The Breakdown of the Republic

The organisation of the Roman state underwent no considerable changes during the period of expansion. Rome remained a city-state governed by the new patricio-plebeian aristocracy of wealth and office which had emerged from the socio-political strife of the early republican period.

However, from as early as the middle of the second century BC it became clear that the existing system of government, which was originally designed for a city-state, was inadequate to meet the organisational and administrative needs of a world empire. And as the ideological underpinnings of the Roman political system began to crumble with the weakening of the traditional value system, the ruling senatorial class found it increasingly difficult to achieve satisfactory solutions to the economic, social and political problems brought about by Rome's expansion.

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By the close of the second century BC Rome's political life came to be dominated by two factions, or interest groups, known as populares and optimates. The populares, who represented, in modem terms, the radical reformers, included a number of senators who had espoused the view that Rome's problems could not be resolved without the introduction of measures designed to improve the position of the lower classes. Among their chief objectives was the restoration of the powers of the people's assembly and its representatives. The optimates, on the other hand, whose camp included the large majority of senators, were against any radical changes that were likely to undermine the senate's grip on power. But it would be misleading to describe these groups as distinct political parties, in the modem sense, for their activities revolved not so much around broad political programmes but, rather, around the personal goals and interests of political leaders and their supporters. Thus, it was not unusual even for senators who had sided with the optimates to advocate or support reform legislation, although they often did so reluctantly and in terms of their own vested interests.^[557]

At the heart of the crisis lay the land question and the deepening divide between the growing masses of the impoverished urban and rural proletariat on the one hand and the small number of wealthy families holding the bulk of the Roman ager publicus on the other.

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size=2 color=black face="Times New Roman">A second attempt at reforming the system was made ten years later by Tiberius Gracchus's younger brother Gaius, who was elected tribune of the plebs in 123 and 122 BC. One of Gaius's first actions was to introduce legislation designed to protect himself and his supporters against prosecution. As the senatorial court mentioned above had refused to allow those found guilty to appeal to the assembly, a law was now passed establishing the right of appeal from such judicial commissions and providing that only the people's assembly had the right of imposing capital punishment on a Roman citizen. Moreover, in an attempt to secure the support of the powerful equestrian class, Gaius introduced measures which strengthened the position of the equites at the expense of the senate. These measures included the lex Sempronia iudiciaria of 122 BC by which the right of serving as jurors in criminal trials, which until then belonged exclusively to senators, was transferred to the equites. As a result of this and other measures the equites were for the first time recognised as forming a distinct order in the state {ordo equester) and began to play a more important role in political life. Although Gaius Gracchus's reform programme, and especially his leges agrariae, was in general more successful than that of his brother, it failed to achieve its ultimate goals - a failure for which Gaius paid with his life in 121 BC.^[559] After Gaius's death most of the measures he had initiated were repealed or drastically modified and the senatorial aristocracy re-established its full control of the state.^[560] Although the Gracchi left no immediate successors who could revive or carry further their reform programmes, they left behind a heritage of confrontation in Roman political life which was to lead to more bitter conflicts in the years that followed.^[561]

Ten years after Gaius Gracchus's death the senate's control of the state was again called into question after Rome suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of Jugurtha, ruler of the northern African kingdom of Numidia, and the invading Germanic tribes of Cimbri and Teutones.

When Marius was elected to the consulship for a sixth time, in 100 BC, he attempted to introduce an agrarian law under which newly conquered territories were to be distributed to poor citizens.

