between Senate and People, Optimates and Populares, nobiles and novi homines , but by the strife for power, wealth and glory. T

rks of L. Sergius Catilina, a noble and a patrician: ‘quod non dignos homines honore honestatos videbam’ (BC 35, 3); ‘M. Tulliu

t and bulwark of the Roman State. 2 Cicero never spoke against these ‘ homines honestissimi’ and never let them down: they were

hreatened by rivals in power and dignity, enlisted the vigour of novi homines , orators and soldiers, helping them by influence

alert, expecting three consulates, but not unaided. 4 Against novi homines the great families after Sulla stood with close r

ectable jurist lacking in pronounced political opinions, and two novi homines , the Pompeian general Afranius and the orator Cic

government, and a purge of the Senate soon produced another crop of ‘ homines calamitosi’. The censorship was a valuable weap

est nostra, est ergo in genere et sanctitas regum, qui plurimum inter homines pollent, et caerimonia deorum, quorum ipsi in pot

mus publicanus, cuius in negotiis gerendis magnitudinem animi non tam homines probassent, nisi in eodem benignitas incredibilis

sque senator’ (Bell. Afr. 57, 4). Note the brothers Caepasii, ‘ignoti homines et repentini small-town orators who became quaest

abinum, florem Italiae ac robur rei publicae, proponere. nosti optime homines . ’ 7 P-W VII, 1817 ff. They were a noted commer

he first knight’s son to become consul. He was correct but other novi homines , socially more eminent, had not been debarred in

d of Pompeius’ men, Afranius and Gabinius. 3 After that, no more novi homines as consuls on the Fasti of the Free State, but an

nobiles, with patricians in high and striking relief. 6 The four novi homines were all signalized by military service in Gaul.

hopes and his efforts towards the more obscure of the Caesarian novi homines in the Senate, or, failing them, to knights, to f

ibes the Epicureans, Siro and Philodemus, as ‘cum optimos viros, turn homines doctissimos’ (De finibus 2, 119). PageBook=>

‘scis profecto nihil enim te fugere potuit fuisse quoddam tempus cum homines existimarent te nimis servire temporibus. ’ Pag

efeat in the eastern lands, became the proverbial trio among the novi homines of the Revolution. 1 Which is appropriate, given

(Dio 54, 3, 5). Other persons later prominent, such as the great novi homines M. Lollius (cos. 21 B.C.), L. Tarius Rufus (cos.

rnelia, as was fitting, of the stock of the Scipiones. 7 For the novi homines splendid matches were now in prospect. By chance,

id they achieve great fame afterwards, either the nobiles or the novi homines . 2 Octavianus may now have honoured men of discre

e, Etruscan or Umbrian, Picene or Lucanian. 4 Rome had known her novi homines for three centuries now, admitted in the main for

raudem is fuit tuti aut eo magis honesti sunt. ’ 2 Ib. 4, 7: ‘etiam homines novi, qui antea per virtutem soliti erant nobilit

allust also records (ib. 40, 2) how in 109 B.C. the nobiles employed ‘ homines nominis Latini et socios Italicos’. 5 Plutarch,

resumably three nobiles in the prime of life; 2 and three recent novi homines . 3 Not to mention T. Statilius Taurus. Yet of t

ung enough, for advancement had been swift and dazzling. Yet the novi homines like Q. Laronius, M. Herennius, L. Vinicius are

d upon the interested loyalty of partisans of lower standing—and novi homines at that. Hence the conspicuous lack of legates of

ttested, namely three of the principal marshals of Augustus, all novi homines . 2 Under the Triumvirate and in the years after

m in rank. Only two names are recorded in this period. 3 Certain novi homines , subsequent consuls, probably earned ennoblement

o 22 b.c.). 4 For example, no previous military service of the novi homines C. Sentius Saturninus (cos. 19 b.c.) and P. Siliu

o adorn the Senate of a revived Republic there were far too many novi homines about. From an ostentation of clemency and magnan

sili publici, sunt qui eorum sectam sequuntur, sunt maximorum ordinum homines , quibus patet curia, sunt municipales rusticique

perpetuating the Revolution, can boast rich and regular corps of novi homines , obscure or illustrious, some encouraged by grant

ver (A.D. 4-14), a significant phenomenon the renewed advance of novi homines , most of them military. Picenum, as would be expe

very few consuls who are not of consular families. The mere six novi homines do not belong to the sudden and scandalous catego

pported by the venerable weight of ancient tradition. To promote novi homines was patently not a ‘novus mos’. 3 All men knew th

was neither revolutionary nor outrageous; and the recruitment of novi homines was perpetuated and regularized by Caesar Augustu

more simple than to assign to Augustus alone the advancement of novi homines under the Principate? That is to leave out the in

numerous consuls, in 33 B.C. no fewer than eight, with masses of novi homines promoted for merit to a cheap distinction. The su

s itself clearly on the Fasti. In the seven years 39-33 nineteen novi homines appear as against nine nobiles. 2 After seizing p

control of patronage, advancing his own partisans, in 31-29 four novi homines and five nobiles. With 28 B.C. annual consulates

a new generation was growing up, and along with them the sons of novi homines ennobled in the Revolution. NotesPage=>372

g Varro Murena. PageBook=>373 From 18 to 13 B.C. only two novi homines appear on the Fasti, both with military service t

