The Roman Republic
certainpresuppositionswhichrunthroughHölkeskamp’sbook,andwilldo
sofromatotallydivergentpointofview.Itisthereforeonlyrighttostress
herethattheworkisaconsiderableachievementandisindeedthemostde-
tailedandserioustreatmentwehaveofthepoliticalhistoryofRomeinthe
fourthandearlierthirdcenturies.Itsintentionisnot,however,topresent
a mere narrative, but to get away from the obsession with alleged ‘‘Adels-
parteien,’’aconception,asHölkeskamprightlysays(p.),simplyassumedby
Münzerandnot‘‘problematisiert’’byhim.Initsplacetherewillbeastep-by-
stepanalysisoftheactualpolitical,constitutional,military,andsocialissues
whichformedthesubjectmatterofpolitics.Inthissensethebookrepresents
arealadvance,inseeingRomanpoliticsinthecontextofRome’swars,and
oftheprogressivedominationofItaly.Butitscentralfocusremainsthesteps
whichgaveaccesstopublicrolestoanewplebeian‘‘élite’’whichhowever
wasrapidlyabsorbedbytheexistingpatricianélitetoformthehomogeneous
‘‘patrician-plebeianélite’’mentionedearlier.
Asastudyanddiscussionofallthatweknow,orhopethatweknow,of
thepoliticalhistoryofRomeinthisperiod,thebookwillhenceforwardbe
indispensable.Mydivergencefromitsprings,however,fromtheviewthat,
while its ‘‘problematization’’ of Münzer’s views is entirely justified, it has
notriditselfofthequiteunsupportedassertionsaboutRomanpoliticaland
socialstructuresetoutinGelzer’sDie römische Nobilitätof,andwhich
havebeensodominanteversince(notetheEnglishtranslation,The Roman
Nobility,byRobinSeager,).ButthehistoryoftheRepublicisalready
seeingaradicalrevisionofthesepreconceptionsalso,apointtobediscussed
further.Thealternativeviewarguedhereisthatwecouldwithprofitaban-
don Gelzer’s viewof a homogeneous élite (or ‘‘aristocracy’’ or ‘‘nobility’’?)
controllingthemassofthepeoplethroughanetworkofpatronagerelation-
ships,andstartalloveragainbylookingattheRomancommunityandpoliti-
calsystemfromthebottomup,thatisstartingfromthebroadmassofthe
people, settled in Rome and round about it, and progressivelyalso further
away. For to focus on the political process in Rome itself, as it was in this
period,istogiverelativelymarginalattentiontofarmoreimportantdevel-
opments:theprogressivedominationof Italy,thespreadof Latincolonies
andRomansettlement,andtheexpansionoftheRomantribesbetween
and.
This expansion, in two senses, both in numbers (from twenty-one to
thirty-five)andingeographicallocation,isextremelyimportant.Firstly,be-
causeweknowthatithappened;fortheendeffectsofthisprocessarevisible
inthepoliticalmapofItalyinthehistoricalperiod(L.R.Taylor,Voting Dis-
tricts of the Roman Republic[]).Moreover,T.J.Cornellissurelyrightin