Lecture 26: Fall of the Roman Republic,
133-27 BC
Internal turmoil provoked
in 133 BC by economic stagnation in the city of Rome,
slave revolts without, and dissension in the military precipitated a period of
unrelenting political upheaval known as the Roman Revolution, the Late Roman
Republic, or the Fall of
the Republic, 133-27 BC. In essence, the republic system of government
underwent a painful and violent transition from irresponsible oligarchy to a
more accountable autocratic form of government. While it is difficult to
appreciate the political and social issues that provoked the incessant
political disruptions of the late Republic, it is possible to discern a pattern
in the devolution of legal, constitutional authority in the Republic. It is possible
to identify FOUR steps to the collapse
of Republican authority.
I. FOUR STEPS TO THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 133-27 BC
1. THE RISE OF POPULAR TRIBUNES, 133-121 BC, two brothers, Ti. And C. Sempronius
Gracchus exploited the power of the plebeian tribuneship to seize power in Rome. They essentially
used their sacrosanctitas to veto all
other public activity in the city in order to force the senate and the
magistrates to focus on their own political agendas. They tried to restore
order to the military by reclaiming public land and putting landless poor
citizens back on land. C. Gracchus also attempted to grant Italian allies Roman
citizen status. Both men were killed with their political followings through
urban mob violence fomented by the aristocracy.
2. THE RISE OF PRIVATE ARMIES. When the oligarchy failed to resolve the military
problem, Roman generals, specifically C. Marius
(consul 106, 104-100 BC) and L. Cornelius Sulla
(consul 88, dictator 82-79 BC), recruited private armies more loyal to themselves
than to the state. In addition to the draft, they recruited landless poor
citizens by offering them bounties and land upon discharge. The soldier's
status as Roman or allied mattered little to these generals either, both of
whom made extensive grants of citizenship to allied forces. Ultimately, the two
men came to blows in 88 BC in the midst of the Social War and the Asian
rebellion induced by Mithradates. So violent were popular feelings that Sulla
was able to persuade his field army in southern Italy to march on the city of Rome to expel Marius and
his followers. So began the first Civil War and the gradual transference of
soldiers’ loyalties from the laws of the state to the persons of their
commanding officers. Sulla ultimately prevailed against both Mithradates and
the Marian element in Italy
(Marius having died in 86 BC), and attempted to impose a reactionary political
reform on Rome
as dictator (Dictator rei publicae constituendae = Dictator for the purpose of restoring the Republic).
3. THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE, 59-53 BC. Three men, Cn. Pompeius
Magnus, M. Licinius Crassus, and C. Julius Caesar,
combined their influence to seize power in Rome. Pompey was an extremely popular general
who defeated numerous enemies of the oligarchy, including a rebellion in Spain led by
the renegade Roman general Q. Sertorius, a Mediterranean wide rebellion by the
Cilician pirates, and the final defeat of King Mithradates VI of Pontus. Pompey
had a loyal private army, but proved politically incapable of delivering on his
promises of land and bounties. As an officer of Sulla during the Civil War,
Crassus had made himself the wealthiest man in Rome by profiting from Sulla's proscriptions, that is, the outlawing of Roman
citizens by putting their names on lists and putting a price on their heads,
wanted dead or alive. All proscribed citizens saw their civil rights nullified
and their property confiscated and auctioned off by the state. Crassus
exploited the proscriptions to acquire perhaps as much as 20% of the property
in the city of Rome
and countless estates throughout Italy. He used his wealth to buy
influence in the Senate and throughout the urban populace and emerged as a
powerful, but surreptitious influence on the roman state. Caesar began his
career in a seemingly hopeless situation as the nephew of C. Marius confronted
by the dictatorship of Sulla. As a young aristocrat he excelled at manipulation
of the symbols of Marian reform and public generosity and became the darling of
the masses by the late 60s BC. By offering his political abilities to aid
Pompey and Crassus with their political agendas, he rose to the consulship in
59 BC basically to work as a tool for his two more powerful partners. He
delivered necessary legislation in the face of senatorial opposition and
received for his effort a 10-year extraordinary command in Gaul.
