Abstract
After the war with King Pyrrhus the history of Rome advances to a new stage. Its scene, henceforth extends from Italy to the whole of the Mediterranean. At this point of transition the structure of the Roman state and the conditions bf life of its people call for a brief survey.
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Notes and References
On the procedure of discussion and voting in the Comitia see G. W. Botsford, The Roman Assemblies, chs vi and vii (ch. vii for the contio), L. R. Taylor, Roman Voting Assemblies (1966), and E. S. Staveley, Greek and Roman Voting and Elections (1972). The calling of opponents to speak was due less perhaps to any desire for freedom of speech than to the opportunity to cross-question such a speaker, who might otherwise find a friendly tribune to summon another condo where he could express his views unchallenged.
On the procedure of discussion and voting in the Comitia see G. W. Botsford, The Roman Assemblies, chs vi and vii (ch. vii for the contio), L. R. Taylor, Roman Voting Assemblies (1966), and E. S. Staveley, Greek and Roman Voting and Elections (1972). The calling of opponents to speak was due less perhaps to any desire for freedom of speech than to the opportunity to cross-question such a speaker, who might otherwise find a friendly tribune to summon another condo where he could express his views unchallenged.
See in general F. Münzer, Röm. Adelsparteien and Adelsfamilien (1920). (It may be doubted, however, whether all the newly ennobled gentes which Münzer derives from Latium and Campania were really of non-Roman origin.) On the procedure of the Senate see P. Willems, Le Sénat de la république romaine (1885), ii, 144 ff. (Manpower, 189). On the municipal organisation of Italy see A. N. Sherwin-White, The Roman Citizenship’ (1973), ch. ii, and A. J. Toynbee, Hannibal’s Legacy, i. 189 ff., 397 ff.
See in general F. Münzer, Röm. Adelsparteien and Adelsfamilien (1920). (It may be doubted, however, whether all the newly ennobled gentes which Münzer derives from Latium and Campania were really of non-Roman origin.) On the procedure of the Senate see P. Willems, Le Sénat de la république romaine’ (1885), ii, 144 ff. (Manpower, 189). On the municipal organisation of Italy see A. N. Sherwin-White, The Roman Citizenship’ (1973), ch. ii, and A. J. Toynbee, Hannibal’s Legacy, i. 189 ff., 397 ff.
The term municipium originally denoted all Italian communities which accepted civitas sine suffragio. At first this was generally regarded as an alliance which involved an exchange of social rights (though perhaps not all Rome’s municipia were her allies as well); the municipes retained local autonomy except in foreign policy, and provided Rome with troops. Later, civitas sine suffragio came to be regarded as an inferior form of Roman citizenship. Cf. p. 591 above.-On citizenship see A. N. Sherwin-White, The Roman Citizenship’ (1973) and in Aufstieg NRW, t. ii. 23 ff.
Previous to the conclusion of the treaty that regulated their future status, conquered enemies who had made a formal unconditional surrender were known as dediticii. By their very nature, however, the dediticii did not constitute a permanent category of Roman dependants. See A. Bernardi, Nomen Latinum (1973).
For details see B. V. Head, Historia Nummorum 2 (1911). Among the towns that set up mints were eight of the Latin colonies. Most of the coinage was in bronze, but silver was not uncommon, and the Etruscan town of Volsinii was still striking gold in the third century.
Disputes between Italian communities were henceforth regulated by commissioners from the Senate. On Roman methods of arbitration see Dessau, ILS, 5944 and 5946; Coleman Philippson, The International Law and Custom of Greece and Rome (1911), ii. ch. xxi; L. Matthaei, Cl. Qu. 1908, 241 ff.; E. Badian, Foreign Clientelae (1957), chs 4 and 7. See in general T. Frank, An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome, i (1933), ch. ii.
See R. Thomsen, Early Roman Coinage, 3 vols (1957–61), whose views of this complex subject are roughly followed above. Two of the Aes Signatum pieces appear to refer to historical events. One shows an Indian elephant/sow; this must be one of Pyrrhus’s elephants, and probably refers to the battle (Asculum or Beneventum) at which according to Aelian (NH, i. 38) a sow grunted and frightened Pyrrhus’s elephants. The second piece shows two rostra/two hens feeding. The rostra must almost certainly refer to the new Roman navy built at the beginning of the First Punic War (p. 118) and it is tempting to refer it to the battle of Drepana when Appius Claudius drowned the sacred chickens (p. 119). But would Rome have recorded her only naval defeat in the war? See further H. H. Scullard, The Elephant in the Greek and Roman World (1974); 113 ff.
For all these coins see also Sydenham, CRR, Crawford, RRC. On Republican coinage see also H. Zehnacker, Moneta (2 vols. 1973). For a general survey see C. H. V. Sutherland, Roman Coins (1974).
On architecture in the early Republic see A. Boethius and J. B. Ward-Perkins, Etruscan and Roman Architecture (1970), ch. 5.; on art, J. M. C. Toynbee, The Art of the Romans (1965), 16 ff.
For the Latin language see L. R. Palmer, The Latin Language (1954); A. Meillet, Esquisse d’une histoire de la langue Latine ° (1930), especially ch. vi. On early Latin literature see especially J. Wight Duff, A Literary History of Rome from the Origins to the Close of the Golden Age 3 (1953).
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© 1975 The representatives of the estate of the late M. Cary and H. H. Scullard
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Cary, M., Scullard, H.H. (1975). The Roman State in the Third Century b.c.. In: A History of Rome. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-02415-5_11
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