Nobiles did not need to adduce proficiency in the arts. Of the novi homines , C. Ateius Capito won promotion as a politician m

at last to the consulate after a command in the Balkans. 1 Other novi homines , worthy heirs of the revolutionary marshals, coul

ough to bestow emolument upon impoverished nobles or meritorious novi homines , enabling them to preserve the dignity of their s

g time by Augustus, may be detected in the frequent promotion of novi homines to the consulate after A.D. 4.2 But Tiberius wa

nd succeed to the heritage of power and command, both nobles and novi homines . They had hitherto been kept in the background fo

4, 8). Flaccus and Pomptinus are described by Sallust (BC 45, 2) as ‘ homines militares’. Rightly so, as their careers demonstr

zation, for political no less than for military reasons: elderly novi homines were safe. Lollius and Quirinius, who won the con

cussed, there is a total of ten eminent men. Of these, three are novi homines , next to Agrippa and Taurus the most distinguishe

ow had to lean heavily on the loyalty and tried merit of certain novi homines . For many years nothing had been heard of Lollius

, A 1488. To be noted further are connexions with the successful novi homines M. Lollius (Tacitus, Ann. 12, 22) and Taurus: his

but the family was intact and influential. 4 Of the more recent novi homines , L. Tarius Rufus, though a personal friend of Aug

nd L. Volusius Saturninus. 5 For details of origin about these novi homines , see above, p. 362 f. For the contrary interpreta

th Varus and with L. Volusius Saturninus), and a firm company of novi homines . A new government is already in being. Yet this

Lentuli. 2 Tacitus, Ann. 1, 4. 3 Velleius 2, 124, 1 : ‘quid tunc homines timuerint, quae senatus trepidatio, quae populi c

of his middle-class partisans was eager and insistent. ‘Magis alii homines quam alii mores. ’1 So Tacitus, not deluded by th

stance in ostentation or perished through ambition and intrigue. Novi homines from the towns of Italy, and especially from the

nt. To say nothing of the patent vice or rapacity of the greater novi homines , the friends of Augustus: the lesser crawled for

7). PageBook=>498 So much for the nobiles. The successful novi homines of the Revolution and of the New State were by no

wn progeny from his alliance with the patrician Fabii; and other novi homines disappear utterly or prolong their family by one

2 Certain of the more reputable of the Triumviral or Augustan novi homines , however, appeared to have established their fami

erpetuation of the schematic contrast which virtuous and pushing novi homines of Republican days were in the habit of drawing b

ncing remorselessly. The power of the nobiles was passing to the novi homines , to the knights, the army and the provinces. Af

ovi homines, to the knights, the army and the provinces. After novi homines Etruscan, Samnite or Picene, Spain and Narbonensi

the best Romans of his day. PageNotes. 507 1 Tacitus, Ann. 3, 65: homines ad servitutem pararos! ’ 2 Seneca, De clem. 1,

obscure origin, a repulsive character and evil deeds against the novi homines prominent in the oligarchy. NotesPage=>509

ave handed down the most typical and most malicious portraits of novi homines . The nobiles were comparatively immune. But for

described as ‘nobilissimus vir, amicus meus’. 4 The successful novi homines can stand their ground. Superfluous the effort ei

ff., 382, 404 f., 419 ff.,453, 490 ff., 510 f.; with knights and novi homines , 129 ff., 235 ff., 289 f., 328, 349 ff., 375 ff.,

lation to Roman history, 154, 249; wars against Carthage promote novi homines , 19, 238, 244; altar of gens Augusta at, 473. C

arian partisans, 90, 93; Sertorius, 129; Triumviral and Augustan novi homines , 199 f., 363; ancient families of Etruria, 82 f.;

4; party, 19, 65, 86, 93 f.; in relation to Italians, 86 f.; and novi homines , 94; relationship with the Julii, 25, 76; his mem

ic function in the system of the Principate, 364 see also Italy, Novi homines . Murcus, see Staius. Murena, see Tcrentius Va

alic, 89, 94, 360 f., 456; Etruscan, 85, 129, 362; of Triumviral novi homines , 199 ff.; Augustan novi homines, 360 f.; vicious

can, 85, 129, 362; of Triumviral novi homines, 199 ff.; Augustan novi homines , 360 f.; vicious novi homines, 456. Nonia Polla

al novi homines, 199 ff.; Augustan novi homines, 360 f.; vicious novi homines , 456. Nonia Polla, wife of L. Volusius Saturnin

Flaccus, C. (cos. 24 B.C.), 325. Noricum, 357, 390, 394, 457. Novi homines , definition, 11; barriers to their advancement, 1

88, 90; Caesarians, 92; other men from Picenum, 200; Augustan novi homines , 362, 364; a Catilinarian rising there, 89; as a

y Crassus, 26, 60; virtues and vices of, 149 f.; his views about novi homines , II; about patricians, 68; his stepdaughter, 63.

lity, 507; attitude to the aristocracy, 344 f., 368; attitude to novi homines , 434; Pompeian affinities, 414, 424; his friends

ical programme, 15 f., 37, 88 f., 319 f.; on tota Italia, 88; on novi homines , 89; political illusions, 143; political theory,