on of the Caesarian party in the form of a long digression. No less than the subject, the tone and treatment calls for exp

ublican sentiments even submission to absolute rule was a lesser evil than war between citizens. 1 Liberty was gone, but onl

tyle and colouring is evident enough: their affinity goes much deeper than words. Nor would it be rash to assert that Pollio

not treat his subject with freedom and with veracity. It was no other than Claudius, a pupil of Livy. 3 His master had less

office in the towns of Italy, the proportion was clearly much higher than has sometimes been imagined. Of a total of six

ore became an act of policy and an alliance of powers, more important than a magistracy, more binding than any compact of oa

an alliance of powers, more important than a magistracy, more binding than any compact of oath or interest. Not that women w

ripped many an ancient senatorial family, giving them a greater power than the nominal holders of dignity and office. 4 Eq

that they found support in the higher ranks of the aristocracy rather than in the lower. It is all too easy to tax the Roman

s omnium bonorum and embraced tota Italia. But it was an ideal rather than a programme: there was no Ciceronian party. The R

selves the name of populares often sinister and fraudulent, no better than their rivals, the men in power, who naturally inv

were now being monopolized by one man. Something more was involved than the privileges of an oligarchy: in the contest ag

To gain office from the votes of the sovran people, no surer password than the favour shown or pretended of Pompeius; to rej

d his army. Much to his annoyance, the government had proved stronger than he expected. A civilian consul, suppressing the r

ar 14; Pompeius 47). Münzer (RA, 338 f.) argues that this is no other than Brutus, adopted by his maternal uncle Q. Serviliu

armies were already secured. But Pompeius required for his ally more than an ordinary proconsulate. To this end Caesar was

ulate, was signally defeated, to the satisfaction of Pompeius no less than of Caesar. Two years passed, heavy with a gathe

elii Lentuli were noted more for pride of birth and political caution than for public splendour or conspicuous ability in wa

t stake: to Caesar, as he claimed, ‘his dignitas had ever been dearer than life itself. ’2 Sooner than surrender it, Caesar

aimed, ‘his dignitas had ever been dearer than life itself. ’2 Sooner than surrender it, Caesar appealed to arms. A constitu

y of his ancestors; 2 while Cato chose to fall by his own hand rather than witness the domination of Caesar and the destruct

guilt of the Civil War. 3 Pompeius had been little better, if at all, than his younger and more active rival, a spurious and

ould not compete. Though interest on each side claimed more adherents than principle, interest with the Pompeians usurped th

st with Pompeius or Augustus as though Augustus did not assume a more than human name and found a monarchy, complete with co

r in warlike fame and even in bodily form. 3 Caesar was a truer Roman than either of them. The complete synthesis in the p

t. Whatever it might be, it would owe more to the needs of the moment than to alien or theoretical models. More important th

eturn to normal and constitutional government. His rule was far worse than the violent and illegal domination of Pompeius. T

condemn the act of the Liberators, for so they were styled, as worse than a crime a folly. The verdict is hasty and judges

the brotherhood of man. The Stoic teaching, indeed, was nothing more than a corroboration and theoretical defence of certai

ner dead, asserted the old domination over his nephew more powerfully than ever in life. Brutus came to feel shame for his o

lay a Roman aristocrat, a friend and a benefactor, for better reasons than that. They stood, not merely for the traditions a

njoyed the franchise. Caesar in truth was more conservative and Roman than many have fancied; and no Roman conceived of gove

tional governing class. Caesar’s autocracy appeared to be much more than a temporary expedient to liquidate the heritage o

nd vicissitudes of that party, though less dramatic in unity of theme than the careers and exploits of the successive leader

commanding armies, namely Cn. Domitius Calvinus, and he was no better than his colleague Messalla or his illustrious predece

