m the influence of the historians Sallust, Pollio and Tacitus, all of them Republican in sentiment. Hence a deliberately cri

mpressed fashion has been the cause of peculiar difficulties. Many of them are bare names, void of personal detail; their im

ance has been deduced from family, nomenclature, or rank; and most of them will be unfamiliar to any but a hardened prosopog

coalition, built up from the wreckage of other groups and superseding them all. The policy and acts of the Roman People we

ed senators the names of some four hundred can be identified, many of them obscure or casually known. 1 The remainder have l

non at Rome. 3 Before the sovran people he might boast how he had led them to victory in a mighty contest and had broken int

into a ruinous political force by the tribune C. Gracchus when he set them in control of the law-courts and in opposition to

Cicero never spoke against these ‘homines honestissimi’ and never let them down: they were in the habit of requiting his ser

f knights often outstripped many an ancient senatorial family, giving them a greater power than the nominal holders of digni

into Roman dissensions. The tribune M. Livius Drusus hoped to enlist them on the side of the dominant oligarchy. He failed,

more properly, personal ambition and political intrigue, constrained them , in mastering these manifold dangers, to derogate

Claudius Pulcher left three daughters, whose birth and beauty gained them advantageous matches and an evil repute. 5 Second

ied, to a NotesPage=>020 1 As Scipio Aemilianus said of one of them , ‘si quintum pareret mater eius, asinum fuisse pa

a Porcius, whence double issue, five children of diverse note, among them the great political lady Servilia and the redoubt

y, enlisted the vigour of novi homines, orators and soldiers, helping them by influence to the consulate and claiming their

Cato detested the financiers. He stood firm against Italians, hating them from his very infancy; 3 and he was ready to brib

courts, the tribunes recovered the powers of which Sulla had stripped them . They soon repaid Pompeius. Through a tribune’s l

g to solicit and claim the support of Pompeius even though the one of them turned against the People when elected consul and

hereby put a double-edged weapon in the hand of Crassus, who disliked them both. 4 Nor was Pompeius’ consul effective, thoug

oman aristocrat to contend with his peers for primacy, not to destroy them . His enemies had the laugh of him in death. Even

hey were members of his own class: he had not wished to make war upon them or to exterminate the Roman aristocracy. But thes

no certainty. The acts and projects of his Dictatorship do not reveal them . For the rest, the evidence is partisan or posthu

me and even in bodily form. 3 Caesar was a truer Roman than either of them . The complete synthesis in the person of Caesar

he tied up magistracies and provincial commands in advance by placing them , according to the traditional Roman way, in the h

The most eloquent of his contemporaries did not disdain to plagiarize them . 5 The question of ultimate intentions becomes

Caesar had made enemies through Pompeius and now Pompeius had joined them . 1 A just complaint, but not integral truth: a Su

ans deducted, fourteen remain: no match, however, in eminence. Few of them were of any use to Caesar or to the State. During

ius lost supporters through inertia, vanity or perfidy, Caesar gained them and held them. The gold of Gaul poured in steady

rters through inertia, vanity or perfidy, Caesar gained them and held them . The gold of Gaul poured in steady streams to Rom

egates might have been the nucleus of a formidable faction. 3 Some of them he lent to his ally, Caesar the proconsul, and so

aesar and Labienus in 48 B.C., with the auctoritas of Pompeius behind them . For this interpretation, cf. JRS XXVIII (1938),

e power for achievement. Caesar, offering the consulate, had captured them both perhaps with connivance and help of his frie

s and brigands in defence of his own dignitas, he would have requited them . ’2 No empty words this trait and policy of Caesa

iends were his secretaries, counsellors and political agents, many of them notable for literary tastes and production as wel

of the proconsul developed into the cabinet of the Dictator. Most of them were Roman knights: but Pansa, and possibly Hirti

most Roman senators. Certain of the politicians whose methods earned them the name of populares were hostile to the financi

e already personal friends of Caesar: it may be presumed that he gave them guarantees against revolution. They had more to f

dani were eager for the full Roman citizenship. Caesar had championed them long ago: as proconsul he encouraged their aspira

