Laudator Temporis Acti

Ronald Syme (1903-1989), Tacitus, Vol. II (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958; rpt. 1997), p. 583:

Oligarchy is the enduring fact of all Roman history, whether Republican or imperial, and constant in most things, save in its composition. The recruitment of that oligarchy, its titles to rank, its behaviour and its vicissitudes, such is the constant preoccupation of the historian Tacitus.

In political contests the protagonists are not always the real adversaries, still less the eventual victors. When the strife of aristocratic factions at Rome developed and changed, involving Italy and the whole world, forces were unloosed that made an end of the Republican system of government and brought forth the monarchy. And the monarchy, while it imposed concord and preserved the nobilitas for a season, none the less wrought its ruin steadily in the years of peace. Caesar needed agents and ministers; and novi homines saw every avenue open at last for talent and ambition, and all barriers down.

The clients of the Caesars took over the inheritance of the nobilitas. They seized control of patronage, and the ruler of the world was caught up in their meshes; they managed the imperial dominions of Rome, they excelled in all arts, they even set the tone of society. On the face of things merit prevailed. Reflection might engender misgivings. Would the new classes prove equal to their task?

Id., p. 594:

Rulers change, not the system. New ministers perhaps, but behaving like their predecessors — 'magis alii homines quam alii mores'.<sup>4

4</sup> Hist. II.95.3 (Mucianus and Eprius).