5.) PageBook=>070 constitution did not matter they were older than the Roman Republic. It was the ambition of the Ro

senators’ sons or not, commonly owed their commissions less to merit than to the claims of friendship and influence or the

ke a monarch: in Rome the alien millionaire exercised a power greater than most Roman senators. Certain of the politicians w

the aristocracy of the towns. 5 Benefits anticipated were more potent than benefits conferred. The Transpadani were eager fo

the ranks as centurions only one is sufficiently attested. 1 Worse than all that, Caesar elevated men from the provinces

southern Gaul will have been more acceptable to the Roman aristocracy than the sons of freed slaves, less raw and alien perh

aristocracy than the sons of freed slaves, less raw and alien perhaps than some of the intruders who derived from remote and

names by chance recorded once and never again, to say nothing of more than two hundred unknown to history, the Senate after

nts and dependents. 4 Many cities of Italy traced an origin earlier than that of Rome: their rulers could vie in antiquity

rmed that monarchs of foreign stock had ruled at Rome. More important than the kings were their rivals and heirs in power, t

ff.; RA, 05 ff. PageBook=>086 But these are exceptions rather than examples. The governing oligarchy, not least the

orgotten. When Caesar invaded Italy he could reckon on something more than aversion from politics and distrust of the govern

d forth in jubilation to meet Antonius, Caesar’s man; and it was more than the obstinate folly of Ahenobarbus that brought o

itulation of the neighbouring city of Corfinium. Pompeius knew better than did his allies the oligarchs the true condition o

astered from its citadel. The facts and elements of power were larger than that. To carry through a Roman revolution in orde

oldier. Caesar, a good judge of men, put him in control of Italy more than once during the Civil Wars, in 49 B.C. when Anton

e of the plebs, and after Pharsalus, as Master of the Horse, for more than a year. The task was delicate, and Caesar may not

of Antonius may have told against him but in Rome and in Italy rather than with the troops and in the provinces. Yet they we

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

. On his lips the profession of respect for Brutus was something more than a conventional or politic formula Antonius was ne

an party was now his: but he might have to fight to retain it. More than that, Antonius was consul, head of the government

ved. The revolutionary adventurer eludes grasp and definition no less than the mature statesman. For the early years, a sore

June 1st to a strengthening of the coalition of March 17th, and, more than that, to a firm pact with the Liberators. Brutus

l honour: they told Antonius that they valued their own libertas more than his amicitia and bade him take warning from the f

appearance since March 17th. The Curia did not see him again for more than three months. The importance of his speech is dif

nquiry. Antonius did not press the charge perhaps it was nothing more than a clumsy device to discredit the young adversary.

he appeal worked he gave a bribe of 500 denarii to each soldier, more than twice the annual pay of a legionary, promising, i

nnual pay of a legionary, promising, in the event of success, no less than 5,000 denarii. In the colonies of Calatia and Cas

t Italy. Octavianus had more skill, fewer scruples and better fortune than the Liberators. By the beginning of October the y

e was soon to invest ‘for the good of the Commonwealth’ and much more than his patrimony. The diversion of public funds wa

e not eager to stir up another. But Octavianus wished to be much more than the leader of a small band of desperadoes and fin

narchie3, 163 f. PageBook=>136 of more use to the Commonwealth than the more elevated principles that were professed,

ption, he chose to blame Caesar, the agent of his misfortunes, rather than Pompeius with whom the last word rested. Pompeius

ppius and Balbus found the result not altogether satisfactory. Rather than emend, Cicero gave it up, gladly. Caesar did not

overnment was still not beyond hope: to save it, what better champion than a patriot who boasted never to have been a party

and won power, the acta of Caesar would be more decisively confirmed than they were on March 17th; if he failed, Antonius w

heir position legalized. The offensive was therefore launched earlier than had been expected. Now came the last and heroic

virtue. Once again the ideal statesman is depicted in civilian rather than in military garb; and the ambition of unscrupulou

udgement over the dead at all, improper to adduce any standards other than those of a man’s time, class and station. Yet it

l of the policy of the State. The situation was much more complicated than that, issues entangled, factions and personalitie

only be won by adopting the adversary’s weapons; and victory no less than defeat would be fatal to everything that an hones

