Author’s Prologue
tus had given up personal power, they might have said that theres publica
hadbeenredditabyhim.Buttheydidnot,andcouldnothave;andoneof
themostwell-placedandwell-informedofAugustus’contemporaries,the
geographerStrabo,saidunambiguouslytheexactopposite:that‘‘hisnative
landentrustedtohimthecareofthegovernment,andhewasestablishedfor
lifeasmasterofwarandpeace.’’^35
ThestudiesoftheRepublicinthisvolumehavearatherdifferentorigin.
Oneaspectofithasbeentouchedonalready:theexperienceofabsorbinga
senseofthetopographyofRomein.Otherwise,thissequenceofstudies
ofrepublicanpolitics,culminatinginmybookonthecrowdinRome,^36 have
averydifferentcharacterfrommostoftherestofmywork.Forwhatispre-
ciselylackingsofarinourevidencefortheRepublicis,ontheonehand,a
massoflocaldocumentsexpressingtheidentityandconcernsofsubordinate
participantsinawiderstructure;and,ontheother,arangeofcontemporary
literaryworkswrittenbyobserverswhowerenotthemselvesattheheartof
events.Itisfrustratinginmanywaysthatthemostexplicit,detailed,andim-
mediatelyrevealingcontemporarydocumentsforrepublicanhistorytendto
comefromtheGreekEast;^37 andamongtheseanimportantplacemustgoto
thelateRepublicanandTriumviraltextsfromAphrodisias.^38 Also,majornew
documentsremaintobefullystudied:forinstance,theextensiveinscription
onportoriafrom Ephesos; and, above all, the last legacyof the great Louis
Robert,namelythetwolonginscriptionsofleadingcitizensfromColophon
whoactedasintermediariesbetweentheircityandtheRomanauthorities
intheearlydecadesoftheprovinceofAsia.^39
These texts, of immense potential value, have (surprisingly) not been
studiedingreatdetailinthedecadesincetheiroriginalpublication.Butwhat
theyservetoemphasiseisalso,bycontrast,thedearthofliteraryanddocu-
mentary‘‘voices’’frominsiderepublicanItaly—and,paradoxicallyperhaps,
. Strabo,GeographyXVII,,().SeenowK.Clarke,Between Geography and His-
tory: Hellenistic Constructions of the Roman World().
.The Crowd in Rome in the Late Republic().
.NoteR.K.Sherk,RomanDocumentsfromtheGreekEast:SenatusConsultaandEpistulae
to the Age of Augustus().
. J.M.Reynolds,Aphrodisias and Rome().
. ForthemonumentumEphesinum,seestillH.EngelmannandD.Knibbe,DasZollgesetz
der Provinz Asia. Eine neue Inschrift aus Ephesos(Epigraphica Anatolica,);SEGXXXIX,
no.;AE,no.;andfortheinscriptionsofPolemaiosandMenippos,seeLouis
RobertandJeanneRobert,ClarosI:décrets hellénistiques,fasc.(),withJ.-L.Ferrary,‘‘Le
statutdescitéslibresdansl’EmpireromainàlalumièredesinscriptionsdeClaros,’’CRAI
():.Afullcommentaryisstillneeded.