Adrian Goldsworthy Quotes & Sayings

It is widely believed that Christianity remained an essentially urban cult and that the population of the countryside clung for generations to the old beliefs. The word 'pagan' comes from paganus, or someone who lived in the countryside (pagus). Unfortunately, we know so little about the religious life in rural areas that this remains conjectural. Paganus was usually derogatory - something like 'yokel' or 'hick' would give the right idea - and may just reflect the common belief of urban dwellers that countrymen were dull and backward. — Adrian Goldsworthy

Roman laws tended to be long and complex - one of Rome's most enduring legacies to the world is cumbersome and tortuous legal prose. — Adrian Goldsworthy

Quite openly, voters selected on the basis of perceived character and past behaviour rather than the views a candidate expressed. Where an individual's nature was not obvious, the Roman people tended to be drawn to a famous name, for there was a sense that virtue and ability were inherited. — Adrian Goldsworthy

As Cicero would later declare, 'For what is the life of a man, if it is not interwoven with the life of former generations by a sense of history?"3 — Adrian Goldsworthy

Roman women kept their name throughout their lives, and did not change it on marriage. — Adrian Goldsworthy

Although he paid attention to the effectiveness of the Roman military system, Polybius believed that Rome's success rested far more on its political system. For him the Republic's constitution, which was carefully balanced to prevent any one individual or section of society from gaining overwhelming control, granted Rome freedom from the frequent revolution and civil strife that had plagued most Greek city-states. Internally stable, the Roman Republic was able to devote itself to waging war on a scale and with a relentlessness unmatched by any rival. It is doubtful that any other contemporary state could have survived the catastrophic losses and devastation inflicted by Hannibal, and still gone on to win the war. — Adrian Goldsworthy

By pagans the Jews (and later Christians) were seen as perverse, almost indeed as atheists, for they denied the very existence of other gods. — Adrian Goldsworthy

Napoleon was later to comment that it was better to have one bad commander than two good ones with shared authority. — Adrian Goldsworthy

The story of the fifth century was one of the exploitation of imperial weakness. Thus the Western Empire died. — Adrian Goldsworthy

Personal hatreds and rivalry loomed larger in most senator's minds than the good of the Republic. [A big problem then and now] — Adrian Goldsworthy

At Rome there were nothing even vaguely resembling modern political parties - although given the stifling impact of these, this may well have made it more rather than less democratic than many countries today - and each candidate for office competed as an individual. Only rarely did they advocate specific policies, although commenting on issues of current importance was more common. In the main voters looked more for a capable individual who once elected could do whatever the State required. — Adrian Goldsworthy

Julia. At the most basic level a Roman husband had only to utter the phrase 'take your things for yourself' (tuas res tibi habeto) to separate from his wife. — Adrian Goldsworthy

Caesar declared that an orator should 'avoid an unusual word as the helmsman of a ship avoided a reef'. — Adrian Goldsworthy

(Sulla gave the slave his freedom and then had the man thrown to his death — Adrian Goldsworthy

For what is the life of a man, if it is not interwoven with the life of former generations by as sense of history. [Cicero, quoted by Goldsworthy in his Augustus] — Adrian Goldsworthy

Caesar was a serial seducer of married women. — Adrian Goldsworthy

The tribune was betrayed by one of his own slaves and killed. — Adrian Goldsworthy

Tradition maintained that Rome had been founded in 753 BC. For the Romans this was Year One and subsequent events were formally dated as so many years from the 'foundation of the city' (ab urbe condita). — Adrian Goldsworthy