ck of Roman decorum and decency. 3 There were more damaging charges than mere vice in Roman public life the lack of ancest

ul exercising the ill-famed profession of auctioneer:5 or stay, worse than that, he had immigrated thither from the land of

evidence reveals the fact that Piso’s Epicurean familiar was no other than the unimpeachable Philodemus from Gadara, a town

us. Had he been on the right side, he would have been praised no less than that man from Gades, the irreproachable Balbus. W

ntial part of the Republican virtue of libertas, to be regretted more than political freedom when both were abolished. For t

from the speeches of Cicero. On the surface, what could be more clear than his categories and his ‘values’ ‘good’ citizens a

the sentiment and interests of Italy as a whole. An aspiration rather than a programme. If the political literature of the p

riotism and political sagacity. It was easier to formulate an ideal than a policy. The defenders of the Senate’s rule and

vil war, Republicans might honestly hold an unjust peace to be better than the justest of wars. Then the fair name lost cred

ion of the patriotic front. 6 Then war became just and heroic: rather than seek any accommodation with a citizen in arms, an

n political factions were welded together, less by unity of principle than by mutual interest and by mutual services (offici

as a sacred duty or an occasion of just pride. The family was older than the State; and the family was the kernel of a Rom

enses. 8 The soldiers were often more accessible to appeals to reason than were the generals NotesPage=>158 1 De prov

e author of this audacious proposal represented it to be nothing less than ‘laying the foundations of constitutional governm

ere else was the havoc of the Civil Wars more evident and irreparable than in the ranks of the senior statesmen. Of the Pomp

ate is valiant, the consulars partly timid, partly disloyal. ’6 Worse than this, some of them were perverted by base emotion

s should choose. Lepidus could afford to wait. A stronger character than either Lepidus or Plancus was C. Asinius Pollio i

ver they knew, probably kept a discreet silence. Macedonia was nearer than Syria or Egypt and Macedonia was soon to provide

was nearer than Syria or Egypt and Macedonia was soon to provide more than rumours. But there is no evidence of concerted de

d Cicero to anger. ‘Nothing could be more scandalous, more disgusting than the conduct of their mission by Piso and Philippu

the East and seizure of a dozen legions was not confirmed until more than two months had elapsed. For the Republican caus

n a long view, the future was ominous with a war much more formidable than that which was being so gently prosecuted in the

did from a reasoned and balanced estimate of the situation. But more than this can be said. Pollio, the would-be neutral, t

Brutus, who pronounced civil war to be the worst of evils, worse even than submitting to tyranny. 3 In these wars between

ves a more faithful reflection, of the sentiments of the Roman People than do the interested assertions of politicians about

g adventurer. 5 Cicero had already crossed swords with Servilius more than once; and in early April, after a quarrel over a

uriosus’. 6 If a consul was required, what more deserving candidate than Cicero himself? About the time of the Battle of

and dignified. It was more important to avert the strife of citizens than wreak savage vengeance on the vanquished. 6 To hi

ed with a rebuke. 4 Octavianus was a greater danger to the Republic than Antonius; that was the argument of the sombre and

anus might be induced to pardon the assassins of Caesar. ‘Better dead than alive by his leave:2 let Cicero live on in ignomi

ach of his soldiers the sum of two thousand five hundred denarii more than ten times a year’s pay. 5 They had still to recei

eaders were drawn irresistibly together. They were instruments rather than agents. Behind them stood the legions and the for

among themselves and to inspire terror among enemies and malcontents than from thirst for blood. Many of the proscribed got

even necessary reform: one year of the Triumvirate witnessed no fewer than sixty-seven. 1 The Triumvirs soon introduced the

te, the solitary relic of a not very distant past. Less spectacular than the decadence of the principes, but not less to b

arliest and greatest of his marshals, of origin no more distinguished than Agrippa, was his senior in years and military exp

took a solemn oath to maintain the acts of Caesar the Dictator. More than this, Caesar was enrolled among the gods of the R

rans. Yet the soldiers welcomed Cassius when he arrived in Syria more than eighteen months earlier, and rallied promptly. Th

nes, they were arrested by Agrippa and Salvidienus at Fulginiae, less than twenty miles from Perusia their fire-signals coul

brigand; and Pollio hated Plancus. But there was a more potent factor than the doubts and dissensions of the generals their

