The Mediterranean and the Roman Revolution Iconcludewithonesuchindividual,PhilotasofAmphissa,whoisknown
tousfromthepagesofPlutarch’sLife of Antonius.HewasborninAmphissa,
nearDelphi,inaboutthemid-s..,andwillhavebeenachildandthen
adolescentatthetimeofthegreatcivilwarbattlesofPharsalusandPhilippi,
inand.Bythemid-shiseducationathomewascomplete,andheset
offtoAlexandria,stillthecapitalofthePtolemaickingdom,topursuethe
studyofmedicine.TherehegottoknowacookatthecourtofAntoniusand
Cleopatra,andsawonedayinthekitcheneightwildboarsroasting,atdiffer-
entstagesofreadiness;theirhighnesseswereunpunctual,itwasexplained,
but still liked their wild boardone to a turn. Later Philotas was doctor to
Antonius’sonbyFulvia,andafterwardsreturnedhometoGreece,topursue
hisprofessionandtellendlessstoriestoPlutarch’sgrandfather.^97
Philotas’lifethustouchedbrieflyonthemajoreventsoftheperiod,but
wasnotfundamentallyaffectedbythem.Hiscareerwasasymptomofthe
factthattheentirecommunalandculturalbasisofthelifeoftheGreekcities
survived,damagedanddepressedbutintact,throughtheperiodofthecivil
wars; they were thus able to adjust with ease to the newand immediately
evidentfactofmonarchyafterthebattleofActiumin..Arecentlypub-
lishedinscriptionfromEphesus,forinstance,recordsamanwho,withinnot
morethanayearortwoofOctavian’sbeingvotedthename‘‘Augustus’’in
..,had‘‘supervisedthesettingupof ‘theAugustus’[thatis,astatueof
him]andthededicationofthesanctuary.’’^98 Buttheconscious,politicalad-
justment to changed circumstances is a different story, some of which can
indeed be told.^99 For the real social and economic historyof theworld in
which the Roman revolution took place, however, I wish that I could see
how to do better than the friend of Plutarch’s grandfather, with his end-
less recital of anecdotes.To do better, however, we would need a model,
ormodels.Butwhatmodelsareavailabletohelpusunderstandthehistory
of a region made up of innumerable communities at verydifferent stages
ofdevelopment,withinwhichlonger-termchangeswereovershadowedfor
contemporaries,astheyareforus,bythedemandsofcompetingstatesand
factionsandtheneedsandeffectsofwar?
. Plutarch,Ant..IowetoDr.W.E.H.Cockleanumberofitemsofevidencein-
dicatingthatwildboarwereknowninEgyptandwerehuntedthere:e.g.,Theophrastus,
Hist. pl.,,;P.Ryl.II,no.(..).
.SEGXXVI.
. Forthis,cf.F.Millar,‘‘StateandSubject:TheImpactofMonarchy,’’inF.Millarand
E.Segal,eds.,Caesar Augustus: Seven Aspects()(chapterinthisvolume).