In 91 BC Rome found herself at war with her allies in Italy who, resentful at the senate's refusal to grant them full Roman citizenship, revolted and set up their own state. The so called 'Italian' or 'Social' War dragged on for more than three years and, for a time, it seemed that it could put an end to Rome's domination over Italy. The war finally ended in 88 BC with military victory for Rome. But this victory became possible only after the unity of Rome's opponents was broken by the granting of the Roman citizenship first to those allied communities who did not take part in the revolt (90 BC)^[565] and, shortly after, to all members of allied communities who would lay down the arms and apply for the citizenship within a certain period of time (89 BC).^[566] After the end of the Social War all the political communities in Italy received full Roman citizenship. As a result, the distinction between Roman colonies (coloniae civium Romanorum) and Latin colonies {coloniae Latinae), as well as the political differences between the various races within the same community, were erased.^[567]

During the Social War the populares and the optimates abstained from further conflict, as the very existence of the Roman state came under threat. But shortly after the end of the war the struggle between the two camps began again in all its force. At the centre of the dispute was the question of who was to lead the Roman army in the war against the king of Pontus Mithradates VI, the Eupator, who was threatening Rome's hold over her provinces in the East.^[568] The obvious choice, under the constitution, was one of the two consuls of 88 BC, and the lot fell on Lucius Cornelius Sulla, an aristocrat and ardent supporter of the senate. But following a popular movement in Rome under the leadership of Sulpicius Rufus, a tribune of the plebs, Sulla was stripped of his command by decree of the people's assembly and the conduct of the war was turned over to Marius, the former leader of the populares, who had re-surfaced from political oblivion. Enraged by this, Sulla marched with his well-trained and loyal army on Rome and, after a bloody battle with Marius' followers, gained control of the city. Following the restoration of the senatorial party to power and the abrogation of all the new laws introduced by his democratic opponents, Sulla left with his army for Greece to face the invading forces of Mithradates. But not long after his departure Marius, who after Sulla's earlier victory had escaped to Africa, returned to Rome with an army, crushed the resistance of the senate and took control of the state. A long reign of terror followed in the course of which a large number of senators and their supporters were put to death. The massacres finally came to an end with Marius' death in 86 BC.

The populares'’ control of the state ended in 83-82 BC with the return of Sulla who, in the meantime, had defeated both Mithradates and the Roman army which had been sent out by his political enemies to fight him in the East. After crushing the resistance of his opponents in a fierce battle before the gates of Rome and securing control of the city, Sulla was appointed dictator by the senate and was given full power to reorganise the state. During the new round of persecutions that followed (82-79 BC) the enemies of the senate, whose names had been included in Sulla's lists of proscribed persons, were killed by the hundreds and their properties were confiscated. Among Sulla's earliest measures was the introduction of legislation depriving the tribunes of their right to propose laws in the popular assembly and restricting their power of veto. Moreover, the senatorial class was restored to full control of the administration of justice by a law which secured for its members the right of serving as jurors in criminal trials. However, in the years that followed Sulla's abdication (79 BC) and death (78 BC) most of his measures, which were designed to strengthen the position of the senate at the expense of the magistrates and the people's assembly, were overturned and, by 70 BC, the populares were again the dominant power in Roman politics.^[569]

After the end of Sulla's regime the civil warfare between the senate and the forces of the democratic opposition resumed both in Italy and in the provinces. The situation was exacerbated further by the outbreak of a large­scale slave rebellion in Italy (73-71 BC),^[570] by the renewed aggression of Mithradates in the East (74 BC) and by the continual raids of pirates who controlled most of the eastern Mediterranean. During these turbulent years there emerged in Rome a new leader, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great), who, like most of the prominent political figures of this period, owed his reputation to his successful conduct of military operations. Despite his aristocratic background, Pompey was elected to the consulship in 70 BC with the backing of the populares, to whom he had promised to repeal the Sullan constitution and, in particular, to restore the tribunes to all their former powers. In a series of successful military campaigns Pompey put an end to the activities of the pirates (67 BC) and won a decisive victory over Mithradates and his allies (63 BC).^[571] [572] As a result of these successes the Roman possessions in Asia increased with the addition of two new provinces, Syria and Bithynia. After organising the political administration of the new provinces and securing Rome's eastern frontiers by setting up a buffer zone of client states, Pompey returned in triumph to Italy. In the meantime, in Rome the struggle between the optimates and the populares continued unabated. This period is marked by the conspiracy of L. Sergius Catilina, a former member of the aristocracy, who, with the support of elements of the populares, tried to seize control of the state; it is also marked by the political activities of the rhetor and philosopher M. Tullius Cicero, who succeeded in putting an end to the Catilinarian

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conspiracy.

