Triumvirate and Principate expectedorintendedanyfuturediminutionofhiseffectivepowertoconfer
benefits,thereisnosignofithere.Onthecontraryheconfidentlyexpects,
andeveninvites,petitionsforbenefits,whichwillbeaddressedtohimself
personally.Itishere,ratherthaninthedocumentsoftheTriumvirateproper,
withtheirrecurrentformalismandrepeatedreferencestotheinstitutionsof
theres publica,thatapatternappearsinwhichdecisionswillbemadebythe
untrammelledwillandjudgementofanindividual.
ItisstrikinghowexactlythesetwolettersmatchtheassumptionsofVirgil
in theGeorgics,which, according to theVitaby Donatus (/–),were
read to Augustus at Atella in : ‘‘... while great Caesar thunders to the
deep-flowing Euphrates and, as victor in war, gives out rights, among the
willingpeoplesandpreparesforhimselftheroadtoOlympus’’(,–).
TriumviralFunctionsandtheEmergenceofPersonalJurisdiction
Aswehaveseen,theonlyattestedformaldefinitionoftheTriumvirs’power
inrelationtotheRepublicanmagistratesisthatitwastobeconsular.What
thepowersofaTriumvirwereinRomethereforeremainsunclear;andthe
obscurity is increased by the fact,which Dio carefully notes, that the suc-
cessivedivisionsofterritorybetweenthemneverincludedRomeandItaly.
For,ashesayswiththeratherundervaluedacerbitywithwhichherecords
theemergenceofmonarchy,theyweresupposedtobestrivingnottogain
Italybutonitsbehalf.^54 Onerespectinwhichtheywereclearlydistinguish-
ablefromtheconsulswhileinItalydidemergein..:theTriumvirshad
apraetoriancohort,buttheconsulsdidnot.^55 Therestoftheapparatusof
Triumviral office seems, however, to have been very similar to that of the
consuls. An anecdote in Appian shows them seated on the tribunal in the
Forum(BC,/).Aswehaveseen,theyweregrantedtherighttocon-
venetheSenate;whenin..OctaviansummonedtheSenateandsaton
theconsuls’bench(Dio,,),andlatercontinuedtosummonandaddress
itwhentheconsulshadfled(,,),itistobepresumedthathewasexer-
cisingatriumviralright,whetherformallylapsedornot.Likeothermagis-
trates,theycouldalsoissuepronouncementsasedicts,ofwhichwehaveseen
someexamplesamongthedocumentslistedabove.Suchwaspresumablythe
.Dio,,.
. Appian,BC,/.Cf.Seneca,Ep.,,thesealbeingobtainedfromMaecenas
‘‘whenheperformedthetasksoftheabsentCaesar.’’Forfurtherevidence,seeM.Durry,
Les cohortes prétoriennes(),–;A.Passerini,Le coorti pretorie(),–.