Roman Civilization

CMS 206 /History 206

• Legio I Germanica
  1. The Legio, in discussing municipal services, opined, "Thinking that a strong and beautiful city would please Rome's citizens and secure their position of power, they set out to make Rome the best and most impressive city in the whole world."

     The Emperor responds: Perhaps you're idealizing the Romans a bit. Remember Augustus' comment, "I found Rome a city of brick and left her a city of marble." Think about the living conditions of the urban poor (crammed into wooden tenements that often burned). The Legio's observation that the line between public and private was much vaguer in Rome than in our day is quite astute. The Legio should consider whether municipal services can be provided in an efficient and equitable manner without the concept of a state. (Even with the concept of a state, this remains a difficult task across class lines - think of school funding controversies). The Legio, for example, observes that the nature of Roman elections focused the attention of Roman politicians on the needs of the wealthier classes. Could that mean that they had less incentives to fund services in the poorest neighborhoods? The Legio should consider the comments of the Legio IV Macedonica on this topic.

  2. The Legio, in an excellent discussion of Roman provincial governerships, observed, "First of all, everyone had the impression that being Romanitas, especially being a Roman senator means having a thirst for power."

     The Emperor responds: True. Can the Legio describe this phenomonen in a way that focuses less on the experience of the individual Roman senator, and more on the Senatorial class as a whole? Could we say that members of the Roman elite operated within a culture of competition, for example? Are there benefits to our analysis in coming up with more general ways to describing the individual phenomenon you have identified?

  3. The Legio, in a discussion of Roman elections, observes that a Roman political candidate, "had to show them that he was the "new man".

     The Emperor responds: Only if the candidate was a "new man." The Legio should consider what a novus homo would need to demonstrate to the electorate that a nobiles (man who had senators in his family tree) would not.

• Legio II Augusta
  1. The Legio, in discussing the "public/private" distinction with respect to municipal services observed, "After referring to the text one more we came to the conclusion that it had started off a private matter, but soon became public after the rioting began. ."

     The Emperor responds: The Legio's point is intriguing but needs fleshing out. To what rioting do you refer? Perhaps the growth of a sense of "public" in Roman life, in the sense that moderns would recognize, is associated with the establishment of the principate and monarchical government. The Legio should ask why the change in form of government could be associated with the development of the concept of "public."

  2. The Legio, in discussing problems in provincial government, concluded, "the only answer that we could come up with was that corruption was or would have been a major problem."

     The Emperor responds: It is true that corruption was a major problem and could lead to the looting of provinces by the provincial governor. This is the sort of thing Cicero charged against Verres, a governor of Sicily. However, from the governor's point of view, adminsitration of a province could provide a lot of headaches. Pliny's letters to Trajan when he was governor of Bithynia, for example, show that the governor had to audit the local books, which meant rooting out local corruption. This might be difficult to do if you didn't know the local politics or history very well. The governor faced routine management questions (should he use the army or public slaves to guard the prisons - one choice might be safer, the other cheaper). The governor had to mediate between the demands of Roman militiary officials in the province and the Emperors ability or willingness to meet these manpower requests. The governor also had to judge local disputes on behalf of the Emperor. The Legio needs to rethink the question with a bit more sympathy towards the plight of a Roman senator who tried to be a good governor.

  3. The Legio, in discussing the problem of gubenatorial corruption, astutely observed, " A major problem with the provincial governments set up by Rome was that (A) the governors had to much power (B) There was no one who kept the governors on check due to their great distance from Rome."

     The Emperor responds: Good analysis. Does the Legio think the situation changed at all under the Empire? What sort of evidence would suggest that it might?

• Legio III Cyrenaica
  1. The Legio, in discussing the phenomenon of the "new man," opined that Cicero, "had no previous political experience or connections."

     The Emperor responds: This is almost right. Cicero's father had connections (friends and family relations) who were very active in Roman politics. He brought Cicero to Rome to grow up in their homes and study with their sons. Remember, members of the equestrian order, often had as much money and shared the same lifestyle as the senatorial elite. So when a man wanted to enter the political arena, or give his son the opportunity to, he might well have connections, even if he personally didn't have political experience.

• Legio IV Macedonica
  1. The Legio, in discussing firebrigades in Rome referred to Marcus Licinius Crassus, "of Shakespearian fame."

     The Emperor responds: Oops. Crassus, the sometime pal of Pompey and Caesar, who died at the hands of the Parthians in 56 BCE, was not Gaius Longinus Cassius (a hero of the Parthian wars) who killed Julius Caesar on the Ides of March in 44 BCE.

• Legio V Alaudae
  1. The Legio, in discussing municipal services, concluded that, "wealthy people did public services"

     The Emperor responds: By which of course you mean that they had their slaves do it or had poor people paid to do it.

  2. The Legio, in discussing Romanitas, concluded: "Romans are proud of their city and feel a personal sense of duty and obligation to take care of Rome."

     The Emperor responds: No doubt true at a general level. The Emperor suggests that Legio consider the comments of the Legio IV Macedonica on this topic to deepen their appreciation of the issues.

  3. The Legio, in discussing the stresses that Rome's imperial expansion imposed on the Roman constitution, observed: "There were also not many checks and balances in place to ensure that an individual or group did not become too powerful."

     The Emperor responds: Is this true? The constitution did have a number of checks on individual power (annual magistracies, at least two men for each office, each with a veto on the other, graduated imperium, and a traditional prohibition against successive terms). Perhaps the better question for the Legio to consider is why this constitutional regime of restraints failed as Rome's empire expanded.

  4. The Legio, in discussing why members of the Roman elite would enter politics, opined, "Eventually, even slaves rose to become Emperor."

     The Emperor responds: Do you have an example that would support this assertion? I am afraid that the number of slave emperors equalled the number of female popes. It is true that Publius Helvius Pertinax, the son of a freedman (and, what is more interesting to your Emperor's mind, a former school teacher) became Emperor in January 193. Alas, his reign ended in March of 193 as well. He was, however, named a god by his successor for his troubles. The Emperor appreciates the wit and sagacity of the Legio's remarks about Remus.

  5. The Legio, in discussing the alleged forgery of the Commentariolum, observed, "Rome was quite corrupt. Having an important person's name associated with your ideas can help quite a bit. Even people who were guilty of forgery sometimes got elected to power in Rome. This also shows us how much respect the Romans had for their elders."

     The Emperor responds: Can you give me an example of someone who was guilty of forgery who was elected to power? The Emperor believes that the two strains of the Legio's response (corruption, respect for a venerated name) are at odds with each other. Perhaps the Legio should consider the possibility that Romans would not have thought of ascribing another person's name to a literary production quite as corrupt as we do. Whereas originality is one of the most highly valued attributes of modern western literature, imitation was considered on of the most highly valued attributes of ancient western literature. While Romans had some notion that one ought to give credit where due, the equally believed in the powerful force of literary allusion and no notion of the modern concept of copyright. The Legio might also want to consider the vagueries of transmission of ancient literature. Is it possible that the author of the Commentariolum wrote the text as a literary exercise and that later scholars falsely assumed it to be Quintus' original work?

  6. The Legio, in discussing the challenges that Cicero faced, concluded, "As a candidate, Cicero had several political enemies, the main one being Catiline."

     The Emperor responds: Yes, but the question is, why was Catiline a challenge to Cicero's political career? The Emperor recommends that the Legio consider the comments of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Emperor's rescriptum to them.