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

 The Roman Republic

occurredlaterthantheearlypartofthethirdcentury;itisalsoofcoursepre-
supposedbyPolybius’accountoftheGallicinvasionofthes(,–),
andbytheentirenarrativeoftheHannibalicWar.Butitalsocannotbelong
earlierthanthefirsthalfofthefourthcentury,whenRomewasthesubject
ofaGallicraid,ofwhichAristotleandHeraclidesPonticusknew(Plutarch,
Cam.).Polybiuswaslatertobeabsolutelyconfidentthathecouldlocate
thiseventpreciselybyreferencetoGreekhistory(,,,Loebtrans.):

In the nineteenth year after the naval battle at Aigospotamoi, and

the sixteenth year before the battle of Leuktra, in theyear in which

theLakedaimoniansratifiedtheso-calledPeaceofAntalkidaswiththe

King of the Persians, and the Elder Dionysios, having defeated the

GreeksofItalyinthebattleontheRiverElleporos,wasbesiegingRhe-

gion,theGaulstookRomebyforceandheldallofitexcepttheCapitol.

PolybiusthensummarizesthesuccessivestagesbywhichRomearosefrom
thatlowpoint,overcomingtheotherLatinsandthentheEtruscans,Gauls,
andSamnites,andvictoriouslyconfrontingPyrrhus(,,–).Ifthereare
argumentsforregardingthehundred-yearsequenceofeventspresentedby
Polybiusasbeingfundamentallyerroneous,Idonotknowwhattheyare.A
broadexternalframeworkcanbeestablished.
Asregardsnarrativehistoryitseemstomeimpossibletogomuchfurther
back,nofurtherprobablythanthecaptureof Veii.Butperhaps,again,we
donotneedto.ForthetracesofthearchaicRomancommunity,eventhatof
astillearlierstage,arequiteclearenoughintherecordofitsinstitutionsin
thehistoricalperiod,justastheyareinlargemeasureinthearchaeological
record.ThestructureoftheRomancommunityinthemiddleRepublicstill
clearlyreflectedthefactthatRomehadoncehadkings(reges),wholeftbe-
hindthemacultbuildingcalledtheRegia,andanAtriumRegium,aswell
asofficialsintheformofarex sacrorumand,whenneeded,aninterrex.Italso
preservedthetraces,andeventheworkings,ofarchaicsocialdivisions,be-
tween patricians (patricii) and plebeians (plebeii),whose origins were (and
are) a matterof pure speculation. A fine example of such speculation is to
befoundinJ.-C.Richard’spaper,‘‘PatriciansandPlebeians:TheOriginof
aSocialDichotomy’’(Raaflaubetal.,ff.).
InthehistoricalperiodsomeRomans(veryfew)wereidentifiedaspatri-
cians,arankwhichwasgainedsolelybybirth(descentthroughthefather),
and which gave exclusive access to some major priesthoods, a guaranteed
shareofothercollegialpriesthoods,and,until,areservedplaceasoneof
thetwoannualconsuls.Thelatertraditionbothassertedaveryclearassocia-
tionofpatricianswithRomulus’originalenrolmentofaSenateofpatres,and