Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic (55 page)

42
The deification of Caesar. The battle of Philippi: the suicides of Brutus and Cassius.

41
Antony meets Cleopatra, then winters with her at Alexandria. Land sequestrations in Italy. War between Octavian and Fulvia.

40
Fulvia flees Italy, and dies. Antony and Octavian make peace, and Antony marries Octavian’s sister, Octavia. Cleopatra gives birth to twins.

37
Antony marries Cleopatra.

36
Lepidus is dropped from the Triumvirate. Sextus Pompeius is defeated, and flees to the East.

35
Death of Sextus Pompeius.

34
Antony hands out kingdoms and provinces to his children in Alexandria.

32
Octavia is divorced by Antony. Octavian seizes his will, and presents it to the Senate.

31
The battle of Actium.

30
The suicide of Antony and Cleopatra. Octavian captures Alexandria, and executes Caesarion. Ptolemaic rule in Egypt is brought to an end.

29
Virgil starts work on
The Aeneid.

27
Octavian is given the title ‘Augustus’. The Republic is ‘restored’.

19
The death of Virgil.

AD
14
   The death of Augustus.

Unless otherwise stated, author citations refer to the following texts: Appian,
The Civil Wars
; Asconius,
Commentaries of Five Speeches by Cicero
; Aulus Gellius,
The Attic Nights
; Cassius Dio,
The Roman History
; Catullus,
Poems
; Diodorus Siculus,
The Library of History
; Florus,
The Epitome of Roman History
; Livy,
The History of Rome
; Lucan,
The Pharsalia
; Lucretius,
On the Nature of Things
; Macrobius,
The Saturnalia
; Orosius,
The History against the Pagans
; Petronius,
The Satyricon
; Pliny the Elder,
The Natural History
; Polybius,
The Histories
; Publilius Syrus,
Maxims
; Quintilian,
The Education of an Orator
; Strabo,
The Geography
; Valerius Maximus,
Memorable Deeds and Sayings
; Velleius Paterculus,
The Roman Histories
.

Preface

  
1
Hobbes,
Leviathan
, chapter 29.

  
2
Hitler’s Table-Talk
, introduced by Hugh Trevor-Roper (1988, Oxford), p. 10.

  
3
In a review of Hughes-Hallett’s book
Cleopatra: Histories, Dreams and Distortions
for the
New York Times
(1990).

  
4
Niccolò Machiavelli,
Discourses on the First Decade of Livy
, 3.43.

  
5
Sallust,
Catiline
, 8.

  
6
Velleius Paterculus, 2.36.

1: The Paradoxical Republic

  
1
Polybius, 6.56.

  
2
Cicero,
Concerning the Manilian Law
, 19–21.

  
3
Polybius, 10.15.

  
4
Ennius, quoted by Cicero,
The Republic
, 5.1.

  
5
Livy, 40.5.

  
6
Cicero,
On the Agrarian Law
, 2.96.

  
7
Vitruvius,
The Ten Books on Architecture
, 6.1.10.

  
8
See in particular Cicero,
The Republic
, 2.10–11.

  
9
See Brunt,
Italian Manpower
, p. 618.

10
Horace,
Odes
, 3.29.12.

11
Dionysius of Halicarnassus,
Roman Antiquities
, 3.43.

12
Horace,
Epistles
, 2.2.72–5.

13
Strabo, 5.3.8.

14
Publilius Syrus, 31.

15
Livy, 4.4.

16
Sallust,
Catiline
, 1.7.

17
Polybius, 6.11.

18
Cicero,
In Defence of Plancius
, 11.

19
Cicero,
In Defence of Murena
, 36.

2: The Sibyl’s Curse

  
1
The Sibylline Oracles
, 3.464–9.

  
2
Ibid.
, 3.175–80.

  
3
Ibid.
, 184–8.

  
4
Ibid.
, 182–3.

  
5
Appian,
The Punic Wars
, 132.

  
6
Badian, in
Publicans and Sinners
, argues that the
publicani
were operating in Pergamum as early as 131 (p. 63). For a convincing refutation, see Gruen’s
The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome
, pp. 606–8.

  
7
1 Maccabees, 8.3.

  
8
See Hughes,
Pan’s Travail
, p. 127.

  
9
For the growth of the Roman money supply during this period, see Crawford,
Coinage and Money under the Roman Republic
, pp. 173–81.

10
According to Valerius Maximus, 9.2. The figures have been treated with some suspicion.

11
Sallust,
Histories
, 4, fragment 67. The words are unlikely to have been Mithridates’, but are invaluable all the same, as an indication of the Romans’ appreciation of the resentments of their foes.

12
Strabo, 5.4.2.

13
Diodorus Siculus, 37.15.

14
The theory is Luce’s (1970). For a counterview, see McGing,
Foreign Policy
, p.76.

3: Luck Be a Lady

  
1
Cicero,
On Duties
, 1.123.

  
2
Plutarch,
Sulla
, 8.

  
3
Appian, 1.58.

  
4
Valerius Maximus, 9.7.

  
5
Appian, 1.60.

  
6
Cicero,
Laws
, 1.53.

  
7
Livy, 31.44.

  
8
Posidonius, fragment 36.

  
9
Plutarch,
Sulla
, 13.

4: Return of the Native

  
1
Cicero,
On Duties
, 1.25.

  
2
Valerius Maximus, 6.2.

  
3
Velleius Paterculus, 2.26.

  
4
Plutarch,
Cato the Elder
, 16.

  
5
Valerius Maximus, 2.9.

  
6
Plutarch,
Sulla
, 30.

  
7
Lucan, 2.220.

  
8
Appian, 2.95.

  
9
Plutarch,
Sulla
, 31.

10
Sallust,
Catiline
, 51.34.

11
Appian, 1.99.

12
See Cicero,
Laws
, 3.23.

13
Cicero,
On the Ends of Good and Evil
, 5.2.

14
Appian, 1.103–4.

15
Plutarch,
Sulla
, 36.

16
Cicero,
To Atticus
, 9.10.

17
Appian, 1.106.

5: Fame Is the Spur

  
1
Lucretius, 5.222–5.

  
2
Cicero,
On the Ends of Good and Evil
, 5.55.

  
3
Cicero,
Tusculan Disputations
, 1.39.

  
4
Cicero,
On the Ends of Good and Evil
, 5.55.

  
5
Tacitus,
The Dialogue on Orators
, 28.

  
6
Polybius, 6.53.

  
7
Sallust,
The War against Jugurtha
, 4.5.

  
8
Cicero,
On Duties
, 1.139.

  
9
Suetonius,
The Deified Julius
, 56.

10
Plutarch,
Caesar
, 4.

11
Cicero,
Philippics
, 14.17.

12
Lucretius, 2.11–13.

13
Cicero,
Against Verres
, 2.5.180.

14
Cicero,
In Defence of Murena
, 16.

15
For instance, Cicero,
In Defence of Plancius
, 14–15.

16
Cicero,
On the Orator
, 1.197.

17
Cicero,
In Defence of Murena
, 29.

18
By Quintilian, 6.3.28.

19
Aulus Gellius, 1.5.

20
Cicero,
Brutus
, 313.

21
Cicero,
On Duties
, 1.87.

22
Posidonius, fragment 59.

23
Cicero,
Brutus
, 316.

24
Cicero,
In Defence of Plancius
, 66.

25
Cicero,
Against Verres
, 1.36.