Preface
1 Rome of the Kings
Introduction
The Geography of Italy
The Peoples of Italy
Historiography
The Founding of Rome: Cicero’s Version
The Founding of the Republic: Cicero
Questions
2 Political Culture of the Roman Republic
Introduction
The Nature of the Polis
The Patrician Constitution
The Plebeian Constitution
The Role of Diplomacy
Informal Political Ties
Order and Liberty
Livy: From Monarchy to Republic
The Importance of Concord
Secession and Concession
Values that Romans Believed Made them Great
The Speech of Camillus: Religio, Pietas
State Control over Religion 212 b.c.: Superstitio vs. Religio
Skepticism About Religion
Virtus, Gloria, Labor: Latin Buzz Words for Success
The Rape of Lucretia: The Household’s Honor Above All Else
Honesty in Financial Dealings
Mucius Scaevola: Gloria, Fama
The Schoolmaster of Falerii: Fides
Cincinnatus at the Plough: Austeritas, Industria, Frugalitas
An Open Society: Civitas
Talent Spotting: Ingenium and Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder
Patricians and Plebeians, Patrons and Clients
Romulus Called the Protection of the Poor and Humble a “Patronage”
The Roman Constitution According to Polybius
The Consuls and the Senate
The People
Analysis
Conclusions
Getting Elected
Networking Relatives and Friends
Motivating the Electorate
Identifying the Voters
The Daily Canvas
Dangers
Winning the Ordinary Folk
Inculcating Military Values
Fame, Family, and Self-Promotion: The Roman Funeral
The Trimumphal Parade of Aemilius Paullus
Questions
Introduction
International Anarchy
The Advantages of Vulnerability: Central Place Location and Internal Lines
of Communication
Rome’s Social-Military-Political Complex
The Roman Military: “Participation Ratios”
The Legions
Roman Values
The Roman Approach to Warfare
Just War Rituals
Clemency: “Romans Do Not, at First, Utterly Destroy a People”
A Description of the Roman Army
The Battle of Zama
Sacking Cities and Distributing Booty
War as Personal Vengeance: Caesar and Ambiorix
The Importance of Diplomacy and Conciliation
The Treaty Between Rome and the Latin States, 393 b.c.
Treaty Between Rome and Carthage, 507 b.c.
The Critical Decision of 338 b.c.: How Rome Handled Defeated Enemies
Declaring and Waging War
How the Wars with Carthage Began
The End of Macedonia: The Third Macedonian War (171–167 b.c.)
The Diplomatic Situation: The Kings and the Free Cities
Roman War Propaganda
Duplicitous New Wisdom: “They Did Not Recognize in this Embassy in the
Ways of Rome”
Cato’s Speech on the Rhodians: Not Everyone Subscribed to the “New Wisdom”
Resources and Other Techniques of Warfare
Roman Manpower Resources: The Secret of Roman Military Success
Flexibility: Roman Borrowing from their Enemies
The Fighting Spirit of the Romans
Devotio: Self-Sacrifice for Rome
Steadiness of the Romans: How They Coped with Defeat
Weaknesses of Rome’s Military System
Quarreling Consuls: the Dangers of Divided Command
War Weariness
A Problem with the Draft: Tribunes and Centurions
Propaganda for Home Front Consumption: The Other
Celtic Barbarity: “To Ill Treat the Remains of a Fellow Human After He Is
Dead is Bestial”
The Samnites: “They Despised the Soft Character of the Settled Farmers”
Greeks: “Incompetent to Manage Their Own Affairs but Thinking
Themselves Competent to Dictate War and Peace to Others.”
Governing the Vanquished: Roman Style Provincial Administration
A First Hand Account: Cicero’s Experience as Governor
Cicero as Military Commander
Civilian Administration: Favors, Meddlers, Obnoxious Visitors
The Provincial Edict: 50 b.c. at Laodicaea
Court Sessions at Laodicea, April 50 b.c.
The Problem of a Replacement, Tarsus June-August 50 b.c.
Favors, A Mother-in-Law in Trouble
Dangerous Meddlers: Brutus and Appius Claudius, Laodicea 50 b.c.
Meddlers: Merely Annoying, Laodicea February 50 b.c.
Visits of Obnoxious Romans, Laodicaea 50 b.c.
