FURTHER READING

A. Lintott, The Constitution of the Roman Republic (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999) discusses the nature, powers, and historical development of the magistracies and political institutions of Republican Rome, with an extensive modern bibliography.

A. K. Michels, The Calendar of the Roman Republic (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1967) is fundamental for understanding the pre-Julian Roman calendar and its significance in Roman religious, political, and business life. Ancient literary sources are set out (untranslated), and technical terms explained in detail.

On Caesar’s legislation as dictator, in many ways the most helpful analysis is that of Z. Yavetz, Julius Caesar and his Political Image (London: Thames and Hudson, 1983). Measures attributed to Caesar in the sources are arranged in three categories (chs. II-IV), political, administrative and, thirdly, economic and social. Ancient sources, historical context, possible legislative methods, and key modern discussions are examined in detail. Caution is advisable, however, in regard to Yavetz’s claims about Caesar’s motivation. Useful for basic reference are the lists chronologically and by Latin title of Roman laws (with source references and brief descriptive text in Italian) in G. Rotondi, Leges Publicae Populi Romani (repr. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966).

Modern books about Roman private law are generally written by and for academic lawyers. For historians, useful introductions to Republican lawmaking and legal procedure are W. Kunkel (trans. J. M. Kelly), An Introduction to Roman Legal and Constitutional History (2nd edn, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973), and A. Watson, Law Making in the Later Roman Republic (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974). A comprehensive and readable account of Roman private law and civil procedure, which takes into account much recent work on Roman social history, is A. Borkowski and P. du Plessis, Textbook on Roman Law (3rd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). On Caesar’s will and the alleged ‘testamentary adoption’ of Octavius, there is, unsurprisingly, nothing in ancient legal sources. This, and various matters relating to adoption, adrogation, wills, and inheritance generally, are discussed in J. F. Gardner, Family and Familia in Roman Law and Life (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998) (use index).