The Roman Republic
Yetbytheselaudatoryspeechesourhistoryhasbecomequitedistorted;
for much is set down in them which neveroccurred, false triumphs,
toolargeanumberofconsulships,falserelationshipsandtransitionsof
patricians to plebeian status, in that men of humbler birth professed
thattheirbloodblendedwithanoblefamilyofthesamename,though
infactquitealientothem;asif I,forexample,shouldsaythatIwas
descendedfromManiusTulliusthepatrician,whowasconsulwithSer-
viusSulpiciustenyearsaftertheexpulsionofthekings.The same warning, though without the crucial mention of bogus family
trees,isrepeatedlaterbyLivy(,,–,Loebtrans.):
Therecordshavebeenvitiated,Ithink,byfuneraleulogiesandbylying
inscriptionsunderportraits,everyfamilyendeavouringmendaciously
toappropriatevictoriesandmagistraciestoitself—apracticewhichhas
certainlywroughtconfusionintheachievementsofindividualsandin
thepublicmemorialsofevents.Livyisspeakinghereoftheyearwhichwecall..,andofonlyamar-
ginalvariationinhissources.Muchmorefundamentalproblemswouldat-
tendanymodernattemptatnarrativehistoryofthefifthcentury,ofwhich
inmyviewnoseriousaccountcanbewritten.
Butevenintherelativelyhistorical,orsemi-historicalperiod,fromthe
earlierfourthcenturytothemid-third,withwhichweareconcernedhere,
anyattempttowriteanarrativehistoryfocusingoninternalpoliticalissues
seems to me open to serious question for the following reasons. Firstly, as
mentionedalready,fargreaterimportanceattachestotheoverall,andhis-
torically indubitable, transformation in the structure of Italy in the same
period. Secondly, there are insuperable uncertainties as to the precise date
ormeaningofmanyinternalchangeswhich,viewedbroadly,undoubtedly
tookplace.Thirdly,intalkingofthe‘‘conflictoftheorders’’(Raaflaubetal.)
orthe‘‘evolutionofthenobilitas’’(Hölkeskamp),termsarebeingusedwhich
areatbestnotclearlydefinedandatworstprofoundlymisleading;H.inpar-
ticularislookingattheperiodretrospectively,interpretingitintermsofthe
comingintobeingofsomethingwhichisitselfopentoradicalre-thinking.
Finally, both he and the authors of the articles collected by Raaflaub et al.
maketoolittleuseofthearchaeologicalandantiquarianevidenceforearly
RomeanalysedandmadeavailableaboveallbyFilippoCoarelliandMario
Torelli,whichallowsustoseetheevolutionofthepoliticalstructureofthe
archaicRomanstateinawhollydifferentlight.Onelessonwhichmightbe
drawnfromthisevidenceisthatwehavetendedtolookinthewrongdirec-