Chapter 9 - ‘The People’ and Cassius Dio

Summary

In a number of colourful episodes, Cassius Dio narrates the behaviour and fates of the Roman collective. He treats it as a symbolic entity that serves to illustrate the state of the Roman political community under monarchic rule, from the dynasteiai through the Severans. Inextricably linked to their rulers like limbs to the head, the Roman ‘people’ is the first victim of their vices and the ultimate judge of their character. The Roman collective is portrayed as a sentient organism, ideally solemn and passive but stirred to restless, destructive action by perverse events. All such events ultimately emanate from the emperors, and the people’s behaviour is thus a direct reflection of their character. ‘People’ scenes form part of the biographies of autocrats and represent Dio’s own creative additions. They are not a source to the historical roles and actions of the actual people of Rome, but a literary device used as a means to narrate a larger, moral truth about Rome’s political leadership.