It will be helpful to foreground at the outset what is arguably the most important social phenomenon of the ancient world: status capture. The acquisition and accumulation of status was central to the main workings of the Roman world. Cicero (the popular philosopher, orator, and politician, 106–43 BCE) said it like this: “By nature we yearn and hunger for honor. Once we have glimpsed … some part of honor’s radiance, we are prepared to bear and suffer anything in order to secure