The Augustan Revolution
yearmustbethatofFlaccus’consulship,in..alongwithDrususCaesar.
InthesameyearOvidaddressedExPonto,,toPomponiusGraecinus,con-
suldesignatefor..:initherecordsthathishouseinTomoidisplayedhis
pietas,foritcontainedashrinewithimagesofthenewlydeifiedAugustus,
aswellasof Tiberius,Livia,Germanicus,andDrusus—lestanymemberof
thefamilybelacking(,,–).
Moregenerally,thenewtextservestoemphasiseanumberofimportant
featuresofthestructureoftheearlyimperialstate.Thefirstandmostim-
portantoftheseisthecontinuingsignificanceofthepassageof legislation
bythepeople.IbelieveindeedthatourentireconceptionofRomanpoliti-
cal history has been distorted byan excessive emphasis on the importance
of the Senate, as opposed to the Roman people. I have argued this for the
second century,^5 and hope to do so elsewhere as regards the last years of
theRepublic;inthelattercaseinparticularitwassuccessivelawspassedby
thepeoplewhichwerethemainagentofchange,andrepresentedthecrucial
stepswhichbroughtaboutthedominationofCaesarandhencethefounda-
tionoftheempire.
AsregardstheearlyEmpireitself,ProfessorP.A.Brunthasrecentlyem-
phasisedtheimportanceoftheroleoftheSenate,andthefactthatoursources
willoftenattributetoanemperormeasureswhichhadinfacttobeputinto
effectthroughavoteoftheSenate.^6 Thisisindeedtrueandimportant;but
the same considerations apply also to the votes of the people, whether in
thecenturiateassemblyorthetribalassemblyofthethirty-fivetribes.The
newtextaffordsapreciseexample.Tacitus,Annals,,recordinginsum-
maryformsomeofthehonoursvotedinmemoryofGermanicusattheend
of..,doesnotexplicitlysaybywhomthesehonourswerevoted.But,
given his general dependence on theActa Senatus(the proceedings of the
Senate),^7 itwouldalwayshavebeennaturaltosupposethathewasimplicitly
referringtoavoteoftheSenate.Whatwewouldnothavepresumedisthat
thisvotewastobefollowed,earlyin..,byalawputtothepeopleby
theincomingconsuls(fr.b,,ll.–):‘‘AndthatM.Messala,M.Aurelius
CottaMaximus,theconsulsdesignate,whentheyenteredoffice—onthefirst
occasionasfarastheauspiciesallow—withoutgivingnoticeoftwoorthree
nundinae[three eight-day periods], should see that a law [lex]onthehon-
. ‘‘ThePoliticalCharacteroftheClassicalRomanRepublic,–BC.’’JRS():
(chapter in this volume); ‘‘Politics, Persuasion and the People before the Social War
(–BC),’’JRS():(chapterinthisvolume).
. P.A.Brunt,‘‘TheRoleoftheSenateintheAugustanRégime,’’CQ():.
. SeeR.Syme,‘‘Tacitus:SomeSourcesofHisInformation,’’JRS():.