DOCSLIB.ORG

Introduction: Exemplarity, Magistracy, and Narrative

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Introduction: Exemplarity, Magistracy, and Narrative Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-04090-8 - Magistracy and the Historiography of the Roman Republic: Politics in Prose Ayelet Haimson Lushkov Excerpt More information Introduction: exemplarity, magistracy, and narrative Livy’s account of the otherwise uneventful year 199 bc ends, according to annalistic custom, with the election of the following year’s magistrates. Rather than the typically laconic announcement of the new consular col- lege, however, Livy in this case elaborates on the unusual nature of the campaign: neque ipse consul memorabile quicquam gessit, comitiorum causa Romam reuocatus; quae ipsa per M. Fuluium et M’. Curium tribunos plebis impediebantur, quod T. Quinctium Flamininum consulatum ex quaes- tura petere non patiebantur: iam aedilitatem praeturamque fastidiri nec per honorum gradus, documentum sui dantes, nobiles homines tendere ad consulatum, sed transcendendo media summa imis continuare. res ex campestri certamine in senatum peruenit. patres censuerunt qui honorem quem sibi capere per leges liceret peteret, in eo populo creandi quem uelit potestatem fieri aequum esse. in auctoritate patrum fuere tribuni. creati consules Sex. Aelius Paetus et T. Quinctius Flamininus. (Livy 32.7.8–12) However, the consul achieved nothing worth remembering, because he was summoned back to Rome to hold the elections. These were held up by M. Fulvius and M’. Curius, tribunes of the plebs, because they would not allow T. Quinctius Flamininus to seek the consulship after the quaestorship: they said that noblemen now spurned the aedileship and the praetorship and did not strive for the consulship through the steps of office, thus giving proof of themselves; instead, through skipping the middle offices, they joined the lowest to the highest. The matter was debated in the Campus Martius and then reached the senate. The senators determined that, so long as a person sought an office which the laws allowed him to hold, it was fair that the people should have the power to elect whomever they wish. The tribunes accepted the authority of the senate, and Sex. Aelius Paetus and T.Quinctius Flamininus were elected consuls. This account, notable merely because the elected consul went on to much greater glory, is one of any number of anecdotes in Livy and other authors in which a political problem specific to the republican system 1 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-04090-8 - Magistracy and the Historiography of the Roman Republic: Politics in Prose Ayelet Haimson Lushkov Excerpt More information 2 Introduction: exemplarity, magistracy, narrative arises, is negotiated, and finally solved.1 The anecdote is, primarily, about magistracy, albeit in the rather broad sense that a magistrate, and the conditions for his tenure of magistracy, are the subject of the debate. The crux in this particular case is Flamininus’ accelerated progress up the cursus honorum, and the episode offers us a rhetorically crafted reconstruction of two reasonable but conflicting positions: Flamininus wishes to stand for office prematurely; the tribunes wish to protect conventional practice. However, although the episode ends with a functional resolution – the tribunes accept the authority of the senate and the elections proceed – there is no actual reconciliation or synthesis of the two positions: the moral validity of the tribunes’ objection remains, as does the validity of the senate’s reliance on law and the people’s wishes.2 Further, although the language of the passage is carefully crafted as a symmetrical exchange – the tribunes’ metaphorical documentum is answered by the senate’s concrete leges –in reality this symmetry is purely formal. The basis of the two different positions exists in entirely different realms, one ethical, the other legal. While the resolution achieves the consensus necessary for the functioning of the electoral process, the lack of synthesis between the two leaves the reader to consider the validity of each position, free from the pressure either of active engagement or of an imminent tear in the fabric of the state. The anecdote thus encourages the reader to reflect simultaneously on a welter of political concerns, from the qualifications of Flamininus to the authority of senate and people; from the power of the tribunes to the force of law; from the conventions of the cursus honorum to the innovations of political ambition; and finally from ethical principle to the need for pragmatism. These anecdotes do not exist in isolation and can be read against a number of comparable episodes which fall into two main groups. The first consists of parallel iterations of the same episode across a range of authors. Plutarch, for example, preserves a slightly different version in the Life of Flamininus, probably drawn not from Livy himself but from a common source.3 The second, perhaps more important, group consists of 1 On Flamininus’ early career, see also the account in Plut. Flam. 1–2. Badian 1971: 109–10 and Carawan 1988: 211–12 and Pfeilschifter 2005: 31–52 reconstruct Flamininus’ career before this election. On the episode: Briscoe 1973: 180–1, Pfeilschifter 2005: 52–65. Translations of quoted passages are my own. 2 Per leges is here anachronistic (compare Plut. Flam. 2.1 παρὰ τοὺς νόμους): the lex Villia annalis, which regulated the minimum ages for progression up the cursus honorum, would not be passed until 180 bc.Onthelex Villia:Astin1958, Brennan 2000: 170–1. Flamininus was not yet thirty in 199 bc (Polyb. 