A Critical History of Early Rome

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous contribution to this book provided by the Classical Literature Endowment Fund of the University of California Press Associates, which is supported
by a major gift from Joan Palevsky.
A Critical History of Early Rome
A Critical History of Early Rome
From Prehistory to the First Punic War
Gary Forsythe
University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd. London, England
©2005 by the Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Forsythe, Gary.
A critical history of early Rome: from prehistory to the first Punic War / Gary Forsythe
p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–520–22651–8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Rome—History— To 510 B.C. 2. Rome—History—
Republic, 510–265 B.C. I. Title. DG209.F735 2005 937—dc22 2004008505
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list of tables and illustrations / ix
acknowledgments / xi
dedication / xiii
abbreviations / xv
foreword / 1
The Land and its Linguistic Diversity / 7
Modern Archaeology and Prehistory / 12
Prehistoric Italy / 14
2. Archaic Italy c. 800–500 B.C. / 28
Phoenicians in the West / 29
Greek Colonization in the West / 31
The Formation of Etruscan Civilization / 36
Phoenicians, Greeks, and Etruscans / 41
Growth and Decline of Etruscan Civilization / 46
The Alphabet / 51
3. The Ancient Sources for Early Roman History / 59
The Annalistic Tradition / 60
The Antiquarian Tradition / 64
Cicero and Diodorus Siculus / 68
Ancient Documentary Sources / 69
contents
The Nature of the Evidence / 78
The Site of Rome / 80
The Archaeology of Early Rome / 82
The Ancient Literary Tradition / 93
Archaic Roman Institutions / 108
5. Archaic Roman Religion / 125
Some Important Roman Divinities / 126
The Official Religious Calendar / 129
The Religious Priesthoods / 135
6. The Beginning of the Roman Republic / 147
How Did The Monarchy End? / 147
The Nature and Origin of the Consulship / 150
The Early Consular Fasti / 155
Patricians and Plebeians / 157
The Plebeian Tribunate / 170
Rome and the Latins / 183
Sp. Cassius, the Fabii, and the Cremera / 192
Clan Warfare and the Lapis Satricanus / 198
7. Rome of the Twelve Tables / 201
The Trial of K. Quinctius / 204
Appius Herdonius and Quinctius Cincinnatus / 205
Facts and Fictions of the Plebeian Tribunate / 207
The Decemviral Legislation / 209
Litigation and Orality in Early Roman Law / 213
Society and Economy / 216
The Prohibition of Intermarriage / 225
The Second Secession and the Valerian Horatian Laws / 230
8. Evolution and Growth of the Roman State, 444–367 B.C. / 234
The Military Tribunes with Consular Power / 234
The Sedition of Sp. Maelius / 239
The War Against Fidenae / 241
The War Against Veii / 246
The Gallic Catastrophe and Its Aftermath / 251
The Sedition of M. Manlius Capitolinus / 259
The Licinian Sextian Laws / 262
9. Rome’s Rise to Dominance, 366–300 B.C. / 268
The Emergence of the Roman Nobility / 268
Tibur, Gauls, Greeks, and Carthage / 277
vi contents
The Latin War and its Consequences / 289
The Second Samnite War / 292
The Philinus Treaty / 311
Roman Factional Politics / 321
10. Rome’s Conquest and Unification of Italy, 299–264 B.C. / 324
The Third Samnite War / 324
Early Roman Coinage / 336
Domestic and Foreign Affairs during the 280s B.C. / 344
The Pyrrhic War / 349
Some Final Assessments / 366
works cited / 371
1. Outline of the later centuriate organization / 112
2. Total manpower for the regions of Italy 225 B.C. / 365
MAPS
2. Linguistic groups of Italy c. 350 B.C. / 11
3. Map of prehistoric sites / 17
4. The ancient Mediterranean / 30
5. Greek colonization in Sicily and Southern Italy / 33
6. Etruria / 40
7. Rome / 81
8. Latium / 185
FIGURES
2. Hut-shaped cremation urns / 55
tables and illustrations
ix
3. Scene from the Francois Tomb at Vulci depicting Macstrna and Caile Vipinas / 104
4. Etruscan god of the underworld wearing a wolf ’s head / 134
5. Bronze model of a sheep’s liver / 140
6. Chronological distribution of new clans attaining high office / 165
7. Terracotta cult statue of Apollo from Veii / 247
8. Horseshoe-shaped sandstone funerary stela from Felsina / 252
9. Ficoroni Cista from Praeneste / 317
10. The Romano-Campanian didrachms / 337
x tables and illustrations
The many debts of gratitude incurred in the course of researching and writing this book are too numerous to be easily enumerated, but common decency requires that the author at least make an attempt to acknowledge the most obvious and important ones. Thanks are due to Kurt A. Raaflaub, A. John Graham, Martin Ostwald, Michael Alexander, Brent Vine, Mark Toher, Richard Mitchell, and Ernst Badian for their comments, criticisms, and suggestions. Thanks are due also to Kate Toll, the copy editrix, whose intelligent and well-informed editing of the text has made it more readable. A great debt is owed to Scott Pathel for his computer expertise employed in the preparation of the maps and other illustrations used in this book. Thanks are due to the people at the reference desk in the Westchester Public Library in Chesterton, Indiana for their assistance in obtaining many books and articles through inter-library loan.
