f Roman political terminology and of the realities of Roman political life has sometimes induced historians to fancy that th

e raised up Caesar’s heir against Antonius. The last year of Cicero’s life , full of glory and eloquence no doubt, was ruinou

rneath. 2 An enemy of Octavianus, Pollio had withdrawn from political life soon after 40 B.C., and he jealously maintained h

consulate did not merely confer power upon its holder and dignity for life : it ennobled a family for ever. Within the Senate

linded him to the true causes of his own elevation. 5 The political life of the Roman Republic was stamped and swayed, not

nobiles, for their own ends, of the true character of Roman political life , Römische Adelsparteien u. Adelsfamilien (1920),

o the burdens, the dangers and the extravagant display of a senator’s life . Cicero, a knight’s son from a small town, succum

enseless luxury or electoral corruption, to risk station, fortune and life in futile political contests. Averse NotesPage=

aw-courts and ties of personal allegiance contracted in every walk of life , the political dynast might win influence not mer

s of Italy and in regions not directly concerned with Roman political life . Whether he held authority from the State or not,

t of power, the tribunate, an anomalous historical survival given new life by the party of the Gracchi and converted into a

ominant in law-courts and Senate, flaunted pomp and decoration in his life as in his oratory. Luxurious without taste or mea

by the successful in the forty-third year, marked the acme of a man’s life and often changed the tone of his political profe

t Pompeius, and Afranius was a catastrophe, his only talent for civil life being the art of dancing. 7 The Optimates were ex

nd barely to be perceived through the tumultuous clamour of political life at Rome under Caesar’s consulate, several partisa

as unworthy of his ancestors, corrupt and debauched in the way of his life . 1 Pompeius took in marriage his daughter, Cornel

ke: to Caesar, as he claimed, ‘his dignitas had ever been dearer than life itself. ’2 Sooner than surrender it, Caesar appea

of the clementia and magnitudo animi of Caesar. They took the gift of life and restoration with suppressed resentment: some

h utterly. 1 In January 44 B.C. Caesar was voted the Dictatorship for life . About the same time decrees of the Senate ordain

oly that descended upon Caesar there stands the best of testimony ’my life has been long enough, whether reckoned in years o

not for what he might become. 6 The assumption of a Dictatorship for life seemed to mock and dispel all hope of a return to

erted the old domination over his nephew more powerfully than ever in life . Brutus came to feel shame for his own disloyalty

atilina went on, to his ruin. When Caesar took the Dictatorship for life and the sworn allegiance of senators, it seemed c

ther and Ahenobarbus). PageBook=>062 were debarred from public life until restored by the Dictator. 1 Two of the thre

s and clients and secure their advancement, whatever their station in life . Fides, libertas and amicitia were qualities valu

usus; 4 and L. Visidius was one of the partisans who watched over the life of Cicero when Catilina, threatening revolution,

vus Iulius 19, 1. PageBook=>101 in the last months of Caesar’s life , artfully fomented by his enemies; and Caesar, wh

Caesar departed. Born in 82 B.C., Antonius was now in the prime of life , richly endowed with strength of body and grace o

t cowardice are trivial, ridiculous or conventional. That the private life of the Caesarian soldier was careless, disorderly

ogether suppress a timid and perhaps perverse admiration. A blameless life is not the whole of virtue, and inflexible rectit

, who governed Lusitania with integrity (ib. 13, 46) and took his own life rather than prolong a civil war (Hist. 2, 47), an

d, that Brutus and Cassius would be able to return to Roman political life . 4 NotesPage=>117 1 Ad Att. 15, 2, 3, belo

elf of the clemency and personal esteem of the victor. The years of life under the Dictatorship were unhappy and ingloriou

t and some prospect that Brutus and Cassius might return to political life . 1 Cicero turned back. Near Velia on August 17t

up. He salved his dignity by the belief that he was in danger of his life , and by the composition of a speech in reply, the

d. Now came the last and heroic hour, in the long and varied public life of Cicero. Summoning all his oratory and all his

anny, which is the negation of liberty, the laws and of all civilized life . 3 So much for Caesar. But the desire for fame

. 3 There were more damaging charges than mere vice in Roman public life the lack of ancestors, the taint of trade or the

custom or tradition. Knowledge of the vocabulary of Roman political life derives in the main from the speeches of Cicero.

was to establish the Dictatorship again, this time without respect of life and property, in the spirit and deed of revolutio

not surprising. Of his lieutenants, Laterensis in shame took his own life ; P. Canidius Crassus and Rufrenus were fervent An

tator pardoned his adversaries and facilitated their return to public life . The Triumvirs, however, decided to root out thei

sequences of compelling a general to appeal to his army in defence of life or honour were now apparent the generals themselv

besieged him at Laodicaea in Syria. In despair Dolabella took his own life : Trebonius was avenged. Except for Egypt, whose Q

ook=>206 Livius Drusus. 1 Brutus, their own leader, took his own life . Virtus had proved to be an empty word. 2 The v

