tail; their importance has been deduced from family, nomenclature, or rank ; and most of them will be unfamiliar to any but a

cinius Murena, descendants of ancient and famous houses of praetorian rank .) Gelzer’s lucid explanation of the character of

had ever to be on the alert, jealous to guard his dignitas, that is, rank , prestige and honour, against the attacks of his

e social class as the great bulk of the senators: the contrast lay in rank and prestige. The knights preferred comfort, se

esser was to prevail. The patricians in the restored oligarchy held rank not so much from resources of their own as from a

at won the day was Cato’s.1 Aged thirty-three and only quaestorian in rank , this man prevailed by force of character. Cato e

ties of friendship with a number of great landowners of the class and rank of M. Terentius Varro from Reate, in the Sabine l

cos. 96), Cicero, In Verrem 11, 1, 118. PageBook=>045 consular rank . 1 With the consuls of the last year of the Repub

al and moral rights to preferential treatment. In the last resort his rank , prestige and honour, summed up in the Latin word

d eloquent, especially Curio, who had already, despite his youth, won rank by vigour and acerbity among the greatest of poli

cf. T. Frank, AJP XL (1919), 407 F. among literary men of equestrian rank on Caesar’s side, note C. Asinius Pollio (Catullu

d daughter imposed. 2 The Aemilii and the Servilii occupy a special rank in the political history of Rome, patrician house

epublic or to tribal capitals in the Transpadana recently elevated in rank , from the contemptuous appellation of ‘Gaul’. Cat

ul’. Catullus’ family would perhaps have been eligible for senatorial rank , if not Virgil’s as well. Among Caesar’s nominees

ssion to the Dictator. Between senator and knight the cleavage was of rank only. The greater part of the socially undesirabl

and discordant land. Pompeius’ son inherited: he secured senatorial rank or subsequent promotion for partisans such as the

consuls took office in the years 48–44 B.C., all men with senatorial rank before the outbreak of the Civil War. Five of the

L. Licinius Murena (cos. 62), of a distinguished family of praetorian rank (Pro Murena 41), was the first consul from Lanuvi

umably an equestrian officer (Bell. Al. 31, 3) promoted to senatorial rank by Caesar. He commanded the legio Martia for Octa

ion as Caesarian leader beside Antonius, only eight men of senatorial rank can be discovered among his generals and they are

mpany. 1 Senators who had come safely through civil war or who owed rank and fortune to one revolution were not eager to s

OR STATESMAN PageBook=>135 IN the Senate three men of consular rank had spoken against Antonius, namely L. Piso, P. S

f special and irrelevant pleading. The private virtues of Cicero, his rank in the literature of Rome, and his place in the h

well as of social distinction. There was no Fabius now of consular rank , no Valerius, no Claudius. 2 Of the Cornelii, who

consul P. Cornelius Dolabella; and of all the patricians, primacy in rank and standing went to M. Aemilius Lepidus. Like th

al, Phil. 5, 46. PageBook=>168 be invoked to confer senatorial rank upon a private citizen. It had not been done even

nder a law passed by the Roman People to say nothing of condoning the rank conferred upon a private adventurer. As for Brutu

n opulent family at Atina, a Volscian town, perhaps not of senatorial rank . 3 A large number of local aristocrats supported

perished, leaving few sons; 2 there was not a single man of consular rank in the party; its rallying point and its leaders

ble Favonius and by his own personal friends and agents of equestrian rank , such as the banker C. Flavius, with no heart for

ersons of some permanence also emerge before long, rising to consular rank , P. Canidius Crassus, C. Norbanus Flaccus, of a p

that destroyed the Republic along with their new allies and peers in rank , Ventidius and Carrinas. On the field of Philippi

ed. Certain of the adherents of Pompeius, senatorial or equestrian in rank , were put to death. 2 After which stern measures

banus, the grandson of the proscribed Marian consul, be accorded this rank : Norbanus was the general who along with Saxa ope

ested, were the first members of their families to acquire senatorial rank . The admirable D. Carfulenus, one of the casualti

among the aristocracy. The nobiles would attract others of their own rank and many a humbler snob or time-server as well: t

e Sicilian War Octavianus accorded to his centurions on discharge the rank of town-councillors in their municipia. 1 Hence c

here were a number of sons of highly respectable houses of praetorian rank ). PageBook=>244 perished during the last t

. 17, 1), Calvus, Caelius, Brutus, Caesar and Pollio are accorded the rank of ‘classical’ orators next to and below, but com

ny to the peculiar but contrasted greatness of Caesar and Cato denied rank of comparison to Pompeius Magnus. 2 The Pompeians

ss in the cities of Asia might hope to enter the Senate of Rome, take rank with their peers from Italy and the western provi

e, when controlling the East, could not evade, even if he wished, the rank and attributes of a king or a god. Years before,

must have been a man of some substance if he could secure senatorial rank for two of his sons. 4 CIL 12, p. 77. 5 CIL 1

assumed the title traditionally pertaining to the senator foremost in rank and authority, that of princeps senatus. Further,

s a noble, from a great house, the grandson of a dynast who had taken rank with Pompeius and Caesar; in military glory he wa

ew families rather than noble, and praetorian rather than consular in rank ; and no imperatorial salutations, no triumphs, if

and for service expected, the Senate invested the first citizen with rank and authority. Caesar Augustus was to govern a pr

these provinces had been governed by proconsuls, usually consular in rank . Thus all Spain, it appears, had been under one g

