The Roman Republic
the so-calledLaudatio Turiae, for which Nicholas Horsfall’s recent study is
nowessential.^9 Initsvividreflectionofthetroubledfortunesofawealthy
RomanfamilywhicheventuallysurvivedtheTriumvirateandtheproscrip-
tions,toachievepeaceunderAugustus,thisfuneraryorationisveryclosein
content, and location on the social hierarchy, though not in all of its pre-
suppositions, to Nepos’Life. As an oration, it is also one of the most sub-
stantialsurvivingspecimensofAugustanprose,andtheonlyoneemanating
fromaprivatepersonwhichsurvives(inpart)asinscribedatthetime.
At least two features however serve to give a much greater importance
toNepos’biography.Firstlythelifeofhissubjectcanbeportrayedoveran
exceptionallylongandeventfulperiod,fromAtticus’birthin/..to
his death on March, . Born in the early stages of the JugurthineWar,
hesurvived,asNeposrecords(,),toseehisone-year-oldgranddaughter,
Vipsania,thechildofhisdaughterPomponiaandofAgrippa,betrothedto
TiberiusClaudiusNero,thefutureEmperorTiberius.
ThebiographythuspresentsthemosttroubledperiodofRomanhistory
fromtheangleofamanwhowasattheheartofRomansociety,butwasnot
apoliticalactorintheeventsoftheday;itisthebiographyofonewhoen-
duredandsurvived,notwhoacted.Butthisisnomerenegativepoint,or
merereflectionoffacts.Forthemodelwhichthebiographyholdsupisthat
inwhichthevirtuesoftheheroandtheappropriatenessofhisresponsesto
circumstances must be demonstrated by the options which he might have
takenupbutdidnot;inshortitisarepresentationofwhatitsherodidnotdo,
ofthetemptationspresentedbypubliclife,andchangesofpoliticalfortune,
towhichhedidnotsuccumb.Bycontrast,thepositivevirtuesandactivities
whichareexhibitedarethoseofprivatelife,ofscholarship,antiquarianism,
andconcernforthetraditionsandantiquitiesof Rome.Itisincontestable,
aswewillsee,thatNeposhimselfwasattheleastreservedandneutral,and
very likely hostile, in the face of Octavian’s rise to power.The ironyof it
all is that it was precisely the type of irreproachable private scholarship to
whichNepos’‘‘Atticus’’isshowndevotinghimselfthatwastobetakenup
anddeployedinthepropagandaofthenewregime.
Butbeforethatitisworthlookingatsomeexamplesofwhat,asportrayed
by Nepos, Atticus did not do. Forexample, in the s,when the statewas
dividedbetweenSulla’sparty(Sullani)andCinna’sparty(Cinnani),hesaw
nochanceof livingasbefittedhisrank(pro dignitate),forfearofoffending
one orother party—so hewithdrew to Athens and took no part (, –).
Then,whenSullacametoAthensonhiswaybackfromtheEastin–,he
. N.Horsfall,‘‘SomeProblemsinthe‘LaudatioTuriae,’’’Bull.Inst.Cl.Stud.():.