Monday, March 10, 2008

Change of Plans

As you may have guessed from my last post, I intended my next to relate to something or other about the Optimates and the Populares. Recently, though, I've changed my mind. After all, I can't even think of how much time I've already devoted to that topic, and it does seem a bit tired.

I decided that I'd rather learn something new, so I think instead, my next post will be about the trial of Murena in 63 B.C.E. Not coincidentally, this trial happened in the year of Cicero's famously turbulent consulship, and just a few days after his second Catilinarian oration.

As you know, one of my projects related to this blog was to read all of those orations, and try to make up some interesting posts about them. Life has a way of stymieing such efforts – I’m finding it really hard to motivate myself to do Latin reading without a particular focus in mind, which is why, just a few moments ago, I decided to go with my instinct and write about Murena instead, doing whatever necessary translating came along with such a subject.


Murena’s case is particularly interesting as it involves conflict between two of my favorite characters in Roman history: Cicero and Cato Uticensis.

I know it’s Really Really Really trite to cite Cicero as one of your favorites, but in any case, considering the time period I’m interested in, and the kinds of sources available, I really do think that it’s unavoidable. Not to say that I necessarily approve of or even “like” him – As anyone who’s even cursorily studied the man knows, his pompousness and seemingly endless conceit is off-putting to any modern person (although I think that it was, culturally, probably quite common and acceptable in ancient Rome.) Still, his orations are beautifully constructed and he is so intimately connected with every known political event and intrigue of the period that it is impossible to refrain from being deeply interested in the man and his work.

As for Cato, well, being a somewhat stoic-minded and stubborn person myself, the attraction is obvious. It is very easy to love a morally high-minded martyr – especially when (as has been seen so often in the case of Christianity) this admiration can be assumed to cover the admirer with some degree of (inevitably self-satisfied) righteousness.

Perhaps it would be appropriate here to give the background of the case, before any future, more involved posts.

L. Licinius Murena had been a praetor in the year 65 B.C.E, and had become popular due to the magnificence of the games that he had provided for the people. Afterwards he served as an administrator in Transalpine Gaul.(1) In 63 he stood for election to the consulship and won, along with Decimus Iunius Silanus. However, before he could take office, he was accused by the unsuccessful candidate Servius Sulpicius Rufus, of electoral bribery. Cato Uticensis (also known as Cato Minor) supported this accusation while Cicero defended Murena.

Electoral bribery, or ambitus, was exceedingly common in Rome, especially during the Late Republic. While familial and political connection and obligation could gain one the votes of a great man and all of his dependents, the votes of the urban plebs were generally secured by money and reputation. Candidates often drove themselves deep into debt in order to pay off these voters, or impress them with extravagant public games, which money they later sought to recoup by rich commissions in the provinces, provided that they won the office.

Prosecution for such bribery was also very common, and, as the accuser was just as likely to have been guilty of ambitus as the accused, was more a tool of political revenge than a means to prevent the bribery itself. As such, the losing party in the election often used it as a means of discrediting his rival.(2) Perhaps Sulpicius, like others before him, hoped to remove Murena from office, and take his place by means of the extraordinary election that would be held if he were found guilty.

Still, as fascinating as I find Roman electoral politics, the more particularly interesting thing about Murena’s trial is the fact that it put Cicero and Cato at odds at a time when each valued the other as an important ally against the Catilinarians. Surprisingly, it was the Catilinarian conspiracy itself that caused their disagreement. While Cato stubbornly followed his principles in demanding that Murena be punished for acts of ambitus, Cicero felt that the court’s primary responsibility was to acquit Murena, regardless of his guilt, in order that new consuls would be able to replace those leaving office in time to defend the state from Catiline.


1. Cicero, Pro Murena 89
2. Lintott, A. “Electoral Bribery in the Roman Republic,” The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 80. (1990), pp. 6-8; Shackleton Bailey, D. R. "The Prosecution of Roman Magistrates-Elect," Phoenix, Vol. 24, No. 2. (Summer, 1970), pp. 162-165.;


I hope to explore this topic further in my next post. I now have access to articles on JSTOR, and at least a few interesting articles to read on the subject while I try to come up with some original thoughts.

I really haven’t been this excited about anything in a while. Just today, while searching through JSTOR I realized that I have to do whatever it takes to get back into academics.

Read more . . .

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Optimates and Populares

A little taste of the next post:


 . . . duo genera semper in hac civitate fuerunt eorum qui versari in re publica atque in ea se excellentius gerere studuerunt; quibus ex generibus alteri se popularis, alteri optimates et haveri et esse voluerunt. qui ea quae faciebant quaeque dicebant multitudini iucunda volebant esse, populares, qui autem ita se gerebant ut sua consilia optimo cuique probarent, optimates habebantur.



There are always two groups in this city who are eager to be involved in public affairs and in this to distinguish themselves. Of these groups one is anxious to be the populares and the other, the optimates. Those who wish to make what they are saying and doing pleasing to the masses are populares, while those who manage their policies so that the best citizens might approve of them are the optimates.



- Cicero, Pro Sestio 96

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Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Undergrad Papers

I thought it might be helpful to you readers if I gave you an idea of what kinds of topics I'm interested, so, below I'm posting links to a few of my more important undergraduate papers along with short descriptions of their topics.



The Nature of the Worship of Augustus During his Lifetime

The title is basically self-explanatory. I give a basic overview of his worship in the provinces and the influences which lead to his association with Apollo. I also offer my take on why Augustus was so reluctant to allow Roman citizens to worship him in the same manner as the provincials.

Elections and Auctoritas under Augustus

This is one of my favorite papers, just because I feel that it takes a somewhat original position. Basically I believe that Augustus did not need to rely on any formal powers to influence politics in Rome, but rather that the Republican system operated in a similar way to what it had before the revolution, only that afterwards, with all auctoritas concentrated in the person of Augustus, his political influence was so great as to make it irresistable.


The End of the Nobiles

This paper, in essence, denies that the nobiles merely drifted into political passivity willingly after the accession of Augustus, but rather that they indeed put up a fight, but were put down by violence on Augustus' part.


When you click the links you'll be taken to a download page where you can download my papers as MS Word files.


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First Post!

Welcome to Clupeus Aureus!

The purpose of this blog is my re-entry into the academic world of Ancient Roman History, concentrating on the political and legal history of the Late Republic. I hope to post here regularly about scholarly work in this field and perhaps to do some of my own original research.

My first official project is to re-read Cicero's Catilinarian orations (in Latin, of course) and do a piece-by-piece commentary on them, including both my own thoughts on the original text and (when I have better access to some Classics journals) discussions of relevant secondary sources.

Well, let's get to it then!


P.S. The name of this blog comes from Res Gestae Divi Augusti 34: "Quo pro merito meo senatus consulto Augustus appellatus sum et laureis postes aedium mearum vestiti publice coronaque civica super ianuam meam fixa est et clupeus aureus in curia Iulia positus, quem mihi senatum populumque Romanum dare virtutis clementiaeque et iustitiae et pietatis caussa testatum est per eius clupei inscriptionem."

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