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

(Marcin) #1
The Last Century of the Republic 

Warbroughtallof Italy(uptothePo?)intothecitizenship.Gabba,inhis
first-class account of the Social War, by far the best available, stresses the
progressive military success of the Romans. I would emphasise more their
comprehensive politicalsurrender, by which they granted almost immedi-
ately,intheLexIuliaof,thefundamentalprincipleoverwhichthewar
hadbrokenout.
Theconsequencesweremomentousbutremainextremelydifficulttodis-
cuss in detail. It is therefore here, in the absence of any chapter on post–
SocialWarItaly,oronfirst-centuryCisalpina,thattheonlymajorweakness
ofCAH^2 IXlies.IfwethinkofprogressiveintegrationintotheRomanres
publica,Cisalpinaisaparticularproblem.Wasthisprocessofintegrationfun-
damentallydifferentnorthandsouthofthePo?Whathappenedtothepre-
existingLatincolonies(e.g.,Cremona,Placentia,Aquileia)after..?In
spiteofimportantmodernstudies,thereviewermustconfesstoremaining
whollyconfused.See,however,R.Peyre,La Cisalpine gauloise du IIIe au Ier
siècleavantJ.-C.();R.Chevalier,LaromanisationdelaCeltiqueduPô();
F. M. Ausbüttel, ‘‘Die Eingliederung Oberitaliens in das römische Reich,’’
Prometheus (): ; D. Foraboschi,Lineamenti di storia della Cisalpina
Romana. Antropologia di una conquista().
Asfortherestof Italy,immenseproblemspersistandcannotbetreated
here.Itdoesseemclearatleastthat,astheTabulaHeracleensisshows(ll.–
),thecensusofRomancitizensinItalywasnowconductedintheirlocal
community(municipium,colonia,orpraefectura),andthedetailsthendelivered
bydelegates(legati)tothecensorsinRome.Secondly,asaconsequenceofthe
citizenship,allnowservedinthelegions(legionaryservice—forinstance,
as a qualification for local office—is also one of the recurrent presupposi-
tionsoftheTabulaHeracleensis).Whatwecan,andcannot,knowofthese
and other fundamental changes in the life of Italian communities, and of
theirrelationtothepoliticalcentre,shouldhaveformedamajorchapterof
CAH^2 IX.Asitis,atleastwecanbecertainthattheendingoftheobligation
toorganise,officer,andpaytheirowncontingentsmusthaverepresenteda
fundamentalchangeinthelifeofboththeLatincoloniesandthealliedcom-
munitiesofItaly.TheintegrationintotheRomanlegionsofthoseoftheir
youngmenwhowererecruitedmustalsohavebeenamajorsocialchange,
withconsiderablelong-termconsequences.Post–SocialWarItalystillawaits
acomprehensivehistoricaltreatment.Curiouslyenough,thisisnotprovided
eitherintheothermajor,multi-volume,multi-authorserieswhichisbeing
publishedinparallelwiththeRomanvolumeofCAH^2 ,theStoria di Roma.
VolumeIIofthisseries,L’impero mediterraneoI:La repubblica imperiale(),
whichcoverstheperiodfromthefourthcenturytoActiuminpagesof

Free download pdf