The Augustan Revolution
Siarensisreveals,faithfullyconcurs.HislistofprovincesaddedtotheEmpire
endswithCappadocia:‘‘TiberiusCaesar...madeCappadociatributaryto
theRomanpeople’’(,,).
ThegreatnessandimperialdominationoftheRomanpeoplewasofcourse
centraltoAugustanideology.Butsotoowastheconceptionthatthisgreat-
ness had been brought about by the agencyof a long line of famousduces
(generals), stretching back to the Foundation. Exactly this was the lesson
whichAugustusexplicitlystatedthathewantedtobedrawnfromthestat-
uesofthesummi viri(theforemostmen),eachwithitsbriefinscribedrecord
ofachievements,whichheplacedintheForumAugustumsurroundinghis
newtempleofMarsUltor.Thesestatuesenshrinedthememoryoftheduces:
‘‘whotransformedtheempireoftheRomanpeoplefromthesmallestinto
thegreatest’’(quiimperiump[opuli]R[omani]exminimomaximumreddi-
dissent).Buttheirpurposewasnottobemerelycommemorative,forAugus-
tusstatedinaedictthathehaddesignedallthisinorderthattheirexample
might lead to the demand by the citizens for the observance of the same
standardbothbyhimselfandbytheprincipesofsubsequentages(Suetonius,
Div.Aug.).
This interrelated set of concepts is perfectly reflected also in theTabula
Siarensis.ThearchtobeplacedintheCircusFlaminiuswastobeadorned
withsigna(statues)ofthedevictaegentes,thatis,thoseconqueredbyGermani-
cus.Onthefrontthearchwastobearaninscriptionrecordingthatithad
beendedicatedtothememoryofGermanicusCaesarbytheSenateandthe
Roman people, because he had conquered the Germans in warand driven
themoutofGaul;hehadrecoveredthemilitarystandardsandhadavenged
the treacherous slaughter of an ‘‘army of the Roman people’’; when Gaul
hadbeenrestoredtoorderhehadbeensenttotheEastasproconsul.This
title,foundalsoinCILVI,aRoman Statutes,no./,Romefr.a,re-
mains puzzling. But its use in this context confirms the correctness of the
useofanthupatos(proconsul)intheedictissuedbyGermanicusinAlexan-
dria(Sel.Pap.,no.).Hehadthenregulatedtheprovincesandkingdoms,
followingthemandata(instructions)ofTiberiusCaesarAugustus,until‘‘he
finallymethisdeathfortheres publica’’(fr.a,,l.:ob rem p[ublicam] mortem
obisset).Theheroicroleisthatoftheindividual,Germanicus;butthearmy
hadbeenthatoftheRomanpeopleandthecausewhichhehadbeenserving
isthatoftheres publica.
This themewas taken upwhen the ashes of Germanicus reached Rome
andwereplacedinthetumulus Augusti(asTacituscallsit).Tiberiusinformed
thepeoplethatinthepastmanyillustriousRomanshaddiedfortherespublica
(ob rem publicam obisse);moreoveradecentrestraintinmourningwasappro-