Questions
4 Roman Society and Culture in the Republic
Introduction
Society and the State
Religion
The Institutions of the State Religion
The Augurs and Fetials
The Household
Marriage
Roman Families and their Slaves
Clients, Patrons, Fides
The Twelve Tables: Rome’s First Law Code
Rules for Trial
Debt
Patria potestas, Guardianship, Inheritance
Acquisition, Possession, Land Ownership
Torts
Public Law
Sacred Law, Additional Laws
Basic Roman Economics: Agriculture, Liberal and Illiberal Occupations
Slaves: Articulate Tools
“Wages Are a Pledge of Slavery”
“The Twin Arts of War and Peace”: Roman Religion
How Augury Worked
The Politics of Roman Religion: The Bacchanalian Conspiracy
A Family Trial: the Case of Pomponia Graecina
Patria Potestas and Materna Auctoritas: The Power of Fathers
and Mothers over Their Households
Patria Potestas
Materna Auctoritas: Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi
Punishment of Children
The Father’s Role in Educating his Children
Roman Educational “Theory”: Helicopter Parents
Wealth, Women, Dowries, Adoptions in Roman Society
“A Wife Without a Dowry is Under Her Husband’s Thumb”
The “Laudatio Turiae”—The Eulogy of Turia
Getting Along Together (or Not)
A Family Row
The Man-Placating Goddess Viriplaca
Divorce
The Economics of Farming
“It is Profitable to Have Large Scale Gardens Near a City”
The Economics and Dangers of Slavery
“Sell Worn-Out Oxen… Old and Sick Slaves”
The Revolt of Spartacus
Questions
5 The Roman Revolution
Introduction
Modern and Ancient Versions of the Transformation
Economic Changes
Social Changes
Liberated Women and Men
Slaves and Freedmen
Equestrians and Publicans
Military and Constitutional Changes
Cultural Transformation
Religious Innovations
A Survey of the Revolution: Provincial Voices
An Intimate History of the Fall of the Republic: From Cicero’s
Letters to Atticus
Romulus’ Cesspool: June, 60 b.c.
Caesar’s Party: 50 b.c.
When It Comes To War Follow the Stronger Side: 50 b.c.
The Failures and Weaknesses of Pompey: 49 b.c.
“Both Want to Be Kings”: 49 b.c.
The Artful Clemency of Caesar and the Incapacity of Pompey: 49 b.c.
Cicero’s Daughter’s View: Do the Right Thing. 49 b.c.
Plutarch’s Life of Caesar
The Ambition to be First Man in Rome
“Not Their Enmity but Their Friendship Caused the Civil War”
“The Supreme Power Prostituted by Marriage Alliances”
Caesar’s Generalship and Character
“Subduing the Enemy with Arms and Citizens with Money”
“Nothing Worse for Them Than a Monarchy:” The Outbreak of the
Civil War (49 b.c.)
Tragic Maneuvering at Rome
Crossing the Rubicon: “Let the Die be Cast”
The Battle of Pharsalus (48 b.c.)
Monarchy: a “Respite from the Evils of Civil War”
The Assassination of Caesar: March 15, 44 b.c.
Why the Republic Fell: Various Explanations
“Greed Unlimited and Unrestrained Corrupted and Destroyed
Everything”
Social and Economic Conditions: The Gracchi
Marius and the Elite: Merit vs. Inherited Status
Politicians and Generals Out of Control
Soldiers Out of Control: Mutinies
Out of Control Mobs
Social and Cultural Changes
Shattering the Aristocracy: The Proscriptions of Sulla
Sulla’s Legislation and his Remaking of the Senate
“The Beginnings of Foreign Luxury”
The Decay of Morals in Second Century b.c. Rome
“He Mocked All Greek Culture and Learning”
“The Most Worthless Men are Attracted to Public Life”
Women of the Late Republic: Standing Up to the Triumvirs
Sempronia: A Woman of the Late Republic
Questions
6 Augustus and the Principate
Introduction
The Political Issues
The Army, the Senate and the People
Religious and Social Reform
Control of the Media
Order in the City
The Succession
The Education of Octavian (Augustus)
Oikeiosis: The Social and Moral Foundations of a World State
A Contemptuous (and Wrong) Estimate of the Young Octavius
“The Boy”
Octavian and Antony
Cleopatra VII
The Death of Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra: The Official Version
The Res Gestae: What Augustus Wanted Posterity to Think of Him
A Senator’s Estimate of Augustus
Augustus’ Moral Reforms
Why Marry? Augustus’ Reproach of Celibates
Reaction to Augustus’ Moral Reforms
The Succession
“He was the First of the Caesars to Purchase the Fidelity of the Soldiers
with Money.”
“The Legionaries Hit Upon the Idea of Selecting Their Own Emperor”
Augustan Literature
“The Dark Dawning of our Present Age”: The Preface to Livy’s History
Rome’s Destiny: “Spare a Humbled Foe, and Crush to Earth the Proud”
Sulpicia in Love
Horace: “Carpe Diem—Seize the Day
Ovid’s Star-Crossed Lovers
Questions
7 The Roman Peace: How the Romans Ran their Empire
Introduction
Ethnicity in the Empire
The Cement of Empire
The Emperors
Imperial Governors
The Army
The Genius of the Roman Military
Roman Society
Some Vignettes of the Emperors
Tiberius: How (Not) to Deal with Consumerism
The Madness of Caligula
Claudius: A Family Problem
Nero Murders His Mother
Restraining Luxury: Vespasian’s Example or Mutating Social Tastes?
