The Last Century of the Republic:
Whose History?
*IntellectualApproaches
Anyreaderofthismassivevolumewouldbejustifiedinfeelingamixtureof
emotions:forastart,amazement,admiration,andperplexity.Firstlyamaze-
mentatthesheerscaleofthepublishing,editing,andwritinginvolved.Then
admiration:thewholeenterpriseisanextraordinarytributetothedevotion
tolearningandeducationonthepartoftheacademicprofession;neitheron
thepartoftheeditorsnorofthecontributorscouldtheexpenditureofso
mucheffort(andtherebyitsdiversionfromotheractivities)beexplainedby
the(verymodest)prospectofmonetarygain.
Butperplexitytooisappropriate.Forwhetherthisself-sacrificeisasmuch
asignofwisdomasofvirtueisamorecomplexquestion.Fromthebegin-
ning,theverynotionofthemassive,multi-author,‘‘authoritative’’Cambridge
Historyhasbeenopentoobviousfundamentalobjections:thatany‘‘repre-
sentation’’ofthepastconstitutesapersonalpointofview,bounded,ifnot
preciselydetermined,bytimeandcircumstance;thatthisessentialstarting
pointisnotaltered,butitsrelevanceissimplyconfused,whenrealityisdi-
videdupbyacommitteeandallottedtodifferentauthors;andthatthecon-
tributoris,inevitably,stretcheduneasilybetweenhisorherownvisionof
whatmatters,andofhowthefieldinquestionshouldbeinterpreted,onthe
onehand,andtheprescriptionsoftheeditors,ontheother.
Infact,neitherthisvolumenortheneweditionoftheCAHasawhole
canbeseenasprofessedlyandexplicitlythemouthpieceofagroupwithan
ideologicalmessageabouthowweshouldapproachthecomplexbusinessof
*FirstpublishedasareviewofJ.A.Crook,A.Lintott,andE.Rawson,eds.,The Cam-
bridgeAncientHistory^2 IX:TheLastAgeoftheRomanRepublic,–B.C.(Cambridge,),
inJRS():–.