Dictator: The Evolution of the Roman Dictatorship

Mark B. Wilson, Dictator: The Evolution of the Roman Dictatorship (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2021). 9780472132669.

Reviewed by Peta Greenfield, The University of Sydney, peta.greenfield@sydney.edu.au.

In Dictator, Wilson sets out to offer a full overview of the Roman dictatorship with an eye to understanding the position within the context of a changing Republic. The culminating aim is to reassess the dictatorships of Sulla and Caesar with a view to what had come before. It is my view that Wilson’s work achieves its aims and that this monograph will become essential reading for students and scholars seeking to come to grips with the position and what it meant to the Romans.

Dictator is organised into three parts: Haec Imperiosa Dictatura (This mighty dictatorship); Et homo et potestas (And the man and the power); Αἱρετὴ Τυραννίς (A chosen tyranny). Part I sets up the challenges for understanding the dictatorship as well as considering the earliest examples of the position. Part II is a close examination of the function of the “archaic dictator” through a consideration of different facets of the position. The “archaic dictator” is defined by Wilson as the position as it was practised between 498–202 BCE. Part III discusses the reasons for the lapse in dictators (between 202 and 82 BCE) and the re-emergence of the position in the last century of the Republic.

Dictator is a well-thought-out monograph, and the structure of the work deserves praise for setting up thread lines that allow Wilson to tackle misconceptions about the position that have flowed down to us from ancient writers and consequently into the history of scholarship. This begins in Part I with a succinct data overview, plotting out all of the dictatorships along a timeline. A data-driven approach is a hallmark of Wilson’s basis for argumentation throughout. The immediate problem to address is also flagged: the way that the dictatorship is discussed by Cicero, Polybius, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Cassius Dio, and Livy. Wilson notes their distance from the archaic dictatorship and the inevitable ways in which writing reflects the writer. Wilson adopts a chronological approach with a consideration of the first three recorded dictators in Chapter 3 (“Origins”). As with many facets of Roman governance, the dictatorship was an ongoing product of its implementation. Each instance of the dictatorship had the capacity to shape the prevailing understanding. Wilson sees these early examples of the dictatorship as axiomatic for defining parts of the nascent tradition. For example, Wilson makes the case that a precedent seems to be set when the first dictator choses a subordinate—a magister equitum—to support their work. When the second and third dictator followed suit, the position of magister equitum took on the sheen of a tradition rather than an option. “Evolution” in the subtitle of this monograph is an apt choice given the tendency of the dictatorship to change slowly through examples over time. This groundwork sets the scene for Part II.

Part II is the longest section of the monograph. Wilson adopts a thematic approach to coming to terms with what a dictator was, the limits on their power, and what the historical record indicates about dictators who sought to deviate from expectation. The themes (noted in the table of contents below) allow Wilson to explore key facets of the Roman dictatorship as they emerge from the examples. The entwined thematic and broadly chronological approach allows Wilson to maintain the focus on the development of the position over time. For instance, Part II opens with Chapter 4 (“Need”), which examines early examples from the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. The penultimate chapter of Part II (“Renunciation”) draws on a number of examples, including the case of M. Fabius Buteo, from the late third century BCE, only a few years out from the last archaic dictator in 202 BCE. It is the strong groundwork across Part II that allows Wilson to offer a robust critique of the idea that there was a six-month time limit on holding the dictatorship (pp. 248–60). Wilson convincingly argues that the Ciceronian position offered in De legibus is best interpreted as a circumstantial expression seeking to limit his contemporaries rather than evidence of a tradition followed in previous centuries. The strength of Wilson’s case in this regard is developed through the treatment of the dictator’s “Mandate” in Chapter 7. Wilson’s thesis, that a dictator’s time in office was limited by the mandate for which the dictator was deemed necessary, is supported with strong case studies. For a reader satisfied with Wilson’s interpretation in Chapter 7, the critique of the six-month time frame in Chapter 11 reads like a fait accompli.

Wilson observes that modern scholarship on the Roman dictatorship has long been entwined with the work of Mommsen. This is touched on in the body of the work as well as explicitly addressed in Appendix E. By focusing on the long shadow cast by Mommsen’s scholarly influence on the subject of Roman governance, Wilson is able to situate his work as offering an alternative path into the subject of the dictatorship. To do so is both bold and welcome. For all the influence and respect due to Mommsen, scholars today have much wider access to materials and evidence that allow new theories to be developed. This is not to suggest that there has been no scholarship of value since Mommsen; rather, that the value of Wilson’s work is evident in the organisation and collation of evidence in this monograph. Wilson’s approach is to foreground a strong engagement with the ancient evidence in the first instance. This, combined with his data-driven approach, ensures that Wilson’s monograph can be used to come to grips with the evidence for those who have not had the same opportunity to study the dictatorship as rigorously as Wilson. There is significant value to be taken away from the appendices alone. Appendix A provides a complete catalogue of dictatorships from Titus Larcius Flavus (498 BCE) to Gaius Julius Caesar (44 BCE), which will be a useful reference guide for those seeking to understand the pattern of dictatorships. There are a number of helpful tables of data in the body of the book that strengthen the claims Wilson makes about the dictatorship. The inclusion of tabulated data made me anticipate other tables, so this work has the capacity to build your appetite for data visualisation! For instance, after seeing dictators tabulated by name in Chapter 5, I then became wistful for a table on how dictators were selected in Chapter 6.

By proceeding thematically but also broadly chronologically, Wilson has produced an asset that will shape future scholarship of the Roman Republic. When you pick up this book and look at the Table of Contents, you may be perplexed at the single word chapter headings, as I was; but, as you delve into the details, it becomes clear that what Wilson is proposing is nothing short of an invigorated understanding of the dictatorship as a tool of the Republic that was an embedded part of Roman governance. I anticipate that this monograph will become a standard for scholars of the Republic—both those with an interest in the early and middle Republics, but also those seeking to understand Sulla and Caesar. Dictator provides an engaging model for how the craft of historians benefits from clear synthesis of evidence. In this respect, it is a worthy addition to upper level undergraduate and graduate courses.

Table of Contents

Part I: Haec Imperiosa Dictatura
1. Introduction (3–8)
2. Narrative (9–30)
3. Origins (31–59)
Part II: Et Homo Et Potestas
4. Need (63–94)
5. Choice (95–109)
6. Invocation (110–37)
7. Mandate (138–55)
8. Imperium (156–88)
9. Answerability (189–210)
10. Colleague (211–35)
11. Renunciation (236–60)
12. Principles (261–63)
Part III: Αἱρετὴ Τυραννίς
13. Desuetude (267–89)
14. Sulla (290–302)
15. Caesar (303–31)
16. Conclusions (332–38)
Appendices
A. Catalog of Dictatorships (341–85)
B. Catalog of Names (387–94)
C. Terms and Concepts (395–402)
D. Dictator Years (403–7)
E. Mommsen’s Dictatorship (409–21)