Dictator: The Evolution of the Roman Dictatorship

477 Pages·2021·4.003 MB·English

by  Mark Wilson

Dictator

Dictator
The Evolution of the
Roman Dictatorship
Mark B. Wilson
University of Michigan Press
Ann Arbor
Copyright © 2021 by Mark B. Wilson
All rights reserved
For questions or permissions, please contact [email protected]
Published in the United States of America by the
University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed on acid- free paper
First published September 2021
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Wilson, Mark B. author. | Michigan Publishing (University of Michigan),
publisher.
Title: Dictator : the evolution of the Roman dictatorship / Mark B. Wilson
Description: Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2021. | Includes
bibliographical references (pages 427– 446) and indexes. |
Identifiers: lccn 2021012761 (print) | isbn 9780472132669 (hardcover) |
isbn 9780472129201 (electronic book)
Subjects: LCSH: Dictators— Rome— History. | Political leadership— Rome—
History. | Rome— Politics and government. | Rome— History— Republic, 510– 30 B.C.
Classification: LCC dg83.5.d4 w55 2021 (print) | LCC dg83.5.d4 (ebook) |
DDC 937/.02— dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021012761
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021012762
Cover image: Marble bust of a man. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
Rogers Fund, 1912. www.metmuseum.org
Contents
Part I: Haec Imperiosa Dictatura
1 Introduction 3
2 Narrative 9
3 Origins 31
Part II: Et Homo et Potestas
4 Need 63
5 Choice 95
6 Invocation 110
7 Mandate 138
8 Imperium 156
9 Answerability 189
10 Colleague 211
11 Renunciation 236
12 Principles 261
Part III: Αἱρετὴ Τυραννίς
13 Desuetude 267
14 Sulla 290
15 Caesar 303
16 Conclusions 332
vi / contents
Appendices
A Catalog of Dictatorships 341
B Catalog of Names 387
C Terms and Concepts 395
D Dictator Years 403
E Mommsen’s Dictatorship 409
Acknowledgments 423
Abbreviations 425
Bibliography 427
Index Rerum 447
Index Nominum 453
Index Locorum 463
Digital materials related to this title can be found on
the Fulcrum platform via the following citable URL:
https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.10150936
Part I
Haec Imperiosa Dictatura
“Ego sum M. Valerius Corvus, milites, cuius vos nobilitatem beneficiis
erga vos non iniuriis sensistis, nullius superbae in vos legis, nullius
crudelis senatus consulti auctor, in omnibus meis imperiis in me severior
quam in uos. . . . Eodem tenore duo insequentes consulatus gessi, eodem
haec imperiosa dictatura geretur.”
“I am M. Valerius Corvus, soldiers, whose nobility has shown itself in
benefit to you, not in harm. I have authored no oppressive laws nor cruel
senatorial resolutions; in all my commands I have been stricter with
myself than with you. . . . In that spirit I administered two successive
consulships; so will this mighty dictatorship be administered.”
Livy 7.40.7– 9

Quid nunc commemorem dictaturae hoc ipso consulari [imper]ium
valentius repertum apud maiores nostros quo in a[s]perioribus bellis aut
in civili motu difficiliore uterentur?
Why need I now call to mind the dictatorship, with an imperium stronger
even than the consuls’, devised by our ancestors to be made use of in
exceptionally perilous wars or truly difficult civil disturbances?
Speech of Claudius Caesar1
1
Introduction
The Roman story is one of survival through adaptation. The problem of the
executive is a case in point. When, according to age-o ld legends, the election of
one chosen man to lifelong rule gave way to despotism and contempt for
Roman values, the Romans shed their monarchy for shared aristocratic gover-
nance via annual collegial magistracies. The Romans soon discovered, however,
that this correction, while in many ways advantageous, created new vulnerabil-
ities. The ordinary magistrates were elected according to general qualifications
expected of all Roman clan leaders. What happened when a desperate crisis was
best solved by a man who happened not to be among those presently invested
with the power of office and the authority to command?
For this contingency the Romans developed a singular response. Whenever
an emergency— whether domestic, military, or religious— was not best solved
by the magistrates already in power, the Roman people or the senate could call
upon the consuls to cede superior executive authority to one individual suited
by experience and temperament to resolve that crisis and restore Rome to its
previous state of safety and stability. Effectively this invoked an emergency
alternate executive for the duration of the crisis: a temporary dominion of the
needed man. On resolution of the inciting problem, his last act was to abdicate
his authority and restore ordinary government.
1. CIL 13.01668; cf. Tac. Ann. 11.24.