Provinces so large and so important called for proconsuls of consular rank , with a tenure longer than annual. That would be

ul governing all Spain, but instead two or three legates, inferior in rank and power. Hence security for the Princeps, and e

nks of the consulars—there must have been now about forty men of this rank —and after the Pact of Brundisium Rome had witness

uous lack of legates of Augustus either noble in birth or consular in rank . Not a single nobilis can be found among his lega

o provinces, Africa and Asia, were governed by proconsuls of consular rank . In the early years it might be expected that fro

rly years it might be expected that from time to time men of consular rank would be put in charge of the military provinces

rs after Actium partisans of Augustus governed the provinces with the rank of proconsuls and celebrated triumphs for victori

if their parents were senatorial at all, they were obscure and low in rank . These legates were direct appointments of August

nstead of proconsuls, independent of the Princeps and equal to him in rank . Only two names are recorded in this period. 3 Ce

ennoblement by service as legates or as proconsuls when praetorian in rank . 4 Augustus was consul every year down to 23 B.

t Egypt. Egypt might seem secure, governed by a viceroy of equestrian rank yet there had been Cornelius Gallus. The next pre

unction, however, he transferred to a pair of curatores of praetorian rank . The censors abdicated, nothing done. PageNote.

ius and M. Junius Silanus. Others, spared after the victory, retained rank and standing, like Sosius and Furnius. 3 NotesP

called C. Cluvius (PIR2, C 1204), was specially adlected to consular rank in 29 B.C. (Dio 52, 42, 4). PageBook=>350

inor partisans of Antonius may have been allowed to retain senatorial rank , in name at least. As soon as a census came they

days of the Republic was composed of three orders, each with definite rank , duties and privileges. They were to remain: the

is way a soldier’s family might rise through equestrian to senatorial rank in two or three generations, according to the soc

law; 3 and he advanced the soldier T. Marius of Urvinum to equestrian rank . 4 The Revolution opened, and the New State per

n time knights were willing to divest themselves temporarily of their rank to become centurions. 2 The equestrian order is

lavius Petro, from Reate, a Pompeian veteran, had a son of equestrian rank , T. Flavius Sabinus the tax gatherer, who was the

were placed under the charge of prefects or procurators of equestrian rank . Such were Raetia and Noricum. When Judaea was an

ermes XXXIX (1904), 461 ff. Seianus had several relatives of consular rank (Velleius 2, 127, 3), cf. Table VI at end. 4 Ta

a was the son of a senator of the preceding generation, praetorian in rank (P-W III A, 72). As for M. Lollius, there were Lo

cius (CIL ν, 3339); and Valerius Naso (CIL V, 3341) was of praetorian rank before A.D. 26 (Tacitus, Ann. 4, 56). Note also S

uratorships and high equestrian posts under Augustus, which gave them rank comparable to the consulate in the senatorial car

enuine or supposed. 2 Clients or distant collaterals may have usurped rank and forged pedigrees. Over some noble houses of t

the daughter of a respectable municipal man, a senator of praetorian rank . 2 But Titius secured Paullina, sister of the pat

r attire was valued at a mere forty million sesterces. 8 Senatorial rank and promotion to the consulate were not the only

veted dignity of augur, which fell to M. Antonius when of quaestorian rank : Antonius was a noble. But Antonius required all

he system broadens as it descends from consulars to senators of lower rank , to knights, freedmen and plain citizens, with pe

Italian towns had a definite role to play. Knights themselves might rank with senators in the New State or even above them

rician family. Seianus had brothers, cousins and an uncle of consular rank . 7 The patronage which he could exert would have

Her private activities were deep and devious. She secured senatorial rank for M. Salvius Otho, the consulate for M. Plautiu

s various and cumulative, were almost without exception praetorian in rank . At the same time, as more senators reached the c

the kingdom of Amyntas, was first organized by a legate of praetorian rank and was commonly reckoned as praetorian. Yet on t

as governed by legates of consular standing. 2 Galatia might suitably rank as a frontier province; in the pacification of it

t may be presumed, was governed from the beginning by men of consular rank , perhaps Asia as well. Illyricum, as long as it w

existed seven military commands held by imperial legates of consular rank ; of these, five lay along the northern frontier o

cavalry and to provide for commissariat. Not all men of senatorial rank were untried in active warfare. The proconsul cou

2. 7 At this time, they are often, perhaps usually, quaestorian in rank , cf. ILS 931 and 945. The first person to be desc

certain cases of extortion the judges were to be four men of consular rank , together with three praetorians and two other se

t advertised or confirmed the decisions of the government; senatorial rank and the tenure of high office were no longer an e

en amongst the earliest friends of Augustus. Some attained senatorial rank . Others, like the modest Proculeius, remained wit

sons of the women of his house. Most of them were already of consular rank . Sex. Appuleius (cos. 29 B.C.), a dim and myste

end. PageBook=>424 L. Calpurnius Piso (cos. 15 B.C.) occupied rank and eminence with the foremost in the Principate

of virtus is ‘manly courage’. The Roman People occupied a privileged rank in the empire of all the world. Privilege should

o establish the movement upon a firm basis of theory and to claim the rank of classics for the better sort of contemporary l

kinsman, C. Propertius Postumus, he might have aspired to senatorial rank . PageNotes. 466 1 Propertius 3, 22, 17. 2 I

the great priestly and dynastic houses of Asia, now holding consular rank in the imperial Senate. Still less does he ventur

Servilius Isauricus lived on in dull indolence, merely praetorian in rank and leaving no heir; 4 his spirited sister chose

the Asinii with six sons, of whom three at least attained to consular rank :4 a direct descendant was consul under Trajan. 5

B.C., 339. Centurions, 70, 79 f., 243, 395; promotion to equestrian rank under the Principate, 353. Chumstinctus, Nervia

1; repute under Augustus, 318, 321, 484, 506, 520; general repute and rank in history, 4, 146. Tullius Cicero, M. (cos. su