Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 - The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution

 The Roman Republic

entlyalreadytheretobewritten.But‘‘stretchingback’’isperhapsnotquite
therightexpression.Instead,likeother‘‘histories,’’itstretchedforward,from
theearliestmythicalorigins,thentaperedoffrathersharply,andexpanded
againwiththeperiodwithin,ormoreorlesswithin,humanmemory.Nae-
vius in fact provides the perfect model: three books on the mythical past,
andtheninthefourthstraighttothenarrativeofthewar(fr.[]):

theRomanarmycrossedovertotheislandofMalta,

setfiretothewholeisland,

pillaged,laidwaste,disposedoftheenemies’property.

But,ontheotherhand,thehistoryoftheearlierRepublic,whichwasnot
(could not be?) described in full-scale narratives in the late third century,
was to bewritten later, in the greatest detail and colour.This process was
analysedinT.P.Wiseman,Clio’s Cosmetics(),pt.I;andthewholeissue
is re-surveyed by Raaflaub in the first chapterof his book,where he does,
however,suggestthatcomparison,aboveallwithGreece,mayhelpustores-
cuesomeelementsotherwiselost.Thatstillleavesuswiththeproblemof
whetherwecanmakeanythingofthevastnarrativesof Livyand(ineven
greaterdetail)Dionysius,writtenjustatthemomentofthemonumentaliza-
tionoftheRomanpastbyAugustusintheformoftheFasti Triumphales(the
listofgeneralswhocelebratedatriumphinRome)andtheFasti Consulares
(thelistofconsuls)andtheelogia(eulogies)ofhisnewForum.Putlikethat,
thefactsseemtodemandfromusacleardecision:sofaras‘‘real’’historygoes,
weshouldforgettheearlierRepublic,andbeginwherecontemporaryevi-
dencebegins,inthetimeofHannibal.Thefourthcenturyandthe‘‘conflict
oftheorders’’belongintherealmofmyth.
Yet so apparently purist a decision will not reallydo either. Firstly,we
couldreasonablystretchthedefinitionof‘‘contemporary,’’inrelationtothe
late third century, to include the previous two to three generations, over
which,asmostwouldagree,collectivememorywillprovidesomemoreor
lessveridicalrepresentationofthepast.Romansofthelatethirdorearlysec-
ondcenturiescertainlyrepresentedtoeachotherversionsoffamilyorcol-
lectivehistoryoversuchatimescale.SoforinstanceCato,bornin,said
(inwhatcontext?)thathisfather(borninthes?)hadbeenabraveman
andagoodsoldier,whilehisgreat-grandfather(borninthes?)hadoften
wonaristeia(prizes),andhadhadfivehorseskilledunderhim,receivingthe
priceofthemfrompublicfundsasarewardforhiscourage.Hehimselfmight
havebeennewintermsofrankandfame,sohesaid,butintermsofthedeeds
andvirtuesofhisforefathershewasverylongestablished(Plutarch,Cato).
Eitherthefatherorthegreat-grandfather,fromthisfamilyoflocalgentryof