That he had contracted ties that bound him to Cleopatra more closely than to Glaphyra, there neither is, nor was, any sign

but not incongruous accusations of vice and duplicity perhaps do less than justice to the loyal and open character of Antoni

us confronted his Caesarian rival. For war, his prospects were better than he could have hoped; and he at once demonstrated

ptions and the desolation of Italy, with a victor certain to be worse than his defeated adversary and destined to follow him

by a child soon to be born. The child appears to be something more than a personification of an era in its infancy, its p

) informed the learned Asconius that, as a matter of fact, none other than he, Gallus, was the wonder-child:3 no evidence th

was born in the following year. But there was a more important pact than the despairing and impermanent alliance with Pomp

ring and impermanent alliance with Pompeius, a more glorious marriage than the reluctant nuptials with the morose sister of

new compact appeared to bring an ally in the West of much more value than Lepidus to check the power of his ambitious rival

eBook=>230 Octavianus now had a war on his hands earlier perhaps than he had planned. His best men, Agrippa and Calvinu

fine show of splendid courage. 6 It was easier to deal with generals than with soldiers. In Sicily NotesPage=>232 1

rom service, allotting lands and founding colonies more on provincial than Italian soil. That was politic and perhaps necess

to Libertas Pollio ever paid homage, and literature meant more to him than war and politics; Sosius (who triumphed in 34) co

foreshadowed the magnificence of Rome under the monarchy. More artful than Antonius, the young Caesar built not only for spl

as antiquarian works, he had gathered the materials of history rather than written any annals of note or permanence. The old

re, he imitated Greek doctrines of political development and did more than justice to the merits of Senate and People in ear

to be real and true, would have to concern itself with something more than the public transactions of men and cities, the op

ying a political message, unobtrusive, but perhaps no less effective, than the spoken or written word of Roman statesmen.

than the spoken or written word of Roman statesmen. In little more than twenty years a generation and a school of Roman p

usian War supervened, and whatever the truth of the matter, a greater than Pollio earned or usurped the ultimate and endurin

as retailed by the ancient Lives and scholiasts with more confidence than consistency, appear to derive from inferences fro

s it was more easy to witness and affirm the passing of the old order than to discern the manner and fashion of the new. On

the language, habits and religion of his own people. It was much more than the rule of the nobiles that had collapsed at Phi

in extent of territories, for Cleopatra received no greater accession than did other dynasts ; 2 but her portion was exceedi

have been won earlier, in 40-39 B.C. PageBook=>265 at not less than a quarter of his whole army. 1 Higher estimates c

, however, was no more ready yet to exploit the affront to his family than the affront to Rome arising from Antonius’ allian

th the following of the rival Caesarian dynast, but decorative rather than solid and useful. Many of these men had never yet

peian and Republican, bound by personal loyalty or family ties rather than by a programme and a cause, would stand the strai

f. PageBook=>275 is not certain that her ambition was greater than this, to secure and augment her Ptolemaic kingdom

the prince of Mauretania ; 3 nor was the foreign woman now much more than an accident in the contest, inevitable without he

Then irony: the grandiose conquests of Antonius would surely be more than enough to provide bounties or lands for the armie

ius, bearing with them the unread missive. They were followed by more than three hundred senators, Republican or Antonian. 3

pproached by eminent ex- Republicans in the Caesarian party. 3 More than seven hundred senators fought on Octavianus’ side

ready to turn against him if they dared: it was a bad sign that more than three hundred senators had decided to join Antoni

nators had decided to join Antonius, clear evidence of something more than desperate loyalty or invincible stupidity. Octavi

plomats or diplomatic marshals, whose political judgement was sharper than their sense of personal obligation, may have depa

had bestowed upon his paramour the whole library of Pergamum, no less than two hundred thousand volumes. 1 The loyal efforts

l as the most vocal assertions of Italian nationalism followed rather than preceded the War of Actium. Only then, after vict

pposition and to stampede the neutrals. But the measure was much more than a device invented to overcome a temporary crisis,

