Rome After Sulla

234 Pages·2017·4.35 MB·English

by  J. Alison Rosenblitt

Rome aft er Sulla
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Rome aft er Sulla
J. Alison Rosenblitt
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are trademarks of
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in Great Britain 2019
Copyright © J. Alison Rosenblitt, 2019
J. Alison Rosenblitt has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as Author of this work.
For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on p. xiii–xiv constitute an extension
of this copyright page.
Cover design: Catherine Wood
Cover image: Roman slave chain, Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru/National
Museum of Wales. Photograph © National Museum of Wales.
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For Jonathan
If you were life, my darling,
And I your love were death,
We’d shine and snow together
Ere March made sweet the weather
With daff odil and starling
And hours of fruitful breath;
If you were life my darling,
And I your love were death.
A.C. Swinburne, ‘A Match’
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Contents
List of Figures ix
Preface x
Acknowledgements xiii
1 Introduction: Sullan Tyranny and Sullan Instability 1
Sullan politics and the early 70s bc 4
Sallust’s H istoriae , Sulla and stability 10
Part One Negotiating the End of Sulla
2 80 bc : Th e pro Roscio Vanishes 17
Sulla in 80 bc : consul or tyrant? 18
Saying what can’t be said: unfulfi llable promises 20
3 79 bc : Th e Turning Tide 31
Th e exiled, the excluded and Lepidus’ son, Scipio Lepidi fi lius 32
Control 37
Part Two Counter-r evolution
4 Urban Confl ict and Etrurian Tumult: Formulating 78–77 bc 45
Appian on 78–77 bc : a harbinger of things to come 46
Sallust’s Lepidus: like and unlike Catiline 50
Th e judgement of Livy: exile, civil war and political morality 54
By what name? 58
5 More Th an Catiline, Less Th an Caesar: Th e Politics of M. Aemilius Lepidus,
cos. 78 bc 63
Th e political aims of Lepidus: the evidence 65
Th e year 78 bc 68
6 Aft er Sulla; Aft er Lepidus 81
Injustice 82
Popular politics 85
Unresolved trauma 87
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viii Contents
Part Th ree Sallust and the Political Culture of Rome aft er Sulla
7 Autocracy and Stability: Moving Beyond the ‘Problems’ of the
Speech of Lepidus 93
8 Dominatio and Deceit: Sallust on Pompey 101
9 Hostile Politics (I): Political Discourse aft er Sulla 115
Th e construction of a hostile politics 116
Sallust and the political discourse of the 70s 120
10 Hostile Politics (II): Sallust’s H istoriae 131
Epilogue: Legitimacy and the End of the Republic 141
Appendix A: Evidence for the Activities of M. Aemilius Lepidus, cos. 78 bc 145
Appendix B: ‘Problems’ in Sallust’s speech of Lepidus 151
Notes 155
Works Cited 189
Index Locorum 207
General Index 217
Figures
4.1 Map of the confl ict with Lepidus. Generated via the Ancient World
Mapping Center. “À-la-carte”. http://awmc.unc.edu/awmc/applications/
alacarte/ [Accessed: 2 June 2016] (License: CC BY 4.0) 62
6.1 Marble frieze, ?late second century bc . So- called ‘Altar of Domitius
Ahenobarbus’. Photograph © Getty Images 89
9.1 ?Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138–78 bc ) orating. Roman marble of the fi rst
century bc /Louvre, Paris, France/© Bridgeman Art Library 125
9.2 Roman slave chain, Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru/National Museum
of Wales. Photograph © National Museum of Wales 126
9.3 Roman aureus. Crawford, R RC #359/1, obverse. © American Numismatic
Society 127
9.4 Roman aureus. Crawford, R RC #359/1, reverse. © American Numismatic
Society 127
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