Although the author was occupied with the research and writing of this book from the summer of 1997 to the spring of 1999, in a certain sense this book has been in the making for very many years; and as a direct conse- quence of the author’s blindness, he is greatly indebted to many friends and fellow college students, who over the years have given him many hours of their time in order to read books and articles to him. Out of this very long list of devoted volunteer readers the author wishes to mention by name the following persons whose voices recorded on tape have been the author’s constant companions as he wrote the present volume: Lloyd Daly, Peter Denault, Becky Harrison, Sarah Kimball, Scott Rusch, Nell Wright, Sina Dubovoj, and especially Terry Trotter (who now teaches mathematics in San Salvador), Peg Decker (who died at about the time the work on this book was begun), Kitty Reip and her sister Kandi Kaliher (the latter of whom died of cancer in November of 1994). Special thanks are also due to
acknowledgments
xi
the author’s dear college friend of many years ago, Bryan McMurray, and his gracious wife, Joanna, for allowing the author to enjoy the hospitality of their home in Champaign, Illinois, while he made use of the University of Illinois’s vast library resources. Unfortunately, due to her death the author’s wife, Dorothy Alice Forsythe, was not able to assist in the final proofreading of the copyedited text. This task was carried out by a very dear friend, Marnie Veghte. Yet the greatest debt of gratitude by far is owed to the author’s wife, Dorothy, for her countless hours of assistance in every con- ceivable capacity. Attempting to record the innumerable ways in which this book is indebted to this extraordinary woman would involve an entire chapter of its own.
xii acknowledgments
Toward the end of the five-year period during which this work has gone from manuscript to published book, my most lovely,
loving, and beloved wife Dorothy Alice died of cancer (March 8, 2003). Over the past thirty-one years she has
assisted me in countless ways, has been the light of my life, and has been the best love-mate, life-mate, and help-mate
a person could ever hope to have.
To thee, my dearest love, the most perfect person whom I have known, I dedicate this book. You were my first love, my one and only love, and the great passion of my life. Words cannot express how much I love and miss you, and how grateful I am to you for having blessed and graced my life with your supreme goodness,
incomparable sweetness, and infinite love. As your name suggests, you have been and continue to be a truly
divine gift to all of us who knew and loved you.
Dedicated to Dorothy Alice Forsythe on July 29, 2003, my darling’s seventy-fifth birthday.
ad Att. Cicero, Letters to Atticus ad Q. Fr. Cicero, Letters to His Brother Quintus Akten 1981. Akten des Kolloquiums zum Thema die Göttin von
Pyrgi: Archäologische, Linguistische und Religionsgeschichtliche Aspekte (Tübingen, 16–7 Januar 1979). 1981. Instituto di Studi Etruschi ed Italici, Florence. Appian Bell. Civ. Appian, Bella Civilia
Aug. Civ. Dei Augustine, City of God Caes. Bell. Gall. Caesar, Bellum Gallicum CAH Cambridge Ancient History Cat. Cicero, Against Catiline CIL. Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Cic. Amic. Cicero, De Amicitia Cic. De Re Pub. Cicero, De Re Publica Cic. Phil. Cicero, Philippics Cic. Tusc. Disp. Cicero, Tusculan Disputations CLP Civiltà del Lazio Primitivo, Exhibition Catalogue CSE Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum Diod. Diodorus Siculus, The Library Dion. Hal. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities Frontinus Strat. Frontinus, Stratagems Gell. Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights Hdt. Herodotus, The Histories ILLRP Inscriptiones Latinae LiberaeRei Publicae ILS Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae. H. Dessau, ed.
