The Storm Before the Storm полностью

The death of Crassus broke the alliance between Caesar and Pompey, and the political factions realigned again for a final showdown in the 40s. Pompey lined up with the optimates in the Senate. Caesar lined up with his own network of populare partisans and loyal veterans. After crossing the Rubicon in 49, Caesar defeated all his enemies and had himself declared dictator for life. Mocking Sulla by saying that “Sulla did not know his ABCs when he laid down his dictatorship,” Caesar clearly did not plan to relinquish the Dictatorship, so a gang of senators led by Brutus and Cassius murdered him in 44. After the Ides of March, Caesar’s heirs Octavian and Mark Antony^* combined to defeat the remnants of the Senate, and then waged a civil war against each other for control of the empire. Victorious over all his enemies, Octavian transformed himself into Augustus in 27, and the Roman Republic transformed into the Roman Empire.⁵¹

Augustus’s imperial settlement was premised on the accumulation of all sovereign authority in the hands of one man. The Centuriate Assembly elected Augustus consul, so he held consular authority. The Plebeian Assembly simultaneously elected him tribune, so he held tribunician authority. With that authority, Augustus could veto any bill and was immune from physical attack. The Senate also granted him proconsular power in all the provinces, making him commander in chief of almost all of Rome’s armed forces. In time, he also became pontifex maximus and controlled the priesthoods and temples. Augustus maintained the charade of republican government throughout his reign. Annual elections proceeded as before, as did meetings of the Assembly. Augustus also met regularly with a senior council of senators to give them the appearance of equal participation. Augustus never created a new office of “emperor”—that is simply the label later Romans gave to the bound-together fascist of individual sovereign powers now collectively vested in the hands of one man. Augustus himself preferred to be called simply princeps—the first citizen among equals.⁵²

But underneath the charade of republican ritual, the monarchical element of the Polybian constitution had permanently triumphed. Still, contrary to Polybius’s theory, the triumph of the Caesars did not inevitably lead to an aristocratic response. The imperial administration created by Augustus entered a mode of permanent self-perpetuation. Provincials and Equestrians thrived under the new order, and if a few senators lost power, so what? Inside the Senate there was hope the Old Republic would be revived, but the Republic was never coming back. Sulla died in 78 believing he had breathed new life into the Republic. But what looked like the dawning of a new age was really the last moments of light before the Roman Republic disappeared over the horizon.

* Grandson of the late Marcus Antonius.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ANY LIST OF acknowledgments must begin with my wife, Brandi, to whom this book is already dedicated. She has been with me every step of the way and been an unfailing source of strength, support, and love. I would also like to thank my children, Elliott and Olive, who have been wonderful through the entire process and who I hope like the book once they learn how to read. My parents, Doug and Liz Duncan, have also provided incredible support not just while the book was being written, but throughout my entire life. Without them this book would not exist. My success is their success.

This book would also not exist without my literary agent, Rachel Vogel, who sent me an e-mail one day asking if I had ever considered writing a book. She then nursed a half-baked idea from infancy to maturity and guided me through the long and convoluted process of selling, writing, and promotion. I could not have asked for a better shepherd through the often baffling world of publishing.

I was also lucky enough to have landed with my editor, Colleen Lawrie, at PublicAffairs. She not only said yes to the project in the first place, but provided expert advice and guidance as we took the manuscript from a blank piece of paper to a completed manuscript. The rest of the team at PublicAffairs has also been fantastic—especially for a first-time author. Managing editor Katie Haigler, publicist Kristina Fazzalaro, copy editor Bill Warhop, designer Linda Mark, marketing coordinator Miguel Cervantes, and marketing director Lindsay Fradkoff were all a pleasure to work with. The book is better for all of their hard work.