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

 The Augustan Revolution

grandfather, for instance, used to recount how the citizens of Chaeronea
hadbeenforcedintoservicetocarrydowntotheseasacksofgrainforthe
forcesofAntoniusatActium.Lashedbythewhip,theyhadalreadycarried
oneconsignmentwhennewscameofOctavian’svictory.Antonius’agents
andsoldierspromptlyfled,andthecitizenssharedoutthegrain(Ant.).If
wewanttotrytoimaginewhattheblessingsoftheAugustanpeacereally
amountedto,wecouldalwaysstartbyrememberingtheseresilientGreeks
digestingthesupplieswhichhadcometheirway.
Withinaveryfewyearsatthemost,therewerenoRomanlegionsatall
inwhatbecameintheprovinceofAchaea,thatis,mostofpresentday
Greece;andthesamewastrueofmanyotherareas.Thesinglegovernorof
eachprovince,withhisstaff,mightappearfromtimetotimetogivejustice,
butonlyinthemaincentres;smallerplacesthereforewouldneveractually
seehimatall.BeingasubjectcommunityoftheRomanEmpiretherefore
consisted,firstly,inasymbolic,ordiplomatic,adhesionand,secondly,inthe
obligationtopaytribute.Butheretoothedirectweightof Romanagents
wasnolongerfeltinthesamewayasithadbeenpreviously.Forthecontrac-
tors (publicani) who had collected the tribute up to the late Republic now
disappear,atleastfrommostareas,leavingthecommunities(asitseems)to
pay it themselves.^7 Thus we can actually see the Roman Empire changing
shapebeforetheeyesofitssubjectsifwesimplytaketheexampleofcom-
plaints about taxation. Some time in the late Republic, as a relatively new
inscriptionshows,thecitiesofAsia,leaguedtogetherintheirkoinon(pro-
vincialcouncil),madesuchacomplaint;itssubjectwasoppressionbythetax
collectorswhowereactiveintheprovince,andthesteptakenwastosend
anembassytospeakbeforetheSenateinRome.^8 In..,however,two
yearsafterActium,thewholepatternhadchanged.Whenthepeopleofthe
smallAegeanislandofGyarosdecidedtoaskforareductionoftheirminute
annualtribute,theysentanambassadortomakeapetitionbeforeOctavian,
thenatCorinthonhiswaytoRome.Thesumconcernedwasdrachmas,
orsesterces,amerefractionoftheamountwhichOctavianwassoonto
giveforatalkativecrow(Strabo,Geog.).

. SeeE.Badian,Publicans and Sinners();fortheproblemsabouttheendingofthe
publicanisystemfordirecttaxation,seeP.A.BruntinA.H.M.Jones,The Roman Economy
(),–.Butcf.Cl.Nicolet,‘‘Augustus,Government,andthePropertiedClasses,’’in
F.MillarandE.Segal,eds.,Caesar Augustus: Seven Aspects(),–.
. TheinscriptionfromAphrodisiasoriginallypublishedbyK.T.Erim,PBSR():
,hasbeenre-editedbyT.Drew-Bear,BCH():,andJ.Reynolds,Aphrodisias
and Rome(),doc..