The Augustan Revolution
heated debate among moderns, not worth entering into now.^12 AsTacitus
says, Lepidus was setting out deliberately to live up to the tradition of his
family’smunificence;bycontrast,sincetherewasnomemberofthefamily
todoit,itwasTiberiuswhopromisedtorestorethetheatreofPompey.He
took the occasion,when speaking in the Senate, to praise the services and
vigilanceofSejanus,andtheSenatedulyvotedthatastatueofSejanusshould
besetupinthetheatre.^13
That vote reflected another new feature of senatorial business, and one
whichhadonlyenteredthestandardrepertoireofsenatorialdebatesinthe
verylateRepublic,andthentheCaesarianandTriumviralperiod.Thiswas
theemphasisonformal,publicmarksofhonour,usuallyinbothvisualand
writtenform(forwecanbequitecertainthatthebaseforSejanus’statuewill
haveborneaninscriptioninhishonour).Theelaborationofvisibleforms
ofhonourforemperorsthemselves,andtheirfamilies,hardlyneedsempha-
sishere.Equally,theformsofself-representation—orofrepresentationby
others—which were now open to senators were the subject of a brilliant
chapterbyWernerEckpublishedin.^14 Butwhatneedsstressingisthe
self-consciousawarenessinearlyimperialcultureofthepotentialideological
significanceofformsofpubliclyinscribedwriting.Annalesoffersaperfect
example.WhenTiberiuswrotetotheSenatetoaskforavoteofthetribuni-
cianpowerforDrusus,adulatoryvotesofstatues,altars,temples,andarches
weremerelyaroutineresponse.Butonesenatorwentfurtherandproposed
thatmonumentsshouldfromnowonbearthenamesnotoftheconsulsbut
oftheholdersofthetribunicianpower;andanotherwenttoofar,insug-
gestingthatthetextsofthedecreeoftheSenatepassedthatdayshouldbe
putupingoldenlettersintheCuria.^15 Weshallseethataself-consciousat-
tentiontomemorialisationintheformofcarefullydisplayedpublicwriting
was not in itself an aberration but was preciselyan innovation which was
entirelycharacteristicoftheimperialage.^16 Sotoowastheplacingofhon-
. SeeE.M.Steinby,‘‘IllatoorientaledelForoRomano,’’Arctos():;E.Carna-
bucci,L’angolo sud-orientale del Foro Romano nel manoscritto inedito di Giacomo Boni();T.P.
Wiseman, ‘‘Rome and the Resplendent Aemilii,’’ in H. D. Jocelyn, ed.,Tria Lustra():
;LTURI(),s.vv.‘‘BasilicaAemilia’’;‘‘BasilicaFulvia.’’
.Ann.,.
. W.Eck,‘‘SenatorialSelf-Representation:DevelopmentsintheAugustanPeriod,’’in
F.MillarandE.Segal,eds.,Caesar Augustus: Seven Aspects(),W.Eck,Tra epigrafia,
prosopografia e archeologia(),.
.Ann.,.
. Seeesp.G.Alföldy,‘‘AugustusunddieInschriften:TraditionundInnovation.Die