig

ation of the Princeps. He did not nominate candidates that would have been invidious and superfluous. His will prevailed, in

elections from accident or from design. Augustus’ intentions may have been laudable and sincere more likely that the Princep

e so long as the Princeps controlled the armies. Nor indeed had there been serious danger in Rome itself. During the absence

bsence of the ruler (22-19 B.C.) each year one of the two consuls had been a partisan of Augustus and a military man, the fi

mand of armies brought the highest distinction to men whose youth had been trained in the wars of the Revolution and whose m

f Augustus like that great politician, the censor Appius Claudius had been blessed with five daughters for dynastic matches

s. The elder Antonia went to L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, to whom she had been betrothed from infancy, the younger to Augustus’

is adherents shared in his social ascension. Agrippa’s first wife had been one of the prizes of the Civil Wars. She was the

adorn the city and to subsidize his political allies. Corruption had been banished from electoral contests: which confirmed

y the People, the claims of birth, influence and patronage had always been paramount. Nobles and above all patricians had a

us care for the religion of Rome. The existing colleges had naturally been filled with partisans during the Revolution: they

r public merit. 7 Though supplemented by Caesar, the patriciate had been reduced again in the wars, being represented in t

s and M. Vinicius in Illyricum and M. Lollius in Macedonia, must have been drawn from a small and select list indeed. The Pr

us of Larinum (Pro Cluentio 21 and 33). 4 Velleius 2, 76, 1. He had been a praefectus fabrum of Pompeius, of M. Brutus and

cle of consular rank. 7 The patronage which he could exert would have been formidable enough, even if he had not been Prefec

he could exert would have been formidable enough, even if he had not been Prefect of the Guard and chief favourite and mini

vernment, ‘auctores publici consilii’. But that government had seldom been able to present a united front in a political eme

from Spain and Gaul. During the last fourteen years, they had seldom been together in the same place. Demanded by the needs

enated and disciplined, for by now the veterans of the Civil Wars had been established in Italian and provincial colonies. F

nt of the foreign policy of Augustus. 2 His own earlier campaigns had been defensive in purpose; nor had the Balkan operatio

Empire might split into two parts. By 13 B.C. a firm beginning had been made. The conquest of the Alpine lands, prepared

cy of Augustus, see CAH x, 355 ff.: the truth of the matter has often been obscured by the belief that Octavianus in 35 and

. Lollius (19-18 B.C.) and L. Tarius Rufus (17-16 B.C.?) had recently been employed; 1 and on this occasion the proconsul of

and on this occasion the proconsul of Macedonia, whoever he may have been , was surely not inactive. Conquest had to come fr

t of accident. Augustus himself never again left Italy. Agrippa had been indispensable in the earlier years, as deputy whe

of power and command, both nobles and novi homines. They had hitherto been kept in the background for political or dynastic

ians favourable to Tiberius the exploits of his peers and rivals have been passed over so as to create the impression that T

sole and incomparable general. 1 A system of government had by now been built up. As has been shown, the Princeps hesitat

praetorian and consular provinces. Yet rigidity of system would have been foreign both to the Roman spirit and to the perso

from its constant and arduous wars: the garrison may not always have been as small as the single legion that remained there

perial legate of Moesia. 3 When both Illyricum and the Rhine army had been divided in the last years of the Principate, ther

kept it. 4 NotesPage=>394 1 The legion XII Fulminata may have been in Africa c. A.D. 3 (ILS 8966). 2 Dio (54, 34,

severed from Hispania Ulterior and transferred to the Senate has not been recorded. Hardly perhaps as late as 2 B.C., as De

nsulate to govern one of the great military provinces, had not always been very long or very thorough. The difference lies

idius were models and precedents. A great school of admirals had also been created. After Actium, no place for them. 1 But t

tested legate, governing the province in absentia; and there may have been no separate legate for Syria during the period of

g experience of the East from his Antonian days, appears then to have been appointed legate in Syria:1 his successor was the