18.12.5;Plut.Flam. 2.2). so per leges emphasizes the inapplicability of the future lex Villia. 3 For the traditions of Flamininus’ career, see the discussions in R. E. Smith 1944 and Carawan 1988: 209–12. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-04090-8 - Magistracy and the Historiography of the Roman Republic: Politics in Prose Ayelet Haimson Lushkov Excerpt More information Introduction: exemplarity, magistracy, narrative 3 episodes that treat similar themes. The general topic of progress through the cursus honorum, for instance, features in a number of episodes in Livy and elsewhere, as in Scipio Africanus’ premature candidacy for the aedileship some seven books and thirteen years earlier (25.2.6–8), with which Flamininus’ candidacy shares certain features and interests.4 Read within either grouping, Livy’s Flamininus episode is a set piece, a single iteration of a larger narrative topos, which is itself part of the annalistic theme of political activity in Rome.5 Our episode is also an exemplum of a sort, typifying a whole set of political behaviors – of candidates, tribunes, and senators – as well as, at a further level of analysis, the various historiographical ways of writing about those behaviors. It is thus possible to view these debates, and others like them, through a number of different lenses, each emphasizing different issues or reinforcing common concerns. At times these debates are connected intra- and intertextually, at other times they share only discursive or thematic similarities. What they all have in common, however, is a distinctively dialectical view of Roman politics, one that originates in the narrative formulations of the event. These formulations highlight the internal and external polysemy of perspectives that govern political behavior and the conflicts of values that underscore the workings of the Roman republic.6 The argument of this book is twofold, proceeding through a series of close readings of political anecdotes or exempla, largely drawn from Livy but supplemented by other authors. First, it takes advantage of the god’s-eye view of events characteristic of narrative to study the historiog- raphy of Roman political behavior, and more specifically of magistracy as a textual phenomenon. It argues that these anecdotes construct a dis- tinctive image of political culture and political ideas, which juxtaposes and scrutinizes competing values and exemplifies the methods involved in resolving the consequent tensions within the community. This discur- sive construction of magistracy leads into the second part of the argu- ment: that magistracy offers a uniquely rich instance of the exemplary habits that suffuse Livy’s work, because the historical protocols, pro- cedures, and institutions which governed it lent themselves especially well to the exemplary preoccupations of the Ab Urbe Condita (AUC). 4 Briscoe 1973: 181. See my more detailed treatment in Chapter 4: 151–9 below. 5 Kraus 1994b lays out the case for the importance of topoi as an organizational tool within Livy’s text. 6 In the Anglophone philosophical tradition, Berlin 1958: 29–39 and Williams 1981 remain seminal on moral dilemmas and the idea that there is no perfect calculus by which to solve conflicting obligations. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-04090-8 - Magistracy and the Historiography of the Roman Republic: Politics in Prose Ayelet Haimson Lushkov Excerpt More information 4 Introduction: exemplarity, magistracy, narrative This affinity not only made magistracy a powerful tool for understanding the economy and sociology of exemplarity within Livy’s work but also opened the narrated republic itself to constant redefinitions of its character and features. In articulating an approach to politics and political thought that is inherently dialectical, the exempla show the republic, at least in its textual manifestation, to be an imperfect compromise, which
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Late Republic in 5 Timelines (Teacher Guide and Notes)
