The Augustan Revolution
registerofthoseserviceswhichIjudgeoughttobeprovided,withthe
intentionofhavingitobserved,or,ifitshallbeneglected,ofenforc-
ingitnotonlywithmyownpowerbutwiththemajestyofthebestof
princes[inGreekthe‘‘SaviourSebastos,’’namelyAugustus]fromwhom
Ireceivedinstructions[entolai/mandata]concerningthesematters.Behindtheconfusedandself-deprecatinglanguageitisevidentthataposi-
tivecodeofruleshadbeendrawnupbyAugustus,hadbeenembodiedinthe
mandatawhichthelegatehadoriginallyreceived,andhadbeenconfirmed
byTiberius.Thereiseveryreasontosupposethatsimilarinstructionswere
issuedbyAugustustogovernorsofalltypes.
Another code of instructions issued by Augustus was theGnomon,or
handbook, for the Roman official in Egypt whowas in charge of theIdios
Logos,the‘‘privateaccount,’’whichabsorbedvacantorconfiscatedproper-
ties.Weknowitbestfromaselectionofitsmostcommonlyappliedclauses,
found on a papyrus of the mid-second century.The preamble of this text
runs:‘‘AsummaryofthegnomonwhichthedeifiedAugustusdeliveredtothe
administrationoftheIdiosLogosandoftheadditionsmadefromtimetotime
byemperorsorSenateortheprefectsorIdioi Logoiofthetime.’’Thecode
imposedverydetailedregulationsconcerningpersonalstatus,therightsof
theEmperortovacantproperty,andtheconfiscationofpropertyaftercon-
demnation. If this text seems faraway from Augustus himself,we come a
great deal closer (once again) with a newly published papyrus which con-
tainsextractsfromthecode,andwaswrittenbeforethemiddleofthefirst
century..(P.Oxy.).^30
Ifwethinkofstatus,andtherulesrelatingtoit,wemustinevitablythink
of the citizenship. By what seems to be a paradox, but is in fact typical of
theimperialsystem,imperialpatronagewaspreciselytheinstrumentwhich
opened the Roman citizenship to the provinces. In that sense the citizen-
shipprovidesaperfectexampleofthatambivalentrelationshipanalysedby
AndrewWallace-Hadrill,inwhichstatusesandranksintherepublicansys-
temthemselvesprovidedthecontentofpatronagebytheemperor.^31
AsregardsAugustusandthecitizenshiptherearethreepointstomake.
Firstly,thedisposalofthecitizenshipbyCaesarandAugustusservedtodis-
tributearoundtheprovincesindividualswiththeRomannomenJulius,living
symbols of the unseen emperor’s influence. Secondly, it was Augustus, in
the third of his edicts inscribed in the market-place of Cyrene, who laid
downtheall-importantprinciplethatgainingRomancitizenshipwouldnot
. S.Riccobono,Il Gnomon dell’Idios Logos();seeMillar(n.),.
. A.Wallace-Hadrill,‘‘CivilisPrinceps:BetweenCitizenandKing,’’JRS():.