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

 The Roman Republic

sameletterof,Ciceroalludestoevenmorespectacularplansforbuilding
onthatotheressentialpublicspace,theCampusMartius,wheretheelections
wereheld(allelections,asitseems,sincethemidsecondcentury).Herethe
planwastobuildfortheelectoralassembliesamarbleenclosure,theSaepta,
roofedandsurroundedbyaportico,pacesinlength.Thisbuildingwas
infacttobecompletedin..,oneyearafterSenateandPeoplehadfinally
recognisedthepowerofAugustus.^55 Thatmayseemtobeaparadox.Infact
itisnot.Foritwaspreciselythistwo-wayrelationshipbetweenprincepsand
plebswhichbrokeuptheRepublic.
Theselavishbuildingsandelaborate,apparentlypointless,displaysarenot
atrivialorsuperficialaspectofRepublicanpolitics.Tounderstandtheirsig-
nificancewehavetoconsiderthemtogetherwiththedistributionsofgrain,
whichwasnowfree,andreachedsome,people;Ciceromaybeex-
aggerating in saying that these distributions used up a fifth of the public
revenues;butthescaleoftheprovisionisstillstriking.^56 Similarly,buildings
andshowsmeantthedeploymentinRomeofmajororganisationalefforts
inrelationtotheratherslightoverallfunctionswhichtheRomanres publica
performed.Insheertermsofscaleandcostthesethingscannotberegardedas
trivial.AsIsuggestedearlier,wecouldreasonablylookatthewholecourse
ofRome’sexpansionandexploitationofitsempireintermsofitscapacityto
providebenefitsfortheRomanpeople.Inthatcontextitisverysignificant
thatbythepeoplesawthemselvesasentitled,notmerelytoafreeration
ofcorn,buttoactivemeasuresonthepartofthestatetoprovidecornfor
themarketinRome.InSeptemberofthecrowdgatheredspontaneously
inthetemporarytheatreerectedfortheRomanGamesandthenrushedto
where the Senatewas meeting; according to Cicero, in a letter to Atticus,
Clodiusinspiredthecrowdtoshoutthattheshortagewashis,Cicero’s,fault.
TheyalsodemandedthatCiceroproposethatthecareofthecornsupplybe
giventoPompey.Afterhehaddulyproposedthis,andtheSenatehadpassed
adecreeintheseterms,thetextofitwasimmediatelyreadouttothecrowd
outside.Whenthecrowdapplauded‘‘inthesilly,new-fangledfashion,’’by

. Cic.,Att. , , , Shackleton-Bailey, no. . On the Forum Iulium,whose scanty
survivingremainsareinanycaseoftheimperialperiod,seeesp.Platner-Ashbys.v.,and
J.C.Anderson,The Historical Topography of the Imperial Fora(),chap..FortheSaepta,
Platner-Ashbys.v.Completionin..:Dio,,,andL.R.Taylor,Roman Voting As-
semblies(),esp.ff.SeenowR.B.Ulrich,AJA():,andN.Purcell,PBSR
():.
. For Cicero’s claim, see text to n. . For the grain distributions, see the succinct
treatmentinG.E.Rickman,The Corn Supply of Ancient Rome(),chap..