groups, open in the elections and in the courts of law, or masked by secret intrigue. As in its beginning, so in its last gen

e contrast lay in rank and prestige. The knights preferred comfort, secret power and solid profit to the burdens, the danger

of this oligarchy were pervasive, its most weighty decisions taken in secret , known or inferred by politicians of the time, bu

udii and carelessly incurred a bitter feud by giving testimony, under secret and domestic pressure, against P. Clodius; 2 and

ion and loyal veterans clamorous for recompense, was constrained to a secret compact. The diplomatic arts of Caesar reconciled

the name. Cato’s confidence in his own rectitude and insight derived secret strength from the antipathy which he felt for the

ensive powers and freedom from the tribunician veto. Caesar knew that secret enemies would soon direct that deadly weapon agai

y. 5 Ad fam. 9, 20, 2. 6 Pliny, NH 15, 49 PageBook=>072 on secret and open missions before and after the outbreak o

he secured from Calpurnia the Dictator’s papers and then consulted in secret with the chief men of the Caesarian faction, such

ived hence open dismay among the friends of the Liberators and many a secret muttering at the failure of the coup d’état. Yet

isposal of the Dictator’s property, however, he must have rejoiced in secret . 5 Then Octavianus called on Cicero. The illustri

ed the soul of Caesar made a god. Octavianus accepted the sign with secret confidence in his destiny and with public exploit

>126 It would surely be easy to incriminate or to intimidate his secret accomplices. Might and right were on the side of

occupy the stage of history, crowding out the obscurer partisans and secret contributors. The party did not appeal to the imp

re Balbus. Balbus could keep his counsel,4 and time has respected his secrets . No record survives of his services to Caesar’s h

source, though likewise not of the best, alleges that the pair made a secret compact with Cicero, Cicero to provide political

cause or for the Republic. 6 Whatever the rumours or likelihood of secret plotting, the young adventurer required the open

sequent history, and invested with a significance foreign even to the secret thoughts of the agents themselves. Cicero had fir

nia, ostensibly to take the waters. 5 Wherever there was trouble, the secret agent Balbus might be detected in the background.

tionary under the sign of the avenging of Caesar. Of that purpose, no secret , no disguise. To be sure, he offered a safeguard

Mutina. There was no respite: at Rome the struggle was prosecuted, in secret intrigue and open debate, veiled under the name o

ro. That the embassy would fail he proclaimed in public and prayed in secret . 1 The embassy set forth. It comprised three co

and presumably with Antonius. Lepidus at least seems to have made no secret of his agreement with Antonius: Antonius suppress

60 B.C. and during the years following depended upon control, open or secret , of the organs of government. Pompeius and his al

ed Sulla. Often enough before now proscriptions had been the cause of secret apprehension, the pretext of hostile propaganda,

the profession of ancient virtue, but avid and unscrupulous in their secret deeds. The town of Larinum will surely have lived

, for the transactions of high policy were conducted by the rulers in secret or at a distance from Rome. Contemporaries were

ance of armed men or allay the suspicions of political negotiators in secret conclave. Few indeed of the consuls under the Tri

y acquired that preoccupation with human character, especially in its secret NotesPage=>249 1 Seneca, Epp. 114, 17: ‘Sa

ence like the defection of Plancus and Titius. Well primed with the secrets of Antonius, the renegades brought a precious gif

with Senate and People, certain eminent personages might have brought secret and urgent pressure to bear upon him. Some info

ation will neither evoke surprise nor reveal to a modern inquirer any secret about the rule of Augustus which was hidden from

aesar Augustus possessed indefinite and tremendous resources, open or secret —all that the principes in the last generation hel

politically silent, with no voice or testimony, hoping and fearing in secret . On the first day of January he entered upon his

known to few enough at the time, and they preferred not to publish a secret of state. The incident was disquieting. Not merel

l year of Murena’s conspiracy and Augustus’ all but fatal illness the secret struggle for influence and power in his entourage

ce on matters of state. It was worth having, and she never betrayed a secret . Livia had not given the Princeps a child. She ha

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

ignating a successor. He might adopt his nephew. Such was perhaps his secret wish, perhaps the intention avowed to his counsel

monarchy; and it might end in wrecking the Caesarian party. In the secret debate which the historian Cassius Dio composed t

e the subtle Maecenas and the hard-headed Livia Drusilla, he kept his secret and never told his true opinion about the leader

tus. Livia deserved to succeed. It may fairly be represented that the secret coup d’etat of 23 B.C. was the work of Livia as w

ture manifestation of hereditary monarchy; they had restored unity by secret compulsion, with Agrippa as deputy-leader: even s

te, honoured by Princeps and Senate, acclaimed in public and hated in secret . A sufficient company of their peers was spared

and strength to the new régime, but also feuds and dissensions in the secret oligarchy of government. When the social parven

ained to the consulate and dispensed patronage in their turn, open or secret . Tiberius, being the head of the Claudii, would h

hazardous: see Table VI at end. PageBook=>385 Influences more secret and more sinister were quietly at work all the ti

; but the authority of Agrippa, Maecenas and Livia, who ruled Rome in secret , knew no name or definition and needed none. The

d Galba assumed the heritage of the Julii and Claudii, that the great secret was first published abroad an emperor could be cr

to the family of the Princeps. The significance of this fact for the secret politics of the period is evident and enormous. 5

been the subject of open and public debate: they were now decided in secret by a few men. 1 He is right. If Augustus wished h

tly been demonstrated. The domination of Pompeius gave a foretaste of secret rule his Mytilenean client Theophanes was an intr

hazards and intrigues of the revolutionary era set a high premium on secret counsel and secret diplomacy; and the Princeps re

ues of the revolutionary era set a high premium on secret counsel and secret diplomacy; and the Princeps retained unimpaired h

isis of 23 B.C. by composing speeches for the principal agents in the secret struggle round a moribund despot. Modesty or igno

rred for merit and by consent. In 23 B.C., after an open crisis and a secret struggle, the modification of the Princeps’ statu

due to threat or exertion of open violence. The deed could be done in secret and in advance. The rule of Nerva by its impotenc

resentment upon a diet of science and letters. His enemies called it secret vice. 1 Like Agrippa, beneath the mask of service

nsul. 2 Augustus expressed public disapproval and bided his time with secret exultation. 3 In the next year it came out. Gaius

rogress of monarchy the importance of cabinet government is enhanced; secret policy and secret strife in the counsels of the P

y the importance of cabinet government is enhanced; secret policy and secret strife in the counsels of the Princeps determine

efore his sons attained their majority, a Council of Regency, open or secret , would control the government. It would be idle

Fabius Maximus, had made a voyage by sea to visit Agrippa Postumus in secret . 3 More instructive, perhaps, if no more authenti

mersum et vino madentem. ’ PageBook=>437 They never let out a secret . It will be recalled that Seius Strabo had a wife

the summary execution of Agrippa Postumus. It was ordered and done in secret , through Sallustius Crispus, a secretary of state

falsifies the symptoms. Most of the real history of the Principate is secret history. The nobiles were unable or unwilling t

disaster and degradation, ‘illustrium domuum adversa’, the victims of secret political intrigues in the family of the Princeps

reluctant ruler; and there were old scores to pay off. Moreover, the secret struggle for power and distinction went on as bef

us Theophanes, Cn., client of Magnus from Mytilene, 35, 76, 262; as a secret agent, 407; as a historian, 459; honoured at Myti