Ethics and Imperialism in Livy by Joseph Viguers Groves A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Classical Studies) in the University of Michigan 2013 Doctoral Committee: Professor David Potter Professor Sara Forsdyke Professor Katherine French Associate Professor Celia Schultz Professor Nicola Terrenato © Joseph Groves 2013 For my grandparents ii Acknowledgments Finishing this project would never have been possible without the support of so many mentors, colleagues, and friends that it would be impossible to do justice to, or even fully articulate, the help they’ve given me. From all those in the Classics community here, I am especially indebted to David Potter for many enlightening and humorous conversations about the ancient world that always brought some new facet of a text or idea to my attention. Without his direction my curiosity about ancient diplomacy and why anyone bothered would never have coalesced into this work. To Nic Terrenato for thought-provoking classes and looking after my toads on a holiday break. To Celia Schultz for her patience, always being supportive, and offering such indispensable feedback. To Sara Forsdyke for helping me find a way to streamline an unwieldy amount of material. To Katherine French for being so generous with her time and offering a valuable and different perspective. And, of course, to Michelle Biggs and Debbie Walls, without whom everything would have come to a crashing halt. I would also like to thank the American School of Classical Studies, especially my instructors, Margaret Miles and Denver Graninger, for teaching me not just about archaeology but how much we don’t know during what will always be one of the best years of my life. I am also fortunate to be able to thank so many friends here, Evelyn Adkins, Katherine Lu, Charlotte Maxwell-Jones, Karen Laurence, Britta Ager, Shonda Tohm, Dina Guth, Richard Persky, Cassandra Borges, Karen Acton, Peanut, Naji Husseini, Jacque Cole, and many others. Then, an unequaled friend I could always count on, Linda Wang- Sol, and Zahide, for showing me the difference between Turkish and Finnish. Finally, my parents and grandparents, who worked so hard to give me the opportunities they never had. iii Table of Contents Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ iii Introduction ....................................................................................................................................1 Sources and Structure ................................................................................................................................ 1 The Problem of Roman Expansion ........................................................................................................... 6 The Roman Virtue of Fides .................................................................................................................... 14 Chapter 1: Livy’s First Pentad and the Formation of Roman Character ..............................20 Fides and Integration in Livy’s Regal Period ......................................................................................... 26 International Law and the Ius Gentium ................................................................................................... 32 Fides Romana in Practice: Latins and Volsci ......................................................................................... 40 A Different Kind of Enemy: Veii as a Model of Perfidy ........................................................................ 50 Roman Misdeeds and the Redirection of Guilt ....................................................................................... 59 Chapter 2: Roman Ideals and the Limits of Fides ....................................................................67 The Immediate Aftermath and Latin Defection ...................................................................................... 68 The Latin War of 340-338 BCE .............................................................................................................. 74 The Defection of Capua in the Second Punic War.................................................................................. 79 Roman Apologetics in the First Samnite War: The Capuan Deditio ...................................................... 90 Livy’s Second Samnite War and the Caudine Forks .............................................................................. 96 Chapter 3: Case Studies in the First and Second Punic Wars ...............................................106 Livy and Polybius on the First Punic War ............................................................................................ 106 Saguntum and the Causes of the Second Punic War ............................................................................. 115 Syracusan Fides in the Second Punic War ............................................................................................ 130 The Romans in Spain ............................................................................................................................ 138 Chapter 4: The Illyrian and First Macedonian Wars ............................................................146 Livy, Polybius, and the Illyrian Wars ................................................................................................... 146 Livy’s Rejection of Polybius’ συμπλοκή in the First Macedonian War ............................................... 161 Timeline: The Outbreak of the Second Macedonian War ...........................................................181 Chapter 5: The Second Macedonian War ...............................................................................182 Livy’s Version of the Second Macedonian War ................................................................................... 190 Flamininus and Freedom for the Greeks ............................................................................................... 214 iv Chapter 6: Rome and Antiochus III.........................................................................................227 Diplomacy with Antiochus during the Second Macedonian War ......................................................... 228 The Diplomatic Confrontation with Antiochus: Isthmia and Lysimachia ............................................ 235 Escalation and Preparation .................................................................................................................... 241 The War with Antiochus ....................................................................................................................... 248 The Peace of Apamea and Roman Continuity ...................................................................................... 257 Chapter 7: Perseus and Roman Disillusionment ....................................................................262 Philip and Perseus’ Opposition to Rome .............................................................................................. 263 The Reign of Perseus ............................................................................................................................ 269 Greek Instability and Roman Frustration .............................................................................................. 281 Eumenes, Rhodes, and Proper Allied Behavior .................................................................................... 291 Epilogue: Carthage and Corinth to 146 BCE..........................................................................300 Bibliography ...............................................................................................................................312 v Introduction Those who wish to establish empires obtain them through bravery and intelligence, make use of moderation and kindness in order to increase their size, and secure them through fear and terror. You may find proof of this by considering both empires established long ago and the later Roman hegemony.1 (Diodorus Siculus 32.2) This passage was once thought to derive from Polybius and reflect that historian’s Machiavellian sentiment. We now know that his views were very much the opposite.2 Nor would any Roman, at least during the heyday of the Republic, say such a thing. Nevertheless, Diodorus could not only say this of Roman expansion a few centuries later, he could say it approvingly. While most scholarship has focused on crafting a synthetic explanation of Roman expansion, I use historiographical analysis to pinpoint the ethical terms used by Romans of the Republic and their contemporaries to justify or find fault with Roman expansion. I find that the Romans’ own ethics of imperialism were based around consistency and good faith, fides, in their dealings with other states. The demands of fides, a characteristically Roman virtue, determined what actions and wars the Romans felt the need to justify and the arguments they used to do so. Sources and Structure To find Republican attitudes towards imperialism we must turn to Livy, whose monumental history of Rome survives only in parts, but which remains our most complete 1 Diodorus 32.2: Ὅτι οἱ τὰς ἡγεμονίας περιποιήσασθαι βουλόμενοι κτῶνται μὲν αὐτὰς ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ συνέσει, πρὸς αὔξησιν δὲ μεγάλην