Cornelius Nepos, ‘‘Atticus,’’ and
the Roman Revolution
*ThebiographyofAtticusbyCorneliusNepos,coveringthelasteightdecades
oftheRepublicandwrittenattheprecisemomentoftheestablishmentof
monarchybyOctavian,oughtalwaystohavebeentreatedbothasoneofthe
bestintroductionstotheperiod,andasanexposition,fromauniqueangle,
ofsomeofthevaluesexpressedinRomansociety.Butnow,morethanever,
theremaybeaplaceforabriefessaywhichattemptstobringoutbothsome
valuesexhibitedinthisparticulartextandthewayinwhichtheseweretaken
up,distorted,anddeployedinthepropagandaoftheAugustanregime.For,
firstly,thelargerbackgroundoflate-Republicanscholarship,antiquarianism,
historiography,andbiographyhasbeenfullyexploredbyElizabethRawson;^1
secondly,JosephGeigerhasarguedfortheoriginalityof Neposasawriter
ofpoliticalbiography;^2 thirdly,wehaveamajorstudyoftheethicalmodels
whichitisthepurposeofthebiographytoholdupforemulation.^3 Finally,
*FirstpublishedinGreece and Rome (): –.This chapter represents a lightly
edited version of a lecture given in to the London Branch of the Classical Associa-
tion.Itseemedonreflectionworthwhiletopublishit,asanessaysuggestingvariouslessons
which might be drawn from this extremely interesting and informative text. I am very
gratefulforcommentstoNicholasHorsfall,whoseCornelius Nepos: A Selection, including the
LivesofCatoandAtticus()isnowessential,andtothelateElizabethRawson,whosaved
mefrommanyerrors.
. E.Rawson,Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic(London,),chaps.–,on
historiography and antiquarianism.This paper, as will be evident, makes no attempt to
explorethewiderdeploymentofantiquarianstudiesintheAugustanperiod.
. J. Geiger,Cornelius Nepos and Ancient Political Biography, Historia Einzelschriften
(Stuttgart,).
. M. Labate and E. Narducci, ‘‘Mobilità dei modelli etici e relativismo dei valori: il