Intense rivalry existed between these three dynasts, but so long as they
maintained their illegal political association, the senatorial aristocracy was
powerless to thwart them. Ultimately, Crassus was killed while fighting the
Parthians in Mesopotamia in 53 BC and Pompey
distanced himself from Caesar. He hoped to use the aristocracy to reduce
Caesar's influence with the army in Gaul, just
as the aristocracy hoped to use him for the same purpose if only to discard him
once Caesar was destroyed. However, Caesar's army proved superior during the
Second Civil War (49-46 BC). Pompey was defeated at Pharsalus and killed in Egypt, and the
rest of the oligarchs opposing Caesar were mopped up across the Mediterranean.
4. CAESAR'S DICTATORSHIP (46-44 BC).
Having defeated all his enemies, Caesar was granted a 10-year dictatorship for
purposes of restoring the republic. His solution was to reconstitute himself as
a Roman form of Hellenistic divine king or ruler. Since 510 BC however, the
Romans had prided themselves with having obtained their freedom by expelling
their Etruscan King. The very word king, REX, was anathema to the Republic mentality. Roman
citizens had a civic duty to suppress any attempt at tyranny though political
assassination and could do so with impunity. Although carefully avoiding the
title "rex", Caesar attempted to collect for himself all facets of
constitutional authority, serving at the same time as dictator, as consul, as
Pontifex Maximus, and as Plebeian Tribune for life. In early 44 BC he declared
himself DICTATOR IN PERPETUO (actually inscribed on his coins). He was murdered
by a conspiracy of some 60 odd senators a few weeks later. At this point the
precedent of rule by one man had been established at Rome. The only question remained which of his
supporters would most likely succeed him to this position. This turned out to
be his great grand nephew, C. Julius C. F. Caesar Octavianus, or Octavian.
II. Causes of the Political Decline:
Economic and Social Changes Consequent to Imperialism
1. Booty and profits of war. Roman overseas conquest resulted in too much wealth coming into Italy too
quickly to enable equitable distribution throughout society. In general,
wealthier elements benefited while lower elements failed to keep pace. In
addition, rising expectations of profits from war led to abuses and illegal
behavior by governors and generals in the field. The lex Calpurnia of 149 BC established a permanent court for extortion
in the provinces. The prospect of profiting from war led to heightened
competition for high office as well and extensive electoral bribery.
2. Heightened Status of Roman Senators.
The Roman aristocracy was
now recognized as important world leaders. Senators and wealthy knights engaged
in extensive practices of conspicuous consumption, creating palatial town
houses and monumental "art villas" to demonstrate their high rank in
society.
3. The Equites or Knights
emerged as a powerful social stratum in society in part because of their
involvement in the public contracting that maintained the empire.
4. Development of a slave agricultural economy in Italy and Sicily. Destruction of farmsteads throughout southern Italy by Hannibal led to a
reorganization of the rural landscape toward larger estates run by slave
laborers. Generally, reports indicate the development of medium sized estates
for the purpose of producing wine and oil for export, a development
demonstrated by the emergence of Italian transport amphoras as the dominant
commercial export container of the western Mediterranean
by the late second century BC. Some estates, known as latifundia, could be huge however. Many wealthy investors
leased Roman ager publicus or public
land, to developed cattle ranches, again worked by slaves. A conservative
estimate suggests that some 250,000 persons forcibly migrated from the
Mediterranean peripheries to the core regions of Italy and Sicily as a result of enslavement through
conflict. Rome
and neighboring Italian cities did not have sufficient police forces to monitor
slave behavior. Living conditions for slaves were generally harsh and
rebellions inevitable. Between 136-130 BC a massive slave revolt seized control
of the island of Sicily; in 105 BC a second revolt caused
upheaval throughout Sicily
and southern Italy;
in 72 BC came the famous slave rebellion of Spartacus, who led a sizeable army
of slaves throughout the Italian peninsula, remaining undefeated until cornered
by M. Licinius Crassus in 70 BC.