Galba: “Men Cannot Bear Absolute Slavery or Absolute Freedom
A Portrait of the Roman Empire
“Nations by the Thousands Serve the Masters of the Entire World”
Not Everyone Loved Rome
They Make a Desert and Call It Peace”: A View of Rome from the Provinces
Not Everyone Loved Foreigners
“Syrian Orontes Has Deposited its Verbal and Cultural Sewage in the Tiber”
No Alternative to Rome: “If the Romans Are Driven out What Else Can
There Be Except Wars Among All These Nations?”
“There Will be Vices as Long as There are Men”
What Held Rome Together 1: The Army
“The Romans Have Subjugated the World by Training in the Use of Weapons,
Strict Discipline and Experience in Warfare”
Foreigners in the Roman Army: A Syrian, A Spaniard, A Britain
Making It in the Ranks: The Well-Travelled M. Vettius Valens
A Legionary Roster from the Second Century a.d.
“Soldiering is a Harsh and Unrewarding Profession”: Conditions of Service
and the Revolt of a.d. 14
What Held Rome Together 2: The Elite
“Severus Hailed from Africa”
What Held the Empire Together 3: Hard Working Emperors
What Held the Empire Together 4: Elite Patronage
A Municipal Patron: Baths, A Library, Freedmen, the Plebs, Children
Friends of Corellia
A Centurion’s Daughter
A Procuratorship “To Enhance His Dignity in Old Age”
What Held the Empire Together 5: Social Mobility
From Slave to Municipal Magistrate
Publius Decimus, a Freedman Doctor, “Paved Public Roads at his Expense”
What Held the Empire Together 6: Competent Administrators
The Slave Manager Musicus Scurranus: “He Was a Worthy Master”
The Procuratorial Administrative System
What Held the Empire Together 7: The Role of Law
“The Emperor Can Triumph as Much for his Administration of Justice as for his
Victories in War”
The Personal Character of Roman Law: “She Disgraced Him and Herself by
Haaving an Affair with a Centurion”
An Appeal from Peasants in Africa
Questions
8 Culture and Religion in the Roman Empire
Introduction
Religions of the Empire
Emperor Worship
Civic Religions and Cults
The Health of Paganism
Polytheism and Monotheism
Rabbinic Judaism
Christianity
Civic Religion
The Ideology of Paganism
The Divine Emperor
A Negative Assessment of Emperor Worship: “Bondage to Royal Authority”
What an Emperor Thought of Divine Worship: “These Sentiments in your Hearts
are my Temples”
Mass Human Sacrifice Among the Celts
Martial the Priest: “The Gentle Deities of My Tiny Farm”
A Holy Man Stops a Plague at Ephesus
Judaism of the Diaspora
Prologue to the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach
“He Does not Disclose His Mystery but to the Just”
Rabbinic Judaism
The Mishnah
Christianity: Jesus of Nazareth
Signs of the Coming Reign of God
“Do Not Think I Came to Bring Peace but the Sword”
“Who is my Neighbor? The Good Samaritan
True Generosity: The Widow’s Mite
The Basis of Judgment at the End of the World: The Sheep
and the Goats
Cleansing the Temple
The Mission of the Apostles
The Keys of the Kingdom
Christianity: Paul of Tarsus
Paul’s Autobiography
Revolutionary Monotheism: Paul at Athens
The Origins of Evil: Paul and Original Sin
Early Christianity
Against Radicalism
Christian Practice: Justin Martyr
Pliny’s Encounter with Christianity
Divination, Astrology, Magic
“Will her Lover Outlive Her?”
