title : Ancient Rome : An Introductory History

author : Zoch, Paul A.
publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
isbn10 | asin : 0806130938
print isbn13 : 9780806130934
ebook isbn13 : 9780806170350
language : English
subject   Rome--History.
publication date : 1998
lcc : DG210.Z63 1998eb
ddc : 937
subject : Rome--History.
 Page iii

Ancient Rome

An Introductory History

Paul A. Zoch

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS

NORMAN

 
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Published with the assistance of the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency
which supports the study of such fields as history, philosophy, literature, and language.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zoch, Paul A. (Paul Allen), 1962-
Ancient Rome: an introductory history / Paul A. Zoch.
p.      cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8061-3053-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. RomeHistory. I. Title.
DG210.Z63 1998
937dc21                                          98-12881
                                                            CIP

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources, Inc.

Copyright ©1998 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division of the
University. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the U.S.A.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

 
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Contents

List of Illustrations vii

List of Maps ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiii

1. A Linguistic Introduction 3

2. Rome's Origins according to the Ancients 6

3. Romulus and Remus Found Rome 9

4. Kings after Romulus 15

5. Tarquin's Coup d'État and the End of the Monarchy 27

 6. The Res Publica: "Senatus Populusque Romanus" 32

7. Traitors and Heroes of the Early Republic 40

8. Class Conflict in Rome 50

9. Coriolanus, Cincinnatus, and Camillus 58

10. The Gauls Sack Rome 67

11. The Wars with the Samnites 76

12. King Pyrrhus' Pyrrhic Victories 86

13. The First Punic War 94

14. The Second Punic War 100

15. Rome Encounters the East 117

 
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16. The Gracchi: The Beginning of the End of the Res Publica 141

17. The War against Jugurtha and the Rise of Marius 149

18. The Italian Wars and the Career of Sulla 155

19. The Rise of Pompey 165

20. The First Triumvirate 175

21. Civil War 191

22. Renewed Civil War and the Rise of Octavian 211

23. The Roman Empire: The Principate 227

24. The Julio-Claudian Emperors 240

25. The Flavian Emperors 259

26. The Culmination of the Pax Romana 265

 Afterword: The Disintegration of the Empire 281

Bibliography 285

Index 289

 
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Illustrations

Family tree of Indo-European languages 2

She-wolf from the Capitol 10

Cloelia leading the children across the Tiber 45

Remains of the Temple of Castor and Pollux 48

Veturia scolding Coriolanus 60-61

The Dying Gaul, from Pergamon 70

Julius Caesar 205

Coin issued after the assassination of Caesar 212

Augustus 229
 Pantheon 234

Interior of the Pantheon 235

Pont du Gard, near Nîmes, France 236

Colosseum 261

Trajan's Column 268

Portrait of a woman, second century A.D. 273

Household objects, fifth century A.D. 274

Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina 275

Arch of Septimius Severus 282

 
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Maps

Roman Italy 90

The Hellenistic kingdoms, 185 B.C. 118

Roman Empire at the death of Augustus, A.D. 14 232

 
 Page xi

Preface

In my first year of teaching high-school Latin, I gave my second-year students a bonus question on
a translation test: "For three points, identify when the Roman Empire was at its height." I decided to
accept any answer from 100 B.C. to A.D. 200. The answers were distressing: one senior, a good but not
great student, answered 3000 B.C. Only three students out of the class of twenty-two received the
three points. The students giggled at their own ignorance of basic history. I realized that if even
second-year Latin students do not know such basic information, few other high-school students
doand I must confess that when I was in high school, I was not much better off. Such was the
genesis of this book.

Ancient Rome: An Introductory History cannot hope to compete in the quality and depth of its
scholarship with the excellent histories written by world-renowned scholars such as Cary, Scullard,
Mommsen, and Grant, by all those involved in the massive Cambridge Ancient History, and by
others. However, by the inclusion of stories, legends, and myths from original sources, it does offer
high-school students and general readers greater accessibility to the factual history of ancient Rome,
for it seeks to entertain at the same time as to inform. This book presents a traditional,
chronological history of ancient Rome, illustrating the major and minor themes, events, and
personalities through generous selections of Latin literature and other original sources in English
translation. Readers will learn about Roman history from Aeneas through Marcus Aurelius, meeting
along the way such characters and personalities as Tarquinius Superbus, Lucretia,

 
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Brutus, Cincinnatus, Q. Fabius Maximus, Hannibal, Pompey, Nero, and many others.

I have sought to allow the original sources to engage readers' interest, because students prefer
storiessuch as the Sacred Geese of Juno, the Schoolmaster of Falerii, or Clodius and the Bona Dea
scandalto scholarly interpretations. Students and general readers are more likely to read such
stories, and thus to learn from them, than they are to read scholarly discussions. Yet my emphasis
on original sources and interesting stories does not detract from the presentation of factual Roman
history. Readers will still learn factual Roman history and the place of ancient Rome in Western
civilization; they will still learn about the Romans' values and culture; and they will learn about
Roman government and its problems. This book seeks to present to students and general readers the
basic knowledge that one should have about ancient Rome, using its literature as a vehicle for
arriving at an understanding of the Romans, their history, their character and culture, and their
heroes.

A note about the translations: All the translations of original sources in this book are my own.

 
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Acknowledgments

As a teacher, I understand how great a role teachers play in students' development, and I would like
to acknowledge here a few of my own teachers for their influence on me. I am very grateful to Alan
Fear and Allen Boxman, and more recently, Professor Carl Rubino (formerly of the University of
Texas at Austin) and Professor Ian Thomson of Indiana University, Bloomington.

I also thank my family for all that they have done for me, and especially my wife, Denise, for her
support and patience.

I am grateful to Dr. Sidney Feit for reading an early version of this history and encouraging me to
continue developing it; and especially to my colleague in Houston, Dr. Chester Natunewicz, who
also read an early version and made invaluable suggestions for its improvement.

 
 Page 1

Ancient Rome

 
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The family tree of Indo-European languages.
 
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Chapter 1
A Linguistic Introduction

What do such languages as English, Latin, Greek (ancient and modem), German, Gaelic, Russian,
Kurdish, Sanskrit, and Hindi have in common? Not much, it would seem. Yet, despite the
thousands of miles and years separating them, those languages all have a common ancestrythat is,
they are all descended from one prehistoric language and culture, which we call Indo-European.

The Indo-European people are believed to have lived around the Black and Caspian Seas. Around
3500-2500 B.C., they began migrating to parts of Europe and Asia, bringing with them their
language and culture. All languages change as they are spoken, and as the speakers come into
contact with speakers of other languages. Indo-European was no exception: It evolved, and from it
arose the languages already mentioned, along with a host of others (see table). No written texts in
Indo-European survivenot until 3000 B.C. did the Mesopotamians develop the world's first writing
system. The earliest surviving written records of any Indo-European language are documents in
Hittite that date back to 1300 B.C., and examples of Vedic Sanskrit, dating back to 1200 B.C. Parts of
the work of the ancient Greek poet Homer might date back to 1000 B.C., and the oldest literary texts
in Latin date back to approximately 250 B.C.. (See Arlotto, Introduction to Historical Linguistics, pp.
104-105.)

Despite the lack of texts in Indo-European, you can see the similarities among its different
''descendant" languages by comparing their grammars and vocabularies. For example, the table
shows some common words in several languages.

 
 Page 4

English father mother brother eat

Latin pater mater frater edo

Greek pater meter phrater edomai

Sanskrit pitar matar bhratar admi

German Vater Mutter Bruder essen

Indo-European *mater bhrater *ed

*

To take another example, the Indo-European root, gno, "to know," comes into English from Greek,
Latin, and Anglo-Saxon (a Germanic language that became English). From Greek gno come words
such as agnostic and diagnosis; from Latin gnosco come words such as noble, ignorance, note,
connotation, and denotation; from the Anglo-Saxon gno we get the words know and knowledge.

Latin is the most important ancient representative of the Italic branch of the Indo-European family
of languages. Like Indo-European, Latin also changed over time. When the Romans conquered
western Europe and settled colonies of Italians and Romans in the conquered lands, the natives of
those lands learned Latin from the settlers; over the centuries Latin fused with the native languages
(in western Europe, various Celtic languages) to produce the Romance languages, which are the
languages derived from Latin. They are Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Provençal,
Rhaeto-Romance, and Catalan.
The similarities between Latin and the Romance languages are easy to see, and students of Latin
will notice thousands more, if they learn a Romance language as well.

Latin pater homo populus filius

French pere homme peuple fils

Spanish padre hombre pueblo hijo

Italian padre uomo popolo figlio

Portuguese pai homem povo filho

English, a Germanic language, gained its largely Latinate vocabulary mostly in five major time
periods.

 
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1. Starting in 110 B.C., the Romans fought wars with the Germanic tribes and established colonies in
Germany. They thus left a Latin influence on the Germanic languages. For example, the German
word Wein comes from the Latin word vinum, "wine," and the city of Cologne owes its name to the
Latin word colonia, "colony." Much later, in the fifth century A.D., some Germanic tribes, called
Anglo-Saxons, invaded England and in so doing brought to the Celtic languages of England Latin
words that they had learned from the Romans. The Latin words that were adopted at this time
included cheese, from Latin caseus through German Kaese.

2. In 55 B.C. the Romans invaded England under the leadership of Julius Caesar; a century later, in
A.D. 43, under Emperor Claudius, England became a Roman province. The language of the Roman
government in England was, of course, Latin, and it influenced the Celtic languages spoken there.
Among the Latin words that came in at this time was castra, "camp," which appears in English
place-names as caster (Lancaster) or as chester (Rochester).

3. In A.D. 597 missionaries began traveling to England to convert the natives to Christianity. The
language of the Catholic Church was Latin (the Bible was not translated into English until the late
fourteenth century), and Latin words therefore became as much a part of people's lives as worship.

4. Under the leadership of William the Conqueror, the Normans, people of northern France
(Normandy), won the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and subsequently occupied England during the
eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. The Norman dialect of French (a Romance language)
was the language of the government during the occupation. This time period marked the greatest
influx of Latinate words into English.

5. A further group of Latinate words came into English during the Renaissance. Scholars
throughout Europe communicated in the one language, Latin, that was familiar to all educated
people. They borrowed words from Latin to express ideas for which no word existed in their native
languages. Thus, an ancient, "dead" language was used to describe new things, and more Latinate
words enriched the English language and thought.

 
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Chapter 2
Rome's Origins according to the Ancients

The Romans did not know about the Indo-Europeans; what they believed to be their ancient history
is more properly called mythology or legend. The history of Rome's first three centuries of
existence is difficult to know for certain. The ancient historians who wrote about Rome's
beginnings frequently themselves did not know what had happened, because the Romans did not
start writing their history until centuries after Rome was founded. The historians also were not
critical of their sources in the same way that historians today would be; frequently they were more
concerned about the moral and patriotic value of history than about historical truth, and sometimes
they cared more about writing well and praising their ancestors than about writing truthfully. Still
another problem is the loss of much Latin literature: In the days before photocopiers and cheap
paper, books had to be copied by hand (the English word manuscript means "handwritten" in Latin)
onto expensive papyrus, which was made by pasting together reeds that grew in Egypt, or onto
vellum (also known as parchment), which was made from the skin of cattle, sheep, and goats.
Consequently few copies were made of most books. Many of these copies perished over the
centuries, and in many cases no copies at all of a particular work survive. Such works are known
today only by mentions or excerpts in other works. When our literary sources fail, we have recourse
to other sources of information. From archaeology we learn much by studying the myriad objects
that the ancients dropped, lost, abandoned, threw away, or forgot about; we can also study the
monuments and buildings they erected in praise of the gods (or in praise of themselves) or in
memory of key

 
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victories or important people. Despite these problems with sources, it is possible to piece together
the early history of Rome in such a way as to show the development of Roman society and
government and the beginnings of civilization in western Europe. We can also study the Romans as
people: What values did they cherish? What did they want their past to be?

Aeneas

Ancient writers, both Greek and Roman, found a noble ancestry for the Latin people and for
Rome's power in the figure of Aeneas, a Trojan prince. When Troy was sacked by the Greeks in
1200 B.C., Aeneas fled with his son Ascanius, his father Anchises, and friends to found a new Troy;
Aeneas' wife Creusa did not live to accompany her husband on his journey.

Aeneas was not one of the outstanding heros in Homer's Iliad, which tells the tale of Troy; the few
references to him, however, attest both to his pietas (a Latin word meaning "fulfillment of the
obligations placed upon a person by family, community, and gods") and to his valor in war; he was
respected equally with Hector, the great Trojan warrior whom only Achilles could conquer. The two
ideas of pietas and valor in battle were very important to the Romans, and the poets writing about
Rome's past found in Aeneas an ancestor who embodied these values: while fighting valiantly
against Achilles, Aeneas is saved from certain death because he has worshipped the gods.

The Latin poet Vergil's epic poem The Aeneid (written from 26 to 19 B.C.) tells the story of Aeneas'
wanderings. According to Vergil, Aeneas left Troy, knowing that it was his destiny to found a city
from which a great empire would eventually arise. Because he did not know where to go to found
his city, he traveled through the Mediterranean region in search of his destiny, During his travels he
met Dido, queen of Carthage, a city in northern Africa.

Because the goddess Venus, Aeneas' mother, feared for her son's safety in Carthage, she caused
Dido to fall passionately in love with him. Aeneas likewise fell in love with Dido and stayed in
Carthage with her, until he was reminded by the god Mercury that his duty and destinyto establish
what would become the Roman

 
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empirewere more important than his love for Dido. Aeneas sadly left Africa, abandoning Dido and
breaking her heart. Dido, who had thought that Aeneas was going to marry her, committed suicide
as Aeneas and his allies sailed away, but first she cursed Aeneas and all his descendants, saying:
"Carthaginians, hound his descendants and all his future race with your hatred! Give this gift to my
ashes: no love, no treaties between our peoples. Arise, some avenger, from my bones to pursue the
Trojan settlers with fire and the sword, now, later, whenever you have the power to do so. I beg our
shores to be against theirs, our seas against theirs, swords against swords. Let our descendants and
theirs fight it out!" (Aeneid IV.622-627).

In Vergil's poem, Dido's curse explains the savage wars, called the Punic Wars, that Rome and
Carthage fought in the third and second centuries B.C.

Aeneas landed in Italy, where he visited the Underworld and heard his father (who died shortly
after leaving Troy) prophesy of Rome's coming greatness: "My son, beholdwith Mars' blessingthat
renowned Rome will make an empire as great as the Earth, and a spirit that will rival Olympus, and
will surround the seven hills within one wall: Rome, blessed with her generations of men" (Aeneid
VI.781-784).

Later on during the visit, Anchises tells Aeneas of his and his descendants' mission: "Some people
will be better at shaping bronze statues that seem to breathe; others will produce living faces from a
marble block, while still others will deliver cleverer speeches or plot the movements of the heavens
or explain the risings of the stars. You, Roman, remember to rule peoples with your power, for that
is what you do best: accustom them to peace, spare the conquered, and war down the proud"
(Aeneid VI.847-853).

Having now a clearer understanding of his purpose in life, and inspired by his father's words,
Aeneas heroically fought wars with the hostile natives of Italy and founded the town Lavinium,
naming it after his new, Italian wife, Lavinia. Aeneas' son Ascanius founded the town Alba Longa.

After his death Aeneas was deified and was later worshiped as Aeneas Indiges, "the native-born."

 
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Chapter 3
Romulus and Remus Found Rome

Long after Alba Longa was founded by the son of Aeneas, the king of the city, Numitor, was
deposed by his brother Amulius and driven into exile. Fearing that the descendants of Numitor
would rob him of the throne that he had just stolen, Amulius murdered Numitor's sons and made his
only daughter, Rhea Silvia, a Vestal Virgin. For a Vestal Virgin to break her vows of chastity in
service of the goddess Vesta (the goddess of the hearth) would earn her the punishment of being
buried alive. In spite of her special status, Rhea Silvia became pregnant by the god Mars; she bore
twin sons, Romulus and Remus.

Amulius learned of the twins' existence and ordered that they be put in a basket and thrown into the
Tiber River, so they could not rob him of his throne. The Tiber happened to be unusually high,
however, and the attendant was not able to put the basket into the river proper, as he could not reach
it. Instead he left the basket floating in the shallow water near the shore. The water then magically
receded and left the twins safe on land. A passing she-wolf heard the babies' cries and nursed them
until Faustulus, the shepherd of the royal flock, found the boys under a fig tree (called ficus
Ruminalis, "the fig tree of Rumina," a minor goddess, perhaps of nursing), and brought them home.

Romulus and Remus grew up and quickly distinguished themselves from other young men of their
age with their bravery and daring. Other young men followed the two, and together they fearlessly
hunted wild beasts and robbed robbers of their loot, distributing it among their fellow shepherds.

 
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She-wolf from the Capitol, sixth-fifth century B.C. (Courtesy of the Archer
 M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas at Austin, William J. Battle 
Collection of Plaster Casts)

The robbers, angry at losing their loot, ambushed the twins during a festival; Romulus managed to
escape, but Remus did not, and the robbers took him to King Amulius, claiming that the brothers
had made raids on Numitor's lands. Numitor suspected that the two were his grandsons, and was
just about to acknowledge Remus as his grandchild (by this time Faustulus had already told
Romulus the truth about his origins). Before Amulius could eliminate the brothers, Romulus and his
fellow shepherds attacked and killed him, rescued Remus, and restored Numitor to his rightful
throne.

Romulus and Remus then decided to found a city on the banks of the Tiber, where they had been
abandoned, rescued, and raised. Since they were the same age, it was not possible to tell who was
older, and thus who would rule the new city. They agreed to use augury, the practice of looking for
signs of approval or disapproval from the gods, usually by birds, to decide who should rule. Remus

 
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stood on the Aventine Hill, and Romulus on the Palatine, each watching for signs from the gods;
Remus had no sooner seen six vultures than Romulus saw twelve, and the followers of each saluted
their leader as king. During the argument that followed, Romulus killed Remus. Another version of
the story has Remus mockingly jump over Romulus' half-built walls, to demonstrate that the walls
were too low; Romulus then kills him, saying, "And the same goes for any other person who jumps
over my walls!" Romulus became king and named the city after himself. The traditional date for the
founding of Rome is April 21,753 B.C.

The city on the Palatine Hill grew, and King Romulus established customs and laws that would
unify the new citizens into a harmonious political body and imbue them with respect for the king's
power. One custom was for the king to be accompanied by twelve lictors (attendants, more or less,
who announced his coming and cleared all citizens but Vestal Virgins and matrons from his path) so
the people would respect his power and authority; each lictor carried a fascis (a bundle of sticks
wrapped around an axe, which symbolized the king's ability to punish citizens, either with a beating
using the sticks or with decapitation using the axe). Romulus wore a toga with a purple border,
purple being the color of royalty. He also created the Senate, a council of elders; the word senatus
is derived from senex, which means "old." The one hundred members of the Senate were called
patres, "fathers," since they were the fathers of the different clans, and their descendants were
called patricians. The patricians were the leading citizens of Rome and constituted the nobility. The
common people were the plebs (from which comes the English word plebeian, "common, vulgar").

To attract more people to the new city, Romulus established a sanctuary (asylum, "place where one
cannot be seized") to which men fled from their troubles in their native cities. The city, however,
lacked one essential element for population growth: women. Romulus sent envoys to the
neighboring cities to solicit an alliance, with the privilege of intermarriage between the citizens of
the two communities. The other cities wanted to curb the growth of the new rival, and accordingly
rejected Romulus' offers, even telling the Romans that the only way they would be able to get

 
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women was to have a sanctuary for women, too. The young Romans were very bitter at that insult.

The Rape of the Sabine Women

Romulus then invented another plan for bringing women into the city. He prepared his city for
games in honor of the god Neptune and invited the inhabitants of the neighboring towns to join the
celebration. Many of them came to the games, bringing their wives and children, and they admired
the new city. Once the time for the show had come, and when everybody was eagerly anticipating
the start, the signal was given: The young Romans swarmed upon the crowd and carried off the
single women.

The outraged parents called upon the gods to avenge the crime they had suffered at the hands of the
Romans. They charged the Romans with breaking the laws of hospitality: They had left the safety
of their own homes and towns to honor Neptune in Rome, but instead had become the victims of
that most unholy deed. The different towns prepared for war; the Romans quickly defeated the
smaller and less prepared towns, with Romulus earning great honor. In one of those battles he killed
the enemy commander in single combat; to show his gratitude he built a temple for Jupiter Feretrius
and offered spolia opima, the spoils of an enemy commander killed by a Roman commander in
single combat. The word feretrius might be derived from the verb ferio, "to strike."

The tribes of the Sabines, however, led by their king, Titus Tatius, gave stiffer opposition. The
Sabines were a tough, hardy people in the hills northeast of Rome, whom the Romans would later
compare to the Spartans for their bravery and simple morality. In making war upon them the
Romans faced not only strong opposition, but even a traitor within their own city. A Roman girl,
Tarpeia, the daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, the commander of the citadel on the Capitol, one of the
hills of Rome, was bribed by offers of gold, and admitted armed Sabines into the citadel; the
Sabines, however, killed her instead of giving the promised gold. The price she had demanded for
admitting them into the citadel was what they wore on their arms. She meant their gold bracelets;

 
 Page 13

they, however, hurled on her something else they wore on their armstheir shieldsand crushed her to
death, to show that agreements with traitors would not be kept. The Tarpeian Rock, which is a cliff
on the southwest corner of the Capitol, was named after her; from the Tarpeian Rock murderers and
traitors were hurled to their deaths.

The Sabines thus were able to occupy the citadel of Rome. During one of the battles the Romans
fought to recapture the citadel, the Roman army started losing and began to flee. To stop their
flight, Romulus prayed to the father of the gods, Jupiter, and promised to build him a temple if the
Roman army were inspired to stay its ground and fight. After hearing that Jupiter Optimus
Maximus (Jupiter the Best and Greatest) ordered them to stop and fight, the Romans stopped
running and renewed their attack. To show his gratitude and fulfill his part of the bargain, Romulus
later dedicated the temple to Jupiter Stator, ''Jupiter the Stayer."

The Sabines and Romans were continuing the fierce battle when some of the Sabine women,
including one named Hersilia, ran into the midst of the battle, through the flying missiles and
arrows, beseeching the Romans not to kill their fathers and begging the Sabines not to kill their
husbandsotherwise they would be left widows and orphans.

The soldiers, touched by the pitiful sight of the women and their babies, stopped fighting. The
leaders agreed not only to a truce, but also to the union of two communities. The power would be
based in Rome, and the Sabines would become Roman citizens. Roman citizens were henceforth
called Quirites, supposedly after the Sabine town Cures. (Modem classicists reject that etymology,
but the Romans believed it.) Romulus also divided all the citizens into thirty curiae, which he
named after the Sabine women. Those curiae formed assemblies (comitia curiata) in which citizens
would vote. To further honor the Sabine women, it was agreed that they were to be free from all
common labor in the house except for spinning wool, and two holidays were celebrated in their
honor, the Matronalia and the Carmentalia. Tradition says that the Sabine king, Titus Tatius,
became joint king with Romulus but was later

 
 Page 14

murdered in Lavinium by the relative of a man whom his relatives had murdered.

One day in 716 B.C. Romulus was reviewing his troops when suddenly a storm arose; thick clouds
hid Romulus from the soldiers' view, and when the clouds dissipated, the soldiers saw that Romulus
was no longer there. After recovering from their shock and sadnessthey felt orphaned by his
lossthey proclaimed that he had become a god. Not much later, one man named Proculus Julius
claimed that Romulus had come down to him from the sky and had said, "Go now, and tell the
Romans that the gods want my Rome to be the ruler of the world. Therefore, let them practice the
art of war and make it a custom with their descendants that human powers cannot withstand Roman
weapons!" (Livy 1.16.7). Romulus then returned to heaven. A less flattering version of the story has
the senators tearing Romulus to pieces for becoming a tyrant. Whatever Romulus' manner of death,
later Romans worshiped him for establishing a new nation and leaving it strong and secure: "Do
you see," wrote Cicero almost seven hundred years later, "that with his sagacity this one man did
not just create a new nation, but even left it already full-grown and almost mature?" (De republica
II.11.1).

 
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Chapter 4
Kings after Romulus

After the death of Romulus, there was an interregnum (a period of time in which a senator would
exercise royal power for five days, and then pass it to another). Then, in 715 B.C., Numa Pompilius,
a Sabine with a great reputation for justice and piety, became the next king of Rome. Our major
source of the time says that the common people chose him as Romulus' successor, the senators
approved of the choice, and Jupiter sent a favorable sign during the inauguration. Romulus had
been a warrior, waging war not only on the towns whose daughters the young Romans had seized,
but also on the Etruscan cities Veii and Fidenae. Numa, in contrast, was peace-loving, and he tried
to temper the Romans' desire for war.

To prevent the Romans from degenerating into idleness and dissipation, once they were freed from
the demands and discipline of war, King Numa imbued them with a religious fervor. To accomplish
this, he spread the rumor that he had secret meetings with the goddess Egeria, who gave him
information on how to maintain the goodwill of the gods, which the Romans called pax deorum
(peace of the gods). He built the Temple of Janus, whose gates, when open, indicated that Rome
was at war and, when closed, showed that the city was at peace. He appointed priests (flamines),
one for Jupiter alone (flamen Dialis), and others for Mars and Quirinus, both gods of war; Quirinus
was of Sabine origin, and associated with the Quirinal Hill. He is credited with building the Regia,
the seat of authority of the pontifex maximus, or high priest. He created the salii, minor priests in
service of Mars. At the beginning and end of the season for war, they would

 
 Page 16

dance (salire) through the city, beating their shields; they also protected a shield that was believed
to have fallen from heaven.

King Numa created Rome's cult of the Vestal Virgins, who were greatly honored by the Romans for
giving up the goals of marriage and a family to tend the eternal fire of Vesta. He is credited with
dividing the Roman year into twelve lunar months and with appointing days when business could
and could not be conducted: Days when business could be conducted were fas (literally,
"speakable") and those when business could not be conducted were nefas ("not speakable," and thus
unholy, which gave rise to the English word nefarious). He wrote complete directions for
performing the rites of worship of all the gods: which animals were to be sacrificed, how much
money was to be spent on the rites, which were the days of worship, and in which temple the rites
were to be held. Some later Romans believed that Numa had acquired his learning from Pythagoras,
who lived in southern Italy. Pythagoras, however, lived more than one hundred fifty years after
Numa became king. Numa died after ruling for forty-three years.

Tullus Hostilius Becomes King

After another interregnum, Tullus Hostilius (673-642 B.C.) became king. He was even more warlike
than Romulus had been. The citizens of Rome and Alba Longa, who had been making border raids
on each other, now prepared for waractually a civil war, since the two cities had a common origin.
Alba Longa at that time may have been the head of the Latin League, a confederacy of cities and
towns in Latium, an area south of Rome; one of the issues in this conflict was primacy in the Latin
League. Before the final battle, Mettius Fufetius, the dictator of Alba Longa, called Hostilius to a
conference and suggested that the two cities not fight the battle. He argued that the Etruscans,
people who had a powerful confederacy of cities in northern and central Italy, would soon swoop
down upon the tired and wounded victors, whether those of Rome or of Alba Longa, and thus take
both cities. Still, they needed to decide who would be dominant, Rome or Alba Longa.

 
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The Horatii

It happened that in each army were triplet brothers. Mettius and Tullus agreed that each city would
be represented in battle by its triplets, and that the city whose triplets won would rule the losers'
city. The Romans' triplets were the Horatii, and those of Alba Longa were the Curiatii. The fight
began, with both armies watching and cheering their boys on.

The signal was given. Like an army, with their deadly weapons ready for battle, the triplets dashed forward
against their enemy, bringing into battle all the courage of their great armies. Neither the Horatii nor the
Curiatii thought about the danger; their only concern was whether the city would rule or be ruled, and what
future they would create for their city.

Immediately upon the men's first clashing together, their weapons rang out, and their glittering swords
flashed in the light. The spectators were seized by great dread, their voices and breaths halting in unfailing
hopes of victory; as they watched the men dodging and thrusting with their weapons, and receiving wounds
and bleeding, two Horatii fell dead, one on top of the other, and the Curiatii were wounded. As the two
Romans fell, the Alban army cried out with joy; immediately the Roman army lost all hope, but now worried
about the one surviving Roman, who was surrounded by the three Curiatii. It happened that he had not been
wounded; alone, he was certainly no match against the three together, but against them one at a time, he was
a dangerous foe.

Therefore, to take them on one at a time, he immediately dashed away, seeing that each of his enemies would
follow as his wounded body allowed. Once he had fled some distance from where the battle had been fought,
he looked back and saw them following with great distances between them; one was not far away at all. He
turned back on him in a fierce attack; by the time the Alban army shouted to the other two Curiatii to help
their brother, Horatius had already cut down his opponent and, victorious, was seeking the next fight. Then,
with the kind of roar that usually arises after the unexpected happens, the Romans encourage their soldier; he
hurries to finish off the battle. Before the one Curiatius, who was not far away, could reach his brother,
Horatius had already dispatched him: now the two remainedone Horatius and one

 
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Curiatiusand the battle was on equal terms, but the men were not equal in hope or strength. The one had not
received any wounds and was charged up with his double victory; that made him a fierce opponent for the
third duel. The other, however, was exhausted from his wounds and the chase, and was demoralized by the
slaughter of his brothers before his very eyes; he dragged his weary body to meet his conquerer.

Theirs was not much of a battle. Proud and confident, Horatius cried, "I have given two men to the ghosts of
my brothers; I will give the third to the reason for this war, so that Rome may rule Alba Longa!"

Horatius thrust his sword down into the neck of his opponent, who could barely hold up his weapons, and
then took his weapons as spoils. Shouting triumphantly, the Romans received Horatius with congratulations,
their joy as great as their fear had been. (Livy I.XXV. 3)

Horatius, although a hero, soon found himself in trouble. As he was returning from the battle,
bearing the spoils of those whom he had killed, he was met at the Capena Gate by his sister, who
had been engaged to one of the Curiatii. She saw among the spoils a cloak that she had woven with
her own hands, as a gift for her fiancé. She began mourning for her dead boyfriend and tearfully
called his name. Enraged, her brother shouted, "Since you have forgotten your country and your
brothers, both dead and alive, take your misplaced love and go to your fiancé. May all who mourn
the foe do the same!" and stabbed her.

Horatius was seized and put on trial, and convicted of perduellio (a type of treason). King Tullus
did not want the hero to receive the death sentence, however, and urged him to appeal his sentence
to the people. Only his recent heroism and a tearful speech by his fatherwho by this time had lost
two sons and a daughtersaved him from the punishment of death.

The Treachery of Mettius Fufetius

Mettius was now unpopular in Alba Longa because the city had lost its sovereignty. He sought to
regain the city's independence through treachery. He secretly induced the Latin colony Fidenae to
revolt against Rome and convinced the Etruscan city Veii to join him in a war against Rome.

 
 Page 19

Tullus summoned Mettius and his army so they could put down the revolt at Fidenae, and he placed
Mettius and his troops across from the soldiers of Fidenae, near the mountains. Slowly and
imperceptibly, Mettius and his troops drifted to the mountains, hoping to help whichever side was
winning.

A messenger soon told Tullus that the Albans had deserted, but Tullus replied, in a very loud voice,
that the Albans had gone to attack the unprotected rear of the Fidenates (the army of Fidenae). The
Fidenates, who spoke Latin, heard and understood the message. They became alarmed and
retreated; Tullus then routed the enemy.

Mettius soon came to congratulate Tullus for the victory. Tullus thanked him, and asked him and
his soldiers to join him at dawn for a purification ceremony. At dawn the Albans came and were
seated closest to Tullus. The Romans, armed, then came into the meeting-place and surrounded the
Albans. Tullus addressed the Romans, saying that he had not ordered the Albans to depart; he had
lied about their departure so that the Romans would not lose hope and thus lose the battle. He did
not blame the Alban soldiers, who were only following the orders of their commander, but he did
blame Mettius, who had given the orders. The Romans then surrounded Mettius, and Tullus
addressed him:

"Mettius Fufetius, if you could learn trustworthiness and how to live up to your treaties, I would let you live
to learn the lessons from me. Since your way of thinking is incurable, you must now with your punishment
teach the human race to consider sacred the things that you have violated. Since a short time ago you had a
mind torn in its loyalty to Fidenae or Rome, you will now offer your body to be torn in two."

After having two four-wheeled chariots brought forward, Tullus had Mettius stretched out and bound to the
chariots. Then the horses, facing opposite directions, were lashed, carrying the mutilated corpse on each
chariot, where his body parts were still attached to the chains. All turned their eyes from the hideous sight.
That was the first and last time a punishment of a type so heedless of human laws occurred among us
Romans; otherwise, we can say with pride that no other nation has been more content with gentle
punishments. (Livy 1.28)

 
 Page 20

The citizens of Alba Longa were brought to Rome, and Roman legions were sent to Alba Longa to
destroy it. (A legion was a unit of the Roman army containing, at full strength, six thousand
soldiers, but usually only three to four thousand.) Rome took over the leadership of the Latin
League. The number of Roman citizens was doubled, and the Caelian Hill was added to the city.

Tullus, having become sick with a plague that was then afflicting Rome, undertook unfamiliar
sacrifices and rites to Jupiter. Apparently he did not perform them correctly, for his palace was
struck by lightning in 642 B.C., and he died in the fire.

Ancus Marcius Becomes King

After an interregnum, the Romans then elected Ancus Marcius king. The Latins, thinking him a
weak king, made raids on Roman territory and responded arrogantly to Ancus' demands for redress.
Before declaring war on the Latins, Ancus decided to establish rites by which Rome could justly
declare war, so it would not offend the gods.

In the ceremony for declaring war, the Roman envoy stood at the border of the hostile country and
called upon the gods to witness that his demands were just; if his demands were unjust, he said, let
him never be a citizen of his country. The envoy then crossed the border and repeated the speech to
the first citizen he met, and then again in the marketplace. If the Romans voted for war, the fetials
(priests whose duty was declaring and deciding upon the justice of a war) then went to the border
and gave a formal speech detailing the wrongs of the enemy. They would then throw a bloody spear
into the enemy's territory, as the formal declaration of War.

Ancus Marcius is given the credit for establishing the first Roman colony, where the Tiber meets
the Tyrrhenian Sea. The settlement received the name Ostia (from os, "mouth, opening") and
became the port of Rome as well as the source of salt, a valuable and essential commodity. He also
built Rome's prison, the carcer (seen in the English word incarceration), on the Capitoline Hill; the
steps leading to the carcer were called the Scalae Gemoniae, or Mourning Steps, because the bodies
of executed criminals were thrown out

 
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on them. He seized and fortified the Janiculum, a ridge on the west bank of the Tiber, because of its
great strategic importance in the defense of the city; to ease communication with the troops on the
Janiculum, he built the Pons Sublicius, a wooden bridge across the Tiber.

During Ancus Marcius' reign an Etruscan man named Lucumo left Tarquinii, the city of his birth,
and came to Rome. As he and his wife, Tanaquil, reached the gates of Rome, an eagle landed on
Lucumo's head and then flew away with his hat. The eagle returned a minute later, and placed the
hat back on Lucumo's head. Tanaquil, who was skilled in interpreting such signs, said it foretold her
husband's future greatness.

Ambitious and wealthy, Lucumo soon became a friend to all. He was now known by the nickname
Tarquinius, after his native city. He even became an adviser to King Ancus and a guardian of the
king's children. When Ancus died in 617, Tarquinius sent the king's sons on a hunting expedition.
During their absence, he solicited votes for his own campaign to become king. His popularity, his
knowledge of the city and its customs, and his familiarity with Ancus won him the necessary votes,
and he became king. To further protect his power, he packed the Senate with loyal followers.

King Tarquin

King Tarquin (616-579 B.C.; later called Tarquinius Priscus, or Tarquin the Elder, to distinguish him
from another Tarquin) then captured the Latin town Apiolae and returned to Rome with a great
amount of loot. He celebrated public games on a lavish scale never before seen in Rome. The
games became a custom, called the Roman Games. In early Rome horse races and boxing matches
supplied the entertainment in the ludi (games), while in later Rome wild beast hunts and gladiator
combats were featured. Tarquin built the Circus Maximus, where chariot races were held. He also
drained the low-lying areas between the hills, where rainwater collected; eventually the Forum (the
public square of Rome) was built where once there had been a swamp. He may have started
construction of the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol.

 
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The Sabines soon attacked Rome, disrupting Tarquin's plan to encircle the whole city with a stone
wall. During the battles with the Sabines, Tarquin saw a weakness in the formation of the Roman
cavalry and went about solving the problem. The augurs, however, had not given him their approval
for reforming the cavalry, and an augur came to the king and told him that he needed to get the
sanction of the augurs before proceeding with his plans.

Tarquin, in a contemptuous voice, said, "Come now, my devout fellow, take the auspices, and tell
whether or not what I am thinking can be done."

The augur was not daunted by Tarquin's dare. He took the auspices and said that what the king had
been thinking could indeed be done.

"But," said Tarquin, "I was thinking that you could split a sharpening-stone with a razor blade. Take
these things," he said, handing him a razor and sharpening-stone, "and do what those birds of yours
predicted could happen."

The augur did not hesitate. He took the razor and cut the sharpening-stone in half. Tarquin never
again doubted the validity of the augurs; instead of reforming the cavalry as he had originally
planned, he simply doubled the number of knights (Livy I.36.4).

One day a woman came to Tarquin and offered to sell him nine books filled with oracles from the
Sibyl, a woman who had prophetic powers. Tarquin, however, did not understand how valuable the
knowledge of the future was, and thought the price too high; the woman left and burned three of the
books. Later she returned and offered to sell him the six remaining books at the same price she had
asked for all nine. Tarquin, thinking that the price now was even worse, still refused to buy them.
So the woman left and burned three more of the books. Later, she came back to Tarquin and offered
to sell him the last three at the same price she had once asked for all nine. In amazement Tarquin
summoned the augurs and asked them what to do. Recognizing that the books contained prophecies,
they advised him to buy the books at the price she was asking. He did so, and appointed men to
guard the Sibylline books. During times of crisis, when the Senate was perplexed, it would order
that the Sibylline books be consulted to find divine advice on how to solve or address the

 
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problem; the priests then searched through the Sibyl's mystical, enigmatic sayings to find advice
that fit the particular problem they were facing. When the original books were destroyed in 83 B.C.,
a new collection was made.

During Tarquin's reign there occurred a very odd thing. A boy named Servius Tullius, the son of a
female slave in the king's household, was sleeping when his head burst into flames. The noise
caused by the excitement of those nearby brought Tarquin and Tanaquil to the child's bed. Just as a
servant was about to throw water onto the child's head, the queen stopped him, saying that the child
had to sleep until he awoke on his own. A few minutes later the child woke up, and the fire on his
head died out, leaving him unharmed.

Tanaquil said to the king, ''Do you see this child here, whom we are bringing up in such lowly
conditions? You can be sure that someday he'll be a light of safety upon our troubled affairs and a
guardian of our palace in its distress. From now on, let's nurture him with all our love and care,
since he will later be the source of great honor in public and private." From then on the child
Servius received the education and upbringing of a king's son. He became a man impressive in all
ways, and Tarquin even gave him his daughter in marriage. Soon Servius became one of the most
distinguished men in the state (Livy I.39).

The Assassination of Tarquin

In the thirty-eighth year of Tarquin's reign, the sons of Ancus Marcius, his predecessor, began to
cause trouble. They began to badmouth Tarquin for being a foreigner and for adopting the son of a
slave as his heir. They hired two men to murder the king.

The two assassins presented themselves at the palace and started fighting with each other. When the
king's attendants appeared, the two kept shouting at each other and demanded to see the king, so he
could arbitrate their dispute. They were taken to the king, and as one began to explain his case, the
other killed Tarquin.

Tanaquil kept a clear head. She ordered the palace to be closed and made preparations for nursing
the king as if there was hope of his recovery. Then she summoned Servius and said, "Servius, if
 
 Page 24

you're a man, the kingdom belongs to you, not those whose hired men committed that horrible
crime. Stand tall and follow the gods as your leaders, for they showed long ago with that divine fire
on your head that your life would be brilliant. Now let that heaven-sent fire inspire you, now get
going!" (Livy I.41.3).

She then told the people that the king had been merely stunned by a blow, and that they should give
their obedience to Servius until Tarquin had fully recovered. Servius made appearances on behalf of
Tarquin and acted as king, all the time strengthening his position; soon he was acknowledged as
king. Since Servius' position was so strong, Ancus' sons went into voluntary exile. To prevent
Tarquin's sons, Lucius and Arruns, from being bitter about their loss of the throne as the sons of
Ancus Marcius had been, Servius gave them his daughters (both named Tullia) in marriage.
Nothing, however, could assuage their bitterness and jealousy.

Servius, King of Rome

Servius' main accomplishment was the division of the Roman plebs (common people) into classes
and his institution of the census. There were several classes, with the knights (equites), who formed
the cavalry, at the head of them all. During the republic and empire the knights, or equestrians,
were conspicuous because of the gold ring that they were allowed to wear.

First Class Men who had capital valued at 100,000 asses (the as was the basic unit of Roman
currency) or more. They were required to equip themselves with helmet, round shield, greaves,
breastplate, sword, and spear. Two centuries of engineers also belonged to this class.

Second Class Men whose property was valued between 100,000 and 75,000 asses. They had to
equip themselves with the same equipment as the men of the first class, except for the breastplate,
and they were allowed a long shield instead of a round one.

Third Class Men whose property was valued at 50,000 asses. They had to supply the same
equipment as those in the second class, except for the greaves.

 
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Fourth Class Men whose property was valued at 25,000 asses. They had to supply only the spear
and javelin.

Fifth Class Men whose property was valued at 11,000 asses. They supplied slings and stones.
Buglers and trumpeters also belonged to this class.

Proletarii Those whose property was valued below 11,000 asses. They were formed into a single
century and were exempt from military service. They were called proletarii because the only thing
they could contribute to Rome was their children (proles).

Each class was further divided into groups of one hundred (centum), forming a centuria, which was
the smallest unit of the Roman army. Those centuriaeeighteen of cavalry and one hundred seventy
of foot soldiersalso were the basis of an assembly (the Comitia Centuriata, or Meetings by
Hundreds) at which the soldiers voted. Whenever a vote was needed on, say, whether or not to go to
war, the soldiers voted in order of class; thus, while the rich were expected to do more for the state,
they also received political prerogatives for their added burdens. The richer always voted before the
poorer, and rarely did a vote go even to the Second Class, for the classes above the Second Class
had already decided the matter.

Servius also divided the city into four tribes, where citizens would register for the census. The
census was the basis by which people were grouped into classes. He enacted a law that punished
with death all who failed to register with the census. At the first census, eighty thousand men
capable of bearing arms registered. After conducting the census, Servius also performed a lustrum
(purification ceremony), whose purpose was to ward off evil; since the census and lustrum occurred
every five years, lustrum came also to mean a period of five years.

Since the population of Rome was growing quickly and needed more space, Servius added the
Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline Hills to the city. Rome now had its seven hills, the other four
being the Palatine, Capitoline, Caelian, and the Aventine. Some Romans believed that Servius also
built a wall around the city; parts of the "Wall of Servius" remain today, although modem scholars
believe that the wall in question was actually built later, in 378 B.C. It was

 
 Page 26

4.5 meters thick and 8.5 meters high. On either side of the wall was a strip of land called the
pomerium, originally a line made by a plow drawn by a bull and a cow to demarcate the religious
boundaries of the city. An army could not cross the pomerium into the city except in triumph;
consequently Roman soldiers mustered outside the city, on the Campus Martius, or Field of Mars.

 
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Chapter 5
Tarquin's Coup d'État and the End of the Monarchy

Lucius Tarquin, son of the first Tarquin, Tarquinius Priscus, wanted to be king himself, and not just
King Servius' son-in-law. He began spreading malicious rumors about Servius, no doubt concerning
Servius' lowly birth. Tullia, the king's daughter who had married Tarquin's brother Arruns, was as
ambitious as her brother-in-law Tarquin; she thought her own husband, Arruns, was a wimp. To
facilitate their evil plans, Tarquin killed his wife (Tullia's sister), and Tullia killed her husband
Arruns. Tarquin and Tullia then got married and were able to plot against the king in secrecy.

After securing the support of the leading families by offering bribes, Tarquin made his move. He
sat down in the king's chair in the Senate House and ordered the senators to come to King Tarquin.
They dared not stay away, fearing reprisals. Upon their arrival, Tarquin vilified the king and his rise
to the throne. When Servius heard what was happening, he hurried to the Senate House.

"Tarquin," he cried, "what is this? What recklessness has caused you to dare to summon the
senators and sit in my chaff while I, the king, am still alive?" (Livy I.47).

Tarquin then defiantly responded that he was simply keeping his father's chaff, and that it was much
better for a king's son, rather than a slave, to inherit the kingdom; the time had come for an end to
Servius' boundless mockery and insults to his masters.

With some people in the crowd shouting support for Tarquin, others for Servius, Tarquin seized the
aged Servius and threw him down the steps into the street. Tarquin's assassins then killed the

 
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king. Tullia, Tarquin's wife and Servius' daughter, later drove up in a carriage and was the first to
salute her husband as king; while driving away, she ran over her father's bloody, mutilated body,
which was lying in the street. Servius Tullius had been king for forty-four years.

Tarquin the Proud

In this way Tarquinius Superbus (as he soon came to be called, for superbus means "proud,
arrogant") began his rule, which left the Romans with a bitter hatred for monarchy. Breaking with
tradition, he sought neither election to the throne by the people nor the Senate's approval of his
power. He refused a burial for his father-in-law, and even made a joke of it, saying that Romulus
had not been buried either. He executed the senators who had supported Servius and did not fill the
vacant seats, thinking that the senators would be intimidated by their dwindling numbers. He did
not consult the Senate, as previous kings had done, but ruled instead by his own power and
authority, making whatever decisions he thought best. He employed a bodyguard, fearing that
someone else might follow the precedent that he himself had set. He even seized the property of
wealthy citizens.

Tarquin made great efforts to win the support of the Latins, Rome's neighbors to the south and
southwest, in the event he should ever need outside help against his Roman subjects. Yet he treated
some Latins as arrogantly as he treated the Romans. For example, Turnus, a Latin noble, recognized
that Tarquin was aiming to take over Latium and told his Latin friends of Tarquin's plans. When
Tarquin learned that Turnus was not well disposed toward him, he bribed Turnus' slaves to hide a
large supply of weapons in Turnus' house; summoning the Latin nobles, Tarquin told them of
Turnus' plot to assassinate him and to make himself king over them all. The king and the nobles
entered Turnus' house and, of course, found there a large supply of weapons, which was "proof" of
Turnus' plot. Turnus was then executed.

Tarquin did do a few good things for Rome. He may have built the Temple of Jupiter on the
Capitol, although the credit may be due his father. He also built Rome's main sewer, the cloaca
maxima.

 
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One day a snake was seen slithering down a wooden pillar in the palace. Tarquin was so alarmed
about this that he sent his sons to Delphi, to consult the oracle of Apollo (usually the Romans
sought oracles from the Etruscans). Accompanying Tarquin's sons to Delphi was Brutus, the son of
the king's sister.

Brutus had seen the king's ruthlessness, and he understood the danger of his own situation. He had
concluded that he could survive only by appearing to pose no threat to the king; he therefore
pretended to be stupid (his name means "dull") and made no protest when Tarquin seized his
property or executed leading citizens. He was sent to Delphi with the king's sons to serve as the butt
of their jokes. Brutus brought his own offering to Apollo, a gift resembling the giver: a rod of gold
hidden inside a tube of wood.

At Delphi, the oracle of Apollo answered the questions asked by Tarquin's sons, as well as one they
asked on their own behalf: who would be the next king of Rome? The oracle responded that the
first among them to kiss his mother would have supreme authority in Rome. Tarquin's sons
therefore drew lots to decide who would first kiss their mother when they arrived at Rome. As they
were leaving the temple, however, Brutus pretended to trip and, while lying on the ground, kissed
the Earth, the mother of all living things.

The Rape of Lucretia

Immediately upon returning to Rome, the three young men had to hurry to Ardea, a town to which
the Romans had laid siege. Soon the action in the war slowed down, and many officers were
allowed to spend their time in leisure.

One night a party was held, and among those attending were Sextus Tarquinius (one of the king's
sons) and a man named Collatinus. The topic of the conversation turned to their wives; each man
praised his own, and they began to argue over whose wife was the most faithful. Finally, Collatinus
proposed that they all return to Rome to see just what their wives were doingthat way they could
decide whose wife was the most faithful. All agreed.

To one house after another they went, seeing their wives throwing parties with many guests and
sumptuous food. The last wife they visited was Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus. When they
 
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came to Collatinus' house, they found Lucretia spinning wool, by lamplight, with her maidservants
at her side. Without a doubt, Lucretia had won the "most faithful wife" contest. She invited the men
inside for supper, and in the course of the evening Sextus Tarquinius fell madly in love with her.
The men then returned to the war in Ardea.

A few days later, Sextus Tarquinius rode back to Rome (without Collatinus' knowledge) and
appeared before Lucretia. She treated him as the honored guest that he was, and gave him the guest
chamber to sleep in. During the night, when all was quiet, he stole into Lucretia's room.

"Lucretia," he said, "be quiet! I am Sextus Tarquinius. There is a sword in my hand. If you say
anything at all, you will die." He then told her of his love, begging, pleading, and even threatening
her, so she would submit to his desire. She refused. Seeing that she would not relent and that her
fidelity was greater even than her fear of death, he threatened to kill her and then to cut the throat of
a slave and lay his naked body next to hers, so that people would say that Lucretia had been justly
killed after being caught in the most disgraceful adultery. Fearing for her good reputation, she
submitted to his desires. After using her, he rode away.

Lucretia then wrote to her father and to her husband, urging them to return to Rome immediately,
each with a trustworthy friend, for a terrible thing had happened. They came, bringing Publius
Valerius and Brutus.

They found Lucretia sitting in her room, very sad. When they entered, she began to cry. Her husband asked,
"Is everything all right?" She answered, "No. How can anything be all right for a woman who has lost her
honor? Collatinus, another man has been in your bed; otherwise only my body has been violated, for my
mind is innocent. My death will be my proof. But give your right hands in an oath that the adulterer will be
avenged. Sextus Tarquinius is the one who last night, as an enemy armed for violence, but disguised as a
guest, got his pleasure from me, but if you are real men, you will make him pay for that pleasure. You will
see to it that he receives what he deserves. I recognize that although I am not guilty of wrongdoing, I am not
free from punishment; no woman will ever live unchastely with Lucretia as her guide."

 
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With a knife, which she had hidden under her dress, Lucretia then stabbed herself in the chest, and fell
forward, dead. (Livy I.58.7-12)

Lucretia's father and husband were overwhelmed with grief. While they stood weeping helplessly,
Brutus drew the bloody knife from Lucretia's body and holding it before him cried: "I swear by this
bloodmost chaste until the prince's crime-and gods, I call upon you as witness that I, with as much
force as I can muster, will drive Lucius Tarquinius the Proud, with his wicked wife and the whole
stock of his children, out of Rome, and I will not allow them or any other man to be king in Rome!"
(Livy I.59.1-2).

Lucretia's father and husband, shocked by Brutus' sudden transformation into a man of action,
swore the same oath and carried Lucretia's body into the Forum. The public's anger, stirred by the
grief of the father and husband weeping before their eyes, the sight of the bloody and dead Lucretia,
and Brutus' words reminding them of Tarquin's usurpation of power and tyrannical rule, inspired
them to take up arms against the king and to drive monarchy from Rome. Tarquin, who was still
besieging Ardea, found Rome's gates closed to him when he returned to the city. Tarquin had ruled
for twenty-five years. Monarchy in Rome ended in 509 B.C., and the res publica, the Roman
republic, was born.

 
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Chapter 6
The Res Publica
"Senatus Populusque Romanus"

To understand the history of republican, and then imperial, Rome, you must first understand the
structure of the government: the parts of government, their powers, and their relations to each other.
The description given here covers government offices that developed gradually over centuries, and
did not exist in this form as early as the sixth century B.C. What is described here is the government
of the Roman republic in its fully developed form, in the first and second centuries B.C.

The Romans called their city a res publica, "property of the people" (Cicero, De republica I.25).
Despite the term res publica (which gives us the English word republic), Rome was not a
democracy. The government had three parts: the magistrates (government officials), the Senate, and
the people (hence the phrase "senatus populusque Romanus," or "SPQR," meaning "the senate and
the people of Rome''). Rome was governed mostly by the Senate and the magistrates, who were
drawn largely from the Senate; Roman government thus was largely aristocratic. The Senate and its
magistrates for most of Rome's history were dominated by the patricians, the ruling families of
Rome, who could trace their ancestry back to the original senators chosen by Romulus. The
common people's role in the government was the election of the magistrates.

The Magistrates

The Consuls

Being a consul was the dream of ambitious Romans, for the two consuls chosen every year were the
chief magistrates of Rome and

 
 Page 33

commanders-in-chief of the armies; the position conferred great glory (through military exploits)
and even nobility upon the consul and his family forever. The two consuls assumed the king's
position and authority: The broad purple stripe on their togas denoted their quasi-royal status. The
Romans no doubt created the two consuls out of their fear and hatred of monarchy, for if one consul
became too ambitious, the other consul could oppose him (in fact, all Roman magistrates except for
the dictator had at least one colleague, to prevent abuses of power). The twelve lictors, each
carrying a fascis while walking before the consuls, showed the consuls' imperium. The consuls
could lead an army and administer justice, and they sat in a sella curulis, an ivory chair, also a
symbol of imperium.

While leading an army, the consuls (who wore scarlet military cloaks called paludamenta) had the
power to punish soldiersincluding executing themwithout a trial. They could propose laws and issue
edicts. They could convene the Senate and popular assemblies. The consuls received foreign
embassies and conducted state business. They negotiated treaties and surrenders, subject to
ratification by the people. The consuls were further honored by having the year named after them;
the Romans dated their years by the two consuls of the year. Thus, we read at the beginning of the
fifth book of Caesar's Gallic Wars, "L. Domitio Ap. Claudio consulibus"that is, "during the
consulship of Lucius Domitius and Appius Claudius," which was 54 B.C.

The consuls were limited in their power by the term of office (one year), and by the veto both of the
other consul at the time and of the tribunes (see below). The consuls depended upon the Senate for
advice, for there were many ex-consuls in the Senate, and consuls who ignored the Senate found
their administration hampered by its interference. Consuls were immune to prosecution while in
office, and upon leaving office had to swear that they had done the state no harm. The minimum
age for a consul was forty-two.

The Dictator

The dictator was appointed only during times of national crisis, when an enemy threatened Rome
or its allies and the situation

 
 Page 34

demanded prompt, unanimous, and decisive leadership of the Romans, or when the consuls were
disabled or otherwise unable to perform their duties. The dictator's power was not subject to appeal
or veto until after 300 B.C., when a citizen gained the right to appeal a dictator's capital sentence.
The supreme power held by the dictator was symbolized by his having twenty-four lictors (in
contrast to the twelve lictors of each consul). The only check on his power was the duration of his
rulesix months at the most. It was customary for the dictator to step down at the end of the crisis,
before the six months had elapsed. The Senate recommended that a dictator be appointed, but the
consuls actually nominated him; a law passed by the Comitia Centuriata installed the dictator in
office. Because of the dictator's nearly unlimited power, the Romans did not entrust the dictatorship
to any but the most highly respected among them. The dictator had an assistant, called the master of
the horse (magister equitum), who commanded the cavalry; his imperium was shown by his twelve
lictors.

The Censors

The two censors had no imperium, but their position was nonetheless a powerful one. They were in
charge of the census, which was conducted every five years. The census involved not only counting
the number of citizens but also assessing each man's wealth. The censors assigned each man to one
of the classes and decided whether or not a senator had the amount of wealth necessary for that
post. The censors also performed the lustrum at the end of the census.

Another duty of the censors was revision of the Senate lists. A senator who had lapsed in his morals
could be struck from the list by the censors; for example, Cato, as censor in 184 B.C., is said to have
expelled one senator from the Senate because he had embraced his wife by daylight in the presence
of their daughter. The censors supervised public morals and occasionally passed sumptuary laws
(laws designed to curb the love of luxury). One such law, the Lex Orchia, limited the number of
guests one could have at a party; another, passed by Julius Caesar, prevented Romans from eating
foods deemed too decadent. The censors also

 
 Page 35

awarded government contracts for, say, collecting taxes in the provinces or building bridges and
roads. For example, Appius Claudius Caecus, censor in 312 B.C., has been honored for thousands of
years now with the fame of the road he built, the Via Appia (Appian Way), ancient Rome's main
road to southern Italy. He also built Rome's first aqueduct, the Aqua Appia. The censors' term lasted
eighteen months.

The Praetor

The praetor was mostly in charge of the courts (in fact, the body of Roman law consists mostly of
praetorian edicts), but often commanded small armies. His imperium was less than that of the
consuls; the praetors were seen as junior colleagues of the consuls. The praetor's imperium was
symbolized by his six lictors. The praetor, like the consul, was allowed to sit in a sella curulis.
Being elected praetor by the Comitia Centuriata often made one a senator. The number of praetors
varied; most of the time there were eight. There were two types of praetors: the praetor urbanus,
who was responsible for the administration of justice in Rome, and the praetor peregrinus, who
dealt with lawsuits in which one or both of the parties were foreigners. Praetors could convene and
lead the Senate when the consuls were unable or out of Rome. The minimum age for the
praetorship was thirty-nine.

The Quaestor

The quaestor (seeker) was a "go-fer" in Roman government. Quaestors were in charge of the
treasury (aerarium, "room for bronze," which was also part of the Temple of Saturn) and public
records, which were also stored in the aerarium. Quaestors also had a military function: A quaestor
would be assigned to a consul or praetor during a war, and had the duty of paying the troops and
procuring supplies for the general. During the battle itself, the quaestor might command a wing of
the cavalry. After 80 B.C. being elected to a quaestorship made one a senator. During Caesar's time
there were twenty quaestors; the minimum age for a quaestor was thirty.

 
 Page 36

The Aediles

Aediles, originally subordinates to the tribunes (see below), were in charge of the infrastructure of
Rome. They were responsible for maintenance of the roads, bridges, and buildings; supervision of
weights and measures in the market, with power to fine merchants who had broken the law; and
oversight of traffic regulations. One of their most important duties was cura annonae (ensuring that
the city had an adequate supply of grain).

The aediles were also expected to supply games and amusements for the people. Although the
government did allot some money for hosting the games, politically ambitious aediles would
supplement that amount out of their own pockets, for the aedileship was an opportunity to advertise
oneself for future political offices. For example, while serving as aedile in 67 B.C., Julius Caesar
incurred great debts by giving lavish games (with 320 pairs of gladiators), theatrical performances,
and public banquets. He thus kept his name on people's lips and in their minds until he ran for the
praetorship a few years later. He more than recovered the cost of his aedileship with loot won
during his praetorship in Spain in 62 B.C., when he conquered many towns and tribes.

The Tribunes

The ten tribuni plebis, "tribunes of the people," technically were not magistrates. Their function
was to protect the common people from the abuses of power of the magistrates and the Senate, both
of which were usually patrician; by law, the tribunes had to be plebeianthat is, of the common
people. The tribunes had great power: They could stop anything the government was doing simply
by vetoing its actions (this was called intercessio). The tribunes were supposed to be sacrosanct:
They were not to be harmed by anybody, even by holders of imperium. The tribunes were elected
annually by the Consilium Plebis (the assembly of the common people, or Popular Assembly).
After 149 B.C. tribunes were automatically enrolled in the Senate.

 
 Page 37

The Senate

Since the magistrates changed every year, the Senate was the stable political body in Rome and
represented the community's collected political wisdom. It met in the curia, or Senate House. Made
up of former consuls, censors, praetors, tribunes, aediles, and even quaestors, the Senate had
experience in all matters relating to the statemilitary, legal, political, foreign, domestic, and
religiousand advised the various magistrates, who were expected to carry out the Senate's
recommendations. Magistrates who ignored the Senate's advice found that the Senate had its ways
of getting revenge. Technically, the Senate had no power: It could not pass laws, it could only
advise and recommend. Its decisions were called consulta or decreta. The Senate's prestige
(auctoritas), however, invested it with great influence. For a while the Senate could veto laws made
by the popular assemblies (the Comitia Centuriata and Consilium Plebis), but eventually that power
lapsed. The Senate also determined Rome's expenditures and revenues, the rate of tribute of allies,
and taxes of subject communities. Disputes between Italian communities, different provinces, and
client states came before the Senate for arbitration.

Senators were not elected and had no constituents; once in the Senate, they remained senators for
life, unless they made enemies of the censors or failed to maintain the requisite property.
Depending upon the time period, one became a senator after becoming a praetor; after being
recommended by the consul or a dictator; or after becoming a quaestor. Senators were not paid for
their services, and most did not need the money. They came from the landed class of Rome and also
had to fulfill a substantial property requirement to become senators. Senators by law were barred
from engaging in business and owning large ships, so as to avoid any conflicts of interest. If a
senator became consul and was awarded a military command, he could make money from the loot
gained from the people he had conquered. Once Rome gained its great empire and needed
governors of the various provinces, ex-consuls and ex-praetors could make a lot of money as
governors.

 
 Page 38

Meetings of the Senate were chaired by each consul in alternate months. The consul conducting the
meeting would announce the agenda and lead the discussion, calling upon senators to give their
opinions. During the discussions of business, there was a definite hierarchy among the participants.
First, the consuls, princeps senatus ("chief of the Senate," the senior senator), and ex-consuls would
be asked to give their opinions; then the praetors would speak; and so on through the ranks. Once
called upon to give his opinion, a senator could speak for as long as he wished; Cato the Younger
(95-46 B.C.) frustrated a few meetings of the Senate with filibusters.

Depending upon the time, there were three hundred senators, or six hundred, orfor a time when
Julius Caesar was dictatornine hundred (his successor Augustus reduced the number to six
hundred). Senators enjoyed reserved seats at religious ceremonies and public entertainments. They
wore special shoes and the latus clavus, a wide purple stripe, on their togas.

