The First Great Warlords

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The First Great Warlords

• C. Marius and L. Cornelius Sulla

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The Paradox of Roman Imperial SuccessSocial and
Economic Turbulence in Roman Society

• Increased Social and Economic Differentiation
  (insufficient trickle-down effect)
• State-Subsidized Grain for the Populace of Rome
  (seen as a radical, demagogic maneuver on the
  part of individual Roman statesmen in the
  historiography of the earlier Republic)
• New Magnificence in Public Buildings, Games, and
  Triumphs
• Electoral Bribery (ambitus) and Legislation
  Against It
• Sumptuary Legislation

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Keith Hopkins AnalysisConquerors and Slaves

• Continuous Warfare
• Influx of Booty
• Investment in Land
• Formation of Large Estates
• Impoverishment of Peasantry
• Emigration to Towns and Provinces
• Growth of Urban Markets

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The Problem

• Assidui and Property Qualification for
  Eligibility for Military Service

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The Gracchan Challenge

• Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus
• Gaius Sempronius Gracchus
• Aristocratic Background
• Father T. Sempronius Gracchus, consul and patron
  of Spain
• Mother Cornelia, daughter of Scipio Africanus,
  conqueror of Hannibal
• Revive the Original Function of the Tribunate as
  the Defender of Plebeian Interests
• Creators of the Popularis Tradition for the Late
  Republic

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The Tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus (133/132 BCE)

• Limitations to Holdings of Public Land (ager
  publicus)
• Land Redistribution Reestablish the Free
  Peasantry to Small Farmsteads
• Gracchan Commission for Assigning Land (triumviri
  agris iudicandis adsignandis)
• Tribunician Obstacles (M. Octavius) and
  Senatorial Obstruction
• Attalus III of Pergamums Legacy (133)
• Tiberius Direct Appeal to the Popular Assembly
• Re-election Bid Riots and Lynchings
• Tiberius and 300 Gracchan Supporters found
  floating in the Tiber River

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Gaius Gracchus Tribunate(123/122, 122/121 BCE)

• Continues Tiberius Land Redistribution Program
  (ager publicus)
• Overseas Colonization Junonia (Carthage)
• Regular, State-Subsidized Grain for Capital (lex
  Sempronia frumentaria)
• Reform of Extortion Court (quaestio de
  repetundis) equites and publicani
• Knights granted rights to exploit the province of
  Asia (lex de Asia)
• Reserved seats for knights next to senators in
  theater

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Senatorial Reaction

• Gaius Gracchus failed reelection bid for 121 BCE
• The Italian Question
• Unrest and Rioting
• Emergency Decree of the Senate (senatus consultum
  ultimum)
• Murder of Gaius and 3,000 Supporters

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Conservative Retrenchment in the Aftermath of the
Gracchi

• Occupation of ager publicus
• Thorian Law of 118 BCE
• Agrarian Law of 111 BCE
• Socio-Economic and Military Recruitment Crises
  Continue
• Populares and Optimates

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All land, ground, or buildings above mentioned,
excluding such land or ground specially excepted
as stated, shall be private land, and for all
such land, ground, or buildings there shall be
the same right of purchase and sale as for other
private lands, grounds, or buildings and the
incumbent censor shall see that such land,
ground, or building made private by this law
shall be entered in the census in the same way as
other land, grounds, or buildings

• Abrogation of the Gracchan Land Laws, 111 BCE
• Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, vol. 1, 2nd ed.,
  no. 585

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The sword was never carried into the assembly and
there was no civil slaughter until Tiberius
Gracchus, tribune and law bringer, was the first
to fall a victim to internal commotion and with
him many others, who were crowded together at the
Capitol around the temple, were also slain.
Sedition did not end with that abominable deed.
Repeatedly the parties came into open conflictAs
the evil gained in magnitude, open insurrections
against the government and large warlike
expeditions against their country were undertaken
by exiles, criminals, or persons vying with one
another for some office or military
command. Appian, Civil Wars, 1, Introduction 2
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External Developments New Wars, New Conquests,
New Crises

• North (Ligurnians, Allobroges, Arverni) and the
  Conquest of Gallia Narbonensis (southern France)
  in the 120s BCE
• South Jugurtha of Numidia (war with Rome,
  112-106 BCE)
• C. Marius and the Germanic Northmen (Cimbri and
  Teutones)

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Marius and the Northmen

• Cimbri and Teutones defeat Roman armies in 105
  BCE
• Appointment of C. Marius to consulate (novus
  homo) 107, 104-100, 86 BCE
• Marius defeats Cimbri and Teutones in 102/101 BCE
• Land Grants in Africa for Marius discharged
  veterans (tribune Saturninus)

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Coin of C. Fundanius Ca. 100 BCE Commemorating C.
Marius Triumph Over Cimbri and Teutones
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Our generals always thought that those peoples
Gallic and Germanic tribesmen should be
repulsed rather than punished in war. The famous
Gaius Marius himself, whose divine and
extraordinary ability relieved the great
affliction and destruction visited upon the Roman
people, checked the enormous force of the Gauls
flowing into Italy but did not himself penetrate
to their cities and abodes.

