The Roman Elite and the End of the Republic
The Boni, the Nobles and Cicero

Presents a new understanding of the social and political world of the late republic and the reasons for its fall.

Henrik Mouritsen (Author)

9781009180658, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 December 2022

348 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.3 cm, 0.62 kg

The boni, the wealthy, but largely non-political, section of the Roman elite, have hitherto escaped scholarly attention. This book draws a detailed and rounded picture of the boni, their identity, values and interests, also tracing their – often tense - relationship to the political class, whose inner circle of noble families eventually lost their trust and support. Concerns about property played a central part in this process, and the book explores key Roman concepts associated with property, including frugality, luxury, patrimony, debt and the all-important otium that ensured the peaceful enjoyment of private possessions. Through close readings of Cicero and other republican writers, a new narrative of the 'fall of the republic' emerges. The shifting allegiances of the wider elite of boni viri played an important part in the events that brought an end to the republic and ushered in a new political system better attuned to their material interests.

Introduction
Part I. The Boni in the Late Republic: 1. Lost in translation: modern interpretations of the Boni
2. Boni et Locupletes
3. Who were the Boni?
4. Boni and Equites in the late republic
5. The Boni in Roman politics and public life
Part II. Property and Politics: 6. Wealth and morality revisited
7. Boni: the 'Gentlemen' of republican Rome
8. Boni and Improbi: the moral construction of Roman politics
9. Otium and Tranquillitas: the politics of the Boni
10. Vita et Bona: property and security
11. The road to perdition: Egestas and Aes Alienum
12. 'Egentes Sumptuosi Nobiles': politics and debt
Part III. The Boni and the End of the Republic: 13. Boni and Nobiles
14. The power of the Nobiles
15. 'Boni Non Sequentur': The Boni and the end of the republic
16. Cicero and the formation of an alternative
17. Epilogue: the Boni and Augustus

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1]