Octavianus, though ‘dux’, was even less adequate in maritime warfare than on land. Agrippa, the victor of Naulochus, was in

al battle, with lavish wealth of convincing and artistic detail. More than that, Actium became the contest of East and West

taly. The work must begin without delay. He had not gone farther east than Samos when he was himself recalled by troubles in

least of the triumphs soon to be held by Caesarian marshals (no fewer than six in 28-26 B.C.) were fairly earned. Then cam

inor and Syria directly administered by Rome was considerably smaller than it had been after Pompeius’ ordering of the East,

er fled to Syria, he preferred to use that advantage for peace rather than for war. Crassus and the national honour clamou

sul of Asia soon after Actium(Josephus, AJ 16, 171), perhaps for more than one year; and a certain Thorius Flaccus, otherwis

But the armies of Rome presented a greater danger to her stability than did any foreign enemy. After Actium, the victor w

f nearly seventy legions. For the military needs of the empire, fewer than thirty would be ample: any larger total was costl

an knight proclaiming that he advanced southwards in conquest farther than any army of the Roman People or monarch of Egypt.

xercised— few legions for garrison, proconsuls of new families rather than noble, and praetorian rather than consular in ran

, proconsuls of new families rather than noble, and praetorian rather than consular in rank; and no imperatorial salutations

any precedent. A new name was devised, expressing veneration of more than mortal due. 1 A veteran politician, the consular

, 17, cf. 28. 2 Augustus claimed to have exercised no more potestas than any of his colleagues in magistracy (Res Gestae 3

e tone of literature in the Augustan age is certainly Pompeian rather than Caesarian, just as its avowed ideals are Republic

ter and Cicero’s style; and Pollio detested Plancus. That much more than the memory and the oratory of Cicero was revived

12). In fact, the changes he proposes are few and modest, little more than coercion of tribunes and more power for the Senat

s that the new order was the best state of all, more truly Republican than any Republic, for it derived from consensus Itali

mportant called for proconsuls of consular rank, with a tenure longer than annual. That would be most unfortunate. 3 Among t

.—Augustus’ men should be described as legati in his provincia rather than as governors of provinces. To begin with, they ar

his rank—and after the Pact of Brundisium Rome had witnessed no fewer than ten triumphs of proconsuls, Caesarian or Antonian

ublic law merely a matter for the lot, was no less happy and inspired than if they were legates of Augustus instead of proco

os. suff. 16) and M. Vinicius (cos. suff. 19) may well have held more than one praetorian command in the provinces: Illyricu

t reveal a lack of satisfaction with the ‘felicissimus status’. Worse than all that, it touched the very heart and core of t

d but narrowly, peace and order restored but would it last? And, more than security of person and property, whence would com

The constitutional basis of his authority was altered. More important than that, official standing was conferred upon the ab

object of veneration. A god’s son, himself the bearer of a name more than mortal, Augustus stood aloof from ordinary mankin

erius was permitted in 24 B.C. to stand for office five years earlier than the legal term (Dio 53, 28, 3), becoming quaestor

oung man was aedile; and he would get the consulate ten years earlier than the legal provision. 1 Marcellus might well seem

erius was permitted in 24 B.c. to stand for office five years earlier than the legal term (Dio 53, 38, 3), becoming quaestor

icity. 2 PageNote. 343 1 Seneca, Epp. 94, 46. It was nothing less than the sallustian epigram ‘nam concordia parvae res

vileges and their power. M. Vipsanius Agrippa was a better Republican than all the descendants of consuls his ideal of publi

e a point of not attending the funeral games of Agrippa, dead earlier than they could have hoped. 4 Of Agrippa, scant hono

like that of Augustus over all the provinces of the Empire, and more than that, the tribunicia potestas, he was not in all

ement. Of this imposing total, so Augustus proudly affirmed, no fewer than eighty-three either had already held the consulat