Upon his return to Rome, and despite fears that he was planning to set up a dictatorship, Pompey disbanded his army and sought to gain from the senate and the people positions of honour in recognition of his achievements. Moreover, he asked the senate to provide land for his army veterans and to ratify the arrangements he had made in the East. But his demands were rejected by the majority of senators. In response Pompey sought to renew his political alliance with the populares. Among the most prominent political figures at that time were Marcus Licinius Crassus, Pompey's co-consul in 70 BC and winner of the war against the slaves (71 BC) and Gaius Julius Caesar, a relative of Marius and then governor of Spain. In 60 BC these and Pompey formed a coalition, known as the First Triumvirate, through which they hoped to further their political goals by increasing their influence in the senate and the people's assemblies. Shortly after the formation of the coalition Pompey's demands were satisfied; Caesar was elected consul for 59 BC and, a year later, was appointed governor (proconsul) of Gaul for a period of five years. During the period 58-49 BC Caesar completed the conquest of Gaul after a long and arduous war against the local Celts and invading Germanic tribes. But Caesar's growing popularity and political influence was a cause of concern for both the senate and his two partners in the Triumvirate. The renewal of the Triumvirate in 56 BC only delayed the oncoming crisis, which became unavoidable after the death of Crassus in the war against the Parthians in 53 BC.^[573] In the civil war that broke out in 49 BC Pompey joined forces with the senate against Caesar and his supporters but, a year later, his army was defeated in a decisive battle in Greece. Despite Pompey's death,^[574] shortly after his defeat, the war between the two camps continued down to 45 BC, when the last remnants of the senatorial forces were destroyed in Spain. Thus Caesar became the undisputed master of Rome but, by contrast with what happened in earlier civil wars, no general persecution or slaughter took place in the wake of his victory.

Caesar's position as supreme leader of Rome was confirmed and secured through his tenure of the highest offices of the state and by means of the special powers and honours conferred upon him by the senate and the people. In 46 BC he was appointed dictator for ten years and, in the following year for life. From 48 BC he held the office of consul continuously and enjoyed the inviolability of the tribunes of the plebs. He also held the position of pontifex maximus from 63 BC and in 46 BC was given censorial powers under the title 'prefect of morals' (praefectus morum). Moreover, special laws were passed conferring upon him the right to appoint Rome's provincial magistrates, the right to propose half of the candidates for magisterial positions in Rome, the right to cast the first vote in the senate and the right to issue edicts without consulting the senate. At the same time he had full control of the army and supervised the administration of public finances. From this position of supreme power Caesar embarked upon a series of far-reaching reforms, aiming at reorganising Rome's political and social life. An important part of his programme was concerned with the establishment of a large number of new colonies outside Italy, intended to absorb part of Rome's urban proletariat, and the improvement of the position of the provincials through the conferment upon many of them of the rights of Roman citizenship. Moreover, steps were taken to improve the administration of the provinces and to protect the local populations against abuses committed by Roman provincial magistrates. In order to meet administrative needs in Rome Caesar increased the positions available for certain magistracies, such as the praetorship and the quaestorship. At the same time the senate was considerably enlarged through the appointment as senators of a large number of Caesar's supporters, from both Italy and the provinces. But the concentration of so much power in the hands of one man was received with hostility by many senators who began to see in him not a restorer of the republican order but a usurper and a tyrant. A conspiracy was formed and in 44 BC Caesar was assassinated in the Senate House by a group of senators.^[575] After his death his plans for the reorganisation of the Roman state were left unfulfilled.^[576]

