Abstract
As a class the boni displayed two fundamental characteristics: their privileged position as property owners and their detachment from the world of public affairs, in which only a small sub-section took active part in their capacity of senators and office holders. Attempts at engaging the boni politically would therefore naturally focus on their social position and any threat they might be facing. The boni shared a vested interest in protecting a status quo that guaranteed their place in society; so, if any political creed can be associated with this class, it was the maintenance of stability – at almost any cost, as we shall see. Sallust made this point explicitly, noting that men were not called ‘good’ or ‘bad’ citizens on the basis of their services to the res publica; the rich were regarded as boni because they defended the ‘praesentia’ (i.e. the current conditions).1
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