Sublime

Whichever side won, as Cicero again observed, the result was set to be much the same: slavery for Rome. What came to be seen as a war between liberty and one-man rule was really a war to choose between rival emperors.

Brother versus brother, outsiders versus insiders

At the same time, in Rome, fears about outsiders flooding into the city were whipped up in a way familiar from many modern campaigns of xenophobia. One of Gaius’ opponents, addressing a contio, or public meeting, conjured up visions of Romans being swamped. ‘Once you have given citizenship to the Latins,’ he urged his audience, ‘I mean, do you thin

Cannae and the elusive face of battle

Polybius on the politics of Rome

Changes at the top

The first emperor

By the early second century BCE, all those who had been ‘citizens without the vote’ had gained the vote.

Citizens and allies at war