CHAPTER XV

THE ROMANS

Footnote 230:

The first Greek historians to deal with Roman history are Hieronymus of Cardia and Timaeus, both of the fourth century B.C.E.

Footnote 231:

Pliny, Nat. Hist. III. lvii.

Footnote 232:

Psalms of Solomon, ii.

Footnote 233:

Livy, XLIX. v.: _Syros omnis esse, haud paulo mancipiorum melius propter servilia ingenia quam militum genus_.

Footnote 234:

Cf. ch. III., n. 9.

Footnote 235:

Servile origin has been ascribed to such a family as the Sempronian, and is assumed for the praenomen Servius, as for the nomen Servilius.

Footnote 236:

Macrob. Saturn. II. i. 13.

Footnote 237:

The reading of the last phrase in the mss. is _quod servata_, which is scarcely consistent with the rest of the passage. Bernays, Rh. Mus. 1857, p. 464 seq., conjectured that it was a Jewish or Christian marginal gloss which found its way into the text, a supposition by no means to be dismissed as cavalierly as Reinach does (Textes, p. 241, n. 1). A Christian scribe might easily have been moved by the taunt _quam dis cara_, to retort with the triumphant _quod servata!_ It will be remembered that the Christians accepted as part of their own all the history and literature of the Jews till the birth of Christ, and resented as attacks upon themselves any slur against the Jews of pre-Christian times. Cf. the very interesting passage in Lactantius, Div. inst. iv. 2.

Footnote 238:

Cic. In Vat. 5, 12.

Footnote 239:

It may be worth while to indicate briefly the relation between the senatorial authority and the executive power at Rome. Unless the senate acted at the instance of the magistrate himself, a _senatusconsultum_ was an advisory resolution, passed upon motion and suggesting to the holder of executive power, or _imperium_, a certain course of action. The words were generally: _Placet senatui ut A. A., N. N. consules, alter ambove, si eis videretur, ilia faciant_. In practice, it is true, such a resolution was almost mandatory. A strong magistrate, however, or a rash one, might and did disregard it. While, accordingly, a magistrate might neglect a course of action prescribed by the senate, there was nothing to hinder any action on his part (whether or not there was senatorial authority for it), except the veto power residing in the tribune or in an equal or superior magistrate. The only restrictions were made by the laws concerning the inviolability of the person of a _civis Romanus_, and of the _aerarium_.

Footnote 240:

The _contio_ was a formal assembly of citizens, called by a magistrate holding _imperium_. The purpose was generally to hear projected legislation either favorably or unfavorably discussed. No one spoke except the magistrate or those whom he designated. The _contio_ took no action except to indicate its assent by acclamation, or its dissent equally emphatically. At the actual legislative assembly, for which the _contiones_ were preparations, no discussion whatever took place. The law was presented to be accepted or refused. It will be seen that a mass of Orientals who less than two years before had been Aramaic-speaking slaves can scarcely have been a power in such gatherings as these.

Footnote 241:

Philo, Leg. ad. Gaium, 23.

Footnote 242:

The language of the inscriptions in the various Jewish cemeteries at Rome is almost always Greek, as is that of most of the monuments in the Christian catacombs. Latin is rare and generally later. But these monuments belong to Jews who lived several generations after 63 B.C.E. As far as Palestine is concerned, both inscriptions and literature leave no doubt that the masses spoke only Aramaic or Hebrew.

Footnote 243:

Caesar, Bell. Gall. II. xxxiii. 7; III. xvi. 4.

Footnote 244:

Foucart, Mém. sur l’affranchissement des esclaves.

Footnote 245:

Suet. Div. Iul. 84, 76, 80.

Footnote 246:

The pretensions of the senatorial party to be the only true Romans were not altogether unfounded. The terms _boni_ and _optimates_ which they gave themselves were perhaps consciously adapted from the καλοὶ κἀγαθοί of Athens. The importance of _nobilitas_ as a criterion of true Roman blood lay in the fact that it attested lineage in a wholly unmistakable way. We may compare the insistence of Nehemiah upon documentary evidence of Israelitish blood (Neh. vii. 61, 64).

Footnote 247:

Pro Flacco, 15, 36, compared with 26, 62 seq.

Footnote 248:

Cf. ch. XIV., notes 11, 12.

Footnote 249:

The chief political asset of the triumvirs was the orientalized plebs of the city, whose origin and poverty would combine to make them bitterly detest the organized tax-farmers. Now Crassus, one of the triumvirs, was himself the head of a powerful financial group. It may be that the tax-farmers persecuted by Gabinius belonged to a rival organization, or that Crassus had withdrawn from that form of speculation before 60 B.C.E. In the case of Flaccus, the complaint of the tax-financier Decianus was a pretext, or else Decianus may have been forethoughtful enough to have joined the right syndicate.

Footnote 250:

Cicero ad Att. ii. 9.

Footnote 251:

Augustinus, De Civ. Dei, iv. 31, 2.