Antonius gazed in sorrow upon the Roman dead, the tragedy of his own life may have risen to his thoughts. Brutus had divine

ave to excite the suspicions of the soldiery. Riots broke out and his life was in danger. Rome and all Italy was in confus

f Antonius were soon clouded by disturbances in the city of Rome. The life of Octavianus was endangered. Unpopular taxes,

nses, and endured unimpaired to the day of his death. For once in his life he surrendered to emotion: it was with political

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

ise of a new romanticism. Pollio, after his triumph abandoning public life , returned to the habits of a youth formed in the

f the State, took refuge in the pursuits and relationships of private life . The revulsion from politics, marked enough in th

that Rome had relapsed under a Sullan despotism, retired from public life but scorning ignoble ease or the pursuits of agri

t less so the grave moral tone, flagrant in contrast with his earlier life . No matter: Sallustius at once set the fashion of

t Italy, not a technical handbook; he wrote about the country and the life of the farmer in a grave, religious and patriotic

t not in the traditional manner of Lucilius. His subject was ordinary life , his treatment not harsh and truculent, but human

ic style, a distrust of sentiment and a realistic conception of human life . He insisted upon modernity, both in style and

and for Alexandrianism, a proper regard for those provinces of human life which lie this side of romantic eroticism or myth

oratory was ornate and pompous, veritably Asianic, the fashion of his life regal and lavish ’Antonius the great and inimitab

d told her to go back to Rome, unchivalrous for the first time in his life . He was dealing with Octavianus: but he learned t

than the affront to Rome arising from Antonius’ alliance and marital life with the Queen of Egypt. The following year wit

arshals Ventidius and Decidius were dead. Pollio had abandoned public life , perhaps Censorinus had as well. Other partisans

n at Actium. ’4 So Augustus wrote in the majestic memorial of his own life and deeds. When an official document records volu

e given by the Senate to Caesar the Dictator in the last month of his life , or the oath taken at Tibur to the consul Antoniu

from her export of soldiers, financiers and governors. The source of life cut off, Italy would dwindle into poverty and dis

ter brief resistance Antonius was defeated in battle. He took his own life . The army of the Roman People entered the capital

age. The War of Actium had been fought and won, the menace to Italy’s life and soul averted. But salvation hung upon a singl

ead. Well might men adjure the gods of Rome to preserve that precious life , hunc saltern everso iuvenem succurrere saeclo

by the foundation of a lasting city did a hero win divine honours in life and divinity after death. That was the lesson of

ing. 3 NotesPage=>308 1 If he received tribunicia potestas for life in 30 B.C. (Dio 51, 19, 6), he seems to have made

the Senate passed a decree against the offender. Gallus took his own life (27 B.C.). 2 The offence of Gallus is variously d

nt history, the shield of Aeneas allows a brief glimpse of the future life , on the one side Catilina in hell, tormented by f

not long ago—the political activity of Cicero in the last year of his life . The smooth Plancus no doubt acquiesced, adding h

C. Norbanus. But there were presumably three nobiles in the prime of life ; 2 and three recent novi homines. 3 Not to mentio

years’ war in Spain (from 28 to 19 B.C.)2. Frail and in despair of life , Augustus returned to Rome towards the middle of

ent and recalcitrant temper. Hitherto Piso had held aloof from public life , disdaining office. Augustus, in virtue of arbitr

s early as 36 B.C. he had acquired the sacrosanctity of a tribune for life , in 30 B.C. certain powers in law. No trace hit

only evidence). Proconsular imperium was conferred, σαєί καθάπαξ, for life according to A. v. Premerstein, Vom Werden u. Wes

usly omitted from the majestic and misleading record of Augustus’ own life and honours. The two pillars of his rule, procons

Latio. ’ 6 Res Gestae 5; Dio 54, 1, 1 ff. PageBook=>340 The life of the Princeps was frail and precarious, but the

not stand as a model and an ornament in the New State. The way of his life , like the fantastical conceits of his verse, must

y merit might also earn commendation or patronage for a post in civil life , namely the position of procurator. Augustus enli

ir families for ever. In brief, Augustus’ design was to make public life safe, reputable and attractive. Encouragement was

ence for the pomp, the extravagance and the dangers of the senatorial life ; of which very rational distaste both Augustus’ o

n to expect the right kind of senator: equestrian distaste for public life and for politics (the perennial quies) often prov

rested with certain accomplices on a charge of conspiring to take the life of the Princeps, he was imprisoned and executed.

