Senate and General: Individual Decision Making and Roman Foreign Relations, 264-194 B.C.

Senate and General: Individual Decision Making and Roman Foreign Relations, 264–194 B.C. by Arthur M. Eckstein reconsiders the traditional view that the Roman senate exercised consistent and centralized control over foreign policy in the middle republic. Building on close readings of Livy, Polybius, and other sources, Eckstein argues that while the senate certainly possessed legal authority and wielded enormous prestige, the reality of decision making was far more diffuse, improvised, and c...