4. Emergence of Rome
as an imperial capital. Estimated
population of Rome
stood at 600,000 by 133 BC. Small farmers, both Roman and Italian, migrated to
the capital in search of employment and cultural benefits, even though living
conditions remained squalid for all but the wealthiest elements. As late as 200
BC Rome reportedly only had 2 paved streets in the entire city. With profits of
war Roman magistrates engaged in sustained building program to develop the
necessary urban infrastructure -- roads, granaries, docks, aqueducts, etc.
Thousands of slaves were imported to engage in artisan labor for the city.
Greek language was commonly spoken in the streets, and it is estimated that 60%
of the urban population consisted of slaves or people of slave origins.
Urban
development was made possible by the profits of war, but once Roman conflict
ceased after 146 BC, revenues declined, as did public contracting. Evidence of
economic stagnation by the 130s BC, but now Rome had a large surplus population that
could not return to the land because of the radical agricultural changes
without.
5. Changes in the military. Conquest required maintenance of a permanent
military establishment in the provinces to cope with rebellions. Roman
authorities continued to rely on conscription to man overseas armies, but the
prospect evolved for an 18 year old draftee to spend 16 to 20 years outside Italy, all the
while receiving minimum pay for military service. Little profit was to be
gained from garrison duty in hostile regions such as Spain, Sardinia, and
Corsica. For Rome
the result was a gradual rise in
"draft-dodging" as small farmers evaded the draft by
abandoning their farms and moving to the city. Since the draft was based on the
property assessments of the Roman census, abandonment of property resulted in
decline in civic status and ineligibility for the draft. At the same time
Italian allied states became increasingly called upon to sustain Rome's
overseas military establishment. Allied states were required to contribute their
native forces to Roman war efforts. By the end of the Hannibalic War it is
estimated that 2/3’s of Roman military forces in the field consisted of
allied soldiers. In this manner the allies complied with their treaty
obligations to Rome. However, Roman generals had no obligation to share the
profits of war with these allies. Allies received neither land distributions
from conquered peoples, nor monetary bounties. The Allies likewise became
discontented and began by 121 BC to demand full Roman political status
commensurate with their role in the maintenance of empire. Sympathetic Roman
leaders tried many strategies to obtain greater rights for the allies, but
these ultimately failed, provoking a widespread rebellion among allied states
known as the Social War in 90 BC. This rebellion was ultimately suppressed by
force and negotiation, but the process of integrating allied citizens into the
Roman state dragged on to the end of the Republican era. The stakes for Roman
citizens was clear. In 129 BC the Roman census recorded some 294,000 male Roman
citizens. This number jumped to c. 500,000 during the census of 84 BC following
the settlement of the Social War rebellion. However, when the first Roman
emperor, Augustus, conducted a census of all Roman citizens throughout Italy in 27 BC,
the number reached 5 million.
6. The financial burden of empire was
borne by the inhabitants of Roman provinces, paying the tithe to Rome. The effect of this
burden varied from province to province, but generally the tendency was one of
rebellion, suppression, and imposition of even greater financial burden. This
burden was frequently made intolerable by the rapacious behavior of Roman tax
collectors, who leased the tax-collecting contracts from Roman authorities and
hence were known as publicani.
Rebellions in
the two provinces of Spain
and Lusitania
continued throughout the second century BC; Corsica
and Sardinia revolted in 176 BC, culminating
in the enslavement of some 89,000 Sardinians by Ti. Semproinius Gracchus, the
father of the Gracchi. In 88 BC a “philhellene” king in the East,
King Mithradates VI of Pontus
in eastern Anatolia, induced the inhabitants of the Roman province of Asia to rebel and to purge themselves of Roman influence.
Reportedly some 80,000 Romans, Italians, their families and slave staffs were
massacred in Asia, and the rebellion spread across the Aegean to Greece as
well. Generally, provincials held decidedly anti-Roman attitudes throughout the
Republican era.
As complex as these
problems were, a ruling class more responsible than the one prevailing at Rome might have
successfully mediated them. The process of enrichment and heightened political
importance rendered the Roman senatorial order chauvinistically arrogant and
unaccountable for their actions. Many high-minded aristocrats perceived the
need for institution of better means of redress and political reform, but their
efforts were blocked by a majority unwilling to relinquish their privileged
position in society. In the words of one noted Roman historian, the Roman
aristocracy gradually outlived its usefulness to society.