Fall of the Roman RepublicFall of the Roman Republic

For Dummies

• 1 Political developments in the late Republic• – legacy of Sulla

• – Pompey: significance of military and political career 2007 2005• – significance of the consulship of Pompey and Crassus in 70 BC

• – role and significance of Cicero 2004• – First Triumvirate: aims, roles and responsibilities of Caesar, Pompey and Crassus

• – activities and breakdown of the First Triumvirate 2008 2004• – political crises: role of the Senate; use of the army for political purposes; urban• violence• – role of optimates, populares

• – Caesar and Pompey: political competition and responsibility for outbreak of the Civil 2006 2003• War 49–45 BC• – significance of Caesar’s dictatorship• 2 Wars and expansion

• – Pompey’s extraordinary commands and the Eastern Settlement 2006• – Caesar’s military activities in Gaul, Germany and Britain• – significance of the Mithridatic and Parthian wars

• 3 Fall of the Republic 2007• – impact of Caesar’s assassination

• – formation, activities and breakdown of the Second Triumvirate 2005 2003• – rivalry and Civil War between Mark Antony and Octavian: role of Cleopatra VII;

• Battle of Actium 2008,

The Past and the Fiuture?

APPROACH TO PERIOD APPROACH TO PERIOD QUESTIONQUESTION

• It is vital to know a comprehensive narrative of the period.

• The focus of the question will be role or significance of

Think and Speak like a Think and Speak like a RomanRoman

• Amicitae• Mos Maeorum• Nobilitas• Dignitas• Imperium• Patron/Client Relationship• Suo Anno• Clemencia• Celeritas• Concordia Ordinum

2Wealth and Slaves flood into Rome

3Senators buy up vast properties

4Smallholders move

to Rome to tryand find work

5The unemployed mob cause

increased corruption& military commanders

become too influential as the armybecomes dependent on

the spoils of war

1The empire expands

Students must have a broader appreciation of the impact of Empire. This would constitute a sophisticated judgment; Band 6 outcome.

Characteristics of the Characteristics of the PeriodPeriod

• Increasing factionalism in Senate between Populares and Optimates

• Rise of popular tribunes and use by generals• Rise of client armies and powerful generals.” The

rise of the professional army was probably the most important of the problems besetting the Republic with which the Senate failed to deal “ Goldsworthy

• Increasing violence in the streets and forum• Undermining of Cursus Honorum. Use of non

traditional paths to power• Use of amicitae to overpower Senate

Wars of ExpansionWars of Expansion

• Punic Wars• Jugurtha• Mithridates• Brought great wealth but raised the

importance of army and generals to the most powerful position.

• The path to power lay, not with the Cursus Honorum but the ability to raise an army.

44-31BC Second triumvirate and civil war

Increasing use of:•Client armies•Powerful generals•Violence•Tribunes•Extraordinary commands•Decreasing use of•Mos maeorum•Senate to pass laws

Legacy of Sulla /rise of Legacy of Sulla /rise of PompeyPompey82-77BC82-77BC

• Sulla’s march on Rome; “ momentous event in history” Scullard

• ‘The most enduring legacy of Sulla’s his methods” Brunt

• Extra Ordinary Commands;• Raised his own ‘private’ army to aid Sulla at 23,

gained propraetorian imperium and first triumph.

• Granted propraetorian command against Lepidus.Given proconsular command against Sertorius.

• Lex Gabinia ( pirates)• Lex Manilia ( Mithridates)

Significance of PompeySignificance of Pompey

• In Sulla’s lifetime, due to Pompey’s insubordination• After his death, to the revolt of Lepidus and the Senates

nomination of Pompey to proconsular Imperium• To the unleashing of the tribunate and the restoration of

the veto ( 77 Consulship)• To the partial restoration of the courts to equite control• To the unprecedented and limitless Imperium, granted

through the Lex Gabinia and Lex Manilia• To the formation of the First Triumvirate, a combined

effort of private influences to secure private ambitions, against the Senate’s will.

• Ironically by his death at Pharsalus he facilitated the transfer of control from Senate to Dictator

Cataline Conspiracy a metaphor Cataline Conspiracy a metaphor for a dying republic; multi for a dying republic; multi purpose narrativepurpose narrative

• Catiline was yet another example of a Roman ambitious to seek power through unconstitutional means

• It showed the factional nature of the Senate ie Caesar and Crassus vs Cicero and Cato- Populares vs Optimates

• Aroused the Senates suspicions of Caaser’s motives• Revealed Caesar’s powerful rhetorical ability and its affect on a

vascillating Senate.• The public outcry over Caesar’s accused complicity showed the Senate

how much mass popularity Caesar had acquired• The Senates understanding of the urban discontent is revealed in the

subsequent law providing for the distribution of cheap corn, presented in the Asssembly by Cato!!!!!!!!!!