, to birth and breeding. The Senate had swollen inordinately, to more than a thousand members. In order that the sovran asse

cans and Pompeians, never reached the consulate, Cinna not until more than thirty years had elapsed. But some perished or di

ntees which it repaid by confidence in the government. More welcome than the restoration of constitutional forms was the a

land rose rapidly in value. 3 But the new order was something more than a coalition of profiteers, invoking the law and t

gave a donative in money to the veterans in his colonies. 3 No fewer than one hundred and twenty thousand men received the

y. 4 Soldiers dismissed in the years 7-2 B.C. received in all no less than four hundred million sesterces. 5 The army still

lutionary appellation of ‘comrades’ and enforced a sterner discipline than civil wars had tolerated. 2 But this meant no neg

umvirate. Knights had been of much more value in the armies of Rome than the public and necessary prominence of members of

were accessible to a minor proconsul, but one more rich and powerful than any. A Roman knight led an army to the conquest o

alis adulter’. 2 Seianus’ father, Seius Strabo, may have been no more than a knight in standing, a citizen of Volsinii in Et

his restored and sovran assembly of all Italy. Names more familiar than these now emerge from municipal status, maintain

gle senator; in its first years, few of distinction. What more simple than to assign to Augustus alone the advancement of no

recent of careerists. But this was an order more firmly consolidated than Caesar’s miscellaneous following, bound to a caus

on of the Triumvirs had created numerous consuls, in 33 B.C. no fewer than eight, with masses of novi homines promoted for m

cious Lollius Palicanus. 3 Service in war might find no higher reward than the praetorship, unless aided by such powerful pr

e of its birth. 2 L. Calpurnius Piso acquired more favour as a patron than from his own productions. Of the younger generati

the novi homines, C. Ateius Capito won promotion as a politician more than as a lawyer. 5 Nor will the orator Q. Haterius ha

milies. In the year A.D. 4 he thus augmented the census of no fewer than eighty men. 1 Upon his own adherents the Prince

eing represented in the Senate at the time of Actium by not many more than twenty members. The sons of the slain would be av

Galba were handsomely rewarded by legacies in her will. 1 Much worse than that was suspected and rumoured about Livia poiso

cret was first published abroad an emperor could be created elsewhere than at Rome. 2 Everybody had known about it. After

ike that of Augustus since 23 B.C.) the provinces of the Senate. More than that, he received a share in the tribunicia potes

ive lay along the northern frontier of the Empire, embracing no fewer than fifteen legions. The contrast with the three prov

stus perpetuated the premium on specialization, for political no less than for military reasons: elderly novi homines were s

estive. The problems of the eastern provinces were political rather than administrative. The legate of Syria might be a

t family, cf. also below, p. 422. PageBook=>400 More important than Syria or Galatia were the northern armies with th

icius, all with long careers of useful service. Of the rest, no fewer than five were related in some way to the family of th

year 1 B.C. (55, 10a, 3): possibly Saturninus, if an earlier command than that of A.D. 4-6 could be assumed (cf. Velleius 2

Augusti). If it could be proved that he was legate of Citerior rather than of Ulterior, it would show that by now the region

are attested in his Principate. No sooner was the Free State restored than Augustus hastened to palliate any inconveniences

e committee seems subsequently to have lapsed. 3 The Senate no less than the assembly of the sovran people was a cumbrous

