The Augustan Revolution
are,firstly,thevotesoftheSenateinDecember..,followingonthear-
rival of the definitive news of his death; and, secondly, the debates in the
Senatewhich took place after Piso’s suicide, and a year later, in December
...
Itwouldtakevolumestoexplorethesignificanceofthetwotextscon-
cernedforboththeinstitutionsandtherulingideologyoftheearlyPrinci-
pate.Inaquiterealsenseourstudyoftheperiodhastobeginalloveragain,
andwhatissaidheretouchesonlyonafewsalientpoints,whichdohow-
everreallytellussomethingnewaboutwhat‘‘theRomancity-stateunder
theemperors’’was.Forthedocumentsnotonlyfillinamassofdetailabout
theworkingoftheres publica—thecommunalinstitutionsofRome—under
Tiberius,andthewayinwhichthesewerebeingaffectedbytheexistence
ofanemperor.TheyalsoshowthatTacitus’pictureofeventssimplyleaves
outtheconstitutionalrolewhichwasstillexercisedbytheRomanpeople.
WeliketothinkofBritainasademocracy,andbeyonddoubtitwaspopu-
lar feeling which dictated the form and the extent of public mourning in
BritaininSeptember.Buttherewasnoplace,beforedeathorafter,for
actualvotingbythepeople.
Romeontheotherhandwas,asitmayseem,anautocracy,temperedto
someextentbyrepublicantraditionsandvaluesasmaintainedbytheSenate.
ButinRome,aswenowknow,boththepositionwhichGermanicusoccu-
piedatthetimeof hisdeathandthehonoursforhismemorywhichwere
decidedonposthumouslywerethesubjectofleges(laws)puttothepeople
andvotedonbythem.
Thefirstofthetwodocuments,thatofDecember..,isasinglein-
completetext,whichispreserved,apartfromafewfragments,intwoquite
separateinscriptions,discoveredindifferentcountriesseveraldecadesapart.
Thelastsixty-twolinesofthetextarefoundonthebronzetabletknownas
theTabulaHebana,foundinTuscany,andpublishedin.Thebulkofthe
earlierpartcomesfromtheTabulaSiarensis,namelyfragmentsofabronze
tabletfoundinAndalucia,theRomanprovinceofBaetica,andfirstpublished
asacoherenttextin.Anoverlapofafewlinesmakesitcertainthatthe
twomaininscriptionscontainlargepartsofwhatwasoriginallyasingletext.It
wasthiswhich,aswesawearlier,wasissuedfromRometothecitiesofItaly
andthecoloniaeoftheprovinces.Itwasalsotobeputup‘‘inasprominent
placeaspossible’’bytheprovincialgovernors.^42
Itisratherremarkablethatitwasawholetwelveyearsafterthepublica-
.Fr.(b),col.II,ll.–,trans.Crawford.