ILS 921 (near Tibur). 7 Piso’s father, of philhellenic tastes, had been proconsul of Macedonia. For the activity of Plaut

nd Tiberius in exile. Whatever had happened at Rome, there would have been a lull in operations after the conquest of Illyri

n these years is doubly obscure. The army of Macedonia may still have been retained by the proconsul or may already have bee

nia may still have been retained by the proconsul or may already have been transferred to the legate of Moesia. 5 However th

nelius Lentulus, usually assigned to Illyricum, could quite well have been a legate of Moesia in the period 9 B.C.–A.D. 6.

terior, it would show that by now the region of Asturia-Callaecia had been transferred from the latter province to the forme

ter province to the former and that the two Spanish armies had by now been fused into one. Which is not unlikely. As for Var

ators; and in any case Augustus would have wished, even if he had not been forced, to substitute regular administration for

gilum. 1 In the meantime a number of permanent boards of senators had been established. The first dealt with roads (20 B.C.)

uld justly claim to be the second founder of Rome. A government had been established. The principes viri were tamed, train

yond all measure under the Republic the great questions of policy had been the subject of open and public debate: they were

, whether as individuals or as corporations all this has sufficiently been demonstrated. The domination of Pompeius gave a f

ave their place in the different councils of state. Roman knights had been amongst the earliest friends of Augustus. Some at

indulgent to the vices of his friends. 3 Yet Vedius Pollio had once been useful he appears to have been active in the prov

riends. 3 Yet Vedius Pollio had once been useful he appears to have been active in the province of Asia shortly after the

r emerge as ministers of State, under Caligula and Claudius: they had been there for a long time. 8 Senators might preside

e first Prefect had succumbed to a political intrigue, the second had been unsuccessful in his invasion of Arabia. More mode

the term, that other public proposals of those momentous sessions had been shaped in private before being sponsored by emine

ities and agents in this department of public service appears to have been Cn. Domitius Calvinus, the oldest surviving consu

late, M. Valerius Messalla Rufus, who wrote on augury, may still have been alive. Messalla was augur for fifty-five years (M

emn political show. The taciturn and business-like Agrippa would have been of little use. Nor would Taurus, the other soldie

Taurus, the other soldier and administrator. Even lawyers could have been dispensed with, for the formulation was of the si

alevolent, was all too well founded. The propaganda of Octavianus had been merciless against Fulvia, the wife of Antonius; a

eems excessive. In a Republic like that of Pompeius, Livia would have been a political force, comparable to her kinswoman Se

pense of the Roman People. In the last six years, Tiberius had hardly been seen in Rome; and there was no urgent need of him

ippa, he would yield to Augustus but not in all things. His pride had been wounded, his dignitas impaired. But there was mor

princes. But that was all in the situation already. Nobody could have been deceived. In 6 B.C. there was an agitation that G

stus, he had benefited from that relationship. Yet even had Livia not been the wife of the Princeps, her son under the reviv

and sagacious counsellors, the most prominent among whom have already been indicated. The Princeps now had to lean heavily o

y and tried merit of certain novi homines. For many years nothing had been heard of Lollius and Vinicius. Their emergence is

war and revolution, swept up into one party and harnessed as they had been to the service of the State, the nobiles now enjo

, noble and patrician at that, and so was Tiberius Augustus had never been . Though the nobiles despised the origin of August

eminent personages in the governing oligarchy whose claims must have been the subject of public rumour and private intrigue

Marcellus is Aeserninus (22 B.C.), a person of no great note who had been a partisan of Caesar the Dictator. As for the Met

adversity for the Republic. 5 Cn. Calpurnius Piso (cos. 23 B.C.) had been a Republican but rallied to Augustus; his son, a

uent Ti. Sem-pronius Gracchus,4 an Ap. Claudius Pulcher, who may have been the son or grandson of the consul of 38 B.C., and

C., and a Cornelius Scipio were all relegated. 5 The offence may have been transgression against the Leges Juliae: the punis

but it is not necessary, to rehabilitate her entirely. Julia may have been immodest, but she was hardly a monster. Granted a