    1 180 BC: lex Villia Annalis – a law regulating the minimum ages at which a individual could how political office at each stage of the cursus honorum (career path). This was a step to regularising a political career and enforcing limits. 146 BC: The fall of Carthage in North Africa and Corinth in Greece effectively brought an end to Rome’s large overseas campaigns for control of the Mediterranean. This is the point that the historian Sallust sees as the beginning of the decline of the Republic, as Rome had no rivals to compete with and so turn inwards, corrupted by greed. 139 BC: lex Gabinia tabelleria– the first of several laws introduced by tribunes to ensure secret ballots for for voting within the assembliess (this one applied to elections of magistrates). 133 BC – the tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus, who along with his younger brother, is seen as either a social reformer or a demagogue. He introduced an agrarian land that aimed to distribute Roman public land to the poorer elements within Roman society (although this act quite likely increased tensions between the Italian allies and Rome, because it was land on which the Italians lived that was be redistributed). He was killed in 132 BC by a band of senators led by the pontifex maximus (chief priest), because they saw have as a political threat, who was allegedly aiming at kingship. 2 123-121 BC – the younger brother of Tiberius Gracchus, Gaius Gracchus was tribune in 123 and 122 BC, passing a number of laws, which apparent to have aimed to address a number of socio-economic issues and inequalities.
    [Show full text]
  • Expulsion from the Senate of the Roman Republic, C.319–50 BC
    Ex senatu eiecti sunt: Expulsion from the Senate of the Roman Republic, c.319–50 BC Lee Christopher MOORE University College London (UCL) PhD, 2013 1 Declaration I, Lee Christopher MOORE, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Thesis abstract One of the major duties performed by the censors of the Roman Republic was that of the lectio senatus, the enrolment of the Senate. As part of this process they were able to expel from that body anyone whom they deemed unequal to the honour of continued membership. Those expelled were termed ‘praeteriti’. While various aspects of this important and at-times controversial process have attracted scholarly attention, a detailed survey has never been attempted. The work is divided into two major parts. Part I comprises four chapters relating to various aspects of the lectio. Chapter 1 sees a close analysis of the term ‘praeteritus’, shedding fresh light on senatorial demographics and turnover – primarily a demonstration of the correctness of the (minority) view that as early as the third century the quaestorship conveyed automatic membership of the Senate to those who held it. It was not a Sullan innovation. In Ch.2 we calculate that during the period under investigation, c.350 members were expelled. When factoring for life expectancy, this translates to a significant mean lifetime risk of expulsion: c.10%. Also, that mean risk was front-loaded, with praetorians and consulars significantly less likely to be expelled than subpraetorian members.
    [Show full text]
  • Aristocratic Identities in the Roman Senate from the Social War to the Flavian Dynasty
    Aristocratic Identities in the Roman Senate From the Social War to the Flavian Dynasty By Jessica J. Stephens A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Greek and Roman History) in the University of Michigan 2016 Doctoral Committee: Professor David Potter, chair Professor Bruce W. Frier Professor Richard Janko Professor Nicola Terrenato [Type text] [Type text] © Jessica J. Stephens 2016 Dedication To those of us who do not hesitate to take the long and winding road, who are stars in someone else’s sky, and who walk the hillside in the sweet summer sun. ii [Type text] [Type text] Acknowledgements I owe my deep gratitude to many people whose intellectual, emotional, and financial support made my journey possible. Without Dr. T., Eric, Jay, and Maryanne, my academic career would have never begun and I will forever be grateful for the opportunities they gave me. At Michigan, guidance in negotiating the administrative side of the PhD given by Kathleen and Michelle has been invaluable, and I have treasured the conversations I have had with them and Terre, Diana, and Molly about gardening and travelling. The network of gardeners at Project Grow has provided me with hundreds of hours of joy and a respite from the stress of the academy. I owe many thanks to my fellow graduate students, not only for attending the brown bags and Three Field Talks I gave that helped shape this project, but also for their astute feedback, wonderful camaraderie, and constant support over our many years together. Due particular recognition for reading chapters, lengthy discussions, office friendships, and hours of good company are the following: Michael McOsker, Karen Acton, Beth Platte, Trevor Kilgore, Patrick Parker, Anna Whittington, Gene Cassedy, Ryan Hughes, Ananda Burra, Tim Hart, Matt Naglak, Garrett Ryan, and Ellen Cole Lee.