The Cursus Honorum

The well-born Roman boy who wanted to earn great gloria would start on what the Romans called
the cursus honorum, the "course of honors," or the ladder of offices leading to the top, the
consulship. He would start out as a quaestor; then usually, but not always, become an aedile. As
aedile, he would give fabulous games and parties, to win the gratitudeand the votesof the people for
his next office, the praetorship. By law, he would have to wait three years between the praetorship
and the consulship. After serving as consul, he might become a censor.

The Assemblies of the People

The Roman people met in a several comitia (assemblies). Although there were three types of
comitia (centuriata, tributa, and curiata), we will discuss only the most important, the Comitia
Centuriata.

The Comitia Centuriata was a timocratic assembly (one in which the richer voted before the poorer)
of Roman men of military age.

 
 Page 39

(See the description of the classes in chapter 4.) It elected the magistrates, approved laws
recommended by the Senate, declared war, and heard appeals of citizens condemned for capital
crimes. R met on the Field of Mars outside the city, since armies were not allowed past the
pomerium into the city.

The Consilium Plebis, or Popular Assembly, was an assembly of the common people that elected
the tribunes. Eventually this assembly could pass laws, at first with the approval of the Senate, and
later without Senate approval. A law passed by the Popular Assembly was called a plebiscitum
(English plebiscite, "a vote by the people").

The Priests

Rome had a state religion. Under the monarchy the king was in charge of religion; during the early
republic religious duties were overseen by the rex sacrorum (king for the sacred rites). Eventually
this official was superseded by the college of priests, the pontifices. Chief among them was the
pontifex maximus, who lived in a state-owned house called the Regia. The pontifices were advisory
to the consuls and Senate; they had no formal power, but the magistrates were expected to heed
their advice. The pontifices had power over the Vestal Virgins, the augurs, the haruspices (who
examined the vital organs of animals to foretell the future), and the flamines, who were priests
serving one god in particular.

 
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Chapter 7
Traitors and Heroes of the Early Republic

Once Tarquin the Proud had been expelled, in 509 B.C., Brutus and Collatinus assumed the
leadership of the infant republic, as Rome's first consuls. Brutus promptly added three hundred
members of the equestrian class to the Senate, whose numbers had been depleted by Tarquin's
political murders. These senators were called conscripts (in Latin, partes conscripti) to distinguish
them from the original senatorial families.

Collatinus served only a part of his term. His name, Tarquinius Collatinus, so frightened the citizens
with their newly acquired liberty that they asked him to resign; although stunned by the request,
Collatinus complied and went into voluntary exile.

Publius Valerius replaced Collatinus, but he too came under suspicion of aiming for monarchy.
First, he began building a house set high on a hill, which could be made into a fortress and used for
looking down upon the citizens. Second, when his colleague Brutus died (see below), he did not
seek a replacement for him. To reassure the common people, Valerius had his house torn down and
rebuilt on the lowest part of the hill, so they could all look down upon him, and he also started the
custom of having the fasces lowered in the presence of the people, to show that the power and
greatness of the people were greater than that of the consul. Later Romans also believed (contrary
to modern scholarship) that Valerius passed a law guaranteeing that a citizen convicted of a capital
offence could appeal the sentence to the citizens. For the respect and love that Valerius showed the
common people, he earned the nickname Poplicola (Lover of the People).

 
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Brutus Executes His Sons

During his consulship Brutus faced an attempt by some Romans to recall Tarquin, the exiled former
king. Tarquin had sent a mission to Rome ostensibly to recover his property, but in reality to stir up
unrest among the nobles, who (according to the members of the mission) would suffer the most
under the rule of law of the republic: Under the rule of a friendly king, the nobles could be forgiven
for petty violations of the law, but blind justice in a community ruled by law was incapable of
showing favor. The conspiracy succeeded in drawing Brutus' sons, Titus and Tiberius, into the
conspiracy. The members of the conspiracy signed letters pledging their support for Tarquin. A
loyal slave, however, overheard their plans and reported the conspiracy to the consuls, to whom the
signed letters gave absolute proof of the members' involvement in the conspiracy.

The consuls took immediate action, arresting and imprisoning the conspirators. The punishment for
conspiring to bring back the kings was death, and since one of the duties of the consuls was to
administer justice, Brutus was required to pass judgment on his own sons. The prisonersincluding
Titus and Tiberiuswere stripped, flogged, and beheaded. The slave who had reported the conspiracy
was rewarded with freedom and Roman citizenship.

Brutus did not need his consular powers to execute his sons: As paterfamilias, or "father of the
family," he had the father's absolute power of life and death, called patria potestas, over his
children.

Tarquin, frustrated in that attempt to regain supreme power in Rome, now persuaded the Etruscans
to help him. Rome won the battle that followed, but lost its liberator, Brutus. Tarquin's son Arruns
had seen Brutus on the battlefield and furiously charged toward him for a duel; Brutus took up the
challenge, and in the duel they killed each other. Tarquin next sought help from Lars Porsenna, the
king of the Etruscan city Clusium. Porsenna and his city at that time were very powerful, and the
citizens of Rome thus became very worried about the approaching war with him.

 
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Horatius at the Bridge

Horatius Cocles (One-eyed Horatius) stands out as a hero in the battle that soon followed. Horatius
and other Roman soldiers were guarding Rome's one vulnerable point, the Pons Sublicius, when the
Etruscans suddenly attacked. The Romans, caught by surprise, lost their customary discipline and
fled, but Horatius stayed at his post. Having stopped as many of the fleeing Romans as he could, he
convinced them to destroy the bridge behind him, to prevent the Etruscans from having a clear path
to the city, while he held back the Etruscan army.

He strides to the first part of the bridge, easily distinguished from those Romans with their backs turned in
flight from the fighting. In his hands, his weapons, ready for engaging in hand-to-hand combat; the enemy
was stunned, marveling at his recklessness. Fear of disgrace convinced two men, Spurius Larcius and Titus
Herminius, both famous by birth and deeds, to stay with him. With them he survived the first storm of danger
and the most chaotic part of the battle. Then, since only a little part of the bridge remained, he forced them
too to seek safety with those who were destroying the bridge.

Casting his fiery eyes threateningly upon the Etruscan nobles, Horatius now challenged them one by one to
combat, or he thundered at them all that they, simply a pack of slaves of overbearing kings, were coming to
assail the freedom of others, since they no longer knew what freedom was. They hesitated for a moment,
each waiting for the others to start the battle. At last shame made them advance, and raising a shout on all
sides, they all cast their javelins at their solitary enemy. When the javelins stuck on Horatius' raised shield,
he no less stubbornly controlled the bridge with his formidable presence; then, when they were about to try
to thrust him aside with an attack, they were filled with sudden fear at the sound of the bridge crashing down
and the Romans' joyful shouting, and held up their attack.

Then Horatius says, ''I beg you, sacred Father Tiber, to receive these weapons and this soldier into your
gentle flow." Thus, he jumped, weapons and all, into the Tiber and, despite the many missiles falling from
above, swam safely to his friends. (Livy II.10.5-11)

 
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A statue of Horatius was placed in the Comitium, and he was granted as much land as he could
drive a plow around in a day.

Gaius Mucius Scaevola (Lefty)

Porsenna, frustrated at his failure to take Rome by storm, next tried to conquer it by besieging the
city. Food soon became scarce in Rome, and the Romans' hope was dimming when Gaius Mucius, a
young Roman aristocrat, presented himself to the Senate with his plan to assassinate Porsenna. The
Senate consented.

When Mucius arrived at the Etruscans' camp, he stood in a densely packed crowd next to the king's tribunal.
It happened to be payday for the soldiers, and the king's secretary, sitting next to the king and wearing almost
the same type of clothes, worked busily as the common soldiers came up to him. Mucius feared asking which
one was Porsenna, since his ignorance would betray him; as luck would have it, he stabbed the secretary
instead of the king.

As he was making his escape through the frightened crowd, with his bloody sword opening a path for him,
the king's bodyguards seized him and dragged him back, where a crowd had gathered because of the
shouting. He was put before the king's tribunal. Even then, in such great danger to his life, he was one more
to be feared than to feel fear. "I am a Roman citizen," he said. "People call me Gaius Mucius. I, your enemy,
intended to kill you, my enemy; nor do I have less courage to die than I had to kill. It is the Roman way to do
and suffer brave deeds. Nor am I the only one that has such hatred for you: behind me there is a long line of
men seeking the same honor. From now on, be prepared for this struggle, so that you may fight for your life,
hour by hour, so you may always have an armed enemy in your courtyard. We, the Roman youth, declare this
war on you. You will fear no army and no battle. It will be a matter for you, alone, with men one by one."

The king, both outraged and terrified by the danger, threatened to have Mucius burned alive unless he
immediately exposed the plot to which he had referred. "Look," said Mucius, "so you may understand how
meaningless the body is for those who have their eyes set on glory!" And he thrust his right hand into a fire
that had been lit for a sacrifice.

 
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When Mucius had burned his hand, as if he had no feeling, the king, astonished by the unbelievable sight,
jumped from his chair and ordered the young man to be moved from the altar. "You may leave," he said,
"since you have dared to hurt yourself more than me. I would applaud you for your courage, if your courage
were benefiting my country. I release you from my captor's power over you; free, unharmed, and untouched,
you may go."

Then Mucius, as if returning the favor, said, "Since there is honor for courage here too, and since you have
gotten from me as a kindness what you were unable to get by threats, I'll tell you this: we, three hundred
noble youth of Rome, have sworn an oath to take this same path against you. I drew the first lot; other
leading young men will come, as the lot dictates, until your luck finally deserts you." (Livy II.12.6)

Porsenna was so shaken by Mucius' disclosure of the plot that he sent envoys to Rome to propose
peace. Peace was made, and Porsenna withdrew his troops from Rome's territory. Mucius was
rewarded with a plot of land west of the Tiber, which came to be called the Mucian Meadows.
Mucius also received a nickname, Scaevola (from scaevus,-a,-um "left"), which means "lefty."

That is the story from the Roman historian Livy (59 B.C.A.D. 17). Porsenna probably did take over
Rome for a while; at one point the Romans had to agree to hand over hostages so Porsenna would
withdraw his troops from Roman territory. One of the hostages was a clever and courageous girl
named Cloelia.

Cloelia

Since the Etruscans had pitched their camp not far at all from the banks of the Tiber, Cloelia, one of the
female hostages, fooled her guards and, leading the troop of girls, swam across the Tiber, among the enemy's
falling missiles; then she returned all the girls safely to their families in Rome. When this was reported to
Porsenna, he was at first outraged and sent ambassadors to Rome to demand Cloelia's return. The other girls
did not matter much, he said. Then his anger turned to admiration; he said that her deed was far beyond even
that of a Horatius Cocles or a Gaius Mucius; but he was of the opinion that if

 
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Cloelia leading the children across the Tiber.
 (Drawing by Christina Marent Westmoreland)

she were not returned as a hostage, the treaty would be considered broken. If she were returned, however, he
would give her back safe, untouched, and chaste to her relatives.

Good faith was kept on both sides, and the Romans restored their guarantee of peace, in accordance with the
treaty; courage was not only safe in the king's court, it was even held in honor. After praising the girl, he said
that he was giving her back with some of the hostages, and she could choose whatever fellow hostages she
wanted. When all the young people had been brought forward, Cloelia is said to have chosen those who were
in puberty. "After all," Cloelia said, "it is seemly for unmarried

 
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girls, and proper in the opinion of all the hostages, that the age that is most vulnerable to being molested is
most deserving of being free from the enemies' clutches." When peace had been restored, the Romans
honored the courage unfamiliar in a woman with a new type of honor, an equestrian statue of a girl sitting on
a horse; the statue was placed at the top of the Sacred Way. (Livy II.13.6-11)

Rome's Neighbors

The Etruscans (in Latin, Tusci or Tyrrheni, seen in the names Tuscany and Tyrrhenian Sea) to the
north of Rome, who were trying to regain their power in Rome, were not the only enemies the
Romans faced. The Gauls in the far north of the peninsula posed a constant threat to Rome and its
neighbors, but the Etruscans were still powerful enough to keep them in northern Italy, away from
Rome. Rome's enemies to the east were the relentless Aequi and the Sabines, and to the southeast,
the Samnites. With the Latins to the south Rome had an alliance, but this did not always prevent
hostilities between the Romans and Latins. To the south of the sometimes friendly Latins were the
Volsci, a constant threat to the Latins and to the Romans. In the far south of the Italian peninsula
were Greeks, who were not yet a large concern of the Romans. As Rome expanded its power, it
naturally came into conflict with those peoples.

By virtue of their common language, institutions, and religion, Rome and the towns of Latium had
developed a mostly religious, but sometimes political, alliance called the Latin League. During the
monarchy Rome was the dominant partner in the alliance, but after the expulsion of the kings the
city lost its superiority over the Latins. Rome attempted to reassert its superiority over the Latins at
the Battle of Lake Regillus in 496 B.C.

Rome won the battle, but barely. Three years later, in 493, Rome and Latium reached an agreement,
called the Foedus Gassianum, which formed a common army of defense; each party pledged to
contribute an equal contingent. The side that had summoned the help of the others would take
command.

The battle was important for other reasons, too. When the outcome was still in doubt, the dictator
Aulus Postumius vowed a

 
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temple to the gods known as the Dioscurithe twins Castor and Pollux, the Gemini of the Zodiacif
they fought on the Romans' side. Suddenly the gods appeared on horseback, helping the Romans to
victory. Roman legend also says that after the battle had been fought, but before news of the
outcome arrived in Rome, two handsome young men, who were hot and sweaty, as if from fighting
in a battle, were seen in the Forum, watering their horses; the two young men announced the
Romans' victory. The next day, a letter from the dictator arrived in Rome, telling of the victory; try
as they might, the citizens could not find the two young men, and concluded that they must have
been Castor and Pollux themselves. In gratitude, the Romans built a temple of Castor and Pollux
where the two had been seen in the Forum. Roman tradition also says that before the news of the
battle had come to Rome, the two gods told one Roman man, who had no knowledge of the
outcome, to go report the victory at Rome; to prove that they were gods, they stroked his beard,
turning it a reddish color. After that his family was known as Ahenobarbus, or Bronze Beard. One
famous descendant of the Ahenobarbus family was the emperor Nero, 550 years later.

The Three Hundred and Six Fabii

The Romans were facing wars with the Aequi, the Volsci, and the Etruscans, but did not have
adequate forces to engage all three enemies at the same time. The clan of the Fabii decided to take a
stand for Rome. The spokesman for the clan happened to be consul, and he proposed to the Senate
that the Fabii take up the war against the Etruscan city Veii; then the Romans could concentrate
their forces against the Aequi and the Volsci. The Senate agreed. The next morning, all the Fabii of
military agethree hundred and seven of themappeared at the consul's house, ready to go to war.

While patrolling the border between Rome and Etruria, the Fabii beat the Veientes in many small
battles, and kept them from pillaging Roman territory. The Veientes become angry and insulted,
since their large forces were being held back from their pillaging and looting by the small army of
the Fabii. The Veientes then formed a plan to rid themselves of the Fabii.

 
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These three columns are what remains of the
 Temple of Castor and Pollux. (Author photograph)
 
 Page 49

The Veientes let loose some cattle in a plain. The Fabii saw the cattle and carelessly went to round
them up, having no fear of the Veientes after beating them in the small battles. The Fabii were
rounding up the cattle when the concealed Veientes suddenly burst forth from their hiding places:
the Fabii were surrounded. After a long and hard-fought battle, all the Fabii but one were killed.

 
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Chapter 8
Class Conflict in Rome

When the Romans expelled the Tarquins from the city in 509 B.C., the uprisingmostly of nobles, and
led by a nobleman, Brutuswas a response to tyrannical practices that mostly affected only the
nobility. In the following decades and even centuries Roman government, now aristocratic, often
came under fire, but from plebeians protesting the tyranny of the aristocracy. Early in the fifth
century, as the Romans were fighting the Aequi, Volsci, and Veientes, the plebeians became
increasingly unhappy with the aristocratic government, for common people held no political offices
and had little representation in the government. Moreover, as small-scale farmers, they lacked the
financial resources to alleviate their lot. The farmer's life is difficult enough, but Roman farmers
were also subject to periods of service in the Roman army, and Roman soldiers at that time did not
receive pay for their military service. Many Romans, under the double burden of farming and
soldiering, fell into debt and became vulnerable to the debt laws, which allowed the debtor in
default of his loan to be sold into slavery or even killed by his creditor. Since the lenders were the
wealthy aristocrats, the debtors and common people received little aid from the government.

The only help that the common people received had a social, not a legal, basis and actually served
to strengthen the power of the aristocracy. This was the patron-client relationship. A poor,
powerless person in need could seek the help and protection of a rich, powerful persongenerally a
noblewho, as the patron, would give the poor personnow his clientthe legal and financial help he
needed, but in turn would expect help and support

 
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from the client when his own time of need arose. This relationship had almost religious overtones,
and was passed down from generation to generation. While many patrons no doubt helped many
plebeians avoid starvation, eviction from their houses, or prosecution in courts of law, the
relationship still strengthened the power of the nobles. It shows how powerless the common people
were in relation to the nobles, for patrons helped clients at their own pleasure and to meet their own
goals. Further, many nobles amassed great numbers of clients because doing so increased their
political power. The plebeians felt that with the expulsion of the monarchy, they had exchanged one
king for a host of kings.

The citizens were grumbling that while they were fighting wars abroad for empire and freedom, at home they
were enslaved and oppressed by other citizens; the freedom of the common people was safer in war than in
peace and among the enemy than among fellow citizens. The outstanding calamity of one man further
inflamed the common people's bitterness, already burning hot on its own.

A certain man of advanced age rushed into the forum, bearing the signs of all his misfortunes. His clothing
was covered with filth, but fouler still was the condition of his body, pale and racked by disease. What's
more, a long unkempt beard and hair made his face look like an animal's. He was nonetheless recognized,
despite the change from what he had once been, and the people said that he had once been a centurion [in
charge of 100 soldiers and roughly equivalent to a sergeant in the U.S. army]. Pitying him, they talked about
his other awards for valor. He himself showed his proof of honorable battlesthe wounds on his chest, a wound
for each battle. To their asking why he had deteriorated so, he responded (now a great crowd had
congregated, as if an assembly had been called) that while fighting in the Sabine war, he had not only lost his
year's crop after the destruction of his farm, but also his cottage had been burned down, all his possessions
stolen, and his flocks driven off; on top of that, taxes were levied during those hard times, forcing him to
borrow money.

After interest was added to other losses, he finally lost the farm that his ancestors had worked, and then he
lost everything else. After that, destruction came to his body like a disease; he was taken by his creditors not
to slavery but to a workhouse and to the executioner. Then he showed his back, scarred with recent lashes of
the whip. (Livy II.23.2-7)

 
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The plebeians began to clamor for a change, but the senators and consuls could not agree how to
alleviate their distress. During the deliberations, news came that the Volsci were marching on
Romenews that is said to have caused the common people to cheer and to encourage each other not
to fight. They preferred that the city should perish rather than that the patricians should continue
ruling them. The consul Servilius then issued an edict making it illegal to put a Roman citizen into
chains or into prison for debt, thus keeping him from serving in the army; to seize or sell the
property of any soldier on active service; or to interfere with his children or grandchildren. The
Romans then conquered the Volsci.

The problem was still not solved. Servilius could accomplish very little against the opposition not
only of the Senatemany of whom were allied to the creditorsbut also of the other consul, Appius
Claudius, who allowed creditors to put debtors in chains and in prison. Groups of citizens ganged
up to protect fellow citizens who were about to be arrested, and beat back the lictors sent to make
the arrest.

The Plebeians Secede; Tribuni Plebis Created

Finally, the common people decided to secede from Rome. With their weapons and provisions they
encamped on the Sacred Mount, outside the city. Rome was surrounded by enemies, who were
constantly looking to attack, so the city was vulnerable with most of its soldiers settling on the
Sacred Mount. The Senate then sent Menenius Agrippa to speak with them, for they did not hate
him as much as they hated the other senators. He gave this speech:

''Once upon a time, the parts of the body did not have one mind, as they now do, but each part had its own
mind and its own voice. The parts of the body were indignant that by their work, slavery, and diligence,
everything was sought for the stomach. The stomach, at rest in the middle, did nothing but enjoy the
pleasures given it by the others. So they swore an oath that the hands would not carry food to the mouth, that
the mouth would not receive the food that was given, and that the teeth would not chew the food that they
had received. While they wanted to subdue the stomach by hunger, the members themselves and the whole
body all at

 
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the same time wasted away to nothing, all on acccount of their destructive anger. Consequently it became
clear that it was not simply slavery to the stomach, and that the stomach was no more being fed than it was
feeding, giving back to all the parts of the body the blood, equally divided between the veins, that it had
made from the digested food; and that blood gives us existence and good health." (Livy II.32.8-11)

Menenius then compared that story to the political problems in Rome, and the common people's
anger cooled. The two sides negotiated and reached this decision: The plebeians were to have their
own officers, called tribunes, who would represent them and protect them from the magistrates'
abuses of power. The tribunes would be sacrosanct (immune to the power of those holding
imperium), and no man from the patrician class could be a tribune. Eventually the tribunes gained
the power to veto any action of the magistrates; armed with this intercessio, one tribune could put a
halt to what the Senate and consuls were doing (see chapter 6).

The Twelve Tables

The patricians still kept great power over the common people, because the tribunes were the
plebeians' sole representatives in the government. All the magistrates were patricians, and the
patricians alone knew the laws, which were not recorded, but were passed down orally through the
generations. Undoubtedly the patricians changed the laws as they thought necessary and expedient.
This imbalance of knowledge led to abuses of power and to civil strife. Finally, the two sides
agreed to appoint a panel of ten men (called decemviri) to write down the laws for all to see, read,
and learn. While this was taking place, normal government was suspended, and the ten ruled Rome,
with their decisions immune to veto or appeal.

Roman tradition says that three Romans were sent to Athens to study the laws of Solon, one of the
Seven Wise Men of Greece, who had created reforms to save Athens from civil war in 594 B.C. After
returning to Rome, in 451 B.C. the decemviri produced ten tables of laws, which were written on
bronze or wooden tablets (Latin tabulae). More were needed, however, so the ten then

 
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produced two more tables. The Twelve Tables, as they were called, became the foundation of
Roman law. Once they had completed their work, the decemviri soon began to abuse their power
and became hated by all; the usual government was then restored.

Although Roman schoolboys are said to have learned the Twelve Tables by heart, only fragments of
the Twelve Tables survive, and their meaning is not always clear. Yet we can see in them both the
Romans' concern for creating a civil, orderly society and also their respect for individual rights and
property. Some of the laws, for example, established standards for legal procedure: how one citizen
might call another to court, and what to do if he refused to come or ran away. Another such law
stipulated that a judge who accepted a bribe should suffer capital punishment, and that a person
who lied under oath must be hurled from the Tarpeian Rock.

Other laws detailed certain civil rights. For example, a citizen was guaranteed a trial before
execution. A man in default of a debt was allowed a grace period of thirty days before being liable
to arrest and being summoned to court; after the grace period, he could be put in chains and
imprisoned, if the creditor wished, yet if the creditor decided to imprison the debtor, he had to feed
him. One law prohibited marriage between plebeians and patricians; another guaranteed that a
measure approved by the people had the force of law.

The Romans' concern for property rights is seen in other laws. If a man willfully destroyed
another's building or heap of grain, he was to be flogged and burned at the stake, but if the
destruction occurred because of his negligence or by accident, he had to repair the damage; if he
was very poor, he would receive a lighter punishment. Another law concerning property probably
gave Roman women some protection from abusive husbands and their families. With the exception
of the Vestal Virgins, Roman women, by law (because of their supposed "lightness of mind," levitas
animi), were not allowed to be independent; they had to have a male guardian, whether a father,
husband, or other male family member, who exercised legal rights for them. A married woman and
her father's family retained legal power over her and her property if once a year she spent three
continuous nights (trinoctium) away from her husband's house; otherwise, she and her property

 
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including her dowry, which could be a substantial sum of moneywould fall under the legal control
of her husband and his family. Because of the trinoctium, a Roman woman could seek not just
moral and emotional support from her own family, but even legal support, for she was not totally
dependent upon her husband and his family. Another measure to protect the powerless held that if a
patron defrauded his client, he was to be considered cursed.

The Twelve Tables formed the basis of ius civile, "civil law"that is, law that concerns the rights of
citizens. As the Roman empire expanded, Roman law naturally became the law of the entire
empire. In the Middle Ages, scholars rediscovered Roman law and used it as the basis for the law
codes of European countries. Roman law thus became one of the most important elements in the
development of Western civiliation (Wolff, Roman Law, p. 4).

Continuing Class Conflict

Although their legal position was stronger under the law of the Twelve Tables, the plebeians in
Rome still faced many difficulties. The patricians controlled the government, the army, and the
courts, and plebeians were excluded from positions of power and authority not only by tradition
and precedent, but also by religion and law. For example, until 445 the plebeians were barred even
from intermarriage with the patricians. That same year the tribunes agitated for a law to allow the
plebeians to run for the consulship, although they still had not gained even the quaestorship. The
patricians fiercely contested the bill, arguing that because the plebeians were not allowed to take the
auspices (that is, to interpret the will of the gods from observations of natural phenomena), which
was one of the consular duties, they could not be consuls. The plebeians were outraged.

The tribunes, making use of their veto, were obstructing everything the magistrates and Senate tried
to accomplish, including the enlistment of soldiers to face Rome's enemies, who were using Rome's
internal discord as an opportunity to invade. The patricians therefore suspended the consulship and
allowed the creation of a new type of magistrate, the "military tribune with consular power." This
new office was open to the plebeians, although they

 
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were still barred from the consulship. At first there were three military tribunes; later the number
was increased to five. However, no plebeian was elected military tribune until 400 B.C., ten years
after the election of the first plebeian quaestor.

During those turbulent times, the Senate in 406 finally approved payment for soldiers. That the
republic, governed by the nobles, had been waging wars for more than a century but had never yet
paid the common soldiers for their time away from their farms reveals the depth of the problems
between the classes: The patricians could afford to go off on long campaigns, while the common
soldiers suffered greatly from such absencesthe story of the impoverished centurion was probably
not uncommon. If victorious, the soldiers could gain loot from the conquered, but the commanding
officer decided whether or not to allow the soldiers to loot the defeated side, and he and his staff
decided who received what.

It was not until the passage of the Leges Liciniae Sextiae in 367 B.C. that plebeians were allowed to
run for the consulship and join the board in charge of performing the sacred rites. The next year, in
366, the tribune G. Licinius Stolo, one of the authors of the Leges Liciniae Sextiae, became the first
plebeian to be elected consul. Gradually it became a tradition that one of the two consuls should be
a plebeian. (It is worth noting that Lucius Genucius, who in 362 became the first plebeian consul to
lead the army against a serious enemy, was disastrously defeated and killed, thus allowing the
patricians to claim that the gods were angry that the plebeians had polluted the consulship.) Also in
366 the praetorship was created, and plebeians were allowed to run for this office. G. Marcius
Rutilus was the first plebeian elected dictator (356) and censor (351).

To the ordinary plebeians, it probably meant little that men of their class held positions of high
authority and power. The ordinary plebeians would still be plagued by the persistent problems of
debt and land hunger. Later, when Rome had captured huge numbers of slaves in overseas wars, the
plebeians suffered from unemployment and underemployment, for cheap and abundant slavery
made it unnecessary for the wealthy to hire workers. The plebeians in the government, being rich
and well connected,

 
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did not share the concerns of the ordinary plebeians; although grouped in the same class with
ordinary plebeians, the high-status plebeians had much more in common with the patricians, with
whom they had social dealings, marriage alliances, political deals, and business interests. They had
little connection with the poor and distant vulgus ("masses," hence the English word vulgar)
clamoring for land, jobs, and grain. As late as 287 B.C. the plebeians seceded once again, this time to
the Janiculum, because of debt laws and usury; their secession forced the passage of the Lex
Hortensia, which allowed bills passed by the Popular Assembly to become law. The class problems
remained unsolved, and caused more civil turmoil in the late second and first centuries B.C.

 
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Chapter 9
Coriolanus, Cincinnatus, and Camillus

In the fifth century B.C. the Romans and their allies waged war on the Sabines, Aequi, Volsci, and
Veientes. They managed by wise diplomacy to avert constant war with the Sabines: They gave a
large piece of land to a Sabine chieftain, Attius Clausus, who settled there with all his dependents.
His family is better known as the Claudius family, or Claudii. The Aequi gave the Romans more
persistent problems, but the Romans eventually wore them out.

Coriolanus

One of the outstanding figures of Rome during the early fifth century was not a young, powerful
warrior but rather Veturia, an elderly noblewoman, the mother of a son named Coriolanus. In 491
Rome was suffering from famine, and the Romans had to import grain from Sicily. When the
Senate was debating what price the common people should pay for the grain, Coriolanus, who
hated the tribunate and was bitter about the power the plebeians were gaining, advised his
colleagues in the Senate to hold the grain hostage and thus force the plebeians to give up the
tribunate. The common people were outraged, and the members of the Senate thought it politically
expedient to sacrifice Coriolanus to their wrath. A date was set for him to go on trial for tyrannical
behavior, but on the day of his trial Coriolanus went into exile among Rome's enemies, the Volsci.
Soon the Volsci, led by Coriolanus, started attacking Rome's allies. After many victories over
Rome's allies and subjects, Coriolanus and his Volscian army pitched camp 8 kilometers from
Rome and devastated the countryside, though

 
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Coriolanus made sure that his soldiers did not destroy the property of any patricians. Rome was in
trouble. Envoys from Rome went to Coriolanus' camp to ask him to withdraw, but he refused.
Again, envoys were sent, and again he declined to move. Next the priests, wearing their sacred
garments, went to beg him to withdraw, but they too failed in their mission. While the Romans
hurriedly gathered together their army, Coriolanus' mother Veturia, his wife Volumnia and their
children, and other women of Rome, weeping, marched out of the city to meet Coriolanus in his
camp.

"If my eyes aren't fooling me," one of Coriolanus' officers said to him, "your mother, wife, and children are
here."

Coriolanus, almost crazy and in a panic, got up from his seat to hug his mother. She changed from begging to
anger. "Before you hug me," she said, "let me know whether I have come to my son or to my enemy, and
whether I am your prisoner or your mother in your camp. Have my long life and unhappy old age brought me
to this, that I should see you first an exile and then an enemy of Rome? Could you destroy this land that
produced and nourished you? Although you came here with dangerous intentions and threats, didn't your
anger die down as soon as you entered the borders? Once Rome came into view, didn't the thought enter your
mind, 'Inside those walls are my house, my household gods, my mother, my wife, and my children'?

"I can only conclude that if I hadn't given birth, Rome wouldn't be under attack; if I had no son, I would have
died free, in a free country. But I can allow nothing more wretched for me and more disgraceful for you,
since I am the most wretched, and will be for a long, long time. And your children? You will decide whether
it is a premature death or a long slavery that awaits them."

His wife and children hugged each other; the weeping of the whole crowd of women as they bewailed their
and their country's fate finally broke the man. After embracing his family, he sent them away and moved his
camp away from the city. (Livy II.40.4-10)

Cincinnatus (Curly)

A hero of Rome during this time was L. Quinctius, called Cincinnatus, or Curly, because of his
curly hair. After losing a minor

 
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Venturia scolding Coriolanus. (Drawing by Christina Marent Westmoreland)
 
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battle with the Aequi in 458 B.C., the consul Minucius decided to keep his army within the
fortifications of his camp so as not to risk any more losses. The Aequi interpreted his actions as fear
and consequently built barriers to trap Minucius and his army within their camp. Five Roman
soldiers escaped before being trapped and told the Romans about the danger to the army. The
Romans decided to bypass the other consul and elect a dictator instead.

The only hope of the Roman empire, L. Quinctius, was then living across the Tiber on a farm three acres in
size. . . . Greeted there by the messengers from the Senate, as he was perhaps Working hard on a ditch with
his shovel, or plowingit is certain only that he was busy with some type of farm workhe returned their
greeting, and he was asked to put on a toga [a man's formal attire] so he could hear the Senate's commands,
with their hopes that it might benefit both him and the republic. Surprised, he asked, "Is everything all
right?" and told his wife Racilia to quickly bring him a toga from their cottage. After he had wiped off the
dust and sweat, and put on his toga, he went to the messengers, who congratulated him and greeted him as
dictator, and summoned him to the city; then they informed him of the terror in the army. A state ship was
ready for him; his three sons, walking on the road, received him, and then other relatives and friends, and
then the greater part of the senators. (Livy III.26.7-11)

Cincinnatus ordered all men of military age to assemble before dawn in the Campus Martius; the
army marched that day to Algidus, where Minucius and his men had been trapped by the enemy.
That night the Roman soldiers silently surrounded the enemies' camp; the Romans won the ensuing
battle, and Cincinnatus rescued Minucius and his army.

Back at Rome, the grateful Senate ordered the victorious Cincinnatus to enter the city with the same
retinue that had accompanied him upon his arrival as dictator. "The enemy generals were led before
his chariot, then came the army's standards, followed by the army, loaded down with loot. Tables of
food are said to have been set before the houses of all the citizens, and the soldiers eating from the
tables followed the chariot with a triumphal song and jokes, like a body of partygoers" (Livy
III.29.4).

 
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Cincinnatus' entry into Rome was an example of the Roman triumph, a sort of parade for victorious
generals and their armies. First came men showing the gold, silver, weapons, and loot captured in
the war. They also carried placards bearing drawings or names of the cities and generals that had
been captured, indicating the rivers or mountains crossed, and depicting the major battles fought.
Then came the white oxen that would be sacrificed to Jupiter, and the hostages and prisoners in
chains. The general himself, in a four-horse chariot adorned with gold, ivory, and jewels, then
approached with his entourage, which might include his children as well as his lictors, the Senate,
and his assistants. He wore the vestis triumphalis (clothing of triumph): a tunica palmata (a tunic
embroidered with palm branches, the symbol of victory) and a toga picta (painted toga) of purple
or gold. He wore a crown of laurel, either for purposes of purification or for protection from evil
spirits, while a slave standing behind him held a golden crown over his head. The general's face
was painted red. In his left hand he held a golden scepter, and in the other a staff of laurel. For a
day he was allowed to look like Jupiter. Lest the general become too puffed up with pride by being
compared to Jupiter, the slave holding the golden crown above his head constantly whispered in his
ear, ''Remember: you are only mortal," while his soldiers, who came next in the procession, sang
dirty songs to embarrass him. To further ward off evil, the general wore a bulla (amulet) and an
iron ring. The triumph would end up at the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter, because the triumph was
originally a religious procession, probably to honor Jupiter for giving the Romans the victory.
During their triumphs, Julius Caesar and Emperor Claudius climbed the steps of the temple on their
knees, probably to further humble themselves.

There was also a lesser type of triumph, called an ovatio. The general in the ovatio entered on
horseback or on foot, wore a toga with a purple border and a crown of myrtle, and carried no
scepter. This was a much less spectacular event, and something of a consolation prize for those
whose victories were not great enough to warrant a triumph.

After his triumph, just fifteen days after he had assumed the position of dictator, Cincinnatus
resigned his position of almost

 
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unlimited power, which he could have held for six months. Having done his job, he returned to his
plow.

The Defeat of Veii

During the eighth, seventh, and sixth centuries B.C. the Etruscans dominated central Italy, ruling
Rome through the Etruscan kings and extending their power into Latium. At the same time the
Romans expelled their kings, the Latins too drove the Etruscans out of Latium. Although weakened
by internal dissension, the Etruscans were by no means finished as a power. About 405 B.C. the
Romans dedicated themselves to the conquest of Veii, the powerful and wealthy Etruscan city less
than 15 kilometers north of Rome. The Roman soldiers besieging Veii swore not to return to Rome
until they had conquered. Veii was about the same size as Rome, and its position on a mountain,
surrounded on three sides by a moat, made it extremely difficult to besiege; the Veientes were also
helped by some members of the Etruscan alliance, one of which was the powerful Etruscan city
Tarquinii.

In Roman legend the siege of Veii lasted ten years (precisely as long as the Greeks' siege of Troy).
The siege of Veii was the most ambitious conquest the Romans had yet undertaken, and the most
difficult struggle the city had ever faced. As the siege dragged on, the Romans appointed M. Furius
Camillus dictator. In 396, led by Camillus, the Romans took Veil by tunneling into the city. The
acquisition of Veii's land doubled the size of Rome. In addition, the Roman soldiers carried off a
great deal of loot. When seeing the huge amount of treasure, which was greater than anybody had
hoped or dreamed, Camillus prayed that the gods, if jealous of Rome's good fortune, might allow
him to somehow appease their jealousy with the smallest suffering of himself or the city. While
saying the prayer, Camillus turned around and tripped, a terrible omen.

The siege of Veii affords an excellent example of what the Romans called evocatio. When the
Romans took over a city, they feared the wrath of the gods dwelling there, so they asked those gods
to leave that city and come to Rome. Once they had brought the god to Rome, they worshipped him
along with the usual

 
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Roman gods. Accordingly, Camillus as he marched on Veii addressed the gods of Rome and Veii:
"Led by you and your divine power, Pythian Apollo, I am proceeding to destroy the city Veii, and I
vow to you one-tenth of the spoils. Queen Juno, you who now live in Veii, I beseech you to
accompany us, once we have won this war, into our city and to let it be your city too in the future,
where a temple worthy of your majesty will receive you" (Livy V.21.2-4).

Young soldiers were specially chosen to remove the statue of Juno and the temple's treasures;
before they entered the temple they bathed and dressed in white. One soldier, in awe of the temple
and the goddess, asked Juno whether or not she wanted to go to Rome; his companions swore that
the statue nodded its head in reply.

Camillus and Roman Honor

While besieging Veii, the Romans were attacked by Veii's allies, the Etruscan city Falerii. In
revenge, the Romans then attacked Falerii. During the siege of their city, the Falerians learned that
one trusted and respected member of their society was not above abusing his position for profit;
they also learned about Roman honor and morals.

It was the custom in Falerii that teachers taught as well as supervised their pupils, and many boys were
entrusted to the care of one man. . . . The teacher who excelled in knowledge taught the children of the
leading citizens. During peacetime one teacher had established the routine of leading the boys out before the
city for play and exercise; during the war, that routine was in no way interrupted. Taking the boys from the
city gates for sometimes shorter and sometimes longer distances, with the play and talk varied, one day when
he could he led the boys farther than usual, straight through the enemy outposts and from there into the
Romans' camp, directly into the headquarters of Camillus, the general.

There he added to his despicable deed words even more loathsome, that he had handed the city Falerii into
the Romans' hands, since he had given the Romans power over the sons of Falerii's chief citizens. When

 
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Camillus heard this, he said, "Wicked man, you have brought your despicable offer to a people and general
who are not like you. There is no alliance between Rome and Falerii, as happens by agreement between
humans. But there are laws of war just as there are laws of peace, and we have learned to fight wars no less
justly than bravely. We have brought our arms not against the age of life which is spared even when cities are
captured, but against armed men and against those who, without provocation and wrongdoing from us,
attacked our camp during the siege of Veii. With your new crime, as much as it was in your power, you have
conquered your countrymen; I, however, will conquer them with Roman skill, courage, work, and weapons."

The teacher was stripped, and his hands were tied behind his back; then Camillus handed him over to the
boys to be led back to Falerii, and gave them switches to whip him as they drove the traitor back to the city.
When the people in the city saw the boys bringing the teacher back, at first they gathered in great numbers,
and then the senate was convened. So great was their change of heart that those who only recently had been
so wild with anger and hatred that they would have preferred being destroyed like Veil to having a
disgraceful peace like Capena's [which had surrendered to Rome] now unanimously sought peace.

In the marketplace and Senate House, the Falerians talked of nothing but Roman trustworthiness and
Camillus' sense of justice. By agreement of all, legates went to Camillus in his camp and, after gaining his
permission, they went to the Roman Senate, to surrender Falerii to Rome.

Once they were led into the Senate, they said this: "Gentlemen of the Senate, we have been conquered by
you and your general; may no man or god begrudge you that victory. We surrender, seeing that we will live
better lives under your rule than under our own. Two healthy examples have come out of this war for the
benefit of mankind: You preferred honor in war to an immediate victory. Won over by your trustworthiness,
we voluntarily acknowledge your victory." (Livy V.27.1-14)

 
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Chapter 10
The Gauls Sack Rome

In 390 B.C. arrived one of early Rome's darkest hours. The Gauls, a Celtic people who were
migrating westward from central Europe, swept down upon Italy; one of their victims was Rome.
Supposedly they had recently drunk wine for the first time and liked it so much that they wanted
the country that produced it. Another story says that the Gauls attacked Rome in revenge after a
Roman envoy killed a Gallic envoy because of his arrogant words. The Romans had been warned of
the Gauls' coming: A plebeian had heard one night a divine voice ordering him to let the
magistrates know of the impending danger, but those whom he told simply laughed at him.

The Gallic and Roman armies met at the juncture of the Allia and Tiber Rivers. The Roman army
fell apart, because of bad leadership (the generals had not constructed any defenses, chosen an area
for a camp, or checked the auspices) and fear of the Gauls' superior numbers. The Gauls' victory
was so devastating that the Romans afterward cursed the day of the battle, July 18, so that no
business could ever be conducted on dies alliensis, "the day of the Allia." The Gauls massacred the
fleeing Romans and descended upon Rome. No Roman army hindered them, and their entry into
Rome was so easy that they thought the Romans were laying a trap for them.

The Romans had evacuated the city, some fleeing into the countryside and others taking refuge in
the citadel, the Capitol. It was a pitiful sight to see the Vestal Virgins carrying the images of the
gods out of the city to safety in friendly cities; the Etruscan city

 
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Caere received the Romans' gods and sacred objects, and the Romans were grateful for Caere's
help.

The Siege of the Capitol

After a few days, the Gauls laid siege to the Capitol, which had been fortified and provisioned. To
lure the Romans out of the Capitol, which remained the last free part of the city and the bastion of
Roman civilization, the Gauls started destroying the buildings and houses, until half the city was in
ruins. The original Twelve Tables are said to have perished in the destruction.

Meanwhile at Rome the siege was bogged down and not much was happening on either side, which was the
Gauls' intention, to keep any Romans from breaking through the posts [and communicating with other
Romans who had fled]. Suddenly a Roman youth turned the attention of both Romans and Gauls onto
himself. It was the custom of the Fabian clan to perform a sacrifice on the Quirinal Hill. When Fabius
descended from the Capitol to go perform the sacrifice, wearing his clothes in ceremonial fashion and
carrying the holy objects, he walked right through the middle of the Gauls' posts to the Quirinal, paying no
attention at all to the threats and shouts. After solemnly performing all the sacred rites, he returned the same
way that he had come, with an unwavering step and calm face, expecting that the gods would be kind to
those who have not been kept from worship even by their fear of death. Thus he returned to his family on the
Capitol, leaving the Gauls either astonished by his audacity or moved by his piety; after all, they themselves
are hardly negligent of religious matters. (Livy V.46.1-3)

Camillus, the hero in the Romans' defeat of Veil and Falerii a few years earlier, had gone into exile
at Ardea after being accused of mishandling spoils taken from Veii. The man whom Rome most
needed was in exile, and rather bitter about his city's treatment of him. Despite his anger, Camillus
now made preparations to rescue his city from its present danger. He was appointed dictator in
absentia, and he approached neighboring cities with pleas for help against the Gauls.

 
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The Sacred Geese of Juno

Meanwhile the citadel of Rome and the Capitol were in great danger. The Gauls had either noticed human
tracks where the messenger had come from Veii [where some Romans had fled for safety and were now
waiting for an opportunity to save Rome], or on their own had noticed, next to the Temple of Carmentis, a
rock suitable for climbing. At any rate, one night they first sent one unarmed man to try the way; then, by
passing their weapons along where the going was rough, leaning on one another, and lifting others in turn
and pulling them up, as the lay of the land demanded, they arrived at the summit in such silence that they not
only fooled the guards, but did not awaken even the dogs, animals attentive to sounds in the night. They did
not fool the sacred geese of Juno, however; even in the middle of a great shortage of food, the Romans had
kept their hands off the sacred geese. This saved Rome: Their honking and flapping of wings awoke M.
Manlius, distinguished in war and consul three years before. He snatched up his weapons and, at the same
time that he urged others to get their weapons, while the others were in a panic, with his shield he hit one
Gaul (who by now was standing at the top) and sent him down the hill. Falling, that Gaul knocked down
those closest to him, and Manlius killed other frightened Gauls who had dropped their weapons to hold onto
the rocks. By now other Romans had joined Manlius and, with javelins and missiles, sent the enemies falling
down the rocks. As they fell, they knocked other Gauls down the hill, head first. (Livy V.47)

Because of this display of heroism, M. Manlius received a nickname, Capitolinus (Of the Capitol),
which he passed down to his descendants. The soldier whose negligence had allowed the Gauls to
come that close to seizing the citadel was thrown from the Capitol to his death.

"Ferro, Non Auto"

The siege was wearing out both the besiegers and the besieged. After occupying Rome for seven
months, the Gauls were suffering from hunger and disease, while the Romans in the Capitol were

 
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The Dying Gaul, from Pergamum, third century B.C. (Courtesy of the Archer M. Huntington 
Art Gallery, University of Texas at Austin, William J. Battle Collection of Plaster Casts)
 
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running low on provisions. The Romans are nonetheless said to have thrown loaves of bread from
the walls of the citadel to the Gauls below, to prove that they were not short of food. In these dire
circumstances the Romans agreed to pay, and the Gauls agreed to accept, a ransom of a thousand
pounds of gold so the Gauls would leave. Since the treasury did not have enough gold, the women
of Rome voluntarily contributed their jewelry to the ransom. When the Roman commander objected
to the heavier weight standard being used by the Gauls, the Gallic chieftain Brennus is said to have
thrown his sword on the scale while saying the words hateful to Roman ears, "Vae victis!" (Woe to
the vanquished!).

During the weighing of the gold, Camillus appeared. He said that the agreement was invalid
because it had been made contrary to his orders as dictator. Instead, he ordered his soldiers to
recover their city "ferro, non auto" (with iron, not gold). He warned the Gauls to prepare to fight.
The Romans won the battles that followed, even capturing the Gauls' camp and annihilating that
particular tribe of Gauls, the Senones.

"Hic Manebimus Optime"

When the Romans saw the ruins of their city, the tribunes began urging the common people to vote
not to rebuild Rome and instead to move to the site of Veii, which had not been destroyed and
would be more easily defended in the future. Undoubtedly the tribunes also hoped that in the new
location there would be a fairer distribution of land between the plebeians and patricians. Although
Camillus' stirring and impassioned speech convinced many to stay, many others remained
undecided. What convinced them was a sign from the gods: As the Senate was debating whether or
not to move, some soldiers were passing through the Forum after guard duty; the senators
overheard the centurion give his soldiers the orders to halt, saying, "Hic manebimus optime" (Here
will be the best place for us to stay). That was their sign to stay.

The Romans learned from their military mistakes and reformed the army so that they would never
again experience another Allia.

 
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To make the army more flexible, each legion was divided into thirty maniples (literally,
"handfuls"), each of which contained one hundred twenty to two hundred men. The strength of the
reformed army was soon tested, for many of Rome's enemies, encouraged by the Gauls' initial
victory, chose that moment to renew war with Rome. The Latins and Hernici revolted from their
alliance, and the Volscians and Etruscans were armed and ready to attack. The Romans named as
dictator the man who had rescued them from the previous peril, Camillus. He conquered the
Volscians so thoroughly that they surrendered, after seventy years of warfare. He then turned to the
Aequi and captured their army camp and their main city, Bolae. He next took on the Etruscans, who
were marching on Sutrium, a city allied to Rome. The Etruscans took Sutrium, but on the same day
Gamillus recaptured it and gave it back to its inhabitants: All in one day Sutrium had been free,
captured by the enemy, and then recaptured and restored to its citizens. Gamillus then returned to
Rome and celebrated a well-deserved triumph.

Shortly afterward, in 386, Etruria once again prepared for war. His dictatorship having lapsed,
Gamillus was now only a military tribune, one of several equal in authority; nonetheless, the other
military tribunes volunteered to subordinate themselves and their power to him. Once the Roman
soldiers had seen the size of the enemy army, they became afraid and reluctant to fight, despite
Gamillus' order to attack. He harangued the soldiers, again gave the signal to attack, and, despite his
age (he was so old and frail that he had to be lifted onto his horse), led the attack. He even threw
the standards (signum, a bronze or gold eagle on a pole, which preceded the soldiers into battle, like
a flag) into the midst of the enemy ranks. By this act he forced his soldiers to fight, for losing the
standards was the sign of utter defeat and a great dishonor to soldiers. The Romans won that battle,
led by the aged Gamillus.

In 382 B.C. the Volscians joined with the people of Praeneste and attacked a Roman colony. Again
the Romans turned to Camillus, with one Lucius Furius to assist him. Seeing the enemy army, the
soldiers and Lucius Furius were eager to fight, but Gamillus would not permit it. Lucius Furius
argued with Camillus, who told his assistant that he could not hold him back, but that he would
pray

 
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that no harm would come to the Romans because of the younger man's decision.

Lucius Furius led the Romans against the enemy; the Romans started losing and began to flee.
Camillus then harangued the soldiers for cowardice, and ran to the front line to lead them once
again into battle. The soldiers followed the old man and eventually won the battle. Later, when
Camillus was again appointed dictator, he named as his master of the horse the same Lucius Furius
whose failure to follow his advice had endangered the army. Because of his heroism, Camillus was
later called ''the second founder of Rome."

Titus Manlius Torquatus

Some time later there lived one Lucius Manlius, who had once been dictator but was very
unpopular in Romeso much so that after his dictatorship expired, a tribune, with the support of the
common people, attacked him legally and sought to prosecute him. There were two reasons for his
unpopularity: First, he was a harsh general and abusive to those whom he enlisted; his harshness
had gained him the nickname Imperiosus. Second, he did not allow his son Titus to live the life one
would expect a young nobleman to live. Titus was not allowed to live in the city, to consort with
other young noblemen, or to achieve public recognition; instead, his father forced him to work in
the country like a slave. Why? Because Titus stuttered. The tribune inflamed the people's anger
against Lucius Manlius Imperiosus. Titus himself, however, was sad and angry that he was another
source of his father's unpopularity. He formed a plan.

Secretly he armed himself with a knife one morning and, arriving at the gates of the city, went straight to the
house of M. Pomponius the tribune. He told the doorman to tell his master that it was Titus Manlius, the son
of Lucius, and that he needed to meet with him. The tribune had him brought in immediately, hoping that the
son was very angry at his father or was bringing some new charge against his father, or had some advice for
conducting the case. After giving and receiving greetings, Manlius told the tribune that there were some
things that he wanted to discuss

 
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with him, but without any witnesses present. Once those present had been told to leave, he drew his knife
and, standing above the tribune's couch and pointing his knife blade at him, he threatened to stab him unless
he swore, on words that he had already written, that he would never call an assembly for the sake of
prosecuting his father. The tribune, shaking with fear, swore the oath, as he was forced to do; how could he
not do so, seeing the blade flashing before his eyes, himself unarmed, the young man very strong, fierce,
andwhich was more frighteningnot too smart? He swore the oath and later let it be known that he had
stopped his prosecution after being forced by the threat of violence.

As much as the common people would have preferred to be given the opportunity to convict so cruel and
arrogant a master, nonetheless they did not think it bad that the son had done the bold deed for his father. It
was all the more praiseworthy because the father's harshness had not turned his son's mind from his duty to
his father. (Livy VII.5.3-8)

Soon afterward the Gauls again threatened Rome; they pitched their camp about 5 kilometers from
the city. A bridge over the river Anio separated the two armies, and the two sides had frequent
skirmishes for possession of the bridge. Finally, an enormous Gaul advanced to the bridge and said,
"I call upon the the bravest man that Rome has to come forward to a duel, so the outcome of our
duel may show which of our peoples is superior in war!" The Gaul was huge, and no Roman made
a move to fight him in single combat until Titus Manlius asked the dictator if he could leave his
position to go fight the Gaul, who now was sticking out his tongue at the Romans. The dictator
agreed.

Manlius did no taunting, no prancing about, no pointless display of his agility with a sword; he just had a
heart full of courage and quiet rage, for he was bringing all his ferocity to decide the contest. When they
stood between the two armies, with the hearts of so many people full of hope and fear, the Gaul, towering
over Manlius like a mountain, held his shield in front on his left arm, and slashed his sword down onto the
shield of his advancing enemy; his sword made a great noise, but caused no wound. The Roman lifted up his
sword and, with his shield, lifted up the bottom part of his opponent's shield; then he slipped his whole body
between his opponent's body and weapons, making himself free from the

 
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danger of wounds. He made two quick slashes with his sword, opening up his opponent's abdomen. His
opponent's body lay stretched out over a vast area. Manlius left the body of the dead Gaul free from any
abuse, and took for spoils only one blood-splattered necklace [torquis in Latin], which he put around his own
neck. (Livy VII.10.8-12)

Titus Manlius received a nickname for his bravery and victory: Torquatus (Wearing a Necklace).
His family likewise was honored with the nickname.

 
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Chapter 11
The Wars with the Samnites

The Saturates were a loose confederation of peoples living in the Apennine Mountains southeast of
Rome. Their soldiers were tough, for their life in the mountains demanded courage and afforded
little of civilization's amenities. In 343 B.C. the Samnites attacked a group of people called the
Sidicini, who then sought the help of their powerful neighbors in Campania, a wealthy and fertile
region south of Latium; Campania's largest city was Capua, a city regarded by the Romans as
wealthy, luxurious, decadent, and effeminate. Capua and Campania joined the Sidicini in an
alliance against the Samnites, but their combined forces were not enough to withstand the enemy;
Capua itself and Campania were soon attacked by the Samnites and in great danger of being taken
over.

The citizens of Capua then asked the Romans for help against the Samnites. The Romans, doubting
the sincerity of this emergency appeal, and citing the treaty and alliance that Rome already had with
the Samnites, told the Campanians that they could do little against the Samnites, who were their
friends. Nonetheless, the Romans said, they would send envoys to the Samnites and ask them to
leave Capua and Campania alone.

The envoys of the Capuans and Campanians were distraught. To save their city, the envoys simply
gave Capua and Campania to the Romans, reasoning that thus the Romans would have to protect
their own property. The Romans now had a substantial excuse for not allowing the Samnites to take
Campania. They already had a reason: They did not want the powerful nation of the Samnites to
have the additional resources of the fertile fields of Campania and the wealth of Capua.
Accordingly the Romans sent envoys to the

 
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Samnites to ask them not to continue the attack; otherwise the Romans would have to defend their
subjects, the Campanians.

The Samnite ambassadors refused Rome's request. To further anger the Romans, the Samnite
ambassadors even made a point of immediately shouting out the orders to attack Campania, so that
the Roman ambassadors could hear. Both sides prepared for war. The Romans won the first battle,
at Mount Gaurus, although with great difficulty; they had never encountered so tough and stubborn
an enemy. The Romans also defeated the Samnites at Suessula and, in another battle, even stormed
the Samnites' camp. They were unable to follow up their victories, however, because of a mutiny in
the Roman army. The Samnites asked the Romans for peace, and the Romans, distracted by their
own problems, granted them a treaty in 341 B.C.

The Great Latin War

In 358 B.C. the Latins had agreed to a treaty that recognized Rome's supremacy over them.
Nevertheless, the Latins began to flex their muscles by waging war on their enemies without
Rome's consent or troops. In 341 the Latins attacked the Samnites, with whom the Romans had
recently made a treaty of alliance. The Samnites complained to the Romans about the Latins' attack
on their territory. The Romans could do little to restrain the Latins at the moment, so they
summoned the Latin leaders to a conference. Considering how much they had done to help Rome
achieve its powerful position, the Latins demanded that one consul and half of the Senate be drawn
from the Latins. The Romans were outraged at the Latins' demand for strict equality in government
and declared war on them. Helping the Romans in their battles against their former allies the Latins
were the Romans' new allies and former enemies, the Samnites. Helping the Latins against the
Romans were the Campanians, who hated the Samnites.

The Roman consuls were nervous about the conflict, which was something of a civil war. The
political ramifications were serious, for a victorious Latium could shatter Rome's power. The Latins
not only spoke the same language as the Romans, but also used similar military equipment,
formations, and strategies. The Latin soldiers

 
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were formidable opponents. Doubtless too the consuls were nervous about their new allies, the
Samnites, with whom they had been at war only a few years earlier. This battle was too important
for sloppiness; the consuls therefore issued the order that no soldier was to leave his post to fight
the enemy.

Titus Manlius Torquatus, the son of the Torquatus who had killed the huge Gaul (see chapter 10),
was on reconnaissance when he happened to meet a Latin soldier whom he knew. The Latin baited
Titus Manlius into engaging in a duel with him to show whether the Latin or the Roman cavalry
was better; Titus Manlius, fearing he would appear a coward if he refused, accepted the challenge,
knowing that in doing so he would be breaking the rules set by the consuls. The two men had their
duel, and Titus Manlius won. He stripped the Latin of his armor and proudly rode back to his father,
the consul.

"Father," he said, "so that everybody may say that I am my father's son, I bring back these cavalry spoils,
taken from the knight whom I killed, after being challenged to a duel."

When the consul heard that, he immediately turned away from his son and ordered that the trumpet be
sounded to summon the soldiers to an assembly. When the great crowd had assembled, he spoke:

"You, Titus Manlius, showed no respect either for the consul's power or for your father's authority when you,
against our direct orders, deserted your post to fight the enemy, and when you, as much as was in your
power, undermined the army discipline that, up to now, has made Rome strong. You have forced me to
disregard the needs of either the country or myself. It will be better if we receive the punishment for our
error than if the country is punished for our wrong; we will provide a sad, but beneficial, lesson to the youth
of the future. I am moved by a father's natural love for his children, as well as by your show of courage,
misguided though it was, by a false conception of glory. The consul's power must either be reestablished as
inviolable with your death, or destroyed forever by your going unpunished; I therefore think that you (if there
is any of my blood in you) will not object to restoring the military discipline which has fallen because of
your mistake. Lictor, go and tie him to the stake." (Livy VIII.7.13-20)

 
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Titus Manlius was then beheaded, as punishment for leaving his post.

Although the Romans won that hard-fought battle close to Mount Vesuvius, the Latins were not yet
finished. The survivors regrouped, and more Latin soldiers joined them. They fought another battle
against the Romans, this one at Trifanum. Again, the Romans won. The consuls then proceeded
through all Latium and Campania, stamping out signs of revolt; Latium and Campania both
surrendered. The Romans, however, were wisely gracious in their victory: They granted full Roman
citizenship to many Latin and Campanian towns, making citizens of the recently conquered.

One of the cities Rome conquered during this time was Antium. The penalty that Antium paid to
the Romans was the loss of its fleet. The prows (rostra, rostrum originally meant "beak, snout")
were taken from the ships and used as decoration on a speaker's platform in the Forum. So the Latin
word that originally meant "beak" and had changed to mean "the prow of a ship'' came to mean,
first in Latin and later in English, "a speaker's platform."

The Second War with the Samnites

The Romans' second war with the Samnites began with Palaepolis (Old City), a Greek city in
Campania that lay close to Neapolis (New City) and may have been part of Neapolis. The
Palaepolitans had attacked Rome's allies and had refused to pay reparations. The Palaepolitans no
doubt were encouraged in their hostilities by the six thousand foreign soldiers (four thousand of
whom were Samnites) who garrisoned their city.

As the Roman army arrived to attack the city, the citizens simultaneously surrendered to the
Romans and tricked the Samnites into leaving. The Romans still had the Smites to contend with,
and defeated them in a battle. The rest of the war did not go so well.

Disaster at the Caudine Forks

In 321 B.C. the Roman army invaded Samnium. While the soldiers were raiding Samnite territory,
shepherds grazing their
 
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flocks in the vicinity reported to them that the Samnite army had left Samnium and was besieging
the town of Luceria, which lay in the territory of Apulia, and was allied to the Romans. Two roads
could lead the Romans to the relief of the Lucerians: one was long, with open plains to its sides; the
other was short, but with mountains rising to either side. The Romans went by the short path,
through an area called Caudium. They had proceeded some distance when they noticed that trees
had been chopped down and boulders had been piled up to bar their progress. They turned around,
only to find that the way by which they had entered the gorge was blocked, not only by trees that
had been chopped down, but also by Samnite soldiers. The Romans had been led into a trap; the
shepherds had been planted there by the Samnite commander, Gavius Pontius.

Pontius had not expected that his plan would go so well. He was unsure what to do and wrote a
letter to his father, an experienced general, asking him for advice. His father's first reply was to let
the Roman soldiers go, unharmed, as soon as possible. The son did not like that advice, so he wrote
his father another letter; this time, his father advised him to put all the Roman soldiers to death.

Now the son was even more confused and thought that old age must have blunted his father's
acumen. Still, he sent a wagon to bring his father to him so they could discuss the course of action.
The father came and explained his advice: By the first plan, which he considered the better of the
two, the Samnites would, by a magnanimous gesture, secure unending peace with that very
powerful people; by the other plan, the Samnites would merely postpone war for many generations,
since Rome would find it difficult to replace the two armies that had been lost. There was no third
alternative.

The son rejected both solutions. He told his father of his solution: to release the Romans, but to
force them to give up their weapons and possessions, and to pass under the yokea symbol of slavery
and a great source of shame to soldiers. He would also require that the Romans withdraw their
colonies and forces from Samite territory, and that six hundred Roman equites be handed over to
the Samnites as hostages.

The father, after listening to his son, said, "That plan of yours is one that doesn't make friends or
remove enemies. Just watch out

 
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for those whom you have enraged with public humiliation! Those men there are of the Roman race,
which doesn't know how to give in, even when it has been conquered. The memory of whatever
they are forced to do now will always remain branded in their hearts, and it will not allow them to
rest until you have paid the penalty many times over" (Livy IX.3.12).

The father was right, but his son did not know it, and he proceeded with his plans for sending the
Roman soldiers under the yoke.

