Ecce Romani III Fabulae

Chapter 56: Background Information

Culture/History: Continuation of: Roman Government/Cursus Honorum/Constitution • Downfall of the Republic

Grammar: Subjunctive Mood - a Review • Sequence of Tenses

The Readings

You may encounter new names and places here. Keep a running list in your notebook; make comments that will help you remember them. Examples:

Catilina (Catiline in English) -- leader of conspiracy to overturn government, exposed by Cicero

Ponte Milvio -- site where Cicero met the Allobroges

A time line is also a good idea, so that you can easliy identify the sequence of events.

Reading Notes

Passage A

  1. magister equitum (lines 1-2) -- the original role of dictator was military leader in a time of crisis. His second-in-command did in fact command the cavalry. The title remained but the role was greatly expanded by the time of Caesar.
  2. proscripsit (line 5) -- the practice of proscription was first introduced by Sulla after defeating Marius. Lists were posted of those who had fought on the losing side and these men were declared to be outside of the protection of the law. Those listed could be exiled or killed and their property confiscated. Innocents whose property was coveted were sometimes added to these lists.
  3. Lepido (line 6) -- Lepidus had been given Africa as his territory to govern (for which read here "to loot for personal wealth").
  4. Augustus (line 14) -- the name is premature here, since Octavian did not receive this title until 27 BC.
  5. Asiam (line 15) -- what we now call Asia Minor the Romans referred to as Asia. This area today encompasses Turkey and the Middle East, excluding Egypt.
  6. civitatem (line 17) -- normally the word civitas refers to state or citizenship. Here it refers to city. Consider the Spanish word for city, ciudad, and the French cité. Since Eutropius was writing in the 4th century AD, Latin was in the process of evolving into the Romance languages and the term civitas may have taken on new significance.

Passage B

  1. Agrippa (line 1) was a close friend and son-in-law of Augustus. While he served as governor of Gaul, he crushed a rebellion by the Aquitainians. (Consider the word in reference to your knowledge of European history and the Hundred Years War between France and England; in particular the role of Eleanor of Aquitaine.) Agrippa was given control of the Bay of Naples, fortifying Misenum, the naval base on the northern cape of the bay and enhancing the Bay of Baiae for ship repairs. He is credited with building up the area around Cumae.
  2. Persas and Parthis (lines 2, 4) -- The Parthians were a seminomadic people who migrated south into Persia and grew into a large empire. The Persians became part of that empire but remained ethnically separate.
  3. cogente uxore Cleopatra (line 9) -- Eutropius blames Cleopatra (again, cherchez la femme!) and not Antony. Augustus, rather than finding fault with a fellow Roman citizen, also used Cleopatra to play on Roman prejudices against the peoples of the East.
  4. Gallus (line 14) -- C. Cornelius Gallus was a poet (addressed by Catullus in a poem) and a friend to Augustus and Vergil. He was also the first governor of Egypt, a controversial position since Egypt was both wealthy and the source of much of Rome's grain. Gallus fell from favor and committed suicide in 26 BC to avoid prosecution.

Images

On p. 28 a coin shows Octavia, sister of Octavius and wife of Antony until their divorce. She was credited with being an intelligent, noble, and selfless lady whose intervention helped sooth the tensions between her brother and husband. After Antony's death she raised all his children, including those of his first wife and those of Cleopatra! Later in the school year you will have more on reading inscriptions.

IMP = Imperator

III VIR = Triumvir

R P C = Rei Publicae Constituendae -- a Gerund of the Genitive to denote purpose, that is, "Triumvir for the purpose of the State to be reestablished," or for the purpose of reestablishing the State (ostensibly the reason for creating the Second Triumvirate).

J. Jahnige, September 2003

Fabulae ^



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