The Roman City-State under the Emperors dom of speech.The best analysis of this theme is still, in my view, Chaim
Wirszubski’sbookLibertas,publishedin.^10
Aswewillseelater,recentevidencegivesusveryclearandspecificrea-
sonsforthinkingthatTacitus’concentrationontheSenateisexcessive.For
wecannowsee,muchmoreclearlythanbefore,howtheSenatewasonly
oneelementinamuchwidercontext,evenifwethinkonlyofRomeandits
inhabitants.Firstly,therearetheverycomplexinstitutionsoftheres publica
itself,orwhatIhavecalledinthetitle‘‘theRomanCity-State.’’Itisastrange
paradox,butIthinkarealone,thatasaresultofbothnewandnot-so-new
discoveries,wenowknowmoreabouttheworkingoftheres publicaunder
theemperorsthanwedofortheRepublicproper.
Then,becauseRomanpubliclifereallywaspublicandtookplacealmost
entirelyintheopenair,wehavetothinkofthetopographyofthecityof
Romeitselfand,aboveall,of itspublicbuildingsandpublicspaces,ofthe
functionsperformedbythem,andofthemeaningsandassociationsattached
tothem.Someofthesebuildingsanddesignatedspaceswerecenturiesold,
liketheCircusMaximus,thetempleofIuppiterontheCapitol,ortheCam-
pusMartius,initsroleasameetingplacefortheassembly,orofcoursethe
ForumRomanumitself.Butthehugebuildingprogrammeswhichhadbeen
undertakenfromthelateRepubliconwards,fromwhollynewbuildingtore-
structuringorrenovation,hadtransformedthecentreofthecity,andwith
that theverycontexts in which the business and communal life of theres
publicawasconducted.WehaveonlytothinkofthetheatresofPompeyand
Marcellus,thetempleofDivusIuliusintheForumRomanum,theForumof
CaesarwiththetempleofVenusGenetrix,ortheForumofAugustuswith
thetempleofMarsUltor.
Themonumentalcentreof Romedoes,ofcourse,playasignificantpart
inTacitus’narratives,forinstanceintheHistoriae,inhispowerfulaccounts
ofthelasthoursofbothGalbaandVitellius,oroftheburningoftheCapi-
tol in December , and its subsequent restoration.^11 But we also find the
majorbuildingsof Romeformingthesubjectofdebatesandexchangesin
the Senate, as represented inTacitus’ narrative, for instance under..,
whenLepidusaskedpermissiontorestoreathisownexpensewhatTacitus
calls‘‘theBasilicaPauli,Aemiliamonumenta.’’Thereferenceistothemassive
basilicaonthenorthsideoftheForumRomanumwhichisnormallyknown
asthe‘‘BasilicaAemilia.’’Whatitshouldproperlybecalledisthesubjectof
. Ch.Wirszubski,Libertas as a Political Idea at Rome during the Late Republic and Early
Principate().
.Hist.,–(Galba);,–;–(Vitellius);,–;,(Capitol).