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

 The Augustan Revolution

tive of events in Rome whichTacitus presents is built up from a chain of
scenes in the Senate.This was argued in a splendid article by the late Sir
RonaldSyme,publishedwhenitsauthorwasamere.^5 Itisclearthrough-
outtheAnnaleshowTacitushasfollowedindetailthesequenceofexchanges
and speeches in the Senate; what is more, as has long been known, he has
editedandre-writtentheoriginalspeechesforinsertioninhisownnarra-
tive. I hardly need to refer to the two classic cases wherewe have both at
leastsomeoftheoriginaltextandalsoitsrepresentation,orre-presentation,
byTacitus: I mean, of course, Claudius’ speech about the right of promi-
nent Roman citizens from Gaul to seek senatorial rank,of which we have
theoriginaltextonthefamousinscriptionfromLyons;^6 andthedebateon
theconfermentofhonoursonPallas,fromwhichPlinytheYoungerquotes
verbatim.^7 Intheformercase,boththetextofClaudius’actualspeechand
Tacitus’versionofitrepresentsomethingverycharacteristicbothoftheide-
ologyoffirst-centuryRomeandofourmeansofaccesstoit.Thatis,theuse
oftherepublicanpast,itshistory,itsinstitutions,anditsvalues,asaframeof
referencefordebatesaboutthepresent.Whenweencounterthesedebates
asrepresentedbyTacitus,ofcourse,weareourselvesengaginginasortof
multi-leveldialogue:thereisourengagementwithTacitus’text;hisengage-
mentwiththeoratoryoftheemperorandtheSenateintheJulio-Claudian
period;andtheirengagementwiththeinstitutionsandvaluesoftheRepub-
licastheyunderstoodthem.Iwillmentiononlytwofurtherexamples:the
speechbyCremutiusCordusinAnnalesonthetraditionoffreespeechin
Romanhistoriography;^8 andthedebatesinAnnalesontherulesrelatingto
theFlamenDialis.^9
TheSenateisthereforethemainstageonwhichtheactionrecordedinthe
AnnalesofTacitustakesplace,andthequestionwhichTacitusposesisabove
allthefollowing.Howdidthesenatorsconductthemselvesintheshadow
ofautocracy?Somerespondedtothenewpoliticalstructurebyadulation,or
byself-interestedaccusationsdirectedagainstothersenators;butothersdid
sobyself-consciousadherencetotraditionalstandards,orbyanunyielding
attachmenttoliberty(libertas),meaningbothdignityofconductandfree-

. R. Syme, ‘‘Tacitus: Some Sources of His Information,’’JRS ():  Roman
PapersIV(),.
. TheTabulaLugdunensis,ILS,;Ann.,–.Seeesp.M.T.Griffin,‘‘TheLyons
TabletandTaciteanHindsight,’’CQ():.
. Pliny,Epp.,and,(verbatimquotationsfoundinparas.–and);Ann.,.
.Ann.,.
.Ann.,–;.