Apologia sroki albo August i dziedzictwo optymatów [Rec. The Alternative Augustan Age, eds. Kit Morrell, Josiah Osgood, Kathryn Welch, New York 2019]
Apology for the Magpie, or Augustus and the Legacy of the Optimates [Rev. The Alternative Augustan Age, eds. Kit Morrell, Josiah Osgood, Kathryn Welch, New York 2019]

Summary/Abstract: This article presents the basic assumptions and theses of the collection of essays The Alternative Augustan Age (ed. K. Morrell, J. Osgood, K. Welch, New York 2019). This book is a post-conference publication; the conference papers, according to the intention of the organisers, are concerning the so-called the Age of Augustus and not the princeps directly. Moving away from the narrative focus on Augustus’s actions in literary sources is the most characteristic feature of the book. When discussing its content, Paul Hay’s and Kit Morrell’s articles have been discussed most copiously. These scholars draw attention to the analogies between some of Augustus’s initiatives and the ideas and reforms with which the three politicians associated with the faction of the optimates, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Gnaeus Pompeius the Great and Marcus Porcius Cato came up towards the end of the republic. According to the author of this article, not all the similarities identified by those researchers find equally robust support in the sources. Nevertheless, their research sheds new light on the problem of Augustus’s relationship to the traditions of the republic.

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