1892–1916.
abbreviations
xv
Pliny NH Pliny the Elder, Natural History Plutarch QR Plutarch, Roman Questions Plutarch Rom. Plutarch, Life of Romulus Polyb. Polybius, Histories Sallust Bell. Iug. Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum Seneca Controv. Seneca the Elder, Controversiae Serv. ad Aen. Servius, Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil Serv. ad Ecl. Servius, Commentary on Vergil’s Eclogues SIG Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum Suet. Tib. Suetonius, Life of Tiberius Suet. Vitellius Suetonius, Life of Vitellius Tacitus Ann. and Hist. Tacitus, Annales and Histories Theophrastus Hist. Plant. Theophrastus, Historia Plantarum Thuc. Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War Ulpian Tit. Ulpian, Tituli Val. Max. Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds and Sayings Varro Ling. Lat. Varro, De Lingua Latina Vell. Pat. Velleius Paterculus, History Vir. Ill. De Viris Illustribus
xvi abbreviations
This book narrates the early history of Rome, one of the most successful imperial powers of world history. Although the story told here ends with the subjugation of Italy and thus does not treat the great wars of overseas conquest, during Rome’s advancement from a small town on the Tiber River to the ruling power of the Italian peninsula the Romans in large mea- sure developed the social, political, and military institutions that formed the foundations of their later imperial greatness.
Throughout human history there have been many nations or peoples who have greatly extended their power or territory by conquest, but only a small number of such states have been able to retain their conquests beyond three or four generations. Conquest requires little more than the successful application of military might, whereas the lasting success of an imperial power depends upon its ability to adapt military, political, social, economic, cultural, and religious institutions to accommodate change over time and to serve more than the narrow self-interest of a ruling oligarchy. Unlike many ancient Greek city-states, such as Athens and Sparta, which excluded foreigners and subjects from political participation, Rome from its begin- ning did not hesitate to incorporate conquered peoples into its social and political system. Allies and subjects who adopted Roman ways were eventu- ally granted Roman citizenship and became fully participating members in Roman society.
Rome’s early development occurred in a multi-cultural environment, and its institutions and practices were significantly affected by such diver- sity. Since the site of Rome, situated twelve miles inland from the sea on the Tiber River that separated Latium from Etruria, commanded a convenient river crossing and lay on a land route from the Apennines to the sea, geog- raphy brought together three distinct peoples at the site of early Rome:
foreword
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Latins, Etruscans, and Sabines. Though Latin in speech and culture, the Roman population must have been somewhat diverse from earliest times, a circumstance which doubtless goes far in explaining the openness of Roman society in historical times. Given present-day interests in issues of ethnicity, multi-culturalism, and cultural diversity, Rome’s successful unifi- cation of the diverse peoples of early Italy is a subject worthy of careful and serious study.
This volume is aimed at three rather different constituencies: the gen- eral educated reader interested in having a general but sophisticated account of early Roman history, the college undergraduate enrolled in survey or more advanced courses on ancient Rome, and the more special- ized graduate student and professional scholar of classical studies and ancient history. Attempting to satisfy three such divergent groups is likely to be overly ambitious; and although the author has tried to keep them con- stantly in mind, some portions of the narrative will inevitably serve one group better than the other two. On the one hand, in order to produce a coherent narrative, much of the book necessarily sets forth many issues on which there is substantial agreement among modern scholars. This will best serve the needs of the general educated reader and college undergraduate. On the other hand, however, the study is much more than a mere general survey or statement of current orthodoxy. It contains many original inter- pretations by the author and bears clear signs of his particular interests, which are intended to engage the more specialized reader and instructor. The book will be best understood and appreciated when read concurrently with Livy’s first ten books, the Roman Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, or Plutarch’s biographies of Romulus, Numa, Publicola, Coriolanus, Camillus, and Pyrrhus. In fact, the book’s organization is patterned to some degree after the arrangement of Livy’s first ten books, which are our single most important source on early Rome. The first three chapters serve as an intro- duction to the subject as a whole by treating the prehistoric, cultural-historical, and historiographical background. Chapter 4 corresponds to Livy’s first book in treating the period of the early kings; and following the excursus on early Roman religion in chapter 5, chapters 6 and 7 correspond to Livy’s second and third books. Chapter 8 covers the same material found in Livy Books IV–VI, and chapter 9 is parallel to Livy Books VII–IX.
