The Augustan Revolution
andontheotherruledagreatempire.Butthemostmarkedanomalywasof
coursethatthiscity-statewasnowitselfruledbyanemperor,andallofits
complexinstitutionsweretransformedbythatfact.Butyetitisabsolutely
clearfromcontemporarydocuments,includingtheTabulaSiarensis,thatin
formaltermstheRomanEmpirewasstillseen‘‘astheimperiumoftheRoman
people.’’^27 AugustushimselfembodiedthisconceptioninhisRes Gestae:‘‘I
addedEgypttotheimperiumoftheRomanpeople.’’^28 Itisalsothecase,aswe
shallseesoon,thatnewevidencebringsout,inawaywhichhadnotbeen
clear before, towhat extent popular participation—and popular voting—
was still essential to theway that theres publicaworked.To call it a ‘‘city-
state’’iscertainlytobegmanyquestions.Butitdoesservetodotwothings:
todirectattentiontopublicinstitutionsotherthantheSenateitself;andto
stressthepowerandimportanceofpopularreactionstoeventsinRome.The
‘‘history’’ofRomeintheEmpire,asundertheRepublic,is,orshouldbe,the
historyofawholecommunity.
This element, the population of the city of Rome, is of course vividly
present from time to time in Tacitus’ narrative. In one particular respect,
however,bothinTacitus’narrativeandinotheraccounts,thereisanewfea-
turewhichwasmissingfromtheRepublic:thepresenceofsoldiersstationed
in the city, and with that is the capacity of the state to control or repress
popular reactions by force.The role of military forces in Rome is heavily
marked in the first few pages of theAnnales: for instance, the watchword
given to the praetorian cohorts, a guard stationed at the Palatine, soldiers
escortingTiberius to the Forum and the Curia.Then, afteran edict from
TiberiuswarningthepeoplenottodemandthatAugustus,likeDivusIulius,
should be cremated in the Forum rather than the Campus Martius, came
thedayofAugustus’funeralitself,withsoldiersacting,asTacitussays,likea
garrison.Afterthelongyearsofthefirstreign,Tacitusalleges,somepeople
commented that military protection was hardly needed to ensure that his
funeralwouldbepeaceful.^29
Nonetheless,asthenarrativeprogresses,Tacituscomestoanumberof
differentoccasionswherecrowdreactions,evenviolentones,aresignificant.
Evenhere,however,heisselective.IfImaydigressforamoment,itisodd
how little use we make, in analysing the Julio-Claudian period, of a vast
rangeofevidenceintheNaturalis HistoriaofPlinytheElder,whowasborn
. F.Millar,‘‘ImperialIdeologyintheTabulaSiarensis,’’inJ.González,ed.,Estudiossobre
la Tabula Siarensis(),.
.RG.
.Ann.,–.