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

State and Subject 

created in , see more examples of positive, reforming government from
thecentre,byAugustus;Ithink,oratleastIhope,thatIhavenotbeenthe
onlypersonnottoseetheaccumulatedweightofthisevidence,someofit
quitenew.
In January .., three and a half years after his victory, Octavian ap-
pearedbeforetheSenateandformallyofferedtolaydownhispowers.What
exactlythosepowershadbeen,eitherastriumvirdowntotheendof..
or in the intervening period, it is perhaps better not to enquire, since the
questionpresentsinsolubleproblems.^22 Buthisonlyformalofficewasthat
ofconsul,asithadbeensince,andwouldremainuntil.Theresponse
of the Senate, followed by the People of Rome,was tovote him the new,
unheard-ofname‘‘Augustus’’andvariousotherhonours,andtoestablisha
newarrangementfortheappointmentofprovincialgovernors.Ifwelook
atallofthisfromtheangleoftheprovinces,thenewnamewasverysoon
current,atleastinthemajorcentres.Asforthenewformofgovernment,
wehaveonlyonedetailedcontemporarypictureofit,inthelastparagraph
ofStrabo’sGeography():‘‘Forwhenhisnativecountryentrustedtohim
thecareofthegovernment,andhewasestablishedforlifeasmasterofwar
andpeace,hedividedtheentireterritory[oftheEmpire]intotwoandal-
lottedonetohimselfandonetothepeople.’’Toanyoneaccustomedtothe
intricacies of that familiar topic ‘‘the Augustan constitution,’’ these words
willseemwrong,eitherablatantover-simplificationor,iftakenliterally—
thatis,asreferringtotheactualwordsofaconstitutionalenactment—just
false.But,onceagain,wedohavetorememberthatStrabowasamember
ofaprominentfamilyinPontoswhosecontactswiththeleadingRomans
wentbacktothetimeof Lucullus;andthathehimself hadbeeninRome
andinthetwentieshadsaileduptheNileintheentourageofthethenpre-
fectofEgypt,AeliusGallus.^23 Ifthiswashowhesawthechangein..,
thatisahistoricalfactinitself;ifhiswordsaremisleading,theyconstitute,
again,asignificanterror.NotealsothattoStrabothedivisionwasnotbe-
tweenAugustusandtheSenate,butbetweenAugustusandthepeople.The
contentofthedivisionwasthatthepeople‘‘sent’’governorsofconsularor
praetorianranktoitsprovinces,whileAugustussentbothgovernorsofcon-
sularorpraetorianrank(i.e.,senators)andalsoonesofequestrianranktohis
provinces.Thedivision,therefore,inStrabo’seyesconsistedinthemethod
ofappointmentofprovincialgovernors.Hecouldnothavefailedtoknow,

. Fortheauthor’sviews,whichremaincontroversial,seeF.Millar,‘‘Triumvirateand
Principate,’’JRS():(chapterinthisvolume).
. OnStrabo,seeG.W.Bowersock,Augustus and the Greek World(),–.