• The Optimates had adopted a Populare policy in order to appease the people. On a more personel level Cato no doubt( galled by his sisters affair with Ceasar) would hope that this policy would undermine Caesar’s popularity with the urban masses.

• Allowed Cicero to be hailed as “Pater Patria” and led to his appeal of Concordia Ordinum ( Agreement of good men)

Three Men ,Three Paths to Three Men ,Three Paths to Power; Triumvirate 60- 56-Power; Triumvirate 60- 56-52BC52BC• MUST KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Crassus wanted to make a contract with then Asian tax collectors as he had financial interests at stake. Cicero supported this as it would help relations between the knights and the senate, which he thought was fundamentally important, but the proposal was rejected.

• Pompey wished for land to be provided for his veterans and to have the eastern settlement ratified in one go, instead of every one of his actions be debated.

• Caesar wished to gain a large pro-consular command instead of being in charge of forests in some insignificant part of the empire, which was the optimates plan.

HistoriansHistorians

• “ Conspiracy against the state by its three leading citizens” Livy

• AN UNOFFICIAL AMICITAE• “ He Caesar entered the city and

immediately adopted a policy which deceived everyone except Cato. This was to effect a reconciliation between Pompey and Crassus, the two most powerful men in Rome. Caesar brought these men together, making them friends instead of enemies and used their united power for the strengthening of himself.” Plutarch

Caesar’s Consulship-illegal Caesar’s Consulship-illegal or irreverent?or irreverent?

• Despite Bibulus’s attempts Caesar passed laws granting land to Caesar’s veterens, tax concessions to Crassus, and agrarian bills for the relief of the poor

• Due to the intransigence of the Senate, Pompey put his soldiers in Rome and thus left Caesar open to the accusation of illegality. Bibulus also post dated ill omens, rendering any laws invalid

Other significant playersOther significant players

• Cato- the conscience of Rome- “ fly in the ointment”- killed himself, rather than live on Caesar’s mercy

• Catiline- anbitious Roman ,ready to march on Rome when frustrated in his attempts to gain consulships

• Clodius and Milo Escalation of violence created the Senate’s need for Pompey as Sheriff

• Curio- tribune and negotiator in the countdown to Civil War

Caesar and Gaul? 58-49 Caesar and Gaul? 58-49 BCBC

• Allowed Caesar to gain the dignitas to equal Pompey

• Was close enough to Rome to manipulate politics( Something that Antony failed to do)

• 10 years later, conquered all of Gaul, made Rome and himself wealthy, and had at his back an invincible army ready to follow him anywhere

Slide to Civil War51-Slide to Civil War51-49BC49BC

• Offer and Counter Offer• The lynchpin of the Civil War was the

Senate’s desire to prosecute Caesar for his supposed illegalities in the Consulship of 59BC. This could only happen if he relinquished his proconsulship and thus his immunity from prosecution

• As long as he held legions the Senate could not prosecute

• Their only choice was to declare the Senatus Consultum Ultimum

Who was to blame?Who was to blame?

• Caesar?• Pompey?• The Senate?• Broader deep seated problems of the Empire?• All of the above?• .”On broader grounds it may be confidently said

that the civil war was not of Caesar's making.....Caesar in 49 like Sulla in 83 was offered the choice between self defense and political extinction......therefore the 22 extremist senators who insisted on Caesar's recall were in fact insisting on Civil War. To them the feud with Caesar had become a higher object than the welfare of the State."  Cary 

Saying it in a nutshellSaying it in a nutshell

• " For Caesar publicly declared that only two things were needed to rule, soldiers and money, and armies could only be held together with money… since the Roman citizen force had inevitably changed into an army of professional soldiers, the imperator with his veterans took the political place of the patron and his clients. What some had feared and others aspired to, for decades, was fully realized in the person of Caesar; the conqueror of Gaul whom the old powers refused to recognize overwhelmed all resistance and, on the strength of an authority based solely on the loyalty of his soldiers, was reaching for the government of the Empire."  

•  Gelzer, Caesar: Politician and Statesman

Shared to Sole Power49-Shared to Sole Power49-44BC44BC

• 49 BC Caesar is elected dictator and, during 11-day term, passes emergency legislation.

• Caesar gives up the dictatorship, elected to second consulship with Publius Servilius Isauricus

• 47Caesar again appointed dictator, this time for one year in absentia. Antony, his Master of the Horse, maintains order in Italy

• 46Caesar elected consul for the third time, serving with Lepidus. Completes some reform including the calendar

• 45Caesar serves as his fourth consulship (without a colleague). On March 17, Caesar victorious at Munda; after administrative reforms, he returns to Rome in October. The Senate votes extravagant decrees in his honor, including dictatorship for life and divine worship

• 44On February 15, Caesar appears at the Lupercalia as dictator perpetuus (for life), in the dress of the ancient kings of Rome;

