-
Chapter 4. Political Ideas under the Roman Republic
- Duquesne University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
260 Chapter 4 Political Ideas under the Roman Republic While Roman magistrates elaborated on principles of public law that were unprecedented in clarity and pragmatism from previously known states, and Roman jurists forged the basic vocabulary and analytical legal tools that would later form the common basis of all modern law, political ideas were also being framed in Rome, just as earlier in Greece. The Romans, as we said, were by nature less contemplative than the Greeks, through whom they discovered only science. Moreover, the first author we will discuss in this chapter was actually a Greek, who settled in Rome: Polybius. But the Romans proved to be excellent learners, particularly in the field of politics. Their various forms of government, from the Republic to the Principate and the Dominate, yielded an experience of politics as abundant and rich as the Greeks. Moreover, they learned additional political lessons while administering a state with a global vocation. Their experience is reflected in works that rarely adopted the format of theoretical treatises (with the exception of Cicero), but nevertheless expressed a high degree of conceptual elaboration. I. Polybius A. Introduction: The Scipionic Circle In the years following the Battle of Pydna (168 BC), Greece finally fell under Roman tutelage. We know that Greek civilization did not suffer from the loss of its political independence, but to the contrary, as Horace says, “Greece, the captive, made her savage victor captive”; Greece, in fact, hellenized Rome. While the Romans resisted Greek influence to some extent (e.g., Cato the Censor obtained in 161 BC an order of banishment of all philosophers from the Roman Senate), the first Romans to be won over by Greek culture were the great Roman generals. Polybius lived in the circle of one such general. Chapter 4. Political Ideas under the Roman Republic 261 Scipio Africanus (235–183 BC) was proconsul of Hispania at the time of the Second Punic War. He undertook the conquest of Andalusia, then with his ally, the Numidian prince Massinissa, besieged Carthage in 204 BC. He went on to win the Battle of Zama in 202 BC. Next, he traveled to Asia to wage war against Antiochus III, king of Syria. However, he and his brother, Scipio Asiaticus, were indicted for embezzlement (the accusation came from the conservatives under their leader, Cato the Elder). He dedicated the last years of his life to Greek culture. ScipioAemilianus(alsoknownasScipioAfricanustheYounger)(185–129BC)wastheyounger son of Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus,1 the conqueror of Macedonia, and the adopted son of the son of Scipio Africanus. Consul in 147 BC, he razed Carthage. Later, he pacified Hispania. As a defender of the interests of the senatorial class, he opposed the Gracchi reforms. Heir to the library of Perseus of Macedonia, bequeathed by his father, he cultivated a true interest in Hellenic culture. The Scipionic Circle formed around the second Scipio; its members included Gaius Laelius, a politician and Scipio’s dearest friend; Gaius Lucilius, the first Roman satiric poet; Terence, one of the first Latin comedy writers; Panaetius, a Stoic philosopher,2 and Polybius, the historian. Panaetius and Polybius were Greeks. B. Life and Work Born ca. 210–208 BC, died ca.126 BC, Polybius was from Megalopolis, a city in Arcadia, in the north of the Peloponnesus. Megalopolis was founded between 371 and 368 BC after the battle of Leuctra and the defeat of Sparta as a counterweight to the latter. Its founder was the Theban statesman and general, Epaminondas. From the outset, Megalopolis was constantly embroiled in wars with its Peloponnesian neighbors. In the third century, the city fell under the authority of the new Macedonian monarchy with the rest of Greece, but it struggled to maintain its independence, alone at first, then after 234 BC as a member of the Achaean League. When the Romans established a foothold in Greece and in the East, following the defeat of Philip V, King of Macedon (197), and the defeat of another Hellenistic sovereign, Antiochus III of Syria (190), the Achaean League found itself in a delicate position. Indeed, under Rome’s long-armed protection it had succeeded in uniting and governing all of the Peloponnesus. (Lycortas, the father of Polybius, was one of the architects of this policy.) Nevertheless, the situation could hardly last. During the Battle of Pydna, the leaders of the Achaean League were accused of lukewarm support for Rome and were deported there (168 BC). Polybius, who was hipparch of the league (second only to the...