The Augustan Revolution
self with such skill consisted not just of the Senate but of theres publicaas
awholeor,inpoliticalterms,theSenatus Populusque Romanus.Afterall,that
ispreciselywhat,inhisposthumouslypublishedRes Gestae,Augustustells
ushimself:‘‘Itransferredtheres publicafrommyownpower[potestas]tothe
discretion[arbitrium]ofthesenateandtheRomanpeople’’(RG).Toolittle
attentionispaidtothesubtlechoiceofterminologydeployedhere.Forthe
exercise of what is here described, looking back over more than fourde-
cades,asarbitriumbytheSenateandPeople,hadconsistedinanapparently
freevotetoentrustcertainmajorprovinces,foraperiodoftenyears,tothe
newlynamedAugustus.^8 Achoice,anactofarbitrium,had,formallyspeak-
ing,beenmade.Hencetheprecise,andextremelyrevealing,termsinwhich
OvidwastocelebratethismomentintheFasti,notionallyaddressingGer-
manicus:‘‘alltheprovinces[omnisprovincia]havebeenrestoredtoourpeople,
andyourgrandfatherwascalledbythenameAugustus’’(,–).Omnis
provinciaheredoesnotmean‘‘diegesamteStaatsgewalt’’(soBomerad loc.);
it means what it says. Moreover,whatever theFasti Praenestinifor this day,
January,said,itcertainlyalludedtoanactofredistributionbyAugustus
totheRomanpeople.
Indeed, even the provinces of Caesar remained, on a wider definition,
subjectinprincipletotheimperiumoftheRomanpeople.Thisconstitutional
conception too is firmlyembedded in theRes Gestae, forexample, .: ‘‘I
extended the territories of all the provinces of the Roman people.’’ None-
theless,thedistinctionbetweenprovinceswhosegovernorswerelegatiAugusti
pro praetorenominatedbytheEmperorandthosegovernedbyproconsulsac-
companied by quaestors, both appointed by lot on the traditional system,
wasarealone,andjustifiedthecustomofcallingthefirstgroup‘‘theprov-
incesofCaesar’’andthesecond‘‘thepublicprovinces,’’or‘‘theprovincesof
theRomanpeople.’’Weshouldnowabandonthewhollyillegitimateexpres-
sion‘‘senatorialprovinces,’’andadoptoneorotherofthesetwoexpressions:
but preferably, following both Strabo and Gaius,provinciae populi Romnani.
Theuseofthisexpressionwouldfurtherservetoremindusthat,fiftyyears
later,thelastwordontheRomanrevolutionhasyettobesaid.
. Forthemostcarefulmoderntreatmentoftheseprocedures,seeW.K.Lacey,‘‘Octa-
vianintheSenate,JanuaryB.C.,’’JRS():,suggestingconvincinglythatthe
keyelementwasasenatorialdebateandvotede provinciis consularibus(‘‘concerningthepro-
consularprovinces’’).Whetherthepeoplealsovotedonthisspecificpointisunclear,but
theycertainlydidonthehonoursgrantedinmid-JanuarytoOctavian/Augustus;Dio,
,;RG,,andLacey,‘‘OctavianintheSenate,’’.