as proconsul he encouraged their aspirations, but he did not satisfy them until the Civil War had begun. In Gaul beyond t

their loyalty, and for the rewards of loyalty. The Senate was full of them , it was alleged. Only ignorance or temerity will

t merely declaim about fleets and armies, vexing Cicero: he commanded them . 2 Above all, Caesar recruited for his new Sena

r wealth and power. Centuries before, the citizens had risen to drive them out. 8 The attempt was as vain as it would have b

ties or nations, often with neglect of the dynastic houses that ruled them in a feudal fashion. NotesPage=>083 1 Hora

he Valerii, perhaps the Fabii. 2 These baronial houses brought with them to Rome the cults and legends of their families,

t with them to Rome the cults and legends of their families, imposing them upon the religion of the Roman State and the hist

es, namely the Fabii and the Valerii, adopted a vigorous ally against them , in the person of a wealthy farmer, M. Porcius Ca

wer and wealth of the Pompeii no doubt raised up many enemies against them in their own country. Sulmo of the Paeligni opene

or frugal, many knights shunned politics altogether. Sulla had taught them a sharp lesson. Nor would a seat in the lower ran

en with senatorial rank before the outbreak of the Civil War. Five of them were nobiles, with patricians in high and strikin

erment. Sympathizers came to the Capitol but did not stay long, among them the senior statesman Cicero and the young P. Corn

had been countered by the Caesarian leaders, who, in negotiation with them , adopted a firm and even menacing tone. D. Brutus

cial honours for the tyrannicides. Yet Antonius did not strive to get them condemned. Rejecting both extremes, he brought

enate. The people, unfriendly to begin with, turned sharply against them . Accident blended with design. The funeral oratio

lves in their houses. Nor, as the days passed, did it become safe for them to be seen in public. The mob set up an altar and

iberators been willing to pay it, they could find little to encourage them abroad. The execution of their plot allowed no de

ratified on March 17th, it was feared that the consul would not allow them to take over their provinces. 1 What happened is

PageBook=>105 Empire, whose unofficial follies did not prevent them from rising, when duty called, to services of con

nd maintain primacy in the Caesarian party. No doubt Antonius desired them to be away from Rome: a temporary absence at leas

to be prevented at this juncture. 3 Ib. 14, 12, 1. Caesar had given them only Latin rights 4 Ib. 14, 12, 1, &. 5 I

Cumae at this time. He had heard rumours about Octavianus, according them scant attention. 4 Which member of Caesar’s famil

June 5th. Now, early in August, Antonius induced the Senate to grant them the harmless provinces of Crete and Cyrene. Brutu

more obscure of the Caesarian novi homines in the Senate, or, failing them , to knights, to financiers and to individuals com

of the Dictator, to their apprehensions or envy of Antonius: through them he might hope to influence neutral or Republican

money were the first thing, next the skill and the resolution to use them . An NotesPage=>120 1 Date and circumstance

d to raise several more on his own initiative and resources, training them in warfare against Alpine tribes. This was seriou

h, proposing there to pick up four of the Macedonian legions and send them or march with them to northern Italy. NotesPage

to pick up four of the Macedonian legions and send them or march with them to northern Italy. NotesPage=>124 1 Ad fam

5 ff. 2 See Table III at end. PageBook=>128 active help from them in the early months. On the surface, the consular

. 134. 4 Appian, BC 2, 23, 89. Suetonius (Divus Iulius 83, 2) calls them grandnephews of the Dictator. Possibly true of Pi

t enough. Octavianus also won the support of private investors, among them some of the wealthiest bankers of Rome. Atticus,

m, their capacity. His private letters tell another story: he derided them as torpid and bibulous. 2 Hirtius and Pansa mig

ians, who would deal with neutrals as with enemies. Spain might bring them victory after all. The agonies of a long flirtati

nary cause. By the beginning of November daily letters passed between them . Octavianus now had an army NotesPage=>141

o sustain his efforts for the Commonwealth and he deserves to receive them in full measure. 5 Such were Cicero’s ideas and

cruelty: such had been his lusts that no modest person could mention them . 2 In the professed ideals of a landed aristocr

he libertas of the People and the auctoritas of the Senate: either of them could be exploited in politics, as a source of po

