Полибий и Тит Ливий: ὄχλος и его римские соответствия

Abstract

В статье сравнивается употребление слов, обозначающих толпу, массу людей (ὄχλος, vulgus и др.) в трудах Полибия и Тита Ливия. The aim of the article is to compare the use of the words denoting the mob, multitude of people (ochlos, vulgus, etc.) in the works by Polybius and Titus Livius. Polybius is usually considered the «discoverer» of the concept of ochlocracy which occurs for the first time in his work. However the Greek historian used the term ochlokratia only three times in the sixth «methodological» book of his work devoted to the exposition of the theory of the development and decline of a state. He regarded ochlocracy as the final stage of the degradation cycle of a state system. He borrowed the concept from the philosophic (primarily, peripathetic) tradition. Similar views were expressed in the so-called «epitome of Areius Didimus» (Stob. II.7.26). In our judgment when considering the attitude of Polybius to the mob we should not be guided by these theoretical tenets, which he seldom used to describe specific historical events. In the overwhelming majority of cases Polybius uses ὄχλος without a derogatory connotation. Ochlos means the people's assembly of the Achaean league (e.g. Polyb. XXIII. 16.11; cf. XXVIII.4.12; 7.4) and the troops (1.15.4; 32.8; III.34.9; 90.6; XI.12.2 etc.), including the citizens’ militia (IV.7.6; X.12.10; XI. 13.5). It is worthy of note that Polybius as well as other authors of the Hellenistic period (but contrary to authors of the 5th – 4th c. B.C.) uses ὄχλος, ὄχλοι, πλῆθος, πλήθη, πολλοί as synonyms or almost as synonyms. Thus describing the transition of democracy to χειροκρατία the historian uses πλῆθος, πλήθη and οἱ πολλοί (VI.9.6-8). Narrating the story of Agathocle’s rise and death, Polybius calls the Alexandria mob οἱ πολλοί (XV.27.1), πλῆθος (XV.27.3; 32.11), πλήθη (XV.33.5), ὄχλοι. (XV.33.9). Participants in the assembly of the Achaean league incited against Rome by demagogue Critolans are described as πλῆθος (XXXVIII. 12.5), πλήθη (XXXVIII.12.2), ol πολλοί (XXXVIII.12.4), ὄχλοι (XXXVIII. 12.10; 13.6). Thus ὄχλος (or to be more exact, ὄχλοι) for Polybius is the normal state of the people, «broad masses». In this respect Polybius continues the tradition of Aristotle who unlike his predecessors (Plato and Isocrates) perceived ὄχλος as a given fact. The only difference is that in the course of 200 years Aristotle’s ochlos became Polybius’s ochloi. Thus one should not attach too much importance to the «discovery» of ochlocracy by Polybius, for essentially it is the same extreme (radical) democracy. The historian remained in the mainstream of the peripatetic tradition. Titus Livius who borrowed quite a few things from Polybius did not adopt his social lexis. His turba, as a rule, denotes instability, changeability, turbulence inherent in the masses of the people, vulgus characterizes first of all the social distance between humilliores and the people vested with power (senators, etc.); vulgus usually has no derogatory connotation, since it denotes unshakable reality which subsequently could have been reflected in legal texts. However the appearance of the word vulgus in the 2nd c. B.C. testifies to a new social division taking shape in Roman society instead of the almost meaningless archaic division into patricians and plebeians.