First, they were ordered to lay down their weapons, and then to go outside the camp's walls, with only one
article of clothing; then the first hostages were handed over and led away to their guards. Then the lictors
were ordered to leave the consuls, and the consuls' military cloaks were torn off. This caused such great pity
among the soldiers that those who only shortly before had been cursing the consuls and thinking that they
should be handed over to the enemy for torture, now forgot their individual situations and turned their eyes
away from the degradation of such great majesty, as if from something too abominable to be seen. The
consuls, almost nude, were the first to be sent under the yoke. Then, as each was next in rank, so was he
subjected to debasement and humiliation; then the legions passed, one by one, under the yoke. The armed
Samnites stood around, calling them cowards and insulting them. They also threatened many with their
swords, even wounding and killing those whose faces showed their bitterness at suffering such indignities
and thereby offended their conquerors. (Livy IX.5.12-IX.6.2)

The second war with the Samnites had ended, in 321 B.C. One source says that the Romans reneged
on their humiliating treaty and continued fighting from 316 to 314, but most historians believe that
they abided by the terms.

In the following years, the Romans did not fight the Samnites again, but they did not remain
inactive. They made alliances with the Samnites' neighbors, the most important being the region
called Apulia. The Samnites were now surrounded by Rome's allies or subjects. The Romans were
waiting for the opportunity to avenge the humiliating peace of the Caudine Forks.

 
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The Third Samnite War

The Samnites themselves offered Rome the opportunity to break the treaty between them, by
attacking Rome's allies the Lucanians, who naturally asked Rome for help against the Samnites.
Roman fetials, the priests whose duties included deciding upon the justice or injustice of a war,
were sent to the Samnites to demand reparations for the injuries to the Lucanians, but were told by
the Samnites' messengers that if they met any Samnite council they would not leave uninjured. The
Romans then declared war on the Samnites, in 298 B.C.

The Romans experienced many successes in the early stages of the war. The consul Gnaeus Fulvius
captured one of the Samnites' main towns, Bovianum; Roman armies took other towns, such as
Romulea, Murgantia, and Ferentinum, and destroyed much of the Samnites' territory. The Samnites
nonetheless did not give up; instead they instigated a general revolt of the Etruscans, Umbrians,
Gauls, and other peoples Rome had subdued in Italy, Rome was facing a serious war not only with
the Samnites, but also with the Etruscans, and with their combined forces.

One of the great battles in the war was fought at Sentinum. The Gauls, Umbrians, Etruscans, and
Samnites had joined forces against the Romans. In charge of the Romans' four legions were Q.
Fabius and P. Decius. Neither side was winning, when Decius ordered his cavalry to attack; they
drove far into the enemy forces, but suddenly became alarmed by the enemy bearing down upon
them in war chariots. The Romans had never encountered those war chariots before, and their
horses bolted; the Roman cavalry fled. Failing to restrain their flight, P. Decius decided to make the
ultimate sacrifice for the good of Rome. The Romans believed that a general could sacrifice himself
and the enemy army (in Latin, devovere is the verb, devotio the noun) to the gods of the
Underworld and to Mother Earth; Decius' father had sacrificed himself at the Battle of Veseris. Here
is how the younger Decius did it:

He ordered the priest M. Livius to dictate the words for sacrificing himself and the enemy's army on behalf
of the army of Rome. He then offered himself while saying the same prayers and wearing his toga in

 
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ceremonial fashion, as his father had when he offered himself in the Latin War, at Veseris. Saying the solemn
prayers, he had claimed that he was driving before himself terror, flight, slaughter, and bloodshedall the
wrath of the gods of the Underworldand that he would pollute the standards, arms, and missiles of the enemy
with awful destruction, and the place of his destruction would be the place of the destruction of the Gallic
and Samnite armies. After bringing this curse on himself and the enemy, he turned his horse to where he saw
the Gauls were the thickest, lashed his horse, and galloped into their midst, where he was killed by their
deadly weapons. (Livy X.28.14-18)

Decius' death, according to the Romans, sealed the pact with the gods of the Underworld; the
enemy army was therefore doomed. The Roman cavalry stopped its flight, and the Romans, hearing
the priest say that the Gauls and Samnites now belonged to Mother Earth and the gods of the
Underworld, renewed their attack. Helped by the Campanians who attacked the Gauls in the rear,
the Roman and allied armies won the battle, killing the Samnite general and taking the Samnite
camp.

The Smites did not give up. They raised more armies and kept trying to spur those people subject to
Rome to revolt. But they became desperate, for they were losing most of the battles and Samnium
was being destroyed. As a last resort to defend their land and liberties, they created the Linen
Legion:

There, almost in the middle of the camp, a place was closed off by wicker walls and covered by a linen roof,
stretching out two hundred feet [61 meters] in all directions. Then, in accordance with an ancient book
written on linen, a sacrifice was performed, with the priest being a certain Ovius Paccius, a man of great
ancestry; he confirmed that he was performing this sacred rite in accordance with the most venerable religion
of the Samnites, which their ancestors had used when they made their secret plans for taking Capua from the
Etruscans.

Once the sacrifice had been completed, the commander sent out a messenger to order all those most noted
for birth and accomplishments to appear before him; they were brought in one at a time. There was sacred
paraphernalia lying around, to overwhelm one's mind with the presence of the sacred, and in the middle of
the enclosed area were

 
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altars, and around them were slaughtered victims and centurions with their swords drawn. More like a
sacrificial victim than a participant in a sacred rite, each man was moved to the altar and there he was forced
to swear that he would tell no one what he had seen and heard there. They also forced him to swear some
terrible oath that called for a curse on his head, his family, and all his kin if he either fled from battle or did
not immediately kill anyone he saw fleeing from battle. At first, some men refused to take that oath; they
were instantly slain around the altar and, lying there dead among the various sacrificial victims, served as a
warning to the others not to refuse to take the oath. Once the foremost Samnites had been bound by this oath,
ten of them were named by the commander, and each of them was ordered to pick a man until their number
amounted to sixteen thousand. They were called the Linen Legion after the covering of the enclosure where
the nobles had taken their oaths. Special weapons and crested helmets were given to them, so that they would
stand out from the others. (Livy X.38.5-13)

That was merely a part of the Smite army that the Romans were facing at the Battle at Aquilonia.
The battle started badly for the Romans, for the keepers of the sacred chickens (birds that showed
the goodwill of the gods by eating their grain and the displeasure of the gods by not eating) had lied
about the auspices; the general, hearing that the keepers had falsely reported good auspices, simply
noted that the liars brought the gods' retribution on their own heads, and placed them in the front
lines. Before the battle started, the keeper who had lied was killed by a randomly thrown javelin.
"The gods are here in the battle," cried the general on hearing this news, "and the guilty one has his
punishment!" (Livy X.40.13).

The battle was hard, and although the Romans were winning, they were facing a formidable enemy.
The consul Papirius had told the other consul, who was besieging a town miles away, to send
cavalry to help him; when the Romans were winning, their cavalry came to take the Samnites in the
rear. The cavalry also fooled the Samnites, for riding with the cavalry were servants on donkeys,
trailing leafy branches along the ground, to raise the kind of dust storm that a huge body of cavalry
would raise; terrified at the

 
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thought of being taken in the rear by a huge cavalry, the Samnites lost the battle.

The Romans did not stop with taking the Samnites' camp. They destroyed the Samnites' towns of
Aquilonia and Cominium, and continued ravaging Samnite territory. The Samnites held out for
three more years, finally seeking peace from the Romans in 290 B.C.

After establishing Roman supremacy in Samnium, the Romans changed the name of one of the
Samnites' main cities, Malventum. This Oscan name in Latin sounds like "bad arrival," a terrible
omen, so the Romans changed it to a more positive-sounding name, Beneventum, meaning
"welcome."

The Romans continued their operations in Etruria for some time, mopping up the last remaining
areas of rebellion, and beating back the Gauls. The other subject allies remained quiet for the time.

 
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Chapter 12
King Pyrrhus' Pyrrhic Victories

Tarentum, a Creek city in the instep of Italy, had been founded in 706 B.C. and still had close ties to
cities in mainland Greece. As the Romans extended their influence into southern Italy in the fourth
century, they signed a treaty with Tarentum. In 282 B.C., however, when some Roman ships passed
through Tarentine waters, the Tarentines, thinking that the Romans had broken the treaty, attacked
the ships; the ships were seized, their sailors taken captive, and their commander killed in battle.
The Romans at that time were still fighting against the Etruscans and Gauls, and did not want
another war on their hands. So they sent ambassadors to propose that the Tarentines simply release
the captives and the ships, and pay restitution. The Tarentines refused. The Romans next sent the
consul Aemilius Barbula with his army; his orders, however, were only to negotiate a peace with
the Tarentines. The negotiations were unsuccessful.

The Tarentines, worried about facing a war with the increasingly powerful Rome, called upon the
assistance of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, a kingdom in northwest Greece; he had a reputation as an
excellent general. The Tarentines promised to provide him with an army of Tarentines, Lucanians,
Samnites, and Messapians, all enemies of Rome, to augment the army that he would bring from
Epirus.

Pyrrhus crossed over to Tarentum with twenty-five thousand soldiers and twenty elephants in 280
B.C. He immediately closed Tarentum's parks and palaestrae (places for exercise), and prohibited
parties and festivals, maintaining that the Tarentines were not capable of saving themselves or of
being saved: Apparently

 
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they needed discipline. The Tarentines were not pleased, but Pyrrhus now controlled their city.

Pyrrhus and the Romans fought their first battle that same year at Heraclea. There the Romans
encountered elephants for the first time, when Pyrrhus used them to smash the lines of the Roman
legions. Reportedly the Romans lost seven thousand soldiers, while Pyrrhus lost four thousand of
his best men. Pyrrhus won the battle, but at a great cost.

The Romans sent ambassadors to Pyrrhus to discuss the ransom for the Roman and Italian prisoners
he was holding. One of the ambassadors was Fabricius, who was famous among his countrymen for
his great poverty and his honesty. Meeting with the ambassadors, Pyrrhus was surprised to find that
they were not seeking peace; after all, hadn't the Romans just been defeated? He offered to make
peace and to release the prisoners, and he also offered "gifts"bribes, in other wordsto speed the
negotiations along. Fabricius responded to Pyrrhus' offer:

"Pyrrhus, I applaud you for desiring peace, and I will bring it about, if it will help us. Since I am, as you say,
an honorable man, you won't think it right for me to do anything against my country. Nor could I take any of
those things which you are offering. I ask you, then, whether or not you really consider me an honorable
man. After all, if I am not an honorable man, why do you think me worthy of gifts? If I am honorable, why
do you urge me to take the gifts? Let me assure you that I have many things and that I do not need more.
What I have now is enough, and I do not want anything that belongs to somebody else. Even though you
consider yourself so rich, you are really very poor, for you would not have left Epirus and your possessions to
come over here if you were satisfied with them and weren't trying for more. The man who lives in such a
way and puts no end to his desire for more is the poorest of the poor." (Zonaras 8.4)

Pyrrhus then sent his officer Cineas to Rome with gifts to distribute to other Roman senators and
their wives, figuring that the women would pressure their husbands into making peace with
Pyrrhus. Influenced by the gifts, many Romans adopted a kinder attitude toward Pyrrhus, and the
Senate met to discuss making peace. During the discussion of the terms, by which Pyrrhus would

 
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pledge his support to Rome against the Gauls in exchange for Rome's grant of security and
autonomy to Tarentum, the aged Appius Claudius Caecus (caecus means "blind") stood up and gave
a stinging speech, which began with these words: "Romans, before this, I have been afflicted with
bad luck as far as my eyes go, but now I am pained that, in addition to being blind, I am not deaf
too, since I am hearing your disgraceful discussions and opinions which are destroying Rome's
reputation." He concluded by saying, "Don't think that once you have made Pyrrhus your friend
you'll get rid of him. Instead, you'll bring on yourself all those who have no respect for you,
thinking that you're easy to beat, if Pyrrhus leaves without suffering the consequences for the
wrongs that he has committed against you. He has even received pay, since the Tarentines and
Samnites have come to sneer at the Romans'' (Plutarch, Pyrrhus XIX.3).

Moved by this speech, the senators sent the reply to Pyrrhus that they would not negotiate peace
with him until he had left Italy. While in Rome Cineas observed the Roman Senate, and on his
return remarked to Pyrrhus that the Senate seemed like an assembly of kings, so great was the
dignity and bearing of its members.

The next year, when Fabricius was consul, Pyrrhus' own doctor wrote to Fabricius offering to
poison the king for the right price. Fabricius then wrote to Pyrrhus informing him of the doctor's
offer to betray him: "You are waging war against just and honorable men, while you put your trust
in evil and unjust men" (Plutarch, Pyrrhus XXI.2). Pyrrhus, in gratitude, released his Roman
prisoners without ransom. The Romans, not wishing to receive any favors from him, released an
equal number of prisoners whom they were holding.

Pyrrhus then proceeded north, where he and the Romans fought another battle in 279 B.C., at
Ausculum. Again Pyrrhus won, but again at a heavy cost, for the Romans could, without great
difficulty, replace the six thousand soldiers whom they lost in the battle, while Pyrrhus would be
hard pressed to replace the thirty-five hundred men he had lost. Thus the term Pyrrhic victory came
into English: Pyrrhus won the battles, but his heavy losses turned his victories into defeats, for he
could not recover from his victories. Cineas had already warned Pyrrhus that he was fighting with
the Lernaean Hydra, the many-headed creature that grows

 
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two heads in the place of the one just cut off. When a friend congratulated Pyrrhus on his victory at
Ausculum, Pyrrhus exclaimed, "If we beat the Romans in still another battle, we'll be completely
destroyed."

Pyrrhus, disappointed in the progress of the war with Rome, and finding that the Italians subject to
the Romans were not deserting them as he had thought they would, left for Sicily, where the Greek
cities sought his help against Carthage. Pyrrhus won some battles in Sicily, but angered many with
his despotic behavior, and returned to Tarentum in 276.

He faced the Roman armies again at the Battle of Beneventum, in 275. This time his elephants hurt
him, by stampeding his own army. The Romans won the battle, and Pyrrhus speedily left Italy for
Epirus, even leaving part of his army and one of his generals in Tarentum. That general and the
Romans soon reached an understanding: He and his soldiers could leave unharmed if they gave
Rome power over Tarentum. The general left, and the Romans made treaties with Tarentum and the
other cities that had allied themselves with Pyrrhus.

Rome continued its battles against the other Italians who resisted Roman power. Within a few years,
by 264 B.C., Rome was ruler of peninsular Italy.

How Rome Managed Italy

Italy was by no means a unified country; the modem idea of a nation does not describe Italy in the
third century B.C. In northern Italy were the Celtic-speaking tribes of Gauls, whose social
organization (the only Gauls with political power were the priests and the knights) made them even
more warlike than the Romans; their unsettled way of life was changing as they came increasingly
under Roman domination. South of them, but north of Rome, were the Etruscans, a civilization that
had long before declined; they spoke a non-Indo-European language and were completely alien to
the Romans, although the Romans had learned a great deal from them. East of Rome, in the
Apennine Mountains, were the Sabines and Aequi; to the southeast were the Samnites; close to
Latium were the Volsci; and farther south were the Campanians. With the

 
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Roman Italy. (Drawn by John Cotter)
 
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exception of the Latins, Rome's non-Etruscan neighbors spoke Oscan and other languages distantly
related to Latin. In southern Italy were the Greeks. The only people the Romans had much in
common with were the Latins.

How did Rome manage to rule these diverse peoples? The situation was complicated, since various
groups had different legal status with regard to the Roman government.

Civitas Romana (Roman citizenship). Roman citizens could vote, were expected to serve in the
military, could marry other Roman citizens, had the right of engaging in commerce, and, after 167
B.C., did not have to pay direct taxes. Among the cherished rights enjoyed by Roman citizens was
the ius provocationis, the right to appeal a capital sentence to the Comitia Centuriata. Civitas
Romana extended to those Romans who were living in Roman colonies. After the Great Latin War,
the Romans granted full Roman citizenship to some Latin towns, to bind them more closely to
Rome.

Latinum nomen ("Latin rights," defined as civitas sine suffragio, "citizenship without the vote").
Holders of Latinun nomen enjoyed all the rights of Roman citizens except for the right to vote.
Until 187 B.C. holders of Latin rights could obtain full Roman citizenship by moving to Rome; then
the Latin towns asked the Romans to abolish that policy, as too many Latins were deserting their
towns for that purpose. Citizenship without the vote was granted to many Latin towns after the
Great Latin War, and also to the inhabitants of Latin colonies. Those holding Latinun nomen in a
way enjoyed dual citizenship, for they had civil rights in Rome and in their home cities, which were
largely autonomous; one important restriction on their city's government was foreign policy.

Civitas sine suffragio. To bind the special non-Latin Italian towns and cities closer to Rome, and to
reward them for good and faithful service, the Romans started granting the inhabitants civitas sine
suffragio. Towns and cities that received that grant were called municipia. To further ensure that the
municipia, which were largely autonomous, would pursue policies advantageous to Rome, the
Romans granted full Roman citizenship to the elected officials of the municipia.

 
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Socii italici (Italian allies). The treatment of other cities, towns, and villages depended upon the
provisions of the treaty that Rome made with them. The people inhabiting these places were called
socii italici and included many peoples who either were persistently hostile to Rome, like the Gauls,
Samnites, and Etruscans, or showed little inclination to adopt Roman ways, such as the Greeks.
Being free noncitizens, they had no civil rights in Rome, such as the ius provocationis, although
they enjoyed some basic rights through ius gentium (the law of nations), a type of international law.
They could not marry Romans or Latins, or conduct business with Romans or Latins. They were
liable to provide military service when the Romans called upon them for assistance, but they could
not vote for or against their leader in war, or whether or not to go to war. Their towns were largely
self-governing, with the important exception of foreign policy. They paid taxes to Rome.

Slaves and freedmen. Slaves were res mancipi, the property of their owner, and had no civil rights
at all. They did enjoy a temporary respite from their servitude on the Saturnalia (a festival of
Saturn, held on December 17), when they were allowed to speak their minds with impunity and to
do as they liked. Inhabitants of Rome who were noncitizens, and who had never been slaves, were
simply liberi, "free men." Ex-slaves were called liberti, "freedmen." Like slaves, they enjoyed no
civil rights.

The Colonies

To keep subject peoples loyal, Rome and Latium established colonies throughout Italy. There were
two types of colonies, Roman and Latin. The Roman colonies started out with two or three hundred
families of Roman citizens; the Roman government sent out a dozen such groups to locations in
Italy. Far more important are the Latin colonies. The Romans and Latins together sent out thirty of
these, and they were much larger, containing eight to twenty thousand colonists. The colonies were
established in areas that were hostile to Rome or slow to adopt Roman and Latin ways, such as
Etruria, Gaul, and Samnium. The purpose was both to spread Latin and Roman civilization and, by
a constant military presence, to keep the hostile peoples under control.

 
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Roman citizens joining a Latin colony forfeited their Roman citizenship, but the sacrifice may have
been worthwhile in view of the plentiful, fertile land they could farm in the colony. The joint
Roman-Latin colonies were a huge success. The Latin language and civilization spread, and the
military presence of the loyal colonists prevented rebellions among the subject peoples.

The Romans built excellent roads throughout the peninsula. The most important of these was the
via Appia, the contract for which was awarded in 312 by then censor Appius Claudius Caecus. The
roads facilitated communication with Rome, military transport, and also trade and social relations
between the different peoples.

What Rome established in Italy was by no means a nation in the modem sense, for many Italians
did not speak Latin or follow Latin and Roman customs; many could not vote for the leaders they
would follow in war; many had no rights in Rome at all. Eventually all free-born Italians did gain
full citizenship, but they had to become Latinized first, and then fight for some rights. Despite the
appearance of tyranny in Rome's domination of the non-Latin Italians, Rome brought many good
things to them, the greatest being peace. The centralized government of Rome eliminated the
incessant warfare among the different peoples of Italy.

 
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Chapter 13
The First Punic War

If in 270 B.C. a Roman had predicted that the city-state that had not yet even subdued all peninsular
Italy would, a century later, rule not only peninsular Italy, but also the western Mediterranean,
much of Spain, part of southern Gaul, parts of northern Africa, and part of Greece, he likely would
have been thought crazy. The events of the next century catapulted Rome from a position of
importance only in Italy to a position of world power. The wars with Carthage were the catalyst.

Carthage was a Phoenician (in Latin, the adjective is Punica) city, roughly in what is Tunis today. It
was founded by people from Tyre (in Syria) in the eighth century B.C. as a trading post; according to
myth the founder of Carthage was Dido, whose dying curse called upon her descendants to avenge
the wrong done her by Aeneas (see chapter 2). Carthage grew and became the leading naval power
and the chief trading center of the western Mediterranean. In the sixth century Carthage occupied
Corsica and Sardinia, and after centuries of war with the Greeks of Sicily, it came to control the
western half of that island, while the Greeks maintained control of the eastern half with its rich and
powerful city of Syracuse. Rome and Carthage had signed treaties in 508 and 348, and were not on
hostile terms with each other until 264 B.C.

The problems began in Sicily. Some mercenaries from Campania, who had been employed by the
ruler of Syracuse, upon his death in 289 took control of the Sicilian town Messana, which lay not
far from Syracuse and just across the straits from the toe of Italy. The mercenaries, who called
themselves Mamertines (after Mamers, the Oscan form of the name Mars), killed many of
Messana's citizens

 
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and stole their property. Hiero, the general of the Syracusan army, then defeated the renegade
mercenaries in battle, for which victory he was named king of Syracuse; the mercenaries then sent
embassies to Carthage and Rome, to ask for help. While the Romans debated the pros and cons of
sending help, Carthage sent a garrison into the city.

The Romans were weary after the war with Pyrrhus, but feared that the Carthaginians, who already
controlled much of Spain, Corsica, and Sardinia, would use Sicily as a base for attacking Italy:
Messana was separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, which is only a few
miles wide. The renegade mercenaries hardly deserved help: Years earlier a Roman garrison had
taken over Rhegium, the town that it was supposed to guard, and had stolen citizens' property; the
Romans conquered their own garrison and executed the guilty soldiers (fellow Romans and Latins)
to restore Rome's good reputation. But Rome's fear of Carthage prevailed. The Romans sent the
consul Appius Claudius Caudex to help the Mamertines keep the Carthaginians out of Messana.

When Claudius arrived in Sicily he found that the situation had changed. The Mamertines had
managed to trick the Carthaginian garrison into leaving the city (intolerant of failure, the
Carthaginians later crucified the commander for cowardice), and Messana was now besieged by
both King Hiero and the Carthaginians, who had made a treaty to drive the Mamertines out of
Sicily. Claudius quickly conquered the army of Syracuse, prompting Hiero to withdraw from the
conflict; he soon became a steadfast ally of Rome. Then Claudius defeated the Carthaginian army.
The Carthaginians responded by sending an army of fifty thousand to Agrigentum in southwest
Sicily, which they planned to establish as a base for subduing all of Sicily. Claudius sped across
Sicily and defeated the Carthaginians at Agrigentum; then the Romans got the idea of conquering
all Sicily. To achieve that end, however, they had to build a navy.

The Romans had no experience in building warships; they had had to depend upon seafaring
Italians even to convey their troops from Italy to Sicily. While transporting their troops across the
straits, the Romans encountered a bit of luck: One of the Carthaginian

 
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ships, in its eagerness to overtake the Roman transports, ran aground, and the Romans quickly
captured the ship and its crew. The Romans then used this ship as a model for building their first
navy, which consisted of a hundred quinqueremes and twenty triremes (scholars dispute whether the
numbers quinque, "five," and tri, "three," referred to the number of men per oar or the number of
banks of oars). The Romans then had to train their rowers to row with the call of the keleustes, the
"order giver."

The Raven

After one disastrous naval battle, in which they lost not only seventeen ships but also the ships'
commander, the Romans quickly recognized their problems at sea. In ancient naval battles the goal
was to ram and sink the enemy ship; the Roman ships, however, were clumsy and heavy in
comparison to the light and quick Carthaginian vessels, and the Roman crews and commanders
were inexperienced. It would be a very long time before the Roman navy would be able to win a
traditional naval battle, especially against Carthage and its powerful navy.

Consequently, the Romans changed the rules of combat. On the prow of their ships they built
something they called a raven. The raven consisted of three parts: a pole over 7 meters high,
secured to the prow of the ship, with a pulley at the top; a long gangway, more than I meter wide
and projecting from the base of the pole more than 7 meters off the prow; and a rope, connecting
the gangway to the pulley. When an enemy vessel tried to ram a Roman ship, the sailors would pull
the gangway up by means of the pulley and swing it to project over the enemy ship; then they
would let it drop. A heavy spike on the end of the gangway would secure it to the deck of the
enemy ship, allowing heavily armed Roman soldiers to board and defeat the enemy sailors, who
certainly were not expecting hand-to-hand combat on board. Armed with the raven, the Romans
would be a match for the excellent Carthaginian navy.

The Romans had their first opportunity to use the navy in 260 B.C. One of the consuls that year,
Gaius Duilius, sailed to Mylae on the northeastern tip of Sicily, after hearing that the Carthaginian

 
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navy was burning and pillaging the area. The Carthaginians, seeing the Roman fleet, had nothing
but contempt for the upstart Romans, and immediately attacked without even getting into battle
formation. They were taken by surprise when the Romans' ships latched onto theirs and the sea
battle turned into hand-to-hand combat on board their ships. Unprepared for that type of battle, the
Carthaginians lost fifty ships and almost lost their commander as well.

While the Romans, receiving aid from Hiero, fought to drive the Carthaginians from Sicily, the
consul M. Atilius Regulus and his army sailed to Africa, to invade Carthaginian territory. At the
Battle of Ecnomus, off the African coast, in 256, the Carthaginian navy failed to prevent Regulus
and his army from landing on African soil. The Romans then began to overrun the African
countryside. After various losses, Carthage asked Regulus for peace, but considering his terms too
harsh, they resumed fighting.

Desperate, the Carthaginians called in a Spartan mercenary, Xanthippus, to help them against the
Romans. He took control of the army, revived the soldiers' morale and confidence, and then crushed
the Roman army in Africa, even capturing the consul Regulus. The Carthaginians again sought
peace from the Romans, and sent Regulus to Rome to persuade the Romans to accept their peace
proposal; they made him swear to return to Carthage if he failed to secure either peace or an
exchange of prisoners.

While the Senate was deliberating the Carthaginians' proposal for peace, Regulus remained quiet,
until the Carthaginians who had escorted him to Rome granted him permission to speak. "Senators,"
he said, "I am one of you, even if I should be captured ten thousand times. My body belongs to the
Carthaginians, but my spirit belongs to you. . . . I am of the opinion that making peace will not help
you in any way at all."

He then explained to the Senate why he thought it in Rome's best interests to reject the proposal,
and added, "I am well aware of the destruction that plainly lies before me, since they will certainly
learn what advice I have given. Yet I put that which is beneficial to the state before my own safety"
(Zonaras VIII.15).

The Senate tried to make peace simply to protect Regulus, since they knew that upon his return to
Carthage he would be tortured and killed for convincing them to reject the peace proposals.

 
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Regulus then falsely claimed that he had taken poison and would die soon; consequently, the Senate
rejected the proposal and made no trade of prisoners. But Regulus, true to his oath, returned to
Carthage, where he was tortured and killed.

The war continued, with the Romans suffering staggering losses in their navy through the
inexperience of the commanders. For example, the Romans had just launched a new fleet of 200
ships, which promptly defeated the Carthaginian fleet at Hermaeum; the Roman fleet could not
conquer the weather, however, and while returning to its base in Sicily encountered a storm that
destroyed as many as 130 of those new ships. So the Romans built 220 more ships. Another storm
destroyed 150 more Roman ships. The Carthaginian commanders knew how to avoid such storms.
The Romans also lost 93 ships at Drepana when the commander, P. Claudius Pulcher, ignored the
bad omen given by the sacred chickens' refusal to eat their food. In frustration, he flung the birds
into the harbor, saying, ''Since they don't want to eat, let 'em drink!" and attacked the Carthaginian
fleet. Of course, he lost the battle. After many such losses, the Romans gave up on their navyat least
temporarilyand concentrated on the land war in Sicily.

On land the Romans were far superior to the Carthaginian forces. They had driven the
Carthaginians from all Sicily except for Lilybaeum and Drepana, on the western side of the island.
The Romans realized that they needed a navy once again, for the Carthaginians were sending
reinforcements and supplies by sea to their soldiers in those two cities, who were trying to take
another town. But the Roman treasury was empty; building another fleet seemed impossible until
the Roman citizens voluntarily contributed money for a new fleet of two hundred ships. They
appointed Gaius Lutatius Catulus commander of the new navy. Everyday he drilled his crews in
preparation for the naval battle that the Romans simply had to win to bring the war to an end.

The new fleet surprised the Carthaginians, who did not expect the Romans to try the sea again. At
the Aegates Islands, off the western coast of Sicily, the new Roman fleet defeated the Carthaginian
fleet, which was trying to bring supplies to its soldiers in Sicily. The consuls then moved to besiege
Lilybaeum; Carthage was broken, and sued for peace. A settlement was reached in 241 B.C.

 
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The terms of the treaty had Carthage abandon Sicily and pay a war indemnity. The Romans later
went one step further and took Corsica and Sardinia, a betrayal of trust that enraged the
Carthaginians, leaving them bitter and hateful of the Romans. That hatred and bitterness erupted in
another terrible war with Carthage twenty years later.

Whatever peace Rome saw did not last long. First, pirates from Illyricum were causing problems
for Italian merchants in the Adriatic Sea. The Romans sent ambassadors to ask Teuta, the Illyrian
queen, to stop the piracy, but she gave a noncommittal response. Unfortunately, one ambassador
answered her rather bluntly, which prompted her to have him murdered. After the murder, the
previous piracy, and the problems that the Illyrians were causing for the Italian merchants and
nearby Greek cities and islands, the Romans sent an army against the pirates in 229 B.C. and seized
control of the pirate islands. Rome's power in the Adriatic Sea now included the islands of Pharos
and Corcyra, and the cities of Apollonia and Dyrrhachium. (The Greek name for Dyrrhachium was
Epidamnus, a name the Romans avoided using, as it was a bad omen: epi in Greek means "to,
toward" and damn-in Latin means "destruction.")

Second, the Gauls in northern Italy, south of the Alps, were a constant source of trouble for the
Romans. After losing one battle with the Gauls, the Romans defeated them at Telamon, in Etruria,
in 225 B.C. To prevent the Gauls from troubling Italy again, the Romans decided to conquer northern
Italy. In 224 they subdued Transpadane Gaul, and advanced to the Alps. To safeguard their
conquests, they built the via Flaminia, a road to the north, and established colonies along the Po
River (in Latin, Padus), to check the Gauls in the future.

During one of those battles, M. Claudius Marcellus, the consul of 222, defeated Viridomarus, leader
of a Gallic tribe, in hand-to-hand combat, and thus became eligible to offer spolia opima. Only two
Roman generals, Romulus and A. Cornelius Cossus, had accomplished that before Marcellus, and
nobody accomplished it after him.

 
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Chapter 14
The Second Punic War

After the end of the First Punic War, the Carthaginians recovered from their losses in Sicily,
Corsica, and Sardinia by extending their power in Spain. Suspicious of the Carthaginians' reasons
for fighting in Spain, the Romans made a treaty with them, by which Carthage would not advance
its power beyond the Ebro River in Spain. Rome also promised help to the people of the Spanish
town Saguntum, which lay on the Carthage' side of the Ebro, if the Carthaginians attacked them.

In 221 B.C. Hasdrubal, the general of the Carthaginian army, died and his brother-in-law Hannibal
succeeded him. Hannibal's father Hamilcar had been a general in the first war with Rome and was
very bitter about Rome's victory and double-dealing over Corsica and Sardinia. Hannibal inherited
the hatred that his country and father felt for Rome.

"They say that when he was almost nine years old, Hannibal, seeing his father Hamilcar giving a
sacrifice before taking his army to Spain, tried, like a child, to sweet-talk his father into taking him
along; after being taken to the altar, Hannibal touched the sacred objects there and was made to
swear an oath that he would be an enemy of the Roman people as soon as he could" (Livy
XXI.1.4). Hannibal did not disappoint his father.

Hannibal continued Carthage's conquests in Spain, moving ever closer to Saguntum and the Ebro
River. Finally, in 219 he attacked Saguntum itself. The Roman Senate protested to the Carthaginian
government, but the Carthaginian nobles supported their general, and the Senate's inaction let
Hannibal conquer and enslave the

 
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town. Before the town was stormed, many of the townspeople built a huge fire and threw their
riches in it, rather than let Carthage have them; then they threw themselves into the fire. While his
soldiers were subduing the town, Hannibal ordered them to kill all Saguntine men of military age.
He gained an enormous amount of loot from the city, in spite of the citizens' sacrifices.

The Senate sent another embassy to Carthage to ascertain whether or not the city still supported its
general. When the Carthaginians maintained that Hannibal had acted legally and with their support,
the Roman ambassador, Q. Fabius, gathered together the folds of the part of the toga covering his
chest, so that they appeared to contain something, and said, "Here we offer you peace or war. Take
which you will."

"You can give whichever you want!" shouted the Carthaginian senate. Fabius let the folds of his
toga drop and said that he brought war. The Carthaginians roared, "We accept! You can be sure that
we'll fight the war as courageously as we declared it!" (Livy XXI.18.13).

Hannibal Crosses the Alps

With his army of perhaps fifty thousand men, which had bonded into a tight and cohesive force
through the many years of fighting in Spain, Hannibal seized the initiative and marched on Italy.
An advance Roman force under P. Cornelius Scipio sailed to Massilia (modem Marseille), in
southern Gaul, to await Hannibal, but Hannibal fooled the Romans by moving much more quickly
than they expected. When Scipio arrived at Massilia, Hannibal had passed by three days earlier and
was already approaching the Alps. Scipio then returned to Italy to meet Hannibal there. Then
Hannibal fooled the Romans again: They expected him to cross the Alps in the easy places, close to
the sea, but he headed toward the part of the Alps closer to central Gaul. He lost some soldiers and
many elephants in his legendary crossing of the Alps, but he achieved his goal: He surprised the
Romans, who had not had enough time to prepare for the upcoming war. Before him lay an open
path into Italy.

 
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Battle at the Trebia

The Romans lost a minor engagement to Hannibal in 218 B.C. at the Ticinus River, where the consul
Scipio, wounded and surrounded by enemy cavalry, was saved by his seventeen-year-old son.
Seeing his father in danger, the young Scipio ran away from the soldiers who had been assigned to
protect him, and rescued his father. This boy, P. Cornelius Scipio, later earned the honorary title
Africanus for his conquests.

Later that year the Romans faced Hannibal at the river Trebia. Here the weakness of the Roman
system of consuls showed itself, for one consul, Scipio, was still wounded and did not wish to have
a battle, but the other consul, Sempronius, urged him to go ahead and engage with the Carthaginian
forces, which had been augmented by Gauls. Hannibal, knowing of the Romans' divided command
and of the proud and passionate personality of Sempronius, worked to lay a trap for the Romans.

A stream separated the two armies. The night before the battle, Hannibal hid his brother Mago, with
a thousand cavalry and another thousand of his toughest foot soldiers, behind the bushes and shrubs
of the stream. At dawn he ordered his Numidian cavalry to lure the Romans to battle with an attack,
but then to quickly withdraw. At dawn the Numidian cavalry attacked the Roman camp and quickly
retreated. The Romans, without eating breakfast, surprised by the attack, hurried out into the
December cold to pursue the attackers. In their pursuit they crossed the frigid, swollen waters of the
stream, so deep it reached their necks. Hannibal's soldiers, meanwhile, sat in front of their
campfires, leisurely eating a hot breakfast and rubbing themselves down with warm oil.

The two sidesone cold, hungry, wet, and tired, and the other warm, rested, and ready to fightmet for
battle. Hannibal's elephants immediately scared off the Roman cavalry; when the Romans found a
way to defend themselves from the elephants, Hannibal had the elephants attack Rome's Gallic
auxiliaries, who fled at the elephants' attack. The Romans, already suffering from cold, hunger, and
exhaustion, and worn down by the tough Carthaginian troops, then were attacked in the rear by
Mago and

 
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the troops that had been hiding behind the bushes; the Romans were surrounded.

Part of the Roman army fought its way through the Carthaginian center, only to find itself trapped
by the river and unable to return to camp. Those who hesitated to jump in and swim to the camp
were cut down by the Numidian cavalry, while those who braved the river risked death by
drowning or exposure. Hannibal's victory was complete and devastating. The Romans lost
approximately thirty thousand men.

Trasimene: "Pugna Magna Victi Sumus"

In the next year Hannibal did not relax after his stunning victory. He learned that the Roman consul
Flaminius had arrived at Arretium, in Etruria; instead of taking a long but easy path to Arretium,
Hannibal chose to travel through swamps. For four days he and his men struggled through the
swamps, able to snatch only a few moments of sleep on the heaps of dead pack animals. Hannibal
himself, riding his last surviving elephant, came down with an eye infection and lost sight in that
eye. Nonetheless his sudden arrival surprised the Romans, and he was able to seize more strategic
ground. After a few days' rest, his troops then ravaged the countryside, in full view of the Romans,
to anger Flaminius and his troops. Despite his officers' advice that he should wait for the other
consul and his army, Flaminius ordered his troops to prepare for a battle with Hannibal. All the
omens for battle were bad: When Flaminius jumped onto his horse, it threw him from the saddle,
and the standards could not be pulled from the groundthey would not budge.

Hannibal then marched into an area by Lake Trasimene. On one side was the lake, and on the other
side were the mountains, with only a small path for an exit. Along that small path the Romans
followed Hannibal, not knowing that the night before he had hidden some troops in the mountains
north of the lake, and that he had stationed his cavalry to block the path once the Romans had come
into the trap. The Romans blindly followed him.

The Carthaginians suddenly swarmed down from the hills, catching the Romans unprepared for
battle. The Roman army,

 
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which was not able even to see where the enemy was coming from, because of the mist rising from
the lake, disintegrated into chaos. More than fifteen thousand Romansnot counting allieswere killed
in the battle, including the consul Flaminius. Again, Hannibal had won a smashing victory. Nor was
this the last of his exploits: The worst was still to come.

Q. Fabius Maximus Cunctator: "Unus Homo Nobis Cunctando Restituit Rem"

"In Rome, at the first news of the disaster [at Trasimene], the people in terror and panic rushed into
the Forum. Mothers wandering through the streets asked those passing by what unexpected disaster
had been visited upon Rome, or what the fate of the army was. When a mob, like a packed
assembly, summoned the magistrates, the praetor M. Pomponius, just a little before sunset, said
only this: 'We have been conquered in a great battle'" ("'Pugna magna victi sumus'"; Livy XXII.7.6-
8).

The situation in Rome was clearly desperate enough to warrant appointing a dictator. After some
difficultiesonly a consul could do so, but one consul was dead and the other was away from
Romethe Senate appointed as dictator Q. Fabius Maximus (later called Cunctator, from the verb
cunctor, "to delay").

Seeing that Hannibal had defeated the Romans in two set battles, Fabius realized that the wiser
approach would be not to engage Hannibal in a battle; instead, the Romans would follow him,
harassing his troops with guerrilla-type warfare, working to keep the Italian allies loyal, and trying
to isolate Hannibal from supplies and reinforcements. This policy of attrition was successful, for
Hannibal could inflict no more losses upon the Romans, while the Romans simply attacked
Hannibal's men as they sought water, firewood, and food for their horses (with four thousand
cavalry, Hannibal needed a lot of fodder for the horses). Hannibal quickly understood Fabius'
intention, and tried to lure him into a trap, but Fabius was too wary and cautious. His characteristic
caution gave rise to an adjective in English, Fabian, meaning "cautious, dilatory."

 
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At one point, Hannibal was penned in a valley by the Romans, who controlled the surrounding
mountain passes. Hannibal could not get provisions for his army and cavalry, while the Roman
armies had easy access to food and water. Nor could Hannibal fight his way out of the predicament,
for the Romans had the superior position. So the wily Hannibal devised still another brilliant plan to
extricate himself:

Pieces of dry wood, collected from the fields all around, and bundles of dry twigs and brushwood were tied
onto the horns of the many cattle that he had among the loot taken from the countryside. After that had been
done to nearly two thousand cattle, Hasdrubal [one of Hannibal's officers] was assigned the task of setting the
cattle's horns on fire that night and driving them toward the mountains and most of all (if he could) above the
passes held by the enemy.

They broke camp in silence after nightfall. The cattle were driven some distance in front of the standards.
When they arrived at the foot of the mountains and narrow passes, the signal was immediately given to light
the cattle's horns and to drive them toward the mountains. The beasts' fear of the flames burning on their own
heads, and the heat, by now reaching the skin and nerves, drove the cattle on in a frenzy, as if they had been
whipped.

Their sudden scattering made the forest and mountains appear as if they had been set on fire, and the
brushwood all around was blazing. The desperate shaking of their heads fanned the flames, giving forth the
appearance of men scattering everywhere. When the men who had been stationed to block the passes saw the
fires in the peaks of the mountains and above themselves, they concluded that they were surrounded, and left
their posts. (Livy XXII.16.7-XXII.17.4)

In the confusion, Hannibal and his men managed to escape from the valley.

Fabius, despite the wisdom of his policy, was becoming unpopular among his countrymen. His
master of the horse, Minucius, urged him to fight a battle with Hannibal and maligned Fabius'
strategy in public and in private. When Fabius had to return to Rome briefly, to attend to a religious
matter, Minucius won a minor engagement with Hannibal and became even more self-

 
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assured. His criticism of Fabius intensified. The people of Rome, moreover, feeling more and more
confident because Rome had suffered no recent catastrophes, urged the Senate to have the troops
fight a set battle with Hannibal and his army. Finally, the Senate split the command between Fabius
and Minucius. When the two commanders were discussing how they would manage one army,
Fabius insisted that they split the army and that each be in full command of his half, rather than
alternating days of command over the whole army. Thus, Fabius figured, Minucius would destroy
only half the army if he made a mistake. The two split the army and cavalry, and even constructed
different camps.

Fabius was right. Minucius was promptly led into a trap by Hannibal. Fabius, seeing Minucius'
army in great danger of being destroyed, rescued the errant commander and his troops, and inflicted
great losses upon Hannibal's forces. ("The cloud," Hannibal is reported to have said after the battle,
"which has been accustomed to resting among the mountain peaks, has produced a gale and a
terrific storm.") After the battle, Minucius returned to Fabius' camp, called him pater, and said,
"Dictator, I owe my existence to my parents, to whom I just compared you by calling you father,
but to you I owe my safety and the safety of all these men here. Therefore I now renounce the
people's decision, which has brought me more distress than honor, and renounce my position, and
return under your power and authority, and restore these standards and legions to you, so that it may
be beneficial to these armies of yours and to me, the one who was saved, and to you, the one who
saved" (Livy XXII.30.3-5).

The two men shook hands, and Fabius graciously allowed Minucius to remain his master of the
horse. News of the event was brought to Rome, and Fabius' reputation rose higher than ever. Years
later in his Annales, a poetical treatment of Roman history, the poet Ennius wrote of Fabius, "unus
homo nobis cunctando restituit rem" (one man saved the state for us, by waiting).

When Fabius' dictatorship lapsed, the Romans elected as consuls L. Aemilius Paullus and G.
Terentius Varro. Varro swore that he would beat Hannibal and his army on the first day that he saw
them. His colleague, Paullus, preferred Fabian tactics. Since the two could not agree on strategy,
they alternated their days of command.

 
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Disaster at Cannae

In 216 B.C. Hannibal took up a position near the village of Cannae. The Romans had amassed an
army of more than fifty thousand men, hoping to smother Hannibal's army of forty thousand. The
Romans, now wary, made sure that there was no place in which Hannibal could conceal troops;
nonetheless, Hannibal had other plans for defeating the Romans. On his day of command Varro led
the army out to battle, without even consulting Paullus.

Hannibal placed the bulwark of his troops, his veteran Africans, in the rear center of his army and
kept his first lines thin. Once the Romans had cut their way through Hannibal's thin front center,
Hannibal's flanks closed in on the Romans. Now the tired Romans were not only surrounded but
also facing Hannibal's toughest veterans, fresh from sitting out the morning's battle. The Romans
were again crushed by Hannibal, losing more than forty-five thousand men, including the consul
Paullus, who had advised against a battle with Hannibal, and the two consuls of the previous year.
Varro survived; when he returned to Rome from the disaster at Cannae, throngs of citizens came out
to meet him, and despite his responsibility for the disaster, they thanked him because "he had not
lost hope for the republic."

Rome was in a panic. Not only had the Romans lost a hundred thousand men in the recent battles,
but even some Italian allies were deserting Rome: Capua, a city not much inferior to Rome in
wealth and population, was one Italian city that revolted. The Gauls in the north were taking
Hannibal's side. Many of the Greeks in the south, including those of Tarentum, revolted. The
Samnites sided with Hannibal. Sicily and its chief city Syracuse, ruled now by Hiero's grandson,
also joined Hannibal. Nonetheless, most of Rome's Italian allies remained loyal, even though its
power in Italy seemed to be collapsing. So desperate were the Romans that they performed a human
sacrifice, killing two Gauls and two Greeks. Two Vestal Virgins were found to have broken their
oaths of chastity and were punished with being buried alive; the man involved in the scandal turned
out to be a minor official in the college of priests. He was beaten to death by the pontifex maximus

 
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in a public assembly. Roman women were sweeping the pavements of the temples with their hair.
The Romans declared a Ver Sacrum, or Sacred Spring, in which all first fruits of the season were
dedicated to the gods. After consulting the Sibylline books, they instituted games in honor of
Apollo. They dedicated to Jupiter a golden sculpture of a thunderbolt, weighing fifty pounds. To
put an end to these expressions of panic, the consuls decided that women should be forbidden to
appear out of doors, family mourning should be checked, and silence should be imposed
everywhere. The government of Rome then bought eight thousand slaves from their owners and
armed them; later, the Romans even opened their jails, with offers of freedom and forgiveness for
the criminals and debtors, if they would join the army.

Despite the emergency in Rome, the Romans maintained their courage and discipline. The Senate
decided not to pay the ransom for those soldiers held by Hannibal after Cannae, and even forbade
the soldier's families to pay. Hannibal sent a group of Roman prisoners to beg the Senate to pay the
ransom of the thousands of Romans whom he was holding prisoner; before letting them leave, he
made them swear that they would return to his camp. One of the prisoners, while leaving Hannibal's
camp, claimed that he had forgotten something in the camp and returned to get it; then he went to
Rome to address the Senate. After addressing the Senate, he did not return to Hannibal's camp with
the others, for he had already fulfilled his obligation of returning to the camp. When the Senate
learned of his deceit, it had him arrested and taken in chains to Hannibal. Those soldiers who
managed to escape Cannae with their lives were punished for bad soldiering by being sent to Sicily,
where they spent most of the war, begging for an opportunity to redeem themselves and regain their
honor.

Many stories of the Romans' courage and character explain how they were able to survive the war
and eventually to conquer Hannibal. For example, the former dictator Q. Fabius Maximus was
overseeing the election of new consuls for the year 214; the first tribe voted for Marcus Aemilius
Regillus and Titus Otacilius Crassus, the latter of whom was the husband of Fabius' niece. Fabius
objected to both decisions and asked the tribe to reconsider:

 
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Regillus was a priest and could not leave the city, while Otacilius had not seen enough action to be
an excellent general.

''Citizens," Fabius said, "I urgently advise you to elect consuls today in the same spirit that you would if you
were the ones standing in battle formation, armed and ready for battle: under whose leadership and control
would you want to fight? Let your sons take their oaths to the same men you would want to, let them gather
at those men's orders, and let them fight under such men's care and oversight. Remembering Lake Trasimene
and Cannae is painful, but provides useful lessons for avoiding similar catastrophes in the future." (Livy
XXIV.8.18-20)

The voters reconsidered their decision and elected as consuls Fabius himself (for the fourth time)
and Marcus Marcellus (for the third time), both of whom had ample experience in battle. Later, in
210, Manlius Torquatus, although elected to the consulship, refused the honor because his eyes
were too weak, and ordered the tribe to vote again.

Another example of the Romans' courage and character is the consuls' edict in 210 for citizens to
pay more money for oarsmen in the fleet. The people were already heavily taxed to pay for the war,
and many had little or no income, either because their farms had been destroyed by Hannibal's
foragers or because the men were serving in the army. The people protested. The consul Laevinus
summoned the Senate and said, "Just as it is necessary that the magistrates lead the Senate and the
Senate lead the people, because we are more honorable, so it is necessary that there be a leader for
enduring all things harsh and bitter. If you wish to impose some order on a person lower in rank, if
you first impose it on yourself and your kin, you will have other people obeying you more readily"
(Livy XXVI.36.1-3). He adjourned the Senate; the senators went home and then returned, bringing
their gold, silver, and bronze. The knights learned of the senators' contributions and brought their
wealth, too; and last, the common people likewise brought in theirs. The government had ample
money for the ships' crews and was able to repay that loan from the citizens a few years later.

 
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The Scipios in Spain

The Romans at this time were also fighting in Spain, to deprive Hannibal of supplies and
reinforcements coming from Spain and to prevent the great wealth of Spainmostly in metalsfrom
falling into Carthaginian hands. The two Roman generals there, Gn. Cornelius Scipio and his
brother P. Cornelius Scipio, had made use of arms and diplomacy to slowly detach the Spanish
people from loyalty to Carthage. Unfortunately both Scipios were defeated and killed in two
separate battles in 211. The Spanish then returned to supporting Carthage. The Romans elected the
son of Gnaeus, Publius Cornelius Scipio (who as a boy had saved his father's life at Ticinus), to
succeed the two dead generals, although he was only twenty-four years old. Publius Cornelius
Scipio surpassed his relatives in fame and accomplishments.

After arriving in Spain in 210, Scipio did not dally. He immediately attacked and sacked the
strongly fortified and wealthy city of New Carthage, the capital of Carthaginian Spain. He won an
immense amount of loot that the Carthaginians had stored there and by his diplomacy won some
allies as well: He let the citizens of New Carthage go free, retain their property, and live in their
city. An example of his diplomacy involves a beautiful young woman whom his soldiers brought to
him, perhaps so she could be his concubine; Scipio asked her her name, and where she was from.
She told him that she was engaged to Allucius, the chief of a nearby tribe. Scipio sent for her
family and fiancé; he handed the young woman over to her family unharmed, refused the ransom
that they offered, and gave her and her fiancé the gift (a weight of solid gold) that her parents had
begged him to take. The young man, in gratitude, returned to Scipio a few days later, accompanied
by fourteen hundred cavalry, to serve in Scipio's army. As another example, Scipio learned that
among the African prisoners from New Carthage was a boy of royal blood. The boy, who had been
raised by his grandfather, had joined the cavalry to fight against the Romans, against the orders of
his uncle Masinissa. Scipio gave the boy many giftsamong them a gold ringand an armed guard to
escort him as far as he needed to go. Masinissa was the ousted king of the Numidians, whose help
was invaluable to Scipio in later battles.

 
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One battle that Scipio won deserves notice because it gave rise to an important word in Latin. The
story goes that after defeating the Carthaginians in one battle, Scipio set free ten thousand
Spaniards whom he had taken captive. To honor Scipio and show their respect and gratitude, the
Spaniards began calling him rex (king); Scipio knew that under no circumstances could he allow
himself to be called king (recall that the early Romans had driven out their kings to establish the
republic), yet he wanted the peoples he defeated to have some term of respect and honor for him.
He thanked them for the honor, but asked them to call him imperator instead; from then on,
imperator became the word used to honor victorious generals, and an army would not honor its
general (dux) with the title imperator (conquering general) until he had won a major battle.

Rome Regains Momentum: "Victoria Uti Nescis"

The Romans had a little bit of luck in the middle of all the catastrophes. When Hannibal's friends
were congratulating him at Cannae, Maharbal, Hannibal's commander of cavalry, urged him to
attack Rome immediately. He said, "Hannibal, so you may understand the significance of this
battle, let me tell you this: on the fifth day, you'll be enjoying a victory feast on the Capitol. Come
after me; I'll go first with the cavalry, so that I will arrive before they even know that I'm coming"
(Livy XXII.51.2).

Hannibal replied that he needed some time to think about it. "Hannibal, you know how to win a
battle, but you don't know how to use your victory [victoria uti nescis]," Maharbal replied.
Hannibal missed his great opportunity; the Romans later believed that his indecision saved Rome.

By dogged persistence and unflinching courage the Romans regained the upper hand. Hannibal was
in hostile territory, which made it difficult for him to get supplies for his army and cavalry. The
Italians were not deserting from the Romans to his side as he thought they would. He could not
besiege Rome, for he needed always to be moving, simply to secure food and supplies for his
soldiers and horses, and in any case he lacked siege equipment. He was losing men through many
small battles with the Romans and

 
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from the ravages of disease and hunger. He and his troops spent the winter of 216 B.C. in Capua,
where they lost their fighting edge and discipline; so changed was Hannibal's army after the winter
spent in that decadent city that one Roman general, Marcellus, called Capua "Hannibal's Cannae."
(Imagine an army bivouacked in the French Quarter of New Orleans for the winter. How sharp
would the soldiers be, come March?) Eventually Rome regained Capua, Tarentum, and Sicily.
When Hannibal at last marched to the gates of Rome and waited for the battle to begin, he learned
through a prisoner that the land on which he had pitched camp was sold that day in Rome, with no
reduction in price.

The Romans regained the momentum partly through the successes of their general M. Claudius
Marcellus (the winner of the spolia opima; see chapter 13). He had the caution of Fabius, but
combined with a greater boldness; the Romans called Fabius the Shield of Rome, but to Marcellus
they gave the nickname Sword of Rome. After Capua revolted to Hannibal's side, Marcellus
prevented Hannibal from attacking another large Campanian city, Nola.

In 214, when Sicily revolted from Rome, Marcellus was sent to reconquer the island. He attacked
Syracuse by land and sea, but was foiled by its most brilliant citizen, the famous geometrician
Archimedes. It was Archimedes who figured out the principle of the lever, saying, "Give me a place
on which to stand, and I will move the Earth." He also discovered the principle of displacement of
water, which caused him to exclaim, "Eureka!" (I have found it!). Archimedes used his great
knowledge to build various engines to defend his city. Some of his devices threw quantities of rocks
at the Roman army, killing soldiers and throwing the army into confusion. Another device was a
huge beam, hanging out from the city walls over the sea, where the Roman navy was attacking.
Some beams dropped great weights on the Roman ships, sinking them, while others, with iron
claws at the end, simply picked up the Roman ships and hauled them out of the water; the beam
then either released the suspended ship, allowing it to fall into the water, or else was swung around,
dashing the ship against the rocks.

Marcellus was forced simply to starve Syracuse into giving up. While besieging Syracuse, he also
reconquered the rest of the island. He finally took Syracuse in 211. Archimedes was killed by

 
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a Roman soldier; according to the story, the soldier commanded Archimedes to accompany him to
Marcellus, but Archimedes refused to move until he had finished the problem he was working on.
Enraged, the soldier killed him.

After reconquering Sicily, Marcellus returned to Italy, and from 210 to 208 he kept Hannibal's
activities under control. Hannibal tried many times to lure Marcellus into a trap, but Marcellus was
his match in wits. Under Marcellus' leadership the Roman army inflicted many small losses on
Hannibal, killing thousands of his soldiers and reestablishing morale in the Roman army. Marcellus
was killed in 208 B.C., while on reconnaisance.

In Spain too the pendulum had swung to the Romans' side. Scipio had been so successful in
conquering Spain for Rome that the Carthaginian government abandoned its hope of a Carthaginian
empire in Spain and ordered Hasdrubal, Hannibal's brother who led the Carthaginian forces in
Spain, to take his armies to Hannibal in Italy. Hasdrubal started his march.

The Battle at Metaurus

The Romans and the Italians were alarmed by the news that Hasdrubal was approaching Italy; his
army was as large as Hannibal's, and his own reputation only slightly less than his brother's. One
consul, Marcus Livius, had been assigned to northern Italy to intercept Hasdrubal; the other consul,
G. Claudius Nero, had been assigned to southern Italy to check Hannibal's progress. After an
engagement with Hannibal's troops, in which the Romans inflicted heavy losses upon the
Carthaginians, Nero decided to leave half of his army with a praetor to guard Hannibal, while he
with the other half would secretly slip away at night to lend help to Livius and his troops. He and
his soldiers then marched 400 kilometers in seven days, to join Livius in the north. Both
Carthaginians had been fooled: Hannibal thought an entire consular army was still dogging him,
and since Livius and Nero shared the same camp, Hasdrubal did not knowuntil it was too latethat
the Roman forces facing him had been augmented by six thousand soldiers.

The battle at the river Metaurus, in 207, avenged Cannae for the Romans. Hasdrubal was killed in
the battle, his army annihilated,

 
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and an immense amount of gold and silver taken; Hannibal would not receive reinforcements now.
The Roman populace was hysterical with joy, for the Romans had won their first major engagement
against the Carthaginians in Italy; every shrine and temple in the city was garlanded with flowers
and wreaths. Nero returned to his army in southern Italy and had Hasdrubal's head thrown in front
of the outposts of Hannibal's camp, to be taken to Hannibal.

Scipio Carries the War to Africa

While briefing the Senate on affairs in Spain, Scipio brought up the idea of invading Africa; his
reasons were, first, to punish the Africans and cause them to suffer, for Italy had been the
battleground long enough; second, and more important, to force the Carthaginians to recall
Hannibal to Africa to defend Carthage. The wisdom of his proposal was not apparent to all the
senators; it was vigorously opposed by Q. Fabius Maximus, who argued that Scipio and the soldiers
should stay in Italy to eliminate the real and present danger of Hannibal.

In spite of opposition, Scipio received the Senate's grudging approval, but he was not given
permission to enlist new soldiers, and the Senate supplied him with only thirty-five warships for his
expedition. Scipio sought volunteers and contributions of war materials, and the Italians responded:
Seven thousand soldiers immediately volunteered, eagerly joined by the twelve thousand survivors
of Cannae, who were still desperate for an opportunity to regain their honor, and more allies joined
them as well. Contributions of various war materialsiron, cloth for sails, timber for ships,
wheatpoured in. When Scipio landed in Africa the next year, he was joined by Masinissa (Rome's
ally from Numidia), and the army numbered approximately thirty-five thousand soldiers. Scipio
and Masinissa ravaged the countryside.

Hasdrubal (not Hannibal's brother, who had been killed) and his ally Syphax from Numidia
encamped a few miles from the Romans. Scipio, using Hannibal-like tactics, first played a deadly
trick on Syphax: Scipio had sent some centurions, disguised as slaves, along with his envoys in the
customary attempts at

 
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negotiating peace before a battle; Scipio learned from his spies that the buildings in Syphax' camp
were made of reeds. This gave Scipio an idea, and he took his officers aside, explained the plan,
and made it clear that everything had to go just right.

Laelius, Scipio's good friend and lieutenant, went forth first that night, and soon afterwards Scipio
left with other soldiers and stopped not far from Syphax' camp. Scipio then saw that Laelius had
succeeded in his mission: Syphax' camp was on fire. When the whole camp was ablaze, Scipio and
his men rushed forward, massacring the men who ran out to escape the flames. Hasdrubal's men too
rushed from their camp to help put out the fire; they too were butchered (but not in such great
numbers). They never suspected that the fire had been set deliberately. The Carthaginians lost
approximately forty thousand men. The Carthaginian government was then forced to recall
Hannibal from Italy so he could defend Carthage.

Hannibal with difficulty escaped from Italythe Romans were doing their utmost to destroy his
armyand returned to Carthage. He faced Scipio at Zama in 202 B.C. Masinissa and his cavalry ran
the Carthaginian cavalry off the battlefield, and the Roman light-armed troops so scared the
elephants that they rampaged and turned on the Carthaginian troops. The Roman infantry then
engaged the Carthaginians in a hard-fought battle; with the battle undecided, Masinissa and his
cavalry returned, surrounding the Carthaginians and cutting them down. Hannibal escaped the
Roman soldiers and forced his government to sue for peace.

The terms of the treaty allowed the Carthaginians a fleet of only ten ships, forbade them to wage
war without Rome's consent, forced them to pay a war indemnity of ten thousand talents of silver,
and barred them from keeping war elephants.

Rome was now a world power, having conquered its sole rival in the western Mediterranean. It had
made allies in Africa, to help in the defeat of Carthage, and thus held Carthage in its grip. Further,
it had conquered much of Spain and parts of southern Gaul, to disrupt Hannibal's supply lines; these
areas soon became the provinces of Hispania and Gallia Cisalpina. Since King Philip V of Macedon
had made a treaty with Hannibal during the war, and might have delivered some assistance to him,
Rome soon found

 
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itself in wars with Macedon, which involved Rome in affairs Hellenic. Rome's relations with
Greece and the East led to the conquest of Asia Minor. The defeat of Carthage launched Rome into
world prominence, from which position it would not fall for more than seven hundred years.

 
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Chapter 15
Rome Encounters the East

After defeating Hannibal and Carthage, and in the process becoming masters of the western
Mediterranean, the Romans wanted peace and quiet, but with security. Instead, they became
involved in the political troubles of the eastern Mediterranean, which threatened not only their
recent conquests, but also their very existence. The politics of the kingdoms of the eastern
Mediterranean are somewhat complicated; some background information will be helpful.

The Hellenistic East

Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, during his short life (356-323 B.C.) had united the Greeks in
an invasion of the Persian Empire. Supposedly, the reason was to get revenge for the Persians'
invasion of Greece and destruction of its houses and temples in 491-479, but the real reason was
economic. The young men of Greece, seeing no future at home, found work as mercenaries in the
army of the Persian king, Darius III, thus strengthening Greece's mortal enemy while weakening
Greece itself.

