Overview

Strongly-held values can stabilize a society. They can also splinter it. In Restraint, Conflict, and the Fall of the Roman Republic, Paul Belonick explores the moral paradoxes of Republican Rome. He describes how aristocrats engaged in ""performative politics,"" aggressively seeking self-advancement with a competitiveness that fueled the expansion of an empire. But, paradoxically, Roman orators and authors also emphasized the need for self-control, moderation, and temperance. Scholars have long suggested that this moral obsession with self-control was merely a social marker of aristocratic status, but Belonick argues that the Roman focus on self-control solidified their peculiar, competitive, semi-formal government. Belonick then considers how values of restraint could both stabilize and de-stabilize Rome's political system. As conflicts arose over how to apply these values to novel circumstances, competitors saw each other as desecrating Republican principles and therefore as targets to be eradicated. Belonick illustrates both sides of the Roman paradox: how values of self-control legitimized the Romans' competition and supported their fluid social structure and political institutionsDLand then tore the Republic apart. Restraint, Conflict, and the Fall of the Roman Republic presents a fresh perspective on the collapse of one of the most prominent societies in history.

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9780197662663

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Belonick's argument is fascinating and timely. He examines how the Roman values of restraint that long served to limit the destructive aspects of competition among the leadership of the Republic gradually broke down, enabling political competition to become destructive to the state. By focusing on the nuances within the language of restraint used by elites, he demonstrates how political rivals could both claim to be acting with restraint when in reality they were doing nothing of the kind. * Fred K. Drogula, Ohio University * Why did the Roman Republic collapse? Paul Belonick's lively and well-written book offers a fresh perspective on that old question, focusing on how aristocratic norms of deference and self-restraint functioned and malfunctioned over time. This study will engage readers interested in Roman Republican politics, the history of emotions, and the relationship of emotions and values to political action. * Matthew Roller, Johns Hopkins University * This well-argued work makes a strong case for trusting the primary sources. * Choice * This well-argued work makes a strong case for trusting the primary sources...Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. * Choice * [A] stimulating book. All in all, Belonick has called attention to an important if often overlooked aspect of the political culture of the Roman Republic. His book deserves serious consideration by anyone who works on the period. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review * This book makes the case that scholars should pay more attention to ancient claims that the political dissolution of the Roman Republic resulted from a breakdown of morality...Belonick has called attention to an important if often overlooked aspect of the political culture of the Roman Republic. His book deserves serious consideration by anyone who works on the period. * Andrew Gallia, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *

Belonick's argument is fascinating and timely. He examines how the Roman values of restraint that long served to limit the destructive aspects of competition among the leadership of the Republic gradually broke down, enabling political competition to become destructive to the state. By focusing on the nuances within the language of restraint used by elites, he demonstrates how political rivals could both claim to be acting with restraint when in reality they were doing nothing of the kind. * Fred K. Drogula, Ohio University * Why did the Roman Republic collapse? Paul Belonick's lively and well-written book offers a fresh perspective on that old question, focusing on how aristocratic norms of deference and self-restraint functioned and malfunctioned over time. This study will engage readers interested in Roman Republican politics, the history of emotions, and the relationship of emotions and values to political action. * Matthew Roller, Johns Hopkins University * This well-argued work makes a strong case for trusting the primary sources. * Choice * This well-argued work makes a strong case for trusting the primary sources...Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. * Choice * [A] stimulating book. All in all, Belonick has called attention to an important if often overlooked aspect of the political culture of the Roman Republic. His book deserves serious consideration by anyone who works on the period. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review * This book makes the case that scholars should pay more attention to ancient claims that the political dissolution of the Roman Republic resulted from a breakdown of morality...Belonick has called attention to an important if often overlooked aspect of the political culture of the Roman Republic. His book deserves serious consideration by anyone who works on the period. * Andrew Gallia, Bryn Mawr Classical Review * The book opens a way for us moderns to understand what earlier thinkers meant by republican virtue, and to put that concept to positive use... The argument is well thought out and persuasive. * Journal of Roman Studies * This thought-provoking book follows a rather original and stimulating approach to the study of the Roman Republic and offers a new look at the institutional change that occurred at the end of the Republican period: a topic that still fascinates scholars and on which much has been written since the early modern period... [The] book is based on a solid approach and offers new insights on the role played by social norms in the transformation of the Roman Republic. * The Classical Review * well-written book. * Hannah Cornwell, The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought 41 *

Belonick's argument is fascinating and timely. He examines how the Roman values of restraint that long served to limit the destructive aspects of competition among the leadership of the Republic gradually broke down, enabling political competition to become destructive to the state. By focusing on the nuances within the language of restraint used by elites, he demonstrates how political rivals could both claim to be acting with restraint when in reality they were doing nothing of the kind. * Fred K. Drogula, Ohio University * Why did the Roman Republic collapse? Paul Belonick's lively and well-written book offers a fresh perspective on that old question, focusing on how aristocratic norms of deference and self-restraint functioned and malfunctioned over time. This study will engage readers interested in Roman Republican politics, the history of emotions, and the relationship of emotions and values to political action. * Matthew Roller, Johns Hopkins University *

Author Information

Paul Belonick is Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of California Hastings Law School.

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