The Constitution of the Roman RepublicThere is no other published book in English studying the constitution of the Roman Republic as a whole. Yet the Greek historian Polybius believed that the constitution was a fundamental cause of the exponential growth of Rome's empire. He regarded the Republic as unusual in two respects: first, because it functioned so well despite being a mix of monarchy, oligarchy and democracy; secondly, because the constitution was the product of natural evolution rather than the ideals of a lawgiver. Even if historians now seek more widely for the causes of Rome's rise to power, the importance and influence of her political institutions remains. The reasons for Rome's power are both complex, on account of the mix of elements, and flexible, inasmuch as they were not founded on written statutes but on unwritten traditions reinterpreted by successive generations. Knowledge of Rome's political institutions is essential both for ancient historians and for those who study the contribution of Rome to the republican tradition of political thought from the Middle Ages to the revolutions inspired by the Enlightenment. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 9 | |
| 16 | |
IV The Story of the Origin of the Constitution | 27 |
V The Assemblies | 40 |
VI The Senate | 65 |
VII The Higher Magistrates and the ProMagistrates | 94 |
VIII Tribunes Aediles and Minor Magistrates | 121 |
X The Influence of Society and Religion | 163 |
XI The Balance of the Constitution | 191 |
XII The Mixed Constitution and Republican Ideology | 214 |
XIII The Republic Remembered | 233 |
Bibliography of works cited excluding those listed in Abbreviations | 256 |
Index of Ancient Sources Cited | 269 |
General Index | 293 |
IX Criminal Justice | 147 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
aediles argued aristocratic assembly authority BCiv Bleicken Bonnefond-Coudry Caesar Cato censors Chap Cicero citizens civil comitia centuriata command conflict consular consuls consulship corruption criminal curule decemviri decree dictator Dion discussion early Republic election élite evidence example Fasti Festus FIRA function Gell Gracchus Greek imperium JRLR late Republic later legislation lex Hortensia Lex rep Lintott Livy Machiavelli magistracy magistrates maximus military mixed constitution Mommsen Moreover normally obstruction patricians period Phil plebeian plebs Plut political Polybius Pompey pontifex maximus popular praetor procedure prosecution provocatio quaestiones quaestors Republican Roman assemblies Roman Republic Rome Rome's Sall Scipio Scipio Aemilianus second century Second Punic Second Punic War seems senate senatorial senatus consultum Sest Staatsr statutes Sulla's Tiberius Gracchus tradition trial tribes tribunes Twelve Tables Varro Verr veto VII with nn vote
Popular passages
Page 248 - And by reading of these Greek and Latin authors, men from their childhood have gotten a habit, under a false show of liberty, of favouring tumults, and of licentious controlling the actions of their sovereigns; and again of controlling those controllers; with the effusion of so much blood, as I think I may truly say there was never anything so dearly bought as these western parts have bought the learning of the Greek and Latin tongues.
Page 250 - It is ill that men should kill one another in seditions, tumults and wars; but it is worse to bring nations to such misery, weakness and baseness, as to have neither strength nor courage to contend for anything; to have left nothing worth defending, and to give the name of peace to desolation.
Page 248 - Romans, who were taught to hate monarchy, at first, by them that having deposed their sovereign, shared amongst them the sovereignty of Rome; and afterwards by their successors. And by reading of these Greek, and Latin authors, men from their childhood have gotten a habit, under a false show of liberty, of...
Page 248 - ... to send to us, till (all power being vested in the house of commons, and their number making them incapable of transacting affairs of state with the necessary secrecie and expedition ; those being retrusted to some close committee...
Page 248 - That all this was done by them, but not for them, grow weary of Journey-work, and set up for themselves, call Parity and Independence, Liberty ; devour that Estate which had devoured the rest; Destroy all Rights and Proprieties, all distinctions of Families and Merit; And by this means this splendid and excellently distinguished form of Government end in a dark equall Chaos of Confusion, and the long Line of Our many noble Ancestors in a Jack Cade, or a Wat Tyler.
Page 250 - ... half-starved inhabitants of walls supported by ivy fear neither popular tumults nor foreign alarms ; and their sleep is only interrupted by hunger, the cries of their children, or the howling of wolves. Instead of many turbulent, contentious cities, they have a few scattered, silent cottages ; and the fierceness of those nations is so tempered, that every rascally collector of taxes extorts, without fear, from every man, that which should be the nourishment of his family. And if any of those...
Page 250 - The thin, half-starved inhabitants of walls supported by ivy fear neither popular tumults nor foreign alarms ; and their sleep is only interrupted by hunger, the cries of their children, or the howling of wolves. Instead of many turbulent, contentious cities, they have a few scattered, silent cottages ; and the fierceness of those nations is so tempered, that every rascally collector of taxes extorts, without fear, from every man, that which should be the nourishment of his family.
Page ix - ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt, Festschrift J. Vogt, ed. H. Temporini and W. Haase (Berlin and New York, 1972- ) Braund, AN DC Braund, Augustus to Nero: A Sourcebook on Roman History 31 BC-AD 68 ( London/Sydney, 1985) Bruns G.