411 BETWEEN AMBITION QUIETISM AND ¥ impossible because the city council (boylh) of the Greek cities, originally composed of members elected at regular intervals since the time of the Republic, gradually evolved into a permanent body with life membership. By the point that, by the beginning of the Imperial age, permanent councils were a reality in most of the Greek cities of Asia 76. Striving to enhance the economic stability of his kingdom in Judea and Asia Minor, Augustus simply tolerated these established Greek oligarchies for the administration of local power 77. Remarkably, in at least one instance Augustus did not want to re-establish the boylh of Alexandria because he was ¥ not totally sure of the loyalty of its Greek inhabitants (P. Oxy. XXV 2435 verso, ln. 56-58 ; the city council was eventually restored by Septimius Severus: Dio Pruss., Orat. 51.17.2-3) 78. By the time of Paul, the Eastern provinces of the Empire were struggling with social and political unrest: on the one hand, the Greek oligarchies reclaimed and de facto wielded their power despite in loco Roman magistrates; on the other hand, the lower strata of society started developing some ambitions, especially in the cities 79. The story of Petraeus reveals digardes a glimpse of the nature and the extent of the power held by Greek oligarches within their cities 80. A century after the event, Plutarch (Praec. Rei pub. Ger. 19.815D) recounts that L. Cassius Petraeus fought against Hegesaretus to support Caesar’s hegemony in Thessalia. Since Thessalia was still the cradle of oligarchy families hostile to the Caesars, Petraeus was killed by the local dissident power when Caesar was assassinated (Cicero, Phil. 13.33). A few years later, Augustus presided over a trial in Thessalia (kaisarov krıma), but ¥ ˜ even after his intervention the dissidents had the audacity — and the political power — to burn alive Petraeus, son of Cassius Petraeus, a Thessalian general loyal to the Imperial house, like his G.W. BOWERSOCK, Augustus and the Greek World (Oxford 1965) 87-88. 76 E.S. GRUEN, “The Imperial Policy of Augustus”, Between Republic and 77 Empire. Interpretations of Augustus and His Principate (eds. K.A. RAAFLAUB – M. TOHER) (Berkeley – Los Angeles – Oxford 1990) 414; J.E. STAMBAUGH – D.L. BALCH, The New Testament in Its Social Environment (Library of Early Christianity 2; Philadelphia, PA 1986) 18-20; BOWERSOCK, Augustus, 87. BOWERSOCK, Augustus, 90. 78 ALFÖLDY, The Social History, 133-141; LEE, “Social Unrest”, 130. 79 Recalled by BOWERSOCK, Augustus, 104. 80