From Polybius onwards the period of rapid expansion that comprises mid-Republican Roman history has fascinated scholars and students alike. This book, second in The Edinburgh History of Ancient Rome series, surveys Roman military and political history from the early third century to the cataclysmic destruction of Corinth and Carthage in 146 b.c. This series is ‘designed to present for students and all who are interested in the history of western civilisation the changing shape of the entity that was Rome’ (series editor's preface, p. x); the full span of Roman history from earliest origins to the sixth century a.d. is covered in the series’ eight volumes. The chronological scope of R.’s book is thus more limited than most Roman history textbooks. It will be most useful for advanced undergraduate and graduate history courses that deal only or primarily with the third and second centuries b.c., though it could also be assigned in conjunction with others in the series to expand the temporal range. The level of detail in the historical narrative makes it less suitable for introductory courses.

The book follows a largely chronological structure over the course of seven chapters. R. sets the scene in the first chapter, ‘Introduction: the Aristocracy of the Middle Republic’, both in terms of Rome's administrative structure (e.g. sections titled ‘The Magistrates’, ‘The People’, ‘The Senate’) and in terms of the workings of Roman political relationships, with sections on important concepts such as auctoritas and aristocratic competition. There follows an account of Rome's first ventures onto the international stage in the conflicts with Pyrrhus and the First Punic War. The linear narrative is interrupted by Chapter 3, ‘The Imperium and the Army’, which surveys the social and economic background in Rome and Italy which made the military success in the Second Punic War possible. The first part of this chapter explains the expansion of Rome's sphere of influence in Italy (imperium in the chapter title refers to the ‘imperium populi Romani’, p. 73) through the sending out of colonies and the incorporation of allied contingents as the demographic foundation of Rome's vast resources in military manpower. In the second half, R. gives an account of the organisation of a typical army in this period, using Polybius’ account of the Roman army in Book 6 as the basis of the discussion. To balance Polybius’ idealised description of a typical Roman encampment, R. turns to archaeological evidence from the near-contemporary camp at Numantia (Lager III) excavated by A. Schulten in the early twentieth century (pp. 99–103). A particular strength here, as elsewhere in the book, is R.’s inclusion of practical details not often mentioned in textbooks regarding army logistics, as for example on the difficulties of feeding an army on the march: ‘600 tonnes of wheat would necessitate a pack train of 6,000 mules just for the army's food rations’ (p. 104). R. moves from ‘Waging war’ (pp. 103–6) to ‘Paying for war’ (pp. 106–12), to an extended discussion of the ‘conflict between warfare and agriculture’ (pp. 112–16), a topic familiar from R.’s 2004 monograph Rome at War: Farms, Families, and Death in the Middle Republic, before closing the chapter with a brief illustration of the Roman military machine at work in the battle at Telamon in 225, which brought a temporary end to Gallic insurgence on the eve of the Hannibalic War. Chapter 3's long excursus thus offers a wealth of information that is important for understanding the complex system that enabled the Romans to withstand Hannibal's invasion in the Second Punic War, but it could have been better positioned after the introductory chapter rather than interrupt the chronological account.

In the next two chapters R. provides a detailed account of the major wars of the third and second centuries. Chapter 4, ‘Hannibal’, is devoted to the Second Punic War, while Chapter 5, ‘The Conquest of Gaul, Greece, and Spain’, shifts attention first to the east with the wars in the Greek and Hellenistic world, then to Spain in the early decades of the second century. In the final two chapters R. turns to examining the effects of Rome's rapid expansion into international affairs; Chapter 6, ‘The New Brutality’, examines these effects on foreign communities who seek Roman aid or intervention. Here a theme of senatorial indifference to the plight of beleaguered peoples emerges as, for example, in the case of the lead up to the Third Macedonian War: ‘The patres, as usual, listened politely, dispatched legations to look into the matters, urged the parties involved to work out their differences, but ultimately did nothing beyond making conventional pronouncements and non-committal gestures’ (p. 214). The greed and ambition of Roman magistrates in this period is apparent throughout R.’s account of these decades, and the implications for Roman aristocratic society are treated in the final chapter (‘The Impact of Imperium’). A real strength of this chapter is the wealth of examples included to illustrate the lavish – and escalating – scale of celebratory triumphs and building projects in the years following the conquest of Greece and, to a lesser extent, Spain (pp. 245–53). These details bring to life the full impact of the vast riches now deposited in the treasury, and in aristocrats’ bank accounts. More important here is the discussion of the measures taken by the aristocracy to police itself, whether through prosecution threatened or undertaken by tribunes of the plebs or, after 149, in the new quaestio perpetua de pecuniis repetundis, or through social pressure to maintain a ‘rough equilibrium among those at the top of the cursus honorum’ (p. 250). R. turns again to economics to assess the impact of second-century expansion on agricultural production and population, arguing (as he had in Rome at War [2004]) for a growth in prosperity and population in the pre-Gracchan years.

The book is eloquently and engagingly written, sprinkled with wry witticisms and anecdotes from the sources that enliven a complex period in Roman history: thus one finds a section heading of ‘The Imperium Strikes Back’ (p. 145) and reads of the lavish spoils of Flamininus’ triumph, which the Romans ‘recorded … in loving detail’ (p. 246). These features are all excellent and make the book accessible to its intended audience. Likewise, R.’s sustained scholarly engagement with the events and source material for this period make his expertise, delivered in an approachable manner, all the more valuable. But the book's greatest strength lies in the fact that R. has presented the historical narrative with interpretative wrinkles intact; rather than give a seamless account of the period, R. has incorporated references to scholarship throughout, both classic and recent work, and highlights instances where there has been scholarly disagreement over controversial issues: for example, the nature of Roman imperialism (p. 2); the organisation of Latin colonies (p. 92); Flaminius’ arrogance as the cause of the disaster at Trasimene (p. 135). Ancient sources are subjected to the same tests: regarding the account of Hannibal's oath as reported by Polybius (3.11.1–8; cf. Liv. 21.1.4–5), R. notes that ‘[l]ittle of this stands up to scrutiny’ (p. 120). Such attention to critical analysis is increasingly important in a textbook, for a student audience in particular often needs to be reminded that while it may be ‘ancient history’, there remains much to be studied.