    [Show full text]
  • The Social and Political Context for Obstruction in Roman Love
    THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT FOR OBSTRUCTION IN ROMAN LOVE ELEGY by AMY K. LEONARD (Under the Direction of Charles Platter) ABSTRACT This thesis will examine the presence of erotic obstruction in the poems of the first century B.C. writers of Roman love elegy: Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid. While erotic poetry prior to this time period had long necessitated a sense of obstruction, the deliberate construction of a failed love-affair by the Roman elegists serves to define their particular use of obstruction as a unique discursive strategy. The observation has been made that the time period marking the emergence and disappearance of Roman elegy qualifies it as a discrete, time-bound genre. In light of these time considerations, the obstruction motif in elegy, as a means of articulating a continual sense of failure, is capable of giving involuntary voice to events taking place on the Roman socio-political front, specifically, as this thesis will argue, a perceived loss of autonomy under the changing political structures at the end of the Republic. INDEX WORDS: Obstruction, Roman love elegy, Tibullus, Propertius, Ovid, Door, Vir, Lena, Illness, Distance, Unfaithfulness, Amores 2.19, Amores 3.4 THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT FOR OBSTRUCTION IN ROMAN LOVE ELEGY by AMY KIRK LEONARD B.A., The University of Georgia, 1996 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2004 © 2004 Amy Kirk Leonard All Rights Reserved THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT FOR OBSTRUCTION IN ROMAN LOVE ELEGY by AMY KIRK LEONARD Major Professor: Charles Platter Committee: Keith Dix Nancy Felson Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2004 DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my husband, David Leonard, without whose unconditional support during my years in graduate school I would never have made it to the completion of this degree.
    [Show full text]
  • Res Publica and
    Durham E-Theses 'Without Body or Form': Res Publica and the Roman Republic HODGSON, LOUISE,LOVELACE How to cite: HODGSON, LOUISE,LOVELACE (2013) 'Without Body or Form': Res Publica and the Roman Republic, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/8506/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk DURHAM UNIVERSITY ‘Without Body or Form’ Res Publica and the Roman Republic LOUISE LOVELACE HODGSON 2013 A thesis submitted to the Department of Classics and Ancient History of Durham University in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the author's prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ..............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Magistrates Without Pedigree: the Consules Suffecti of the Triumviral Age*
    Magistrates without Pedigree: The Consules Suffecti of the Triumviral Age* FRANCISCO PINA POLO ABSTRACT The use of the suffect consulship began to change with Caesar in 45 B.C., after a number of decades in which no suffect consul had been elected. The ofce altered dramatically during the triumviral period. The triumvirs openly made use of the suffect consulship as a means of rewarding loyalty. Many of the suffect consuls, who were no longer elected by the people, but designated in advance by the triumvirs, were homines novi who belonged to previously unknown and insignicant Roman or Italian families. Increasing the number of consuls each year eliminated de facto the traditional annuality of the ofce and reduced its authority. The implicit consequence of these actions was a gradual devaluation of the consulship. The suffect consulship was therefore a powerful tool in the hands of the triumvirs for strengthening their political position, weakening the old aristocracy and giving birth to a new elite based more rmly on personal loyalties. Keywords: Triumvirate; consulship; consules suffecti; Roman elite; homines novi; prosopography The suffect consulship, an institution which had existed throughout the Roman Republic, changed dramatically during the triumviral age. This happened in the context of a period in which successive wars were fought by Roman armies across the Mediterranean under the command of imperatores who represented different political interests and, at the same time, struggled for power at Rome. Our surviving accounts narrate the wars in detail but devote little space to internal politics at Rome, making it difcult to reconstruct how republican institutions developed in the years before Octavian’s victory at Actium.