After crossing the Hellespont (present-day Dardanelles, the narrow strait that separates Asia from
Europe) in 334, Alexander and his army marched along the western coast of Asia Minor (modem
Turkey), defeating Darius in two separate battles, at Granicus and Issus. Alexander and his army
then continued marching south though Syria, Palestine, and Israel, and entered Egypt. There
Alexander founded a city off the westernmost tributary of the Nile, and named it Alexandria. Then
he continued east in pursuit of

 
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The Hellenistic kingdoms, 185 B.C. (Drawn by John Cotter)
 
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Darius and defeated him once again, at the Battle of Gaugamela. Darius, now a fugitive, was
murdered by his own attendants, and Alexander was acknowledged king of Persia. King Alexander
continued his march east, occupying the famous cities of the EastBabylon, Susa, Persepolis, and
Ecbatanaand carrying off Darius' treasure.

Some historians say that Alexander then started dreaming of placing all mankind under the rule of
law, united by Greek culture; therefore, at strategic locations throughout his conquests he planted
colonies of his soldiers, who spoke Greek, and encouraged them to marry native women to blend
the Greek and Persian peoples. Eventually Alexander entered India and defeated the Indian prince
Porus; so impressed was Alexander by Porus' dignity and bearing that he made him his ally. He
then continued his march east, his dream being to see Ocean and the end of the earth. When
Alexander reached the Hydaspes River (present-day Jhelum River), he and his soldiers heard that
there was still a great river to be crossed (the Ganges) and much more land beyond that. Hearing
this, the soldiers revolted and refused to go any farther: It is estimated that they had marched fifteen
thousand miles. Alexander reluctantly turned back to the west; he died in Babylon in 323.

At Alexander's death his former generalsall Greeksestablished control over different parts of his
empire and waged incessant warfare with each other for control over the rest or for protection from
aggression. Thus his empire disintegrated into what we call the Hellenistic kingdoms, of which
these were the most important:

Macedonia, which sometimes included Greece, ruled by the Antigonid line;

Thrace, ruled by Lysimachus;

Seleucid Empire (included present-day northern Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Iran, and Iraq),
whose kings were named Antiochus or Seleucus;

Egypt, ruled by the Ptolemies, who treated all Egypt as their personal farm and factory, thus making
themselves fabulously rich (with some of their riches they built the famous library and museum of
Alexandria, and encouraged scientists, philosophers, and poets).

 
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Two other Hellenistic powers should be mentioned: Pergamum, close to what was once Troy, ruled
by kings bearing the names Attalus or Eumenes, and the island of Rhodes, with its powerful navy
and commercial interests. These Hellenistic powers, despite their common Greek language and
culture, were constantly at war with one another in frequently shifting alliances. Into this bees' nest
the Romans wandered after finishing the war with Hannibal.

The Second Macedonian War

Shortly after Cannae (216 B.C.), King Philip V of Macedon had made an alliance with Hannibal, and
taking advantage of Rome's current troubles, he had even tried to expand into Illyricum (modem
Albania) by taking over Dyrrhachium and Apollonia, both of which Rome had won in the wars
against the pirates after the First Punic War (see chapter 13). In 215 Rome sent an army to drive
Philip away, and encouraged his Greek neighbors and enemies, specifically the Aetolians, to wage
war on him. But since Rome was at the time busy with Hannibal, the Gauls, Spain, and Africa, the
war with Philip (First Macedonian War) was waged with little dedication on Rome's part. Rome
abandoned the Aetolians, who were conquered by Philip in 206; the Aetolians never forgave the
Romans for deserting them. Rome made peace with Philip in 205.

Enter Antiochus the Great, king of the Seleucid Empire. He was rightly called ''the Great" because
he had restored to his kingdom lands and territories that his predecessors had let slip away; in
addition to most of modem Syria, he acquired Armenia, regained Parthia (the country from the
Euphrates to the Indus) and Bactria (northern Afghanistan, southern Uzbekistan, and Tadjikistan) as
vassal kingdoms, and expanded into the Cabul Valley. He and Philip made an agreement by which
they were to wage war on their common enemies and to split the gains. Antiochus had his eye on
Egypt's holdings in southern Syria (called Coele-Syria) and Thrace, Egypt itself (at this point very
vulnerable because its king, Ptolemy V, was only six years old), and parts of Asia Minor. Philip
wanted Thrace, the islands in the Aegean Sea, Pergamum, and part of Egypt.

 
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Antiochus conquered Coele-Syria, while Philip attacked Thrace and other towns allied to Rhodes
and Pergamum; at one point he even attacked Pergamum itself, but quickly withdrew his army.
Rhodes and Pergamum declared war on Philip and fought a naval battle with him; the outcome was
inconclusive. Rhodes and Pergamum then asked Rome for help against Philip.

The Romans did not have a good legal reason for declaring war on Philip. He had not attacked
Rome or any of its allies, except for Pergamum, and they were tired of war; yet they feared that
Philip and Antiochus, with all the resources of the Seleucid Empire, would join forces and invade
Italy, using Macedonia as a base. The Romans did not want another Pyrrhus or Hannibal in Italy.
The proposal for war against Philip was rejected by the Comitia Centuriata, because the Romans
were tired of war; in response the consul Publius Sulpicius gave a speech that convinced them to
declare war against Philip after all. "Citizens," he said,

"it seems to me that you don't know that you are not being asked to decide whether you'll have peace or war;
Philipwho even now is working on a war on land and seais not leaving that decision up to you. You are
deciding whether you'll send legions over to Macedonia or whether you'll let the enemy into Italy. After the
recent war with Carthage, you are certainly well familiar with how much is at stake. Who, after all, has any
doubts that if we had immediately brought help to Saguntum, when it was under attack and begging our help,
as our ancestors had done to the Mamertines, that we would have fought the whole war in Spain? As it was,
because we acted slowly, we let the war into Italy, at great suffering and destruction of our people. . . . Let
Macedonia, not Italy, have the war; let the cities and fields of the enemy be destroyed by fire and the sword."
(Livy XXXI.7)

Wanting to avert another destructive war in Italy, the Romans declared war on Philip. To justify the
declaration of war, the fetials set impossible conditions for Philip to meet, if he wanted to avoid war
with Rome: He had to free his Greek subjects and not wage war on the Greeks in Asia Minor. Philip
ignored the fetials, as the Romans knew he would, and promptly attacked the Greek city of Abydus
in Asia Minor. His lieutenant attacked Athens, and the

 
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Athenians asked Rome for help: Now Rome had the justification it had been looking for. The
consul P. Sulpicius and an army crossed over into Greece in 200 B.C.

After invading Macedonia, the Romans were joined by Philip's old enemies, the Aetolians,
Pergamum, and Rhodes. Then the Achaean League, an alliance of cities in the Peloponnese, also
joined; the Greeks were angry with Philip for his brutal actions, such as selling the people of a
conquered city into slavery or killing all the males of military age. Macedon's enemies the
Dardanians invaded from the north, while Rome and its allies invaded from the west and south, and
the Roman and Rhodian navies blockaded Macedon on the east; Macedon was surrounded.

The Roman and allied victory at Cynoscephalae (Dog's Heads) in 197 B.C., under the leadership of
T. Quinctius Flamininus, ended the war. Philip was beaten, and he asked for peace. According to
the treaty he had to abandon all his holdings outside of Macedonia and leave the Greeks free of
Macedonian rule. The Aetolians, whom Rome had deserted during the First Macedonian War, again
found ample reason to be unhappy with Rome: They did not regain the territory that Macedon had
taken from them in earlier wars.

In contrast to the sullen and bitter Aetolians were the remaining Greeks, who were ecstatic over
Flamininus' declaration, at the Isthmian Games in 196, that the Greek city-states were now free of
foreign rule. The Greek city-states were fanatically devoted to their individual autonomy (so much
so, in fact, that they were regularly at war with each other to preserve their liberties and
independence) and suffered under the political domination of Macedon and the various powers
directing affairs in Greece before Macedon (most recently Persia, and before it Thebes, Sparta,
Athens, and Sparta). Once free of Macedonian domination, however, the Greeks would return to
their regular warfare with each other, which would occasion their finding a new master: Rome.

War with Antiochus of the Seleucid Empire

Antiochus had stayed out of the war between Philip and Rome, but he had not been idle. He had
taken Coele-Syria from Egypt,

 
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and had even taken cities from Philip while he was occupied with Rome. Now Antiochus was
attacking Asia and Pergamum; in fact, Attalus, the king of Pergamum, had had to leave the Romans
in their war against Philip to protect his kingdom from Antiochus. Soon Antiochus attacked Thrace.
He was encouraged in his hopes of power in Europe by the Aetolians, who invited him to liberate
Greece from Roman oppression. When the Romans warned him to stay out of Europe, Antiochus
asked the Romans what business they had in Asia Minor and claimed that he himself was simply
reconquering territories that his predecessors had lost (and it was true that one of his ancestors had
once controlled Thrace). The Romans had no real reason to wage warother than his attacking
Pergamumbut plenty of reason to fear, for a certain fugitive from Carthage had come to Antiochus
to help him arrange the war against Rome: Hannibal. Hannibal advised Antiochus to establish a
base in Greece, while he himself attempted to incite Carthage to invade Italy. The Romans once
again told Antiochus to stay out of Europe.

Antiochus therefore brought the war to the Romans via Greece. The Aetolians had promised him
that all Greece, groaning under Roman oppression, would welcome him, and he promised the
Aetolians that he would bring all the resources of his empire to free them. After withdrawing all its
soldiers from Greece in 194 B.C., Rome sent an army back to Greece in 192, to await Antiochus.

Antiochus and his Greek allies were soon disappointed with each other. The Greeks did not revolt
from Rome as Antiochus had hoped they would. His only significant Greek allies were the
Aetolians; the other Greeks fought on the side of Rome. The Aetolians, after hearing reports of how
Antiochus would bring the wealth of Asia against the Romans, were disappointed when he
appeared in Greece in 192, leading an army of only ten thousand men. Later, however, he was
joined by more soldiers from his empire.

Antiochus subdued small parts of Greece before the Romans and their allies beat him at the Battle
of Thermopylae in 191 B.C. Students of ancient history may remember that in 481 King Leonidas
and his three hundred Spartans had heroically held the pass of Thermopylae against Xerxes'
Persians, and had even refused the

 
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opportunity to flee when they learned that soon they would be attacked in the rear; all three hundred
Spartans, including Leonidas, then fought to the death to hold the pass. The Romans and their allies
won their Battle of Thermopylae when M. Porcius Cato led a detachment of two thousand soldiers
in a surprise strike upon the Aetolians; this successful tactic allowed Cato to attack Antiochus' army
from behind. Antiochus, deserted by the Aetolians, now found himself fighting a war of liberation
for the Greeks who were fighting against him. Beaten, Antiochus fled to his kingdom.

The Romans sent L. Scipio, brother of Africanus, in pursuit of Antiochus. (Africanus, having
served as consul in 194, was ineligible for another seven years but nonetheless joined his brother's
staff.) After defeating Antiochus' navy at Myonessus, the Romans offered Antiochus the terms for
peace; he did not like the terms, but the Roman and allied victory over him at Magnesia in 190
forced him to seek peace. According to the terms of the treaty Antiochus was to stay out of Europe,
withdraw from Asia, and hand over Hannibal. He complied with the first two demands, but let
Hannibal escape to Prusias, king of Bithynia. (Hannibal later commited suicide when the Romans
demanded that Prusias hand him over.)

The Romans were not quite finished in Asia Minor, however. They also waged war against the
Galatians in central Asia Minor. As the name implies, the Galatians were Gauls; they had been
marauding over central Europe and had crossed into Asia, where they settled down. They had given
help to Antiochus during his war with Rome, and the Romans wanted revenge. They understood
that the Gauls threatened the peace and security of their allies in Asia: Antiochus and the Galatians
could cause great trouble for Pergamum and Egypt if they were not taken care of. Defeated in two
battles, the Galatians sued for peace.

The Third Macedonian War

After Cynoscephelae, Philip of Macedon had fulfilled most of the obligations of his treaty with the
Romans, even helping them against Antiochus. Yet he was bitter about how the Romans treated
him. The Romans took the side of Pergamum during the boundary disputes between Pergamum and
Macedon. Philip started

 
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planning for another war with Rome, and accordingly consolidated his kingdom, storing up huge
reserves of money, supplies, and soldiersgrain for thirty thousand infantry and five thousand
cavalry for ten years, cash on hand for ten thousand mercenaries, and weapons for armies three
times as large. Small but frequent expeditions against Thrace and other enemies kept his soldiers
experienced and well trained, but did not deplete their numbers. During those expeditions, Philip
conquered Thrace, and now had its supply of soldiers to draw from as well.

Philip died before he could carry out his plans. He is said to have died of a broken heart after
having murdered his innocent son. Philip had two sons, Demetrius and Perseus. Perseus was older,
but illegitimate, supposedly born of a slave woman. Demetrius, five years younger and born of a
noble Macedonian woman, was popular with the Romans, for during the three years that he had
spent as a hostage in Rome (to ensure his father's good behavior after Cynoscephelae), he and the
Romans had come to understand and appreciate each other. The Romans were hoping that
Demetrius would succeed Philip as king of Macedon.

Consequently, as Philip became increasingly resentful of the Romans, he began to dislike and
distrust Demetrius, who seemed pro-Roman. At the same time his affection increased for Perseus,
who played upon his father's hatred of the Romans; Philip's feelings are clear from his choice of the
name Perseis for a city that he founded in 183 B.C. Perseus then played upon his father's fears and
his distrust of Demetrius, alleging that with the help of the Romans Demetrius was trying to take
over the kingdom. He offered proof of the conspiracy with a forged letter to himself from
Flamininus; thus in 181 B.C. he convinced his father to have Demetrius killed as a traitor. With
Demetrius dead, Perseus' position was secure.

Eventually Philip was informed of Perseus' deception, and was devastated to learn that he had
ordered the death of his innocent son. He wanted to have another mananyone but Perseussucceed
him as king, but Perseus was too strong for him. When Philip died in 179, Perseus became king.

Perseus inherited the stores of weapons, grain, cash, and veteran soldiers from his father, along with
his hatred of Rome. He now had everything he needed for waging a successful war; the extent

 
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of his preparations induced many northern and southern Greeks to revolt from Rome, and his
charisma won many to his side. The Romans were alarmed by his preparations and aggression, and
incensed by his attempts at assassination: Perseus had planned to assassinate Eumenes, the ruler of
Pergamum, and had tried to get an Italian friend to poison Roman officials. The Romans declared
war on Perseus in 171 and sent an army to Macedonia. When Perseus heard that the Romans had
arrived in Macedonia, in a frenzy of worry and fear he jumped out of his bathtub and ran away,
shouting that he had been conquered without even a battle. Shortly after that, he ordered his friends
to throw the treasury from one of his cities into the sea, so the Romans could not seize it. Later,
when he calmed down, he had divers recover the money, and then, fearing that they would tell
everyone of his foolishness, he had them killed.

Perseus' panic was unnecessary. The Romans were slow in their preparations for the war; one
consul even granted a truce to Perseus, on the pretext of allowing further negotiations for peace,
when, in fact, the consul knew that his troops were all new recruits and no match for the well-
trained and experienced Macedonians. The older Romans decried the way the younger generation
had let the Roman army deteriorate so that Rome now granted truces out of lack of preparation,
whereas in the past Roman commanders had had so strong a sense of honor that they agreed with
the enemy upon a day of battle, just to prove without a doubt who was the superior soldier. When
the Roman army crossed into Macedonia in 171, the Roman consuls feared risking a battle with
new recruits on unfavorable ground against the experienced Macedonians who held the strategic
hills and mountain passes. The war dragged on, with little fighting and no progress.

In 168, however, the new consul was Lucius Aemilius Paullus. One of his first acts as consul was to
convene a meeting of the citizens, who, seeing the lack of progress in the war, accused the generals
of incompetence. He told the assembled citizens, "If there is anyone who trusts that he can give me
advice in the war that I am about to wage, let him not deprive the republic of his services, but let
him come along with me to Macedonia. I will take care of his passage, horse, tent, and traveling
money. If that person, how-

 
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ever, does not find that a very inviting proposal, and prefers the leisure of the city to the toils of
being a soldier, he shouldn't command our armies in Macedonia while he is safe at home in Rome"
(Livy XLIIII.22). We can assume that none of the armchair generals took him up on his offer. With
that done, Paullus crossed over to Macedon. He immediately made some changes in the operation
of the army, which brought about an improvement in the soldiers' discipline, confidence, and
morale. The soldiers now felt confident and courageous, ready to take on the Macedonian phalanx
(the Macedonians' particularly deep and strong formation of foot soldiers, each armed with a
sarissa, a pike nearly 4 meters long).

In fewer than three months Paullus accomplished what the previous generals had failed to do in
three years. At the Battle of Pydna, in 168 B.C., the Roman army destroyed Perseus' army. The
victory was so overwhelming that within a few daysjust long enough for the report to have gotten
outmost of the cities of Macedon surrendered to Paullus. For a while Paullus refused to respond to
Perseus' letters proposing peace, as Perseus was still calling himself king. He was captured shortly
after, with his wife and son.

When Paullus first saw before him in tears a man who had been a rich and powerful king but was
now a helpless suppliant destined to march in Paullus' triumph in Rome, he said to his soldiers,
"You see here before you an excellent example of the change in human affairs. I'm talking
especially to you young men: during good times it is right to make no arrogant or impetuous
decision against someone or to put too much stock in the luck of the moment, since you never know
what will happen later. He, then, is a true man, whose character is not changed by prosperity or
adversity" (Livy XLV.8).

The terms of the treaty broke Macedon into four independent republics, so that it could not cause
trouble for Rome again. The Macedonians retained their basic freedom and self-government, but
now had to pay Rome one-half the taxes that they had paid to Philip and Perseus. Paullus made a
walking tour of Greece, to inspect the country and make treaties with different Greek cities,
according to their degree of support of the Romans during the war with Perseus. Greece was fairly
calm, for a while.

 
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While assessing the help that the Greeks had contributed to the Romans during the war against
Perseus, the Romans were dissatisfied with the Achaean League, a confederacy of cities in southern
Greece. The Romans deported to Rome a thousand prominent Achaeans as hostages, for
investigation. One of the Achaean hostages, named Polybius, became the good friend of leading
Romans (including Scipio Aemilianus, the grandson of Scipio Africanus, by adoption) during his
years there and came to admire Roman government and character. He then wrote a history that
explained Rome's rise to empire. Polybius' writings give us much valuable information about
Mediterranean history in the third and second centuries B.C., including the Punic Wars, the
Macedonian Wars, and the war with Antiochus, as well as the nature of Roman government.

The Fourth Macedonian War

Despite the partition of Macedon, the Romans were not yet finished with this enemy, for a man
named Andriscus, pretending to be the long-lost son of Perseus, started a rebellion against the
Romans in Macedon. He made many raids on Macedon's neighbors, who appealed to Rome for
help. Rome conquered Macedon again in 148 and this time annexed it as a province, installing a
governor who had sway over affairs in Greece. Perhaps inspired by the uprising in Macedonia, the
Achaean League also rebelled. The Romans conquered its forces in 146 and, under the leadership of
L. Mummius, sacked and destroyed the city of Corinth in 146, dissolving the Achaean League.

Another War with Carthage: "Carthago Delenda Est"

The Carthaginians had recovered much of their city's previous prosperity since Zama in 202 B.C.
(see chapter 14) and had aided the Romans in their wars against Philip and Antiochus. They had
also lived according to the terms of the treaty and had caused the Romans no trouble. Masinissa of
Numidia, a neighbor of Carthage and an ally of Rome, took advantage of Carthage's inability to

 
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defend itself by encroaching upon its territory and capturing more than seventy towns. The
Carthaginians frequently complained to Rome about Masinissa's acts, but he was able to create
sufficient doubt about the Carthaginians that the Romans always sided with him. The Carthaginians
were finally forced to declare war on Masinissa in 150, and were beaten.

In declaring war on Masinissa, the Carthaginians technically broke one of the terms of the treaty,
which specified that Carthage could not wage war without Rome's permission. This gave the
hardliners in the Senate the opportunity they had been looking for. One of these hardliners was M.
Porcius Cato, who ended all of his speeches in the Senate with the phrase "Carthago delenda est"
(Carthage must be destroyed). Other senators, however, noticing that the newfound wealth of
empire was corrupting conservative Roman mores, thought that Carthage should be spared, so its
continued existence would present a constant threat to Rome that would keep the Romans vigilant
and strong.

In 149 the Senate delivered its ultimatum: The Carthaginians must vacate their city and move
further inland. Since Carthage was a commercial and trading power, moving away from the sea
would destroy its prosperity; the Carthaginians decided to fight instead. Being a wealthy, well-
fortified city, Carthage endured a siege of four years before the consul P. Cornelius Scipio
Aemilianus stormed the city in 146, sold the surviving Carthaginians into slavery, and sowed the
land with salt, so Carthage would never again pose a problem for Rome. The area, roughly modem
Tunisia, became the Roman province called Africa.

Another Antiochus

In 168 the Romans had an incident with Antiochus Ephiphanes (Antiochus God Manifest), the son
of Antiochus the Great and king of the Seleucid Empire. When Ptolemy VIII drove his elder
brother and co-ruler Ptolemy VI from the kingdom of Egypt, Antiochus Epiphanes invaded,
supposedly to secure the throne for the ousted Ptolemy, but in reality to do so for himself. He had
already taken over much of the country except for Alexandria, when Roman envoys came to him.
One of the envoys was G. Popilius Laenas.

 
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When the envoys approached Antiochus, the king stretched out his hand and greeted them; Popilius
did not shake his hand and said nothing, only handing him the Senate's orders to leave Egypt alone.
Antiochus read the decree and replied that he needed time to consult with his friends; at that point
Popilius took his staff, drew a circle in the ground around the king, and said, ''Before you leave this
circle, give me an answer to take back to the Senate." Antiochus hesitated, shocked by Popilius'
rudeness and directness. He then replied he would do what the Senate had decreed. Then Popilius
stretched out his hand in friendship and treated the king like a friend (Livy XXXXV.12.5).

Other Wars

All the time that Rome was fighting those wars against Philip and Perseus, Antiochus, and the
Galatians, it was also fighting in Spain. Spain was by no means a unified country: Numerous tribes
existed in the mountains, each ruled by its own chieftain. Rome fought constantly in Spain during
the second century B.C., until its victory over Numantia in 133 (under the leadership of Scipio
Aemilianus) ended Spain's organized opposition. Even after this victory the Romans still waged
almost continuous warfare in Spain, for after a period of peace one tribe would revolt, followed by
others; the reason for the revolts was frequently the Romans' unfair rule and taxation. It was in
Spain in 62 B.C. that Julius Caesar himself first learned the art of military leadership, one hundred
fifty years after Rome first brought its arms against the Spanish.

After gaining the provinces of Africa, Spain, and Greece by bitter fighting and gloodshed, the
Romans were given Asia Minor, for in 133 B.C. Attalus III of Pergamum died without an heir. He
bequeathed his kingdom instead to the Roman people, who declared it the Roman province Asia.

Imperium Romanum

How did Rome manage its far flung territories? After all, the Romans did not have a full-time,
professional government filled

 
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with paper-pushing bureaucrats, armed with various stamps and forms to be filled out in triplicatea
civil service, in other words. Lacking a civil service, the Romans had neither the desire nor the
manpower to extend the range of their government and their responsibilities. They avoided the
extension of their government as long as possible.

Instead, the Romans allowed many allies simply to rule themselves. Being legally outside the
system of provinces, three privileged types of allies enjoyed great freedom and autonomy as a
reward for their faithful service to Rome. One type was what we call client kings and the Romans
simply called friends (amici) of the Roman people. These were kings of territories that the Romans
had not conquered, did not want to conquer, or had no reason to conquer; the Romans left these
kings alone because the kings cooperated with them, maintained good relations with them, and
helped Rome in its time of need. Similarly, Rome provided aid to the client kings when necessary,
for "manus lavat manum" (one hand washes the other). These client kings paid no taxes to Rome,
kept their own laws, and were not under the power of any Roman magistrates. Still, despite the
appearance of equality in the relationship, the wise client kings recognized their lower status and
adapted themselves to it. One client king, Prusias of Bithynia, wore a freedman's cap (the cap that
freed slaves wore after being manumitted) when he addressed the Senate, just to show that he knew
who was boss.

Other free allies were civitates foederatae, or "states allied by treaty." They too were technically
outside the provincial system, for they paid no taxes to Rome and were independent of Roman
magistrates. They had full judicial powers over their own citizens and perhaps over Roman citizens
in their territory. They had to provide military assistance to Rome when it was requested, and they
could ask the Romans for help when needed. They did not have to quarter Roman troops. Similar to
civitates foederatae were civitates sine foedere liberae, "free states without a treaty," which enjoyed
all the same privileges as those bound by a treaty with the exception of security: The free states
without a treaty were granted their free status by a decree of the ''Senate, which (unlike a treaty)
could be revoked at any time, for any reason.

 
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The last class is what people usually think of when they think of a Roman province: Called
stipendiarii (payers of a stipend) by the Romans, these peoples were ruled by a Roman governor
stationed in their territory, who had the support of a force of Roman soldiers. They paid taxes or a
stipend to Rome.

When the Romans decided to annex a territory as a province, the conquering general or a consul, in
conjunction with a commission of ten, would write the lex provinciae, "the law of the province."
This functioned as a charter of sorts, determining the level of taxation, boundaries, and laws, and
served as a constitution. Then the Romans would install a governor. Since the governor would be in
charge of a force of Roman and Italian soldiers (its size depending upon how peaceful the province
was), he would have praetorian or consular status; therefore he was called a proconsul or
propraetor, meaning that he was sent out with the authority of a consul or praetor. Eventually it
became customary that one would go to a province as a governor the year after serving as a consul
or praetor in Rome. The governor would have his staff, usually a group of his friends, and a
quaestor to help him in his work. The governor would then manage the affairs of the province in
accordance with the lex provinciae, edicts of the previous governors of the province, instructions
from the Senate, and the custom not only of Roman government but also of the community. The
Romans generally tried to work within the social framework that existed in the province before they
took over.

The trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the province of Judaea (annexed in 59 B.C.) gives a good
example of the Romans' attitude toward preexisting institutions. Jesus was put on trial by the
Sanhedrin, the council of Jewish priests, for breaking Jewish law; he broke no Roman law, but had
committed blasphemy against the Jewish religion. Pontius Pilate, the Roman magistrate overseeing
the trial, "washed his hands" of the matter and allowed Jesus to be condemned by the Jewish court.
The Romans tried to interfere in such matters as little as possible, both out of respect for other
peoples, their institutions, and their religions, and also out of a sense of realism, knowing it would
be futile and disruptive to try to force Roman ways on others. One exception to this was the case of
the Druid religion in Gaul, which the Romans

 
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sought to eradicate, since it used human sacrifice and symbolized Gallic resistance to Rome.

The governor had a great deal of power over his subjects, and his exercise of it was not closely
scrutinized by the Roman Senate. If the governor was corrupt and evil, those in his province were
in for a rough year, the usual term for a governor, though longer terms were not uncommon. The
sad truth is that there were many such corrupt governors, who simply stole all that they could,
making themselves filthy rich off the helpless provincials. The local people could not fight the
governor, for he had an army and the backing of Rome, and they had no legal recourse except in
far-off Rome, where the welfare of the provincial peoples was not high on the list of priorities.
Their only recourse was to complain to the corrupt governor's political enemies in Rome, who
might charge him with extortion in a special court set up for judging cases of extortion in the
provinces (called a quaestio de repetundis, "court for recovering monies"). But the corrupt governor
would be tried in Rome by men like himself.' governors who had already enriched themselves at the
expense of the provincials, or those who looked forward to enriching themselves while governor
someday, or those who were susceptible to bribes. For example, the Roman writer Cicero tells how
the corrupt governor Verres had earmarked the proceeds of his first year as governor for his estate,
the second year's proceeds for his legal team, and the third year's proceeds for bribing the judges (In
Verrem I.40). If convicted (and some were), the corrupt governor simply went into exile or paid
restitution. Despite the appearance of a totally corrupt system, there were good, honest and fair
governors; the bad ones (like Verres, convicted of extortion in Sicily) were more sensational, while
nothing was written about the good ones.

The provincial peoples who paid taxes paid them either as a war indemnity, or as upkeep of the
Roman army which guarded their borders, or as a percentage of the year's produce. The system that
the Romans devised for collecting taxes in Sicily and Asia Minor was horrible. Since Rome lacked
a civil service to perform official functions, such as collecting taxes, the censors would sell the right
to collect the taxes to the publicani, or "publicans," middle-class businessmen (hated in the New
Testament), who would pay the

 
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taxes on the spot and then troop off to Asia Minor and Sicily to collect what they had paid, plus a
profit. When the provincials could not pay their taxes, the publicani were happy to lend them the
moneywith a healthy interest charge, of course. The provincials were more likely than not to have
no protection against the publicani from the governor, for the publicani whose rapacity was held in
check by the governor would get their revenge on him in a Roman court when he returned from his
province. Such was the fate of P. Rutilius Rufus, who was convicted for extortion, even though he
had actually protected the provincials. This terrible system of collecting taxes in Asia was created
in 133 B.C. and largely abolished almost a century later by Julius Caesar; Augustus created a new
system that was fair to the provincials.

The Threat to the Old Ways

In the space of approximately 130 years Rome went from a position of leadership only in Italy to
that of world power with dominion over many lands bordering on the Mediterranean. The Romans
attributed their success to their adherence to mos maiorum, "the custom of our ancestors" or "the
way our ancestors did things"in short, the old ways. The Roman poet Ennius (239-169 B.C.) wrote,
"Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque" (the Roman state remains strong because of its men
and its ancient customs). Some of the chief customs and virtues that had made Rome great and
powerful were virtus (courage), pietas (dutifulness to gods, community, and family), gravitas
(seriousness), constantia (perseverance), continentia (self-control), and pudicitia (sense of shame,
mostly for women).

The new and changing conditions of Roman life put great stress on the Romans' adherence to mos
maiorum; in the view of many ancient historians this time period, the second century B.C., marked
the beginning of the decline of Rome's morality, which resulted in the fall of the republic. The
ancient historian Sallust (86-35 B.C.) wrote,

But once the republic had become great because of work and fair dealing, great kings were conquered in war,
wild nations and vast populations

 
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were subjugated by force, and Carthage, the threat to the Roman power, was destroyed to its very
foundations; all seas and lands lay open, but Fortune grew angry and began to throw things into confusion.
Those who had easily suffered labors, dangers, and matters of great stress and uncertainty, were hamstrung
by peace and quiet and wealth, things usually hoped for. Therefore, for the first time in Rome there grew the
longing for money and then power; from this developed all the troubles. For greed perverted trustworthiness,
propriety, and other honorable ways, and instead taught arrogance, cruelty, neglect of the gods, and the habit
of considering all things for sale. Ambition compelled many men to lie, and to have one thing secret in their
hearts, while saying something different, to judge friendships and hatreds not according to the facts but
according to expediency, and to put forth a good appearance more than a good character. (Sallust, Bellum
Catilinae X)

Allowing for some exaggeration on the part of historians such as Sallust, we can safely say that
prodigious amounts of money from loot, tributes and taxes from the provinces, proceeds from the
sale of slaves captured in war, and bribery flowed into Roman hands; some Romans, who by now
had seen in Syracuse and Asia the amenities and luxuries that money could buy, used their
newfound wealth with abandon. The censors enacted legislation to curb the love of wealth and
luxury, but to no avail. Cato remarked that people in his day were spending on a jar of pickled fish
what they once paid for a pair of oxen (the reason was not inflation, but simple extravagance). The
cook, says another ancient historian, at one time the least valuable of the domestic slaves, now
became the most highly prized.

The number of slaves in Rome and Italy also increased dramatically. Rome captured approximately
seventy-five thousand slaves during the First Punic War and approximately two hundred fifty
thousand more from 200 to 150 B.C. (Scullard, History of the Roman World, p. 358). As a point of
comparison, the census of 164 B.C. counted 337,452 adult male citizens in Rome. The slaves now
were Spaniards, Greeks, Gauls, and Asiatics, whose foreign ways inevitably threatened traditional
Roman ways. They also posed an internal threat to the security of Rome and the Italian countryside,
for runaway slaves resorted to crime, simply to live. The avail-

 
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ability of slaves also decreased employment for freemen and citizens alike. The slaves from Greece
and Greek Asia Minor were frequently better educated than their Roman masters, and thus became
the tutors and teachers of their masters' children; this meant that the children were less likely to
receive an education in the traditional Roman virtues from their mother and father.

Another area to suffer was religion. In one famous incident in 186 B.C., a Bacchic cult was
discovered in Rome, with Roman citizens as inductees. We do not know exactly what happened in
the Bacchic get-togethers, but it was sufficiently shocking for the consuls to convene an emergency
meeting of the Senate to discuss what should be done. Seven thousand people in Rome are said to
have been involved in the Bacchic cult; many of them were executed and some detained.
Nonetheless, foreign religions continued to enter Rome. Astrologers also began appearing in Rome.
In 139 the consuls expelled the astrologers from the city, but they returned; later, although they
were periodically deported, they always returned.

"Graecia Capta Ferum Victorem Cepit"

This time period also saw the beginnings of Latin literature. While conquering the Greeks of
mainland Greece and Sicily, the Romans also encountered the glories of Greek civilization. They
were rightly overawed by the immense literary and artistic achievements of the Greeks; this
occasioned the famous statement of the Roman poet Horace, "Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit"
(Greece, although captured, took its wild conqueror captive). The Romans were not slow to learn
from the Greeks and to adapt Greek ways to fit their needs.

The first Roman poet of record is Livius Andronicus (mid-third century B.C.), a Greek slave from
Tarentum, who translated the Odyssey into Latin in a rough poetic meter called the Saturnian, and
adapted the content to Roman ways. His Odyssia became a textbook for Roman schoolboys. Other
epic poets followed; one was Ennius, who first used the Greek poetic meter called the dactylic
hexameter for Latin verse. Ennius' most famous poem (fragments of which survive) was the
Annales, a history of Rome

 
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in verse. Soon followed, among others, Plautus (254-?184 B.C.), who wrote comedies (another Greek
genre) for the stage; he took as his models the writers of Attic New Comedy, and an ancient critic
said that if the Muses spoke Latin, they would speak Plautine Latin. Twenty of his plays survive.
Plautus' younger contemporary was Terence (195-?159), who had come to Rome as a slave from
Africa; Terence may have been the first known black writer, as he is described as having a dark
complexion (fuscus is the Latin adjective, which in other contexts is used to describe a crow, the
wings of night, or the cloak of sleep). Six of his plays survive; Julius Caesar, himself famous for his
simple and elegant writing style, praised the purity of Terence's Latin. Terence's plays were more
genteel and Greek in manners than those of Plautus, which were rougher and more boisterous, and
therefore more popular with the Roman spectators. Rome also had composers of tragedy (another
Greek genre); the most famous were Naevius, Pacuvius, and Accius. Only fragments of their works
survive. Scipio Aemilianus and his friend Laelius may have formed a group with other intellectuals
interested in Greek literature and thought, and they may have become the patrons of poets. Modern
scholars call the group the Scipionic Circle and believe that Polybius and Terence, among others,
may have been associated with it.

The Romans also started writing history during this time; while they had always recorded the year's
events on linen sheets stored in the aerarium, now they began to write history as a literary genre,
again following a Greek model. The first Roman historian, Q. Fabius Pictor (fl. 225), actually
wrote in Greek, supposedly to justify Roman policy to the Greek world. During this time period a
purely Roman type of literature arose, called satire. Satire fit Rome perfectly, for in it the poet
could poke fun at faults and vices and thereby spur people to moral improvement. The first Roman
satirist we know of is Lucilius (d. 102/1).

The Romans were not yet writing philosophy, but they were reading it, for the Romans by this time
were receiving a Greek education in philosophy, logic, and rhetoric. The Roman mind was not
much given to the kind of abstract thought that forms a large part of philosophy. The philosophy the
Romans liked most was Stoicism, which emphasized values and a strong sense of duty to

 
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community, family, and gods. Romans tended to be suspicious of other schools of philosophy. For
example, Epicureanism, which advocated that one withdraw from society to lead the quiet, stress-
free life of contemplation, conflicted with a Roman's love of Rome and pursuit of glory. But it was
a Roman poet, Lucretius (94-55 B.C.) who wrote the longest surviving document on Epicureanism, a
poem entitled De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things). The Greek philosophy called Cynicism,
which held that governments and norms were evil, was simply incomprehensible to Romans.

Perhaps the Roman fear and distrust of philosophers can best be seen in the case of the second-
century philosopher Carneades. In 155 B.C. he made a series of speeches in Rome, and all the Roman
young men in attendance were deeply impressed by them. To the traditional Roman ways of
thinking, however, Carneades must have embodied all that was evil about Greek philosophy: On
one day Carneades spoke on behalf of an issue, and on the next day, to show his dexterity, he spoke
against the very same issue, with equal effect. To traditional Romans this was undoubtedly very
dangerous cleverness, allowing one to "make the worse cause appear the better"which could only
lead to agnosticism or atheism, dishonesty, and moral confusion.

Cato Vs. Scipio

The social turmoil of the times can be summed up in the dispute between M. Porcius Cato and
Scipio Africanus. Cato (234-149 B.C.) was born to a peasant family in Tusculum, a city long allied to
Rome that had been the first Latin city granted Roman citizenship. Despite his lack of training in
rhetoric, Cato was very gifted at public speaking, and represented in court whoever needed his
services (he did this for free, since Roman advocates were prohibited by law from receiving pay for
legal services). He was also a formidable soldier, seeing his first action in 217. He later fought at
Metaurus and served as consul in 195, governor in Spain in 194 (where he won many battles and
later celebrated a triumph), and censor in 184.

Early on Cato dedicated himself to a life of simplicity and self-discipline. He worked among his
slaves in the fields, ate the same

 
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bread and drank the same wine, and lived in a simple cottage. He wore simple clothes; once he was
bequeathed an embroidered Babylonian robe, but immediately sold it. When governor in Sardinia,
he did not milk his expense account (which was paid for by the provincial peoples) for all that he
could, but imposed an unheard-of economy on his staff. When his army won loot from the enemy,
Cato says he never took any of it for himself, but let his soldiers have it all. A good summary of his
way of thinking is this: The Romans had won their territory by means of virtue and self-restraint,
not self-indulgence and vice, which tended to destroy empires. Which path should one then take?

Cato worried, seeing the Romans being swept up in wealth, luxury, and the rush of all things Greek.
It all threatened mos maiorum and the moral simplicity of earlier times. So while other Romans
employed Greek slaves to tutor their children and sent their young men to learn Greek rhetoric and
philosophy, Cato himself undertook the education of his son, teaching him to read and to
understand Roman law, to throw the javelin, to fight in armor, to ride a horse, box, and swim.
Seeing a lack of good literature in Latin that dealt with Roman topics, Cato wrote his Origines
(Beginnings), a history of Rome, including its various myths and legends.

When Cato was a candidate for the censorship in 184, most of the nobles were frightened and
vehemently opposed his candidature. He promised them that he would be a harsh doctor to their
sickness of vice and luxury. Not only did they see the austerity and asceticism of his personal life,
they also remembered that as consul in 195 he had spoken against the repeal of the Lex Oppia,
which forbade women to own more than a half-ounce of gold, to wear multicolored dresses, and to
ride in two-horse carriages (the law had been passed during the war with Hannibal). What would he
do as censor?

The Roman populace, with the exception of the corrupt nobles, gladly elected Cato, thinking that
they needed a harsh physician. Once elected censor, he put heavy taxes on luxury items, expelled
Lucius Scipio (brother of Africanus) from the knights, and expelled another man for embracing his
wife during the day in the presence of their daughter. He also concerned himself with Rome's

 
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infrastructure, by reconstructing sewers, destroying the pipes that some had illegally connected to
the aqueducts to bring water into their houses, tearing down houses that had been built illegally on
public land, and raising the rent on public land. Consequently he became very unpopular with some
Romans, but others erected a statue of him in the Temple of Salus, for he had tried to restore
Rome's health.

Unlike Cato, Scipio Africanus was fond of Greek culture and ways. In 204 B.C., while he was in
Sicily preparing for the invasion of Africa (see chapter 14), he was under attack by his political
enemies in the Senate. Cato had been Scipio's quaestor, and he reported to the Senate that Scipio
was wasting money on theater amusements for his men and on athletic contests. We also hear that
"the general's style of living was not only not characteristically Roman, it was not even real army.
He would hold his parades in the exercise area, wearing a Greek cloak and Greek slippers, and he
spent his time and energy on books and Greek wrestling. His whole staff also just as indolently and
lazily was enjoying the pleasantries of Syracuse, having totally forgotten about Carthage and
Hannibal. He had let the whole army be corrupted by all that indulgence" (Livy XXIX.19.11).

Scipio was exonerated of charges of wasting money, being extravagant, and sacrificing Rome's
better interests to secure the safety of his son (whom Antiochus had captured and returned without
ransom). However, in disgust at Rome's treatment of him, he retired in self-imposed exile to his
estate in Liternum, ordering in his will that his body not be buried in ungrateful Rome. His brother
Lucius fared worse: He refused even to give an account of the finances of the campaign against
Antiochus and thus fell under suspicion of receiving bribes; for this he was expelled from the
knights.

Yet despite his victory over the Scipios, Cato lost the war against Hellenism. The next two centuries
saw a Golden Age of Latin literature, which became an amalgam of Greek, Roman, and Italian
elements. This Greco-Roman literature shaped the intellectual development of western Europe.

 
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Chapter 16
The Gracchi
The Beginning of the End of the Res Publica

The period of the brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, who held tribunates in 133 and 123-122
B.C. respectively, inaugurates a century of incessant civil strife in Rome, with occasional outbursts of
civil war. The struggle culminates in the civil wars of 49-31 B.C. and in the final destruction of the
republican form of government. A century after the Gracchi, Rome was governed by the principate,
a type of monarchy, created by Octavian (Augustus).

Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus came from a plebeian family that was well known and respected; their
father had twice been a consul and once a censor, and their mother Cornelia, who personally
supervised the education of her sons, was a daughter of Scipio Africanus. Tiberius, the elder of the
two brothers, had a past that he and his family could be proud of. As a very young man, he had
been honored with an augurship. Accompanying P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus (adopted son of
Scipio Africanus) to Carthage in 149 B.C., Tiberius had won the corona muralis, a crown awarded a
soldier for being the first to climb over the walls of a besieged city. When he was a quaestor in
Spain, his personal influence and reputation for fair dealing had helped save the lives of twenty
thousand fellow Roman soldiers trapped by enemy troops; for that he should have been awarded the
corona civica, a crown of oak leaves awarded to a soldier for saving the life of a fellow soldier. His
early accomplishments presaged an illustrious career in service to Rome. Yet Tiberius was
murdered in political strife, and his body dumped into the Tiber; his name to some Romans came to
symbolize attempts at tyranny frustrated by patriots.

 
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The trouble began when Tiberius was elected tribune in 133 B.C. He immediately called for reforms
to address several problems:

1. Decline of the peasantry. Since its beginnings, Rome had been a city-state of peasant farmers
working small farms, who served in the army in Rome's time of need. The number of family farms
not just in Rome but also in all Italy had declined as Rome's increasing involvement in overseas
wars required that the citizen-farmers leave their farms to fight in Spain, Greece, Gaul, Africa, or
Asia. The family farmers typically did not own slaves who would work the land while the masters
fought Rome's battles, and they did not have the money to live on while they restored their farms
after long periods of neglect. Before Rome had overseas entanglements, the farmer-soldier could
quickly return home when the war was finished, and work on the farm, although the story of the
former centurion (see chapter 8) shows how difficult survival was even when Rome waged wars
with immediate neighbors.

When these family farmers quit farming, they typically sold their land to wealthy men, who
combined their purchases of many small farms into plantations worked by slaves; these large
enterprises, called latifundia, also concentrated on raising sheep and cattle, thus increasing Rome's
dependence on grain imported from Sicily and Africa.

The displaced peasants could try to make a new start by farming the public lands, which were lands
Rome had confiscated either from its conquered enemies during its expansion in the fourth and
third centuries or from those towns and cities that had taken Hannibal's side. A law, the Lex Licinia,
forbade one man from farming more than 500 iugera (300 acres) of public land, but the rich
landowners used their superior knowledge of the law and their powerful connections to drive the
peasants from the public lands, which they then incorporated into their latifundia. The displaced
farmers then drifted to the big city, Rome, to become craftsmen, tradesmen, or, more likely, one of
the growing mass of the unemployed. Since there was no significant industry in ancient Italy and no
demand for free labor, since servile labor was so cheap, the displaced farmers could no longer meet
the property qualification for being a soldier. Rome's military might therefore suffered.

 
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2. Slave rebellions. While traveling through Etruria on his way to Spain, Tiberius had noticed the
great numbers of slave gangs working the fields and the dearth of peasants working family farms.
The large numbers of slaves in Italy, if united under a capable leader, could cause great havoc in
Italy. Such slave rebellions had already occurred in Asia, Greece, and, as recently as 135, in Sicily
(a rebellion that the Romans overcame only with great difficulty).

3. Agitation of the Italian allies for suffrage. Ever since Rome and its allies had gained control of
Italy early in the third century B.C., there had been roughly three classes into which the Italians
could fall in their legal relations to Rome. First were the Roman citizens; second were those who
held Latin rights (Latinum nomen), which meant Roman citizenship except for the right to vote and
to pursue political office in Rome; third were the socii Italici, who had no rights in Rome and no
say in the government of Italy or of the other Roman territories. Although liable for military
service, the socii could not vote for the generals under whom they would serve and had no say in
whether war should be declared. The Italians had long been pressing the Romans for some type of
representation in governing Italy and the republic.

To address these problems, Tiberius proposed the following reform. He reaffirmed the old limit set
by the Lex Licinia of 500 iugera of public land per man; to appease those already illegally farming
public lands, he allowed the man, if a father, to claim an additional 250 iugera (150 acres) per son,
with a maximum of 500 iugera for two sons. The rest of the illegally farmed land was to be
confiscated and distributed to the landless poor, who could claim land according to the provisions
of the Lex Licinia. The goals of this reform were to revive the family farmer in Italy, to relieve
Rome of its unemployed poor, to increase the number of men eligible for service in the army, and
to lessen the number of slaves in Italy.

Tiberius had the support of a few powerful men in the Senate, such as the consul Mucius Scaevola
and Appius Claudius Pulcher, the princeps senatus; he would certainly need their help against the
nobles who were illegally farming the public lands. Laelius, Scipio Africanus' friend, had made a
similar but more radical

 
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proposal years earlier, but he had promptly withdrawn it upon encountering opposition from some
members of the aristocracy, who did not want to lose what they had invested in the illegally farmed
lands. Tiberius encountered the same opposition, but did not bend to it; he pressed forward with the
bill.

Tiberius created more opposition and hostility to his plan than would have been expected. Instead
of bringing his plan to the Senate for its advice and approval, as was customary before bringing a
bill before the Popular Assembly, he immediately brought his plan to the Popular Assembly,
without first consulting the Senate. His snub of the Senate alienated many who might have
supported him; they fought the bill for political reasons, simply to avenge the insult. They
succeeded in getting another tribune to veto Tiberius' law; when Tiberius could not persuade that
tribune to withdraw his veto, he convinced the Assembly to approve a law deposing the other
tribune. Thus Tiberius removed the tribune and his veto, and the bill passed. A commission began
to distribute the land.

The members of the Senate were alarmed. Tiberius had bypassed them in proposing the bill, and
with measures of questionable legality he had squashed their legal attempt to defeat his bill. Was he
aiming at making the Assembly and the tribunes the rulers in Rome? If he could simply eliminate
the Senate's legal opposition to him, what would prevent him from becoming a tyrant and starting a
social revolution with cancellation of debts and redistribution of land?

The senators had one more trick up their sleeves: They would deny Tiberius the money he needed
to finance the land commission. But Tiberius got lucky: Attalus III, king of Pergamum, died and
bequeathed his kingdom to Rome, including his substantial treasury. Tiberius then proposed a law
to distribute Attalus' money to those who had been allotted public lands. The Senate relented and
gave him the money for the land commission.

Tiberius' hardball politics had turned still more senators against him. He realized that he needed to
be tribune for another year, both for his own protection and for the preservation of his laws, which
the senators would doubtless declare illegal once he was out of office. Being elected to an office
two years in a row was

 
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illegal for magistrates, although it was unclear whether the law applied to tribunes. To help his bid
for reelection, he proposed more laws that would strengthen his popularity among the common
people.

Tiberius' proposals compelled some members of the Senate to take action. Led by Scipio
NasicaGracchus' cousin and one of the largest owners of the public landsthey ordered the consul
Scaevola to put down the tyrant; Scaevola responded that he would not be the first to use violence
and would put no citizen to death without a trial. So a group of senators, led by Nasicawho, as
pontifex maximus, was supposed to remain free of bloodshedfearing that Tiberius was aiming at a
tyranny, attacked and killed him and three hundred of his supporters. They dumped his body into
the Tiber and denied Gaius permission to bury his older brother. Some of Tiberius' supporters
survived the attack and soon found themselves on trial, while others were driven into exile without
a trial. Those who had murdered Tiberius were not brought to trial; eventually the Senate,
embarrassed by Nasica, sent him to Asia as head of some mission, where he later died. Nonetheless,
the land commission continued distributing land.

Gaius, nine years younger than his brother, had been a member of the land commission. Some years
after Tiberius' murder, Gaius had a dream in which the ghost of Tiberius said to him, ''Gaius, what
are you waiting for? There is no escape. We have both been given but one life and one death for
fighting for the good of the common people" (Plutarch, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus I). Gaius was
elected tribune for 123 and reelected for 122. Gaius was more passionate than his brother; when he
gave a speech, he was often so swept away by his emotions that his voice became high and grating,
at which point he had a slave blow a little whistle, as a sign that Gaius should calm down. The
senators feared him even more than his brother. He continued Tiberius' work and proposed some
reforms of his own:

1. The establishment of many colonies. One of these was at the former site of Carthage, which had
been destroyed in 146. Besides addressing a need to free Rome of many idle and unemployed
people, establishing colonies would also make Gaius immensely

 
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popular among the masses, and therefore very powerful, for the colonists would henceforth regard
him as their patronus, and he would have many clientes to summon when he needed help.

2. A law for the regulation of the sale of grain in Rome. The price of grain fluctuated widely, and
this caused the poor to suffer. Gaius wanted the government to buy grain in bulk and then to sell it
at unchanging prices.

3. Changes in the makeup of juries. Since the jurors in the courts for judging Roman governors'
conduct in the provinces were recruited from the nobles, the courts were ineffective in ensuring
ethical administration (see chapter 15). Gaius wanted to abolish the juries of senators and to replace
them with juries of members of the equestrian class, the knights, who would not have such
sympathy for the accused.

4. A grant of Roman citizenship to allies of Latin status, and Latin status to the Italians. Rome
could not have obtained its vast territories without the help of the Latins and Italians, yet did not
show its gratitude to them by granting them some political rights and power. In 129 Scipio
Aemilianus had tried to help the Italians, but failed; four years later the Latin colony Fregellae,
which had stayed loyal to Rome during the Pyrrhic and Hannibalic wars, revolted and was
destroyed. The consul of 125, M. Fulvius Flaccus, proposed a law giving citizenship to the Italians,
but the Senate conveniently sent him on a military expedition to Gaul when his proposal was to be
voted on. As one of Gaius' colleagues in the tribunate in 122, Flaccus continued his attempt to give
the Italians the vote, or at least the ius provocationis.

5. Miscellaneous reforms. Gaius passed a law making seventeen the minimum age for military
service, and another providing that soldiers' clothing should be paid for by the state, with no
reduction in the soldiers' pay. He also passed legislation for the construction of roads to serve the
needs of agriculture, not necessarily those of the military, as before. If he were to make a provision
that the roads would be built by paid, citizen labor, instead of servile labor, that law would have
made him extremely popular with the unemployed common people.

Gaius encountered opposition not only from the Senate, which wanted its power left unshaken, but
also from the urban citizens,

 
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who did not want to share the privileges of citizenship with non-Romans; before the proposal was
voted on, the consul drove all non-Romans out of the city, so they would not put pressure on the
voters. Gaius faced opposition also because of religion: The area of Carthage had been cursed (see
chapter 15), and rumors spread that the colony, to be called Junonia, was on cursed ground and
therefore contrary to the will of the gods. During the founding of the colony, terrible omens were
seen, such as gales of wind blowing the sacrificial victims from the altars beyond the stakes
demarcating the boundaries of the colony and even blowing away the stakes themselves.

With opposition growing, and plans being made to repeal the legislation, Gaius' supporters made a
fatal mistake. They occupied the Aventine Hill (once public land, the Aventine had been given to
the common people for settlement back in 456 and now was the plebeian quarter of Rome), thus
causing the Senate to pass the senatus consultum ultimum, "the final decision of the Senate," which
in effect declared martial law. The consul called forth armed citizens, who attacked Gaius'
supporters, killing thousands and eagerly seeking Gaius himself, to earn the reward of the weight of
his head in gold. While trying to escape, Gaius committed suicide. Dead bodies were thrown into
the Tiber, and Opimius the consul condemned three thousand of Gaius' supporters to death without
a trial. Their estates were confiscated, and their/families were forbidden to wear mourning.

The affair of the Gracchi shows many faults in Roman government, which were left unsolved and
eventually led to the Social War; the pacification of the unemployed urban masses by "bread and
circuses"; the war with Spartacus; the growth of the professional army; and the fall of the republic.
Among the immediate effects, the equites had been granted political power without political
responsibility, and they frequently would use their wealth to guide Roman politics in a way
advantageous to them, but not to the republic. Further, Roman politics was now sharply split
between the boni (also called Optimates), who favored senatorial rule, and the populares, who
wanted to rule Rome through their control of the popular assemblies. It is tempting for us to see the
populares as democrats and the boni as republicans, but this is

 
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inaccurate, for the populares were themselves aristocrats who had failed to break into the senatorial
power group. The populares merely used the popular assemblies to gain the power they could not
secure within the Senate. Were the Gracchi selfless reformers or radicals aiming for a tyranny? The
truth probably lies somewhere between the two extremes. Either way, the next century of Roman
history gave proof of their foresight.

 
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Chapter 17
The War Against Jugurtha and Rise of Marius

Numidia had become an ally of Rome during the Second Punic War, when together they waged war
on Garthage, and had been steadfast in its loyalty to Rome. Despite that longstanding alliance,
Rome fought a war with Numidia.

The king of Numidia, Micipsa, had two sons by marriage, Adherbal and Hiempsal, and a third by
adoption, Jugurtha. When Micipsa learned that he was dying, he summoned his three sons to his
bed and asked them to divide the kingdom into three parts and to live in peace with each other. He
would not live to see his hopes disappointed.

Soon after the death of Micipsa in 118 B.C., Jugurtha had his brother Hiempsal killed. He then
attacked the kingdom of Adherbal; after losing the battle, Adherbal fled to Rome to seek assistance
against Jugurtha, who now was king of all Numidia. Jugurtha had foreseen what Adherbal would
do and had accordingly bribed many senators to reject Adherbal's pleas. The Senate then decided to
divide Numidia between Jugurtha and Adherbal. Three years after the division, in 112, Jugurtha
again attacked Adherbal's kingdom and besieged its main city, Cirta, where thousands of Italian
merchants lived. Trapped in the city, Adherbal sent an embassy to Rome to beg for help against
Jugurtha; the Senate then sent a commission to summon Jugurtha to address the Senate. The Italian
merchants in Cirta felt it was now safe to surrender the city to Jugurtha, for, they thought, the
authority of the angry Senate would prevent him from harming them. With the city in his hands,
Jugurtha tortured and killed his brother and ordered his soldiers to kill all the adult males in the
city. That included the Italians.

 
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Outraged at the massacre, the Romans declared war on Jugurtha in 112 B.C. and sent the consul
Bestia with troops to Africa to deal with Jugurtha. After Bestia had destroyed a few small towns,
Jugurtha sent an embassy to him to seek a treaty. After receiving an enormous bribe, Bestia agreed
to a treaty, by which Jugurtha surrendered only some elephants, some cattle, and a small amount of
money.

Bestia returned to Rome, where the common people were outraged at his tender treatment of
Jugurtha; Jugurtha, after all, had massacred thousands of Italians. They accused Bestia and other
nobles of receiving bribes from Jugurtha. Jugurtha was summoned to Rome to give testimony about
bribery, but his testimony was blocked by a tribune whom he had bribed. This further inflamed the
anger of the common people; they suspected that Jugurtha's testimony would have implicated many
nobles. With the Romans hating him and wanting to install a different king as ally in Numidia,
Jugurtha had a rival claimant for the throne killed in Rome; he was then ordered to leave the city.
Upon departing, he exclaimed, "Now that's a city available for a price, and it will fall soon enough,
once it finds a buyer" (Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum XXXV).

The war was resumed. The Romans sent the consul of 110, Postumius Albinus, to Africa to conquer
Jugurtha, but he failed to finish the war, despite his eagerness to do so before his term ended. When
he left Africa to oversee the elections in Rome for the next year, he left his brother Aulus in charge
as acting praetor. The foolish Aulus then allowed the army to be trapped by Jugurtha; to avoid the
massacre of the army, he was forced to agree to a treaty by which his soldiers, after being sent
under the yoke, would evacuate all Numidia within ten days. He too returned to face Rome's angry
citizens, who demanded action against Jugurtha.

The Rise of Marius

The next consul, Metellus, had to restore discipline and confidence to his troops when he arrived in
Africa, for they had been demoralized and humiliated by Jugurtha. Metellus had some success in
the war against Jugurthahe captured towns and won

 
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some battlesbut could not capture Jugurtha. He was assisted in his victories by his legate, Gaius
Marius.

Marius, born to an equestrian family in a village outside the town of Arpinum, had won awards
while serving under Scipio Aemilianus at Numantia and showed himself fearless in carrying out
whatever orders he was given. The common soldiers who served under Marius loved him, for he ate
the same type of food, slept on the same type of bed, and did his share of drudge work alongside
them, such as digging trenches. Despite his lack of illustrious ancestorsto the Roman nobles, Marius
was an outsiderhe decided to campaign for the consulship.

When Marius asked Metellus for permission to go to Rome to pursue his political ambitions,
Metellus (a patrician) at first responded that he should not seek things that he could not get and
should not try to go above his station in life. When Marius asked again, Metellus told him to wait
until after they had finished the business of the state. Marius made his request a third time; Metellus
then told him that quite soonin another twenty-three yearshe could seek the consulship with
Metellus's son, who was then twenty years old. Marius, who was forty-nine years old at the time,
was not amused; Metellus' insult unleashed his latent fury against the arrogant nobles. He started
badmouthing Metellus, especially to the traders, probably so that they would repeat his words the
next time they were in Italy, and he spread the rumor that the war could be finished within a few
days if Metellus were not so fond of power.

Marius was finally allowed to return to Rome, where he won a consulship for 107; he thus became
a novus homo, "new man," a consul who could not boast of an ancestor who had been consul. He
won the consulship because he was not a noble; the common people had seen other nobles waste
Rome's manpower and resources in the war against Jugurtha, and the scandals of bribery left them
even more bitter against the nobles. Here, instead, was a commoner with many awards for valor
who gave speeches in plain Latinthe nobles had long before learned from the Greeks the art of
giving fancy speechesand castigated the nobles for their inefficiency, loose morals, and arrogance
toward the common people. The plebeians found in Marius something of a folk

 
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hero and made him consul. In one of his speeches, Marius told the common people:

"Those men, they're so arrogant, they have it all wrong [in thinking that their noble birth alone warrants
special respect]. Their ancestors left them all the things they could leave them, such as wealth, wax masks,
the memory of their brilliant deeds. They didn't leave them manliness, though, and they couldn't. That's the
only thing that isn't given and received like a gift. They think I'm uncouth and trashy because I don't give an
elegant enough dinner, or I don't have some actor or a cook who's worth more than a slave who manages a
farm. My fellow Romans, I'm happy to admit it, because I got it from my father and other upstanding men
that pretty things are right for women, but work is a man's job, and that having a good reputation is worth
more than money, and that one gets glory not with household objects, but with weapons." (Sallust, Bellum
Iugurthinum LXXXV. 38-40)

Marius returned to Africa to take over Metellus' command. Metellus refused even to meet with
Marius upon his return, for Marius had maligned him in particular, despite the help that Metellus
had given him in advancing in his career.

While drafting troops, Marius disregarded the property qualifications necessary for becoming a
soldier; thus he accepted many men who had no money or property at all. By taking these men as
soldiers, Marius started the development of the professional army in Rome, which eventually had
tremendous consequences in the fall of the republic. These soldiers had no land to return to upon
the end of the war, and the Roman government did not provide any type of pension. As a result,
such soldiers became dedicated not to the republic, but to their generals, who as leaders and patrons
of their soldiers/clients would provide for their retirement. Thus the generals had whole armies to
call upon for help in their political squabbles with the Senate or with other generals.

Marius proved to be an excellent general. He repeatedly defeated Jugurtha in battle, sacked many
towns and a few large cities, and captured large numbers of slaves and immense amounts of loot;
one of the cities he sacked held Jugurtha's treasury. Still, he was unable to catch the elusive
Jugurtha. Finally, when one of Jugurtha's

 
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allies saw that Jugurtha would eventually lose, Marius forced him to give up Jugurtha, dead or
alive. Jugurtha was handed over to Sulla, Marius' quaestor (about whom we will hear more), and
the war with Jugurtha was finished in 105 B.C.

While Marius was finishing off the war against Jugurtha, the Romans were threatened by the
Cimbri and Teutones, Germanic tribes from central Europe that were descending upon Italy. These
tribes had already inflicted enormous defeats upon many patrician consuls and their armies.
Worried, the Romans elected Marius consul in absentia (which was illegal) for 104 and summoned
him to Rome to defend Italy against the Germans. During 104 Marius was lucky, for the Germans
went to Spain instead; the Romans reelected him consul for 103, again wanting an experienced
general to deal with the Germans. During 103 the Germans failed to appear; Marius then managed
to be elected consul again for 102, with the tribune Saturninus promoting his candidature.

