Roman History

Challenges to the Republic 146 to 60 BCE

The common people of Rome offered what resistance they could against Sulla, but it was futile. With control of Rome, Sulla put a price on both the heads of Marius and Rufus. Marius fled the city and was able to reach the coast of North Africa. Rufus was not so lucky and was summarily executed after being betrayed by his slave. Sulla rescinded all of the laws that Rufus had introduced and proposed his own laws. Upon leaving the city for Asia Minor Sulla made the newly elected consul, Cinna, promise that he would not tamper with any of the laws enacted by Sulla. This did not last. In 87 BCE, just several months after Cinna’s election, Cinna began to rescind Sulla’s laws and promote those of the now dead Rufus. In an even bolder move, Cinna recalled Marius from Africa. Marius then, with his veterans, mimicked Sulla and marched on Rome. Marius was looking for revenge against those who had slighted him and helped Sulla. Between 86 and 87 BCE, Marius took full revenge on his enemies, by seizing their property and killing those whom he particularly hated or saw as political threats. Marius’s reign of terror, as it is often referred to, did not last long as Marius fell ill and died in 86 BCE just after achieving his ambition of a seventh consulship.

After Marius’s death Cinna was left in Rome as virtual dictator. However, his rule did not last long, and he died in 84 BCE. Sulla, in the meantime, had ignored the legislation of Cinna stating that he relinquish command of his army in the East. Between 87 and 85 BCE Sulla won several battles against Mithriades and finally ended the war in 85 BCE with a peace agreement with Mithridades. Mithriades was allowed to keep his kingdom of Pontus and pay a small indemnity. In 83 BCE, Sulla set sail for Italy and Rome. Sulla, once he landed in Italy quickly brushed aside the armies that the supporters of Cinna and Marius had cobbled together to throw at him. Upon landing in Italy, Sulla found himself two supporters who would become very important, Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey). The supporters of Marius and Cinna made a final stand at the battle of the Colline Gate. Though the army commanded by Sulla was actually defeated, the army commanded by Crassus was successful and won the victory that saved the day for Sulla and his allies.

The battle of Colline Gate effectively ended all of the resistance in Italy towards Sulla. What began after his victory at the Colline Gate is known as Sulla’s reign of terror. It would in many ways mimic Marius’s reign of terror. In 82 BCE Sulla began the process of proscription. Lists of political enemies were posted around the city. The people featured on these lists were criminals of the Roman Republic and were to be hunted down and killed as outlaws. Only some of the proscribed victims were political enemies. For many of those on the lists, their own crimes were that they were too wealthy and owned too much land. Land was something Sulla needed to pay his veterans with. Those who were Sulla’s allies were able to benefit greatly from the proscriptions and they were able to purchase property worth many times what they would pay.

In 82 BCE, Sulla had the Centuriate assembly appoint him dictator for a period of time, in order to reconstitute the Roman Republic. The passage of this law was known as the “lex Valeria”. As dictator Sulla sought to fix the problems of the Republic that had made this chaos, and essentially his rise to power, possible. Sulla’s first act was to increase the number of Senators from 300 to 600. Secondly, Sulla reaffirmed the rule prescribing that there be a ten-year interval between successive consulships, increased the number of quaestors and strengthened the regular order of holding office. Lastly, Sulla reorganized the provinces and decreased the power of provincial rulers. After reorganizing the government Sulla retired to his countryside estate in 80 BCE, satisfied that he had the choices that would further protect the Roman Republic. Ultimately, the only thing that Sulla’s reforms did was increase the amount of competition between politicians for the position of consul as the number of quaestors had grown, and therefore the number of candidates for the position of consul had grown. Sulla’s reforms were futile as he failed to face the real problems that corrupted the Roman Republic. Sulla’s ultimately legacy to the Roman Republic was his rise to power. Sulla’s rise and subsequent rule created a legacy of bitterness and tension. Though there was tension in all the classes, the greatest was present in those who were actually the most rewarded by Sulla’s victories. Sulla’s soldiers were given great tracts of land as payment for their services. However, few of these men had experience farming, and most of them squandered away their land. In the end Sulla’s veterans became the most discontent and potentially dangerous faction of Roman society, as they were willing to support anyone who promised them personal gains despite the costs to society as a whole. It is not surprising then, that Sulla’s flawed reforms soon began to disintegrate.

The period 78 to 60 BCE is a rather important period as it sees the rise of the three figures that will come together to form the first triumvirate. These figures are Marcus Licinius Crassus, Gnaeus Pompeius and Gaius Julius Caesar. Through these figures the effects of the actions of Marius and Sulla can be plainly observed. Like Sulla and Marius, these three figures would compete for political power in a way that was detrimental to the survival of the Republic while proclaiming that they were in fact saving the Republic.

The tensions in this period begin to develop in 74 BCE when the king of Bithynia dies and bequeaths his kingdom to the Roman people. This action provokes Rome’s old enemy Mithriades VI of Pontus, as he feared Roman expansion, but saw an opportunity to unite Asia Minor under is leadership against Roman expansion. In the spring of 73 BCE, Mithriades struck first by attacking the city of Cotta. Thus began the Third Mithriadic War. In 72 BCE, Licinius Lucullus scored a series of scoring victories against Mithriades. Lucullus perused Mithriades who fled to Tigranes. In the early summer of 67, Mithriades attacked Lucullus again and annihilated two legions. Even before the news of his defeat had reached Rome, the Senate had already given control of the campaign in the East to Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey). Despite Lucullus’s defeat again Mithriades, the third Mithriadic war was almost over. Pompey was able to quickly sweep aside the rest of the descent in Asia and gain the acclaim for being the one to end the Third Mithriadic War.