Contrary to the conspirators' expectations, Caesar's assassination was not followed by the immediate restoration of the senate's control of the state. Instead the position of the senate became even more precarious when it became clear that the people of Rome, aggrieved at Caesar's killing, were unwilling to submit to senatorial rule. The initiative was seized by Caesar's friend Mark Antony, consul for 44 BC, who, joined by Lepidus, Caesar's master of the horse, gained control of events. Antony came to an agreement with the senate under which the latter would ratify Caesar's acts in exchange for the granting of amnesty to the conspirators. However, Antony's claim to being Caesar's successor was challenged by Gaius Octavius, Caesar's grand-nephew and adopted son. It was not long before the rivalry between the two men resulted in a fully-fledged armed conflict. Octavius, who now assumed the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, with the support of the senate and Caesar's veterans defeated Antony's

The Later Republic 179 forces in a battle in northern Italy.^[577] But the senate's plans for resuming control of the state were frustrated when, shortly after, Octavian made his peace with Antony and marched with his army on Rome where he enforced his appointment to the consulship (43 BC). In the same year, at a conference near Bologna, Octavian, Antony and Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate, a coalition intended to secure for the participants the unlimited powers they needed in order to carry out the reorganisation of the state (tresviri reipublicae constituendae). The formation of the Triumvirate was followed by a new reign of terror during which many senators, including Cicero, were put to death. A last stand against the rule of the Triumvirs was made by the senate in Greece, but it ended in failure when the republican army was defeated by the combined forces of Octavian and Antony at Philippi (42 BC).

After their victory at Philippi the two Triumvirs divided the empire among themselves. Antony assumed control of the eastern provinces and Octavian took over most of the West. But not long after the division of the empire, and while the civil war was continuing, the old antagonism between Octavian and Antony began to re-surface. Events took a decisive turn in 37 BC when Octavian disposed of his republican opponents in the field and removed Lepidus, thus becoming the undisputed ruler of the West. The breach between him and Antony widened in 36 BC when the latter, although still married to Octavian's sister Octavia, married the Queen of Egypt Cleopatra and set himself the task of becoming master of the East. Antony's decision to join forces with Cleopatra and to give her certain parts of the empire that had once belonged to Egypt alienated popular sentiment in Rome and many began to suspect that he wanted to establish in the eastern Mediterranean a new independent kingdom. In 32 BC Octavian persuaded the senate to declare war on Egypt and, a year later, his army met the combined forces of Antony and Cleopatra at Actium, an island off the west coast of Greece. The battle ended in victory for Octavian who, in the following year, invaded and conquered Egypt, which became a Roman province under his direct control.^[578] After re­establishing the old provinces and client kingdoms in the East, Octavian

returned in triumph to Rome in 29 BC. Early in 27 BC he appeared before the senate and proclaimed his intention to relinquish his special powers and to give the republic back to the senate and the people of Rome. This gesture earned Octavian the reputation of being the restorer of the republic. At the same time it legitimised his de facto control of the state as the senate, in return, conferred upon him the title Augustus, by which he was henceforth known, and began to bestow upon him a range of powers and titles. In receiving these powers Octavian came to surpass all other magistrates in authority and political influence and came to be designated as princeps civium Romanorum, i.e. the first of the Roman citizens. From the word princeps arose the term 'Principate', a term which came to describe the new form of government which Octavian established for the •             75

empire.

⁷⁵        On the crisis of the later Republic see in general S. Gruen, The Last Generation of the Roman Republic, Berkeley 1974; A. Lintott, Violence in Republican Rome, Oxford 1968; Μ. Beard & Μ. Crawford, Rome in the Late Republic, Ithaca 1985; P. Brunt, The Fall of the Roman Republic, Oxford 1988; R. Syme, The Roman Revolution, Oxford 1939; L. Taylor, Party Politics in the Age of Caesar, Berkeley 1949; G. Alföldy, The Social History of Rome, London 1985, ch. 4; K. Christ, Krise und Untergang der römischen Republik, Darmstadt 1979; E. Betti, La crisi della Repubblica e la genesi del principato in Roma, Rome 1982.

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