His pride had been wounded, his dignitas impaired. But there was more than that. Not merely spite and disappointment made th

an untried youth in the twentieth year of his age, that was much more than a contradiction of the constitutional usage and R

him. The aristocracy could tolerate the rule of monarchy more easily than the primacy of one of their own number. Augustus

ulla as his colleague. From that year the practice of appointing more than one pair of consuls becomes regular. On the Fas

obiles, and especially patricians (for the latter families were older than the Roman State, dynastic and even regal in ances

igue. As the family circle of Augustus at one time comprised no fewer than three pairs of women bearing the names Octavia, A

o be reckoned with especially the son of M. Antonius. More remarkable than any of them, however, is L. Domitius Ahenobarbus

nia, and thus more highly favoured in the matter of political matches than any save Drusus (the husband of the younger Anton

35. 5 Suetonius, Nero 4. PageBook=>422 There was more in him than that either prudence or consummate guile: his nam

and Julia may well have found the accomplished Antonius more amiable than her grim husband. But all is uncertain if Augustu

d unpopular ally of the Princeps may perhaps be held confirmed rather than refuted by Horace’s eager praise of his disintere

Germany with more credit to Rome, perhaps, and more solid achievement than is indicated by a historian who omits Ahenobarbus

lent and lazy person to outward view, but no less trusted by Tiberius than the excellent Piso. 7 NotesPage=>436 1 Vel

arbitrary removal of a rival was no less essential to the Principate than the public conferment of legal and constitutional

cedonian; and they had subdued to their rule nations more intractable than the conqueror of all the East had ever seen. In a

our of the martial Republic. They were emboldened to doubt it. 2 More than that, the solid fabric of law and order, built by

mane, memento. 3 But the possession of an empire was something more than a cause for congratulation and a source of revenu

ala virtus’; Sulla Felix was much more a traditional Roman aristocrat than many have believed; and Sulla sought to establish

ong nobiles less fortunate in politics and more exposed to temptation than the stepsons of the Princeps the children of war

rrest a declining birth-rate. 5 The aim of the new code was no less than this, to bring the family under the protection of

403. PageBook=>445 Their names were more often heard in public than was expedient for honest women: they became polit

plete redress, into a crime. The wife, it is true, had no more rights than before. But the husband, after divorcing, could p

h now forbidden to senators, was condoned in others for it was better than no marriage. The Roman People was to contemplate

ame from neglect of the ancient gods. The evil went back much farther than Caesar or Pompeius, being symptom and product of

propagate, from one generation of corruption to the next, each worse than the last, till the temples should be repaired. 1

with the task of repairing all temples in the city of Rome. No fewer than eighty-two required his attention, so he claimed,

y a government. There is much more authentic religious sentiment here than has sometimes been believed. 4 It will suffice to

many preferred to stay in the provinces or drift to the towns rather than return to a hard living in some valley of the Ape

nted in Italy but may more correctly be regarded as small capitalists than as peasants. 4 PageNotes. 450 1 Suetonius, Di

alization of such perverse anachronisms. The land was more prosperous than ever before. Peace and security returned to the w

y. Large estates grew larger. Prosperity might produce qualms no less than did adversity. Horace, in whom the horrors of the

his granddaughter though in truth their offence was political rather than moral. Nor is it certain that the Princeps himsel

icity in the social programme of the Princeps is evident enough. More than that, the whole conception of the Roman past upon

his adherents? It was not Rome alone but Italy, perhaps Italy more than Rome, that prevailed in the War of Actium. The Pr

s. That the official religion of the Roman People was formal rather than spiritual did not appear to the Roman statesman e

no less evident that it was slow in operation and due to other causes than the legislation of Augustus,2 for luxury, so far

ipse cultu victuque’, effected much by his personal example. Yet more than all that, the sober standards prevalent in the so

nough. The revolutionary leader had won power more through propaganda than through force of arms: some of his greatest trium

were indispensable to Roman politicians. Crassus had a happier touch than Pompeius. The demagogue Clodius was in his pay.