‘raging brigands’ or ‘parricides’. 7 It would be necessary to ‘bring them to their right minds again’. Plancus was an adept

t aliqua ratione perduci ad sanitatem. ’ PageBook=>159 who led them : salutary compulsion from the army would then be

might find that the constitution was being perversely invoked against them : what if the People should appear misguided in th

consulars partly timid, partly disloyal. ’6 Worse than this, some of them were perverted by base emotions, by envy of Cicer

m. 12, 2, 2. 2 Phil. 13, 29, above, p. 45. 3 Above, p. 94. One of them , the patrician Q. Fabius Maximus (cos. 45 B.C.),

e: it is pretty clear that he had no use for any party. He knew about them all. The pessimistic and clear-sighted Republican

g money for the war, the Marrucini (or perhaps rather a faction among them hostile to Pollio) stimulated recruiting under pa

eBook=>170 merely encouraged his neighbours to enlist but helped them with generous subsidies. 1 On the first or seco

tius and Octavianus, spirited, cogent and menacing. Antonius warned them that they were being used by Pompeians to destroy

were being used by Pompeians to destroy the Caesarian party, assured them that the generals stood by him, and reiterated hi

ng proposals for peace: neither the Senate nor the People approves of them nor does any patriotic citizen. ’5 Lepidus did no

mpany of the ‘parricides’ and ‘brigands’ as he had so recently termed them . The unfortunate Brutus, duped by Plancus and bet

n his extreme youth was becoming more and more irksome. He would show them . Cicero entered into the original compact with

hed. The senators advanced to make their peace with Octavianus; among them , but not in the forefront, was Cicero. ‘Ah, the l

ng, the Fourth and the Martia, ‘heavenly legions’ as Cicero described them , had declared for the Republic. The Senate met in

resistibly together. They were instruments rather than agents. Behind them stood the legions and the forces of revolution.

y already have been feared, and it was soon to be known, that some of them had been seized by the adventurer Sex. Pompeius,

treachery. The laws and constitution of Rome had been subverted. With them perished honour and security, family and friendsh

ortal theme. 1 But the fugitives could not take their property with them ; some of the proscribed remained in Italy, under

an party was fighting the Republicans at Rome as it was soon to fight them in the East. But the struggle was not purely poli

nt. The Caesarian leaders therefore seized houses and estates and put them on the market. Their own partisans, astute neutra

6; Dio 47, 14, 2. 2 Dio 47, 16, 1. 3 Appian, BC 4, 3, 10 f. Among them were Capua, Rhegium, Venusia Beneventum, Nuceria,

nominating several pairs of consuls for a single year and designating them a long time in advance. Of consulars and men of

rs of Asia and Syria; 7 and from Italy there came sympathizers, among them M. Valerius Messalla, a noble youth of talent and

ll were now dead. After the establishment of the Triumvirate, four of them are found holding high command. Of these, T. Sext

and commanders in his civil wars naturally fare better; 3 but two of them at least, having passed over to the Liberators, c

tors nominated by the Dictator or introduced after his death, most of them absent from historical record before 44 B.C. Vent

cus, of a proscribed family, and C. Sosius, perhaps a Picene, none of them heard of before Caesar’s death. 3 Another novelty

e the Caesarian legions over the desolate uplands of Macedonia or pen them within the narrow bounds of an impoverished Greec

leged, they saluted as imperator, but reviled Octavianus. A number of them were put to death. 5 A body of nobles had fled to

to death. 5 A body of nobles had fled to the island of Thasos, among them L. Calpurnius Bibulus and M. Valerius Messalla. 6

aithful Lucilius, remained with Antonius until the end. 7 The rest of them , irreconcilable or hopeless, made their escape an

, 136, 575. 7 Plutarch, Brutus 50. 8 Appian, BC 5, 2, 4 ff. Among them were Cicero’s son and the assassins Cassius of Pa

. According to Dio, Antonius and Fulvia derided the soldiers, calling them βουλὴν καλιγ ταν (48, 12, 3). 2 Appian, BC 5, 2

