Popular Politics at Rome
in the Late Republic
*‘‘After this, Curio delivered before the people a lengthy denunciation of
Pompeyandtheconsuls,andwhenhehadfinishedhistermofofficeatonce
set off to join Caesar.’’ Few people who have studied Roman history will
havedifficultyinidentifyingthemomentwhichthesewordsdescribe.Itis
of course Decemberof theyear ..,when the incoming consuls-elect
hadmadeuptheirmindstoresistJuliusCaesarbyforce,andwhenCurio,
comingtotheendofhistribunate,dueonDecember,heldhislastmeeting
toaddresstheRomanpeople.Caesar’scrossingoftheRubiconwasnotfar
away.WeareexactlyatthemajorturningpointinRomanhistory.Weare
also,andthisissurelynoaccident,exactlyhalfwaythroughthegreatRoman
Historyineightybooks,writteninthethirdcentury..byCassiusDio,a
GreekfromBithynia,aRomansenator,andconsul ordinariusin...The
wordswhichIhavequotedareinfacttheverylastsentenceofbook.^1
Dio thus displayed considerable artistry and sense of overall design in
choosingthelastmomentsofthetribunateofCuriotoendthefirsthalfofhis
*FirstpublishedinI.MalkinandZ.W.Rubinsohn,eds.,Leaders and Masses in the Roman
World: Studies in Honor of Zvi Yavetz(),–.Thischapter,whichitisadeeppleasure
tooffertoZviYavetz,owesmuchtoalecturegivenattheClassicalAssociationinGlas-
gowin,andsubsequently,invariousforms,atanumberofuniversitiesintheUnited
KingdomandIreland,atNewYorkUniversity,and—onamemorableoccasioninJanuary
—atTel-Aviv.Ihavekeptthestyleofalecture,withonlyminimalnotes,partlyasa
tributetooneofthegreatmastersofthespokenword,inEnglishandotherlanguages,and
partlybecauseitisitselfaVorarbeit.ThetopicisexploredmorefullyinmyJeromeLectures
of–,‘‘TheCrowdinRomeintheLateRepublic’’;nowpublishedasThe Crowd in
Rome in the Late Republic().
.Dio,,.