* An oral version of this paper was delivered at the Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association in Philadelphia in January 2002. A fellowship from the UIC Institute for the Humanities made possible a year of research leave (2000–2001), during which many of these ideas evolved. I thank Michael Alexander, Alexander MacGregor, Chris Pelling, and Peter White for reading and commenting on an earlier draft, and I also thank the anonymous referee of CQ and the editor, Miriam Griffin, for suggesting a number of improvements. The usual disclaimer applies, that I alone am responsible for the views expressed herein. Citations of Appian (App.) without title, are to his Civil Wars; references to Plutarch’s Parallel Lives are by section numbers in the latest Teubner edition of K. Ziegler; works of Cicero are usually indicated by title only.