    [Show full text]
  • Aus: Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 92 (1992) 181–195 © Dr
    RICHARD J. EVANS – MARC KLEIJWEGT DID THE ROMANS LIKE YOUNG MEN? A STUDY OF THE LEX VILLIA ANNALIS: CAUSES AND EFFECTS aus: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 92 (1992) 181–195 © Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn 181 DID THE ROMANS LIKE YOUNG MEN? A STUDY OF THE LEX VILLIA ANNALIS: CAUSES AND EFFECTS I That the cause of the lex Villia annalis of 180 BC was intended to forestall the ambitio of young members of established senatorial families, who might have hoped to emulate the successful, but quite irregular careers, of politicians such as P.Cornelius Scipio Africanus (cos. 205) and T.Quinctius Flamininus (cos. 198), remains the consensus of opinion.1 It seems quite apparent from Livy's account, however, that the lex Villia was not promulgated in response to the single problem of young men acquiring high office. Indeed it is evident that this law was the last in a series of measures, enacted at Rome from the beginning of the second century, which were concerned with the question of how and when a politician might hold the senior positions in the cursus honorum.2 Thus: ca. 197: The praetorian college was enlarged from four to six members (Liv. 32.27.6). ca. 196: Plebeian aediles were probably obliged to wait at least one year before campaigning for the praetorship, for instance, Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, aed. 196, pr. 194, cos. 192.3 184: The senate ruled that a politician might not hold two curule offices simultaneously, probably a reinforcement of a previous tradition (Liv. 39.39.4). ca.
    [Show full text]
  • 2015 Yale Certamen Invitational Advanced Division Round X
    2015 Yale Certamen Invitational Advanced Division Round X 1. Say in Latin: Certamen is difficult to play. CERTĀMEN DIFFICILE LUSŪ EST B1 Now say in Latin: This question is more difficult to answer. HAEC QUAESTIO DIFFICILIOR RESPŌNSŪ EST B2 Finally say in Latin: Latin words can be so difficult to remember. VERBA LATĪNA TAM / ADEŌ DIFFICILIA MEMORĀTŪ ESSE POSSUNT 2. Against historical generalizations, the senate mourned what man’s death and even held an assize that led to the execution of almost 300 members of a mob and the exile of Scipio Nasica? TIBERIUS GRACCHUS B1 One of Nasica’s justifications for his actions was that Gracchus had sought the tribunate two years in a row, an action banned by what law of 180 BC? LEX VILLIA ANNALIS B2 Despite his status as Pontifex Maximus, the court refused to grant Scipio Nasica amnesty, and instead of being executed, Nasica agreed to go enter honorable exile to what province? ASIA 3. Who shifted from being a radical political revolutionary in the army of Brutus and Cassius, to a member of the establishment when he joined Maecenas’ literary circle? (QUINTUS) HORACE (FLACCUS) B1 What first work did Horace begin writing following his loss at the battle of Philippi? EPODES B2 What nickname did Horace given those 17 poems as reference to their rhythm and meter? IAMBI 4. To what category do the following figures belong: Theia, Phoebe, Coeus, Iapetus, Oceanus? TITANS B1 Name the three children of Hyperion, who personified celestial aspects? HELIOS, SELENE, EOS B2 We know that Prometheus and Epimetheus are the sons of Iapetus.
