Social, Political, and Economic Structures of Imperial Rome 91purposes. The dominant current in Roman thought was
Stoicism. Cicero, Seneca (4 B.C.?–A.D. 65), and the em-
peror Marcus Aurelius wrote extensively on Stoic
themes, in part because, as men of affairs, they appreci-
ated the philosophy’s moral activism and the comfort it
offered a politician in difficult times (see document
5.5). Their emphasis, however, was on the practical ap-
plication of Stoic principles, and their writings added
little or nothing to the speculative tradition.
The same might be said of Roman writings on sci-
ence. Alexandria remained the center of scientific and
philosophical inquiry, and Greek the primary language
of scientific publication. The most important scientific
work in Latin, the Natural Historyof Pliny the Elder
(A.D. 23–79), was little more than a vast compendium
of information, much of it false, gleaned by the author
from nearly 500 sources—327 of them Greek. The
work is important primarily because it summarized an-
cient knowledge and transmitted it to a later age.
Roman literature was more original than Roman
thought. By ancient standards, literacy was widespreadpart of most public places and adorned the luxurious
palaces of the rich. Reliefs on public buildings featured
mythological subjects or idealized versions of historic
events. Private collectors bought reproductions of fa-
mous Greek statues from Roman workshops, and a thriv-
ing trade existed in bronzes from Greece. In some cases
these skillful copies provide the only access to lost origi-
nals. Only in portrait statuary did the Romans break with
established tradition. Ignoring the Greek tendency to
idealize the human form, they produced busts whose
photographic realism is a monument to individual men
and women (see illustration 5.5).
Architecture, too, abandoned Greek precedent.
Temples and theaters recalled Hellenistic models, while
other public buildings used the arch and vault construc-
tion favored by the Etruscans. Augustus and his succes-
sors built baths, aqueducts, warehouses, and stadia for
games and chariot races whose scale virtually precluded
the post-and-lintel construction of the Greeks. Some
structures, such as the Mausoleum built by Augustus for
his family and the Pantheon constructed by Hadrian,
featured domes that spanned enormous spaces. Increas-
ingly, columns, friezes, and pediments evolved into
decorative elements without structural purpose. Engi-
neering and an imperial taste for grandeur triumphed
over the aesthetics of simplicity.
In philosophy as in art, the Romans tended to bor-
row Greek conventions and adapt them to their own
llustration 5.5
A Roman Family.This relief probably came from a tomb on
the outskirts of Rome. It shows L. Vibius, his wife, and what ap-
pears to be the death mask of a son who died in childhood. Based
on the woman’s hairdo, the work has been attributed to the time
of Augustus.
DOCUMENT 5.5
Seneca: The Stoic Ideal
Seneca was tutor to the emperor Nero and the dominant politi-
cal figure of the early part of his reign. Though Seneca en-
riched himself in dubious ways and was involved in the
judicial murder of Nero’s mother, his writings on Stoic themes
reflect a different, more attractive side of his character. He
committed suicide on Nero’s orders in A.D. 65. Here he de-
scribes the Stoic equanimity that comes from an understanding
of divine providence.What is the principal thing in human life?... To
raise the soul above threats and promises of for-
tune; to consider nothing as worth hoping for. For
what does fortune possess worth setting your heart
upon? What is the principle thing? To be able to
enjoy adversity with a joyful heart; to bear what-
ever betide just as if it were the very thing you de-
sired... For you would have felt it your duty to
desire it, had you known that all things happened
by divine decree. Tears, complaints, lamentations
are rebellion.
Seneca. Natural Questions, trans. J. Clarke. London: 1910.