Pollio were ready to fight. The caution of Plancus was too strong for them . 5 There was no mutual confidence in the counse

umber was not actively impeded. The remainder were put to death among them Ti. Cannutius, the tribune who had presented Caes

seemed inevitable; for Rome the choice between two masters. Which of them had the sympathy of Italy could scarcely be doubt

rewarded friends and punished enemies, set up petty kings or deposed them . 1 So did he spend the winter after Philippi. The

ibo and Sentius Saturninus (Appian, BC 5, 52, 217): they brought with them Julia, the mother of Antonius, who had fled to Si

of Ahenobarbus, superior in strength, was descried bearing down upon them . Antonius drove on: Plancus was afraid. Ahenobarb

e to Rome to assume the insignia of his consulate, it was not to wear them for long, for a new pair of consuls was installed

entions the Dardani, but there is no record of any operations against them . The history of Macedonia in the years 38-32 B.C.

the promise of twenty thousand legionary soldiers. He never received them . Antonius departed. Before long the conviction

il, Horace and L. Varius Rufus Virgil’s friend Plotius Tucca was with them and a certain Murena, presumably the brother-in-l

neralship of Agrippa and the diplomacy of Maecenas. Lacking either of them he might have been lost. Antonius was induced to

ure. Consulars were rare enough on either side. The most prominent of them , Pollio, Ventidius and Plancus, were with Antoniu

ily, on terms of friendship with Cicero, Atticus and Balbus. 2 One of them , C. Peducaeus, fell at Mutina for the Republic or

litary men, the first of new families to attain the consulate. Beside them stand three descendants of patrician houses, Ap.

most ancient nobility, the patrician; which did not in any way hamper them from following a revolutionary leader or taking u

ocratic careerists, like the dynastic Livia Drusilla, the greatest of them all, were to be amply NotesPage=>238 1 Dio

even professed or pretended any attachment to eloquence; and such of them as deserved any distinction for peaceful studies

aking of his empire into separate kingdoms; and they could set before them the heirs and the marshals of Caesar, owing no lo

py his leisure in recording momentous events, himself no mean part of them , or in digesting the legal and religious antiquit

the Alexandrine poets. In politics, likewise, a common bond. Many of them had attacked in lampoon and invective the dynast

docia lent help to the invader, while Deiotarus, the most military of them all, lay low, aged but not decrepit: true to hims

sion. 4 In this emergency men of wealth and standing in Asia, among them the famous orators Hybreas of Mylasa and Zeno of

he future in the eastern lands. Antonius discovered the men and set them up as kings without respect for family or dynasti

kingdoms of Alexander’s successors, the most coherent and durable of them all: a loss if destroyed, a risk to annex, a prob

and small or leading men in their own cities and influential outside them . 4 Dominant in politics, commerce and literature,

with their peers from Italy and the western provinces and blend with them in a new imperial aristocracy. Mytilene paid ho

upplies and artillery. Antonius, lacking light horse, could not bring them to battle. It was already late in the season when

man losses were considerable early and unfriendly testimony reckons them NotesPage=>264 1 Plutarch, Antonius 42 (Ti

h Italy in valour and even in discipline. It would take time to train them : Antonius wanted the twenty thousand legionaries

x, drove the remnants of the Catonian and the Pompeian parties, among them enemies of Caesar and assassins yet unpunished, t

admiral Q. Nasidius, and the few surviving assassins of Caesar, among them Turullius and Cassius of Parma ; 3 young Sentius

Kings’ over the eastern dependencies. Titles of kingdoms, not all of them in the power or gift of Antonius, were also besto

language, habit and rule. The dependent kings were already there: let them remain, the instruments of Roman domination. Not

ivulge its contents. Antonius asked to have his acta confirmed. Among them was the conquest of Armenia, a strong argument in

nst Antonius. The consuls in protest fled to Antonius, bearing with them the unread missive. They were followed by more th

a thousand. PageBook=>279 Octavianus alleged that he suffered them to depart freely and openly. 1 To prevent and coe

pen it yet. Here the two consuls met him in the spring, bringing with them the semblance of a Senate. Bitter debate ensued a

