R. E. SMITH. The Failure of the Roman Republic. Pp. viii, 202. New York: Cambridge University Press, 19.55. $4.75

• Author: Charles Edward Smith
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Date: 01 March 1956
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/000271625630400177
• Subject Matter: Articles

191

&dquo;The

Julian

Calendar.&dquo;

Where

needed

the

editors

have

supplied

separate

introductory

statements

about

the

passages

and

refer-

ences

to

modern

literature

or,

in

the

case

of

archaeological

finds,

added

information

on

their

discovery

and

preservation.

The

seventeen

chapters

are

skillfully

designed

to

maintain

a

chronological

frame

of

refer-

ence

without

undue

fragmentation

of

the

subject

matter.

The

bulk

of

the

first

vol-

ume

concerns

the

period

between

264

and

27

B.C.,

though

the

earlier

Republic

and

the

Monarchy

are

not

neglected.

In

Vol-

ume

II

there

are

three

main

periods:

The

Augustan

Age;

The

Roman

Peace

(A.D.

14-192);

and

the

later

Empire

(A.D.

193-

337).

The

last

three

chapters

include

ex-

cerpts

on

law,

the

army,

and

religion,

for

the

empire

considered

as

a

whole.

Fre-

quent

cross

references

prevent

this

group-

ing

from

becoming

a

strait

jacket.

The

emphasis

in

both

volumes

is

social,

eco-

nomic,

and

institutional

rather

than

politi-

cal or

aesthetic,

since

the

editors

assume

the

reader

will

be

familiar

with

&dquo;the

main

lines

of

Roman

history

and

literature

...&dquo;

(I,

vii).

This

policy

enables

them

to

in-

clude

generous

selections

from

the

docu-

ments,

and

much

of

this

material

has

not

been

available

to

the

English

reader

(see

I,

41;

II,

vii).

No one

can

hope

to

win

universal

agree-

ment

as

to

what

such

a

book

ought

to

contain.

The

Res

Gestae

appears

in

full

(though

this

has

long

been

available

in

Eng-

lish),

and

there

are

abundant

selections

from

Roman

laws

and

other

official

docu-

ments,

from

the

Laws

of

the

Twelve

Tables

all

the

way

down

to

the

Edict

of

Milan.

Less

solid

but

more

moving

are

the

fu-

nerary

inscriptions,

election

advertisements,

and

extracts

from

private

correspondence-

especially

letters

from

humble

individuals

not

striving

for

authorship-which

bring

us

very

close

to

the

every-day

life

of

ordinary

people.

But

occasionally

the

editors

forget

their

role

of

referee

and

take

sides

in

the

struggle.

There

is

unmistakable

prejudice

in

singling

out

Cicero

for

his

’unscrupulous

demagogy&dquo;

in

attacking

the

Rullan

bill

(I,

274),

and

in

raking

him

over

the

coals

once

more

for

his

compromise

of

principle

while

governing

Cilicia

(I,

366).

The

copious

selections

from

Cicero

given

here

fail

to

do

justice

to

his

personal

charm

and

his

wit.

But

we

are

not

spared

the

revolting

de-

tails

of

his

assassination

(I,

303).

Seneca,

also,

is

exposed

in

a

footnote

for

failing

to

live

up

to

his

Stoic

principles

in

real

life

(II,

255),

but

nothing

is

said

about

the

phjlo-

sophic

calm

with

which

he

met

his

death.

The

book

includes

substantial

bibliog-

raphies,

both

general

bibliographies

for

each

volume

and

separate

ones

for

the

individual

chapters.

The

editors

have

avoided

citing

books

in

foreign

languages

because:

&dquo;The

realities

of

the

American

educational

scene

...

are

that

only

a

most

exiguous

number

of

our

students

have

any

acquaintance

with

either

Latin

or

Greek,

and

very

few

pos-

sess

facility

in

the

use

of

any

foreign

lan-

guage&dquo;

(II,

viii).

This

statement,

if

cor-

rect,

is

surely

an

indictment.

What

have

our

foreign

language

departments

been

do-

ing ?

But

even

if

it

is

correct,

to

give

up

the

struggle

for

literacy

is

to

make

a

more

than

Ciceronian

compromise

of

principle.

Surely

a

few

titles

of

particularly

read-

able

books

in

French,

German

and

Italian

ought

to

be

included,

if

only

as

a

reward

to

the

handful

of

students

who

can

read

them,

and

as

an

incentive

to

those

who

cannot.

Otherwise

there

are

bound

to

be

absurdi-

ties.

For

example,

Carcopino’s

mediocre

work

on

Cicero

appears

because

it

has

been

translated,

while

a

really

important

work

like

his

Autour

des

Gracques

does

not.

Mommsen

is

represented

only

by

his

Prov-

inces

(the

History

of

Rome,

though

avail-

able

in

English

is

left

out),

while

his

monumental

Römisches

Staatsrecht

is

not

mentioned.

In

closing

it

should

be

added

that

each

volume

is

provided

with

indices,

both

gen-

eral

and

source

indices,

and

that

Volume

I

also

contains

a

convenient

series

of

thumb-

nail

biographies

of

classical

writers

on

Ro-

man

history.

There

are

surprisingly

few

typographical

errors.

TRUESDELL

S.

BROWN

University

of

California

Los

Angeles

R.

E.

SMITH.

The

Failure

of

the

Roman

Republic.

Pp.

viii,

202.

New

York:

Cambridge

University

Press,

19.55.

$4.75.

Historical

autopsies

upon

the

Roman

Re-

public

are

perennial,

yielding

in

interest