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

State and Subject 

The islanders’ perception of where power now lay must be regarded as
having been significant in itself, even if it had been wrong; even if, that
is, Octavian will have told them to make theirappeal to the Senate. But I
ratherdoubtwhetherhedid.Forwhilewedonotknowwhathappenedto
thefishermanfromGyaros,wedoknowexactlywhatOctavianorAugustus
wrote,probablysometimebetweenand..,tothemuchlargerAegean
islandofSamos.Weknowitbecausetheyrequestedhimtograntthemfree-
dom,includingfreedomfromtribute,andherefused,andindoingsomade
anunfavourablecomparisontoAphrodisiasinCaria.ThecityofSamos,we
can safely assume, did not inscribe this reply. But the city of Aphrodisias
did.Itisthereforeworthnotingtheexactwordsofthisreply,firstpublished
in:^9

You yourselves can see that I have given the privilege of freedom to

nopeopleexcepttheAphrodisians,whotookmysideinthewarand

werecapturedbystormbecauseoftheirdevotiontous.Foritisnot

righttogivethefavourofthegreatestprivilegetoallatrandomand

withoutcause.Iamwelldisposedtoyouandshouldliketodoafavour

tomywifewhoisactiveonyourbehalf,butnottothepointofbreak-

ingmycustom.ForIamnotconcernedforthemoneywhichyoupay

towardsthetribute,butIamnotwillingtogivethemosthighlyprized

privilegestoanyonewithoutgoodcause.

If freedom had been granted to Samos, we cannot prove that the consti-
tutionalmachineryofavotebytheSenatewouldnothavebeenused;in-
deedithadbeenusedinpreciselythegranttoAphrodisias,in..,which
Octavian/Augustusreferstoasifithademanatedsolelyfromhisownwill.^10
Nonetheless,theimplicationandlogicofthereplyisunmistakablythatthe
effectivedecisionbelongstothespeakerandhasbeendeterminedbycon-
siderationswhichareentirelypersonaltohimself.ThereferencetoLiviais
also highly important, as wewill see.What is significant for the moment

. Reynolds(n.).doc..MissReynoldsisinclinedtodatethereplyearlier,because
ofthereferencetothewar,whichshearguestohavebeenthatofLabienus.Butwhile,for
thereasonsshegives,thepresenceofthename‘‘Augustus’’isnotsignificantfordating,the
referencetoAphrodisiashavingtaken‘‘myside’’(ta ema phronesas)seemstometoreflect
the situation after Actium. Compare the cases of Sparta and Mantinea, which also took
Octavian’sside;seeG.Bowersock,‘‘AugustusandtheEast:TheProblemofSuccession,’’in
MillarandSegal(n.),.ThedatemustinanycasebebeforeSamossuccessfullygained
freedomin/(Dio,,).
. Reynolds(n.),doc..