Antonius stood as her ally, whatever the nature of the tie that bound them . 3 Antonius had presumed too much upon the loya

the old Caesarian Plancus, each with a following of his own. Between them was no confidence, but bitter enmity, causing a f

order of Roman knights and among those senators most nearly allied to them by the ties of family or business. 2 But what i

sport across the Adriatic a force superior to his own—still less feed them when they arrived. Fighting quality was another m

an ἔπαρχʋϛ (praefectus), C. Julius Papius, and some centurions, among them a man called Demetrius. A neglected passage in Jo

n set in. Certain of the vassal princes went over to the enemy, among them Amyntas with his Galatian cavalry. Romans too dep

. Aquillius Florus and his son were also killed. PageBook=>300 them the last of the assassins of the Dictator, D. Tur

or Rome. 1 The artful conqueror preferred to leave things as he found them . The profession of defending Rome’s Empire and th

bit of the Greeks to make much of Parthia. The historian Livy rebuked them (9, 18, 6). 3 Dio 51, 7, 7, cf. Tibullus 1, 7,

o annul the illegal and arbitrary acts of the Triumvirate— not all of them surely: the scope and force of this act of indemn

the attitude of other proconsuls. Had he firm allies or kinsmen among them , the course of events might have been different.

armed proconsuls were a menace. Yet it would be inexpedient to remove them all. Octavianus decided upon a half-measure. Un

ower, no surrender. Only words and forms were changed, and not all of them . As ‘dux’ the young Caesar had fought the war u

e Republic; and the victor of Actium was the last and the greatest of them all. It could also fit a political leader—dux par

y character; and he ruled the provinces with an authority familiar to them as proconsular and absolute, whether it resided u

and the memory of recent civil wars: yet Augustus graciously resigned them to proconsuls. Further, Cisalpine Gaul had ceased

political adventurers and ministers of despotism. There were none of them left—they had all joined the national government.

l that the principes in the last generation held, but now stolen from them and enhanced to an exorbitant degree; and he was

his turn. The plebs of Rome was Caesar’s inherited clientela. He fed them with doles, amused them with games and claimed to

Rome was Caesar’s inherited clientela. He fed them with doles, amused them with games and claimed to be their protector agai

nerable and antiquarian ring. That is all; and that is enough to show them up. Suetonius, however, a student of antiquitie

he different territories comprised in his provincia and to administer them through his legates, according to the needs of th

and the first constitutional settlement any more conspicuous. Most of them were young enough, for advancement had been swift

difficult and most dangerous of the imperial dominions were not among them —a fair and fraudulent pretext to lighten the task

ior the brutal P. Carisius, who continued in command, was a match for them . 6 PageNote. 332 1 Dio 53, 25, 2. 2 Velleiu

nician powers, were the Revolution itself the Army and the People. On them stood the military and monarchic demagogue. For

took a partner and strengthened his powers when he appeared to divide them . Before the end of the year he dispatched Agrippa

by her first husband, Ti. Claudius Nero and Nero Claudius Drusus. For them she worked and schemed; they had already received

worked and schemed; they had already received dispensations allowing them to hold magistracies at an early age. 2 PageNot

a had been through all the wars of the Revolution and had won most of them . With exemplary modesty the victor of Naulochus a

red senators accompanied Italy’s leader in the War of Actium, most of them with scorn and hate in their hearts yet from the

ted by a surge of successful speculators. But Augustus did not suffer them to return to their old games. The great companies

>357 Not only that Roman knights could govern provinces, some of them quite small and comparable to the commands which

f knights themselves, sublime or outrageous in their snobbery. One of them derided L. Aelius Seianus as an upstart, with sol

confer the latus clavus on young men of equestrian stock, encouraging them to stand for the office of the quaestorship and s

ames ending in ‘-idius’. 3 ILS 5925. He has two gentilicia. Each of them is found at Canusium and nowhere else (‘Sotidius’

a significant phenomenon the renewed advance of novi homines, most of them military. Picenum, as would be expected, supplied

ction. 1 These men were representatives of Augustus’ Italy, many of them from the Italia whose name, nation and sentiments

