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

 The Augustan Revolution

The‘‘RestorationoftheRepublic’’

Nothing said thus far is claimed to prove that the period of theTriumvi-
ratewasnotonewhereviolenceandillegalityplayedacrucialrole.Butthe
discussionwill,itmaybehoped,haveemphasisedthattheTriumviratewas
aninstitutionwhichwascreatedbyaformoflaw,andwhichwassuperim-
posed on, but did not replace, the institutions of theres publica.Inconse-
quence,itexhibitedmanyoftheambiguitiesintheexerciseofauthority,and
manyofthecompromisesbetweenindividualpowerandtraditionalinsti-
tutionswhichcharacterisethePrincipateitself.Moreover,theexistenceof
suspicionsandrivalriesbetweentheTriumvirscausedthem,inthesearchfor
political support, to pay repeated lip service to the Senate and the Roman
people.Notonlydidtheres publicasurvive,ifmuchweakened,butthe‘‘Au-
gustan’’revivalmightbeconsideredtohavebeguninthelaterthirties,with
thebuildingprogrammeofAgrippaasaedilein;anditscharacteristicar-
chaismisalreadyvisibleintheuseoftheFetialritetodeclarewarin.^71
WhenAtticusdiedonthelastdayofMarch..,andwasburied‘‘escorted
byallmenofsubstanceandbyverylargecrowdsofthecommonpeople,’’^72
theoutwardappearanceofRomanlifemusthavebeenmuchasithadalways
been.Itisagainstthisbackgroundthatwecancomebacktothetwocen-
tral questions.What reallychanged in the development fromTriumvirate
to Principate? And, more important even than the facts of constitutional
change,whatdidmenthinkandsayhadhappened,andhowdidtheychar-
acterisethe‘‘neworder’’inwhichtheylived?
As is notorious,ourevidence does not serve to resolve unambiguously
thequestionofwhentheTriumviralpowerscametoanend,eitherinstrict
theory or in practice.^73 All that we can say for certain is that from  on-
wards,indeeduntilhisassumptionofthetribunicianpowerin,theonly
actualofficeorpowerwhichthetitulatureofOctavian/Augustusrevealsis
thatofconsul.Inthisformalandoutwardaspecttheonlychangeinwas
theappearanceofthecognomen‘‘Augustus.’’
Therewereofcoursemoresubstantialchanges,buttheircharacterandsig-
nificancestillrequirere-examinationagainsttheTriumviralbackground.In
DiorecordsthatOctaviansharedthefasceswithAgrippaandhiscolleague

.Dio,,.
. Nepos,Atticus,–(N.Horsfall’strans.).
. Fordiscussions,seeFadinger(n.),chap.;K.E.Petzold,‘‘DieBedeutungdesJahres
fürdieEntstehungdesPrincipats,’’Historia():;E.Gabba,‘‘Ladatafinaledel
secondoTriumvirato,’’RFIC():.