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

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The Mediterranean and the

Roman Revolution: Politics, War,

and the Economy

*

If wewant to understand theviolent historyof the late Roman Republic,
which in a fewdecades saw both a vast extension of Roman conquest and
theestablishmentofmonarchybyAugustus,wemightbeginwithananec-
dotetoldbyPlutarchaboutJuliusCaesar.^1 Ashewaspassingatinybarbarian
villageintheAlps,oneofhiscompanionssaid,‘‘Isitpossiblethatheretoo
therearerivalriesforoffice,competitionsforhonours,andjealousiesofeach
otheron the part of the leading men?’’ Caesar replied, ‘‘I would rather be
first among these people than second among the Romans.’’ This story may
beapocryphal;butwhetheritisornot,itwellreflectsthespirallingcom-
petitionwhichintheenddestroyedtherulesforthesharingandlimitation
ofpoweratRome,andwiththemtheRepublicitself.Thestoryofthatde-
structionisfamiliar,notleastfromSyme’sThe Roman Revolution.Butitalso
givesusapartialandmomentaryglimpseofthewidercontext,madeupofa
vastrangeoflocalcommunities,withinwhichthatcompetitiontookplace;
modernestimatestendtoputthepopulationoftheearlyRomanEmpireat
somethinglikemillionpeople.^2

*FirstpublishedinPast and Present():–.Thischapterwasgivenasalecture
at theTriennial Meeting of the Hellenic and Roman Societies in . It is printed here
essentiallyinthesameform,sinceforthereasonsgiveninthetexttheevidencedoesnotin
anycaseallowmorethanapreliminaryexplorationofpossibilities.IamgratefultoKeith
Hopkinsforcommentsandsuggestions.

. Plutarch,Caesar;Plutarch,MoraliaB.
. R.Syme,TheRomanRevolution().Forpopulationestimates,see,e.g.,M.I.Finley,
The Ancient Economy(),;K.Hopkins,‘‘TaxesandTradeintheRomanEmpire,
B.C.–A.D.,’’JRS():–.

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