martyr of Republican liberty. The praise or blame of the dead rather than the living foreshadows the sad fate of literature

e of Greece. The new Roman literature was designed to be civic rather than individual, more useful than ornamental. Horace

terature was designed to be civic rather than individual, more useful than ornamental. Horace, his lyric vein now drying u

d convincing form. An excellent source soon became available, no less than the biographical memoir in which the Princeps rec

e figure, so did Octavianus. It was the fashion to be Pompeian rather than Caesarian, for that was the ‘better cause’. 2 It

ty in the period of the Revolution; and they all repaid Augustus more than he or the age could give them. Horace was the s

ied classes of the new Italy of the north, which was patriotic rather than partisan. The North, unlike so many parts of Ital

name ‘Italian’ bore a heavier emphasis and a fuller emotional content than elsewhere. 3 For all the talk of a united Italy a

sus. 1 Antiquities, however, were more in the line of a Callimachus than was contemporary history. Propertius was able to

nd religious observances with sympathy as well as with elegance. More than all this, however, the lament which he composed i

e a better contribution to the New Italy and achieved a nobler repute than to be known as the home of an erotic poet. August

ed in Rome and over all the world. It is true that he caused no fewer than eighty silver statues in the city to be melted do

preferred to condone the vices or the rapacity of his friends rather than expose or surrender the principal ministers of th

ernment affected to believe and discover. 2 There was a graver danger than the dagger of a casual assassin, whether he might

be doubted. The person and habits of Augustus were no less detestable than his rule. Of his morals, the traditional stories

stand the sun, even in winter, in which season he would wear no fewer than four under-shirts, not to mention puttees round h

e. 5 It was a commonplace of antiquity that Princeps was more clement than Dux. Some dismissed it as ‘lassa crudelitas’. 6

o a fine art, and desperate wits preferred to risk their heads rather than forego a jest. 3 For Augustus it was inexpedien

e. Sallustius had died at his task, carrying his Historiae no farther than the year 67 B.C. Pollio, however, set himself to

Durus et siccus’, he was well described:1 he seemed a century earlier than his own time. A plain, solid style recalled the e

ence that Pollio, the eminent consular, like the senator Tacitus more than a century later, was scornful of the academic his

have delivered a more crushing verdict upon a historian from Patavium than the obvious and trivial comment that his speech s

merely political but social. Sulla, Pompeius and Caesar were all more than mere faction-leaders; yet the personal domination

ate or were abruptly extinguished in the Revolution had a better fate than some that prolonged an ignoble existence for a ge

, Trebonius, Hirtius and Pansa left no consular descendants, any more than had Pompeius’ consuls Afranius and Gabinius. Cice

d much of the hostile testimony that could be adduced is nothing more than the perpetuation of the schematic contrast which

the intrusion of alien elements; but they indicate the climax rather than the origins of the process, which belong generati

ely that the Principate engrossed their power and their wealth: worse than that, it stole their saints and their catchwords.

us Saturninus, M. Vinicius and P. Silius. 2 More good fortune perhaps than merit that their characters should be colourless

imate, the accomplished Paullus Fabius Maximus, ‘centum puer artium’, than is revealed by Horace’s charming ode and by the l

of the Roman People. More reputable and more independent characters than Dellius and Plancus were Messalla and Pollio, the

they had ruined the Roman People. There is something more important than political liberty; and political rights are a mea

it was more often a harmless act of homage to the great past of Rome than a manifestation of active discontent with the pre

. It was not glorious: but glory was ruinous. A surer fame was theirs than the futile and ostentatious opposition of certain

of Princeps, beyond contest the greatest of the principes and better than all of them. They had been selfish dynasts, but h

n to the Roman Commonwealth might also be described as organic rather than arbitrary or formal. It was said that he arrogate

the foundations of the new order deep and secure. 2 He had done more than that. The Roman State, based firmly on a united I

nsul Piso in 23 B.C. But earlier versions may more easily be surmised than detected. The Res Gestae in their final form were

cter of his rule. The record is no less instructive for what it omits than for what it says. The adversaries of the Princeps

avenger alone. 1 Agrippa indeed occurs twice, but much more as a date than as an agent. Other allies of the Princeps are omi

those accorded to gods by grateful humanity: to Romans he was no more than the head of the Roman State. Yet one thing was ce