Augustus was bitter and merciless because his moral legislation had been baffled and mocked in his own family. Yet he coul

isgrace on his daughter? The influence and hand of Livia might have been suspected, bearing heavily on the Julii who suppl

the succession of Gaius and Lucius, her sons. The motive must have been political, the charges of vice a convenient and i

this end their mother served merely as an instrument. There may have been a conspiracy. Whether wanton or merely traduced,

s, Tib. 11, 4. PageBook=>428 The position of Tiberius had long been anomalous. It now became doubtful and perilous. I

nn. 4, 1 (Seianus). 3 Suetonius, Tib. 13, 1. 4 lb. His father had been active in Narbonensis for Caesar (ib. 4, 1). 5

is political prospects grew no brighter. His spirit appears to have been broken. He had already begged to be allowed to re

oken. He had already begged to be allowed to return, and his plea had been reinforced by the repeated intercession of his mo

f Lollius, Augustus remained obdurate. He now gave way what Livia had been unable to achieve was perhaps the work of politic

testas and a special imperium, was dispatched to the North. There had been fighting in Germany with more credit to Rome, per

d to Illyricum. In the interval of his absence, the power of Rome had been felt beyond the Danube. The peoples from Bohemi

a barren island. 2 Her paramour was D. Junius Silanus3 there may have been others, for the charge of immorality was a conven

th Julia, for she was his wife. Connivance in her misconduct may have been invoked to palliate his execution for conspiracy.

for conspiracy. 4 The charges brought against Agrippa Postumus had been more vague, his treatment more merciful but none

Juvenal 6, 158, states that Julia was relegated after her husband had been put to death, then recalled, but finally exiled w

intractable temper which he had inherited from his father might have been schooled in the discipline of the camp or the pla

Augustus to support the monarchy and the succession of his sons, had been transformed both in composition and in allegiance

acitus, Ann. 1, 31). 4 Velleius 2, 105, 1 (A.D. 4). How long he had been there is not recorded. Velleius says of Sentius ‘

oble houses which, for all their social eminence, do not seem to have been implicated in the matrimonial arrangements of Aug

onnected, it is true, with the family of Caesar; but the bond had not been tightened. Piso was an aristocrat of varied accom

exaggeration is palpable and shameless. 3 At Rome due provision had been made for the peaceful transmission of the Princip

nevitably mocked and disbelieved. It did not matter. Everything had been arranged, not merely the designation of his succe

as Asinius Gallus, played without skill the parts for which they had been chosen perhaps in feigned and malignant clumsines

the principes that barred them from recognition. Their virtues had been pernicious. Pompeius’ pursuit of gloria, Caesar’s

os Pudorque priscus et neglecta redire Virtus audet. 2 It had not been easy. Opposition arose in the Senate, and public

e aristocracy of the last age of the Republic marriage had not always been blessed with either offspring or permanence. Matc

r the whim of either party. Few indeed of the great ladies would have been able or eager to claim, like Cornelia, the epitap

oebus, to be sure, was Greek in name and origin. But Phoebus had long been domiciled in Latium. Though the national spirit

re is much more authentic religious sentiment here than has sometimes been believed. 4 It will suffice to observe that Augus

es stamus. 5 Though debased by politics, the notion of pietas had not been entirely perverted. Pietas once gave world-empire

of martial ceremonies. This gallery of national portraits had already been foreshadowed by the patriotic poets. 2 The Roma

tongues Etruscan and Osean, even Celtic and Illyrian. The prayer had been answered: sit Romana potens Itala virtute propa

own, though not for profit. 3 Thousands and thousands of veterans had been planted in Italy but may more correctly be regard

he practice of agriculture. Citizens of Italian municipia, had mostly been born, or had lived, on country estates; and it wi

ation that comes from wealth and empire. The Italian peasant may have been valorous and frugal: he was also narrow and grasp

singularly archaic type. 2 Not indeed without culture but he had not been deeply influenced by the intellectual movements o

aristocracy, he might reflect that Rome was not Italy; and Italy had been augmented in the north there was a new Italy, but

t often defies but cannot always evade detection: it will seldom have been high. Indeed, natives from the recently conquered

of the race. The legionaries were dispirited and discontented, having been economically kept in service beyond the promised

ustus’ policy of moral and patriotic regeneration, the effort had not been in vain: it was not one man’s idea, and the origi

ent back before Actium. The different classes in the Commonwealth had been aroused to a certain consciousness of dignity and

paganda than through force of arms: some of his greatest triumphs had been achieved with but little shedding of blood. The P

f Augustus is established, men of letters, a class whose habit it had been to attack the dominant individual or faction, app