ch the developed system could show in the last years of the Princeps’ life . Not until 5 B.C. do suffect consuls become frequ

politics into monarchical rule and emerge into open day in the court life of the ruler of the Julio-Claudian house. A cou

f his amicitia marks the end of a courtier’s career, and often of his life . Ceremonial observances become more complicated:

the pacification of its southern boundaries King Amyntas had lost his life ; and though there was no permanent establishment

Dio (54, 10, 5), in 19 B.C. Augustus was given consular imperium for life : for the interpretation of this, see Premerstein

all was Maecenas. After 23 B.C. Maecenas gradually lost ground. When life ebbed along with power, the descendant of kings w

eaties of his mother, he persisted in his intention to abandon public life and showed the strength of his determination by a

very different. Tiberius dwelt at Rhodes. His career was ended, his life precarious. Of that, none could doubt who studied

eronem urbis. ’ PageBook=>420 When Cinna conspired against his life or was suspected of conspiracy Augustus quietly p

us, Ann. 1, 10; 4, 44. Velleius (2, 100, 4) says that he took his own life . The difference is not material. 3 Velleius 2,

retreat after a cool reception. Lollius was all-powerful. Tiberius’ life was in danger at a banquet in the presence of Gai

tional on the consent of Gaius; and Tiberius was debarred from public life . He dwelt in Rome as a private citizen. Even thou

ir was consul, he came safely through the climacteric year of a man’s life , the sixty-third. 3 Not three years passed and Ga

rsonal inadequacy; the young man conceived a violent distaste for the life of active responsibility to which he was doomed b

Princeps replenished the existing priestly colleges, calling again to life the ancient guild of the Arval Brethren: which me

r romance depicted, the consuls of the early Republic as identical in life , habit and ideals with the rough farmers whom the

rofit. If the growing of corn brought no money to the peasant, if his life was stern and laborious, so much the better. He m

e bad farmers. Compare the precepts touching agriculture and the good life which the retired military tribune C. Castricius

nd more modern methods of cultivation. As in politics, so in economic life , there could be no reaction. None was intended. N

unicipal man he was priggish and parsimonious, successful in business life , self-righteous and intolerably moral. The Italia

ic pride of Augustus. In dejection he thought of making an end of his life . But for that disaster he could have borne the lo

ers learned obedience, the veterans the habit of a regular and useful life not like Sulla’s men. Even freedmen were not trea

he theory that the Ars Poetica was written at a late date in Horace’s life and was dedicated to two sons of this Piso is so

e conveniet lyrae: quo, Musa, tendis? 1 After praising the simple life and cursing wealth he adds: scilicet improbae c

le peoples of Italy and to prevail, to establish cities and civilized life : bellum ingens geret Italia populosque ferocis

ventional excuse of the erotic poet his page may be scabrous, but his life is chaste: vita verecunda est, Musa iocosa mea.

e East, suppressing brigandage, founding cities and promoting ordered life . Juba, the King of Mauretania, a man of peace and

s another side to it ’pacem sine dubio post haec, vero cruentam’1 The life of the Princeps was threatened by continual consp

put to death no citizen of his enemies’ armies who had asked that his life be spared. 3 The claim was impudent: it is refute

eved, would reveal one man at least who was killed though begging for life . 5 It was a commonplace of antiquity that Princep

ase among literature in both prose and verse, a scourge in the social life of the aristocracy. Messalla vied with Pollio as

on became consul under Tiberius, a great orator and a man of infamous life ,5 fit partner for Quirinius’ Aemilia Lepida, who

and killed in exile; his son, reduced to destitution and the ignoble life of a retail trader in Africa and Sicily, found th

gustus and kept on good terms with Tiberius, acquiring a new lease of life . They display seven consuls on the Fasti of Augus

noble families; 1 and the diplomats Plancus and Pollio, tenacious of life themselves, each produced one son at least. Daugh

this has been disputed): cf. PIR1, V 90. PageBook=>513 In his life and in his writings Pollio professed an unswervin

rights are a means, not an end in themselves. That end is security of life and property: it could not be guaranteed by the c

nnals. As a Roman historian, Tacitus had to be a Republican: in his life and in his politics he was a monarchist. It was t

berius and for Rome if Augustus had died earlier: the duration of his life , by accustoming men’s minds to the Principate as

, Divus Aug. 28, 2. PageBook=>522 The last decade of Augustus’ life was clouded by domestic scandals and by disasters

sked his friends whether he had played well his part in the comedy of life . 2 There could be one answer or none. Whatever hi

stricken by an illness that might easily have been the end of a frail life , Augustus composed his Autobiography. Other gener

r, had published the narrative of their res gestae or recounted their life , deeds and destiny for glory or for politics: non

Horatius Flaccus, Q., 198; Epodes, 16, 218; at Tarentum, 225; early life and writings, 254; style and character, 255, 461;

ssalla Rufus, M. (cos. 53 B.C.), disgraced consular, 62, 69; his long life , 165, 412; writings, 377. Valerius Messalla Vol