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

 The Roman Republic

(orsenate-related,likethetwenty-fourannuallyelectedmilitarytribunes).
Wemustatallcostsdistinguishoccupationoftheconsulship,whichE.Badian
in‘‘TheConsuls,–BC,’’Chiron():,hasconfirmedashaving
beenveryheavilyinfluencedby‘‘noble’’descent,fromthatofthewiderrange
oflessprestigiouspublicoffices.Shouldwereallyseeallofthetribunes
oftheplebs,orthequaestors,ofthesaspartofanaristocracyofbirth?
Thequestionof howmuchwereallyknowofthelong-termhistoryof
‘‘senatorial’’families(gentes?familiae?)isradicallyconfusedinthisperiodby
the invention of family histories (and retrojection of cognomina) by the
Romansthemselves.Itwillbeenoughtorefertothefundamentalarticleby
PeterWiseman,‘‘LegendaryGenealogiesinLate-RepublicanRome,’’Greece
and Rome ():  Roman Studies, Literary and Historical(), ,
with further material in O.Wikander, ‘‘Senators and Equites v. Ancestral
PrideandGenealogicalStudiesinLateRepublicanRome,’’Opuscula Romana
():.Thisveryemphasisonancestors,expressedthroughhousehold
portraits(imagines),oncoinsmintedfromthesonwards,andinliterary
reconstructions,asbyAtticus(Nepos,Atticus,,–),ofcourseitselfcon-
firmsthatdescentwasregardedasimportant.Buthowsignificantwasthe
availabilityof ‘‘noble’’ ancestors for that large majorityof holders of pub-
licelectedoffice,andconsequentlysenators,whoneverheldtheconsulship?
Themodernemphasisontheconsulship,asthekeyto‘‘politics,’’isinanycase
renderedproblematicbythefactthatitwasonlyafterSulla,inthefirstperiod
whichweknowwellfromcontemporaryevidence,thatconsulstendedto
stayinRomeformostoftheiryearofofficebeforegoingtotheirprovinces.
As we know from J. P.V. D. Balsdon, ‘‘Consular Provinces under the Late
Republic,’’JRS (): , and A. Giovannini,Consulare Imperium(),
theconsuls’provinceswerealreadyallottedduringtheiryearofoffice,and
theycould(itseems)goofftothemwhentheywished.Buttheydidinfact
tendtostayinRome,andthustofunctionaspoliticians,thusmarkingavast
change as against the earlier and middle Republic, when consuls (like the
strategoioffifth-centurydemocraticAthens)wereinessenceelectedgenerals
(imperatores)wholeftRomesoonaftertakingupoffice.
Oddlyenough,neitherinCAH^2 VIIInorinIXisthereanyrealdiscussion
oftheevolving‘‘senatorial’’cursus,andthepatternofasenator’spublicmili-
tary/civilianoffice-holdingoveranadultlife-time.Noristhere(forinstance)
anydiscussionthatIcanfindoftheroleofthelot(sortitio)inallocatingprov-
inces.YetitwasthelotwhichhadgivenMacedoniatoFlamininusasconsul
of,andalsothelot(Appian,BCI./)whichhadgivenSullathecom-
mandagainstMithridates,beforetribunicianinterventiontemporarilyover-
rodeit.VolumeIXalsomissesthesignificantformalchangewhichalsoseems