ABSTRACT
To argue that a fundamental feature of the imperial system was how it combined a Roman family with a previously distinct set of civic institutions, we will need to start with an analysis of each of these component parts. In this chapter we shall thus analyze the ideas about family and state held by Roman aristocrats in the late republic. What was the Roman concept of a “family”? Who occupied the elite household, and what were the expected roles of free and slave men and women within one? What was the relationship between those roles and the world of politics? How did the Romans of the late republic define the ideological spheres of public and private? All the ways these questions were answered formed important precedents for Octavian’s actions and reforms during and after the civil wars of the 30s B.C.E.