, stood for order and for monarchy. Catullus, however, could not have been domesticated, tamely to chant the regeneration of

virtues of upstarts enriched by the Civil Wars. His books would have been burned in the Forum, with the greatest concourse

ooks of Livy with their record of recent and contemporary history had been preserved, they would no doubt set forth the ‘les

inherited a connexion with the Transpadani; 1 and Brutus’ father had been besieged at Mutina by Pompeius. In the time of Au

Italy and all the realities of reconciliation, there must still have been Romans who were a little shocked at hearing the a

a soldier: nullus de nostro sanguine miles erit. 5 The family had been despoiled of property during the Civil Wars. 6 No

d honoured the majesty of death and the dead. Propertius might have been a highly remunerative investment for Maecenas. He

omi, a Greek city on the coast of the Black Sea. He could hardly have been sent farther. Poetry and history were designed

to Rome from the towns of Italy such a concourse as had never before been seen. 8 This unique and spontaneous manifestation

litics was not more frequently drawn upon. Tota Italia would not have been out of place. The Princeps’ own form and featur

the ancestors of the Julian house. The temple of Mars the Avenger had been vowed by Caesar’s son at Philippi when he fought

Julius was the watchword of the Caesarian army; and Divus Julius had been avenged by his son and heir. This dynastic monume

d by Princeps. Augustus was Divi filius. The avenging of Caesar had been the battle-cry and the justification of Caesar’s

ed the consul Antonius, ‘heavenly legions’. But the orator would have been shocked had he known that the testimony of his ea

Divus Julius enough. His son could hardly have prevented, even had it been expedient, the gratitude of the people to himself

threatened by continual conspiracies though these plots may not have been either as frequent or as dangerous as the governm

nobiles were unable or unwilling to overthrow the New State that had been built up at their expense. They had no illusions

irtues of the Princeps, so studiously celebrated in public, must have been privately canvassed and derided as offensive when

laims that he would have behaved precisely so in earlier wars, had it been possible. 4 As for Actium, men might remember the

assassins of Caesar. It was no doubt recalled that Caesar’s heir had been willing, for the ends of political ambition, to w

that he had always followed the better cause in politics. 2 As he had been among the earliest of the nobiles who fought at P

which he had participated; 2 the disasters of Antonius will not have been underestimated. Even Agrippa took up the pen. 3 P

retted that Pollio’s comments upon this interesting document have not been preserved. Of the style at least he will have app

ood the point of the attack: the most various of interpretations have been advanced. Tatavinitas’ has been held to be a char

ge and careerists make mistakes. Seianus fell. The historian may have been involved in his ruin. With the accession of Calig

e and the loyal, had perished. Not a mere faction of the nobility had been defeated, but a whole class. The contest had been

of the nobility had been defeated, but a whole class. The contest had been not merely political but social. Sulla, Pompeius

ere the Republic and Rome. The faction-wars of Marius and Sulla had been a punishment and a warning. In the brief respite

ere involved in the struggles of the dynasts. For many of them it had been hard enough to preserve and perpetuate the glory

rivals, certain great houses or permanent factions. The Scipiones had been an age of history. Their power had passed to the

batur; neque tamen effugit magnae fortunae pericula. ’ His father had been executed in A.D. 14 by Asprenas the proconsul of

th the company of his clients, the patrician house of the Claudii had been an integral part of the history of the Republic.

