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

 The Roman Republic

tothinkthatthemakingofsuchareferencemustbeanunhistoricalelabora-
tionbySallusthimself.Weknow,forinstance,thatM.Antonius,inthes,
retailedcivildiscordsbywhichthelibertiesofthepeoplehadbeensecured
(seetextton.);andCiceronotestheexistenceofapopular(popularis)tradi-
tionofthehistoryofRome(e.g.,Acad.,).Ifweweretodoubtthepublic
relevanceofearlierhistoryinthisperiodwehaveonlytolookattheirrefut-
able contemporary, and documentary, evidence of the coins,on which an
emphaticbreakismarkedbytheappearanceofhistoricalthemesandpoliti-
calsymbolsfromonwards;perhapsmostnotably‘‘Iappeal’’()
oncoinsof–.^21 Moreover,asPeterWisemanhasargued,itwasinthis
periodthattherecametobeagreatdealmoreofRomanhistoryinwritten
formthantherehadeverbeenbefore.^22 Whetherthiswas‘‘truehistory’’or
‘‘falsehistory’’doesnotmatterinthiscontext.Whatmattersisthewaythat
beliefsabouthistorycouldbeputtocurrentuse.Appiancouldwellberight
inreportingthatinthepeopleshoutedthatbythe‘‘lawsofTulliusand
Romulus’’thepeopleweresovereignintheelectionsandcouldvalidateor
invalidatethelaws(Lib./).
Theelementsofapopular,evenademocratic,traditionandideologyin
a Roman context could easily be put togethereven from the evidencewe
have.^23 But,significantthoughthisis,itisnottheintentionofthischapter
toattempttorestoretheRomanpeopletotheirproperplaceinthehistory
ofdemocraticvalues.Onthecontrary,itspurposeistopresentaneutral,or
purelyfunctional,modelofhowpoliticsworked:thatoftheindividualora-
torusingpersuasion,andaddressinghiswordstothecrowdwhichhasthe
rightofvotinganddecision.Thisintheendwastoleadtojusttheconclusion
whichPolybiushadimplicitlypredicted.
But we also see another side, in relation to the half century before the
SocialWar,ifwerememberthatallthemeasures,takenorproposed,inre-
lationtotheLatinsandItalianswerelaws,puttothepeople,arguedforand
againstbythemediumoforatory,andvotedorrejectedbythepeople.We
shouldnotthinkoftheselawssimplyasactions‘‘of’’thepersonwhopro-
posedthem:thealienlaw‘‘of’’Pennusin;thelaw‘‘of’’LiciniusCrassus
andMuciusScaevolaasconsulsof.Asnotedalready,manylawsextending
therightsof LatinsandItalianallieswereproposed,oratleastmooted,in
thisperiod.Notonewaspassed.Thosewhichwerepassedwerethosewhich

. SeeM.Crawford,Roman Republican CoinageI(),ff;for/,p..
. T.P.Wiseman,Clio’s Cosmetics(),chap..
. Theuseof historicalexamplesinvariouspubliccontextsisonemodewhich,pace
Finley(n.),ff.,theRomansofthisperioddidpossessforrepresentingpoliticalconflict.