In 102 the Germans started their advance on Italy. Marius crossed the Alps to oppose them. For a
long time he avoided battle, which the Germans interpreted as cowardice; while marching past the
Roman camp, the Germans, laughing, asked the Italians if they had any messages for their wives
and daughters, as they would be with them shortly. Once Marius' soldiers started begging him to
allow them to fight the Germans, he let them fight; they won that skirmish, and the next day they
inflicted a crashing defeat on the Germans, capturing or killing a hundred thousand of them at
Aquae Sextiae (modem Aix-en-Provence). The next year, as consul yet again, Marius, with his
colleague Catulus, conquered another part of the German armies at Vercellae, taking sixty thousand
captives. For that victory Marius was called the third founder of Rome.

The Tribunate of Saturninus

Since Marius had taken into his army men who owned no land that they could retire to, he needed
land for his veterans. However gifted a general Marius was, he was not adept at politics; therefore,
he benefited from the help of the tribune Saturninus. Although born to a plebeian family,
Saturninus could boast that one of his

 
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ancestors had been a praetor. While quaestor, Saturninus had been in charge of securing a supply of
grain (the cura annonae), in accordance with the laws passed by the Gracchi. Owing to a shortage
in the grain supply, however, he was removed and replaced by a patrician who relieved the shortage
and received the credit and popularity. Angry at this, Saturninus then turned violently against the
oligarchy of the Senate.

Saturninus was elected tribune for 103 and tried to pass a law offering land in Africa to Marius'
veterans upon their discharge from the army. Another tribune tried to veto the bill; Marius' soldiers,
throwing rocks at him, ran him out of the assembly, and the proposed bill became law. Saturninus
may have passed a grain bill as well; whether or not he did so, just the attempt would have made
him more popular and powerful.

Saturninus was elected tribune again for 100. He proposed another land bill, this one to give
allotments of land in Gaul to the veterans of the German wars and to found colonies in Sicily and
Greece. The bill was unpopular with the common people of Rome; they saw it as too narrow and
too favorable to non-Roman Italians, who were to receive land in the colonies. The Senate objected
to the bill because one of its clauses required that senators swear an oath to abide by the law;
senators who refused to swear would incur a fine and exile. When the bill was being voted upon,
the tribunes who tried to veto it were run off by the soldiers; no one else dared oppose the bill at
risk to his life. Therefore, the bill passed, and Marius' soldiers in the German wars received land in
Gaul.

Many peopleincluding Marius, who had supported himwere now angry at Saturninus for using
violence to get the bill approved. Popular opinion against Saturninus peaked when his friend
Glaucia, who was running for the consulate, had his main rival assassinated. The Senate passed the
consultum ultimum and entrusted Marius with preserving the safety of the state. In the ensuing
violence Saturninus, Glaucia, and their supporters were killed.

 
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Chapter 18
The Italian Wars and the Career of Sulla

By the start of the first century B.C. almost two hundred years had elapsed since Rome had gained
control of peninsular Italy. During those years Roman power had spread over many of the
Mediterranean lands, a phenomenal success that the Romans could not have achieved without the
help of the Latins and the Italian allies.

During that time, however, little change was made to reflect the important role that the Latins and
Italian allies had played. The Latins still could not vote in Rome, and the Italian allies had no rights
at all against the power of Roman magistrates. Consequently the Latinum nomen became less a sign
of honor, and more a stigma of second-class status. The conduct of the Roman magistrates was also
becoming more obnoxious, and this emphasized to Latins and Italians their inferior position with
regard to Romans. In 123 Gaius Gracchus had spoken about this glaring example of the magistrates'
abuse of power:

Recently the consul came to Teanum Sidicinum. His wife said that she wanted to bathe in the men's baths.
The job of driving out those who were using the baths was given to M. Marius, the quaestor of Sidicinum.
The consul's wife announced to him that the baths had not been given up to her quickly enough and that they
were not clean enough. Consequently a stake was put in the forum and M. Marius, the most eminent man in
the city, was led to it. His clothes were ripped off, and he was flogged. When the people of Cales heard about
this, they passed the decree that no one should use the baths when a Roman magistrate was nearby. At
Ferentinum, for the same reason, our praetor ordered the

 
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quaestors to be brought forward: one threw himself from the city wall [committing suicide], and the other
was seized and flogged. (Aulus Gellius X.3)

In 91 a new tribune, Drusus, wanted to propose a law giving Roman citizenship to the Latins and
Italians. He encountered opposition from the Senate, whose members feared encroachments upon
their power; from the Roman people, who did not want to share with the allies the benefits of
Roman citizenship (free grain, land in the colonies, freedom from direct taxes, higher pay in the
army, and shorter term of military service); and even from some of the Italians themselves, who
feared that his plans for creating colonies might take their land. Drusus' legislation for colonies,
which had already been approved, was declared invalid, and he was murdered before he could bring
to a vote his legislation to grant citizenship to the Italians. The knights then coerced the tribunes
into passing a law prosecuting all those who tried to help the Italians get the vote, and many
eminent Romans were driven into exile.

The Italians could find no more patience. The first rebellion of the Italians against Rome had
occurred years earlier at Fregellae, a city long faithful and steadfast to Rome, but pushed too far; it
revolted in 125 B.C. and was quickly squashed. Asculum was the next to rebel; in 91 its citizens
killed a Roman praetor (who had been sent there precisely to preempt a rebellion) and all Romans
residing there. Both sides prepared for war.

The rebel Italian confederacy was concentrated in the south of Italy, among Italy's most formidable
fighting men, the Samnites, Marsi (hence another name for the war, the Marsic War; it is also called
the Social War), Paeligni, and others. Many of their soldiers had fought under Roman commanders.
They chose Corfinium as their capital, and renamed it Italia; they coined their own money, on
which their symbol, the Italian bull, was represented goring the Roman wolf. The Etruscans and
Gauls in the north of Italy did not revolt, nor did the Latins and the Greek cities in the south.

If the Romans had any doubts about the ability of the Italians to wage a successful war without
Roman leadership, they were soon corrected. The leadership of the rebel confederacy proved to be

 
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excellent; the rebels defeated the Roman armies in the first battles, even killing two Roman
commanders. Sulla and Marius helped turn the tide for the Romans, who were aided also by
Pompeius Strabo from Picenum (we will hear more about his son). The rebels had made it clear to
the Senate that the war would be fierce; seeing that Rome could eventually lose, or that a victory
would be too costly, the consul L. Caesar (uncle of Julius, who was then ten years old) passed a law
that gave Roman citizenship to all the Italians who had remained loyal to Rome. The next year, the
Lex Plautia Papiria was passed, giving citizenship to the rebels who stopped fighting. The laws had
the desired effect, and no more towns and cities joined the rebels' side. The vote was further given
to the peoples in Transpadane Gaul.

Some fighting remained, with the Romans eventually gaining control through the victories of Sulla,
who used this opportunity to try to exterminate the Samnites. By 88 B.C. most of the fighting was
finished, and by 84 all free-born Italians had Roman citizenship. One condition of their citizenship
was that they had to adopt Roman government as the model for their local government. The newly
enfranchised were still at a political disadvantage, for few would come to Rome to vote, and even
then their enrollment in the tribes (where they would vote) was manipulated so as to dilute their
voting power.

Sulla Takes Over Rome

Although Italy was peaceful, Rome itself became the scene of much fighting and bloodshed. Sulla
and Marius, despite having served together in successful wars against Jugurtha, the Germans, and
the rebellious Italians, had long nursed a bitter hatred of each other. Marius was envious of Sulla
because Sulla had received much of the credit for the capture of Jugurtha: A statue had been placed
on the Capitol depicting Jugurtha's being handed over to Sulla, not Marius. Sulla, a cultured man
from an aristocratic family, had the lukewarm support of the Senate, even though he had been
raised in poverty and his family had not gained high office in two centuries. Marius, however, who
came from an equestrian family from outside the town Arpinum and who disdained

 
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the arts, was dear to the common people. The differences between the two soon led to bloodshed,
because Marius wanted the command in a war against Mithridates, king of Pontus in Asia Minor,
while the Senate had voted that Sulla, consul of that year (88), should receive the command.

Mithridates had taken advantage of Rome's involvement in the Italian Wars by conquering much of
Asia Minor from the Romans and was busy now with the islands in the Aegean Sea. At the same
time, one of his sons was reducing Thrace and Macedonia. From his base in Athens he was also
inciting revolt in Greece; some Greeks and peoples in Asia Minor looked to him for liberation from
Roman oppression. Worst, he had arranged a massacre of all Italians and Romans living in Asia
Minor; at least eighty thousand Romans and Italians were killed on the appointed day.

To gain the much desired command against Mithridates, Marius sought and received help from the
tribune Sulpicius. Sulpicius had no scruples about using force to get his legislation passed; he
maintained a private army of three thousand swordsmen and used a gang of young knights, whom
he called the Anti-Senate, to intimidate the assemblies. His Anti-Senate forced one assembly to
change the command against Mithridates from Sulla to Marius, and in the ensuing riot the son of
the consul Pompeius and many enemies of Marius were killed; Sulla, his family, and his friends
were forced to flee for safety.

Sulpicius had sent his men to Campania, where the army was located, to bring it to Marius in
Rome, but Sulla arrived first and brought the army back to Rome. This was the first time that
Roman soldiers invaded Rome. Marius did not have time to organize effective opposition, but Sulla
and his soldiers did have to engage in a few hours of street fighting to take the city. During the
fighting, people on rooftops were throwing ceiling tiles down on Sulla and his troops below; Sulla
ordered his soldiers to bum down the buildings, and even threw the first torch himself. Marius fled
to Africa, where he started collecting a force of his veteran soldiers to fight against Sulla.

Sulla now held power in Rome. He had the Senate set a price on the heads of Sulpicius and Marius,
and had Sulpicius hunted down and killed. One story says that one of Sulpicius' slaves killed his

 
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master; Sulla rewarded the slave with his freedom, and then had him thrown from the Tarpeian
Rock for killing his master. Sulla made some changes in the Roman constitution: the Popular
Assembly could no longer legislate, and legislation from the Comitia Centuriata would need the
Senate's approval. Then he went east, to fight Mithridates.

Marius and Cinna Take Over Rome

During Sulla's absence from Rome, Marius returned to Rome with his veterans, where he joined the
new consul, Cinna. They took over Rome and had a reign of terror in which they murdered many
leading members of the aristocratic party as well as Sulla's supporters and family. Metella, Sulla's
wife, fled with their children to Sulla (who was besieging Athens, which supported Mithridates)
and brought him the news that their house in Rome and their villas had been burned down. Marius
soon died, having drunk himself to death.

Sulla, meanwhile, was working to deprive Mithridates of his base in Greece. To do this he had to
conquer Athens, which was obstinate in its support of Mithridates; Sulla captured Athens in 86 B.C.
and let his soldiers loot and kill in Athens as they wished, for during the siege the Athenian tyrant
Aristion had shouted obscene jokes about Metella to him, complete with gestures. Sulla then joined
forces with the governor of Macedonia, and together they defeated Mithridates' troops in Greece in
two separate battles. Sulla and Mithridates met in the Troad, in the northwest corner of Asia Minor,
and concluded a treaty, which was lenient to the Asian king. Sulla's soldiers were angry that
Mithridates, after organizing the massacre of many thousands of Italians, should even retain his
kingdom, but Sulla was too preoccupied with problems in Rome to spend much time bickering with
Mithridates.

Sulla Retakes Rome

While Sulla was in Greece and the East, his enemies in Rome had solidified their opposition to him,
so that Sulla had to fight to return to Italy in 83 B.C. In this he was helped by his lieutenants

 
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Crassus and Pompey. Then only twenty-three years old, Pompey on his own initiative had raised a
force of more than six thousand armed men and joined forces with Sulla. Sulla and his allies
defeated the consul Norbanus and Marius' son in battle. The opposition that Sulla faced from the
consul Scipio was easily removed when Scipio's troops deserted him for Sulla. Sulla again defeated
the younger Marius, who committed suicide; he then almost lost his last battle outside of Rome, at
the Colline Gate. Crassus saved the battle for Sulla, who had had to take refuge in his camp.

Having gained control over Rome, Sulla killed his enemies with a vengeance that was even more
bloodthirsty than that of Marius; his victims were mostly equites and populates. When someone
complained to him that people did not like living in uncertainty over whether or not executioners
would be coming after them, Sulla responded by drawing up proscription lists: A reward of two
talents was given to the person bringing Sulla the head of a person whose name was on the list.
Sulla's victims in the proscriptions are estimated to have numbered around six thousand.

Sulla, although fierce in his revenge, nonetheless saw that Roman government needed to be
reformed. He had himself appointed ''dictator for the sake of reestablishing the republic," with
immunity for his past acts and the power of life and death over others. Then he began to reform the
republic. To the Senate, which needed new men after all the recent executions and wars, and whose
quality of leadership had, to say the least, stagnated, Sulla added three hundred new members, all
from the equestrian class; he also hoped that the mix of the two orders, patricians and equestrians,
would lessen future conflict between them. He probably also had in mind the unification of Italy,
for many of the new members were non-Roman Italians. Another reform put certain restrictions in
the cursus honorum: The minimum age for consuls was now forty-two; for praetors, thirty-nine;
and for quaestors, thirty. He further passed the requirement that a man must wait ten years between
his first and second consulship; the same applied to tribunes. Other changes voided the tribunes'
unlimited ability to legislate in the Popular Assembly and put restrictions on the tribunate: A man
becoming tribune was now

 
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barred from further political office. He restored the law courts to senatorial control. After making
those reforms and others, L. Cornelius Sulla Felix (Lucky) retired in 79 B.C., after having been
dictator for three years. He died the next year.

Lepidus and Sertorius

Sulla's reforms and the restored senatorial rule were immediately challenged in the year after his
retirement. The two consuls elected for 78 were Catulus, who was pro-Sulla and pro-Senate, and
Lepidus (father of the future triumvir), who was opposed to Sulla and the Senate. Through their
year in office, the two argued so frequently and vehementlyLepidus wanted to repeal Sulla's
reforms, and Catulus did notthat the Senate compelled the two to swear that they would not resort
to violence against each other.

Once Lepidus learned what province he would govern as a proconsul, he left Rome before
supervising elections for the next year. He enlisted soldiers to take to the province he was to
govern, but never actually left Italy; instead, he stayed in northern Italy with his soldiers. The
Senate eventually called him back to Rome to oversee the elections; Lepidus returned, but he came
leading his army against Rome and demanding a second consulship for himself and the restoration
of the tribune's powers.

The Senate passed the ultimum consultum and called upon Pompey for extra help. Catulus defeated
Lepidus outside Rome, while in Mutina Pompey defeated and (despite having given a promise of
safety) killed Brutus, Lepidus' lieutenant (and father of Julius Caesar's murderer). Lepidus soon
died, and his soldiers fled to Spain.

The challenge that Lepidus posed to senatorial authority in Rome was small, because he was
inexperienced. All too soon the Senate learned what problems a brilliant opponent could cause.
Their teacher was named Sertorius.

Sertorius, like Lepidus, was opposed to Sulla and oligarchic government. He had given his support
to Cinna and Marius, but disagreed with them over the murders of their political enemies. When
Sulla returned to Italy after conquering Mithridates, and
 
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was winning his battles against his Roman enemies, Sertorius went to Spain as governor, to hold
out against Sulla and his supporters.

In Spain Sertorius found the local people bitterly resentful of Roman rule. He managed to make
himself popular among the Spanish by ruling fairly and reducing taxes. Nonetheless, after
becoming dictator, Sulla sent one of his supporters to govern Spain in Sertorius' place. Sertorius
and the replacement governor fought a battle for control over Spain; Sertorius lost, and fled. After
spending some time with pirates in Africa, he was invited by the natives of Lusitania (modern
Portugal) to command their army. It did not take him long to win the hearts and minds of the people
with his fair dealing and his magical fawn.

It happened that a hunter had scared a doe, which had just given birth to a milk-white fawn. The
doe escaped from the hunter, but left the fawn alive for the hunter to capture. The hunter gave the
fawn to Sertorius; soon he had the fawn so well trained and accustomed to him that it would follow
him, show no fear of people and crowdseven in the middle of the campand come when he called.
Sertorius convinced the local people that the fawn was a gift from the goddess Diana and that it told
him secrets. For example, he would receive secret scouting reports and tell the people that the fawn
had told him; with that divinely given information, he would then conquer the enemy. Or he would
secretly hear of a victory by one of his lieutenants; he would then crown the fawn with garlands and
tell the people that good news was on the waynews that eventually arrived. The people believed he
was some kind of god and followed his every command.

Sertorius did not disappoint the people: His brilliant strategies and use of guerrilla warfare led him
and his small army of fewer than ten thousand to win battles against overwhelming odds. He
defeated many Roman commanders and inflicted many defeats on Metellus (son of the Metellus
who had fought against Jugurtha), the latest Roman to be sent against him. Desperate, the Senate
ordered Pompey (who, wanting another command, hesitated to disband his army after defeating
Brutus) to go help Metellus against Sertorius.

About the same time that Pompey arrived in Spain to help Metellus, the remnants of Lepidus' army,
twenty thousand soldiers

 
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led by one Perperna, arrived too and joined Sertorius' side; Sertorius now had a large army, and all
the Spanish tribes from the Ebro River to the Pyrenees Mountains were on his side.

Sertorius greeted Pompey by inflicting a humiliating defeat. Pompey was supposed to protect an
allied town, which Sertorius was besieging; Sertorius tricked Pompey, so that Pompey could neither
attack Sertorius nor help the allied townhe could only watch as Sertorius besieged the town, let the
inhabitants escape alive, and then burned down the town. In another battle, Pompey's forces were
defeated, and Pompey himself narrowly escaped being captured by leaving his horsewith its golden
ornaments and expensive equipmentto the enemy. The morning after another battle, as Pompey was
wounded and his forces scattered, Sertorius readied his forces for the final blow to Pompey when
he learned that Metellus had arrived to help Pompey. "If that old woman [Metellus] had not been
there, I would have spanked that child [Pompey] before sending him off to Rome!" said Sertorius
(Plutarch, Sertorius XIX).

Pompey, desperate, sent a letter to the Senate, demanding more money and soldiers; otherwise, he
wrote, he would leave Spain. Rumors in Rome said that Sertorius would arrive in Italy before
Pompey did. Metellus, also desperate, offered a reward of a hundred talents of silver and twenty
thousand iugera (twelve thousand acres) of land to the person who killed Sertorius. Sertorius had
even been invited by Mithridates to enter into an alliance against Rome, yet Sertorius did not like
the provision that if victorious, Mithridates would gain the Roman province of Asia; Sertorius
thought that would be dishonorable to himself.

Despite his success, Sertorius too was in trouble. His fawn disappeared, and he lost a few
skirmishes; his hold on the people was slipping, even after the fawn had returned. When Pompey's
reinforcementstwo legions and a large sum of moneyarrived from Rome, the morale of the Spanish
plummeted. They had been fighting Rome for more than a century. Rome's resources seemed
infinite. As their morale collapsed, Sertorius became more imperious, which caused more
resentment among his followers. His very successes im military and political matters filled some of
his officers with envy.

 
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A conspiracy was formed against his life. His officer Perperna assassinated him and took over the
command. But Perperna was no match for Pompey, who soon returned to Rome, victorious.

Spartacus

Rome soon faced another rebellion, this one in Italy. In 73 B.C. a Thracian gladiator named
Spartacus led other gladiators in Capua to revolt, and soon many other slaves joined him. The slave
army grew so largenumbering seventy thousand menthat Spartacus was able to divide it into three
different bodies. Spartacus had the realistic goal not of sacking Rome but simply of making it to the
Alps and from there escaping to freedom. Under his leadership the slave army won battles over
three different Roman commanders, even capturing one praetor's camp and another praetor's lictors
and horse. Eventually the slave troops defeated a consular army of ten thousand soldiers.

Finally, the Senate put Crassus (Sulla's former lieutenant) in charge of the Roman forces, and he
won some battles against the slave army. Crassus was eager to complete the war before Pompey
arrived from Spain, for he feared that Pompey would get the credit for the victory. Crassus won the
last major battle with Spartacus' army, but the fugitives from Spartacus' forces fell in with Pompey's
army, which destroyed them; six thousand of the Spartacans who survived were crucified along the
Appian Way, to serve as a warning to other slaves. Pompey sent a letter to the Senate with the
information that while Crassus had defeated the slave army in a pitched battle, Pompey had "ripped
the heart and soul out of the rebellion" (Plutarch, Crassus XI). What Crassus had feared became
true: Pompey got the credit for the defeat of Spartacus.

 
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Chapter 19
The Rise of Pompey

Upon his return to Rome in 71 B.C., after destroying the remnants of Spartacus' army, Pompey did
not immediately disband his army; he simply camped his troops outside of Rome while he asked
the Senate for a triumph and for permission to run for the consulship of 70. Since people were
worried about his intentions, Pompey replied that he would disband his army as soon as he had
celebrated his triumph. Pompey had to ask the Senate for permission to run for the consulship
because he had not gone through the cursus honorum: to run for the consulship, one had to have
served as a quaestor and praetor, and the minimum age was forty-two.

In his thirty-six years of life, Pompey had not been elected to any of the offices in the cursus
honorum. He had fought in his father's army during the Social War, and after his father's death, he
had gathered an army of his father's ex-supporters and joined Sulla. Sulla sent Pompey to fight in
Gaul, Sicily, and Africa, where he earned the title imperator. Upon Pompey's return to Italy, Sulla
himself rode out to meet Pompey along the way to Rome, and even addressed him as magnus
(great), yet at first he refused Pompey's request for a triumph, citing a law that the man holding the
triumph must be at least a consul or praetor. Pompey reminded Sulla that people worship the rising,
not the setting, sun. Pompey was the first knight to be granted a triumph. He wanted his chariot to
be pulled by four elephants, instead of horses, but had to abandon that plan when it was discovered
that the elephants would not fit through the city gates. After Sulla's death, Pompey fought Brutus,
Lepidus' lieutenant (and father of Caesar's future

 
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assassin); Sertorius in Spain; and the remains of the Spartacan slave army. Pompey had not been
elected quaestor, and by Sulla's reforms he was not eligible even for the Senate; Sulla had probably
had just such cases in mind when he passed his reforms.

The Senate hoped to play Crassus and Pompey off against each other, but Crassus, who likewise
had not disbanded his army, overcame his suspicion and hatred of Pompey for taking the credit for
the victory over Spartacus and took Pompey's side. The Senate, lacking an army, gave in and
allowed Pompey to run for the consulship. Crassus and Pompey were then elected consuls for 70.
Pompey, who did not even know the rules of procedure in the Senate, had the scholar Varro write
him a handbook on how to conduct Senate meetings.

Although they were former partisans of the pro-Senate Sulla, Pompey and Crassus immediately
restored to the tribunes the power that Sulla had abolished. Now the tribunes could again pass
legislation in the popular assemblies, and the tribunate was no longer a deadend office. Why did
they restore the tribunate? They wanted to make themselves popular with the common people, and
they wanted the power that came from control of the Popular Assembly; perhaps they also
understood that the Senate, after being pressured to allow Pompey to run for the consulate, would
not be well disposed toward them in the future and would find ways of getting revenge.

The tribunate performed the valuable function of protecting the common people from the
magistrates' abuse of power and ensuring that they had a voice in the government. Since the
Gracchi, however, the tribunate had become more of a legislative organ, a function for which it was
not originally designed. The tribunes led the Popular Assembly; the decisions it passed, called
plebiscita, automatically became law, regardless of the Senate. The people attending meetings of
the Popular Assembly did not have the wide scope of vision necessary for deciding important
issues. Most lacked an elementary education, had no knowledge of or experience in foreign affairs,
no knowledge of law, no experience in politics and the machinery of government. Many of those
who voted in the Popular Assembly were Rome's unemployed and idle masses, who lived from day
to day on subsidized grain: "the scum

 
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of Romulus," the writer Cicero called them in one of his letters. The Popular Assembly had voted
against giving the socii Italici the right to vote because they did not want to share the privileges of
Roman citizenship with non-Romans; only a threat to Rome's existence convinced the mob to do
what was right. Led by an unscrupulous tribune, like Sulpicius or Saturninus, the Popular Assembly
could ruin Rome. We will see later what trouble an evil tribune like Clodius could cause in Rome.

Other than restoring the tribunate, Pompey and Crassus accomplished little during their consulship.
The rivalry and hostility between them led to inaction and suspicion. At the end of their year in
office, they had a public reconciliation.

War Against the Pirates

Pompey soon benefited from restoring the tribunate, for a tribune friendly to him created an
extraordinary command for him against the pirates who now ruled the Mediterranean Sea. Their
forces are said to have numbered more than a thousand ships, with which they are said to have
sacked more than four hundred cities. They even raided and sacked Ostia, the port of Rome, in 68
B.C. Pirates would capture people and sell them into slavery or else hold them for ransom; they
captured two praetors and their lictors, and the daughter of a former consul. One of their most
famous victims was the young G. Julius Caesar, whom they held for a ransom of twenty talents. He
is said to have ridiculed them, saying that they obviously did not know whom they were holding,
and he volunteered to pay fifty talents. Once his ransom was paid and he was released, he gathered
together some friends, returned to the pirates who had held him hostage, and crucified them all.

Since merchants feared to sail the seas, the price of grain skyrocketed; led by the tribune Gabinius,
the Romans rightly voted for an enormous effort to clear the Mediterranean of pirates, but wrongly
voted the command to Pompey. The command of the war against the pirates encompassed great
powers: three years' command over the entire Mediterranean, even fifty miles inland into the many
provinces, with the commander having equal authority with the governors of those provinces; six
thousand talents for

 
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expenses; two hundred ships; and as many men as necessary. The terms of the command were later
enlarged to five hundred ships, one hundred twenty thousand men, five thousand cavalry, and
twenty-four legati with praetorian power. Once the voters entrusted this huge command to Pompey,
the price of grain plummeted; people said that just the name Pompey had ended the pirates'
domination.

With such a force at his disposal, an unscrupulous commander could have devastated Italy and
Rome. Rome was lucky: Pompey was not unscrupulous, only vain. When he addressed the Senate
after being given the command, he admonished the senators for overloading him with onerous
duties: "Do not conclude that I am still a young man, and don't simply add it up as so many years
since I was born. If you count up the armies that I have led, and the risks that I have run, you will
find that they are more than my years. Consequently you will be more ready to believe that I can't
still be steadfast through the labors and stress" (Dio XXXVI.25).

In spite of the stress, Pompey yielded to the demands of his country and began his operations
against the pirates. Within three months he had cleared the Mediterranean of pirates. His forces had
seized ninety warships with bronze prows and had captured more than twenty thousand pirates.
Instead of executing the prisoners, Pompey settled them inland in underpopulated areas.

War Against Mithridates

The tribune G. Manilius, with help from Cicero (whose speech on the matter survives) and Caesar,
next helped Pompey by be-stowing upon him another command as well. Mithridates, king of
Pontus, with whom Sulla had reached a hasty peace in 83 B.C., was again stirring up trouble in Asia.
He was not breaking any treaties with Rome in doing so, however, for the Senate had never ratified
Sulla's treaty with him. Mithridates now occupied most of Asia Minor, and the people of the Roman
province were glad to see him come, for he was rescuing them from oppression by the publicani.
So rapacious were these tax-collectors that local people are said to have had to sell their adolescent
children in order to pay their creditors.

 
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By 67 B.C. the Roman general Lucullus had had some success against Mithridates, and by cutting
taxes and outlawing exorbitant interest rates he managed to regain the local peoples' allegiance to
Rome. Lucullus was not allowed to complete the victory over Mithridates, however, for although he
was loved by the local peoples for his fairness and justice, he had made himself very unpopular
with the equites and his own soldiers. The knights disliked him because he protected the provincials
from their depredations, and his soldiers hated his harsh authority and the fact that he had kept them
active during two winters. Lucullus' soldiers even mutinied and not infrequently refused to follow
orders. Therefore, the equites worked to have the command against Mithridates transferred to
Pompey, who, they supposed, would let them squeeze as much tax money from the provincials as
they could. The bill passed, and Pompey took over the command against Mithridates. He is said to
have remarked, upon hearing that he had been given the command, "Damn these neverending
laborsit's just one thing after another! It would be so much better if I were a nobody, if I can never
stop leading armies and, free from others' envy and jealousy, just live with my wife in the country"
(Plutarch, Pompey XXX.6). Of course, Pompey was actually thrilled to be given the command.

Pompey replaced Lucullus in Asia and, to spite him, deliberately changed all the arrangements that
he had made; upon which Lucullus called Pompey some type of crazy vulture, for he always
swooped down upon nearly dead victims to claim the prize and glory. Although he too defeated
Mithridates in many battles, like Lucullus Pompey could not capture the slippery Pontic king.
Pompey chased Mithridates all over Asia before Mithridates finally committed suicide in 63 B.C.
Pompey had received vast powers to settle affairs in the East after conquering Mithridates; his
settlement of Asia created the new Roman provinces of Syria, Judaea, Bithynia, and Pontus. Rome
already had the provinces of Asia and Cilicia, and client kings in Armenia and Cappadocia. The
triumph that Pompey celebrated upon his return to Rome lasted for two days, which was not long
enough for the whole procession, and marked the first time in Roman history when a general had
had triumphs for victories in three different continents. Pompey had

 
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celebrated triumphs for victories in Africa (Libya, as Sulla's lieutenant), Europe (against Sertorius
in Spain), and now Asia.

The Conspiracy of Catiline

While Pompey was fighting Mithridates, the situation in Rome was tense because of the political
ambitions of L. Sergius Catilina (called by the English form of his name, Catiline). Of Catiline's
early career, we know this: As a lieutenant under Sulla, Catiline killed his own brother-in-law and
then asked Sulla to add the name to one of the proscription lists, as if the man were still alive.
When a woman whom he fell in love with refused to marry him because she feared his full-grown
son, Catiline killed his son. Supposedly he had also had relations with a Vestal Virgin. After serving
as praetor in Africa, he was brought to trial for extortion, but escaped prosecution with the help of
the prosecutor, P. Clodius Pulcher, whose name will be mentioned again when the topic is
corruption.

Catiline had failed in his bids to become consul for 65 and 64 B.C. As a patrician, he felt it both his
right to hold a consulship and a pollution of the consulate when a nonpatrician was elected consul.
After losing twice, Catiline was urgent in his third attempt to become consul, for the year 63. His
urgency was increased by his penchant for living beyond his means; he was hopelessly in debt. To
increase his chances of being elected consul for 63, Catiline ran on the platform of novae tabulae
(cancellation of debts) and redistribution of land. The severely impoverished men who, like
Catiline, lived beyond their means and had spent their inheritances, gravitated to him and his
revolutionary program: They included impoverished nobles, young men of the equestrian class, and
those of Sulla's ex-soldiers who had squandered what they had earned during their military careers.
Among his followers were the consul of 71, Lentulus, who had been expelled from the Senate in 70
but elected praetor again for 63, and Publius Sulla, a relative of the dead dicator.

Quintus Curius, one of Catiline's supporters, told his mistress Fulvia about Catiline's plans not just
for novae tabulae, but also for proscription of the rich and their estates; alarmed, Fulvia talked,

 
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and rumors spread. The rumors of Catiline's revolutionary program alarmed the nobles and the
equites, who were most often the creditors, and they succeeded in getting two safe candidates
elected consuls in 63. They were G. Antonius and a novus homo of equestrian family from
Arpinum, M. Tullius Cicero.

Cicero had made his first real splash in Roman politics in 70 B.C. by successfully prosecuting Verres,
a governor of Sicily, on charges of extortion of his province. Cicero managed to win the case
despite the machinations of Verres' friends; failing to delay the case until 69, when it would be tried
under a friendly praetor, they nonetheless managed to delay the beginning of the case until the very
last day of the term of the praetor Manius Acilius Glabrio, who apparently was incorruptible (we
can assume that attempts at his integrity had been made). Seeing that time was short, Cicero
skipped the customary opening speeches and immediately called his witnesses. His case was so
overwhelming that Verres did not even bother to defend himself but after only one day of the trial
went straight into exile. Cicero differed from other consuls in that he was not primarily a military
man. Although he had served as quaestor, aedile, and praetor, and had won honors and a good
reputation both in the military and in civilian life, Cicero based his future in Roman politics on his
knowledge of law and on his eloquencethat is, his ability to compose and express logical and
sensible arguments in language pleasing to the audience's ear, the goal being to persuade his
audience to follow his recommendations. After winning his case against Verres and publishing the
speeches against himspeeches he had never actually deliveredCicero was acknowledged the best
orator in Rome and became known as someone who espoused the conservative values of Italy
outside Rome and who supported the rule of the Senate against the populares.

In 63, after being delayed because of threats from Catiline, elections were held for 62; Catiline
again failed to win the consulate; he was by now a desperate man. He now formed a plan to
assassinate Cicero. It was the custom that patrons would open their doors in the morning to receive
their guests and clients, who would come to see what assignments the patron had for them;
Catiline's accomplices planned to wait outside Cicero's house and

 
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kill him when he opened his doors the next morning. Gaius Curius, however, became alarmed for
Cicero and told Fulvia, who warned Cicero; Cicero foiled his would-be assassins by barring his
doors.

Cicero then informed the Senate of the danger, and the Senate passed the ultimum consultum.
Cicero lacked hard evidence, however; he could only convene the Senate and deliver his ''First
Oration against Catiline" (still a staple of third- and fourth-year Latin classes), in which he ordered
Catiline to leave the city. To further dramatize the danger, Cicero made sure that everyone saw the
breastplate that he was wearing under his toga. Without hard evidence, Cicero and the Senate could
do little more than post guards, raise an army, and offer rewards for information. After exclaiming
to the Senate that he would extinguish the fires of his own destruction with the ruin of the city,
Catiline left Rome for his army in its camp in Etruria and had lictors carry fasces before him, as if
he were a consul or proconsul.

Catiline proceeded with his plans, which now encompassed open war and chaos. This was his plan
for seizing power:

Statilius and Gabinius, with a large band of men, were all ordered to set fire to twelve important parts of the
city at the same time, so that during the ensuing confusion they could more easily get at the consul and
others whom they were plotting against. Cethegus, meanwhile, would wait at Cicero's door and attack him
while someone else killed the other consul. The young men in the conspiracymost of whom were from the
noble familieswould kill their parents. When all the Romans were reeling from the slaughter and fire, the
conspirators would dash out to Catiline. (Sallust, Bellum Catilinae XLIII)

One source reports that they planned also to kidnap Pompey's children and hold them for ransom.
They would have needed something extraordinary to control Pompey the Great when he returned to
Rome with the army that had just conquered Mithridates.

The hard evidence that Cicero needed soon came. Catiline was trying incite rebellion in different
parts of Italy and accordingly

 
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approached a Gallic tribe called the Allobroges, who had many reasons to hate Roman rule. They
decided to reject Catiline's offers to join the conspiracy, and instead they told Cicero of Catiline's
offer. Cicero asked the Gauls to play along with Catiline and to fool him into giving them more
information about the conspiracy. The Gauls did as they were asked: They pretended to be
interested in joining the conspiracy and asked Catiline and the other conspirators for written
instructions of what they were to do and written promises of what they would gain, so they could
discuss the proposal with other members of their tribe. The Gauls dutifully handed the letter over to
Cicero's agents.

Some of the conspirators were then caught. Upon interrogation, they gave more information about
the conspiracy. Cicero had the captured conspirators executed; among them was Lentulus, who had
been consul in 71 and was praetor this year. The praetor Metellus Celer then defeated Catiline's
forces in Etruria; Catiline himself was killed in the hard-fought battle.

Cicero had saved Rome from Catiline, and the victory was importantso important, in fact, that
Cicero reminded the Romans of his heroism in practically every speech he gave for the rest of his
life. He, a novus homo without a great army to back him, had conquered Catiline without disrupting
life in the city and without causing a huge uproar. For a while he managed to unite the nobles,
equites, and common people behind him in defeating Catiline; for that he was given the honorary
title pater patriae (father of his country). After this victory, Cicero proposed a program that he
called concordia ordinum (harmony among the classes), by which he hoped to appease the different
classes in the city, so that the republic would survive. His program failed, but it did so for reasons
beyond his control. He also later paid for that victory over Catiline; despite the senatus ultimum
consultum, which was supposed to give him more power to save the state, years later he was sent
into exile for having executed Roman citizens who had not had an appeal. In fact, on the last day of
his term, Cicero was prevented by the tribunes from swearing the oath, customary for a departing
consul, that he had not violated the constitution. Instead, Cicero swore that he had saved his
country.

 
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The Bona Dea Scandal

The following year, 62 B.C., a scandal broke out among the nobility in Rome that had political
repercussions a few years later. It was the custom to have an annual celebration of the Bona Dea
(Good Goddess, a goddess probably of health), who was worshipped exclusively by women. The
celebration was hosted by the wife of one of the consuls or praetors, with all male creatures (human
and animal) leaving the house during the celebration. That year, it was hosted by Pompeia, the wife
of Julius Caesar, who was a praetor. The noble P. Clodius Pulcher (Catiline's "prosecutor"), who
was in love with Pompeia, dressed himself as a female flute player and had himself brought into the
house, to have a tryst with her.

Clodius was discovered inside the house and eventually was put on trial for sacrilege. Caesar
refused to give testimony against Clodius, but he did divorce his wife, saying, "Members of my
family must be as free of suspicion as of accusations" (Plutarch, Caesar X). Cicero did give
evidence against Clodius and wrecked his alibi. Nonetheless, Clodius was acquitted because, some
say, Crassus had bribed the jury. Clodius did not forget the fact that Cicero had given testimony
against him.

 
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Chapter 20
The First Triumvirate

While Pompey was in the East fighting Mithridates in 65 B.C., the Romansand especially
Crassusworried: Would Pompey return to Rome as Sulla had? Crassus busied himself with finding a
military command for support. The first opportunity was a vacancy in the praetors in Spain. Crassus
managed to have Gn. Calpurnius Piso sent as a replacement; Piso hated Pompey. But Crassus' hopes
for military support from Piso were dashed when he was killed by the Spanish, who could not bear
his arrogance, cruelty, and injustice. Next, Crassus tried to have Egypt annexed as a province, with
himself as governor; there he would have a small army and an almost impregnable city, along with
the treasury of the Ptolemies. But again he was disappointed. Then Crassus tried to enfranchise
Transpadane Gaul, so the Gauls there would be his clients and thus more eager to support him in a
showdown with Pompey. That too failed. Last, Crassus contributed money to Catiline's bid for the
consulship in 65, so he would have a friend with an army. Catiline was not elected consul. Crassus
was so worried that when Pompey was approaching Italy, he packed up his family and left Rome.

Crassus' fears turned out to be unwarranted. Pompey returned in 62 and immediately disbanded his
army; he also divorced his wife Mucia who, according to rumor, had been having an affair during
his absence from Rome. His triumph lasted for two days. He had captured no fewer than a thousand
fortified places, nearly nine hundred cities, and eight hundred pirate ships, and he was bringing
twenty thousand talents of gold and silver to the public treasury, in addition to the pay and rewards
that he had already

 
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given his soldiers. Pompey was now truly deserving of his nickname Magnus (the Great).

The Senate too had been afraid of Pompey's return, but in fact he attempted nothing revolutionary.
Pompey had only two requests of the Senate: that it ratify his settlement of the East and that it
approve a bill to give his veterans land. Since Pompey had enriched the treasury with millions, his
requests were not excessive or unrealistic.

Lucullus, whom Pompey had replaced in the command against Mithridates and whose arrangements
he had spitefully overturned, now got his revenge. Helped by the consul Metellus, brother of
Pompey's ex-wife Mucia, Lucullus led the Senate against Pompey's requests, and the tribunes
vetoed the laws that Pompey's associates brought before the Comitia Centuriata. Pompey's enemies
in the Senate won: Pompey's veterans did not get their land, and his settlement of the East was not
ratified. Pompey is said then to have regretted disbanding his army and leaving himself vulnerable
to his enemies.

Pompey was soon approached by Julius Caesar, who saw in the frustrated general an excellent
resource for countering his own Optimate enemies in the Senate. Caesar had been praetor in Spain
in 61 and hoped to be elected consul for 59; he would need all the allies he could get if he wished to
have an effective consulship, for many in the Senate thought him dangerous and would doubtless
oppose him, as they had Pompey. Consequently Caesar entered into secret negotiations with
Pompey, Crassus (the richest man in Rome), and Cicero (who now was becoming nervous over
threats from Clodius) about an alliance by which they would work on each other's behalf against the
senatorial opposition. With Pompey's fame and loyal soldiers, Crassus' immeasurable wealth (he
once said that a man was not truly wealthy unless he could support an army of forty thousand from
his own funds), Cicero's eloquence and respectability, and Caesar's consular power, the four would
be unstoppable. Cicero did not join him in the alliance, but Pompey and Crassus did. The alliance,
which we call the First Triumvirate, was cemented by the marriage of Caesar's daughter Julia to
Pompey in April 59, the year of her father's first consulship.

 
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Julius Caesar's First Consulship

Caesar had not had good relations with the Optimates and nobles in the Senate. Early in his career
he had declared himself a popularis. His aunt Julia had been Marius' wife; Caesar himself, at the
age of eighteen, had at considerable risk to his own life defied Sulla's orders to divorce his wife
Cornelia, Cinna's daughter. Furthermore, at the funeral of his aunt Julia, Caesar had dared to have
the family masks of Marius brought out and worn although they had not been seen in years, owing
to fear of the Sullan party. (The masks, called imagines, were wax masks of Romans who had held
curule officethat is, any office that imparted imperiumand were displayed in the family's atrium and
brought out at funerals.) Sulla had considered adding Caesar's name to his proscription lists, but did
not do so; he just muttered to his fellow aristocrats (who persuaded him not to have Caesar killed)
that in Caesar there were many Mariuses.

During his aedileship, Caesar got himself tremendously in debt by entertaining the public with
lavish games320 pairs of gladiators, banquets, and theatrical performancesto win the love of the
common people. So avid was he to win the position of pontifex maximus in 63 B.C. that he vowed to
outspend all other candidates in their bribery; when leaving the house on election day, he told his
mother that he would return as pontifex maximus, or not at all, meaning that he would not be able
to face the creditors whose loans had financed the bribery, unless he won. So heavily in debt was
Caesar because of his political ambitions and expensive lifestyle that in 62, when he was leaving
Rome for his praetorship in Spain, his creditors prevented him from leaving until Crassus posted
bond for him and provided security for his debts.

Caesar spent the year 61 as a praetor in Spain (Hispania Ulterior), where he conquered the tribes of
the Lusitani and the Callaeci, earned the title imperator, and acquired a great deal of money. Upon
his return from Spain, he wanted both to have a triumph for his military victories and to run for the
consulship of 59. According to the rules, he could not do both, since a general awaiting a triumph
had to wait outside the pomerium with his army, while a candidate had to be present in Rome. Cato,
a strict

 
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constitutionalist and great-grandson of Cato the Censor, kept the proposal from coming to a vote by
speaking the entire day; Caesar then abandoned his show of glow so he could seek real power.
Caesar had also been suspected of being a member of the conspiracy of Catiline, but supposedly
Cicero, not believing that Caesar was a member, saved his life.

For all these reasons the nobles were suspicious of Caesar. He restored the statues of Marius to the
Forum, an act that led one noble to exclaim that Caesar was aiming at supreme power in Rome.
Supposedly, while he and some of his friends were passing through a squalid and desolate village in
the Alps, and his friends were joking that even in such a small and insignificant village men vied in
cutthroat contests for political power, Caesar mentioned that he would rather be first man there than
second man in Rome. Another story says that Caesar, seeing a bust of Alexander the Great in a
temple of Hercules, suddenly groaned deeply, exclaiming that at the same age in his life, Alexander
had already conquered the known world while he himself had done nothing of importance.

Upon assuming office, Caesar brought before the Senate the first of his many proposals, one aimed
at giving land to Pompey's veterans and ratifying Pompey's settlement of the East. It was
immediately obstructed by his political enemies, with Cato (again) filibustering the bill. Caesar had
Cato arrested and taken to jail; when many senators, in protest, joined Cato in jail, Caesar had him
set free, realizing that Cato was more dangerous in jail than on the rostrum. Since the Senate was
blocking him, Caesar took his bills to the Popular Assembly instead. When his colleague
BibulusCato's son-in-law and a longstanding, bitter enemy of Caesartried to obstruct him there, the
crowd attacked Bibulus, broke his fasces, and dumped a basket of dung on his head; thereafter
Bibulus spent most of his consulate at home, "watching the heavens," and declaring that public
business could not be conducted because of bad omens. Consequently, all of Caesar's bills were
technically invalid.

While addressing the Popular Assembly about the land bills, Caesar had Pompey standing on one
side and Crassus on the other. Caesar asked the people if they liked his proposals; when they
shouted yes, he asked them for help in getting the proposals passed.

 
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Pompey then added that if the Senate brought a sword against them, he would bring "a shield and a
sword." Pompey also packed the assembly with his soldiers to intimidate those voting. Caesar's
proposal granting land to Pompey's veterans, and another law granting more protection to the
provincials against the publicani, were passed. He regained the good will of the publicani by
cutting the tax contracts by a third when they claimed that they had overestimated how much they
could collect in taxes from Asia and stood to lose money; this actessentially a huge bribe for the
publicaniwas part of Crassus' reward for joining him and Pompey.

For Caesar, the most important law that he got passed concerned the allotment of proconsular
provinces for the year 58. In 61 the Optimates had seen that Caesar would probably win the
consulship for 59, and to thwart his ambitions, they voted that the consuls of 59, as proconsuls in
58, should be in charge of rounding up cattle and keeping the forests clear of robbersnot exactly the
military command that Caesar had in mind. So Caesar passed a law that disregarded the Senate's
allotment of provinces during his proconsulship and gave him the governorship of Cisalpine Gaul
and Illyricum with three legions for five years; when the governor of Transalpine Gaul died shortly
after, Pompey managed to have Caesar appointed governor of that province as well.

The triumvirate had accomplished its goals: Pompey's veterans got their land and his settlement of
the East was ratified; Caesar got an army and the opportunity to use it; and Crassus got the one-
third remission on taxes in Asia for the benefit of the publicani. Yet the price paid was heavy, for
the three men were now deeply hated by Romans and Italians for their domination of politics and
their use of force in getting their laws passed. This hatred affected Pompey in particular, for he
wanted to be loved by the people; at one performance in the theater an actor turned to face Pompey
when he spoke the line, "Nostra miseria tu es magnus" (You are a great part of our misery).
Undoubtedly the actor stressed the word magnus, and the audience forced him to repeat it countless
times (Cicero, Ep. ad Att. II.19.3). On another occasion, Caesar was booed when he entered the
theater, while Curio, one of the triumvirate's staunch opponents, entered the theater to great
applause.

 
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From his house, Bibulus was earning great glory by opposing the triumvirs' regnum or dominatio.
A joke of the day said that the laws had been passed in the consulship of Julius and Caesar. The
scholar Varro expressed his opposition to the three by writing a political pamphlet entitled The
Three-headed Monster. In November of that year Cicero wrote to his friend Atticus, "I have
nothing to write you about the republic, except the deepest hatred of all people against those who
control everything. There is no hope of a change; but, as you easily see, their hatred bothers
Pompey and he regrets it. I don't quite see how this will end, but it certainly seems that things will
erupt somehow" (Ep. ad Att. II.XXII).

Cicero soon found out how things would erupt because he had angered the triumvirate. In a speech
given one morning in late 59, Cicero questioned the legality of the laws that Caesar had passed.
Caesar acted with his usual speed and decisiveness: That afternoon P. Clodius, a patrician (from the
Claudius family), was adopted into a plebeian family, with Caesar as pontifex maximus and
Pompey as augur overseeing the adoptio. It mattered not one bit that Clodius was forty-eight years
old and his adoptive father twenty years younger. Clodius hated Cicero and had sworn long before
to get revenge on him for wrecking his alibi during the Bona Dea trial; after his adoption into a
plebeian family, he was eligible for the tribunate, and he was elected one of the tribunes for 58 B.C.
Cicero waited nervously, although he was assured by his friends (including Pompey and Caesar)
that Clodius could not touch him.

Caesar in Gaul

Toward the end of 59 B.C. Caesar departed for his provinces, Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul, where
he would end up fighting for the next nine years. Caesar himself described his experiences there in
his Gallic Wars, a year-by-year account of his strategies and campaigns, his battles, his soldiers, the
countries (Gaul, Germany, and England), and the peoples living there. Written in Caesar's simple
and clear style, the Gallic Wars contains a treasure of information about the workings of the Roman
and allied armies as led by one of history's best generals and writers.

 
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The war for Caesar started in this way. The Helvetii, a Germanic tribe, were migrating into Gaul
from their home in the Alps, and were destroying the lands of the Aedui, a Gallic tribe allied to
Rome. After conquering the Helvetii, Caesar learned that the Gauls were threatened also by
Ariovistus, the king of the Germanic tribe called the Suebi, who already possessed land on the
Gallic side of the Rhine. Ariovistus was considered a friend of Rome, but he did not consider the
Germans inferior or subordinate to the Romans, and consequently refused to follow Caesar's orders
to leave Rome's Gallic allies alone. Ariovistus told Caesar to get his army out of that part of Gaul or
he would have them hunted down and killed as enemiessomething, he admitted to Caesar, that no
doubt would please many nobles in Rome.

Caesar won the battle that soon followed, and next found himself fighting against the Gallic tribes
of the Belgae and the Nervii. The battle against the Nervii shows Caesar's great gift for leadership.
The Nervii unexpectedly attacked the Romans while they were still constructing their camp, and
swarmed onto them unprepared. The Roman army was in great danger, for the soldiers had not had
enough time to remove the covers from their shields or put on their helmets before they had to start
fighting. At one point, Caesar himself seized a shield and ran to the front lines, inspiring his men,
who redoubled their efforts and turned the tide of the battle. Caesar lost many men that day, but
won the battle and almost annihilated the tribe of the Nervii. For Caesar's successes the Senate
decreed fifteen days of thanksgiving to the gods. (Incidentally, despite what Shakespeare has Mark
Antony say, the real Mark Antony was not with Caesar "that day he overcame the Nervii," for
Antony did not join Caesar's staff until 54 B.C., three years after the Battle of the Nervii, which was
fought in 57.)

The Tribunate of Publius Clodius

Clodius became tribune in 58 B.C. and passed several laws, none of which could be said to be in the
best interests of the republic. One law substituted free grain for the masses for grain at reduced
prices; by giving the grain away, Clodius substantially increased his popularity and power among
the masses in Rome. Another law

 
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legalized the various clubs that had been banned because the urban masses were using their freedom
to assemble to cause political trouble. (Called collegia, most of the clubs had originally been
religious or vocational in character and had provided the members with social activities during life
and a decent funeral upon death.) Again, Clodius had his own interests at heart, for now he could
recruit from the clubs to form his own gang, which he later used to intimidate politicians, the
Comitia, and the Senate.

Another law, again in Clodius' interestsfor by it he got revenge on Cicerodeprived of fire and water
(that is, sent into exile) anyone who had put a Roman citizen to death without a trial. Cicero had
done just that: During the conspiracy of Catiline he relied on the Senate's ultimum consultum as
legal authority to put the conspirators to death without a trial and appeal (see chapter 19). The
support of Italy, the equestrians, and the Senate did not help Cicero, and Pompey deserted him
because he could not afford to have Cicero threatening his land laws and settlement of the East,
which had been passed during Caesar's consulship. So when Cicero came to Pompey's house to beg
for help against Clodius, Pompey refused to see him and ducked out the back door. Clodius packed
the Popular Assembly with his thugs, and the day before the bill passed, Cicero, wretched and
wearing mourning, went into exile in Macedonia; the letters he wrote while there show him
frequently contemplating suicide. Clodius burned down Cicero's house and villas, and built a
temple to Libertas on the site of his house.

Clodius did not stop after sending Cicero into exile; he even attacked Pompey. At one trial, for
example, Clodius led his gang in shouting insults at Pompey. Pompey could have taken Clodius'
insults, except for the fact that the Senate and crowd enjoyed seeing him humiliated in public; they
were angry with him for deserting Cicero to Clodius' wrath. Later, one of Clodius' slaves was
caught with a sword making his way toward Pompey during one of the riots in the Forum. The
slave confessed that there was a plot to assassinate Pompey. After that, Pompey went into
retirement and spent most of his time walking in his park and gardens with his wife Julia.

 
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Eventually, Pompey realized that he needed Cicero and that he could earn Cicero's gratitude if he
secured his recall from exile. Pompey therefore called for help from his many clients and organized
his own gang under the leadership of T. Annius Milo, to support a law proposed by Quintus Cicero
(Cicero's younger brother) to recall his brother from exile. The day before the vote on the law, there
was a huge fight in the Forum between the sides of Clodius and Milo; the streets had to be washed
to remove the blood. The law passed, and in 57 B.C. Cicero returned triumphant from exile. The
Senate voted to have Cicero's house and villas rebuilt at public expense.

Yet Clodius was not finished. A few of Cicero's letters tell us of Clodius' activities:

On November 6 [57] our carpenters [who were rebuilding Cicero's house] were driven from the building site,
since Clodius' men had come, bearing weapons. Catulus' portico, which was being repaired in accordance
with a decree of the Senate, was destroyed; it was near completion. Quintus' house was first damaged by
rocks thrown from our building site, and then it was set on fire, at the order of Clodius. The city was
watching as the fires were tossed on, and all people were groaning and crying [for me]. . . . He rushed
around, a madman. After that bit of insanity, he thought of nothing but the slaughter of his enemies, and he
went from village to village, openly offering the hope of freedom to slaves. . . . On November 12, as I was
coming down the Sacred Way, he and his gang attacked me. There was shouting, rock throwing, clubs,
swords, and all this was unexpected. (Ep. ad Art. IV. 3.2)

In February 56 he writes to his brother Quintus:

Pompey gave a speech [during a meeting of the Senate], or rather, he wanted to, for as he stood up, Clodius'
gang started shouting, which lasted though all of Pompey's speech, hindering him not only with the shouting,
but also with the curses and insults. As Pompey was concluding his speech, Clodius stood up; such a shout
arose from us against himwe had to repay the favorthat he could neither think nor speak. . . . At almost four
o'clock, as if upon a given signal, the Clodians began to spit on us. Our suffering flared out; they surged
forward, to

 
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push us from our seats; we made an attack against them. Then the Clodians fled, and Clodius himself was
thrown from the rostrum. (Ep. ad Quintum Fratrem II.3.2)

Cicero immediately repaid Pompey for securing his recall by proposing to the Senate that Pompey
be appointed dictator of the grain supply, for there was a shortage of grain in Rome. Pompey
desperately needed something to restore his public image and popularity, which were being
overshadowed by the violence and intimidation associated with Caesar's consulship, his desertion of
Cicero, and Caesar's great victories in Gaul. Pompey nonetheless dissimulated, saying he would do
whatever the state needed him to do. Clodius said that the shortage had been created by Cicero and
Pompey so another extraordinary command could be created for Pompey. During one of the
missions to find grain, a storm arose, causing the captains to refuse to sail; Pompey led his men
onto the ships and ordered them to set sail despite the weather, saying, ''We have to sailwe do not
have to live!" (Plutarch, Pompey L). He found more than enough grain, relieved the famine, and
regained his popularity.

Crisis in the Triumvirate: Conference at Luca

Meanwhile, relations among the members of the triumvirate were not good. Pompey was angry
with Crassus because he thought Crassus had set Clodius upon him. Cicero thought Pompey could
rescue the dying republic and was trying to draw him away from Caesar and Crassus. In 56 B.C.
Caesar asked Pompey and Crassus to meet with him at Luca, a town in northern Italy, to discuss the
situation.

At Luca the three worked things out to the advantage of them all. Crassus and Pompey were to be
consuls in 55 and thereafter would receive proconsulships in Syria and Spain, while Caesar gained
five more years of command in Gaul. Caesar also convinced Pompey to warn Cicero to be quiet; in
his speeches, Cicero had been questioning the legitimacy of the laws Caesar had passed. Cicero
therefore retired and wrote philosophical and rhetorical works or defended the triumvirate's friends.

 
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Pompey and Crassus had missed the deadline for filing their candidature for the consulship for 55,
but that was no problem. They organized a band of armed men who attacked one of the leading
candidates, Domitius, as he was walking home one night, and killed the slave who was carrying his
torch. Cato, who was a candidate for praetor, was wounded while trying to defend Domitius. The
attack caused the elections to be delayed, thus allowing Pompey and Crassus to submit their names
for candidature. Since no one dared to stand for election against Pompey and Crassus, the two were
elected consuls for 55 and took office immediately, since the year had already begun, thus rendering
themselves immune to prosecution for bribery or the use of violence. When Crassus and Pompey
were overseeing the elections for the praetorships, they learned that Cato was winning, but then
Pompey heard thunder (a bad omen), so the two dissolved the assembly. Later, after distributing
larger bribes than before, they held another election for the praetorships, and Vatinius, one of their
friends, was elected praetor instead of Cato. As consuls, Pompey and Crassus passed the laws
giving Caesar five more years in Gaul and themselves proconsulships in Spain and Syria
respectively. At the end of the year Crassus left for Syria and the glory he hoped to win in a war
against Parthia, but Pompey stayed in Rome and governed Spain through his legates, for he wanted
to keep an eye on things at home.

More Trouble in the Triumvirate

Good relations among Crassus, Pompey, and Caesar did not last long. During the elections for the
aedileships in 54 B.C., a riot broke out; a man standing near Pompey was killed and his blood stained
Pompey's toga. Pompey changed into a clean toga and sent his bloody one home. His pregnant wife
Julia, seeing the toga, mistakenly thought the blood on his toga was his own and fainted, then
suffered a miscarriage and died. Julia had been a bond between Caesar and Pompey; even though
Pompey had married her as part of the bargain of the triumvirate, he loved her, and her death broke
a link between him and Caesar. She was so dear to the common people that they insisted that she be
buried not on the family estate, but in the Campus Martius.

 
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The triumvirate suffered another blow the next year, when Crassus was killed in Parthia. The war
had begun terribly: The tribune Ateius Capito vetoed Crassus' departure from Rome, and when his
veto failed, he cursed Crassus and his army for beginning an unjust war (Rome and Parthia had a
peace treaty). It was a bad omen for Crassus, but worse was to come. Once in Syria, for example,
after winning a small battle, Crassus and his son Publius were leaving the Temple of Astarte
(Ishtar), when the son tripped and fell and Crassus fell on top of hima very bad omen. When
Crassus and his army were about to cross the Euphrates, he let slip another bad omen, by telling his
troops that he would break down the bridge so that not one of them would return that way. He
meant something very different from what his soldiers understood, but the damage to their morale
had been done.

In fact, very few of them came back. On the plain of Carrhae (modem Harran, south of Urfa in
Turkey), Crassus and his army were surrounded by the Parthian army, which had a neverending
supply of arrows to shoot at the Roman army. Ordinarily, enemies using archers would have run out
of arrows, allowing the Roman army to engage in their specialty, hand-to-hand combat, but the
Parthians were supplied by a long train of camels, bearing baskets full of arrows. The Parthian
archers were also trained to shoot while on horseback; thus when the Romans made a charge, the
Parthians fled, but still rained arrows on Crassus and his hapless army. Eventually twenty thousand
of Crassus' men were killed and ten thousand taken prisoner; Crassus and his son were among the
dead.

The three members of the triumvirate had been on their best behavior out of fear that one would
join the second against the third. Only Pompey and Caesar now remained, and they were no longer
bound by their mutual affection for Julia.

Caesar in Gaul, Part Two

The younger Publius Crassus had been on Caesar's staff in Gaul before joining his father on the
Parthian expedition and had even played a crucial role in the victory over Ariovistus. He should
have stayed with Caesar, for Caesar's campaigns were as spectacular as

 
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his father's was disastrous. In 56 B.C. Caesar fought Rome's first naval battle in the Atlantic, against
the sea-faring Gauls called the Veneti. The battle is remarkable because of an amazingly simple
tactic that the Romans used to win. The Gauls' ships, constructed from thick oak, were too solid and
heavy for the light Roman ships to ram, yet the Gallic ships were propelled solely by wind, while
the Roman ships could be rowed or propelled by the wind. The Romans' solution was simple: they
attached knives to long poles and cut the cords that secured the Gauls' sails to their ships. That
done, the Gauls' ships could only drift until the Romans boarded them.

The next year Caesar did something no Roman had ever done before: In ten days he built a bridge
across the Rhine and led an army of Rome across it in a punitive expedition into German territory.
Before, Rome and Italy had merely defended themselves from the marauding Germans; now,
Caesar explains, "the most convincing reason [for invading Germany] was this: seeing that the
Germans were so easily incited to come into Gaul, Caesar [he usually refers to himself in the third
person] wanted them too to feel fear for their possessions, since they would understand that an
army of the Roman people could cross the Rhine, and would not hesitate to do so" (De bello gallico
IV.16). Caesar's audience, no doubt remembering earlier invasions (such as that of the Gauls in 390
B.C. and of the Cimbri and Teutones fifty years earlier), must have thrilled at Caesar's words. Cicero
himself, no lover of Caesar the politician, boasted that Caesar's victories rendered the Alps
unnecessary. Later that year Caesar accomplished something else never before done: He led a
Roman army into Britain, won the battle, and returned the next year to win further battles. He made
British kings pay tribute to Rome. For that the Senate decreed twenty days of thanksgiving to the
gods. Caesar's forays into Britain brought no lasting results, since he spent the rest of his life
fighting civil wars, and Britain quickly reverted to its former status. Almost a century later,
however, Emperor Claudius completed what Caesar had intended to do.

In 54 B.C. Caesar thought the pacification of Gaul complete. Yet that winter the Gauls all revolted
and attacked the Roman armies in their winter camps, while Caesar was in Italy. The Gauls
promised

 
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to spare the Romans' lives if they left their camps; one unfortunate Roman commander trusted them
and led his army out of the camp, only to be massacred by the Gauls. The officer in charge of
another camp, Q. Cicero, the younger brother of the orator, was too smart to trust the Gauls, yet his
camp was in trouble since the men were wounded and exhausted after defending it for so long.
After getting the reports of the revolt, Caesar sped to the rescue of his camps; he wanted to tell Q.
Cicero and his men that he was on the way and to keep fighting bravely, yet the hostile Gauls
besieging the camp would catch any messenger. Caesar wrote the message in code, in Greek letters,
hid the letter in the shaft of a spear, and paid an allied Gaul an enormous sum of money to take it to
the besieged camp. The allied Gaul then approached the camp, as if he were an attacker, and threw
the spear into the camp, where it stuck to one of the towers. Two days elapsed before the Romans
inside the camp noticed it; Q. Cicero then read the letter to the soldiers and thus revived their hopes
and courage. They soon had more reason to cheer, for they saw smoke rising in the distance: Caesar
and his army had arrived and were destroying the towns and villages that had revolted. Q. Cicero
and his men were saved, and soon the revolt was quashed.

