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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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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