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

 The Roman Republic

otherfirstmenofthestate,ofequaldignitybutlessergoodfortune.Thesec-
ondpointisthatthis—goodfortune—isthewhollyneutrallightinwhich
he places Octavian’s rise to power. ‘‘For such prosperityaccrued to Caesar
thatFortunedeniedhimnothingwhichshehadevergrantedtoanyoneelse,
andwonforhimwhatuptothatpointnoRomancitizenhadbeenableto
acquire’’(,–).
Themarriagerelationshipserved,Nepossays,tostrengthentheirpersonal
friendship.Atthispoint(,–)hedescribesthefrequentcorrespondence
between Atticus and Octavian on antiquarian and literary questions, and
Atticus’adviceaboutrestoringthetempleofIuppiterFeretrius.Butthen,in
averystrikingway,NeposgoesontosaythatevennowAtticuspreserved
hispoliticalneutrality,andkeptupasimilarrelationshipwithMarcusAnto-
nius.Theparagraphwhichhedevotestothisrelationship,andtothelessons
whichweretobedrawnfromit,isthelastinhisbiographybeforehecomes
toAtticus’finalillnessanddeath,attheendofMarch..Itcannot,obvi-
ouslyenough,havebeenwrittenearlierthan,whenaccordingtotheRes
Gestae()allofItalywasspontaneouslyswearingloyaltytoOctavian,and
askingforhimasgeneral(dux)inthewarwhichwastobedecidedatActium.
ThisiswhatNeposwrites(,):

His friendship was no less cultivated from a distance, by letter, by

MarcusAntonius,totheextentthathekeptAtticusinformedinde-

tail,fromtheendsoftheearth,astowhathewasdoingandwhathis

concernswere.Thesignificanceofthiscanbeweighedbyanyonewho

iscapableofjudgingwhatasignofwisdomitis,toretainthefriend-

shipandgoodwillofmenbetweenwhomtherewasnotonlyrivalry

forsupremepower,butthatdegreeofpersonalhostilitywhichwasin-

evitableasbetweenCaesarandAntonius,giventhateachsoughttobe

the first man [princeps] not onlyof the cityof Rome, but of the en-

tireworld.

We have no reason to disbelieve the statement made by Nepos, that Atti-
cuscontinuedthroughthestocorrespondwithAntonius.Whatattitude
AtticushimselfhadhadtotherivalryofOctavianandAntoniuswecannot
know.Butthereisnothingtoshowthatitwasverydifferentfromthatof
Nepos;andNeposatanyratesawitasanakedcompetitionforpower,inthe
faceofwhichoneshowedone’swisdombymaintaininggoodrelationswith
bothsides.
Thisattitudeofneutralityandnon-partisanshipcannotof itselfexplain
why things turned out as theydid. For,of course, therewere others who
didnotactonthisprinciple.NotonlyRomansenators,but—whatismore