The reason why Caesar, with his army of forty thousand, had been able to conquer Gaul, was the
Gauls' lack of unity and concerted leadership. In 52 the Gauls, seeing their freedom being wrenched
from their hands, united under a leader named Vercingetorix. Caesar defeated him in battle, and the
Gallic army took refuge in the stronghold of Alesia. Caesar's siege of Alesia is particularly
noteworthy because while he laid siege to the city by digging a huge trench around it, a Gallic army
was attacking Caesar's troops from the outside; to protect the Roman army in the middle, Caesar's
men dug another huge trench on the outside, thus ringing themselves off from the Gallic army.
Eventually Alesia gave up, and Caesar won both battles, over Alesia on the inside and over the
Gallic army on the outside. Vercingetorix was captured and later executed at Caesar's triumph in 46.
After Alesia, the hardest fighting in Gaul was finished.

 
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Anarchy in Rome

Pompey, who had remained in Rome when Crassus left for Parthia, was soon called upon by the
Senate to restore order in the city, where the gangs of Milo and Clodius were causing more and
more frequent riots. The year 53 began without consuls, as the elections had been delayed because
all the candidates were on trial for bribery. The interest rate doubled before the elections, as the
various candidates scurried to finance their bribery. "You really should hurry back to Rome," writes
Cicero to Atticus, "and see what remains of the good old Roman republic. You can see the bribes
handed out, tribe by tribe, right out in the open, you can see Gabinius acquitted, you can sniff out
dictatorship in the air, and enjoy the suspension of public business and the total anarchy" (Ep. ad
Att. IV.19).

Rome needed a dictator to restore order, and Pompey was the obvious choice. In public he said he
did not want to be dictator, but to Cicero he confided that he did want the post. He was instead
elected sole consul for 53; even the younger Cato, the strict constitutionalist, agreed to the unusual
appointment. Pompey restored order and passed some laws against bribery and disturbing the
peace. That year the tribunes passed a plebiscite called the Law of the Ten Tribunes, which gave
special permission to Julius Caesar to run for the consulship of 48 in absentia, when his term as
governor of Gaul expired; thus Caesar would have another command awaiting him. Since Caesar
needed soldiers, and Pompey was not using his, he loaned Caesar a legion.

In 52 Milo and Clodius had another battle, this time outside Rome, at Bovillae, where Clodius had
laid a trap for Milo. Clodius was wounded during the fight and was dragged for safety into a nearby
inn; Milo found him there and had him killed. When his body was returned to Rome, the urban mob
used the Curia, the Senate House, as a funeral pyre for his body, and burned down the building.
Later Milo was put on trial for the murder of Clodius, and Cicero defended him. The soldiers whom
Pompey had stationed around the Forum to prevent violence could not keep the mob quiet during
Cicero's speech; Cicero lost his composure, and

 
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Milo was convicted. He went into exile in Massilia. (Cicero later sent him a copy of the speech he
had intended to deliver; Milo is said to have thanked him for not delivering the speech he wrote, for
otherwise he would not have been enjoying the fine mullets of Massilia.)

Later, Pompey passed a law barring candidature in absentia, which contradicted the Law of the Ten
Tribunes. After the law was passed, Pompey added a rider giving an exception to Julius Caesar. The
rider, of course, was invalid, as it had not been approved by the voters. The matter was of great
importance to Caesar, who needed the dispensation to run in absentia for the consulship of 48, so he
could have another command awaiting him upon the expiration of his term in Gaul. Without
overlapping commands, he would be vulnerable to prosecution and political violence from his
enemies. Pompey betrayed his former colleague in the triumvirate in the same year that he declined
Caesar's offer of another marriage alliance, this time with Caesar's niece. Instead, Pompey married
Cornelia, the widow of Publius Crassus, Crassus' son, who had been killed at Carrhae. Cornelia was
the daughter of Metellus Scipio, one of the Optimates, and after his marriage Pompey started
moving in those circles.

 
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Chapter 21
Civil War

M. Claudius Marcellus, one of the consuls in 51 B.C., was violently anti-Caesarian. He showed his
hatred for Caesar by flogging a Gaul whom Caesar had made a Roman citizen; as a citizen, of
course, the man had the right to a trial and an appeal before punishment, both of which Marcellus
denied him, as if he were not a citizen. Marcellus told the Gaul that he was giving him proof that he
was not a Roman citizen, and that he should go show his scars to Caesar.

During 51 Caesar asked for an extension of his command in Gaul, but the Senate rejected his
request. Marcellus then proposed a law that Caesar's command should be terminated and a
successor sent out immediately. Pompey and the tribunes vetoed the proposal, since by law Caesar
had his command at least until the end of 50. Yet the Senate did approve a measure empowering the
next year's consuls to debate a replacement for Caesar in Gaul.

One of the consuls of 50, G. Claudius Marcellus, was Marcellus' cousin and shared his hatred of
Caesar. Undoubtedly with his connivance Pompey convinced the Senate to decree that Pompey and
Caesar should each relinquish one legion for the defense of Syria, the forces of which had never
been brought back to strength after Crassus' catastrophe. Pompey's contribution, however, was to be
the legion he had loaned to Caesar in 53. Thus Caesar lost two legions, or approximately eight
thousand soldiers. Ever the wise investor, Caesar gave each departing soldier the equivalent of 250
drachmas as a reward for good service. The soldiers were never sent to Syria; they stayed in Italy.

 
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Late in 50, when it became clear that civil war might erupt between Pompey and Caesar, the tribune
Curio proposed that Pompey and Caesar should both lay down their commands. Earlier in his
career, Curio had been staunchly anti-Caesarian, but now that his massive debts had been paid by
Caesar, he was staunchly pro-Caesarian. The proposal was approved by a vote of 370 to 22 by the
Senate, yet it was vetoed by the consuls. The next day Marcellus entrusted Pompey with the
defense of the republic. Thus Caesar would gain neither an extension of his command nor any
special permission to run for the consulship of 48 in absentia. Nor was Pompey exerting himself to
help his former colleague in the triumvirate. He told the members of the Senate that he would not
defend them if they were not firm in their resolve against Caesar, and he even threatened to leave
for Spain, the province he was governing. The threat left the Optimates in a panic: What would
they do if Caesar returned?

To Caesar the matter concerned his honor, his political life, and his actual existence. If he were not
able to go straight into the imperium of the consulship of 48 when his command in Gaul expired at
the end of 49, there would be some period of time when he would lack imperium and an army; he
would then be a private citizen and thus vulnerable to all types of prosecution by his enemiesfor
using force to pass his laws in 59; for breaking a truce with the Usipetes, a Germanic tribe that was
friendly to Rome, and allowing his soldiers to massacre them; or for using bribery. Cato had said
that he would prosecute Caesar once he had laid down his command. There was no shortage of
nobles wanting to prosecute Caesar, on any charge they could imagine, for Caesar had made many
enemies during his career. Caesar thought that his services to the statesuch as conquering Gaul, a
mighty featmerited special consideration, especially since Pompey himself had so frequently won
special consideration that resulted in all his extraordinary commands.

Why did Pompey seek a war with Caesar? It would be neat but untrue to say that he was fighting
for republican principles and against tyranny. Pompey had a great love of power and distinction; he
also wanted to be needed and loved by his country. Perhaps his desire for gloryeven greater than
that of the typical noble, with

 
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the masks of the ancestors in the atrium and past great deeds to live up tobecame so powerful owing
to the hatred he saw people pouring upon his dead father (whose corpse was dragged off the funeral
pyre and through the mud) and upon Sulla (whose funeral with honors many wanted to deny).
Perhaps Pompey saw that it was better to have power and to be liked than to have power and be
hated, as his father and Sulla had been. Pompey always sought power and public approval and
popularity.

Yet although he was only six years older than Caesar, Pompey (to use his own words) was now the
setting sun, and Caesar the rising; Pompey's glory days were from 70 to 62, while Caesar had been
earning glory from 58 to 50 by his unexampled military exploits. Pompey was being eclipsed by
Caesar. "Pompey," one ancient historian tells us, "did not tolerate anyone being his equal. In matters
in which it was necessary for him to be in charge, he wanted to be the only one. In fact, no one ever
cared less for all other things but craved glory more than he did" (Velleius Paterculus II.33.3).
Caesar was threatening Pompey's primacy in Rome.

Pompey's vanity grew still more. In 50 he came down with a serious illness while in Naples.
Plutarch tells us:

When he recovered, the people of Naples gave sacrifices on behalf of his recovery. Their neighbors started
doing the same thing, and soon the practice went through all Italy, and cities large and small held festivals
for many days. No place could contain those who had come from all over to greet him; the roads, villages,
and harbors were full of people partying and giving sacrifices. Many people wearing garlands received him
under torches and threw flowers on him as they sent him on his way, making his whole journey a most
beautiful and dazzling sight. This, more than any one thing, is said to have been the cause of the war.
(Pompey LVII.1-6)

Pompey became overly confident, and his allies were similarly misguided. One of the Optimates,
Appius Claudius, denigrated Caesar's accomplishments in Gaul, spread malicious stories about
Caesar, and told Pompey that he was ignorant of his own power and reputation, for he could easily
finish Caesar off with the armies that he already had. Later, one of Caesar's lieutenants, Titus

 
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Labienus, who joined the Pompeians against Caesar, told Pompey and the Senate that Caesar's army
was demoralized and that the veterans who had conquered Gaul were dead or retired. When
someone asked Pompey what he would defend Rome with, if Caesar invaded, Pompey nonchalantly
replied, ''Wherever I should stamp my foot in Italy, there will rise up forces of infantry and cavalry"
(Plutarch, Pompey LVII).

Yet, as the vote on Curio's proposal shows, most people wanted peace. In 50 Cicero wrote to his
friend and confidant Atticus, "Up to now I have scarcely found anyone who would prefer fighting it
out with Caesar to allowing him what he wants" (Ep. ad Att. VII.6). "Even Cato himself," he writes
in another letter to Atticus, "prefers to be a slave than to fight [in a civil war]" (Ep. ad Att. VII. 15).
In March of 49 Balbus, one of Caesar's men, wrote to Cicero that Caesar preferred nothing to living
without fear, with Pompey the more eminent. Pompey, however, turned down Caesar's numerous
requests for a meeting to work things out. Later, Caesar blamed the war's horrible bloodshed on the
twenty-two diehard Optimates who had voted against ordering Caesar and Pompey both to lay
down their commands and relinquish their armies.

"Iacta Alea Est"

In 49 the consuls were G. Claudius Marcellus (brother of the consul of 51) and Lucius Lentulus,
both hostile to Caesar, but Caesar's lieutenant Marcus Antonius (better known in English as Mark
Antony) was elected tribune. Caesar made another offer, to take Illyricum as his province with one
legion. That too failed. Another offer from Caesar: He would resign his command if Pompey would
resign his. The consuls would not permit a vote on the exact terms.

Metellus Scipio (Pompey's father-in-law) then proposed that if Caesar did not lay down his
command, he should be declared a public enemy. Marcus Antonius vetoed the proposal, but his
veto was ignored; he and Q. Cassius (not Gaius Cassius, Caesar's future murderer), another tribune
friendly to Caesar, were warned that they might meet with violence if they remained in Rome.
Fearing the violence of the Optimates, Antonius and Q. Cassius disguised

 
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themselves as slaves and fled to Caesar in Ravenna. The consuls' threat of violence against the
tribunes gave Caesar another point in propaganda: The Senate was destroying the rights of the
tribunes and common people.

After receiving the news that his latest peace proposal had been rejected, Caesar ate dinner with his
staff and then said, "Iacta alea est" ("the die has been cast"; Suetonius, Divus Julius XXXII). With
only one legion (the others were stationed across the Alps), he crossed the Rubicon, the river that
separated Italy from the province of Cisalpine Gaul. In doing so, he committed treason against the
republic. This act of Caesar's also added a phrase to English: "to cross the Rubicon" is to commit
oneself to a course of action from which there is no turning back.

Stamp .Your Foot, Pompey

The party opposed to Caesar did not choose a wise time for giving Caesar the ultimatum either to
relinquish his command or to become an enemy of Rome. Although on paper Pompey had all the
resources of the republic at his disposal, he had only two legions in Italy, both of which had
formerly served under Caesar and no doubt remembered him fondly. Pompey and the Optimates
never expected Caesar to attack immediately, but they were now about to experience what the Gauls
were already very familiar with: Caesar's celeritas (swiftness). Caesar knew to strike immediately,
before an enemy could prepare his defense.

Since most of his soldiers were in Spain, Pompey had to recruit in Italy; his new soldiers were
inexperienced. Many men refused to enlist, and those who did who were apathetic. Caesar's legions,
in contrast, had served under him during the years in Gaul and were devoted to their charismatic
and seemingly democratic leader; contrary to Labienus' claims, Caesar's soldiers did not have low
morale and constituted an army of great endurance and discipline. So devoted were Caesar's
soldiers that, at the beginning of the war, his centurions offered to pay for a cavalryman, each from
his own savings, and his foot soldiers offered to fight without pay or rations and to pool resources
so no one would go short.

 
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When Caesar invaded Italy, the Senate and Pompey, having no army with which to mount a
defense, fled, with Pompey declaring that any senators who stayed in Rome would be considered
traitors. One noble, Favonius, when seeing that they could not defend Rome from Caesar, told
Pompey to stamp his foot and produce the promised armies. First they went to Capua, then to
Brundisium, on the Adriatic coast, and then across the Adriatic into Greece. Caesar pursued but
failed to catch them. Backed by only one legion, Caesar took over Italy and Rome without
bloodshed; even Picenum, where Pompey's family lived and had great influence, surrendered to
Caesar without fighting.

After failing to catch the fleeing senators, Caesar returned to Rome, where he rifled the treasury,
which the consul Marcellus in his haste to flee had neglected to empty. A tribune tried to veto
Caesar's access to the treasury, but Caesar threatened his life, and the tribune wisely relented.
Caesar was appointed dictator, in which capacity he oversaw the consular elections for 48; he was
elected consul for 48 and resigned his dictatorship. He then turned to Spain, where a large
contingent of Pompey's forces was stationed. Caesar wanted to prevent their joining Pompey in
Greece or taking Italy and Rome when he himself went to attack Pompey. As he was leaving, he
said that he was first going to fight against an army that had no general, and after that, against a
general who had no army. On the way to Spain he demanded the surrender of Massilia, which
refused. He left a part of his army to besiege the city and continued to Spain.

Caesar took over Spain with no large battles, although there were many small ones and skirmishes.
In the endless maneuvering for better position, Caesar managed to trap his enemies on a hill, where
they had no access to food or water. The enemy troops, Romans and Italians, were forced to
surrender; Caesar, showing his clementia, let them go free, demanding only that they disband their
army. He even gave them food for a few days' journey. Caesar's clemency was not without purpose
or result: Since the Optimates had branded him a renegade, he wanted to prove that he was not a
Sulla and was not waging war against Rome for his own power or profit. He worked extra hard to
restrain his soldiers from plundering the fields and houses of

 
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Italy, for he wanted to win the goodwill of the Italians. His policy was successful, for a number of
the Pompeians deserted to his side, and he gave them positions of equal rank and pay. After taking
over Spain, Caesar returned to Massilia, which surrendered after a three-month siege.

Caesar then traversed Italy again and crossed from Brundisium to Greece. Crossing the Adriatic
was no easy matter, for it was winter and, more important, Pompey had the republic's fleet with
which to control the seas. Bibulus, Pompey's admiral, died while attempting to prevent Caesar from
landing in Epirus, but Caesar and a small force managed to slip through the blockade. Later,
Antony brought four legions to Caesar in Greece.

Pompey had by now consolidated his forces and provisions in the vicinity of Dyrrhachium, where
each general tried to outflank the other and to isolate him from food and water. Such was the scale
of their defensive works that it took a line of forts and entrenchment more than 25 kilometers long
for Caesar to hem in Pompey's army; the line was too long for Caesar's small army to maintain,
however, and Caesar had to abandon that plan. Every day the two did not fight allowed Pompey
more time to train his recruits. Time was on Pompey's side, for he had ample provisions and
superiority in number of foot soldiers, cavalry, and navy. Caesar's troops, however, were so low on
provisions that at one point his men were forced to bake bread made from tree roots. They threw
some of the loaves to the Pompeians to prove that they were not starving. Upon seeing one of the
loaves, Pompey exclaimed, "What beasts we're fighting with!" and ordered the loaves to be hidden,
so his soldiers would not learn just how tough Caesar's soldiers were.

Finally Caesar decided to leave for Thessaly, where he could more easily get food for his men. His
departure followed a small defeat, in which Pompey could have inflicted a crushing blow if he had
not been timid: according to Caesar, "Today the enemy would have had the victory, if they had had
a real winner in charge" (Appian, Civil Wars II.9). This raised the Pompeians' spirits even higher:
Caesar's forces were hungry and sick, had recently suffered a loss, and had to flee. Things looked
good for the Pompeians.

 
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"Uterque Regnare Vult"

In spite of these seemingly favorable circumstances, Pompey's army had major problems, namely,
divided leadership and purpose. Soon after following Caesar into Thessaly, the Pompeians were
joined by Metellus Scipio, who had brought his army from his province Syria to help Pompey.
Caesar describes the problems in Pompey's camp:

Once Pompey's army had been enlarged and the two large armies had been joined together, the opinion that
they had formerly held was simply confirmed, and the expectation of victory grew so large that whatever
time came before the victory seemed simply to delay their return to Italy. Whenever Pompey did something
somewhat slowly or carefully, they said the whole war was simply a day's work, but that he reveled in the
power and considered men of consular and praetorian rank like slaves. By this time they were vying with
each other, out in the open, for rewards and priesthoods, and they allotted the consulship for years ahead.
Others, meanwhile, were seeking the houses and possessions of those in my camp. . . . Already Domitius,
Scipio, and Spinther Lentulus were resorting to viciously insulting each other in their daily arguments about
who would become pontifex maximus after me. (Caesar, De bello civili III.82.2)

Plutarch tells us that the Optimates, Pompey's allies and followers, called him Agamemnon and
King of Kings.

Still worse was the lack of principles: Pompey was not fighting for republican principles against
tyranny; he was fighting for the Optimate party. "I look at it this way," writes Cicero to Atticus (Ep.
ad Att. IX.7), "we won't have a republic with both alive or even with this one [i.e., Pompey]." He
writes in another letter:

Each of them has sought a tyranny; they have never done anything so that the state would be prosperous and
respectable. He [Pompey] certainly didn't leave the city because he couldn't guard it or Italy because he was
being driven from it. No, he planned this from the start, to get all the lands and seas in an uproar, to arouse
foreign kings, to lead to Italy wild, armed nations, and to create huge armies. He's been after

 
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that type of Sullan power for a long time now, and many who are together with him want the same thing. Do
you really think that those two have nothing in common, and that an agreement was impossible? It could
happen today, except that our contentment is not a goal of either of them: each wants to be king [uterque
regnare vult]. (Ep. ad Att. VIII.11)

Cicero eventually joined Pompey's side, finding him the lesser of the two evils. According to
Cicero, Caesar had collected around him "all the criminals, all those afflicted with ignominy, all
those worthy of condemnation and infamy, the worthless and hopeless urban masses, all those who
can't pay their debts" (Ep. ad Att. VII.3) and who were looking for Caesar to cancel debts or to
allow them to plunder the property of the wealthy once he became dictator. Consequently, people
with property generally backed Pompey.

"Hoc Voluerunt"

In Thessaly, on the plain of Pharsalus, in 48 Pompey finally relented to the demands of the
Optimates: At last, they would settle the issue. Before the battle, Caesar's soldiers destroyed their
own camp and its fortifications, to force themselves to fight for victory, since they had no refuge in
defeat; in any case, there was certainly nothing left for them in Rome or Italy if they lost. Caesar
describes the battle:

When the signal was given, our soldiers ran forward with their javelins ready. When they noticed that the
Pompeians were not running to meet them, without being ordered to, they held back, as they were used to
doing, and as they had been trained in earlier battles, and stopped, almost in the middle between the two
armies, so they would not be exhausted when they arrived. After a while they started running again. They
hurled their javelins and immediately drew their swords, as I had ordered them. The Pompeians, on the other
hand, met the charge. They received the javelins and the legions' attack without breaking ranks; after
throwing their javelins, they too drew their swords. At the same time Pompey's cavalry rushed to attack us
from his left wing, as they had been ordered, and the whole mass of archers poured forth. Our cavalry could

 
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not handle their attack and little by little retreated; Pompey's cavalry began to bear down all the more
threateningly, breaking off into squadrons, surrounding our lines on our vulnerable side.

When I noticed that, I gave the signal to the fourth line, which I had deployed from the number of cohorts [a
cohort was a unit of 600 men]. They quickly dashed forward and attacked Pompey's cavalry with such great
force that none of the cavalry stood their groundall of them not only ran away, but even started a general rout
to the highest part of the mountains.

All their archers and slingers, left defenseless when their cavalry was run off from the battle, were killed. In
the same attack, the cohorts surrounded Pompey's left wing, where the Pompeianseven though surroundedhad
not given up fighting and resisting, and we attacked them in the rear. At the same time I ordered my third
line to attack; it had been inactive and had stayed behind, up to that time.

Fresh, and not wounded, as they were, they came to battle the weary Pompeians, while others attacked them
from the rear. The Pompeians could not bear the attack, and all turned their backs and fled. (Caesar, De bello
civili III.93)

Pompey fled the battlefield to his camp and sat down, stunned. Soon Caesar's soldiers burst into the
camp. "What? Even into our camp?" Pompey said. He took off his general's cloak, found a horse,
and fled. While storming Pompey's camp, Caesar's men found the tents wreathed with myrtle,
dining couches laid out and covered with flowers, and drinking cups and bowls of wine. The
Optimates were ready for the victory celebration, but Caesar and his men enjoyed the feast.

During the battle itself, Caesar had ordered his soldiers, "Spare your fellow Romans!" After the
battle he looked at the six thousand Pompeians killed in the fighting (his own army lost only two
hundred) and groaned, saying: "They wanted this [hoc voluerunt]. Despite all that I have
accomplished, I, Julius Caesar, would have been condemned, if I had not sought protection from
my army" (Suetonius, Divus Julius XXX). Then he set off in pursuit of Pompey.

Pompey sailed to Egypt, where he expected the king, the sixteen-year-old Ptolemy Auletes (the
Flute Player), to offer him safety;

 
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after all, Pompey and Caesar had put Ptolemy on the throne of Egypt. Yet Pompey was killed by
the ministers of the king, as his rowboat was nearing the Egyptian shore. "A corpse doesn't bite,"
explained the king's adviser, grinning, as he recommended that Pompey be killed. Pompey's head
was cut off, to be taken to Caesar; one of his former slaves and a former soldier later found his
headless body, washed its wounds, and, on a pyre constructed from the wood of an old wrecked
fishing boat, cremated Pompey the Great.

When Caesar landed in Egypt, Pompey's head and signet ring were brought to him. Seeing them,
Caesar wept and had Pompey's murderers found and killed. Not content with killing Pompey, the
king's ministers also attacked Caesar, probably because he demanded payment of 10 million of the
17 million drachmas that the king owed him. Caesar also wanted Ptolemy to receive Cleopatra back
into the palace (he had driven her away) and to rule the kingdom jointly with her. Caesar was
accompanied by only a few hundred soldiers, and with great difficulty saved his life; at one point he
had to escape through the water, holding important documents above the water with one hand and
swimming with the other, all the time clenching his scarlet cloak between his teeth, to keep it from
becoming a trophy for the Egyptians. Eventually he conquered Ptolemy, made Cleopatra queen of
Egypt, and spent some time with her. Later Cleopatra bore a son, whose father was supposedly
Caesar; she named the child Caesarion, or Little Caesar.

Caesar next went to Asia Minor, where Pharnaces, the king of Pontus (son of Mithridates), was
taking advantage of Rome's troubles by attacking its allies. Caesar and his soldiers defeated
Pharnaces in 47 B.C. at Zela; that was the battle that inspired Caesar's famous line, "Veni, vidi, vici"
(I came, I saw, I conquereda testament to Caesar's legendary speed. Five days after arriving in
Pontus, and four hours after catching sight of Pharnaces, Caesar defeated him in battle and
destroyed his army. Caesar then commented that Pompey had been very lucky to have had such
weak enemies on which to build his military reputation.

Caesar then returned to Rome, where his victorious troops were mutinying. They were tired of
waiting both for their general, who had been away for more than a year, and for the lavish gifts that
he

 
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had promised them. Caesar had only to address them as quirites, "citizens" (that is, no longer
soldiers), and they then begged him to allow them to continue serving in his army.

Caesar then went to Africa, where some remaining Pompeians, under the leadership of Cato and
Scipio, were making preparations to take over Italy and restore the republic. Caesar defeated them
at Thapsus (close to Carthage) in 46; after that battle Cato, one of the diehard republicans,
committed suicide, much to Caesar's disappointment, for he wanted the glory of extending
clemency to this hated enemy. Romans later admired Cato for his dedication and devotion to
constitutional government and for his high moral principles, in an age of government by the sword
and election by bribery. For example, Cato knew very well that Pompey was not much preferable to
Caesar; while making an accusation of bribery against Gabinius, one of Pompey's allies (who as
tribune had rewarded Pompey with the command against the pirates), Cato was assaulted and
dragged from the rostrum. As he was being dragged away, he called Pompey privatus dictator, "a
self-appointed dictator." While fleeing to Greece, Pompey appointed Cato to Sicily, knowing that
Cato would immediately call upon him (if victorious over Caesar) to disband his army, since the
common enemy of the republic had been destroyedneedless to say, Pompey had no intention of
rescuing the republic only to leave himself a private citizen, like anybody else. After Pharsalus,
Cato joined with Metellus Scipio in Utica; there Scipio decided to execute all the inhabitants of the
town for supporting Caesar, but Cato would not allow it and thus saved many thousands of lives.
Later, after Scipio was defeated by Caesar, Cato put the safety of the citizens of Utica before his
own and allowed them to surrender rather than fight a losing and destructive battle against Caesar.
To those men who embraced republican principles during the empire and who were disenchanted
with one-man rule and the exclusion of the nobles from positions of power and glory, Cato
appeared a martyr for the republic. The poet Lucan (living under the tyranny of Nero) wrote a fine
line of poetry about Cato: "victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni" ("The winning cause [that is,
the principate, tyranny] pleased the gods, but the losing cause [the republic, justice] pleased Cato";
Lucan I.128).

 
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In 45 Caesar went to Spain, where he conquered the last remnants of the Pompeian opposition at
the Battle of Munda, which he almost lost. Sextus Pompey, the last son of Pompey, survived the
battle and continued to cause problems for Caesar's successors. By March 45 Caesar was master of
Rome.

Caesar As Dictator

Caesar's enemies were happy to learn that Caesar did not return to Rome as Sulla did, driven by a
desire for revenge. He recalled those who had been driven out during Sulla's proscriptions. Those
men who had opposed him before and during Pharsalus were not punished or deprived of their
estates; many were given political appointments or received advancement in their careers. Brutus
and Cassius, both of whom had fought against Caesar at Pharsalus, received praetorships. Caesar
forgave the orator Cicero and later even the ex-consul Marcellus, who had stridently opposed
attempts to work with Caesar in 50. So grateful was the Roman populace that it dedicated a temple
clementiae Caesaris, "to the clemency of Caesar." Those Pompeians who resisted after Thapsus
were punished by exile and confiscation of their estates.

With no significant opposition, and having been appointed dictator for ten years, Caesar set himself
to solving the many problems in the government. He first relieved the treasury of a burden by
reducing the number of those eligible for free grain, from 320,000 to 150,000; 80,000 of those
disqualified from free grain were sent to work for their food at overseas colonies. Caesar also sent
skilled freedmen as colonists, wishing them to make colonies that would be industrial and
mercantile, not just agricultural. To settle his soldiers, Caesar made extensive use of land outside of
Italy, a policy with far-reaching consequences. He settled his soldiers in Africa, Spain, and Gaul,
thus establishing more outposts of Roman and Latin civilization, in addition to ensuring the stability
of those regions. Caesar also granted citizenship to people of Transpadane Gaul and to certain
nobles from other towns of Spain and Gaul. Caesar also made certain Gallic supporters senators;
jokes of the time reported Gauls, wearing trousers, becoming senators. Caesar made the rulers of
Roman lands more truly represent those lands

 
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and gave the provincial peoples more of a stake in the survival of the empire.

One of Caesar's most famous endeavors was the reform of the Roman calendar. The Romans used a
lunar calendar, which had 355 days in a year. Whenever the seasons had gotten out of synch with
the calendar year, the priests would insert a month to realign the seasons with the calendar (this is
called an intercalation). Caesar changed that. First, he started using an Egyptian solar calender.
Since only one intercalation had been made since 52, he brought the calendar year 46 into harmony
with the seasons by adding sixty-seven days between November and December; he added the ten
extra days of the solar year throughout the twelve remaining months (Cambridge Ancient History
9:696). The calendar remained unchanged until 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII made some minor
changes to it.

Another of Caesar's reforms called for at least one-third of the shepherds and herdsmen in Italy to
be freedmen. He wanted to minimize the number of slaves in Italy, and he doubtless wanted also to
improve the quality of recruits for the army. He also gave citizenship to doctors and teachers living
in Rome.

Caesar had great plans. He planned one more epic military exploit, the conquest of Parthia and, on
the return trip back to Italy, the conquest of Germany. He planned to organize the code of civil law,
which had become chaotic. He wanted to create one library for Greek literature and another for
Latin, and even commissioned the scholar Varro to classify Greek and Latin works. He wanted to
create more farmland by draining marshes, to build a highway from the Adriatic to Rome, across
the Apennines, and to cut a canal through the isthmus of Corinth. He did not live to carry out his
plans.

''Et Tu, Brute?"

After being appointed dictator for life early in 44, Caesar became increasingly unpopular. His
triumph after the Battle of Munda angered many, for he was celebrating a victory over fellow
Romans, not over barbarians. Another time, the consuls and praetors came to him in the Senate, as
he was sitting above the rostrum on his

 
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Bust of Julius Caesar, first century B.C. (Courtesy of the Archer M.
 Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas at Austin, William J. Battle 
Collection of Plaster Casts)
 
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golden throne, to present him with more honors; he did not stand to greet them and even told them
that the number of honors given him ought to be decreased, not increased. (We are told that the
honor that most pleased him was permission to wear a crown of leaves, for it covered his bald head;
otherwise, Caesar tried to comb his few remaining hairs over his bald spot.) This was seen as an
insult to all. Then there was the scene at the Lupercalia (a festival held on February 15, in which
nearly naked young menthe Luperciran around striking people with strips of goatskin; women
struck by them were supposed to become more fertile). Three times Marcus Antonius presented
Caesar with a crown, and each time Caesar turned it down. Later, tribunes arrested and jailed the
individuals who urged Caesar to accept the crown; Caesar had those tribunes deposed from office.
Once Caesar was addressed as king; his famous reply was, "Non sum Rex [a cognomen of the
Servilii family], sed Caesar" (I am not a King, but a Caesar). The rumor spread that, according to
the Sibylline oracles, Parthia could be conquered by none but a king, and that Caesar should be
called a king, so he could conquer Parthia. There was also a rumor that he was planning to move
the capital to Alexandria and transfer all the wealth and power there. Caesar was also designating
those whom he wanted to be consuls and praetors years in advance and was rewarding his friends
with such positions. When the consul of 45 died on the last day of his term, Caesar insulted the
dignity of the position by appointing another friend consul for the rest of the day. This last episode
occasioned the joke of Cicero, when the new consul's friends hurried to the Forum to congratulate
him, "Let's hurry, before his term of office expires!" (Plutarch, Caesar LVIII). Caesar also angered
many by commenting that the republic was just a name without substance or form and that
whatever he said should be considered the law.

A conspiracy against his life arose. The conspirators had to act quickly, before Caesar started for
Parthia with his legions. Among the conspirators were men whom Caesar had forgiven for fighting
against him at Pharsalus and Thapsus, and to whom he had given important posts in the
government. They felt it necessary to lure Brutus into joining the conspiracy, for he had a
reputation for uprightness and just dealing. Graffiti were written on the statue of

 
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Brutus' remote ancestor, Junius Brutus ("If only you were here now, Brutus!" and "How helpful it
would be, if Brutus were alive!"), and on Brutus' own tribunal chair (''Brutus, are you sleeping?"
and "You aren't really a Brutus!"), to remind him of his ancestor's famous deed. Brutus joined the
conspiracy and opposed plans to assassinate Antony too, arguing that killing Caesar would be a just
deed, but that killing Antony was unnecessary, and they must act only with strict justice. Caesar had
recently decided that it was better to die than to live his life in fear and accordingly had dismissed
his Spanish bodyguard; he also knew that many people wanted him to remain alive, since a worse
civil war would erupt upon his death. It was probably simple weariness that prompted Caesar
frequently to say, "I have lived long enough either for nature or for glory." (He was fifty-six years
old.) In a conversation with friends, concerning the best type of death, Caesar said that the best
death is one that comes swiftly and unexpectedly.

Plutarch describes the fateful Ides of March of 44 B.C. (students of Shakespeare will recognize this
description):

The Senate rose at Caesar's entrance and a great crowd immediately surrounded him once he had taken his
seat. They sent Tillius Cimber, one of their fellow conspirators, to plead on behalf of his brother, who was in
exile. The others also started pleading, grasping Caesar's hands and kissing his chest and head. At first
Caesar rejected their requests, and then, as they would not stop begging, he used force to stand up. Tillius,
with both hands, tore Caesar's cloak from his shoulders; Casca, who was standing behind Caesar, drew his
sword and was the first to stab him, next to the shoulder, but the wound was not deep. Caesar grabbed the
handle of the sword and shouted loudly, "Damn you, Casca, what are you doing?" Casca shouted in Greek for
his brother to come help. By now Caesar was being stabbed by the many men surrounding him and, thinking
of breaking through the crowd around him, he saw Brutus drawing his sword against him; he then let go of
Casca's hand, covered his head with his cloak, and gave up his body to be stabbed by them. (Plutarch, Brutus
17)

According to another source (the biographer Suetonius), when Caesar saw Brutus about to stab him,
he said in Greek, "You too, my child?" (Kai su, teknon?).

 
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Rome was not ready for the rule of one man who was above the law or outside it. Another decade
of ruinous civil wars made the Romans and Italians more receptive to one-man rule.

Latin Literature of the Late Republic

In addition to his military and other achievements, Caesar was one of the great authors of the late
republic. His Gallic Wars has already been discussed. We also have his Civil Wars, the account of
his campaigns in Spain, Greece, Africa, and Asia. His other works, which have not survived,
included a treatise concerning linguistics, De analogia (which he dedicated to Cicero); a poem, Iter,
and, in response to an encomium on the martyred Cato by Cicero, an attack on Cato, Anticato,
which served only to further canonize Cato. Caesar's styleclear, simple, and elegantwas praised by
no less demanding a critic than Cicero.

Lucretius (94-?55 B.C.) wrote a poem in epic style on the philosophy of Epicureanism, entitled De
rerum natura (On the Nature of Things). His grand and majestic poetry reflects how passionately he
felt for his subject. We are told that he was driven insane by a love potion that his wife had given
him, after which he committed suicide. Since only fragments of early Latin epic survive, Lucretius'
poem also provides examples of the archaizing and grandiloquent speech of early Latin epic; later
Latin epic poetry falls under the sway of Alexandrianism.

The poetry of Catullus (84-?54 B.C.) is very different from Lucretius' grand epic. Like many other
young poets of the age (called novi poetae, "new poets," also "neoterics"), Catullus avoided writing
long poems about heroes and their deeds or about Roman history, another favorite topic for early
Latin epic. Instead, Catullus and the novi poetae chose for their models the poetry of the
Alexandrian scholars, especially Callimachus, with his emphasis on smaller poems featuring charm,
cleverness, polish, and learned and literary allusions. Other Alexandrians popular among the
Romans were Aratus, Apollonius of Rhodes (author of the Argo-nautica), and Theocritus. Catullus'
poetry, much of it written in lyric meters, usually concerns the poet's own feelings: his passionate
love (and hatred) for ''Lesbia," who may have been Clodia,

 
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the sister of the tribune Clodius; his feelings for his friends, ranging from affection to betrayal and
rejection; his literary tastes and disputes; his grief at the death of his brother; his humor and simple
joy in life. Most Romans saw little use for such personal poetry, as it did not glorify Rome and its
great men or instruct people for moral improvement; consequently Catullus refers to his poetry as
nugae (trifles) or versiculi (little verses). His nugae, however, exercised a profound influence not
only on later Latin poets, but also on European poetry.

The historian Sallust (86-35 B.C.) wrote two monographs that have survived: Bellum Catilinae, about
the conspiracy of Catiline, and Bellum Iugurthinum, about Rome's war with Jugurtha. Briefly a
partisan of Caesar, Sallust revealed his bias against the nobles in hisBellum Iugurthinum in
particular. He also wrote Histories, a lost work. He may have been the author of Invectiva in
Ciceronem (an attack on Cicero) and Epistulae ad Caesarem senem (letters of political advice to the
dictator). Sallust rejected the oratorical style of the day, instead modeling his style on the great
Greek historian Thucydides; he was a major influence on the historian Tacitus.

With the murder of Cicero in the political strife following Caesar's assassination, Rome lost one
who is arguably its greatest literary figure, and one of the greatest literary figures in Western
literature. His greatest contributions were in oratory, for it was by his ability to give a good speech
and sway an audience that he overcame his origins as a novus homo and rose in Roman politics. He
is regarded as the greatest orator of ancient Rome. Fifty-eight of Cicero's speeches survive, some
only in part, and forty-eight more have been lost; without a doubt, he delivered still more that were
never recorded for posterity. His most famous speeches are In Catilinam, Pro Caelio, In Verrem,
Philippicae, Pro Archia, Pro Cluentio, and Pro Sestio. Any student wanting to learn how to write a
good speech should study Cicero's use of the periodic style, phrasing, diction, rhythm, manipulation
of the audience's emotions, treatment of the subject at hand, and humor (Cicero was famous among
the ancient Romans for his quick wit and sharp tongue). He also wrote books on rhetoric and the art
of giving a good speech, including Brutus, De oratore, Orator, and De inventione

 
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Cicero also wrote philosophy. Although not a particularly original thinker, he did write works with
significance for ethics and life's situations. These include De officiis (Concerning Duties), De
amicitia (Concerning Friendship), De senectute (Concerning Old Age), De republica (Concerning
the Republic), and Tusculanae quaestiones (Tusculan Disputations). Cicero also wrote some poetry,
fragments of which survive. He even wrote an epic poem about his consulship (De consulatu), and
he is derided for the infamous line, "O fortunatam natam me consule Romam" (O Rome that
became lucky when I was consul!). Cicero's reputation for poetry suffers because he is judged by
those who followed him, such figures as Vergil, Horace, Propertius, Ovid, and Tibullus; it is a rare
poet who does not suffer in such company. Cicero had the ability to manipulate the Latin language,
but his special talent lay in prose, not poetry. Cicero's last contribution to literature was
unintentional, for eight volumes of his letters to friends, family members, and other persons have
survived. Cicero did not know that many of his letters would be published someday, and thus he
showed both his more private side and his true opinions of many important Romans of his time. For
the student of the Latin language, Cicero's letters also give an example of how educated Romans of
the day talked, for many of the letters are informal, chatty, and gossipythe exact opposite of most
Latin poetry and oratory.

Cicero's influence on Latin and Western literature was enormous. Generations of orators and writers
in Europe have turned to Cicero for models of good speaking and writing. He set the standard for
eloquence.

 
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Chapter 22
Renewed Civil War and the Rise of Octavian

Caesar had predicted that the republic would be plunged into civil war upon his death, and he was
right, for the conspirators had made no plans for changing Roman government so that future
generals would not seize power. Without a fundamental change in Roman government, one could
expect only a repeat of the previous sixty years of government, the only change being in the
generals' names.

Their hands smeared with Caesar's blood, the conspirators left the terrified Senate and went to the
Capitol, showing the frightened citizens their daggers and informing them that liberty had been
restored. Many citizens were not pleased, however, and even threatened the conspirators, who then
barricaded themselves on the Capitol. The conspirators feared also the Caesarians Marcus Antonius
(Mark Antony), who was consul, and Marcus Lepidus, who was outside the city but in possession
of an army and who had been Caesar's master of the horse. Hearing of Caesar's murder, Lepidus
returned that night and filled the Forum with his soldiers; Antonius, meanwhile, had received
Caesar's cash along with state papers and documents from his widow Calpurnia.

When assurances had been given by Antonius and Lepidus that they would not kill the assassins,
and by the assassins that Caesar was their sole target, Antonius convened the Senate in the Temple
of Tellus. Heeding Cicero's calls for peace, the two sides reached an agreement: Amnesty was
granted to Caesar's assassins, but Caesar's actsincluding those he had merely planned, which were
recorded in his state papersreceived blanket ratification. The ratification of Caesar's acts was
crucial, for they granted land to

 
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Coin issued by Brutus after the assassination of Caesar. The Latin EID
 MAR means "the Ides of March"; the cap between the daggers is a
 pileus, worn by former slaves after being set free. (Courtesy of the
 American Numismatic Society)

Caesar's veterans, thousands of whom were present in Rome; the Senate did not want to further
antagonize them after the unavenged murder of their beloved general. Antonius further passed a
law that abolished the dictatorship. Caesar's acts also allotted provinces for the year 43: Macedonia
to Antonius, Cyrene to Cassius, Crete to M. Brutus, Syria to Dolabella, Asia to Trebonius, and Gaul
to Decimus Brutus. After reaching that agreement, Antonius and the conspirators even had dinner
together. M. Brutus then made a big mistake: He allowed Antonius to plan Caesar's funeral. Here is
what happened at the funeral, where the contents of his will were announced:

In his will Caesar had given 75 drachmas to each Roman man, and had left to the people his gardens across
the river, where the Temple of Fortune now stands. Then an amazing feeling of goodwill and longing for him
took hold of the citizens. Then, when Caesar's body was brought into the Forum, Antonius gave the funeral
speech, as is the custom in Rome, listing in full all of Caesar's accomplishments. As he noticed that his
speech was touching the hearts of the crowd, he changed his tone to pity; he grabbed Caesar's clothes and
showed them, stained with blood, to the crowd, while pointing out the gashes and great number of wounds.
One could see then that there was not going to be order any longer: Some

 
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people shouted to kill the murderers, while others brought up benches and tables from the workshops into the
Forum and, as happened to Clodius the demagogue years earlier, made a huge funeral pyre and set fire to it.
They set the corpse on it, in the middle of the temples, shrines, and sacred places. As the fire blazed, some
brought forth half-burned torches and scattered in all directions to burn down the houses of Caesar's
murderers. (Plutarch, Brutus XX.2)

"A Great and Beautiful Deed, But Incomplete"

Fearing the violence of the mob, which went out in search of the conspirators, Brutus and the others
fled for their lives. They were right to be afraid, for one man named Cinna, who had had nothing to
do with the assassination, was mistaken for a Cinna who had been a conspirator and was torn to
pieces by the mob. Caesar's veterans were said to be plotting to kill Brutus. As praetor urbanus,
Brutus was supposed to remain in the city, but the consul Antonius, probably happy to remove any
future obstruction to his own ambitions, allowed him to leave. He and Cassius left Rome, ostensibly
for their provinces, Crete and Cyrene, long before their terms were to begin.

As consul, Antonius had possession of Caesar's will, which had received blanket ratification by the
Senate. Antonius saw this as a blank check and proceeded to insert his own wishes among Caesar's
decrees. Thus he sold exemptions from taxes, freed communities from tribute, and recalled exiles,
all in the name of Caesar, benefiting others and enriching himself. He is said also to have stolen a
prodigious amount of money from the Temple of Ops.

Nor did Antonius stop with satisfying his tremendous greed, which paid for his parties with
actresses, mimes, and jugglers (not polite company for the Roman aristocracy and middle class). He
surrounded himself with an armed guard of six thousand men, which was illegal inside the
pomerium. He kept armed soldiers inside the Forum and Temple of Concord, and passed laws in
disregard of the auspices and through the use of violence. At one point he summoned the Senate to
a meeting, with the warning that he would consider those not in attendance to be plotting against
him. He then forced a law to be passed that, contrary to Caesar's

 
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wishes, transferred Macedonia from himself to his brother Gaius and Gaul from D. Brutus to
himself. He planned to bring his four legions to Rome from Brundisium, where they were waiting
to sail to Macedonia; Cicero says that Antonius intended to bring them to Rome to massacre the
hostile senators and to make himself dictator.

Antonius, however, soon encountered unforeseen opposition. Before he died, Julius Caesar had
adopted Gaius Octavius, the nineteen-year-old grandson of his sister, and in his will he awarded the
young man three-quarters of his estate. Octavian (Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus being his full
name after his adoption by Caesar) had accompanied Caesar to Spain in 46 and had impressed
Caesar with his character and energy. Octavian then had gone to school in Apollonia and was to
accompany Caesar on the Parthian campaign. After hearing of Caesar's death and his own adoption,
Octavian hurried to Rome to receive his inheritance, which Antonius controlled. Antonius,
supposedly bitter because Caesar had omitted him from his will, treated Octavian with contempt; he
called him "boy," tried to bar Octavian's adoption into Caesar's family, and tried to brush aside
Octavian's attempts to gain his inheritance (Antonius was, in fact, holding back 25 million
drachmas). Antonius believed that Octavian lacked the backing and experience to oppose him, a
consul. He was not the only one to underestimate Octavian.

While waiting to receive his inheritance, Octavian, from his own pocket, paid for the games for the
inauguration of the new Temple of Venus, which had been promised to Caesar. Despite Antonius'
obstruction, Octavian succeeded in placing in the theater a golden chair in honor of Caesar, which
the Senate had promised the dictator; seeing how popular the chair was with the common people,
Octavian then had a bronze statue of Caesar, with a crown of stars, placed in the Temple of Venus,
the founder of the Julian family. Shortly later Quintilis, the fifth month of the Roman year (which
originally started on March 1), was renamed in Caesar's honor. After exhausting his ready cash,
Octavian sold his estate and used the proceeds to satisfy the obligations he assumed in accepting
Caesar's will.

Finally, Octavian, now calling himself Caesar and bearing generous cash gifts, made the rounds of
Caesar's veterans in Campania,

 
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while his agents in Brundisium (before Antonius arrived) won over to his side still more of Caesar's
veterans, who were angry that Caesar's assassins had never been punished: Antonius and Lepidus,
Caesar's former lieutenants, had even sat down to dinner with the murderers, but here was Caesar's
son, eager to avenge his father's murder. Octavian brought his private army back to Rome, to
protect the city from Antonius, who was still on his way to Brundisium to bring the legions to
Rome. After arriving in Brundisium, Antonius offered his soldiers only a small percentage of the
cash Octavian had offered, which caused them to mutiny. Antonius then performed a decimatio on
the army, in which one of every ten soldiers was chosen by lot and executed; his wife Fulvia looked
on as three hundred men, many of them centurions, were executed. Later, when Antonius had
stationed his small army in Tibur, just outside Rome, two of the four legions, at great peril to their
lives, deserted their consul Antonius and joined Octavian in the defense of Rome.

Nor was Octavian alone in opposition to Antonius. Many members of the Senate feared that
Antonius was trying to take Caesar's place as dictator. Antonius himself was consul and already had
an army outside Rome; one of his brothers, Gaius, was praetor, and his other brother, Lucius, was
tribune. Lucius could expect to be praetor the next year, since Antonius, as consul, would be
overseeing the "elections." The Senate was right to be alarmed; Cicero had foreseen the danger that
Antonius presented and, in a letter to Atticus, written in April 44, called the assassination of Caesar
"a great and beautiful deed, but incomplete" (Ep. ad Att. XIV.12).

So Cicero came out of the semi-retirement he had been in since Pharsalus and took charge. He
attacked Antonius in a series of speeches and political pamphlets called the Philippics. (These were
named after the speeches that Demosthenes, the foremost Athenian orator, had delivered against
Philip, king of Macedon, who was threatening Athens' sovereignty from 351 to 341 B.C. In English,
the term is used for a tirade against someone.) Cicero urged the Senate to declare war on Antonius:

He has drained Caesar's house of its furnishings, pillaged his gardens, and taken all the beautiful objects from
them to his own house. He has

 
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used Caesar's death as an excuse for murder and mayhem. After passing two or three decrees of the Senate
that were beneficial to the republic, he has made everything simply a matter of profit and loot. He has sold
immunities from taxes, he has freed states, he has freed whole provinces from the rule of the Roman empire,
he has brought back exiles. He has seen to it that false laws and decreespassed in the name of Caesarwould
be engraved in bronze and set up on the Capitol. In his house he has established a market of all things, he has
imposed his laws on the Roman people. With weapons and guards he has shut the people and magistrates out
of the Forum. He has crowded the Senate with armed men and shut armed soldiers in the Temple of Concord,
when he was presiding over the Senate. He has run down to the legions in Brundisium and cut the throats of
centurions from those legions, despite their patriotism, and with that army, he tried to come to Rome to
destroy us and to portion out the city. (Cicero, Philippics III.12.30-31)

Cicero spoke urgently and passionately, for Antonius at that time was marching to Cisalpine Gaul,
to assume control of the province that he had had transferred to himself; D. Brutus, who was
governor of Cisalpine Gaul in accordance with Caesar's acts, refused to relinquish his command to
Antonius and shut himself and his small force inside the city Mutina. Antonius started the siege of
Mutina.

The Senate declared war on Antonius. Octavian was granted a propraetorship by the Senate, and
with Pansa and Hirtius, the two consuls of 43, he marched to the aid of D. Brutus in Mutina. There
they fought a battle with Antonius, defeated his army, and put him to flight; he found safety nearby
in Lepidus' camp and convinced the governors of other provinces to support him. In the battle,
however, Hirtius was killed, and Pansa mortally wounded. (D. Brutus was later deserted by his
army and killed.) Octavian was left alone with the republic's army. He then returned to Rome,
expecting to be treated with deference by the Senate for having freed Rome from the menace of
Antonius. "This is for certain," writes Cicero to his friend Trebonius, a conspirator who was killed
by Dolabella in Asia. "If he [Octavian] had not quickly enlisted the veterans, if two legions from
Antonius' army had not brought themselves under his leadership, and if Antonius had had nothing

 
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to fear, he would not have stopped short of any crime and bloodshed" (Ep. ad familiares X.28).
Instead of being grateful, the Senate, freed of immediate danger, wished to be rid of him too and
refused his request of a consulship, even though he promised to take Cicero as his colleague. Upon
the Senate's refusal, he brought his troops into the city, and secured for himself a consulship for the
rest of 43, to replace one of the consuls killed at Mutina. He chose for his colleague Q. Pedius, also
an heir in Caesar's will. One of his acts as consul declared Caesar's assassins outlaws.

When Octavian entered the Campus Martius on election day, he is said to have seen six vultures,
and later twelve, just as Romulus had.

The Second Triumvirate

Octavian soon understood that he needed the cooperation of Antonius and Lepidus more than he
needed Cicero and the Senate. Accordingly, after secretly meeting with Antonius and Lepidus in
Bononia, he deserted his former allies and joined the two in an alliance that we call the Second
Triumvirate. (The refusal to allow Octavian to run for the consulship shows that Cicero and the
Senate fully intended to desert Octavian once he had defeated Antonius; they too underestimated
him.) The agreement between these three differed from the First Triumvirate because this alliance
was publicly known and legalized by the Lex Titia. In legal terms, Octavian, Antonius, and Lepidus
were "tresviri reipublicae consti-tuendae causa" (three men for reestablishing the republic). For five
years, the length of the triumvirate, they would be superior to all magistrates and governors, and
they would have the power to make laws. They agreed on the following allotment of the provinces:
Antonius received Cispadane and Transpadane Gaul; Octavian received Africa, Sicily, and Sardinia;
Lepidus got Gallia Nar-bonensis and all Spain. To cement the deal, Octavian married Clodia, the
daughter of Antonius' wife Fulvia by her first husband, Clodius the tribune.

Soon the three embarked on the proscriptions, in which they not only raised the money to finance
the purchase of land for the veterans and the pay of their forty-five legions, but also got revenge

 
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on theft enemies, some of whom were even members of their family. Antonius, for example, let his
uncle; L. Caesar, be killed, while Lepidus proscribed his own brother, Paullus. Antonius became as
monstrous as Cicero had portrayed him, as the triumvirs killed more than three hundred senators
and two thousand knights and confiscated their estates. Antonius insisted upon the death of Cicero,
who had insulted him repeatedly in his Philippics. Cicero was killed by a man he had once
defended in court, and at Antonius' orders the head and hands were cut off his corpse and nailed to
the rostrum in the Forum; Cicero's son was safe, being at school in Athens, but Cicero's brother
Quintus and his son were killed. The triumvirs were hated because of the proscriptions. Those
fleeing the proscriptions joined either Brutus and Cassius in Asia or Sextus Pompey, the last son of
Pompey the Great, who with his powerful fleet was harassing Italian shipping and controlling the
seas around Italy.

After fleeing Rome, Brutus and Cassius had proceeded to Crete and Cyrene, the provinces allotted
to them by Caesar. The two men nonetheless managed to take control of Macedonia, Syria, and
Asia. They even captured G. Antonius, Marcus' brother, who had been sent to secure Macedonia; he
was later killed, supposedly to avenge the murder of Cicero. Brutus and Cassius were amassing a
large army and supplies to rescue the republic, and they established a base in Greece, at Philippi.
Their forces were soon augmented by fugitives from the proscriptions. Among the soldiers joining
them were M. Cicero, the son of the orator, and Q. Horatius Flaccus (Horace). (Horace became a
better poet than soldier; in the one battle he saw in his brief military career, he threw down his
shield and fled.)

In 42 Antonius and Octavian sailed to Greece to have a battle with the remaining republicans.
Octavian was sick in bed on the day of the battle and narrowly escaped death, as his camp was
taken by Brutus' victorious army; nonetheless, Antonius' army defeated that of Cassius. Cassius,
thinking Brutus conquered and dead, committed suicide; Brutus then collected his and Cassius'
army and faced Antonius and Octavian in a second battle, which he lost to Antonius. Brutus too
committed suicide.

 
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Antonius in the East

After Philippi, Antonius left Italy for the East, to prepare for the invasion of Parthia. While the
Romans were fighting with each other, the Parthians, led by T. Labienus, son of Caesar's former
lieutenant, had taken over all of Syria except for Tyre and even threatened southern Asia Minor. It
probably seemed an excellent idea for Antonius to go east and fight Parthia, for besides the obvious
advantage and necessity of rescuing part of the empire, he would win wealth, fame, and glory: He
would be fulfilling the dream of Caesar and he would get revenge for Crassus. Antonius' brother
Lucius was consul in 41 and could control Octavian; since one of Octavian's tasks was to find land
for the thousands of veterans, Antonius could be free of the whole mess. Yet leaving Italy and
Rome turned out to be a terrible mistake for, absent from Rome and Italy, Antonius was able
neither to see their transformation under Octavian nor to adapt himself to oppose the changes that
Octavian was making.

Octavian had to find land for approximately one hundred thousand veterans. To do so, he took land
from rightful owners. For this reason Octavian was hated by many Italians. One of the victims of
the land confiscations was the young poet P. Vergilius Maro (called Vergil in English), whose
ancestral farm near Mantua was awarded to a soldier. Vergil wrote a poem about losing his farm,
the First Eclogue; his talent was noticed by friends of Octavian, and they restored the farm to him.
Antonius' wife Fulvia and his brother Lucius tried to capitalize on Octavian's unpopularity, and the
two sides even had a brief war at Perusia, which Octavian won. Fulvia died as Antonius was
returning to Italy to fight Octavian; since she had instigated the conflict, the soldiers of the two
sides insisted upon peace between the two men. They were reconciled in the Treaty of Brundisium
of 40 and redivided the empire between them. Octavian took everything west of the Adriatic Sea,
while Antonius took everything east of it. Lepidus retained Africa, while Sextus Pompey controlled
Sicily and Sardinia. To cement the pact, Antonius married Octavian's sister, Octavia (the marriage
was the inspiration for another poem by Vergil, the famous Fourth Eclogue).

 
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Antonius then went to Asia, where he started wearing eastern clothes and engaging in un-Roman
practices. He had always been a heavy drinker (once while giving a speech as consul, he was so
hung-over that he vomited into his toga), known for consorting with disreputable types. Golden
drinking cups were carried before him when he left Rome, as if they were part of a religious
procession, and he billeted prostitutes and musicians in the homes of respectable people. Antonius
had also taken the modest house of Pompey the Great, and people were angry that Antonius closed
the house to generals, magistrates, and ambassadors, and filled it instead with actors, jugglers, and
drunken parasites, on whom he squandered vast amounts of money. He started calling himself ''the
young Dionysus," and insisted that others call him that too. In Athens, the citizens betrothed the
goddess Athena to him, and he in turn demanded a huge dowry.

Part of the problem was his new friend, Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. While preparing for the
Parthian expedition, Antonius summoned her to face charges that she had aided Cassius. Their
meeting at the Cydnus River is famous:

She sailed up the Cydnus river on a barge with a golden stern, which had its purple sails spread wide, with
rowers lifting up their silver oars to the sound of a flute, accompanied by a pipe and flute. Cleopatra,
reclining beneath a canopy glittering with gold, was made up to look like Venus as seen in paintings, and her
slaves, standing next to her, looked like Cupids. Likewise her most beautiful handmaids wore the clothing of
Nereids and Graces, and were either at the rudder or the ropes. Marvelous odors from generous amounts of
incense spread through the riverbanks. (Plutarch, Antonius 26)

Antonius fell under her spell. Cleopatra saw what type of person he was and changed her behavior
to please him. She played dice with him, drank with him, hunted and fished with him, and watched
him as he exercised with his weapons. He liked also to wander around the city of Alexandria
disguised as a slave and to stand outside the homes of ordinary people and make fun of them. So
Cleopatra went with him, disguised as a maidservant.

 
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Back in the palace, however, their tastes were not so plebeian. They and their friends called
themselves "the ones with the incomparable lifestyles" and gave banquets for each other. When
warned of an upcoming banquet, the cook was expected to have the food ready and perfect at
precisely the moment that it was called for, whenever that was. Since the guests would not want to
wait for the food to finish cooking, or to eat food that had been ready long before and that had been
reheated, the cook prepared many different banquets, at different stages of preparation, so that one
of them would be ready and perfect when Antonius and Cleopatra and guests were ready.

While Antonius was preparing for the war (squeezing money from the provincials and partying
with Cleopatra), his excellent lieutenant Ventidius drove the Parthians from Syria. Antonius finally
left Cleopatra and invaded Parthia, but he was immediately deserted by his ally, the king of
Armenia. Then, by marching quickly, Antonius allowed his siege-train to become separated from
his army, thus giving the Parthians the opportunity to destroy the siege-train. Antonius and his
soldiers had to cope with the hostile climate and lack of provisions, as well as the formidable
Parthian army. Antonius' expedition against Parthia accomplished little. He returned to Syria after
losing twenty thousand soldiers and four thousand cavalry. Eventually he got revenge on the king of
Armenia and made his country briefly a province of Rome, but he soon lost it too.

While Antonius was living the life of luxury and decadence with Cleopatra, or failing in his
Parthian campaign, Octavian was busy solving the many problems in Italy and Rome. One of the
problems was S. Pompey. In 39 Octavian and Antonius reached peace with him by granting him
Sicily, Sardinia, and part of Greece; they never intended to live up to the agreement, nor did he.
Despite the treaty, he was still engaging in piracy and frequently attacking the Italian shores. With
his control of Sicily, he had interrupted the flow of grain into Rome, causing a famine there.

Octavian was consequently forced to fight S. Pompey and his powerful navy. For that he needed
ships, so he promised to deliver twenty thousand soldiers to Antonius in exchange for ships; at the
same time, the triumvirate was renewed for another five years.

 
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(Octavian received the ships, but never delivered the soldiers to Antonius.) Agrippa, Octavian's
admiral and righthand man, needed to train his crews, but S. Pompey's fleet was so powerful that
Agrippa could not train them even in the waters off the Italian coast, for S. Pompey's fleet would
destroy the new navy during its training. So Agrippa created a huge harbor (the Portus Iulius) by
cutting a trench between Lake Avernus and Lake Lucrinus (famous for its oysters) and joining them
with the open sea. In that harbor, safe from S. Pompey's fleet, Agrippa was able to train his men.
Octavian and Agrippa then defeated S. Pompey in a hard-fought battle in 36. He fled to Asia, where
he was caught and put to death, perhaps at Antonius' orders. Octavian also suspected his fellow
triumvir Lepidus of collaborating with S. Pompey; when Lepidus was left defenseless by the
desertion of his army, Octavian deposed him and banished him to the island Circei.

The Propaganda War

Since Lepidus and S. Pompey had been removed, only Antonius and Octavian remained. Octavian
knew that war between them was inevitable; three times before they had been dissuaded from
warring on each other, either by their soldiers or by Octavia. In preparation for the coming war,
Octavian in 35-34 exercised his army with expeditions against the Dalmatians and Pannonians,
tribes in Illyricum. More important were his efforts closer to home, for by them he united most
Italians and Romans against Antonius.

