Books in Brief: Roman Imperialism in the Late Republic

Roman Imperialism in the Late Republic, by E. Badian (Cornell, $4.95). It is doubtful that Professor Badian’s book (which is made up of six lectures delivered in 1965 at the University of South Africa) will please either economic historians or Marxists. For Professor Badian is convinced that the imperialism of the Roman republic was not to any significant degree an economic phenomenon. Moreover, he is convinced that the most salient characteristic of this non-economic imperialism (aside from its non-economic nature) was the fact that the empire involved was acquired more or less in a fit of absence of mind, and only because it was obvious that the safety of the republic could not be guaranteed other than by the acquisition of territory. That the acquisition of territory, which was necessary for the preservation of the republic, played an important part in the destruction of republican government, may of course be a lesson for us. But perhaps there is also a lesson in the fact that the civitas romana, under the Empire, survived to civilize the known world.