Pollio’s Paradox: Popular Invective and the Transition to Empire

This chapter discusses the role of popular invective in shaping imperial politics. Starting from Asinius Pollio’s quip to Octavian that ‘it’s not easy to play the scribe against one who can proscribe’ these pages chart the transformation of invective strategies at the end of the Republic that highlighted the political dimension of popular abuse directed at leading figures. The chapter falls into three parts: first, a discussion of invective in terms of its social register and the difference between literary analysis and interpersonal communication; next, an outline of republican patterns of politicized invective (both popular and elite); and finally, a closer examination of the imperial situation. The argument throughout is that the presence of the emperor changed the rules of the Roman invective game such that popular invective took on a greater role in Roman life. The two primary reasons for this change were the constraints on elite behaviour vis-à-vis the emperor and the close relationship between the imperial regime and massive, monumentalized spectacle architecture. The imperial consolidation of political and military power constrained the freedom of elite speakers, but non-elite invective, because of its diffuse nature, could engage the emperor more freely.