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

 Author’s Prologue

documentary,itwouldalsohavetobeadmittedthatmanymajorthemesof
contemporaryhistoriographyhavefoundnoplace,orverylittle:paganreli-
gion,magic,women’shistoryorgenderstudies,orthehistoryofmedicine,
eitheras an applied art,oras encompassing a significant proportion of the
literarytextssurvivingfromantiquity,orascontainingimmenselyimpor-
tantmaterial,bothforsocialhistoryandforancientconceptionsofthebody
andthehumanself.^21 Onreflection,therearenotmanyexcusesforthis.For,
unexpectedasitmayseem,whenIbegangraduateworkinunderthe
lateSirRonaldSyme,withtheideaofwritingathesisonCassiusDio,^22 the
firstworkIwastoldtoreadwastheclassicarticleofbyJ.Ilberg,‘‘Aus
GalensPraxis.’’^23
RonaldSymewasaninspiringsupervisor,towhomIoweanenormous
debt.ButIcannotpretendevertohavebeenconsumedbyhispassionfor
prosopographyandthehistoryoffamilies,ineitherof itstwomainmani-
festations.Onewasthestudyofcareersintheimperialperiod,aboveallas
recordedinthousandsofhonorificinscriptions.Theothermainmanifesta-
tionwas,ofcourse,inthepoliticalhistoryoftheRepublicandtheAugustan
period,andthefocuswhichhasbeenofcentralimportanceinthewriting
ofclassicalRomanhistorythroughoutthetwentiethcenturyontheSenate
and on the ‘‘nobility,’’ or ‘‘aristocracy,’’ which was believed to have domi-
natedit,andwhichintheendcompromisedwithremarkableeasewiththe
monarchicregimeofAugustus.^24
Here, to come finally to the specific subject matterof this volume, it is
obviousthatmyworkonRomanhistoryhas,broadlyspeaking,takennot
merelyadifferentdirectionfromthatofRonaldSyme,butinmanyrespects
onewhichrunsdirectlycountertohis.Incaseitneedssaying,thishasnever
beenseenbyme,andwasneverseenbyhimduringhislife,asrepresenting
anysortofpersonalchallengeorconflict.Sofarashewasconcerned,ashe
alwaysmadeclear,ifsomeonehadsomethingtosay,thatwasfine,andallthe
moresoifwhatwaswrittenshowedsomesenseofstyleorofthecapacity
forstructureandcomposition.SofarasIwas,andam,concerned,Icould
neverhopetoachieveamasterpieceofliterarycompositionlikeThe Roman
Revolution(finished, it may be noted,when its author was thirty-five), am
notaclassicistinanythinglikethesamesense,andsufferfromthefurther

. Note esp. H. King,Hippocrates’ Woman: Reading the Female Body in Ancient Greece
().
.A Study of Cassius Dio(;repr.).
. J.Ilberg,‘‘AusGalensPraxis,’’Neue Jahrbücher fürdas Klassische Altertum():.
. See,ofcourse,theremarkable,andsomewhatundervalued,workofSyme’soldage,
The Augustan Aristocracy().