Ronald T. Ridley

Livy and the concilium plebis

The ancient historian, in contrast to colleagues working on more recent periods, must often reflect on the problems of our discipline. Not the least is our being forced for the most part to regard history as a gigantic—or minute—jig-saw puzzle, in which we have to sort out and fit together innumerable pieces of evidence, of varying value and from a wide range of sources, often radically divergent in nature and date, for example. I t is rare that we have one basic coherent account by a reliable historian of any considerable period. Livys work stands as a monument to the Republic. Yet all is not well. His shortcomings have been fully revealed. Much of his history lay back in the mists of time even from where he was standing. The scope of his history led him into many avenues for which he seems to have had little inclination or ability. Yet we wish to know of the early Republic. The plebeian organisation is one of its most important and fascinating aspects. I t has been discussed endlessly by modern scholars. Yet here the jig-saw has taken over. I know of no attempt to examine the views of our major surviving source on this central matter. Modern scholars have attempted their own understandings, linking together comments of Augustan jurists, excerpts from imperial miscellanies and fragments of late lexicographers—to fill out or check Livys account! This obscures a number of fundamental questions, particularly: what were the historical methods of such an ancient source in his approach to such matters ? And did he have a coherent idea about them at all? My only aim in this paper is to examine Livys account of the concilium plebis in its own terms. Thus there will be little reference to other ancient sources, for that would only deflect us as usual from Livy, and little to modern works, except a few representative ones, and that only to assist our understanding of him, to alert us to some of 2he problems and possibilities.1 The period covered is, naturally, only that down to t87. After the famous exaequatio of the concilium plebis and comitia tributa, the problem is a different one in which I do not wish to enter. I t is generally accepted that the concilium plebis was the assembly under tribunician presidency. Presumably then by examining tribunician legislation and jurisdiction

Eulogy of the Lost Republic or Acceptance of the New Monarchy? Livy's Ab Urbe Condita

For a century and a half, since at least the appearance of probably the first general monograph on Livy, Hippolyte Taines Tite-Live, in 1856, scholars have argued over one of the most fundamental questions which can be raised about the character of the historian: was he a ‘Republican’ or an ‘Augustan’ writer? The answers have been much more varied than might be expected, but have mostly relied on an endless discussion of the same few pieces of ‘evidence’: Livys few mentions of Augustus and the usually quite misquoted reference in Tacitus (Ann. 4.34).

Lars Porsenna and the Early Roman Republic

Abstract A dominant and fascinating figure at the very beginning of the Republic is Porsenna, king of Clusium. He has been a focus of attention since the Renaissance and for the following seven centuries. Fashions in interpretation have come and gone. This essay surveys those interpretations, and attempts to sum up the complexities of contemporary scholarship.

A Brimming Cup: The Life of Kathleen Fitzpatrick

I did not know Kathleen Fitzpatrick (1905–90). She retired from the School of History in 1962, and I arrived in 1965. She was, however, very much a living legend, and many colleagues had been her s...

The dean of archaeological photographers: Harry Burton

Harry Burton (1879–1940) was the most famous photographer in Egyptian archaeology, but he has previously received only a short entry in one specialised biographical dictionary, and been the subject of two essays. This study provides a basic biography, to document his photographic contribution to the history of Egyptian archaeology, and to indicate where published collections of his photographs, often uncredited, can be found.

Despotism And Deceit: Yes, But What Happened Before And After?

This chapter offers some examples of the perennial link between despotism and deceit from both before and after the world of the Greeks and Romans, to provide a broader context. One of the most remarkable rulers ever to sit on the throne of Egypt was Akhenaten. He is remarkable for two things: his religious policies which replaced the traditional pantheon headed by Amon with an exclusive solar cult, and his portraiture, a total departure from classical representations both of the king himself and the royal family. Assyrian despotism, at least to enemies and subjects, seems to have produced amentality which could not face reality and so required deceit, tampering with the historical record. In a series of successes in N. Italy in 1796 against the Austrians and Piedmontese, Bonaparte established the Cisalpine Republic; other generals overran Rome and Naples in 1798. Keywords: deceit; despotism; Greeks; Romans

‘A fanatical yet rational devotion’ Augustus and the Legions

There is surely no one any more who requires convincing that the basis of the Augustan principate was the control of the legions. Augustus may have paraded his tribunician power and played down his potestas as a magistrate, but the Res Gestae is above all else the record of the generalissimo in control of the entire military resources of the empire. That control remained almost unchallenged for forty-four years. William Harris brilliantly demonstrated that under the Republic military glory was the preeminent virtue of Roman politicians. The state was now in the control of one man, but nothing had changed, except that the stakes were higher. Edward Gibbon, of course, detected the truth. He had, after all, both political and military experience – however inglorious.