Remembering the Roman republic : culture politics and history under the Principate This study examines the fault lines exposed in Roman culture by attempts to reconcile the monarchical Principate with Republican traditions Provided by publisher The Roman Principate was defined by its embrace of a central paradox the ruling order strenuously advertised continuity with the past even as the emperors monarchical power represented a fundamental breach with the traditions of the free Republic it had replaced. Drawing on the evidence of coins public monuments and literary texts ranging from Tacitus and Pliny the Younger to Frontinus and Silius Italicus this study traces a series of six crucial moments in which the memory of the Republic intruded upon Roman public discourse in the period from the fall of Nero to the height of Trajans power. During these years remembering the Republic was anything but a remote and antiquarian undertaking. It was instead a vital cultural process through which emperors and their subjects attempted to navigate many of the fault lines that ran through Roman Imperial culture Provided by publisher