Since Antonius was away from Rome, Octavian came to be seen as the source of good government
in Italy and the West. The Romans and Italians wanted stability in the state after nearly a century of
civil strife, and Octavian provided it. The hatred he had earned for the proscriptions and
confiscations waned, and his popularity in the western provinces grew, as peace allowed them to
return to prosperity. Octavian's zeal to earn the goodwill of his subjects can be seen in many other
acts. For example, he and his friends supported poets whose verses glorified Rome and Italy, and
reminded the audience of the good things that Octavian was doing; two of those poets were Vergil
and Horace. In 33 Agrippa was aedile and at no cost to the treasury repaired public buildings

 
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and streets, and cleaned out and repaired sewers, even sailing through the Cloaca Maxima into the
Tiber. Agrippa also distributed free olive oil and salt, charged no admission to the public baths for a
year, provided free festivals and free barbers, and distributed coupons to the public, good for cash,
clothes, and other useful commodities.

Octavian let the Italians know what Antonius was doing in the East: Antonius had gone to get
revenge from Parthia, but had accomplished little in his battles there except for losing money and
men; he had fallen in love with Cleopatra and was treating Octavia, his Roman wife and a
wonderful woman, badly. When Antonius was short on supplies in Parthia, Octavia, using her own
money and help she had begged from her brother, filled ships with clothing, food, and supplies for
Antonius and his men, and paid for two thousand soldiers to be Antonius' praetorian guard;
Antonius refused even to meet with her, but accepted all that she had bought. Antonius by now had
fathered three children by Cleopatra: two sons named Alexander Helios (the Sun) and Ptolemy
Philadelphus, and a daughter was named Cleopatra Selene (the Moon). The poses they assumed for
statues and paintings portrayed Antonius as Osiris or Dionysus and Cleopatra as Selene or Isis.
Meanwhile, back in Rome, Octavia was caring for her and Antonius' children, as well as for his
children by his previous wife Fulvia, and was maintaining his house and loyally defending his
interests. She inadvertently made Antonius even more detested, for what kind of man would treat
such a womanespecially a Roman aristocratic matronin such a manner? In 32 Antonius sent men to
turn Octavia out of his house, a formal declaration of divorce.

Antonius still had many friends and supporters in Rome, but he was not helping himself. News
came to Rome of the "Donations of Alexandria":

He filled the exercise area with a crowd of people and, on a silver stage, put up two thrones, one for himself
and the other for Cleopatra, and other lower thrones for his children. Then he proclaimed Cleopatra queen of
Egypt, Cyprus, Libya, and Coele-Syria, with Caesarion being co-ruler with her; he was thought to be Julius
Caesar's son, since she was pregnant when he left her. Then he proclaimed his sons by Cleopatra

 
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king of kings, and he allotted Armenia, Media, and Parthia (once Antonius had conquered it) to Alexander,
and to Ptolemy he allotted Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. Then he brought his sons forth, Alexander in
Median clothing with a tiara and straight hat, and Ptolemy in Macedonian soldiers' boots, short cloak, and
diadem. (Plutarch, Antonius LIV)

Some of the Romans merely pitied Antonius, as they thought he was the victim of some love drug
that Cleopatra had given him to keep him under her control. Cleopatra appeared to be using
Antonius as a pawn in her dream of conquering the Roman empire and transferring the seat of
power to Alexandria; she even swore oaths with these words: "As surely as I will be giving edicts
on the Capitol, will (such-and-such) happen. . . ."

Finally, from two of Antonius' friends, who had deserted him, Octavian learned what Antonius had
written in his will. Octavian seized the will, which had been deposited with the Vestal Virgins, and
read it to the Senate. Although horrified at Octavian's actionsanything concerned with the Vestal
Virgins was regarded as sacred, and Octavian had violated their sanctitythe audience was more
horrified at Antonius' wishes: among other things, he wanted his body to be buried with Cleopatra
in Egypt, even if he died in Rome.

The people of Rome and the West, seeing the return of peace, stable government, and prosperity,
probably had little difficulty in their choice between Octavian and Antonius. Antonius' career since
the death of Caesar must not have inspired confidence. Octavian too had been brutal during the
triumvirate, but he had restored peace and prosperity. Life under Octavian was good, and besides
Octavian was in control of Italy and the West. When it became clear that Octavian and Antonius
would have a war for the empire, Italy and the western provinces swore allegiance to Octavian, a
fact he records in his Res gestae: "Iuravit in mea verba tota Italia sponte sua . . . iuraverunt in
eadem verba provinciae Galliae, Hispaniae, Africa, Sicilia, Sardinia" ("All Italy voluntarily swore
allegiance to me . . . the Gallic provinces, the Spanish provinces, Africa, Sicily, and Sardinia
likewise swore allegiance"; Res Gestae 25).

In 32 Antonius collected his forces from the East and transferred them to Greece; Cleopatra
accompanied him. Antonius' associates

 
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told him that bringing Cleopatra was a mistake, for without her Antonius could claim to the Italians
that the war was simply a political dispute between him and his former colleague in the triumvirate.
Cleopatra's presence, however, changed the war into an invasion of Italy by a foreign power.
(Octavian was careful to declare war only on Cleopatra, not on Antonius.) Antonius had no choice
but to allow her to accompany him, for she was providing much of the navy.

In 31 B.C. the two forces met in battle at Actium, a promontory on the coast of western Greece that
was sacred to Apollo. It was not much of a battle. Antonius' forces, sick and hungry, were deserting
him; his fleet quickly fell apart, and Octavian won.

Antonius and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, where they instituted another society of banqueteers (called
"those about to die together") and resolved to enjoy the rest of their lives, however long that might
be. Cleopatra meanwhile was using her slaves as victims in experiments with different types of
poisons, to see which poison brought on the quickest and easiest death.

The next year Octavian arrived in Egypt from Syria, while his generals entered from Libya. Fearing
that Cleopatra, in despair, might incinerate the treasury of the Ptolemies, Octavian made various
offers to her that would allow her to live. When Antonius' remaining forces deserted him, Cleopatra
sent messengers to tell Antonius that she had committed suicide; upon hearing them, he stabbed
himself and lived just long enough to be brought to Cleopatra, who was still alive, barricaded
within her mausoleum. He died in her arms.

Soon Octavian arrived, and his envoys treated Cleopatra with respect and courtesy, for in addition
to the treasury, Octavian also wanted her presence in his triumph. He ordered his men to do
everything to keep her alive, and he himself even visited her and tried to reassure her. Despite the
precautions, Cleopatra managed to kill herself. In a basket of figs her servants hid a black asp,
whose bite was said to confer upon the victim death as well as divinity; by its bite Cleopatra met
her end.

Octavian incorporated Egypt into the empire, treating it as his personal property. He killed
Caesarion (Caesar's son by Cleopatra) and Antyllus (Antonius' son by Fulvia), and finally found
himself

 
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without opposition for the rule of the Roman Empire. The poet Horace celebrated Octavian's
victory over Cleopatra with his famous "Cleopatra" ode:

Now's the time to drink,

Now's the time to pound the ground with free feet,
my friends, for a long time it's been time to honor the gods with magnificence.
Before now it would have been a crime to break out
the prized Caecuban from ancient wine cellars,
while that queen with her polluted flock of diseased and filthy men was
preparing insane destruction for the Capitol and empireshe, deluded by her
good luck and powerless to hope.
The one ship of hers that barely escaped the fires didn't
humble her at all, but Caesar, with chains ready for the deadly monster, forced
her mind, drunk on Egyptian wine, to face horrible reality,
as she flew from Italy and his rowers in feverish
pursuit, like a falcon diving for tender doves or a quick hunter
in winter pursuing a rabbit in the fields of Haemonia.
Seeking to die honorably,
she had no coward's fear of the sword,
nor did her swift fleet make for hidden shores.
Her face serene, she dared to behold her helpless
palace, brave enough even to clutch deadly snakes
so she could take the black poison into her body.
All the more fierceshe planned her own death
she deprived Caesar's swift Liburnian ships of her being led in
his proud triumph like a meek woman.
(Horace, Odes I.37)

 
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Chapter 23
The Roman Empire
The Principate

The Battle of Actium eliminated the danger from Antonius and all other significant opposition to
Octavian's rule. Grave problems nonetheless remained for the young Octavian. What form of
government would ensure his own political survival, as well as the prosperity of Rome, Italy, and
the provinces? He knew that he could not restore the republic of old: Ambitious generals would
certainly seize power and in the process provoke a new series of civil wars, which the empire might
not survive; the Senate certainly could not be counted on to provide leadership, for it was largely to
blame for failing to solve the various problems that destroyed the republic; and the Roman
populace itself had degenerated into a mob dependent on the grain dole, placated by "bread and
circuses." Nor could Octavian become a monarch: His adopted father's fate, as well as his own
conservative republican values, precluded any monarchy. Serious problems, indeed.

But guided by his own conservative outlook (one of his favorite sayings was festina lente, "hurry,
but slowly"), Octavian slowly and deliberately created a system of government that would bring to
Europe and the Mediterranean world the longest period of peace and prosperity that it had ever
seen. Once that period ended, such stability did not occur again until after World War II.

Of utmost importance to Octavian was the control of the armies. From 43 to 33 B.C. he had relied
upon his triumviral powers for his military might, and from 31 to 23 he was elected to successive
consulships. Yet the nobles resented his dominance of the consulship and military; their ancestors,
after all, had been consuls, and they felt it their right to reach the highest honor in Roman

 
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government. Also, Octavian's own delicate health limited the number and weight of the
neverending burdens he could assume in running the empire. Therefore, in 27 B.C., after a serious
illness, Octavian offered to restore the republic; the Senate objected, begging him not to desert his
country.

The two sides compromised by dividing the empire into two parts, one ruled by Octavian and the
other by the Senate. It is not mere coincidence that the provinces ruled by Octavian, called imperial
provinces, were those most in need of a large standing army: Gaul, with its armies along the Rhine;
Spain, still in the process of pacification; Syria, always threatened by Parthia; and Egypt, which
supplied Rome with one-fourth of its yearly supply of grain, a power Octavian could not let fall
into the hands of any overly ambitious senator. The senatorial provinces were the peaceful ones:
Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Greece, Asia, Bithynia, Crete, and Africa. Only two senatorial provinces,
Illyricum and Macedonia, had armiesto protect the empire from incursions from across the Danube.
After "restoring" the republic in 27 B.C. Octavian was honored with the honorary title augustus,
which means "holy, sacred, venerable" (sebastos in Greek), and the month Sextilis was renamed in
his honor. Later, after another serious illness in 23, Augustus was granted maius imaperium (greater
power), by which he could overrule all other magistrates if necessary. He already had tribunicia
potestas (tribune's power), by which he could veto the undesired actions of any magistrate; by a
different law, he was freed from having to obey the laws: "Princeps legibus solutus est." (This
caused some problems for the public under later emperors: what were the legal limits to their
behavior?)

To all appearances, then, the republic had been restored. Octavian rarely held the consulship after
23, and the powers that he held, if considered separately, were not new or extraordinary. For
example, the tribune's power dated to the early days of the republic (see chapter 6). Pompey, who
had fought for the republic at Pharsalus, had held maius imperium and extraordinary commands.
And, of course, individual Romans had always ruled the provinces as governors. Octavian
(henceforth called Augustus) chose his legal title very carefully; he called himself princeps ("first
citizen", from primus, "first," and capio, "to seize"). This

 
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Augustus, first century A.D. (Courtesy of the Archer M. Huntington 
Art Gallery, University of Texas at Austin, William J. Battle
 Collection of Plaster Casts)
 
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was a term with good republican connotations: The princeps senatus had simply been the most
eminent man in the Senate, and the principes had been the leading men in the state. Augustus as
princeps was nothing new or radical; in his own words, he was simply primus inter pares, ''first
among equals."

The reality of the sharing of power, however, was different, for Augustus controlled the armies and
held maius imperium and tribunicia potestas all at the same time. The consulate, stripped of its
military functionsonly Augustus, his closest friends, or his relatives led the armiesbecame solely
administrative and ceremonial. When Marcus Crassus, the grandson of the triumvir, killed an
enemy king in single combat in 28 B.C., Augustus denied him the spolia opima; Augustus had to
keep sole control of the military. The Senate's autonomy was greatly diminished, for Augustus
ultimately controlled affairs through his various powers and commands; the people's authority too
was reduced, for their officialselected from a list nominated by Augustuswielded very little real
power. Still, Augustus knew that he could not afford to alienate any of the classes and that he could
not manage the empire alone; consequently he strove to make them active partners in the new
system. So he transformed the Senate into the civil service that the republic had lacked and drew
from its educated and experienced members to fill the various posts in the government. The equites
too were incorporated into the system, as more of them were enrolled in the Senate and given posts
in the government. Augustus placated the common people of Rome with generous grants of food
and games. Few people opposed the new system, for all enjoyed the benefits of peace; Augustus
inaugurated the famous pax Romana (the peace of Rome), two centuries of largely unbroken peace
and prosperity throughout the Mediterranean world.

Since Augustus himself picked men to become governors, paid their salaries, and scrutinized their
performance, he was able to ensure fair and ethical government in the provinces. Governors could
be charged with extortion in a court over which Augustus himself presided. He also abolished the
horrible tax-farming system (see chapter 15); provincial peoples still paid taxes, but now to a
salaried Roman official who was independent of the governor. Communications between Rome and
the provinces were

 
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improved by the establishment of the cursus publicus, a sort of Pony Express for government
officials. Consequently, the provinces prospered under the new system: Borders were secure,
internal peace prevailed, taxes were fair, roads were built, and piracy was suppressed. Soon a far-
flung trade developed across the Mediterranean and all Europe and beyond, from Britain to Egypt,
the Crimea, India, Sri Lanka, and even China. Many provinces established cults for the worship of
Rome and Augustus, so grateful were they for the prosperity they experienced under the Augustan
system.

In foreign policyover which Augustus, by virtue of his consular power and maius imperium, had
complete controlRome won numerous victories. Under Augustus, peace finally came to Spain. He
concluded a treaty with Armenia and Parthia, even gaining from the Parthians the standards from
Crassus' obliterated army; the loss of the standards had been a source of shame to the Romans. He
extended the borders north of Greece as far as the Danube, establishing the provinces of Noricum,
Raetia, Pannonia, and Moesia (roughly modem-day Austria, Hungary, Bosnia, Herzegovina,
Albania, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, and Bulgaria). He founded twelve new towns in Gaul, and Gaul
began to prosper after the horrors of its wars with Julius Caesar. A Roman army penetrated into
Ethiopia, in retaliation for the Ethiopians' raid into Egypt. Embassies came to Rome from India and
Scythia (modem Ukraine).

Augustus experienced one disaster in foreign policy. Early in his reign he intended to conquer
Germany, since Germanic tribes had been attacking Gaul. Marcellus (Augustus' nephew) and
Tiberius (the son of Augustus' wife Livia by a previous marriage) were having great success against
the Germans, pushing the border between Gaul and Germany beyond the Rhine River, their goal
being to establish the Elbe as the frontier. In A.D. 9, however, disaster struck, when the Roman
general Varus and his three legions were led into a trap in the Teutoburg Forest and wiped out by
the German Arminius. Augustus was devastated by the annihilation of the three legions. He had
demobilized and settled one hundred thousand soldiers at the end of the civil wars and had in arms
fewer than twenty-five legions; the loss of three was a severe blow. Augustus refused to shave or
cut his hair (traditional

 
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The Roman Empire at the death of Augustus, A.D. 14. (Drawn by John Cotter)
 
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signs of mourning in Rome) and is said to have walked the halls of his palace at night saying,
"Quintili Vare, legiones redde!" (Varus, give me back those three legions!). He then decided not to
devote any more resources to enlarging the empire, a course followed by his successors.

While Augustus was establishing peace and stability, he was also waging a public relations
campaign to solidify his position and to win the support of the Romans and Italians. He had begun
the campaign when he assumed the name Caesar and portrayed himself as Caesar's successor and as
divi filius (son of a god) when Caesar was considered to have become a god. Augustus intensified
his efforts to solidify support for himself against Marcus Antonius. Through his righthand man,
Agrippa, Augustus worked to improve Rome and Italy. He financed the beautification of Rome, so
that he could truthfully say, "I found Rome a city of clay, but left it a city of marble." The Ara Pacis
(Altar of Peace) is a good example. The walls surrounding the altar itself are decorated with images
in relief. In one of them we see Augustus, wearing a toga (symbolic of peace), in a procession of
family members and other Romans who will be making a sacrifice to the gods. The altar kept
Augustus' name and achievements before the eyes of the people, and it also beautified Rome.
Through Agrippa Augustus repaired and constructed eighty-two temples and aqueducts, repaired
sewers (Agrippa sailed up the Cloaca Maxima to inspect it), instituted a fire brigade, and built a
new forum, the Forum Augusti. He instituted a type of police force (called vigiles) to patrol the
countryside and reduce the number of kidnappings and robberies, since innocent travelers on
deserted country roads were being abducted and enslaved; the twelve colonies of veterans that he
founded in Italy further helped secure the countryside against crime. Augustus also established a
special tax to fund the aerarium militare (soldiers' treasury), which paid for farms for veteran
soldiers upon their retirement from the army. (If the Senate had done that a century earlier, the
republic might not have fallen.) Augustus divided the city Rome into 14 regiones and 265 vici
(villages), each vicus being administered by a vicomagister, to improve the process of taxation and
census-taking. The Italian peninsula he divided into eleven regions, for the same purpose. He also
established the Praetorian

 
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The Pantheon, whose construction was begun by Agrippa;
 the Latin inscription reads, "Marcus Agrippa, the son
 of Lucius, when consul for the third time, made [this]." 
(Author photograph)

Guard, which consisted of nine cohorts of soldiers, as a permanent military force in Rome. Rome
was now the capital of the Western world, and Augustus made the city's appearance match its
importance.

Augustus also engaged in literary patronage. He and his friends Maecenas and Messalla gave grants
of money and land so promising young poets could devote their energies to their art, and in doing
so fostered what is now called the Golden Age of Latin literature. One finds various themes in the
poetry: love, of course, but also meditations on ethics and what constitutes a good life, patriotism
and appreciation of the peace and stability that Augustus brought, celebration of the joys and beauty
of the Italian countryside, and tales from Greek, Roman, and Italian myths. The poetry is of the
highest artistry and polish; for example, Vergil

 
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Interior of the Pantheon. (Author photograph)

spent seven years on his Georgics, a philosophical poem about farming and the countryside that has
only 2,188 lines, and three years on his Eclogues, which contains fewer than 1,000 lines. It
averages out to less than one line of verse per day.

Vergil's epic poem The Aeneid was the greatest literary achievement of the Augustan age and the
most famous expression of its outlook. The poem tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan prince famous
for his sense of duty to the gods, his family, and community, who was also a brave and patriotic
soldier. He thus epitomized Roman values (see chapter 2). When Troy is destroyed by the Greeks,
Aeneas leaves his home and city, carrying his aged and lame father on his shoulders, bearing the
penates (household gods) in one arm, and leading his young son Ascanius with the other. He leaves
in pursuit of some vague destiny; he hears that he is destined to found what will become a great
empire. Aeneas does not fully understand his assignment or its importance, yet he toils and

 
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The Pont du Gard aqueduct near Nîmes, France, built by Marcus
 Agrippa between 20 and 16 B.C. (Courtesy of Alan T. Kohl,
 Art Images for College Teaching)

sacrifices to fulfill his duty, so others after him can enjoy the fruit of his labors. Vergil had not yet
finished the poem when he died, and he commanded that it be burned; fortunately for future
generations, his friend Lucius Varius refused to carry out the order. Varius and Plotius Tucca edited
the poem, at the order of Augustus himself.

To the Romans, who were searching for answers to the question, "Why an empire, when we cannot
rule ourselves?" the travails of Aeneas gave an answer, told to him by Achises in the Underworld:
"Roman, remember to rule counties with powerthat is what you do besthabituate them to peace,
spare the conquered, and war down the proud" (Vergil, Aeneid VI.851-853). The Aeneid thus helped
to unify Italy, to formulate and express the empire's political reason for being, and to foster the
national consciousness.

According to Vergil's Aeneid, then, the empire existed because it was in the best interest of the
conquered; there is much truth in

 
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that statement. In 29 B.C. the Senate formally closed the temple of Janus, thus showing that Rome
and its territories were at peace; this had happened only twice before in Roman history, during
Numa's reign and in 235 B.C. The temple had to be reopened shortly after, but still most of the
empire was at peace, and peace brought prosperity.

Other poets of the times show why the age is rightly called the Golden Age of Latin literature.
Maecenas noticed the talent of Horace, the son of a freedman, and gave him a farm in the Sabine
hill country. Horace wrote lyric poetry (Odes and Epodes), satires (Sermones, literally, "chats"), and
letters in poetic form (Epistulae). Another famous poet of the age was Ovid, who wrote epic poetry
and elegies. His magnum opus is his Metamorphoses, an epic poem of tales of transformations,
from the beginning of the world to his day; it is the source of such familiar stories as Apollo and
Daphne, Narcissus and Echo, Pyramus and Thisbe, Baucis and Philemon, Arachne, Midas and the
golden touch, and many more. His other famous surviving works are Arnores, Ars amatoria, Fasti,
Heroides, Tristia, and Epistulae ex Ponto (the last two written when he was in exile). He was a
master of the Latin hexameter (the meter of ancient epic poetry), ranked with Vergil. Like Ovid,
Propertius and Tibullus wrote elegies about love. One famous historian of the age deserves
mention: Livy, whose history of Rome, Ab urbe condita (From the Founding of the City), preserves
the stories of Lucretia, Cincinnatus, Horace at the bridge, and others; his history treated of Roman
history from the beginning to his day, but only one-quarter of his huge work survives. It is a great
loss. (You will probably have noticed that many of the exciting stories of Roman history recounted
in this book are drawn from Livy's work.)

Augustus also oversaw something of a revival of ancient Roman religion and morals. Many
Romans had rightly sought reasons for the previous century of chaos, and they arrived at this
answer: The gods were angry with the Romans for forsaking their ancient religion and the customs
of their ancestors. So Augustus revived many religious festivals and games that had been neglected.
He also built new temples, which renewed the Romans' belief in the majesty of the gods.
Particularly important to Augustus was the

 
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cultivation of the worship of Apollo. The Battle of Actium had been fought in an area sacred to
Apollo, and his temple looked down upon the scene of battle; furthermore, Augustus' mother, Atia,
said his real father had been Apollo.

The literature of Horace and Vergil praised the simple, devout life. Augustus also lived according to
his ideals: He lived modestly, while others with his power, influence, and fame would have
maintained a palace and regal lifestyle; except on public occasions, he wore clothes made from
wool spun by his wife and daughters. One time when he was dining at the home of a noble, one of
the nobleman's slaves broke an expensive cup. The owner proceeded to have the slave whipped.
Thereupon Augustus called for all the expensive cups to be brought and then broke them, one by
one. He instructed the aediles not to allow anyone into the Forum who was not wearing a toga.

August likewise sought to reform the degeneracy of the upper classes. For example, he passed a law
concerning adulterers, according to which those guilty of adultery could be banished. When his
own daughter Julia engaged in sexual misconduct, he banished her to the island Pandateria, where
she was forbidden to see men, drink wine, or enjoy any sort of luxury. The Roman populace
eventually began to pity her and begged Augustus to bring her back; bitterly he cursed the crowd,
saying they should have daughters like his. He always referred to his daughter and granddaughter as
"boils" and "cancers." On his deathbed Augustus ordered that Julia not be buried in the family
mausoleum. Similarly, for some breach in morality, in A.D. 8 the poet Ovid was banished to Tomis, a
town on the Black Sea. Scholars debate the reasons for his banishment; Ovid wrote only that the
reason was carmen et error, "a poem and a mistake." Augustus also passed laws encouraging
married couples to produce more children, whereby fathers of more than three children would
obtain advancement in their careers, while female citizens who had more than three children could
gain exemption from the requirement of having a guardian; a freedwoman could gain the
exemption by having four. Childless couples, however, would have to forfeit their property to the
state upon their deaths.

 
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One problem Augustus had difficulty in solving concerned his successor. He wanted the rule to stay
within the family, but those whom he wanted to succeed him died: Marcellus, his nephew; then
Agrippa; then Drusus, the son of his wife Livia by a previous marriage. Tiberius, another son of
Livia by a previous marriage, was the only one remaining, and Augustus was not overly fond of
Tiberius; he nonetheless adopted him and gave him training in the government of the empire. When
Augustus died, in A.D. 14, Tiberius was prepared to take over.

Augustus ruled for more than forty-five years. He came to power when Rome most needed a steady
ruler, and he provided stability. By the time of his death, Romans had not fought with other Romans
since 31 B.C., the borders were secure, and through the pax Augusta, the empire was prospering. All
these accomplishments and more Augustus recorded in his Res gestae (Accomplishments), an
account of his life's work, written in his simple and direct style. The Romans had lost some political
liberties, but in return they received peace, stability, and responsible government. It is not a gross
exaggeration to call his rule the Golden Age of Rome. At his funeral an eagle was released into the
air from beneath his funeral pyre, to symbolize the ascent of his spirit into heaven. He was
afterward deified.

 
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Chapter 24
The Julio-Claudian Emperors

Tiberius (A.D. 14-37): ''Tamquam Ambiguus Imperandi"

Augustus' successor Tiberius had a hard act to follow. He could do nothing that would measure up
to the standard set by Augustusbelieved to have become a godwho had "joined monarchy with
democracy, and secured freedom for the people, and made the freedom stable and orderly" (Dio
LVI.43.4). For Tiberius to do anything less would be considered failure.

It also appears that Tiberius was not happy about becoming emperor. During his career (he was
fifty-six when he became emperor), he had already sacrificed plenty for Rome, fighting in long,
hard campaigns in Germany, Pannonia, and Illyricum. Augustus had compelled Tiberius to divorce
his wife, Vipsania, whom he dearly loved (he missed her so badly that one day, after catching sight
of her, he followed her and wept profusely), and to marry Augustus' libertine daughter Julia,
obviously before her wild living had become common knowledge. When it became clear to him
that Augustus preferred his nephew Marcellus and grandsons Lucius and Gaius as successors,
Tiberius withdrew from Rome to the island of Rhodes, so he would not seem to be interfering with
their careers; his disgust with Julia may have been an additional reason. Augustus was piqued by
Tiberius' withdrawal and would not let him return to Rome until Livia interceded on her son's
behalf. Only when all of Augustus' other possible heirs had died did he acknowledge Tiberius as his
heir and successor; even then there was a catch, for Tiberius had to adopt his nephew Germanicus

 
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(grandson of Livia by a previous marriage) and place him ahead of his own son, Drusus, in line for
the succession. It was quite clear to Tiberius that he had been Augustus' last choice for a successor,
and Augustus' will even said so: "Since a horrible fate has snatched my sons Gaius and Lucius away
from me, let Tiberius Caesar be heir to two-thirds of my estate" (Suetonius, Tiberius XXIII). Later
gossips said that Augustus had appointed Tiberius as his successor precisely because of his
shortcomings, for they would make everybody appreciate Augustus all the more.

Upon Augustus' death, Tiberius feigned hesitation in assuming the power, "as if uncertain about
ruling" ("tamquam ambiguus imperandi"; Tacitus, Annales 1.7). The Senate then begged him to
take power. Tiberius offered to split the empire into three parts, and to rule one of the parts while
the Senate ruled the other two, but the offer came to nothing. Tiberius' reluctance to take on the
responsibility of governing the empire may well have been genuine. He is said to have commented
that he was holding a wolf by the ears, and that those urging him to accept the emperor's power
would make him a miserable and overworked slave. The last years of his life show some truth to his
words.

Immediately after he accepted power, the armies on the Rhine revolted, since they wanted
Germanicus, their beloved general, to be emperor, even though he did not want it or at least was
willing to wait until Tiberius died. He barely restrained his soldiers from marching on Rome. From
the Senate Tiberius could expect little help; many of its members, accustomed to Augustus'
domination of politics, had become abject sycophants. "Consuls, senators, and knights made a mad
dash into slavery," sneers Tacitus (Annales 1.7), a bitter critic of Tiberius and the principate.
Tiberius appears to have wanted the Senate to take the greater burden of running the empire, but the
Senate constantly looked to the princeps for leadership and decision-making. One persistent
criticism of Tiberius is that he never spoke his mind: "He never strove for the things that he wanted,
and the things he said he did not mean; but saying words the entirely opposite of his intentions, he
refused what he wanted and strove for what he hated" (Dio LVII.1). Another source mentions that
Tiberius simply spoke obscurely. Perhaps Tiberius never spoke his true mind in hopes that the
senators, not

 
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knowing his real opinion, would be forced to decide for themselves and would thus regain some
backbone and independence. Years later Tiberius would mutter in Greek, every time he left the
Senate, "Men ready for slavery!" (Tacitus, Annales III.65).

Nonetheless, Tiberius' rule began well. He brought all matters to the Senate for discussion.
Ambassadors had to discuss affairs with the consuls and Senate, as well as with the emperor. One
embassy complained to the consuls that they could make no headway with the emperor, for Tiberius
wanted the consuls to conduct business with them. To show his respect, Tiberius also rose from his
seat when the consuls entered the Senate. When one senator called him "lord," Tiberius told him not
to insult him anymore. He often said, "I am master of my slaves, general of my soldiers, and
princeps of all the rest" (Dio LVII.8). Another time Tiberius rebuked the Senate for giving him too
much work and for not taking enough responsibility.

Other of his actions show his desire to stay out of the limelight and to diminish his stature. Tiberius
finished the buildings begun by Augustus, but inscribed only Augustus' name on them. When
Pompey's theater was destroyed by fire, and none of Pompey's descendants could restore it,
Tiberius restored it, but inscribed only Pompey's name on it. Some cities in Asia Minor asked him
for permission to build a temple in his honor and to worship him as a god; Tiberius refused their
request. (Tacitus' bias is evident in relating this story, for he criticizes Tiberius for his modesty.)
Another senator was accused of treason for melting down a silver statue of the emperor; Tiberius
forbade the prosecution. When the Senate proposed renaming the month of November after him,
the emperor responded, "And what will you do, if there should be thirteen Caesars?" (Dio LVII.
18.2).

Most of his rule was competent and good. The borders were secure, and peace prevailed.
Germanicus diverted his rebellious army's attention with an invasion of Germany; they won back
the standards lost by Varus' obliterated army and buried their bones. Otherwise, Tiberius followed
Augustus' policy of not expanding the empire. The provinces were well governed, as Tiberius
oversaw the prosecution of corrupt governors; to one governor, who had suggested raising taxes in
the provinces, Tiberius wrote, "A

 
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good shepherd shears his sheep; he does not skin them." When a financial crisis threatened the
stability of Rome, Tiberius freed up hundreds of millions of his own money to establish fiscal order.
He made the countryside safer. His modest way of life echoed that of Augustus: Among the laws he
passed were ones that forbade promiscuous kissing in public and forbade men to wear silk. Tiberius
was very unpopular with the urban masses, for although the supply of grain was adequate, the
frugal Tiberius refused to pay for games, circuses, and wild beast hunts.

Despite the peace and prosperity of Rome and the empire, Tiberius was hated, mostly because of
the growth of prosecutions for maiestas minuta (diminished majesty), a type of treason. Under
Tiberius, charges of maiestas included libel against the emperor. One senator, as we saw, was nearly
brought to trial for melting down a silver statue of the emperor. Mere gossip and jokes could bring
a man to the special tribunal set up for maiestas cases. "Little by little," says Suetonius, "the type of
trumped-up charges went so far that the following were capital offenses: beating a slave or
changing clothes close to a statue of Augustus, or bringing a coin or ring with Augustus' likeness on
it into a bathroom or brothel" (Suetonius, Tiberius LVIII). Suetonius, however, does not mention
any successful prosecutions for those trivial offenses. Since those who had successfully prosecuted
someone for maiestas received one-fourth of the condemned man's estate, there was no lack of
informers to bring charges of maiestas against the wealthy or against their personal enemies. The
number of delatoresthe professional spies and prosecutors of maiestasgrew, and they became hated
by their fellow Romans. Tiberius did not discourage the delatores from carrying out their detestable
work.

The hatred felt for Tiberius arose also because of Sejanus, his commander of the Praetorian Guard.
Sejanus wormed himself into Tiberius' confidence, until finally Tiberius elevated him to a high
position and trust enjoyed by no other. Sejanus aimed at becoming emperor himself and hoped to
secure his position by marrying Tiberius' niece Livilla. When Tiberius, ignorant of Sejanus' plans,
politely refused his request for his stepdaughter in marriage, Sejanus devised another plan. In A.D.
26 he convinced Tiberius to move away from Rome and stirred up his fear of assassination;

 
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once Tiberius was isolated, Sejanus controlled access to the aged and weary emperor. He used his
power over the Praetorian Guard to rid himself of political enemies, including Tiberius' son Drusus,
and he sent Tiberius' granddaughter Agrippina into exile. He also caused the death of Julius Nero,
the oldest son of Agrippina and Germanicus. (Germanicus had died under suspicious circumstances
shortly after Tiberius' accession to power.) Sejanus appeared to many to be more powerful than the
absent Tiberius.

Tiberius learned of Sejanus' plans in A.D.. 31 and formed a plan to crush him. Having secured the
loyalty of the Praetorian Guard and the connivance of the consuls, he had the consuls convene the
Senate to hear his written instructions. Sejanus attended that day's meeting, expecting to receive
tribunicia potestas, a prelude to becoming emperor. Meanwhile, Tiberius nervously waited on his
island of Capreae (where he spent the last ten years of his life), a flotilla of the navy at hand to
whisk him to safety if Sejanus somehow proved more powerful.

One of the consuls started reading Tiberius' long and rambling letter to the Senate. The letter
contained no bitter condemnation of Sejanus, just mild criticism here and there; the criticism
increased in tone and severity, and at this point in the reading of the letter, Sejanus' friends, sitting
next to him in the Senate, slowly moved away from him, until he found himself sitting alone. The
end of the letter stated that two senators who were among his closest associates were traitors and
must be punished. The two were not identified, but the praetors and tribunes by now surrounded
Sejanus, to prevent his escape. The consul Regulus called for Sejanus to come forward to jail.
"You're calling me?" asked Sejanus, stunned. He had entered the Senate a short time before as the
second most powerful man in Rome and had expected to rise even higher. He was taken and
executed, his body thrown down the steps of the Capitol. His family and many of his friends were
killed as well.

Tiberius, although he was still emperor, remained on his island of Capreae, where he directed the
Senate and governed the empire by letters. In those letters he talked of his misery and painaged,
virtually a prisoner, unable to trust anybody, spending his days in drunken debauchery. He became
so notorious for his drinking that some called him "Biberius Caldius Mero," a play on his name,

 
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Tiberius Claudius Nero: Biberius from bibo, "to drink"; Caldius from callidus, "warm," since the
Romans sometimes drank their wine warm; and Mero from merus, ''pure," since the ancients added
water to their wine. Thus, he was a drinker of strong hot wine. His rule of the Roman empire
definitely suffered; among other problems left unsolved, he had not arranged for a successor, and
no one was trained in the arts of governing.

He became deathly ill in A.D. 37 and was hastened to his end by Macro, the new commander of the
Praetorian Guard, who then declared Gaius (Caligula) Tiberius' successor. The Romans are said to
have rejoiced when hearing the news of Tiberius' death, shouting, "Tiberium in Tiberim!" (Into the
Tiber with Tiberius!). He was not deified. When cheering the death of Tiberius and the accession of
Caligula, the Romans little knew that their troubles were just beginning; Tiberius had seen Gaius'
true nature when he declared that Gaius would have all of Sulla's vices, but none of his virtues.

Caligula (A.D. 37-41): "Oderint Dum Metuant"

Gaius, the last surviving son of Germanicus, had received the nickname Caligula (Little Boots)
from his father's soldiers for wearing military-style boots while a baby. The people had dearly loved
Germanicus, and they enthusiastically greeted Caligula as emperor, since he succeeded the dour and
unpopular Tiberius. Nor did Caligula disappoint them, at first. He immediately provided circus
shows and wild beast hunts, increased the pay of the Praetorian Guard, and repressed the
professional prosecutors of maiestas. Before long, however, his generosity forced him to increase
taxes. Fearing assassination, he ordered the deaths of his co-heir and cousin Tiberius Gemellus
(Tiberius' grandson) and of Macro, his commander of the Praetorian Guard, who had helped secure
his position as emperor. Others, in fear for their lives, in turn plotted against him, prompting him to
kill still more.

After six months in power, Caligula became seriously ill. That illness may have unhinged his mind,
for afterward he was a bloodthirsty and insane megalomaniac. Examples of his insanity abound.
While Caligula lay ill, one senator, P. Afranius Potitus, offered his

 
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life for Caligula's recovery; Caligula heard his vow and forced him to keep it: Afranius was taken
and executed. According to another anecdote, Caligula, while at a banquet, suddenly burst into
laughter. The consuls asked what he found so amusing. "Oh, nothing, except that both of your
throats can be cut right here and now, with just a nod of my head" (Suetonius, Gaius XXXII).
Another time he said, "I can do anything I want to anybody" (Suetonius, Gaius XXIX). As
emperor, remember, he had no laws to obey (see chapter 23).

Caligula quickly emptied the treasury of the money that the frugal Tiberius had saved. "In the cost
of his extravagance, he surpassed all spendthrifts in sheer creativity. He invented a new type of bath
and exceedingly bizarre types of food and drinks; he would bathe in hot or cold oils, or drink highly
valued pearls dissolved in vinegar, or serve his dinner guests golden meats and bread, all the while
saying that a man must either be frugal or be a Caesar" (Suetonius, Gaius XXXVII).

When his beloved sister Drusilla died, Caligula made it a capital offense to laugh, or to dine with
one's parents, wife, or children. He also believed that he had become a god. He had the heads
removed from the statues of the gods, and replaced them with copies of his own head. He had a
temple built for his own worship, and he was co-priest in his own cult (his colleague was his horse
Incitatus, which he promised to make consul); the richest citizens vied with each other to become
priests in Caligula's cult. He forbade a descendant of Torquatus to wear the customary necklace, and
Cincinnatus' descendant was not allowed his curly hair. He forbade the descendants of Pompey to
use the nickname Magnusonly Caligula could be great. When he encountered men with beautiful
heads of hair, he would have the back of their heads shaved, because he was sensitive about his own
baldness; he even made it a capital offense to look down upon his bald head from above. When the
consuls forgot to make proclamations about his birthday, he had them removed from office. When
his armies were gathered at the shore ready to attack Germany or Britain, Caligula suddenly gave
the order for the soldiers to collect seashells, which he called "loot of the sea," and he proudly
exhibited this booty when he returned to Rome.

Because of his megalomania and bloodthirstiness, Caligula became hated. When hearing that the
people hated him, Caligula

 
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quoted his favorite line from the tragedian Accius, "Oderint dum metuant!" (Let them hate, so long
as they fear!). He is said to have exclaimed, "If only you Romans had just one neck!" (Suetonius,
Gaius XXX). The reason for this last outburst was that the crowd at one of the chariot races backed
the team that was competing against Caligula's favorite team.

After four long years of rule, Caligula was assassinated and was not deified.

Claudius (A.D. 41-54): "Fungus, Deorum Cibus"

Moments after the assassination of Caligula, guards found his uncle, Claudius, hiding behind a
curtain in the palace. Recognizing him as the brother of Germanicus, whom they had dearly loved,
they proclaimed him emperor and forced the Senate to declare him so, although the senators had
briefly discussed restoring the republic. A bonus payment of fifteen thousand sesterces to the
members of the Praetorian Guard secured their loyalty, and Claudius became emperor. He was thus
the first emperor, though not the last, to buy his position.

Claudius had been an unlikely candidate for emperor. He had been refused the various honors and
offices that a young man of the Julio-Claudian family would have expected, as he suffered from an
illness that made him perpetually weak and unhealthy. He walked very clumsily because of some
paralysis. He had an uncontrollable laugh, a very short attention span, and a runny nose and
slobbery mouth. Caligula had not killed him, preferring to make game of him instead. Out of
shame, his family had mostly kept him out of the public view; Claudius had spent most of his life in
literary pursuits, writing histories of Rome, Carthage, Etruria, and others, under the guidance of his
good friend Livy, the great Roman historian. None of Claudius' literary works survives, but copies
of his imperial edicts, engraved in bronze, have been found in the provinces.

As emperor, Claudius showed a common sense and devotion that had not been seen in an emperor
since Augustus. Among his many accomplishments were the construction of the port at Ostia,
which facilitated the transport of grain to Rome; the use of incentives for

 
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merchants to increase the amount of grain imported into Rome; completion of the aqueduct begun
by Caligula; draining of the Fucine Lake, which frequently flooded nearby farms (before the lake
was drained, he staged a mock naval battle on it, to the delight of the Romans); the rebuilding of
Pompey's theater, which had been destroyed by fire; and the extension of Roman citizenship to
leading men of Gallia Comata, the less Romanized part of Gaul. He took an intense interest in the
law courts, presiding over them himself and passing judgment, even though he occasionally fell
asleep during the proceedings. When he learned that many slave-owners were abandoning their sick
and decrepit slaves at the Temple of Aesculapius, a god of healing and medicine, because it was
cheaper than finding doctors for them, he passed edicts freeing those slaves and charging with
murder those slaveowners who killed their sick or old slaves instead of abandoning them.

Claudius' best-known achievement was a military one. Whether he was aiming to restore the
prestige of Roman arms after Caligula's debacle, to strengthen his own position, or to boost the
morale of the army, which had not added territory to the empire since the disaster of Varus,
Claudius decided to conquer Britain. In A.D. 43 his general Plautius and four legions plus numerous
auxiliary troops landed in Britain. They defeated Caractacus and Togodumnus, the sons of
Cunobelinus (Shakespeare's Cymbeline), the king of the powerful tribe called the Catuvellauni,
who had died in 40. Claudius then sailed to Britain and commanded the armies in a battle at
Camulodunum (modem Colchester), the capital of the Catuvellauni. After winning the battle,
Claudius returned to Rome to celebrate a triumph; he was awarded the title Britannicus, which he
also gave to his son. Plautiushelped by his lieutenant, the future Emperor Vespasianremained in
Britain and carried on hostilities, eventually conquering much of the island.

Britain thus became a Roman province. Owing to the Roman government there, Latin words began
seeping into the Celtic language then spoken in Britain. The Latinate and Celtic elements later
blended with Germanic elements, upon the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Britain in the fifth century,
and later still with Latinate elements from the spread of Christianity and the Norman conquest,
eventually evolving into modem English (see chapter 1).

 
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However beneficent Claudius' reign was, it was marred by his falling under the control of his wives
and his ex-slaves. His second wife, Messalina, used her position to kill or exile her personal and
political enemies; later, while still married to Claudius, she married another man, apparently
intending to supplant the emperor with her new husband. She was caught and executed. Claudius
then married Agrippina, his niece (she was the daughter of his brother Germanicus); she then forced
him to adopt her son Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (Nero, after the adoption) who, being three
years older than Claudius' own son Britannicus, became the heir to the throne. To satisfy her own
personal grudges and to increase her power, she heightened Claudius' fears of conspiracies and
implicated her personal enemies in plots, whether real or imagined, for which they were executed
or exiled. Claudius' freedmen Callistus, Pallas, and Narcissus became part of the imperial staff and
controlled access to the emperor. They exerted a power over the empire that the members of the
Senate did not enjoy, and they profited from their power, dying wealthier than Crassus, although
they had been born penniless. The last years of his reign saw Claudius slipping in his mental
abilities, while his wife and his freedmen ruled the empire. Rome then saw a reign of terror worse
than that under Tiberius.

Claudius finally began to reassert himself and to favor his own son Britannicus as his successor,
instead of Nero. Agrippina sprang into action. A famous poisoner named Locusta cooked up a
strong poison for Agrippina, who then spread it onto mushrooms, Claudius' favorite food. At the
banquet Claudius took and ate the choicest, juiciest mushroom, which his loving wife had reserved
for him. He died soon after, and Nero, at the age of seventeen, became emperor. After Claudius was
deified by the Senate, Nero joked that the food of the gods was mushrooms (fungus, deorum cibus),
for by them Claudius became a god.

Nero (5468 A.D.): "Qualis Artifex Pereo"

Imagine that before you are old enough to vote you find yourself the master of an empire that
encompasses Italy, France, parts of Germany, Spain, northern Africa, Syria, Palestine, Greece,
Egypt,

 
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Turkey, Albania, Yugoslavia, Austria, and Hungary. At age seventeen when he became emperor (or,
more accurately, when his mother Agrippina took the throne from Claudius for him), Nero found
himself possessing the power of life and death over millions of subjects and having the wealth of
the empire at his disposal.

Nero was already married to Octavia, Claudius' daughter, but he was a young man and still needed
guidance. He had as tutors Burrus, the commander of the Praetorian Guard, and Seneca, the
foremost orator and intellectual of the day, known as a philosopher of Stoicism. The person who
had the most influence on Nero, however, was his mother Agrippina, who attended meetings of the
Senate and conducted the business of the empire, even receiving embassies from foreign countries
and kings. Agrippina had long been determined to make Nero emperor. Once, when Nero was quite
young, she heard someone predict that one day he would be emperor and kill his mother. She
responded, "Let him kill me, so long as he becomes emperor!" Apparently she had known that her
control over her son would make her, in effect, empress.

Burrus and Seneca feared Agrippina's power over her son, and both of them tried to make Nero
assert himself and show more independence. As part of this policy to diminish Agrippina's
influence over him, they allowed Nero to indulge in even more vices than he was already engaged
in (which included adulterous affairs with slave girls) and also in socially unacceptable hobbies,
such as singing, lyre playing, and chariot racing. Nero did show more independence from his
mother; now he allowed Burrus and Seneca to run the empire, while he blithely engaged in his
various hobbies, which soon came to include sculpting and painting. Burrus and Seneca governed
the empire fairly and justly.

Agrippina sensed that she was losing her power over Nero. She then threatened to supplant him
with his younger stepbrother, Britannicus. "I made you emperor!" she said to him, and Nero
understood that the woman who had placed him on the throne had the power and influence to
replace him. Nero had to do something about Britannicus. He could not think of a good charge to
level against him, nor could he simply order his death; perhaps at this point Nero still cared about
popular opinion.

 
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Nero therefore sought assistance from the tried and proven Locusta. So powerful was the poison
that she concocted on this occasion, however, that Britannicus immediately evacuated it and
survived, thinking he had only had a short illness. Nero, desperate, got Locusta to cook up another
poison. Tacitus gives a vivid description of Britannicus' death:

They had the custom that the children of the princes would sit with other noble children of the same age
while eating their dinner, in the sight of their relatives, but with their own, less lavish table. Britannicus ate
his dinners there. Since one of the servants had been chosen to give his foods and drinks the taste test, the
following stratagem was invented, so the customary taste test would not be omitted, and so the plot would
not be betrayed by the deaths of both.

An exceedingly hot and (so far) harmless drink, which had already been tasted, was given to Britannicus.
After he rejected it because it was too hot, cold water containing the poison was poured in, which
immediately spread through his body so violently that his breath and voice were immediately and abruptly
snatched away.

Among those sitting at the banquet there was agitation and confusion. The foolish ones ran away, while those
with a clearer understanding of the situation sat there unmoving, watching Nero. He, lying on his back,
nonchalantly said that it was nothing unusual, just epilepsy, which Britannicus had been afflicted with since
infancy, and soon his sight and consciousness would return.

But Agrippina's fear and panic, as if pressed onto her face, shone outit was clear that she and Britannicus'
sister [Octavia] had not known. She certainly knew that her last help had been taken away, and that the
example of murdering a relation had been set. Octavia too, despite her youthful inexperience, had learned to
hide all feelings, like grief or affection. Consequently, after a short silence, the gaiety of the banquet was
resumed. (Tacitus, Annales XIII. 16)

Britannicus was cremated the same night. His funeral had been arranged before his death.

Nero's violence did not end with his family. Disguised as a slave, he would wander the streets of
Rome with his friends, stealing

 
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from shops and assaulting passers-by. Soon people learned that the emperor was the gang leader,
and gangs of pseudo-Neros formed, for only a fool would fight the emperor. Yet one senator, upon
being attacked, fought until he recognized his attacker, and then he apologized. He was later forced
to commit suicide.

Nero soon turned his violence against his mother. His most recent lover, Poppaea Sabina, whom he
had stolen from her husband Otho (he was conveniently made governor of Lusitania, in Spain), also
feared Agrippina's power over him. She therefore stirred up his fear of Agrippina and convinced
him to kill his mother. Nero could find no acceptable way of murdering his mother until an old
friend came forward with a plan. The plan was to build a boat that would collapse and drown its
passengers; thus her death would appear an accident, and Nero could appear the dutiful son, by
bestowing various honors upon her after her unfortunate death. Nero approved of the plan, and the
ship was built. He appeared to be having a reconciliation with his mother and even had dinner with
her before she embarked on the ship from Baiae, a fashionable Italian resort on the Bay of Naples.

When the ship had proceeded some distance from shore, the roof fell in, crushing Agrippina's
attendant, but only wounding the intended target. Agrippina swam to shore. There she reflected
upon the fact that the ship had fallen apart without provocation from wind or waves, and she
concluded that her son had tried to murder her. She pretended ignorance; she wrote a letter to Nero,
informing him that by divine mercy she had been saved, that she was only slightly wounded, and
that he should not trouble himself by visiting her.

Nero, crazed with fear that she might incite the army to revolt against him, sent men to her with
orders to kill. When she saw the armed men and understood the purpose of their mission, she
ordered them to stab her in the womb. Thus Agrippina died. Nero wrote the Senate a letter,
informing its members that a slave of Agrippina had been caught with a sword, about to murder
him, and that she had intended to become empress with the slave. Some senators voted to hold
thanksgivings in every shrine and to include Agrippina's birthday among the days of ill omen (dies
ater, like the day of the Allia). Because of the Senate's sycophancy, Nero

 
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started thinking that he could do no wrong, even though some Romans secretly draped leather bags
around his statues, to remind him of the old punishment for parricides: to be tied in a leather bag
with a dog, a monkey, a snake, a scorpion, and a rooster, with the leather bag and its contents then
being thrown into the Tiber.

Depressed by the murder of his mother, Nero found ways to lighten his spirits. He started the
"Iuvenalia," games to celebrate the first shaving of his beard. In those games he made his musical
debut, playing the lyre and singing a song. In the crowd were Nero's five thousand professional
clappers, who had been assigned ways of expressing their approval of his genius: the Bees made a
loud buzzing noise; the Roof-tiles clapped with hollowed hands; and the Bricks clapped with flat
hands. Later, confident after his successful debut, Nero made a tour of Greece, the home of the
Muses, where, of course, he always won first place with his poetry and songs. During his
performances, however, no spectators were allowed to leave the theater; it is recorded that women
gave birth during performances and that some people pretended to be dead so they could be carried
out of the theater. After his successful tour of Greece, Nero returned to Rome and enjoyed a
triumph, in which he proudly showed off all the trophies and prizes he had won.

Meanwhile, death claimed one of Nero's stabilizing influences, Burrus; Seneca then retired, since
his partner's death caused him to have less and less control over Nero, whose new commander of
the Praetorian Guard, the evil Tigellinus, was of the same stamp as Nero. Nothing now could
restrain Nero: He divorced Octavia, his innocent wife, and when her slaves, despite being
interrogated under torture, would not lie and accuse their mistress of infidelity with a slave (one of
her slaves, in fact, told Tigellinus that Octavia's private parts were purer than his mouth), he had her
banished. Later she too was killed. (A tragedy titled Octavia was written after her death; its
authorship is attributed by some to Seneca.) Nero then married Poppaea. She gave birth to a baby
girl, whom he named Augusta, and in gratitude he dedicated temples to Fertility. The baby died
four months later; Nero then declared the dead baby a goddess and dedicated a shrine to it, with a
priest.

Perhaps the most famous event of Nero's reign was the great fire of 64 that destroyed half of Rome.
It occurred on July 18, the same

 
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date the Gauls had sacked Rome. Despite popular myth, Nero probably did not start the fire. Given
the people's hatred of him, the story soon spread that while watching the fire he sang a song about
the burning of Troythat is, "Nero fiddled while Rome burned." One source says that goons
prevented people from putting out the fires and actually threw torches onto buildings. What
increased people's suspicion of Nero was that soon after the fire, Nero started construction of a new
palace (the Domus Aurea, or Golden House) in the area cleared by the fire; the complex included
huge parks and fields, and was graced by an enormous statue of Nero himself, who may have
intended to rename Rome Neropolis. After seeing the palace, Nero said that he could finally start
living like a human being. Wanting to avert suspicion of guilt for the fire, Nero found a scapegoat
in a recently founded sect called Christians; he had them arrested and killed by being torn apart by
dogs, being crucified, or being set afire as human torches. Nero's ruthlessnesswhich marks the first
official persecution of the Christiansfurther angered the Roman people, who quickly came to pity
the Christians, after originally despising them for belonging to what was then seen as a depraved
cult (in the words of Tacitus, it was exitiabilis superstitio, "a destructive cult"). The apostle Paul,
and perhaps Peter as well, was killed during this persecution.

Besides the Christians, Nero had been killing nobles and knights accused of maiestas; consequently,
he was hated by both groups. In 65 some conspired to assassinate him; one conspiracy, called the
Pisonian conspiracy after G. Calpurnius Piso, its instigator, involved senators, knights, officers,
women, and poets. The plan was kept a secret until one of the conspirators, at home, complained
that his dagger was dull and ordered a slave to sharpen it. Then the senator signed his will, gave a
banquet more sumptuous than usual, rewarded his slaves with freedom and presents of money, and
ordered bandages to be prepared for wounds. One slave took the dagger and this information to
Nero. Nero's action was quick and brutal: Hundreds of nobles were killed, whether innocent or
guilty of conspiring against the emperor's life. Among those ordered to commit suicide were the
poet Lucan, author of the epic poem Pharsalia (much to his discredit, Lucan implicated his own
mother in the conspiracy);

 
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Seneca, Nero's former tutor, and author of letters and treatises on the philosophy Stoicism; and
later, Petronius, author of the Satyricon, the first surviving novel in Latin. Petronius was called
arbiter elegantiae and apparently served in Nero's court to lend some class and style to Nero's
vulgar extravagances. Petronius even died in style: While most of those committing suicide sang
abject praise of Nero, Petronius composed erotic poetry while he died, and also recorded and
divulged the sordid details of Nero's sexual escapades. Henceforth many Romans knew what type
of creature Nero was, and Nero was mystified over how they had learned.

Nero's madness affected only the nobility of Rome. The city and the empire actually prospered
during this time. Hostilities in the provinces were infrequent. One rebellion in Britain should be
mentioned: Boudicca, wife of the king of the Iceni, a tribe in Britain, was flogged and her daughters
raped by Romans and Roman slaves. She then led the Iceni in a revolt, and other British tribes
joined them; together they destroyed a small Roman army and are said to have killed seventy
thousand Romans and provincials allied to them. The general G. Suetonius Paulinus (no relation to
the biographer) then conquered Boudicca. A far more serious matter was a war in Armenia, which
actually started at the end of Claudius' reign. When the Roman puppet king of Armenia was
deposed, the Parthians took advantage of the turmoil there and invaded. The Romans sent Cn.
Domitius Corbulo to drive the Parthians out of Armenia, and he succeeded in doing so. He then
concluded a peace with the Parthians that lasted for decades. The Jews in Palestine had also
revolted during the reign of Claudius, and General Vespasian was besieging Jerusalem. Otherwise,
the empire was at peace.

Nero's lifestyle had caused financial problems and had long before drained the treasury. He never
wore the same clothes twice, and he fished with a golden net, strong with purple and scarlet thread.
His wife Poppaea had gilded horseshoes put on the mules that drew her carriage and had five
hundred mules milked daily so she could bathe in the milk. To earn more money, Nero encouraged
convictions of innocent people for maiestas, which was very profitable to the emperor.

 
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Running out of money, Nero fell victim to a delusion so absurd it cannot be believed. A
Carthaginian man had a dream that on his land were buried the riches of Queen Dido, who had
hidden her wealth from her envious neighbors. The man told Nero that these riches were just
waiting to be dug up. Nero found warships and manned them with rowers especially selected to
convey the gold to Rome quickly. He even started spending his newfound wealth. Not surprisingly,
the soldiers hired to dig up the riches found nothing. Nero found consolation in his musical
performances and even insisted that he be judged on equal terms with the other musicians; he had a
voice coach present at all times, to warn him to refrain from shouting (and hurting his voice) during
fits of anger.

Nero's party could not last forever. A bad omen for him occurred when the ficus Ruminalis, the fig
tree that had sheltered Romulus and Remus, almost died. In addition to his other crimes, Nero had
angered the gods by bathing in the source of the Marcian Aqueduct; the gods got their revenge by
making him seriously ill. A comet was seen, which seemed to predict a new emperor. After Nero
ordered the murder of the excellent general Corbulo, who had regained Armenia for Rome, the
governor of Gaul, C. Iulius Vindex, revolted and urged the governor of Spain, Servius Sulpicius
Galba, to do the same. The Senate, hearing the news of the revolt, withdrew Nero's bodyguard,
prompting Nero to think that if deposed, he could always make a living by singing and playing the
lyre. He later committed suicide; among his last words were, ''Qualis artifex pereo!" ("What an
artist dies in me!"; Suetonius, Nero XLIX). He was not deified.

The Year of the Four Emperors

In the year following Nero's suicide, Rome saw as many emperors as it had seen in the preceding
eighty-five years. Galba marched to Rome and became emperor. Otho, whom Nero had appointed
governor of Lusitania (modem Portugal) so he could take Poppaea Sabina, succeeded in bribing the
Praetorian Guard to murder Galba, and Otho became emperor. The armies along the Rhine,
however, did not like Otho, and they proclaimed their commander, Vitellius,

 
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emperor; the Rhine armies marched on Italy and put Vitellius in the place of Otho, who committed
suicide. The armies in the East and along the Danube did not like Vitellius and urged their
commander, Vespasian, who was besieging Jerusalem in the Jewish War, to march on Rome.
Vespasian's armies marched west and, after a battle near the town of Cremona, conquered the forces
of Vitellius, who was quickly murdered. On December 21, A.D. 69, Vespasian entered Rome as
emperor.

Latin Literature of the Julio-Claudian Era

Latin writers during and after the reign of Tiberius produced what many scholars call the Silver
Age of Latin literature. Since the previous age is called the Golden Age, one can infer that scholars
traditionally have thought less of Silver Latin. There are two reasons for this. One is that the
Italians and Romans were naturally conservative, preferring to use the tried and proven instead of
experimenting with the new and uncertain. What the writers produced seems stale when compared
with what their predecessors had created. Another reason is the influence of rhetoric: the writers of
this period seem to have striven to make every sentence quotable.

The foremost intellectual of the age was Seneca, the Stoic philosopher. He is most famous for his
Epistulae morales, letters that are really little philosophical essays. He wrote various other essays,
such as De ira, De brevitate vitae, and De clementia. The last of these, addressed to Nero, urged
him to be merciful in his dealings with his subjects, which incidentally shows how powerless the
individual Roman was against the legal authority of the emperor. He also wrote a satire of sorts,
ApocoIocyntosis, generally translated as "The Pumpkinification of Claudius," about the bumbling,
drooling emperor's deification. Seneca also wrote tragedies, which were probably never intended to
be producedjust read. Seneca the philosopher is not to be confused with his father, called the Elder
Seneca, who wrote a history of his times, which has not survived, and some books on rhetoric, parts
of which have survived.

The sole surviving work of Pliny the Elder is his enormous Natural History, considered a major
work in the history of Western

 
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science. It contains a wealth of information concerning geography, biology, botany, and zoology.

Lucan's chief work is generally called Pharsalia, an epic poem dealing with the civil wars of 49-45
B.C. Lucan, who was the nephew of the philosopher Seneca, is said to have incurred Nero's wrath
and jealousy for being a more talented poet than the emperor and for praising Cato, the staunch
defender of the republic.

Petronius wrote what is surely the most original piece of literature of the age, a novel of sorts called
the Satyricon. Only large fragments survive. Written in a literary genre called Menippean satire,
which mixes poetry and prose, the Satyricon tells the various adventures of two trashy characters in
southern Italy. One part of the work has even become common reading for Latin studentsthe
hilarious Cena Trimalchionis. Trimalchio is a former slave turned millionaire, and his dinner party
gives a portrait of ancient Italy's vulgar nouveaux riches. Since Petronius was describing base
characters, he used the common vocabulary and syntax characteristic of everyday Latin, thus
leaving for us examples of how common people talked in Latin. Most Latin literature was written
by the upper classes, who spoke more educated Latin. Federico Fellini, the great Italian movie
director, adapted the fragments of the Satyricon to create his movie Fellini's Satyricon.

 
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Chapter 25
The Flavian Emperors

Vespasian (A.D. 69-79): "Vae, Puto Deus Fio"

Upon becoming emperor, Vespasian (his full name was Titus Flavius Vespasianus) faced many
problems. Various provinces revolted when they heard about Rome's difficulties in keeping an
emperor. The Jews in Palestine, who had revolted during Nero's reign, were not yet subdued;
Vespasian, who had been sent there by Nero to put down the revolt, left his son Titus to finish the
siege of Jerusalem while he went to Rome to become emperor. A Gaul named Civilis incited his
countrymen to rise up against Rome; gaining the assistance of the Germans, they quickly overran
much of Gaul. The armies in Britain were restlessthey had been left out of the emperor-making
game. Dacians (in modern Romania) were invading Roman territory, and Oea (site of modem
Tripoli) and Lepcis, two cities in the province of Africa, were at war with each other. The treasury
at Rome was empty: Whatever had survived Nero's extended party had been distributed to the
Praetorian Guard by the emperors Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, to buy their support.

Yet if any person could restore order to the empire, Vespasian was the one. From a peasant
background, he had none of the pretensions of the noble Julio-Claudian emperors. For example,
while other nobles at Nero's court had applauded his singing, Vespasian had fallen into disfavor
with Nero for falling asleep during one of his performances. Vespasian ruled with common sense,
and he soon restored order and stability in the provinces, in Rome, and in the treasury.