ο ς κορυϕαίους ξ ἁπάντων τ ν θν ν (52, 19, 3). He suitably designates them as τούς τ∈ γ∈νναιoτάτους καì το ς ἀρίστους τούς τ

us. Caesar admitted provincials. No evidence that Augustus expelled them all. The descendants of the Narbonensian partisan

procuratorships and high equestrian posts under Augustus, which gave them rank comparable to the consulate in the senatoria

d the adoption of Marcellus; it may be conjectured that certain among them , above all Agrippa, whose policy prevailed on tha

of the government found for his behaviour has escaped record. One of them was removed by violence. A certain Egnatius Ruf

ar and proscriptions, a new generation was growing up, and along with them the sons of novi homines ennobled in the Revoluti

L. Calpurnius Piso, lullus Antonius and the two Fabii Maximi. Most of them were entrapped in the matrimonial and dynastic po

ng 6 B.C., a period of thirteen years, only four are recorded, two of them caused by death. 3 Augustus was baffled by circum

t they should be regarded and governed as separate provinces; many of them by the size of their armies already called for le

f a jurist when urging a soldier’s claims to the consulate. 2 None of them could prevail alone. Neither law nor oratory woul

ed his confidence. 3 They were not all trusted: yet he could not deny them the consulate, their birthright. So Iullus Antoni

lument upon impoverished nobles or meritorious novi homines, enabling them to preserve the dignity of their station and prop

red inscriptions of slaves (CIL VI, 6213–6640 and pp. 994 ff.), among them German guardsmen (e.g. ILS 7448 f.). 4 Pliny, N

lanus; but also the new nobility of the Revolution, conspicuous among them the prudent Cocceii, and even meritorious adheren

ts themselves might rank with senators in the New State or even above them . Patronage could therefore follow the reverse dir

except for the dynasts Antonius, Octavianus and Lepidus, only four of them find any mention in subsequent history. 1 Notes

these principes was to be decorative. Except for Agrippa, only six of them are later chosen to command armies, as legates or

o way relaxed his control of the armies, holding the most powerful of them through his own legates. Three military provinces

he Senate, like Velleius Paterculus, often had a useful record behind them . For the rest, young sons of senators, aspirants

school of admirals had also been created. After Actium, no place for them . 1 But the lesson was not lost. Augustus perpetua

to be assigned to M. Vinicius (ILS 8965). On the propriety of putting them all in this blank period 9 B.C.–A.D. 6 (or even m

may have suspected, and with reason, that he intended to devolve upon them certain unpopular functions like that renewed pur

mily. The soldiers were his own clients it was treason to tamper with them . Hence constant alarm if generals by good arts or

rovincial magnates recall by their gentilicia the proconsuls who gave them the franchise; the newer Roman, however, bears fo

son of the Princeps, and a number of distinguished personages, among them (it may be conjectured) men well versed in easter

the problems of the northern frontier and was willing to communicate them . Above all, Agrippa was there. The Romans thoug

merely the definition of official powers, the phraseology to disguise them and all the elaborate setting of a solemn politic

uring the succession for heirs of his own blood. Julia was to provide them . In 21 B.C. the marriage of Agrippa and Julia w

e working of human character. It took an astrologer, the very best of them , to predict his return. 3 Much happened in that d

eps might die. Yet the princes Gaius and Lucius remained, and next to them the Claudian connexion. NotesPage=>420 1 A

nnexions, the husbands or the sons of the women of his house. Most of them were already of consular rank. Sex. Appuleius (

alent or very closely related to the reigning family; and only two of them are known to have commanded armies in the period

d with especially the son of M. Antonius. More remarkable than any of them , however, is L. Domitius Ahenobarbus (cos. 16 B.C

e her grandchildren, the three children of Drusus and Antonia; two of them were artfully interlocked with the descendants of

est houses of the new plebeian nobility, see Münzer, RA, 36ff. One of them was colleague with Ap. Claudius Caecus in his fam

ssed around the throne and the heirs presumptive and designate, among them many enemies, the source and seed of remembered r

aid to be numerous, of every order of society. Five nobles were among them . 1 The consular Iullus Antonius was put to death;

ory of old feuds or suppressed rancour, persuaded Tiberius to defraud them of military glory. The deplorable Lollius had a s

province. Silius’ two brothers attained to the consulate, only one of them , however, to military command. 3 This being so, f

t? 4 A well-ordered state has no need of great men, and no room for them . The last century of the Free State witnessed a s

impia arma’. Augustus, like the historian Tacitus, would have none of them ; and so they receive no praise from the poets. 1