    [Show full text]
  • The Caecilii Metelli in the Roman Republic
    Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2011-03-11 From Obsurity to Fame and Back Again: The Caecilii Metelli in the Roman Republic Dustin Wade Simmons Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Classics Commons, and the Comparative Literature Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Simmons, Dustin Wade, "From Obsurity to Fame and Back Again: The Caecilii Metelli in the Roman Republic" (2011). Theses and Dissertations. 2503. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/2503 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. From Obscurity to Fame and Back Again: The Caecilii Metelli in the Roman Republic Dustin Wade Simmons A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Cecilia M. Peek, chair Eric D. Huntsman Roger T. Macfarlane Department of Humanities, Classics, Comparative Literature Brigham Young University April 2011 Copyright © 2011 Dustin Wade Simmons All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT From Obscurity to Fame and Back Again: The Caecilii Metelli in the Roman Republic Dustin Wade Simmons Department of Humanities, Classics, Comparative Literature, BYU Master of Arts The house of the Caecilii Metelli was one of ancient Rome’s most prestigious yet overshadowed plebeian families. Replete with dynamic orators, successful generals, and charismatic women, the Caecilii Metelli lived during the period of Rome’s great expansion.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Minor Magistrates of the Roman Republic a Political History of the Quaestorship and the Aedileship
    Some Minor Magistrates of the Roman Republic A Political History of the Quaestorship and the Aedileship Andrew Swidzinski McGill University Montréal October 2009 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Arts. © Andrew Swidzinski, 2009. 1 Library and Archives Bibliothèque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l’édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-66367-7 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-66367-7 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L’auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l’Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L’auteur conserve la propriété du droit d’auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of Rome to 565 A. D. by Arthur Edward Romilly Boak
    The Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of Rome to 565 A. D. by Arthur Edward Romilly Boak This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license Title: A History of Rome to 565 A. D. Author: Arthur Edward Romilly Boak Release Date: May 31, 2010 [Ebook 32624] Language: English ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF ROME TO 565 A. D.*** A HISTORY OF ROME TO 565 A. D. BY ARTHUR E. R. BOAK, Ph. D., Professor of Ancient History in the University of Michigan v New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1921 All rights reserved COPYRIGHT, 1921. By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published December, 1921. vii PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA [v] PREFACE This sketch of the History of Rome to 565 A. D. is primarily intended to meet the needs of introductory college courses in Roman History. However, it is hoped that it may also prove of service as a handbook for students of Roman life and literature in general. It is with the latter in mind that I have added the bibliographical note. Naturally, within the brief limits of such a text, it was impossible to defend the point of view adopted on disputed points or to take notice of divergent opinions. Therefore, to show the great debt which I owe to the work of others, and to provide those interested in particular problems with some guide to more detailed study, I have given a list of selected references, which express, I believe, the prevailing views of modern scholarship upon the various phases of Roman History.
    [Show full text]
  • Scelere: Cicero Uses This Word Vaguely, to Suggest That in His Praetorship
    Cicero Pro Milone Further Commentary Notes: Sections 24-52 24 ita tracta esse comitia: the elections to the offices of state in the Roman Republic (consuls [of which there were 2], praetors [there were at this time 8], tribunes [10], quaestors [20], and aediles [4]) were in normal times held in the summer of the previous year. It was necessary under a long-standing law (the lex Villia Annalis of 180 BC) to have reached a stated minimum age in the year when the elections were held; for the praetorships, candidates had to be 39 (and for a consulship, 42). However, in 54 BC the elections had been continually delayed, as the result of a combination of constitutional manipulation (declaring them technically invalid because of unfavourable omens, for instance) and, increasingly frequently, violent demonstrations by the rival gangs organised by Clodius and Milo. It was not until the summer of 53 that the office-holders for that same year could be elected (the absence of consuls and praetors at the start of 53 will have made it even more difficult to hold proper, technically valid elections). Not surprisingly, it had proved impossible to hold the elections for 52 in 53, so that 52 had opened (like 53) without any magistrates in office, other than tribunes, who had been elected and had taken office, as normal, on December 10th of the preceding year. The situation was eventually resolved when later in the year the Senate appointed Pompey ‘sole consul’ and he proceeded to hold elections for the other offices – and to arrange for the trial of Milo.
    [Show full text]