Volume 19, 2007 - Brown University

86 Curtis Steyers
the expenses of competitive public life in Rome and subject to virtually no
supervision or regulation, senators viewed provincial governorships as
opportunities to amass riches through illegitimate means. 1 A paradigmatic
example of this corruption is the extortion trial of C. Verres in 70 B.C.E., whom
Cicero prosecuted and whose exile he ultimately procured. In addition to general
greed and ambition, the late republic saw a growing disregard for the institutions
and procedures essential for maintaining political order. Revolutionaries such as
Tiberius Gracchus, followed by Marius, Sulla, and Caesar, represent a waning
reverence for the traditional Roman political process. Beyond a simple disregard
for tradition, these revolutionaries displayed a dangerous willingness to use
violence to achieve their ambitions. Augustus, emerging as the sole master of
Rome in the wake of these civil wars, saw the need to eradicate this violent
behavior in order to entrench himself in his position of princeps civitatis. There
is more than self-interest at work, however. The loose morals of elite men such
as C. Verres engendered a widespread belief that the decline of the republic was
facilitated by a disintegration of morality.
The female parallel of male corruption, according to Roman values, was
sexual liberation and promiscuity. As women grew increasingly important in
late republican political and intellectual life, their independence attracted much
negative attention. 2 That stories of uninhibited sexual activity were documented
so extensively is indicative of their effect on the traditional Roman mind.
Clodia, the alleged lover of Catullus and M. Caelius Rufus, provided an
infamous example of unscrupulous sexual conduct. Pompeia, Caesar’s wife, was
involved in a notorious affair with P. Clodius Pulcher, which was made public
by the disgraceful Bona Dea scandal in 62 B.C.E. The customs of women had
always been a point of contention in Rome. During the Second Punic War, the
lex Oppia (215 B.C.E.) was passed, effectively censoring the amount of wealth a
woman could accrue and display. The uninhibited behavior of prominent women
in the late republic therefore must have been a glaring reminder that the
traditional morals of the state had changed, or had perhaps disappeared.
Historians writing before and during the reign of Augustus provide useful
insight into the commonly-held beliefs of the time. Livy, whose life coincides
roughly with Augustus’, is particularly useful due to his moralizing tendencies.
In fact, Livy’s literary didacticism is similar to Augustus’ moralizing legislation:
3 Both men attempt to instill a sense of old republican virtues into
contemporary Romans. Livy makes his purpose clear from the beginning of his
history:
I would then have him trace the process of our moral decline, to watch, first,
the sinking of the foundations of morality as the old teaching was allowed to
1 Ward discusses this repeatedly, particularly on pp. 188, 235 for Verres’ corruption.
2 See p.238 for Ward’s discussion of late republican women.
3 Ogilvie’s introduction to Livy: “There is, therefore, a real sense in which Livy’s
History was deeply rooted in the Augustan revival” (Livy, 2002: 6).