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

 The Roman Republic

andtheViaFlaminiaweretoserveashismemorialsonthemapofRomeand
ofItaly.ButheretooitshouldbestressedthatPolybius(,,–)empha-
sizesboththedemagogiccharacterof hislawforthedistributionofGallic
land,anditsmilitaryconsequences.
Thetendencyofourevidenceisthusperfectlyclear.Intermsofwealthor
socialclasswehavenomeanswhateverofcharacterizingthetribunesofthis
period.Thevastmajoritycannotevenbenamed.Ofthoseaboutwhomwe
knowalittlemore,andwhoheldotheroffices(inmostcasestheconsulship),
almostallareclearlyidentifiedinthetraditionaschampionsoftheplebsor
ofpopularrights.
Theevidentialbasisforanyassertionsabout‘‘who’’tribunestypicallywere
inthisperiod,andfromwhatfamiliesorsocialstratatheycameisthusalmost
non-existent.Butnoonewilldenythattherewasacertainintegrationon
asociallevel,thatholdingatribunatecametobesomethingperfectlycom-
patiblewithholdingotheroffices(whichthemselves,ofcourse,steadilyex-
panded in number); tribunes also gained the right to summon the Senate
themselves,andtheexpectationthattheywouldbeenrolledinitbythecen-
sors.Wecan,ofcourse,insistonseeingthisasatake-overofthetribunateby
the‘‘patrician-plebeianélite,’’orbytheSenate:wemaythenseea‘‘achange
offunctionofthetribunatefromaplebeian,‘party’instrumentofstruggleto
magistracyunderthecontrolofthesenateandinitsservice’’(Hölkeskamp,
–).
Butsupposethatweweretotrythestratagemof lookingnotfromthe
CuriatotheComitiumbutfromtheComitiumtotheCuria?Awholerange
ofevidencewouldthensuggestaquitedifferentinterpretation,and,firstly,
giveconsiderablesupporttothenotionarguedbyJ.vonUngern-Sternberg,
‘‘TheEndoftheConflictoftheOrders’’(Raaflaubetal.,ff.),thatareal
political tension survived at least to the Second PunicWar, or even after.
PolybiusnotoriouslysawFlaminius’proposalinabouttheAgerGallicus
as thebeginningof demagogy (, , –).Why should we not see the first
half of the second century, not as the period of untroubled control of the
‘‘People’’bythe‘‘élite,’’butasthatinwhichpopularrightshadbecomequite
wellestablished,andpopulardemands,forvictories,booty,andland,were
quiteeasilymet?Suchisthethesisarguedin‘‘ThePoliticalCharacterofthe
ClassicalRomanRepublic,–B.C.’’JRS():(chapterinthis
volume).Inthisperiod,forinstance,itwasobligatoryoneverymagistrate,
withinfivedaysofenteringoffice,totakeanoathtoobeythelaws.Ifhedid
not,hecouldcontinueinofficenolonger(Livy,,–).Noevidence
relatingtoanearlierperiodatteststhisrule.Butwemustsurelyseesuchan
oath, unquestionably taken in public, in the Forum, as a means by which