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.
26 Ibid., 1.47.
27 Ibid., 2.4.47.
28 Ibid., 2.3.207.
29 Quintus Cicero, Electioneering Handbook, 2. The authorship is hotly disputed. Even so, the insights that it provides into electioneering in the late Republic are such that, even if it is a fake, it remains invaluable as a glimpse into the mindset of a new man on the campaign trail.
30 Cicero, Against Verres, 2.4.69.
31 Cicero, On Duties, 1.109. The description refers to Sulla as well as Crassus.
32 Plutarch, Crassus, 7.
33 Seneca, Letters, 2.4.
34 Plutarch, Pompey, 14.
35 Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, 2.41.
36 Sallust, Histories, 3, fragment 66 (A).
37 Publilius Syrus, 337.
38 Orosius, 5.24.
39 Sallust, Histories, 3, fragment 66 (A).
40 Plutarch, Crassus, 12.
6: A Banquet of Carrion
1 Plutarch, Lucullus, 11.
2 Ibid., 27.
3 Valerius Maximus, 8.14.5.
4 Cato the Elder, On Agriculture, preface.
5 Plutarch, Tiberius Gracchus, 8.
6 Plutarch, Lucullus, 34.
7 Ibid.
8 Appian, The Mithraditic War, 92.
9 Cicero, On Duties, 3.107.
10 Appian, The Mithraditic War, 93.
11 Velleius Paterculus, 2.31.
12 Cassius Dio, 36.24.
13 Ibid., 36.34.
14 Strabo, 11.1.6. The line of Homer is from The Iliad, 6.208.
15 Pliny the Elder, 7.99.
7: The Debt to Pleasure
1 Plutarch, Lucullus, 41.
2 Livy, 39.6.
3 Varro, On Agriculture, 3.17.
4 Macrobius, 3.15.4.
5 Varro, On Agriculture, 3.17.
6 Plutarch, Lucullus, 51.
7 Seneca, Letters, 95.15.
8 This seems the most probable explanation for the contraction of Clodia’s – and Clodius’ – family name. See Tatum, Patrician Tribune, pp. 247–8.
9 Caelius, speaking in his own defence at his trial in 56 BC. Quoted by Quintilian, An Orator’s Education, 8.6.52. Literally, ‘coam’ (coition) in the dining room, and ‘nolam’ (unwillingness) in the bedroom.
10 Lucretius, 4.1268.
11 Cicero, In Defence of Murena, 13.
12 Cicero, Laws, 2.39.
13 Cicero, In Defence of Gallio, fragment 1.
14 Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 9.
15 Ibid., 17.
16 Cicero, To Atticus, 2.1.
17 Catullus, 58.
18 In Latin ‘discinctus’.
19 Plutarch, Caesar, 7.
20 Sallust, The Catilinarian War, 14.
21 Cicero, On Duties, 3.75.
22 Cicero, In Defence of Murena, 50.
23 Plutarch, Cicero, 14.
24 Valerius Maximus, 5.9.
25 Cicero, In Defence of Caelius, 14.
26 Plutarch, Cicero, 15.
27 Cicero, To Atticus, 1.19.
28 Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 52.
29 Plutarch, Caesar, 12.
30 Plutarch, Pompey, 43.
31 Cicero, To Atticus, 1.14.
32 Ibid.
33 Ibid., 1.16.
8: Triumvirate
1 Valerius Maximus, 2.4.2.
2 Plutarch, Pompey, 42.
3 Cicero, In Defence of Murena, 31.
4 Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 30.
5 Cicero, To Atticus, 1.18.
6 Cassius Dio, 38.3.
7 Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 22.
8 Appian, 2.9.
9 Cicero, To Atticus, 2.21.
10 Ibid., 2.3.
11 Plutarch, Cicero, 29.
12 Catullus, 58.
13 Cicero, To Atticus, 2.15.
14 Cicero, On the Answer of the Soothsayers, 46.
15 Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic War, 2.1.
16 Quoted by Strabo, 17.3.4.
17 Diodorus Siculus, 5.26.
18 Cicero, The Republic, 3.16.
19 Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic War, 4.2.
20 Ibid., 1.1.
21 Ibid., 2.35.
22 Cicero, On the Consular Provinces, 33.
23 Plutarch, Pompey, 48.
24 Cicero, On his House, 75.
25 Cicero, To Quintus, 2.3.
26 Ibid.
9: The Wings of Icarus
1 Cicero, In Defence of Caelius, 49–50.
2 Cicero, To Friends, 1.7.
3 Ibid., 1.9.
4 Cicero, To Atticus, 4.8a.
5 Cicero, On Duties, 1.26.
6 Cicero, To Atticus, 4.13.
7 Lucretius, 2.538.
8 Plutarch, Crassus, 17.
9 Ibid., 23.
10 Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic War, 3.16.