Modern scholarship on early Roman history in some ways resembles that of the Homeric poems and their historicity. Differences of opinion and interpretation largely hinge on individual scholars’ divergent assessments of the relative historical value or worthlessness of the data. These problems of evaluating ancient source material are complicated by the fact that both Homer and Livy were highly skilled story tellers. They constructed such vivid and compelling narratives of personalities and events that the modern scholar, interested in basic questions of historicity, may often find it difficult
2 foreword
to suspend belief and thereby be seduced by their verisimilitude. As a result, both modern Homeric scholarship and the study of early Roman history have been characterized by wide divergences of opinion, which have tended to run in cycles from one generation to the next (see Heurgon 1973, 244–50). Indeed, early Roman history can be regarded as a classic illustra- tion of the old adage, “there are as many opinions as there are people (quot homines tot sententiae).” It is inevitable, therefore, that many other scholars will disagree sharply either with the basic approach taken or with various individual interpretations set out in this book.
As indicated by the title, the overall approach adopted throughout this volume is rather critical toward the general reliability of the surviving ancient sources on early Roman history. Agreeing with M.I. Finley’s famous dictum that “the ancients’ ability to invent and their capacity to believe are persistently underestimated,” the author regards a critical approach as entirely justified and necessary. Archaeological finds have been useful in tracing Rome’s overall development during the pre-republican period, but Roman history for the fifth and first half of the fourth centuries B.C. remains extremely problematic due to the nature of the surviving ancient historical tradition. Then from the middle of the fourth century onwards this tradi- tion gradually becomes more reliable as the events described approach the period of Rome’s earliest historians.
It must always be kept in mind that the ancient Romans did not begin to write their own history until c. 200 B.C. By that time a well formulated tra- dition about the early kings and the early republic was already firmly estab- lished, and this historical tradition continued to be reshaped during the next 170 years until it was given final literary expression in the works of Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Herodotus’s description of the Persian Wars may offer us an instructive historiographical parallel. Although the Greek historian conducted his research and composed his historical account only one or two generations after Xerxes’ invasion of Greece, his narrative offers clear testimony to the fact that already by his day these his- torical events were becoming mythologized.
Recent work by T.P. Wiseman in reference to Rome’s foundation legend (Wiseman 1995, 117 ff.) and by J. von Ungern-Sternberg concerning the formation of the historical tradition surrounding the early kings and early republic (Ungern-Sternberg and Reinau 1988, 237–65; Eder 1990, 91–102) has shown that when the first Roman historians composed their accounts, much of what they recorded was simply the historical tradition currently accepted by Roman society, but this tradition, as those of other peoples, had little relation to or interest in historical truth, but rather reflected contemporaneous concerns and ideology. Indeed, tradition is itself the product of the historical process, is capable of being manufac- tured, and can readily gain currency within a society as representing the
foreword 3
historical truth (see Hobsbawm and Ranger 1983). The more we learn about the workings of oral tradition, the more it becomes evident that it has the capacity to transform historical truth both swiftly and massively. Thus, modern historical scholarship on early Rome cannot simply base its con- clusions upon the supposed unanimity of later Roman historians, but instead, critical analysis must be employed. Abandoning the safe shelter of the hallowed ancient tradition may be psychologically difficult; it is cer- tainly quite inconvenient; and it forces us to engage in the hard work of his- torical reconstruction of an imperfectly documented period of the past, but the endeavor is both intellectually challenging and rewarding.
In November of 1994 the University of California Press approached the author to inquire whether he would be interested in writing a book narrat- ing the history of early Rome. The author gladly agreed to undertake this task, but in the very next year there was published T. J. Cornell’s The Begin- nings of Rome, which covers the same period as the present volume. Thus, it might be reasonably asked why we need another narrative history of early Rome. The answer is that despite Cornell’s masterful synthesis of the ancient evidence and modern scholarly research, as well as his achievement in having written a very detailed but quite readable work on this subject, reputable Roman historians (e.g., Wiseman 1996; McDonnell 1997) regard his general approach to the ancient source material as too trusting and overly optimistic. Indeed, even before the publication of his book in 1995 Cornell’s general working hypothesis concerning the ancient sources, which argues against large-scale invention by distinguishing between struc- tural facts and…