The problems facing Rome during this period came a little closer to home with Spartacus and the Slave revolt of 73 BCE. Spartacus was a Thracian slave who was believed to be of royal descent. In 73 BCE he led a band of gladiators from the gladiator training school at Capua in revolt. Spartacus called out to all the slaves of Italy to revolt and join him, and they did, by the thousands. By the end of 73 BCE Spartacus’s army had grown to 70 000 and he had defeated the armies of four praetors and two consuls. In desperation the Senate took a chance on Marcus Licinius Crassus and assigned him command of six new legions. Crassus, like Pompey, had played a major role in Sulla’s crucial victory at the Colline Gate. However, Crassus’s financial operations had unjustly earned him the reputation as a greedy manipulator. This reputation was unjust, as Crassus needed to make money in order to compete in the Roman Political arena, just like any other Roman politician. Once he had trained his new Legions, Crassus pursued in southern Italy, finally defeating him near Bruttium. However, 5000 slaves had escaped capture and fled north. Pompey, returning from his campaign to quell the revolt in Spain, ran into the fleeing slaves and was able to defeat them and claim that he had ended the Slave Revolt.

Both Crassus and Pompey demanded recognition for their accomplishments. Both wanted the consulship, though Crassus was eligible for the position, Pompey was too young and had not held any of the offices required foe the consulship. The Senate was put in a difficult position, if they made Pompey consul they would violate Sulla’s constitution. But, if they failed to make Pompey consul, he might use his legions to march on Rome. The Senate finally gave into pressure and both Crassus and Pompey were appointed as consul for 70 BCE. This move by the Senate completed the ruin of the Sullan Constitution and opened the door for other politicians to seize power through militaristic initiative. After their historic consulship, Pompey and Crassus continued to oppose one and other in order to enhance their fame so that they would be in a position to exploit the next public crisis. While Pompey worked to increase his prestige in public, Crassus largely worked behind the scenes, financing senators and equestrians in order to increase his network of friends. Crassus hoped that when the time came he would be able to depend on the friends he had supported. One such man he considered to be his friend was Gaius Julius Caesar.

Whether or not Caesar was born on July 13, 100 BCE has always been a point of debate for scholars. Though evidence points out that he may have been born in either 102 or 101 BCE, the traditional date remains 100 BCE. Caesar was born into a fairly ancient patrician family that had been obscure for several generations. Caesar’s later fame has caused many ancient historians to amplify the importance of his earlier career. In 69 BCE, Caesar went to serve the Republic in Spain. His goals in Spain were to create a network of clients and more importantly build a name for himself.

In order to build a strong position against Pompey, Crassus looked to support anyone whose loyalty could be guaranteed. In 65 BCE, Crassus was able to help Caesar become elected as aedile. With Crassus’s support Caesar was able to win over the support of others through money and show. In 64 BCE, both Caesar and Crassus backed Lucius Sergius Catilina for the consulship. Catiline was running against the master of rhetoric, Cicero. Cicero who enjoyed immense equestrian support was able to defeat Catilina quite easily after Catilina made several violent gestures during his campaign. In 62 BCE, Catiline ran once more for the consulship, this time spouting even more radical rhetoric than he had in the 64’ campaign. Once again, Catiline’s strategy failed and he lost the election. Enraged, Catiline attempted to form a conspiracy to overthrow the government. Cicero got wind of this dastardly plan, however he refrained from using the emergency decree and instead waited for Catiline’s next move. Waiting paid off and Cicero was able to lay a trap for Catiline’s most prominent conspirators. The arrest of the five leading conspirators landed a major blow against Catiline who was trying to raise an army in Eturia. Despite the fact that upon this news, two-thirds of his army melted away, Catiline still attempted to put up a fight. Catiline died at the head of his army in 62 BCE. The five captured conspirators were put to death, and suddenly Cicero found himself in a position of immense popularity.

In 62 BCE, Pompey finally returned from his adventures in the East and to the surprise of almost everyone disbanded his powerful and loyal army. This was surprising as the presence of his army outside of Rome would have been a powerful tool that he might have been able to use to pursue his own goals. The opening days of 61 BCE looked very promising for the Republic. Pompey had crushed the rebellions in the East and upon returning to Rome had disbanded his army, and Cicero had been able to stop a plot that could have threatened the stability of the Republic. However, the tensions between Pompey and Crassus began to rear their heads once again. When Pompey finally met with the Senate he expected to be greeted as another Alexander the Great, instead Crassus rose to the floor and declared Cicero the savior of Rome. Cicero, blinded by his own pride, forgot all about Pompey and went into great deal explaining how he had saved the Roman Republic. Cicero’s pride and ignorance in this situation would cost him the support of Pompey. When Pompey finally presented his demands, Cato the Younger, the great grandson of Cato the Elder, who believed that Pompey was seeking tyrannical power, largely rebuffed him. The formation of the first Triumvirate can largely be blamed on Cato. In 61 BCE, he attacked Pompey, Crassus and Caesar in someway or form. If Cato was looking to destroy the Roman Republic, he could not have been more successful.

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