While Cicero’s self-fashioning has been a subject of great scholarly interest already, my approach is more granular, emphasizing variability and adaptation in Cicero’s use of eight distinct personae to generate political leverage through the shaping of persuasive political narratives. The speeches from his return from exile in 57 BCE to his death in 43 have received relatively little scholarly attention (some more than others), and this book offers a comprehensive and innovative account of that part of the corpus. Cicero’s time in exile and the rise of the “first triumvirate” combined to change the political landscape, not only for Cicero but in general, creating new challenges in the rebuilding and maintenance of his influence. Each of the eight personae gives readers a framework in which to understand Cicero’s rhetorical strategies, and to see how his arguments and accounts of the world around him are shaped to address his political goals. A persona consists not only of social role and status but also of character traits, affective responses, and relationships to others.

While auctoritas may seem to be a crucial prerequisite for the Roman orator, Cicero sometimes took on a nonauthoritative persona, especially in periods of domination by Pompey and Caesar: he made a show of fear, self-effacing humor, or stubborn silence. He performs fear especially in the introductions of Pro Milone and Pro Deiotaro in order to play down his own power to threaten Pompey and Caesar, and perhaps to provoke resentment of their power to threaten him. In Pro Milone and Pro Ligario, he makes a potentially comical statement that he will shout to be heard, acting foolishly to break political tension. In his letters and in the Brutusunder Caesar’s dictatorship, he proclaims his refusal to speak in public in order to show resistance to the new regime, using silence as an act of protest. I read this as rhetoric of withdrawal or disengagement rather than a transparent reflection of reality.

Cicero claims strength in numbers and the moral high ground for his political views by citing demonstrations of his popularity. Cicero claims popular support for his actions, especially when facing “popular” or populist opponents, but is careful to explain that he is not acting with the levitas of a stereotypical demagogue or popularis in doing so. In Post Reditum ad Populum, De Domo Sua, and Pro Sestio he points to real demonstrations of mass support for his recall and political career as a source of validation. He argues that his supporters on these occasions are the “true” Roman people, as opposed to Clodius’ masses of supporters, whom he dismisses as mercenaries or slaves. He repeats this strategy in Philippics 1, 6, and 7. In Pro Plancio he speaks as the populus itself in a prosopopoeia, emphasizing the people’s power over the republic.

Cicero’s orations show versatility in adapting to new situations and contexts during the latter half of his career, particularly in his reshaping of these paradigmatic roles as a political orator. Studying these roles allows us to appreciate the complexity and flexibility of his self-fashioning over time, independently of chronological phases. He chooses his personae to suit the circumstances of each case and selects from a range of possibilities in confronting those circumstances, calculating for maximum advantage. Each persona requires balance and care to avoid extremes. Caesar, Pompey, Clodius, and Antony presented obstacles to politics as usual – or, at least, to norms for political processes as traditionally conceived – which could not be ignored, and which had to be negotiated carefully and creatively. Cicero was successful in doing so, up to a point.

This chapter argues that notwithstanding the Symposium’s debt to its more famous Platonic predecessor, Xenophon exploits the symposiastic setting to serve his own purposes and interests, as Socrates, assisted by Antisthenes, seeks to educate Callias, a super-rich Athenian, concerning proper elite values and behavior in the democracy. Callias’ naive assumptions concerning his wealth and its capacities are challenged and laid bare, and ultimately Socrates instructs him on how he can live up to the high expectations of a man of wealth and high birth by seeking political knowledge, pursuing leadership positions within the city, and fostering the same ambitions in the boy Autolycus, whom he loves, within the context of a mutually supportive friendship (philia). As such, the Symposium constitutes a case study in the education of a conspicuous member of the Athenian elite concerning the political role to which he should aspire within the city. Although Xenophon portrays Callias as a challenging student to educate, he shows his Socrates doing his best to recruit a prominent elite Athenian to serve the democratic city.