Romana’. 2 It was not merely the vices of the principes that barred them from recognition. Their virtues had been pernic

to be eradicated from the principes of the New State. If anything of them remained in the Commonwealth, it was to be monopo

ft with the satisfaction of the less decorative virtues: if it lacked them , it must learn them. The spirit of a people is

tion of the less decorative virtues: if it lacked them, it must learn them . The spirit of a people is best revealed in the

strates). 2 The municipia, or rather the local dynasts who controlled them , were sufficiently aware of the qualities which t

gave their names to the Lex Papia Poppaea had wife or child. 2 One of them came of a noble Samnite family now reconciled to

rooted and genuine. He admired the aristocracy, for he was not one of them ; he chastened them, but with a loving hand. For t

He admired the aristocracy, for he was not one of them; he chastened them , but with a loving hand. For the respect due to a

theatre, rallying in defence of a constitution that meant nothing to them , and leaping with avidity upon any dramatic phras

captured the most promising of the poets at an early stage and nursed them into the Principate. Augustus himself listened to

ed too many of the authentic features of Caesar the Dictator, some of them recently acquired or at least enhanced. Romulus w

tion; and they all repaid Augustus more than he or the age could give them . Horace was the son of a wealthy freedman from

who had championed the communities of Italia Transpadana and secured them full Roman citizenship. But the men of the North,

, or lacked either the taste for good books or the means of acquiring them , there were visible admonitions of every kind.

t up an altar to the young princes with a verse inscription rendering them the honours due to heroes and anticipating their

s of offending governors are recorded in the time of Augustus: one of them reveals what Asia had to suffer from a murderous

d publicly burned. That did not matter, said Cassius Severus, who had them all by heart. 7 But Cassius did not go unscathed.

trious persons of both sexes, without restraint or distinction, among them P. Vitellius the procurator, whose grandfather, h

the descendants of the Republican nobility but not the living. Few of them , indeed, survived in Juvenal’s day, and they matt

he nobiles were involved in the struggles of the dynasts. For many of them it had been hard enough to preserve and perpetuat

estors and her kin. 2 Yet Cassius’ stock, with eminent consuls, among them a great jurist, endured down to Nero. 3 Certain

morals were impugned: it was their name or their ambition that ruined them . Two young patricians, the last Scipio and the la

vius from Velitrae, after fighting against the great houses, attached them to his family and built up a new faction. By forc

the younger Julia. They were destined never to grasp it. The last of them , married to a sister of Caligula and designated b

e the Silani, with four brothers all to perish by violent ends, among them that irreproachable and academic Piso whom Galba

unwisely adopted to a four days’ partnership of the purple. 7 One of them left a son, namely C. Calpurnius Crassus Frugi Li

s and a consul-designate, did not outlive the Julio-Claudians; one of them perished with Messallina, his imperial paramour.

te, Narbonensians both, and L. Verginius Rufus from Mediolanium, like them the son of a Roman knight. 2 But for this defect

and perverted the morale of the aristocracy. There was no field left them now for action or even for display. Insistence up

erant Principate of Augustus. 2 Discontent with their own times drove them to idealize the past. Under Augustus the stage fo

red fortunes, and the hope that the Princeps would provide: Rome owed them a debt for their ancestors. It was paid by the Pr

, beyond contest the greatest of the principes and better than all of them . They had been selfish dynasts, but he was ‘salub

and fortune the greatest of duces and principes, intended to outshine them all. At the very moment when he was engaged upon

to be exhaustive, to give all collaterals or descendants. In each of them the most important persons and relationships are