“Thumbs Down Means Approval”
Morality and the Philosophers
Musonius Rufus: “A Great Variety of Sexual Experiences”
Epictetus: “As to Your Parents, the Gods Have Left You Free from Responsibility”
Epicureanism: “There is Nothing to Fear in God, Nothing to Feel in Death”
For Greeks Tattooing is Shameful and Degrading: Moral Relativism
Questions
9 Daily Life in the Roman Empire
Introduction
Rural Life
Urban Life
Urban Life and Romanization
The Uses of Amusement: Games
Gladiators
Peasant Life
Baucis and Philemon: “There Were No Masters or Servants in That House”
City Life: How the Urban Lower Classes Coped
The Laws of the Collegium
The Upper Classes: Technology and the Good Life
Leisure: Gymnasia, the Baths, the Circus, the Arena
Gymnasia: “They Anoint Themselves with a Drug”
Baths
Games
Gladiators: Various Views
Daily Life as Seen through the Law Codes
If, while Several Persons are Playing Ball…
Mules Were Hauling Two Loaded Wagons
Bequests: “She Afterwards Disposed of the Pearls”
Wolves Carried Away Some Hogs
Family Life
An Affectionate Paterfamilias: “I Owe it All to my Father”
A Satirist’s View of Marriage: “You Might as well Bow your Head and
Accept the Yoke”
The Purpose of Marriage; “A Shared Life and the Procreation of Children”
An Affectionate Marriage: “You Cannot Imagine How Much I Miss You”
An Epitaph for a Wife
Epitaphs for Children
Friendship Among Wives: A Birthday Invitation
Abortion and Infanticide
Education
Questions
10 Late Antiquity: The Transformed Empire
Introduction
The Geographical Shift
Political, Military and Administrative Transformations
Barbarians and the Fall of the Western Empire
Christianity, the Barbarians and the Fall of Rome
Christianity and the Classical Tradition
The Democratization of Excellence
Being All Things to All People
Enthusiasts: A Problem for the Authorities
Self-Realization in Late Antiquity
Faith and Reason
The Empire and the Church Come to Terms
The Barbarians and Romans Come to Terms
“Now Declining into Old Age”: Roman History from a
Late Empire Viewpoint
New Founders of Rome: Diocletian and Constantine
The Revenue Enhancers
“The Empire Gradually Collapsed and was Imperceptibly Barbarized”
Constantine and Christianity
The Edict of Milan: “Our Intent is that the Supreme Deity… May Show
In Everything His Usual Favor and Goodwill”
The Beginning of the End of Gladiatorial Combat
The Majesty of Emperors: Desires and Realities
The Entry of Constantius into Rome: a.d. 357
Dodging Responsibility: Elite Dodges
The Dodges of the Poor
“Crushed Beans, Sewer Cleaners, Women’s Slippers:”
Whipping Inflation
The Emperor, the Truth, and Corruption
Huns, Alans, Goths and the Fall of Rome
The Huns: “A People Savage Beyond All Parallel”
The Alans: “That Man is Called Happy Who Hhas Lost His
Life in War”
The Goths, “Destined to Overthrow Rome” Cross the Danube
Reactions to the Sack of Rome
Christianity, Rome, and Classical Culture
A Different Vision
Organization and Belief
Letter of Cornelius
How to Determine Orthodoxy
Repression and Martyrdom
They Have No Alters, No Temples, No Acknowledged Images”
What Difference Did Christianity Make? Emperor Julian’s Answer
When the Shoe was on the Other Foot
“Rites Which Preserved the City Unconquered for Twelve Hundred
Years”
Mistreatment of the Jews
Gregory Forbids Forced Conversions of Jew
Gregory Orders the Return of Jewish Property
Legislation Against the Civic Religion: Sacrifice and Divination
The Hellenization and Romanization of Christianity
Faith and Syllogisms
Justin Martyr: “Christianity is the True Philosophy”
Questions
11 Late Antiquity: The World of the Abrahamic Religions
Introduction
Revolutionary Monotheism
The Sacred Scriptures of the Monotheists
Radical Beliefs, Philology and the New Testament
Settling Disputes
Constantine’s Fateful Intervention
Orthopraxy and Orthodoxy
Heterodoxy and Culture
Revolutionary Institutions: Monasticism
Germanic Kingdoms and the Fall of the Western Empire
The Eastern or Byzantine Roman Empire
The Rise of Islam
Revolutionary Monotheism
Judaism: The Shema and the Amidah
Christianity: The Nicene Creed
Islam
Heresy and the Evolution of Orthodoxy
Arius: The Son a “Perfect Creature of God”
The Arrogance of Intellectuals: “They Wanted to Improve on
their Predecessors”
Monasticism and the Dangers of Religious Enthusiasm
“Those Black-Garbed People Who Eat More than Elephants”
“They are Bound by No Rule but Do Exactly as they Please”
Rule of St. Benedict: Ordinary People Living Extraordinary Lives
The Conversion of a Barbarian King
“A Sparrow Comes into the Hall and Flies Swiftly Through It….”
The Splendor of Byzantium
The Church of Holy Wisdom, Hagia Sophia
“The Roman Palace was Another Heaven”
Augustine’s Two Cities: The City of God and the City of Man
““The Heavenly City Lives Like a Captive”
Church and State: God and Caesar
“There Are Two Powers by Which This World is Ruled”
The Quran: The Sacred Scriptures of Islam
The Five Pillars of Islam
Abraham: The First Muslim
The People of the Book
Jihad: the Sixth Pillar of Islam
Islamic Eschatology: The Mahdi, the Antichrist, and the Second Coming of Jesus
Questions
Glossary
