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

 The Augustan Revolution

TheTabulaHebanahadalreadyrevealed,halfacenturyagonow,thatthe
new voting arrangements set up in.. to commemorate Germanicus
hadbeenmodelledonthoseinstitutedin..tocommemorateGaiusand
Lucius.The formal procedure then had been a law, a lex,which had been
puttothepeoplebytheconsulsofthatyear:‘‘inconformitywiththelaw
whichLuciusValeriusMessallaVolesus[and]GnaeusCorneliusCinnaMag-
nuscarried.’’^47 Thusin..achangeintheconstitutionhadrequiredthe
passingofalawbythepeoplemeetingintheirassembly.Soitwouldagain
in../,afterGermanicus’death.Butyouwouldnotknowthisfrom
Tacitus’narrative.Ifwegobacktotherelevantchapter(,),wefindthat
hegivesaquitedetailedsummaryofmanyofthestepswhichwecannow
seeasattestedinacontemporarydocument.Buttwovitalaspectsaremiss-
ing:firstly,thereisnoreferenceinTacitustothenewvotingarrangements;
and,secondly,allthehonoursarerepresentedasbeingvoted(decreti)bythe
Senate.Butthispictureisincomplete.Oneofthemoststrikingfeaturesof
theTabulaSiarensisisthatitshowsthatinDecembertheSenateformally
advisedtheincomingconsulsof..toincorporateallthestepstakenin
alawwhichshouldbeputwithoutdelaytothepeople:^48

ThatM.MessallaandM.AureliusCottaMaximus,theconsulsdesig-

nate,whentheyhadenteredoffice—onthefirstoccasionasfarasthe

auspicesallow—withoutgivingnoticeoftwoorthreenundinae[three

eight-dayperiods],shouldseethatastatuteonthehonoursforGer-

manicusCaesarbepresentedtothepeople.

NosuchlawappearsinTacitus’accountoftheyear;forhimthedecisions
oftheSenatewereenough.
Exactlythesamepointisbroughtoutbytheinscribedrecordwhichcon-
tainsaconsolidated,orcomposite,versionofthevariousvotesoftheSenate
passedayearlater,inDecember..,andafterthesuicideof Piso.This
text,muchbetterpreserved,andinanumberofdifferentcopies,hasbeen
thesubjectofanexemplaryedition,withGermantranslationandhistorical
commentary,byWernerEck,AntonioCaballos,andFernandoFernández.^49

. E.g.,Tabula Hebana, ll. –: ‘‘by the law which L.Valerius MessalaVolesus and
Cn.CorneliusCinnaMagnuscarried.’’
. TabulaSiarensis,fr.(b),col.II,ll.–,trans.Crawford.
. W.Eck,A.Caballos,andF.Fernández,Das senatus consultum de Cn. Pisone patre,Ves-
tigia().NotealsotheparallelSpanishedition,A.Caballos,W.Eck,andF.Fernández,
El ‘‘senado consulto’’ de Cne. Pisone padre().Seenowalsotheextendeddiscussion,with
anEnglishtranslationofthetext,byM.Griffin,‘‘TheSenate’sStory,’’JRS():.