The Organization Of Opinion

In Rome of the Republic the aristocracy guided literature through individual patronage. As in politics, the other classes were susceptible to auctoritas, taking their tone and their tastes from above. Political invective was vigorous, ferocious—but indiscriminate, save when there was a government in being. Then it mustered for the attack. Pamphlets and poems assailed the Threeheaded Monster, concentrating, as was just, upon Pompeius Magnus; and the plebs of Rome was encouraged to make public demonstrations in the Forum or at the theatre, rallying in defence of a constitution that meant nothing to them, and leaping with avidity upon any dramatic phrase that fitted the domination of Pompeius

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