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

 The Augustan Revolution

totheproscriptions;onlyAulusGellius(,,)recordsthattheTriumvirs
had‘‘therighttoconvenethesenate’’;andonlytheFastiColotiani^7 giveusthe
terminal date of the five-year period of theTriumvirate—‘‘[M. A]emilius,
M.Antonius[erased],Imp.Caesar,triumvirsfortheorderingoftherespublica,
from the fifth day before the Kalends of December to the day before the
sixthKalendsofJanuaryfollowing.’’TheseFasti,whichtheerasednameof
AntoniusshowtohavebeeninscribedbeforeSeptember..,thusmake
clearthattheTriumviratewasduetoexpireonDecember,..
Whatremainsquiteobscureiswhateffectstheappointmentoftriumvirs
fortheorderingoftheres publica—triumviri rei publicae constituendae—wasex-
pected to have on the assemblies, the Senate, and the annual magistracies.
Least obscurity attaches to the question of elections and of appointments
to provincial commands, which are explicitly stated to have been within
thepowersoftheTriumvirs.Butwaseveryannualmagistracyintheperiod
filled byTriumviral appointment? And, if so, did this mean that the cen-
turiateandthetribalassembliesactuallyceasedtomeetforelectoralpurposes
until ..? Or might they have met to elect formally lists of candidates
putforwardbytheTriumvirs?Anumberofimportantarticlesontheelec-
tionsunderAugustusignoretheproblemsoftheTriumviralperiod.^8 Only
thevaluablestudyofR.Frei-Stolbatracesthefortunesoftheelectionsfrom
theRepublicthroughtheCaesarianandTriumviralperiods,totheEmpire.^9
Thereisofcourseabundantevidencetoshowarbitraryuseofthepowerof
appointmentbytheTriumvirs,includinggrossaffrontstoRepublicancus-
tomincertainyears.Attheendoftheyappointedtwosuffectconsuls,one
ofthemapraetorinoffice,whowasreplacedbyoneoftheaediles;andfive
daysbeforetheendoftheyeartheysentthepraetorsofftoprovinces,and
appointed replacements.^10 In  Dio speaks of them as appointing the city
magistratesforseveralyearsinadvance.^11 Insuffectconsulsandpraetors
wereagainappointedrightattheendoftheyear,andanaediletoreplaceone
whodiedonthelastdayofDecember.^12 IntheTriumvirsarerecordedas

. A.Degrassi,Inscriptiones ItaliaeXIII,:Fasti Consulares(),–.
. A.H.M.Jones,‘‘TheElectionsunderAugustus,’’JRS():Studies in Roman
Government and Law(),;P.A.Brunt,‘‘TheLexValeriaCornelia,’’JRS():;
B.M.Levick,‘‘ImperialControloftheElectionsundertheEarlyPrincipate,’’Historia
():.
. R.Frei-Stolba,Untersuchungen zu denWahlen in der römischen Kaiserzeit().Onthe
periodfromto..,seepp.–.
. Dio,,–.
. Dio,,.
.Dio,,and.