• Cicero, On the Consular Provinces, 13.32

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Marius and the Jugurthine War

• Early Roman Defeats in Africa
• Charges of Corruption and Bribery at Home
• Marius as New Man
• Catonian Politics against Corrupted Aristocrats
• Supported by the Equestrian Order
• Appointed by Popular Assembly
• Property Qualification Eliminated
• Volunteer Army (Marius Mules)

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The Italian Question and the Social War of 90-87
BCE

• Tribunate of M. Livius Drusus, 91 BCE
• Proposes Roman citizenship to all Italians (idea
  had been broached in 125 BCE)
• Courts to be shared by equestrians and senators
• Assassination of Drusus
• Italian Rebellion
• Establishment of Capital at Corfinium (Italia)
• Italia mints separatist coinage (Italian bull
  gorging Roman wolf)
• Aftermath
• Romans grant citizenship in 89 BCE
• War winds down by 87 BCE (Pyrrhic victory for
  Roman aristocracy?)

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Italian Bull Gorging Roman Wolf
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The East Mithridates VI of Pontos

• Competition for Bithynia as Client State
• Mithridates invades Asia Minor and Greece
• Slaughter of 80,000 Italian businessmen
• Occupation of Athens, 88 BCE
• Factional Struggle in Rome for Mithridatic
  Command
• C. Marius and L. Cornelius Sulla?
• Sulla awarded command (makes his name in the
  Social War)
• Sulpicius Rufus proposes transfer of command to
  Marius
• Sullas march on Rome in 88 BCE

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Green Roman Empire ca. 100 BCE Yellow/Orange
Verticals Areas under Mithridates Influence Ye
llow Kingdom of Pontos Under Mithridates VI
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Revolutionary Violence in Roman Republican
Political LifeSullas March on Rome (88 BCE)

• Sulpicius Rufus murdered
• Flight of Marius
• Sulla wins Mithridatic command
• Marius and Cinna retake control of Rome in 87
  (proscriptions)
• Sulla comes to agreement with Mithridates (85)
• Disloyal cities of Asia Minor pay heavy
  reparations to Sulla

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Sullas Return (83 BCE) and Dictatorship (81-79
BCE)

• Battle at the Colline Gate, 82 BCE
• Proscription and Confiscations (10,000 murdered)
• The Dictatorship of L. Cornelius Sulla (82-79
  BCE)
• Conservative Reforms (Turning Back the Clock)
• Restoration of Senates Authority
• Restrictions on tribunes (ineligible for higher
  offices)
• Control of courts returned to Senate
• Senate doubled to 600 members (admission and
  incorporation of wealthiest equestrians)
• Minimum age requirements for offices enforced

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After crushing Italy by war, fire, and murder,
Sullas generals visited the cities and
established garrisons at the suspected
places.Sulla himself called the Roman people
together in an assembly and made them a speech,
vaunting his own exploits and making other
menacing statements in order to inspire
terror.he immediately proscribed 40 senators and
1,600 knights. He seems to have been the first to
make such a formal list of those whom he
condemned to death, to offer prizes to assassins
and rewards to informers, and to threaten those
who concealed the proscribed. Appian, Civil
Wars, 1.11.95-12.103 (excerpts)
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A Deadly Formula

• Unprecedented and Unconstitutional Measures
• Marius consecutive consulships
• Sullas extended dictatorship
• Use of Armies for Political Ends (Sullas March
  on Rome)
• Commanders Responsible for Land Grants to
  Veterans
• Charismatic General Personal Army
• Death of Senatorial Government

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Readings for Next Meeting

• H.H. Scullard, From the Gracchi to Nero, 88-158
• M. Gelzer, Caesar Politician and Statesman,
  272-333
• J. Patterson, Military Organization and Social
  Change, in War and Society in Republican Rome,
  92-112

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Questions for Reading

• What factors led to the breakdown of Republican
  government in the first decades of the first
  century BCE?
• How did Caesar exploit the social and economic
  consequences of empire differently than the
  warlords who preceded him?
• How did the social and economic consequences of
  empire affect Roman military organization in the
  late Republic?