This paper explores the impact of acknowledged skill in mousikē (the ancient term which refers to the whole art of poetry, music and drama) on the income, identity and social status of poets, actors and musicians in the classical period. It is argued that the social status of these professionals depended on public recognition of the usefulness of their individual skills and the personal reputations of performers, rather than their economic class or legal order.

Xenophon’s interest in the political role of the elite is especially conspicuous in the Memorabilia, where he portrays Socrates interacting critically with members of the Athenian elite and seeking to motivate and guide them to become worthy of the leadership roles that fall to them under the democracy. Although Xenophon frames the Memorabilia as a defense of Socrates from the charges that led to his execution in 399 BC, within this framework he considers in detail how elite Athenians can thoroughly prepare for and effectively carry out essential civic roles, especially that of orator and of military commander. Xenophon’s Socrates, in his conversations with elite Athenians, exposes how absurd it is for them to believe that they deserve to lead the city merely on the basis of their wealth or lineage and urges them to seek out through education the values, knowledge, and skills that they need to lead well. In so doing, he challenges his elite interlocutors to alter their understanding of what it means to be a gentleman (kalos kagathos) and to reconcile this with being good citizens who contribute to the success of the democratic city, especially by providing good leadership.

The exploration of this subject is based principally onepigraphic evidence, as illustrated in Hatzfeld’sground-breaking work of 1919, to which may now beadded the epigraphy of production and commerce,which goes hand in hand with trade and to which itowes its existence. The case studied here deals withthe most westerly part of the Mediterranean,providing access to the continent through thenetwork of routes from the areas around theAquitaine isthmus and the Rhône isthmus as far asthe Rhine and Garonne basins and out to the AtlanticOcean. It looks at dynamic trends, phenomena whichvary over time, just as contexts and economiccircumstances may vary. These trends are integratedwithin the space formed by the routes created andused by people. The study deals with the commercialactivities related to the production, transportationand consumption of goods, as well as the networksand directions of trade routes. Ports are importantpoints of passage, places where goods aretransferred, stored and distributed, as well asbeing the principal or secondary places ofbusiness.

The introduction offers a definition of skilled labour and professionalism and considers the importance of these concepts for our study of ancient society and its economy.

The excellent conference on which this volume has beenbased, ‘Roman Port Societies through the Evidence ofInscriptions’, made all of the participants reflectafresh on many fundamental questions about how thismedium illustrates the surprisingly elusive issue ofwhat kinds of societies were characteristic of Romanharbour settlements. These concluding remarks areintended to address some of these. Two very basicquestions about the medium stood out: how – and howfar – do surviving inscriptions actually reflectancient social history in the first place; and (inparticular) does the level of diversity in theepigraphic record mirror actual variety across timeand space in the Roman world?2 Romanports make rather good laboratory specimens for suchenquiries. The papers at the conference, inaccordance with the aims of the Portuslimen project, addressed a goodspread of ports, all, except Delos and Ephesos, fromthe western basin of the Mediterranean, principallyAquileia, Arelate, Hispalis, Lugdunum, Narbo,Narona, Ostia/Portus and Puteoli.

Contrary to orthodox views, Sparta’s full citizens, the Spartiates, were not professional or specialized full-time soldiers and, apart from practice in elementary drill, their training focused mainly on physical fitness. In so far as Sparta’s armies excelled in technical proficiency, it was through their tight-knit organization and hierarchical command structures and their methodical, if often inflexible, implementation of set manoeuvres.

The emergence of the Imperial cult and its role inprovincial diplomacy have been much studied by Romanscholarship. In general, the balance is tipped infavour of studies of public practice, althoughprivate practice has certainly also been on thescholarly agenda. However, the role of emperorworship in overseas commerce has received preciouslittle attention. The evidence is admittedly thin (Ilay no claim to being comprehensive in my treatmenthere). Moreover, absent above all are documentarydata, the type of source material that would havebeen most useful and that scholars of more recenttime periods have access to, for instance in theform of private business letters. Nonetheless, whathas survived is in my view intriguing and worthdiscussing jointly, an endeavour that to myknowledge has never been attempted.