Assassins/LiberatorsAssassins/Liberators

• Cassius, Trebonius, Casca, Decimus Brutus, Marcus Brutus

• “There were various reasons which affected each and all of them and impelled them to lay hands on the man. Some of them had hopes of becoming leaders themselves in his place if he were out of the way, others were angered over what had happened to them in war, embittered over the loss of relatives, property or offices of state.” Nicholas of Damascus

• “Jealousy of Caesar’s onward progress and hatred of his being esteemed above others” Cassius Dio

• “When Caesar made himself responsible for all important decisions, he fostered a dangerous atmosphere… those he had disappointed, frustrated… could easily focus their anger directly on Caesar; and it was Caesars friends, who nurtured the highest expectations, who felt this deprivation most keenly “ Relative Deprivation

Power Vacuum and Power Vacuum and ContendersContenders44BC44BC

• OCTAVIAN- Caesar’s name, client and armies

• ANTONY- Experience ,Caesar’s lieutenant, Consul and army loyalty

• LEPIDUS- master of Horse, in control of many legions

Significance of CiceroSignificance of Cicero

• Career highlighted the power of rhetoric and its influence in the Senate and Courts. Prosecution of Verres was a precedent limiting provincial corruption

• Gained prestige as Pater Patria for his role as Consul during Catiline Conspiracy

• Creater of Concordia Ordinum• Acted as powerbroker between Pompey and Senate,

Octavian and Senate. Inadvertantly created the adversarial environment which led to two civil wars.

• Penned the Philippics which assisted in Antony’s downfall but led to his own death in the proscriptions

• Left an invaluable legacy of written sources of the time in his speeches and private letters

22ndnd Triumvirate 43BC Lex Triumvirate 43BC Lex TitiusTitius

• The triumviri rei publicae constituendae ('board of three to reconstitute the state') accepted the powers of a dictator and took several measures

• the execution of 4,700 opponents (e.g. Cicero); • land bills to give farms to Caesar's veterans (the

inhabitants of eighteen cities were sent away from their homes without any compensation);

• war against Caesar's murderers, who were defeated at Philippi;

• measures against the Senate, including the appointment of all magistrates

• “ unstable equilibrium of conflicting elements” Cary• “-its real aim was the service of personal and factional

ambition” David Shotter

Treaties as ointment for Treaties as ointment for the festering sore of the the festering sore of the Second TriumvirateSecond Triumvirate

• Brundisium 40BC Antony kept control of the Eastern provinces, while Octavian got Spain, Gaul and Illyricum. Antony marries Octavia

• Misenum• Tarentum

Antony &Octavian

Octavian

Antony

Octavian

Brutus &Cassius

LuciusAntonius &

Fulvia

Sextus Pompey

Antony &Cleopatra

Battle of Philippi 42BC

The Perusine War41BC

Battle of Naulochus36BC

Battle of Actium31BC

AN UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM OF CONFLICTING ELEMENTS

Octavian/Antony; 43-33BCOctavian/Antony; 43-33BCChanging Power RatiosChanging Power Ratios

OCTAVIANMORAL REMEDIES- ROLE OF

THE PERFECT FAMILY WITH LIVIA

BUIDING REFORN IN ROMECANCELLED WAR TAXES

WATER SUPPLYSURRENDER POWERS

SENATE RESPECTRESTORED ELECTIONS

FOR MINOR MAGISTRATESPROPAGANDA AGAINST ANTONY

DEMONISE CLEOPATRA

ANTONYTOO MUCH TIME

AWAY FROM ROMERISKY AND EXPENSIVE

CAMPAIGN AGAINST THEPARTHIANS

LOSES RESPECT OF ARMY

APPARENT INFATUATION WITHCLEOPATRA

DIVORCES OCTAVIADONATIONS OF

ALEXANDRIATRIUMPH

31 BC Battle of Actium; 31 BC Battle of Actium; Civil War or Foreign Civil War or Foreign ConquestConquest

• The forces of Antony and Cleopatra, camped near the swampy lowlands of Cape Actium, had been depleted by malaria before the battle even began--severely reducing the contingent of oarsmen. Supply lines had been cut, further weakening morale and support. Faced with a bleak situation that worsened every day, Antony burned those ships he could no longer man and prepared with Cleopatra to withdraw southward from the gulf with as much of his

force as possible.• Antony’s flight nullified any

remaining loyalty they may have had for him and his soldiers surrendered

• Octavian had used a combination of political ,diplomatic, and economic methods to present himself as the legitimate heir. It was his friend Agrippa who ultimately gave him the military success to inherit the Empire

Why did the Roman Why did the Roman Republic Fall?Republic Fall?

• The Roman Republic was ruled by a Constitution which relied on a balance of three elements; The Senate; the Magistrates; the Assemblies.

• When the balance was upset either by ambitious magistrates, armies or tribunes then civil war was the result

• The Senate proved ineffectual in preventing this.• A broader view would suggest that the Republic

was inadequate to the problems resulting from a burgeoning Empire