11 Ibid., 4.17.
12 Cicero, To Atticus, 4.16.
13 Goudineau, César, p. 335.
14 Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic War, 7.4.
15 Ibid., 7.56.
16 Plutarch, to be specific: Caesar, 15.
17 See, for instance, Goudineau, César, pp. 317–28.
18 Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic War, 8.44.
19 Plutarch, Pompey, 12.
20 Petronius, 119.17–18.
21 Cicero, Against Piso, 65.
22 Cicero, To Friends, 7.1.
23 Pliny the Elder, 36.41. It is possible that the fourteen captive nations were gathered round Pompey’s statue, rather than his theatre. The Latin is ambiguous.
24 Pliny the Elder, 8.21.
25 Cicero, To Atticus, 4.17.
26 Asconius, 42C.
27 Plutarch, Pompey, 54.
28 Cicero, In Defence of Milo, 79.
29 Pliny the Elder, 36.117–18.
30 Cicero, To Friends, 8.7.
31 Ibid., 8.1.
32 Ibid., 8.8.
33 Ibid., 8.6.
34 Petronius, 119.
35 Plutarch, Pompey, 57.
36 Cicero, To Friends, 8.14.
37 Ibid., 2.15.
38 Appian, 2.31.
10: World War
1 Cicero, To Atticus, 7.1.
2 Lucan, 1.581. A poetic touch, no doubt, but a haunting and apt one.
3 Cicero, To Atticus, 8.2.
4 Cicero, To Atticus, 8.11.
5 Plutarch, Cicero, 38.
6 Cicero, In Defence of Marcellus, 27.
7 Anon., The Spanish War, 42.
8 Caesar, The Civil War, 3.8.
9 Plutarch, Caesar, 39.
10 Caesar, The Civil War, 3.82.
11 Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 30.
12 Plutarch, Pompey, 79.
13 Cicero, To Friends, 2.12.
14 Cicero, To Atticus, 2.5.
15 Plutarch, Antony, 27.
16 Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 51.
17 Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 72.
18 Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 37.
19 Cicero, To Friends, 9.15.
20 Ibid., 15.19.
21 Florus, 2.13.92.
22 Cicero, Philippics, 2.85.
23 Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 77.
24 Plutarch, Brutus, 12.
25 Velleius Paterculus, 2.57.
26 Plutarch, Caesar, 63.
27 Cassius Dio, 44.18.
28 Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 82.
29 Or so it was claimed by Seneca. See On Anger, 3.30.4.
30 Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 82.
11: The Death of the Republic
1 Cicero, To Atticus, 14.9.
2 Ibid., 14.21.
3 Cicero, To Friends, 4.6.
4 Cicero, To Atticus, 14.21.
5 Ibid., 14.12.
6 Ibid., 14.4.
7 Ibid., 16.7.3.
8 Cicero, Philippics, 2.1.
9 Ibid., 10.20.
10 Ibid., 13.24–5.
11 Cicero, To Atticus, 16.8.1.
12 Cicero, Philippics, 3.3.
13 Cicero, To Friends, 11.20.
14 Suetonius, The Deified Augustus, 26.
15 Appian, 3.92.
16 Pliny the Elder, 34.6.
17 Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 14.1.
18 Virgil, Eclogues, 4.4–9.
19 Plutarch, Antony, 26.
20 Suetonius, The Deified Augustus, 69.
21 The Achievements of the Divine Augustus, 25.2.
22 Plutarch, Antony, 75.
23 The Achievements of the Divine Augustus, 3.2.
24 Seneca, On Mercy, 1.2.2.
25 Cassius Dio, 53.16.
26 Ennius, Annals, fragment 155.
27 Horace, Odes, 4.5.1–2.
28 Ibid., 3.6.45–8.
29 Ibid., 3.24.36–7.
30 Velleius Paterculus, 2.89.
31 Virgil, Georgics, 1.145–6.
32 Virgil, Aeneid, 6.792–3.
33 Ibid., 8.669–70.
34 Horace, Epodes, 2.1–6.
35 Cicero, Philippics, 13.30.
36 Suetonius, The Deified Augustus, 99.
37 Ovid, The Art of Loving, 3.112–13.
38 Livy, 43.13.
39 Cicero, The Republic, 1.68.