 
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To put the treasury in the black, he raised taxes, while at the same time showing sympathy for cities
and provinces that were already hard pressed. For example, when some cities in Asia Minor
suffered an earthquake, Vespasian remitted their taxes for five years. His frugality made him
unpopular with some, for he did not spend money on games, as Nero had done. One story of his
frugality concerns his tax on the contents of the public bathrooms. Tanners in ancient Rome
collected urine from the public bathrooms to cure leather; Vespasian taxed their collection of the
urine. When his son Titus complained to him about taxing the urine, Vespasian waved a gold coin
under his nose and asked him how it smelled. (Vespasiano in modem Italian means "public urinal.")
Vespasian established so solid a basis for the treasury that he was able to embark on a building
program (see below).

Gone were the days of fear of informers. Immediately after becoming emperor, Vespasian restored
citizenship to those who had been convicted of rnaiestas. One source says that the doors of
Vespasian's palace stood open all day and that no guard was stationed at them. Vespasian did not
subject his visitors to searches, as previous emperors had done, out of fear of assassination. The few
people who plotted against Vespasian were forgiven. He committed one political murder, and that
was of a diehard republican senator, Helvidius Priscus, who would not stop promoting a revolution.
Vespasian regretted the murder. To a Cynic philosopher, who was yelling rude remarks to him, the
emperor simply yelled back, "Good dog!" (The word cynic comes from a Greek word meaning
"dog.") Another source says that Vespasian simply replied, "I do not kill a barking dog."

Vespasian had simple tastes. When one foppish young Roman noble, smelling of perfume, came to
thank him for awarding him a prefecture, Vespasian shook his head and in a stem voice said, "I
would have preferred that you reek of garlic" (Suetonius, Vespasian VIII. 3) and canceled the
appointment. When some astrologers told Vespasian that he was descended from a friend of
Hercules, Vespasian burst out laughing; this is quite a contrast to the pretensions of the Julio-
Claudians, who believed that they were descended from Venus and that they became gods
themselves after their death. During the restoration of the Capitol, which had burned down

 
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The colosseum, known to the Romans as the Flavian Amphitheater. (Author photograph)

during the recent civil wars, Vespasian filled up the first basket of trash and carried it off himself.

After solving the financial crisis, Vespasian embarked on a program to improve Rome, Italy, and
the empire. In Rome, he restored the Capitol and started construction of the Colosseum (which the
ancients called the Amphitheatrum Flavianum) and a new Ara Pacis; in the provinces he built more
roads and bridges. He started something like public education in Italy by paying for professional
teachers and granting them immunity from taxes. Vespasian granted Latin rights to all Spain and
drafted provincials into the Senate; because of this, an African became consul in A.D. 80.

The succession was settled; Vespasian's elder son Titus would become emperor with Domitian, the
younger son, as his partner. Both had been trained in the administration of the empire by receiving
repeated consulships and even censorships. The last

 
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thing Vespasian said before his death in A.D. 79 reveals his common sense and sense of humor;
knowing he was about to die, he said, "Vae, puto deus fio" ("Alas, I think I'm becoming a god";
Suetonius, Vespasian XXIII). The Senate did, in fact, consider that he had become a god.

Titus (79-81 A.D.): "Amici, Diem Perdidi"

When Titus first became emperor, people thought he would become another Nero or Caligula, for
Titus' youth too had been one of dissipation and decadence. Yet he became immensely popular
during his brief reign. He respected private property and provided public entertainment in the form
of wild beast hunts and a naval battle on an artificial lake. He seems to have wanted to use his
position to make people happy; according to one story, when Titus one day realized that he had
done nobody a favor that day, he exclaimed, "Amici, diem perdidi" ("My friends, I have wasted a
day"; Suetonius, Titus VIII). He repressed the reformers and had some of them either sold into
slavery or banished. When two patricians were found to be aiming at the throne, Titus only warned
them to stop. Supposedly Domitian too was plotting against him; Titus continued swearing to his
brother that he was the successor and begged him to return the affection he felt for him. During the
various disasters that afflicted Italy during his reign, one of which was a great fire in Rome in 80,
Titus is said to have shown "not just an emperor's concern, but even the love that a parent has for
his children" (Suetonius, Titus VIII. 3).

Another of the disasters was the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Campania, which buried the cities
of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Thousands died, including the writer Pliny the Elder, who was
studying the eruption; his nephew, Pliny the Younger, describes the eruption in a few letters to his
friend Tacitus, a historian who is one of our main sources for the history of the Julian-Claudian
emperors. Archaeologists have excavated the sites of the cities and have unearthed almost a
complete ancient Italian town, undisturbed after two thousand years of being buried beneath
volcanic lava.

During Titus' reign the British revolted. The rebellion was put down by Gn. Julius Agricola, whom
the historian Tacitus memor-

 
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ialized in one of his early works. While stifling the revolt, Agricola's men sailed around Britain,
and for the first time Europeans learned that Britain is an island.

Titus died two years into his reign. His last words, "I made one mistake," prompted many people to
believe that the one mistake was to trust Domitian and to allow him to live. Titus was deified, and
Domitian became emperor.

Domitian (A.D. 81-96): "Dominus Et Deus"

Domitian was very different from his gentle, good-natured, affable father and brother. Shortly after
his father became emperor, Domitian used his position as praetor and his authority as the emperor's
son for all they were worth and filled many vacancies and positions with people of his choosing.
That prompted Vespasian to exclaim that he was suprised that Domitian had not appointed the next
emperor, too. He was already known to spend part of his leisure time in his room, stabbing flies
with a stylus.

Although an efficient administrator, Domitian knew he was boss and let everybody else know it
too. Not content with the personal bodyguard that the emperor had, he had twenty-four lictors
precede him, the number that had honored a dictator during the republic. He always dressed in
purple, the color of royalty. He assumed the power of censor perpetuus, so he could always eject
from the Senate any member he did not like, and he used this power so frequently that the senators
hated him bitterly. He insisted upon being addressed as "dominus et deus" (lord and god) and
required that sacrifices be offered to him, which necessarily brought him into conflict with Jews
and Christians. He changed the name of the month October to Domitianus.

Nonetheless, Domitian was an efficient emperor. He strengthened the borders of the empire and
raised the soldiers' pay. He had a building program, the most important part of which is the
Pantheon. In addition, he rebuilt the Baths of Agrippa and restored the Porticus Octaviae with two
libraries, one for Latin works, the other for Greek (he even sent scribes to the library at Alexandria
to copy rare manuscripts). He restored the Temple of Vespasian on the Capitoline Hill. He fought
some wars with the Germans and Dacians; it appears that

 
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his wars were not successful, for a later emperor, Trajan, waged wars with the Dacians to rescue the
standards that Domitian had lost. He always gave great and expensive shows, and even a naval
combat, in the Colosseum. He gave wild beast hunts and gladiatorial combats fought by women,
too. He started a contest every five years in horsemanship, gymnastics, music, poetry, oratory, and
lyre playing.

In 88 the governor of Upper Germany, L. Antonius Saturninus, revolted; he was quickly defeated
by the governor of Lower Germany, but the revolt had its effect on Domitian and rendered him
paranoid and ruthless in hunting out conspiracies. He revived the laws of maiestas, and informers
were not lacking to accuse someone with loose lips or faulty discretion: "He killed Salvius
Cocceianus because he had celebrated the birthday of his uncle, Emperor Otho . . . and his own
cousin, Flavius Sabinus, because on the day of the consular elections the herald had mistakenly
announced that he was imperator, instead of consul" (Suetonius, Domitian X). Another anecdote
says that a woman was executed for undressing in front of a statue of Domitian. He killed another
because he had written praises of Helvidius Priscus (executed during Vespasian's reign) and Thrasea
Paetus (executed under Nero), both Stoics who longed for a return to the republic.

His popularity with the soldiers could not prevent plots against him. So paranoid was he that he
lined the columns where he took his walks with a reflective mineral so he could see every person's
every move. In spite of his precautions, he was assassinated in 96; his wife was one of the
conspirators. Domitian had kept a sword under his pillow; one conspirator secretly removed its
blade, and another stabbed him in the groin. He was killed after putting up a fierce struggle. The
Senate, now allowed to choose the next emperor, chose Nerva, a senator respected for his
eloquence, sense of justice, and amiable nature. So great was the senators' hatred of Domitian that
they voted for damnatio memoriae (condemnation of memory) of Domitian: Images of him were
destroyed, his name was erased from inscriptions, the many arches erected in his honor were torn
down, and his acts were rescinded.

 
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Chapter 26
The Culmination of the Pax Romana

Nerva (A.D. 96-98)

Nerva was chosen emperor by the Senate after the assassination of Domitian. The armies, especially
those along the Rhine, had not shared the senators' hatred of Domitian and felt insulted by being
excluded from the decision of who would be the next emperor. Clearly, the new emperor could not
count on their support. Nor could he count on the Praetorian Guard, for its soldiers demanded the
execution of Domitian's assassins. Nerva's power was eroding rapidly; at one point he was even
besieged in the palace until the Praetorian Guard killed Domitian's assassins, even though he
probably had not taken part in the plot.

Sixty years old and in poor health, Nerva took an unusual step in order to survive as emperor. He
named his successor and chose one whom the armies would like: Trajan, the general of the armies
on the Rhine (who, people said, was going to be the next emperor anyway, whether named or not).
With Trajan adopted as Nerva's son and appointed as his successor, the unrest settled down, and
Nerva reigned in peace until his natural death.

Unwittingly, Nerva had started a precedent that would prove beneficial for the empire; his decision
to name as his successor a tried and proven man of excellent character inaugurated a century of
good role by four Spanish emperors. In fact, the eighteenth-century historian Edward Gibbon,
looking back over the history of the world, described the period from Nerva to Marcus Aurelius as
one in which "the condition of the human race was most happy

 
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and prosperous'' owing to the firmness, wisdom, and virtue of the emperors.

Trajan (A.D. 98-117), "Optimus Princeps"

When Trajan became emperor, he is said to have handed the ceremonial sword to his commander of
the Praetorian Guard, saying, "Take this sword to use for me, if I rule well, or against me, if I rule
badly" (Dio, Epitome LXVIII.2). Trajan then swore an oath that he would not shed any citizen's
blood, and during Trajan's rule the commander found no reason to turn the sword against the
emperor. Once, when many who were jealous of Trajan's wealthy and proud friend Licinius Sura
told the emperor that Sura was plotting against him, Trajan, after dismissing his personal
bodyguard, went to Sura's house for dinner, called Sura's doctor and had him anoint his eyes, called
Sura's barber to shave him, took a bath there, and then had dinner with his friend. The next day he
told those who always spoke badly of Sura that if Sura had been plotting to kill him, he would
surely have done so the day before.

Trajan's public works enlarged upon those begun by his predecessors. He instituted a building
program for Rome, Italy, and the provinces. The projects included baths; the Forum Traiani, which
included two libraries (one for Latin books, the other for Greek); and a monument called the
Column of Trajan. He repaired the harbor at Ostia, and also the ports of Centumcellae and Ancona,
on the Adriatic shore. Trajan built roads extensively throughout the empire, mostly to improve
communication of the military.

Trajan, although a native of Spain, believed in the primacy of Italy and Rome, and sought to restore
prosperity there. He or Nervawe do not know for sure which onestarted the alimenta system, by
which poor children were given an allowance for food and sustenance, paid for by the riscus, the
empire's treasury. The purpose of the alimenta was more than just philanthropy, for Trajan also
wanted to increase the populations of Romans and Italians. To improve agriculture in Italy, he gave
cheap loans to farmers and required that senators invest at least one-third of their capital in Italian
land.

 
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Trajan is most famous for his military exploits. The first of his two wars resulted in another Roman
province and eventually in another Romance language, Romanian. Called Dacia by the Romans, the
country had been united by its king, Decebalus, who then attacked his neighbors to the south, the
Roman province of Moesia. He also incited Parthia to break its uneasy peace with Rome. Since
Decebalus had previously defeated the Romans under Domitian, Trajan wanted to avenge that loss
(and to recover the standards that had been lost) as well as to curb the growing strength of
Decebalus. Trajan set out in A.D. 101 to invade Dacia.

In the first year of the war, Trajan fought an indecisive battle against the Dacians. When there were
not enough bandages for the many wounded, he ripped up his own clothes to make more. The next
year the Romans and allies captured the Dacian fortresses and ultimately their king. The Romans
reached a treaty with Decebalus that left him his kingdom, but with Roman garrisons, and they
recovered the standards that Domitian had lost. Trajanhaving now earned the honorary nickname
Dacicusreturned to Rome. But Decebalus was not so easily daunted.

Not long afterward Decebalus resumed hostilities. His troops overran the Roman garrisons and
attacked Rome's allies. Trajan built a bridge across the Danube in 105 and crossed with a hundred
thousand soldiers. The next year, the Romans won a decisive victory over the Dacians. Decebalus
committed suicide. Trajan made Dacia a Roman province, settled it with peoples from all over the
empire, and took to Rome a large amount of loot, enough for 123 days of games in Rome, with a
gladiatorial combat-fought by ten thousand Dacian gladiators.

To commemorate the victory over Dacia, there was built in the Forum of Trajan a large column
with sculptures in relief that recount the wars with Dacia. The images illustrate the war and its
progress, from beginning to end, with scenes of battles, the suicide of Decebalus, and the exile of
many Dacians. The reliefs run from the bottom of the Column in a spiral up to the top, which
shows the end of the war. The Column of Trajan is not reliable for historical accuracy, but its
illustrations do give some information about the war, and it is a marvel of ancient art.

 
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Trajan's Column. (Author photograph)
 
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Trajan's other military exploit was not so successful. Parthia had long been a thorn in Rome's side,
and when the Parthians deposed Rome's puppet king in Armenia without seeking Rome's approval,
Trajan decided to end the problems with Parthia once and for all.

In 113 Trajan left Rome for Parthia. He immediately deposed Parthia's king of Armenia and
annexed Armenia. In honor of his victory, the Younger Pliny delivered to the Senate a panegyric in
honor of the emperor, declaring him optimus princeps (the best emperor). In 115 Trajan crossed the
Tigris and captured Ctesiphon, the capital of Parthia, but Osroes, the king, eluded capture. Trajan
then became the first Roman emperor ever to see the Persian Gulf, and he commented that if he
were still young, he would have crossed over to India, too. He then retired to Babylon. At this point
the Roman Empire covered its largest extent, including Armenia and the newly gained provinces of
Mesopotamia and Assyria (modem Syria, Iraq, northern Iran, Azerbaijan, and Armenia).

The Parthians quickly revolted and even invaded Armenia. After the ensuing battles, the Romans
kept Mesopotamia and Armenia, but did not try to keep Parthia. Trajan had other troubles on his
mind: The Jews had revolted again, and he was ill.

In 117, while returning to Syria, Trajan had a stroke. He set out for Italy, but falling into worse
condition along the way, named Hadrian as his successor and then died. He was deified by the
Senate.

Hadrian (A.D. 117-138)

If Trajan can be compared to Romulus for his martial character, Hadrian was like Ancus for his
peaceful nature. Hadrian concentrated on securing the territory that Rome already held and on
improving conditions in the empire. For example, one time as he was traveling, an old lady ran up
to him and demanded that he hear her problem. "I don't have time," Hadrian said to the lady. "Then
don't be emperor!" she snapped (Dio, Epitome LXIX.6.3). Stung by her words, Hadrian stopped his
journey and heard her problem.

Hadrian quickly renounced Trajan's gains in Parthia, let Armenia be ruled by its own king, and
stopped the Romans' advances in England, for he did not want to overextend the empire's resources
 
 Page 270

and to risk the empire's present security, prosperity, and stability. To improve the defenses of the
frontiers, Hadrian toured the empire ceaselessly, himself inspecting the fortifications and improving
them. In 120 or 121 he toured Gaul and Germany, and perhaps Raetia and Noricum; the following
year he crossed over to England and later to Spain, all the time conducting inspections, sharing in
the soldiers' lives, and trying to improve their lot. He boosted the morale of the soldiers by
marching alongside them, wearing ordinary soldier's clothing, and visiting sick soldiers in their
quarters. In 123-125 he toured Syria, Bithynia, the Aegean Islands, the Bosporus, Pannonia,
Macedonia, and Greece. In 127 he toured Italy. In 128 he toured Africa, and also spent six months
in Athens. In 129 he traveled to southern Asia Minor and Syria. In 130 and 131 he toured Egypt.

During his stay in Britain he started construction of a massive wall (now called Hadrian's Wall) to
keep marauding Scots out of England. The wall was 128 kilometers long, more than 2 meters thick,
and more than 4 meters high as it ran from the mouth of the Solway river on the western side of the
island to the mouth of the Tyne on the eastern side. Construction of the wall involved moving
enormous amounts of rock and soil; eventually a huge ditch was dug on the northern side of the
wall. Remains of the wall can still be seen in Britain today.

Hadrian did not neglect the conditions of life in Italy and Rome. He continued to supply free grain
for children. "He prohibited masters from killing their slaves, and ordered that they should be
condemned by judges if they were deserving. He forbade the sale of a servant or maid to a pimp or
gladiator-trainer without a reason offered. . . . He also ruled that not all slaves should be
interrogated [that is, under torture] in the house where the master had been killed, but only those
who were close enough to have known" (Scriptores Augustae Historiae XVIII.7-11). Previously, all
slaves in a household would have been executed if their master were murdered. Hadrian did not
take any charges for maiestas. He also gave the Christians a measure of protection by threatening
revenge on whoever hurt them.

Once, while Hadrian was walking along a mountain path, a crazed slave armed with a sword ran to
attack the unarmed

 
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emperor. Hadrian, himself an excellent swordsman and athlete, managed to subdue the slave and
disarm him, and handed him over to his master; he did not order the death of the slave or blame his
master for the slave's actions. Another day, while relaxing in the public baths, Hadrian saw an old
soldier rubbing his back against a stone wall; learning that the old soldier could not afford a slave to
scratch his back, Hadrian presented him with two slaves and their upkeep. Later, two old senators
started rubbing their backs against the wall, hoping to get some free slaves; Hadrian told them to
scratch each other's back instead. Once when he was giving a banquet, he feared that the caterers
were setting excellent dishes before him, but serving everybody else bad food, so he had the
caterers bring him dishes from all the tables.

Hadrian also restored many buildings, including Pompey's monument in Egypt, the Forum of
Augustus, the Baths of Agrippa, and the Pantheon, and he completed the Olympieum in Athens.
Like many other wealthy people of the time, Hadrian built a villa in Tibur (modem Tivoli, outside
Rome); it is a popular tourist destination today. His massive mausoleum, now called Castel San
Angelo (for it was used as a fortress during the Middle Ages) is still an imposing sight in Rome.

Yet Hadrian was disliked by many people. The persistent rumor circulated that Trajan had never
adopted him and that Plotina, Trajan's wife (who was supposedly in love with Hadrian), faked his
adoption. Hadrian's boundless energy, unbridled curiosity, and competitive nature also created
problems for him. He regarded himself as an expert in astrology and freely criticized poets, orators,
and musicians. Since he himself wrote poetry and speeches, and boasted of his ability to play the
lyre and sing, no doubt he felt that his performances set the standard, and he resented competition
and not being the best. He was skilled in the use of weapons and was an avid hunterhe is said to
have killed a monstrous boar with just one blow. It appears that he was an expert at everything he
did and that he shared his superior knowledge with all, whether or not they wanted it. Of course,
one could hardly argue freely with the man who could just as easily kill as give annoying advice.
Without a doubt, that caused some resentment among those who surrounded him.

 
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Hadrian's unpopularity arose also from some executions conducted early in his reign. Shortly after
he had become emperor, and before he returned to Rome, four ex-consuls were executed by the
Senate on the charge of conspiring to kill him. Hadrian pleaded innocent to their murders, but the
cloud of suspicion remained. Years later, when he was so seriously ill that he named a successor, he
also forced a ninety-year-old man, Servianus, to die because he thought Servianus was aiming for
the throne. While dying, Servianus cursed Hadrian, calling upon him the punishment of wanting to
die but being unable to.

After Lucius Aelius, his first choice for a successor, died in 138, Hadrian quickly adopted and
named as successor T. Aurelius Antoninus. Hadrian then suffered a hemorrhage and was in such
great pain and misery that he ordered one of his slaves to kill him; rather than kill the emperor, the
slave killed himself, and doctors refused Hadrian's orders to deliver poison to him. After long
suffering, Hadrian died in 138, and Antoninus succeeded him. Against the wishes of many, Hadrian
was deified.

Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-161), "the Dutiful"

Antoninus is said to have received his nickname Pius for supporting his aged father as he walked up
the steps to the Capitolor else because he protected those whom Hadrian had ordered to be killed, or
because he refused Hadrian's request for poison when he wanted to commit suicide, or because he
insisted upon Hadrian's deification when many opposed it, or because he was naturally very gentle
and never committed any violent deeds. Antoninus proved his pietas in many ways during his
reign.

Despite being the richest man in Rome (even before he became emperor), Antoninus had simple
tastes: He ate what food came from his estates, he went fishing and hunting with friends, and as a
farmer "he harvested the grapes with his friends, like any private citizen" (Scriptores Augustae
Historiae XI.3). Friends visiting him might see him dressed in casual clothes, doing his household
chores.

He was generous with his great wealth. He bequeathed his riches to his daughter, but granted the
interest on his fortune to the

 
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Mummy portrait of a woman, second 
century A.D. (Courtesy of the
 Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University
 of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
 
 Page 274

Household objects from the town of Karanis,
 Egypt, fifth century A.D. (Courtesy of the Kelsey Museum 
of Archaeology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)

empire. He made loans to people at the very low rate of 4 percent interest. When wine, oil, and
wheat became scarce, Antoninus bought supplies of them with his own money and gave them to the
people. "In fact, he ruled over the people under his power with such carefulness that he cared for all
things and people as if they were his own," says one source (Scriptores Augustae Historiae,
Antoninus Pius VII). When earthquakes destroyed towns in Rhodes and Asia, he used his own
money to restore them all. He enlarged upon the system of alimenta for poor children, and he
arranged for help for poor girls in particular, whom he called Faustinians, in honor of his wife
Faustina, who had died in the third year of his reign. He enforced fairness in dealings with the
provincials: When his tax collectors gathered more than had been called for, they had to explain to
him the reason for the excess. Yet his own servants did not like him, for he did not allow them to
use their positions to enrich themselves. Like Hadrian, he did not persecute the Christians, and he
even showed them some respect.

 
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Front of the Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina (his wife). 
The Latin inscription reads, "For the god M. Antoninus and the
 goddess Faustina, in accordance with the decree of the 
Senate." (Author photograph)

Affairs with Parthia were quiet during Antoninus' reign, and he was respected by foreign kings. He
used the military sparingly; he was said to have quoted a saying from Scipio, that he would rather
save one citizen than kill a thousand enemies. Although no wars were fought during his reign, the
armies did see action in Germany, Africa, Dacia, and England. Once a rebellion in England was put
down, the Romans moved the frontier farther north into Scotland, where they built another wall,
called the Antonine Wall. It was subsequently abandoned, and the frontier reverted to Hadrian's
Wall.

Antoninus' last act of munificence to the empire was to name as his successor Annius Verus (known
as Marcus Aurelius), who became Rome's bulwark against a rising tide of troubles. When
Antoninus died in 161, all praised his dutifulness, clemency, intelligence, and purity; before he
died, the Senate voted to rename

 
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September and October Antoninus and Faustina, an honor he characteristically refused. He was
deified.

Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161-180), ''The Philosopher"

According to one source, Marcus Aurelius "surpassed all emperors in the pureness of his life"
(Scriptores Augustae Historiae, Marcus Antoninus I). He was a follower of the Stoic philosophy,
which had long been the philosophy most in tune with Roman mores. He had become a devotee of
Stoicism after his twelfth birthday, when he started sleeping on the floor and wearing the clothing
characteristic of Greek philosophers. His mother managed to persuade him to sleep instead on a
couch spread with skins. After becoming emperor, he asked the Senate to allow his brother Verus to
be co-emperor. While Aurelius adhered to the Stoic philosophy, Verus seems to have been more
Epicurean in outlook; he was happy to take it easy while Aurelius made sacrifices and suffered for
the good of all.

The Romans were interested in Stoicism chiefly for its ethics. The goal of Stoicism is to live in
harmony with creation; since creation is the manifestation of god, the Stoic seeks to live in
harmony with god, who is just and justly rules creation. Since god is just and perfect, what happens
in life is somehow rightgod, being perfect, cannot err. People must use reason, the ability to come
to an understanding of things, so they can live in harmony with creation, or with the will of god.
Wise people do not let themselves be perturbed by life's events, whether good or bad; their duty is
to accept and understand what happens and to transcend circumstances: "You will find (if you pay
close attention) that what happens is right. I do not mean just that things happen in a regular
manner, but that they happen in accordance with justice, as they come from something that
distributes things according to what is right," Marcus Aurelius wrote in his journal of inspirational
and philosophical thoughts, recorded during his campaigns along the Danube (Meditations IV.10).
Another key element in Stoic thought is that of the connection among all human beings, and of
each person's duty to help others; since everyone is a part of creation, their existence is ordained by
god, and Stoics must help them even

 
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when they do wrong. "Therefore it is necessary to say at each point, 'This is here from God; this is
because of the common lot and the conjoining of destiny and such happenstance and fate. Yet this is
from a relative, someone of the same blood, a companion, even though he does not know what is
part of his nature. But I know; consequently let me treat him according to the natural law of
brotherhoodI'll be kind and fair to him.' At the same time, when things are undecided, I always aim
for justice" (Meditations III.11).

The Roman Empire was particularly fortunate that Aurelius, the Stoic philosopher-ruler, became
emperor, for troubles brewing in the empire demanded selfless devotion and service from the
emperor. The least of the troubles was the Tiber flooding, which caused many deaths and led to a
famine in Rome. Other troubles included a plague, war in Armenia, and wars with the Germans,
who were invading the empire from across the Danube.

First, the Parthian Empire took over Armenia in 161. Verus left for Syria in March 162, but did not
arrive until 163, and once he arrived, he lived in luxury while his legates, Statius Priscus and
Avidius Cassius, carried on the war. Priscus recovered Armenia, and Cassius invaded Mesopotamia.
They advanced into Parthia, destroyed its main city, Ctesiphon, and shattered the Parthian Empire
all the way to Iran. The Romans did not want another province, however, and quickly withdrew,
after establishing security for their eastern provinces.

The Parthians had their revenge on the Romans, however, for the Roman soldiers brought back a
plague. After sweeping through the eastern provinces, it took Rome in 167. The first victims were
the soldiers who had picked it up in Parthia; the disease is estimated to have killed one-quarter of
the population in Rome.

During the war with Parthia, the Germanic tribe called the Marcomanni had overrun Dacia and had
been putting pressure on the troops on the frontiers of Pannonia, where Roman forces had been
drawn off for the Parthian War. Crossing the Danube in 166, they swarmed down into northern Italy
and even besieged the town of Aquileia; some advanced into Greece as far as Eleusis, which lies a
few miles west of Athens.

Aurelius and his brother Verus started out for Pannonia in 168, to drive the Marcomanni out of
Roman territory. The Marcomanni

 
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departed from Italy at the emperors' advance, but the pressure on the frontiers did not abate, and the
armies had been depleted by the plague. Aurelius soon found himself having to face the problems
alone, for Verus died two days after they had started the journey. Aurelius returned to Rome briefly
to bury his brother, and despite the death also of his six-year-old son, he quickly returned to the
front.

Aurelius took extraordinary measures to protect the peoples in the empire. He hired gladiators and
auxiliary units of Germans to fight for the empire. To meet their pay, he did not raise taxes, for he
did not want to burden the provincials; instead, he sold off the valuables of the palaceclothes, gold
goblets, gold statues, paintings, even his wife's silk- and gold-embroidered clothing. The auction of
imperial treasures lasted two months and raised more than enough money for the war effort.
Aurelius later gave those who had bought the treasures the option to return the goods in exchange
for their money, if they wanted their money back.

Aurelius returned to the Danube in 169 and restored order. He returned to the provincial peoples the
plunder the Germans had taken from them. Now he realized that the only way to solve the German
problem was to complete what others since Augustus had avoided undertakingthe conquest and
annexation of Germany.

Aurelius was experiencing great success in this endeavor when more bad news arrived in 175: The
governor of Syria, Avidius Cassius, who had led the Romans against Parthia and Armenia, had
revolted and wanted to be emperor himself; rumors even said that Aurelius' wife, Faustina, was
having an affair with Cassius and had prompted him to rebel. Aurelius had to turn away from the
problems in Germany to defeat Cassius; on the journey to the East, he learned that Cassius had been
murdered. Then Aurelius is said to have been very sad, for he had hoped to complete his reign
without spilling a senator's blood. He traveled in the East to renew the eastern provinces' devotion
to Rome and then returned to Rome.

In 178 Aurelius returned to the front to finish the war with the Marcomanni. He was winning the
war when he fell ill; naming as successor his nineteen-year-old son Commodus (his one act by
which the empire suffered), he died in 180. He left behind him his

 
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journal of inspirational thoughts, which shows a noble and humanitarian spirit grappling with life's
problems and the purpose of existence. It is easy to understand why his Meditations became
popular among Christians and was read by rulers of many countries over the centuries for its high
principles and ennobling ideals.

Latin Literature of the Flavian and Antonine Eras

The literature of the time from the death of Nero to that of Marcus Aurelius shows some great
talent at work, worthy of any age.

Quintilian (?30-?100) is said to have been the first rhetorician to receive a salary from the empire's
treasury, in accordance with Vespasian's program of funding public education. Quintilian's Institutio
oratoria, a treatise on the education of an orator, is the first book to discuss in detail the education
of young people. The tenth book of the Institutio contains a critique of Greek and Roman writers.

Martial (40-104) wrote epigrams and short poems on a variety of subjects, usually concerning his
own friends and enemies, and the foibles and vices of individuals in Roman society.

Of Juvenal's (?50-?128) work, sixteen satires survive. He attacked the vices of his agepursuit of
wealth, decadence, immorality, love of luxuryin bitter invective. He is the author of the phrase
"bread and circuses": "The citizens who once gave their leaders empire, fasces, legions, and all that,
now keep to themselves and fervently and nervously wish for just two things, bread and circuses"
(Satires X. 80).

Tacitus (b. ?56) is arguably ancient Rome's greatest historian, and one of the most distinctive
stylists in Latin. His first work, Dialogus de oratoribus, written in a Ciceronian style, concerned the
decline of oratory in Rome. His Agricola, which shows him developing his distinctive style, is a
biography of his father-in-law, Gn. Julius Agricola, a general of the empire's army squashing a
revolt in Britain. The Getmania is a description of the German peoples, in which Tacitus contrasts
their savage nobility and honor with Rome's decadence and immorality. Tacitus' fame rests,
however, on

 
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his Annals and Histories, of which large fragments survive. In the Annals we read the brilliant
descriptions of the reigns of Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero (some of which have been quoted in
earlier chapters of this book); unfortunately, the section on Caligula is lost, along with part of the
section on Claudius and Nero's last year. What survives of the Histories covers the period of the
civil wars following Nero's death through 71. Tacitus hated the principate and especially the
despotic Domitian, and his distinctive stylejarring and abruptreveals his hatred.

Tacitus' friend Pliny the Younger (61-112) wrote hundreds of letters on various topics. They are not
private letters, for he fully intended for them to be published. Among them one finds letters
describing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the treatment of Christians (as governor of the province
Bithynia, Pliny had asked Trajan for official instructions on what to do about them), a cruel father,
cruel masters, Roman society, and the tragic death of a friend's twelve-year-old daughter.

Suetonius (b. 69) is a historian, but of a very different stamp from Tacitus. Suetonius was a
secretary of sorts in the palace during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian, and undoubtedly used his
access to the palace to search out juicy gossip and dirt about the emperors for his book De vita
Caesarum. He also wrote De viris illustribus, which includes some information on the lives of some
Latin writers. (Suetonius, too, has been quoted in this book.)

Apuleius (b. 123) wrote the only Latin novel that has survived intact, Metamorphoses (generally
translated as The Golden Ass). The main character is turned into an ass and goes through many
adventures before being restored to human form by the goddess Isis. The novel contains the famous
love story of Cupid and Psyche.

 
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Afterword
The Disintegration of the Empire

Commodus (ruled A.D. 180-192), Aurelius's son, failed to complete the annexation of Germany. In a
way, Commodus out-Neroed Nero: He had three hundred concubines, one of whom he named after
his mother, and he killed his sister. Upon his murder in 192, M. Helvidius Pertinax became emperor
(192-193), but was quickly assassinated; how the next emperor gained the position is particularly
noteworthy. The practice of buying the support of the Praetorian Guard reached a new level when
the soldiers offered the position of emperor to the highest bidder; the buyer was M. Didius Julianus,
who was assassinated two months later, on June 1, 193. Septimius Severus (193-211), who was
born in Lepcis Magna in Africa, next became emperor and restored order to the empire; his arch
still stands in Rome as a monument to his victories over the Parthians. Upon his death in 211, he
was succeeded by his sons, M. Aurelius Antoninus (better known by his nickname, Caracalla) and
L. Septimius Geta, who hated each other; Caracalla killed his brother in 212 and became sole ruler.
That same year he gave citizenship to all free men in the empire. He was murdered in 217.

The empire suffered much during the third century as one man, after becoming emperor, would
have to fend off numerous other contenders for the royal power. Hence, there were many emperors
during the course of the century. On April 21, 247, during the reign of Philip the Arab (so called
because he came from the Saudi peninsula), Rome celebrated its one-thousandth birthday. The
failure to solve the problem of the Germans and the Parthians caused a major crisis in the 250s,
when the Germans swarmed

 
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Arch of Septimius Severus. (Author photograph)

over the Danube and Rhine Rivers. The Goths also made raids in the Aegean Sea. In the East the
Parthians took over Syria. Emperor Valerian attacked Parthia, but was conquered and captured in
260; he died in captivity. In 268 the Germanic tribe the Alamanni ravaged Italy. Emperor Claudius
II Gothicus freed northern Italy from the Germans, and the provinces were regained.

One of the territories his successor Aurelian (270-275) regained is particularly noteworthy: the city
of Palmyra (today, Tadmur in Syria). Odaenathus, a nobleman of Palmyra, became king of the city
when Valerian was captured, and he successfully waged war against the Parthians. He and his son
were murdered in 267, perhaps by his wife, Zenobia, who with her other son Vaballathus assumed
power and expanded Palymra's rule to include Egypt and much of Asia Minor. Not until she
proclaimed Vaballathus Augustusthat is, emperordid Aurelian move against her, and he conquered
her in 273.

 
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The reign of Diocletian (284-305) marks a new stage in the government of the empire. Recognizing
that the empire and its military demands (created by fronts along the Rhine, Danube, and Tigris and
Euphrates) presented too great a task for one man, Diocletian in 293 instituted his famous tetrarchy
(rule of four). Bearing the title Augustus, he ruled the eastern part of the empire with the help of his
assistant Galerius, who had the title Caesar; the Augustus in the western part of the empire was
Maximian, and his Caesar was Constantius Chlorus. To reduce the danger of assassination and
usurpations of imperial power, Diocletian also greatly increased the mystique of the emperor and
made the principate's power and pomp more like that associated with Persian despots: People
addressing the emperor first had to perform proskynesis, that is, lie down on the ground before the
emperor and kiss the comer of his robe. Even members of the emperor's council and family had to
stand in his presence. Dominus (lord) became the regular word of address to the emperor, who now
wore a diadem and purple gown. The tetrarchy reestablished peace and stability, but the unity of the
system suffered when Diocletian retired.

Constantine (324-337), the son of Constantius Chlorus, became sole emperor in 324 and moved the
capital of the empire to the Greek city Byzantium, which he later named after himself
(Constantinople). His reason for moving the capital was strategic and only sensible, as Italy had for
long been declining in the importance of the empire: The constant warfare shifted attention to the
Rhine, Danube, and Tigris and Euphrates, far away from central Italy. Constantine, in fact, had
been emperor for ten years before he visited Rome for the first time. In the Edict of Milan (313) he
granted the Christians full religious freedom, and in 325, at the Council of Nicaea (from which
came also Christianity's Nicene Creed), he made Christianity the official religion of the empire. His
decision to have the empire embrace Christianity was based on a personal experience: Before the
battle at the Milvian bridge (one of the battles that secured his position as emperor), he had seen a
cross in the sky with the words, "In hoc signo vinces" (With this as your standard, you will
conquer). Officially, Christianity faced no competition from other religions after 391, when the
emperor Theodosius (379-395) banned all

 
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pagan religions; worship of the pagan gods continued, however, in the villages (pagus, hence the
English word pagan).

Social and political conditions in the empire were changing. As the emperor's power grew
increasingly autocratic, the Senate's power decreased; all the provinces, for example, were now
imperial, and the Senate exerted no control over them. The Praetorian Guard, however, gained
much power at the Senate's expense, including the power to legislate, pass judgment in court, and
hear appeals. Citizens were now grouped into two classes, honestiores (more honorable) and
humiliores (more lowly born), and there was separate legal treatment for each: A crime that would
cause a member of the humiliores to be punished with death, for example, earned one of the
honestiores only banishment. To support the royal court and constant military expenditure, taxes
were so high that many peasants fled to the barbarian lands, rather than be slaves to the empire. To
prevent further flight from the empire and the consequent loss of income from taxes, the emperor
created a law binding peasants to the soil and allowing the landlords to chain those whom they
suspected would flee; this was the legal basis of serfdom in the Middle Ages. Furthermore, people
were bound by law to follow in the occupation of their father.

In 364 the Roman Empire was permanently divided between East and West by the co-emperors
Valentinian (364-375) and Valens (364-378). The empire in the East developed into what is now
called the Byzantine Empire; it flourished and preserved the Roman Empire in the East until it was
sacked in 1453 by Muhammed II, the Ottoman sultan.

The Roman Empire in the West did not fare so happily, for it suffered from more Germanic
invasions. Britain was abandoned by the empire after 410, cutting short the Romanization of the
island. Most of Gaul, Spain, and northern Africa was taken over by the Germans. In 410 the
Visigothic chieftain Alaric sacked the city of Rome. In 475 the general Orestes proclaimed his son,
Romulus Augustulus, to be emperor; the death of the empire occurred the next year when Orestes
was murdered and his son was deposed by the German Odoacer, the first of the German kings of
Italy.

 
 Page 285

Bibliography

The bibliography includes those works that had a significant influence on the scholarship in this
book. Included are the editions of the original Latin and Greek texts that I used for my translations,
as well as the English translations of other works to which I also referred.

Primary Sources

Aurelius, Marcus. The Communings with Himself. Translated by C. R. Haines. New York: G. P.
Putnam's Sons, 1930.

Bailey, D. R. Shackleton, ed. Cicero's Letters to Atticus, vols. 2 and 3. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1965 and 1968.

Birley, Anthony, trans. Lives of the Later Caesars. New York: Viking Penguin, 1976.

Brunt, P. A., and J. M. Moore, eds. Res gestae divi Augusti. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1990.

Caesar, Julius. The Gallic War. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979.

Caesar, Julius. Libri III de bello civili. Edited by Renatus de Pontet. Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1989.

Cicero, M. Tullius. Epistulae ad familiares, vol. 1. Edited by D. R. Shackleton Bailey. New

 York: Cambridge University Press, 1977.

Cicero, M. Tullius. Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem et M. Brutum. Edited by D. R. Shackleton

Bailey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cicero, M. Tullius. Philippics. Translated and edited by Walter C.A. Ker. New York: G. P.
Putnam's Sons, 1926.

Dio Cassius. Dio's Roman History, vols. 1-9. Translated by Earnest Cary. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1961.

 
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Gellius, Aulus. Noctes Atticae. Edited by P. K. Marshall. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968.

Livy (Titus Livius). Ab urbe condita, vols. 1-4. Edited by Charles Flamstead Walters and
Robert Seymour Conway. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961.

Livy (Titus Livius). Ab urbe condita (Books 43 and 44). Edited by W. Weissenborn and H. J.
Mueller. Berlin: Weidmannsche Verlangsbuch-handlung, 1962.

Livy (Titus Livius). The Early History of Rome. Translated by Aubrey de Selincourt, edited by
Betty Radice. New York: Viking Penguin, 1960.

Livy (Titus Livius). Rome and Italy. Translated by Betty Radice. New York: Viking Penguin,
1982.

Livy (Titus Livius). Rome and the Mediterranean. Translated by Henry Bettenson, edited by
Betty Radice. New York: Viking Penguin, 1976.

Livy (Titus Livius). The War with Hannibal. Translated by Aubrey de Selincourt, edited by
Betty Radice. New York: Viking Penguin, 1965.

Magie, David, trans. The Scriptores Augustae Historiae. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1922.

Plutarch. Lives. Translated and edited by Bernadotte Perrin. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons,
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Polybius. The Rise of the Roman Empire. Translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert, edited by Betty
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 Rolfe, J. C., trans. and ed. Sallust. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.

Rolfe, J. C., trans. and ed. Suetonius, vols. 1 and 2. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1989.

Sallust. The Conspiracy of Catiline. Edited by J. B. Greenough and M. G. Daniel. Boston:

Atheneum Press, 1901.

Suetonius. The Lives of the Caesars. Translated by J. C. Rolfe. ambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1992.

Tacitus, Cornelius. Annalium libri. Edited by C. D. Fisher. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983.

Tacitus, Cornelius. The Annals of Imperial Rome. Translated by Michael Grant, edited by Betty
Radice. New York: Viking Penguin, 1989.

Tacitus, Cornelius. The Histories. Translated by Kenneth Wellesly, edited by Betty Radice.
New York: Viking Penguin, 1986.

Warmington, E. H., trans. and ed. Remains of Old Latin III: Lucilius, The Twelve Tables.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1938.

 
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White, Horace, trans. Appian's Roman History, Vols. 1-4. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1958.

Zonaras. The Epitome of the Histories. In Dio's Roman History, trans. Earnest Cary
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961).

Secondary Sources

Arlotto, Anthony. Introduction to Historical Linguistics. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972.

Baugh, Albert C., and Thomas Cable. A History of the English Language. 3rd edition.
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1978.

Botsford, George Willis, and Charles Alexander Robinson Jr. Hellenic History. 4th edition.
New York: Macmillan, 1956.

Brunt, P. A. Social Conflicts in the Roman Republic. New York: W. W. Norton, 1971.

Cary, M. A History of Rome, Down to the Reign of Constantine. New York: St. Martin's Press,
1967.

Chadwick, Nora. The Celts. New York: Penguin Books, 1970.

Cook, S. A., F. E. Adcock, and M. P. Charlesworth, eds. The Cambridge Ancient History, vols.
9-12. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1966.
 Copley, Frank O. Latin Literature from the Beginnings to the Close of the Second Century A.D.
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1969.

Cowell, F. R. Cicero and the Roman Republic. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1967.

Gardner, Jane F. Women in Roman Law and Society. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1991.

Gelzer, Matthias. Caesar: Politician and Statesman. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1968.

Grant, Michael. Atlas of Ancient History. New York: Dorset Press, 1985.

Grant, Michael. Julius Caesar. New York: M. Evans, 1992.

Jones, A. H. M. Augustus. New York: W. W. Norton, 1970.

Lintott, Andrew. Imperium Romanum: Politics and Administration. New York: Routledge,
1993.

Metzger, Bruce M., and Michael D. Coogan, eds. The Oxford Companion to the Bible. New
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Nicolet, Claude. The World of the Citizen in Republican Rome. Translated by P. S. Falla.
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Salmon, E. T. The Making of Roman Italy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982.

Scullard, H. H. From the Gracchi to Nero. New York: Routledge, 1991.

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Walbank, F. W. The Hellenistic World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981.

Wolff, Hans Julius. Roman Law: An Historical Introduction. Norman: University of Oklahoma
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 Page 289

Index

Achaean League, 122, 128

Actium, Battle of, 225, 227, 238

Adherbal, 149

Aediles, 36

Aegates Islands, 98

Aeneas, 7-8, 94;

Aeneid, 7, 235-238

Aequi, 62, 72, 89

Aerarium, 35;
militare, 233

Africa, 7, 94, 97-98, 100-101, 114-116, 129, 142, 147, 149-153, 202, 228, 259, 270

Agricola, Gnaeus Julius, 262-263, 279

Agrippa, Marcus Vipsanius, 222, 233, 239;

Baths of, 271

Agrippa, Menenius, 52

Agrippina, 244

Agrippina (Nero's mother), 249-252

Alamanni, 282. See also Germans

Alba Longa, 8, 9, 16-20

Albinus, Aulus, 150

Albinus Postumius, 150

Alesia, siege of, 188

Alexander the Great, 117-119, 178

Alexandria, 117, 206, 263;

Donations of, 223-224

Allia, 67, 252

Allobroges, 173. See also Gauls

Alps, 99, 101

Amici, 131

Amphitheatrum Flavianum. See Colosseum

Amulius, 9-10

Anchises, 7-8

Ancus Marcius, 20-21

Andriscus, 128
 Antiochus Epiphanes, 129-130

Antiochus "the Great," 120-124

Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius ("Caracalla"), 281

Antoninus "Pius," 272-276

Antonius, Gaius, 218

Antonius, Lucius, 219

Antonius (Antony), Marcus, 181, 194, 197, 206, 211-225

Antonius "Hybrida," Gaius (consul, 63 B.C.), 171

Apollo, 29, 65, 108, 238

Apollonia, 99, 120, 214

Apuleius, 280

Apulia, 81

 
 Page 290

Aquae Sextiae, 153

Aquilonia, 84-85

Ara Pacis ("Altar of Peace"), 233, 261

Archimedes, 112-113

Ariovistus, 181

Armenia, 120, 169, 231, 255, 277

Arminius, 231

Army, professional, 152

As, 24

Ascanius, 7-8

Asculum, 156

Asia, 116, 130, 169, 201, 218, 228, 260, 270

Assyria, 269

Athens, 53, 121, 159, 270-271

Attalus, 120, 123

Attalus III, 130, 144

Atticus, 194

Augury, 10;

augurs, 22, 39.

See also Religion

Augustus, 38, 134, 141, 214-239;

Forum of, 271, 278

Aurelian (Lucius Aurelianus Domitius), 282

Aurelius, Marcus (Marcus Annius Verus), 275-279

 Aventine Hill, 11, 25, 147

Avidius Cassius, 277-278

Bacchus, 136. See also Religion

Baiae, 252

Beneventum, 85, 89

Bestia, Lucius Calpurnius, 150

Bibulus, Marcus Calpurnius, 178-180, 197

Bithynia, 124, 131, 169, 228, 270, 280

Bona Dea scandal, 174, 180

Boni. See Optimates

Bononia (Bologna), Treaty of, 217

Boudicca, 255
Bread and circuses, 227, 279. See also Ludi; Grain

Brennus, 71

Bribes, 54, 133, 189

Britain. See England

Britannicus (Tiberius Claudius Caesar), 248

Brundisium, Treaty of, 219

Brutus, Decimus, 212, 216

Brutus, Lucius Junius, 29-23, 40-41, 207

Brutus, Marcus Junius (the tyrannicide), 203, 211-218

Brutus, Marcus Junius (father of the tyrannicide), 161, 165

Burrus, Sextus Afranius, 250, 253

Byzantium, 283-284
C

Caelian Mount, 20, 25

Caere, 68

Caesar, Gaius (adopted son of Augustus), 240

Caesar, Gaius Julius, 5, 33-38, 63, 130, 134, 167-168, 174, 176-190, 208

Caesar, Lucius (adopted son of Augustus), 240

Caesar, Lucius (consul, 90 B.C.), 157

Caesarion, 201

Calendar, 204

Caligula. See Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus

Calpurnia, 211

 
 Page 291

Camillus, Marcus Furius, 64-66, 68-73,

Campania, 76-79, 262

Campus Martius (Field of Mars), 26, 39, 62, 185

Cannae, 107, 112

Capitol, 14, 24, 67, 260

Cappadocia, 169

Capua, 76, 107, 112

Caracalla. See Antoninus, M. Aurelius

Carrhae, 186

Carthage, 89;

in First Punic War, 94-99;

in Second Punic War, 100-115;

in Third Punic War, 128-129, 145, 149

Cassius, Avidius, 277-278

Cassius Longinus, Gaius, 203, 206, 212, 218

Castor and Pollux (Dioscuri), 47

Catilina, Lucius Sergius, 170-173, 175

Cato, Marcus Porcius ("the Censor"), 34, 124, 129, 135, 138-140, 178

Cato Uticensis, Marcus Porcius ("the Younger"), 38, 177-178, 185, 192, 202, 258

Catullus, Gaius Valerius, 208-209

Catulus, Gaius Lutatius, 98

Catulus, Quintus Lutatius (consul, 101 B.C.), 153

Catulus, Quintus Lutatius (consul, 78 B.C.), 161

Caudine Forks, 79-81

Celts. See Gauls

Censors, 34-35, 133, 263

Census, 24, 25, 34, 233

Centurions, 51

Chickens, sacred, 84, 98

Christ, Jesus, 132

Christians, 254, 263, 270, 274, 279-280, 283-284

Cicero, Marcus Tullius, 167-168, 171-174, 182-183, 194, 198-199, 203, 209-210, 211-218

Cicero, Marcus Tullius (son of orator), 218

Cicero, Quintus (brother of orator), 183, 188, 218

Cilicia, 169

Cimbri, 153. See also Germans

Cincinnatus, Lucius Quinctius, 59-64, 246

Cinna, Lucius Cornelius, 159, 177

Circus Maximus, 21

Cirta, 149

Civitas Romana, 79, 91, 143, 146, 157, 191, 202-204, 248, 281

Civitas sine suffragio, 91, 143

Civitates foederatae, 131

Civitates sine foedere liberae, 131

Class conflict, 50-57. See also Plebs; Patricians

Classes, 24-25

Claudius (Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, emperor), 5, 63, 187, 247-249, 280

Claudius, Appius, 193

Claudius, Appius (decemvir), 52

 Claudius, Gaius Marcellus, 194

Claudius, Marcus Marcellus (consul, 51 B.C.), 191

Claudius Caecus, Appius, 35, 88

Claudius Caudex, Appius (consul, 264 B.C.), 95

 
 Page 292

Claudius Pulcher, Appius (princeps senatus), 143

Claudius Pulcher, Publius, 98

Claudius II Gothicus, M. Aurelius, 282

Clausus, Attius, 58

Clementia, 196

Cleopatra, 201, 220-221, 223-225

Client kings, 131

Clients. See Patron-client relationship

Clodia, 208

Clodius Pulcher, P., 167, 170, 174, 180-184

Cloelia, 44-46

Cohorts, 233-234
Collatinus, 29-31, 40

Colonies, 8, 20, 92-93, 145-146, 154, 203

Colosseum (Amphitheatrum Flavianum), 261, 264

Comitia Centuriata, 25, 34, 35, 37-39, 121, 159

Comitia Tributa, 13, 38

Commodus, Lucius Aelius Aurelius, 278, 281

Concordia ordinum, 173

Consilium Plebis. See Popular Assembly

Constantine "the Great" (Flavius Valerius Constantinus), 283

Constantius Chlorus, 283

Consuls, 32-33, 227-228, 230

Consultum ultimum. See Senatus ultimum consultum

Coriolanus, 58-59

Corona civica corona muralis, 141

Corcyra, 99

Corsica, 94, 99-100, 228

Cossus, Aulus Cornelius, 99

Crassus, Marcus Licinius (triumvir), 160, 164, 166-167, 174, 184-186

Crassus, Publius (son of triumvir), 186, 230

Cura annonae, 36, 154. See also Grain

Curia, 37, 189

Curiae (voting units), 13

Curiatii, 17-18

Curio, Gaius, 179, 192, 194

Cursus honorum, 38, 160, 165

 Cursus publicus, 231

Cynicism, 138, 260

Cynoscephalae, 122, 124

Dacians, 259, 263-264, 267, 275, 277

Damnatio memoriae, 264

Danube, 228, 231, 267, 277, 282-283

Decebalus, 267

Decemviri, 53

Decimatio, 215. See also Consuls; Dictatorship

Decius, Publius, 82-83

Delatores, 243, 262-263. See also Maiestas minuta

 Demetrius, 124-127

Devotio, 82-83

Dictatorship, 33-34, 212, 263

Dido, 7-8, 94, 256

Dies ater, 67, 252

Diocletian (Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus), 283

Dioscuri, 47

 
 Page 293

Domitian (Titus Flavius Domitianus), 261-264, 265, 280

Domitius Ahenobarbus, Lucius, 185

Domus Aurea, 254

Druids, 132-133

Duilius, Gaius, 96

Drusus, M. Livius, 156

Drusus, Nero Claudius, 239, 244

Dux, 111. See also Consuls; Praetors

Dyrrhachium, 99, 120, 197

Ebro, 100

Edict of Milan, 283

Education, 137, 139, 261, 279

Egeria, 15

Egypt, 119-120, 122, 129-130, 175, 200-201, 225, 228

England, 5, 187, 259, 248, 262, 269-270, 275

English language, 4-5, 248

Ennius, 106, 134, 136-137

Epicureanism, 138, 208

Epirus, 86

Equites, 24, 147, 160, 169-171, 230

Esquiline, 25

Etruscans, 16, 21, 41-49, 72, 82, 89

Eumenes, 120, 126

 Euphrates, 186, 283

Evocatio, 64-65. See also Religion

Fabii, 47-49

Fabius, Quintus (of Samnite War), 82

Fabius Maximus Cunctator, Quintus, 101, 104-106, 108-109, 112, 114

Fabius Pictor, Quintus, 137

Fabricius Luscinus, Gaius, 87-88

Fas, 16

Fasces, 11, 33-34, 35, 40

Faustina (wife of Antoninus Pius), 274

Faustina (wife of M. Aurelius), 278

Fetials, 20, 82, 121

 Field of Mars. See Campus Martius

Fiscus, 266. See also Aerarium

Flamen, 15, 39

Flamininus, Titus Quinctius, 122, 125

Flaminius, Gaius (consul, 217 B.C.), 103

Foedus Cassianum, 46

Forum, 21, 51, 104, 183, 212

Freemen, 92

Fregellae, 156

Furius, Lucius, 72

Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus ("Caligula"), 245-247

 Galatians, 124

Galba, Servius Sulpicius, 256, 259

Gallia. See Gaul

Gallic Wars, 180-181, 186-188, 208

Games. See Ludi

Gaul, 101, 115, 154, 179-181, 186-188, 203, 228, 231, 248, 259, 270

Gauls, 5, 67-71, 89, 99, 107, 173, 175, 191, 203

Gemellus, Tiberius Julius Caesar, 245

 
 Page 294

Germans, 5, 153, 181, 187, 192, 240, 242, 259, 263, 277-279, 281-282, 284

Geta, L. Septimius, 281

Goths, 282. See also Germans

Gracchi, 141-148, 154, 155, 166

Grain, 36, 58, 142, 146, 167-168, 184, 243, 247

Greece, 53, 86, 119-128, 158, 231, 270, 277

Greeks, 91, 107, 117, 136-140, 228

Hadrian, Publius Aelius, 269-272, 280;

Hadrian's Wall, 270

Hamilcar (Hannibal's father), 100

Hannibal, 100-116, 120, 123-124

Haruspices, 39

Hasdrubal (Hannibal's brother), 113-114

Hasdrubal (Hannibal's uncle), 100

Hellenistic East, 117-120

Helvetii, 181. See also Germans

Heraclea, 87

Herculaneum, 262

Hernici, 72

Hersilia, 13

Hiempsal, 149

Hiero, 95, 107

Hills of Rome, 25. See also names

 Hispania. See Spain

History, writing of, 6-7, 137. See also Polybius; Livy; Tacitus; Suetonius Tranquillus, Gaius

Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), 136, 218, 222, 237-238

Horatii, and Curiatii, 17-18

Horatius Cocles, 42-43

"Iacta alea est," 194-195

Illyrium (Illyricum), 99, 120, 179, 194, 228

Imagines, 177

Imperator, 111, 165

Imperium, 33, 53

Indo-European, 3

Intercessio, 36, 53
 Italian Wars, 155-157

Iugera, 143

Ius civile, 55

Ius gentium, 92

Ius provocationis, 91-92, 146

Janiculum, 21

Janus, 15, 237

Jerusalem, 259

Jews, 259, 263, 269;

Jewish War, 255, 259

Judaea, 132, 169

 Jugurtha, 149-153

Julia (Augustus' daughter), 238, 240

Julia (Caesar's daughter), 176, 182, 185

Julianus, M. Didius, 281

JulioClaudian emperors, 240-256

Juno, 65, 69

Junonia, 147

Jupiter, 12, 13, 15, 21, 108

Juvenal (Decimus Junius Juvenalis), 279

Labienus, Titus, 193, 195, 219

Laelius Gaius, 115, 143

Lars Porsenna, 41-46

 Latifundia, 142-143

Latin language, 4

 
 Page 295

Latin League, 16, 46

Latin literature, 136-138, 222, 234-237, 257-258, 279-280

Latins, 28, 72, 77-79, 91, 143, 146, 155-157

Latinum nomen, 91, 143, 146, 155-157, 261

Latium, 16, 28, 64

Law (lex): Hortensia, 57;

leges Liciniae, 56, 142-143;

leges sumptuariae, 34;

Oppia, 139;

Orchia, 34;

Plautia-Papiria, 157;

provinciae, 132;
Ten Tribunes', 189-190, 192;

Titia, 217

Legions, 20;

Linen Legion, 83-84

Lentulus, Lucius, 194

Lentulus Sura, P. Cornelius, 170, 173

Lepidus, Marcus Aemilius, 161

Lepidus, Marcus Aemilius (triumvir), 211, 216-219, 222

Liberti, 92

Lictors, 11

Literary patronage, 222, 234, 237. See also Patron-client relationship

Livia, 240
Livius Andronicus, 136

Livy (Titus Livius), 237

Luca, 184

Lucan (M. Annaeus Lucanus), 254, 258

Lucania, 82

Lucilius, 137

Lucretia, 29-31

Lucretius, Titus Carus, 138, 208

Lucullus, Lucius Licinius, 169, 176

Lucumo. See Tarquinius Priscus

Ludi, 21, 36, 177, 223, 227, 230, 243, 245, 248, 253, 267

Lupercalia, 206

Lusitania, 162
 Lustrum, 25, 34

Macedon, 115-116, 117-128, 228, 270

Macro, Q. Naevius Cordus Sutorius, 245

Maecenas, Gaius, 234, 237

Magister equitum, 34

Magistrates, 32-36

Magnesia, 124

Mago, 102

Maiestas minuta, 243, 254, 260, 262, 264, 270

Maius imperium, 228

Mamertines, 94-95
 Manilius, Gaius, 168

Maniples, 72

Manlius, Titus (son of "Torquatus"), 78-79

Manlius, Titus "Torquatus," 73-75, 78-79, 246

Manlius Capitolinus, Marcus, 69

Manlius "Imperiosus," Lucius, 73

Marcellus, Gaius Claudius (consul, 50 B.C.), 191

Marcellus, Gaius Claudius (consul, 49 B.C.), 194

Marcellus, Marcus Claudius (Augustus' favorite), 231, 239, 240

Marcellus, Marcus Claudius (consul, 51 B.C.), 191

 
 Page 296

Marcellus, Marcus Claudius (winner of spolia opima), 99, 109, 112-113

Marcomanni, 277-278

Marius, Gaius, 150-154, 157-159, 178

Mars, 9, 94

Marsi, 156

Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis), 279

Masinissa, 110, 114-115, 128-129

Massilia, 101

Meditations (Aurelius), 277-278

Mediterranean Sea, 115, 117, 167-168

Memmius, Lucius, 128

Mesopotamia, 269
Messalia, Gaius Valerius, 234

Messana, 94-95

Metaurus, 113-114, 138

Metellus Celer, Quintus Caecilius, 173, 176

Metellus Numidicus, Q. Caecilius, 150-151

Metellus Pius, Quintus Caecilius, 162-163

Mettius Fufetius, 16, 18-20

Micipsa, 149

Military tribune, 55

Milo, Titus Annius, 183, 189-190

Minucius, Lucius, 62

Minucius, Rufus, 105

 Mithridates, 158-159, 163, 168-169

Moesia, 231, 267

Mos maiorum, 134, 139

Mucius Scaevola, Gaius, 43-44

Mucius Scaevola, Gaius (consul, 133 B.C.), 145

Muhammed II, 284

Munda, Battle of, 203, 204

Municipia, 91

Mylae, 96

Myonessus, 124

Naevius, Gnaeus, 137

Navy, 95-97, 98
Neapolis, 79, 193, 252

Nefas, 16

Nero, Gaius Claudius, 113-114

Nero Claudius Caesar, 47, 249-256, 259, 280

Nerva, Marcus Cocceius, 265

New Carthage, 110

Nicaea, 283;

Nicene Creed, 283

Noricum, 231, 270

Novae tabulae, 170

Novi poetae, 208. See also Latin literature

Novus homo, 151, 171, 209

 Numa Pompilius, 15-16

Numidia, 110, 114-115, 128-129, 149-153

Numitor, 9

Octavia (sister of Augustus), 219, 223

Octavia (wife of Nero), 250-251, 253

Octavian. See Augustus

Optimates (boni), 147, 176, 192-194, 196, 200. See also Patricians; Class conflict; Plebs

Ostia, 20, 167, 247, 266

 
 Page 297

Otho, Marcus Salveius, 252, 256, 259

Ovatio, 63

Ovidius Naso, Publius, 237-238

Pacuvius, 137

Paeligni, 156

Palatine, 11, 25

Pannonia, 231, 270, 277

Pantheon, 235-236, 263, 271

Parthia, 185, 206, 219, 221, 228, 231, 267, 269-270, 275, 277, 281-282

Paterfamilias, 41

Pater patriae, 173

Patria potestas, 41

Patricians, 11, 32, 55-57, 71, 170, 227-228, 262

Patron-client relationship, 50, 146, 152, 171

Paullus, Lucius Aemilius, 106-107

Paullus "Macedonicus," L. Aemilius, 126

Pax deorum, 15. See also Religion

Pax Romana, 230, 265-279

Peasants, 50-53, 55-57, 142. See also Plebs

Penates, 235. See also Religion

Pergamum, 120-122, 124-126, 130, 144

Perperna, 163-164

Perseus, 125-127
Persian Empire, 117-119

Pertinax, Marcus Helvidius, 281

Petronius "Arbiter," 255, 258

Pharnaces, 201. See also Pontus; