The Senate at Rome in Ostrogothic Italy 125
it for the Senate of the late Republic, as a few great families dominated the
public life of the city”.22 It was the members of the old senatorial families
who formed the senatorial elite—a relatively exclusive pool of people open
to few new members. In the absence of an emperor the Roman elite of Italy
were apt hands at putting themselves in the limelight of imperial power, and
saw themselves, in spite (or indeed because) of the absence of an emperor,
as the centrepiece of the imperium romanum.23 One of the most numerous,
prosperous, and socially outstanding families was the Decii, a noble family
tracing its origins back to republican times. Its members were, with few excep-
tions, courted with consulships at very early stages of their careers.24 Another
very influential family, with a number of important branches, were the Anicii,
probably the most prominent and well-researched family.25 Other traditional
families who still held relevance in the 5th and 6th centuries were, to men-
tion only the most important ones, the Petronii, the Ceionii, the Lampadii,
the Symmachi, the Acilii Glabriones, and the Corvini.26 The importance of
all these families was based on the possession of huge estates. The research
done on those families has often emphasized the open rivalries between the
different gentes. As Alan Cameron has shown, though, certain rivalries had
more to do with particular individuals than with the involvement of whole
familial groups.27 It is therefore problematic to assume that the Anicii were
per se a ‘philobarbarian’ and the Decii a ‘probyzantine’ family, even though
a certain pattern of preferences among family members can be analysed by
examining the awarding of offices by Odovacer and Theoderic. The rivalries
that existed between the families have to be regarded not so much as ideologi-
cally motivated, but rather as a result of antagonism between established and
less-established families and between a Rome-focused aristocracy and a new
palatine elite at the Ravennatic court. The modern reconstruction of the sena-
torial groups and the constitution of the Roman senatorial elite after the year
476 thus show a complex situation of single interests and favours often based
22 Matthews, “Boethius”, p. 19.
23 In this context, consider the manner in which Boethius celebrated and staged the consul-
ship of his two sons: Boethius, Philosophiae Consolatio 1.4, ed. Bieler; MacCormack, “Latin
Prose Panegyrics”, pp. 188f.
24 For examples see Schäfer, Der weströmische Senat, pp. 149ff.
25 See especially Cameron, “Anician myths”. Bjornlie, Politics, pp. 124–34.
26 Schäfer, Der weströmische Senat, pp. 149ff. For figures of major families in offices of sena-
torial rank from the death of Theodosius I to the post-Theoderican Gothic period see
Barnish, “Transformation and Survival”, pp. 124ff.
27 Cameron, “Anician Myths”.