nts of the Julii. Iullus Antonius, the alleged paramour of Julia, had been executed: his son, the last of the Antonii, lived

uccession in the male line, but with diverse fortune. The Aemilii had been perilously close to the supreme power, with M. Ae

h Caesar, he followed Cato’s lead and fell at Pharsalus. Whatever had been the vicissitudes of the subsequent struggle, if t

led at Philippi or Antonius at Actium, the ultimate result might have been much the same for the Domitii: prominent among th

any more than had Pompeius’ consuls Afranius and Gabinius. Cicero had been the great novus homo of that age: the family ende

doubt, for the choice. There were others: at this time there can have been in existence few direct descendants even of a Tri

, a Spanish and Narbonensian faction comes to power. New men had ever been pressing forward, able, wealthy or insinuating, d

swerving loyalty ’pietatis immobilis erga principem’. 2 It might have been set up under any reign. Such men deserved to succ

uros omnia divites illos. ’ PageBook=>502 The harm had already been done. The millionaires Balbus and Seneca were the

usus. Even had Antoninus Pius not become emperor, he would still have been one of the wealthiest citizens in all the world.

yal servant of the government, Ser. Sulpicius Galba: they should have been right, for Galba was only the façade of a man, in

as a dangerous anachronism. Murena would have escaped his doom had he been content with ‘aurea mediocritas’. 2 The last and

ius, who had fought against Caesar’s heir at Philippi, could not have been invoked to support his Principate without scandal

e inferred Cato, always an advocate of ordered government, would have been an enthusiastic supporter of the New State; the b

us the stage for the grim tragedy of the Julio- Claudians has already been set, the action has begun. Like Sallustius and Po

of weapons on the mausoleum he was building at Caieta, he had seldom been responsible for the shedding of Roman blood. 7

Messalla occupied the house of Antonius on the Palatine. 2 Pollio had been more intractable during the Civil Wars, the only

mirari, praesentia sequi’. 2 Even among the nobiles there can have been few genuine Republicans in the time of Augustus;

pire. The senator Helvidius Priscus, the son of a centurion, may have been sincere in his principles:3 but the Roman knight

ill maintained for a season its formal and legal existence, there had been deception enough in the assertion of Republicanis

Hist. 4, 5. 4 Titinius Capito (Pliny, Epp. 1, 17). This person had been a high secretary of state under Domitian, Nerva a

be the very spirit of the Principate. All too long, soul and body had been severed. It was claimed that they were united in

a virtue for knights, scorned by senators; and neutrality had seldom been possible in the political dissensions of the last

spirit but not for political wisdom. 3 Neither Tacitus nor Trajan had been a party to this folly; the brief unhappy Principa

hunc statum, hanc pacem, hunc principem’. 2 The old constitution had been corrupt, unrepresentative and ruinous. Caesar’s h

t the greatest of the principes and better than all of them. They had been selfish dynasts, but he was ‘salubris princeps’.

shattered Republic; and Cicero, for saving Rome in his consulate, had been hailed as pater patriae. But Sulla, with well-gro

mmonwealth. The new member reinvigorated the whole and could not have been severed without damage. 8 NotesPage=>520 1

n; but the rhythm, though abated, was steady and continuous. It had been Augustus’ most fervent prayer that he might lay t

onour and duty. His dearest hopes, his most pertinacious designs, had been thwarted. But peace and the Principate endured. A

been thwarted. But peace and the Principate endured. A successor had been found, trained in his own school, a Roman aristoc

ng the principes, by general consent capable of Empire. It might have been better for Tiberius and for Rome if Augustus had

the Spanish wars, when stricken by an illness that might easily have been the end of a frail life, Augustus composed his Au

This was the recompense due to ‘boni duces’ after death. 4 Sulla had been ‘Felix’, Pompeius had seized the title of ‘Magnus

e clients of the Princeps (Klio XXII (1928), 261 ff.), has not always been sufficiently regarded. PageBook=>524 While

tables of Münzer (P-W III, 1229 f.; RA, 304). Certain additions have been made, such as the family of Ap. Claudius Pulcher,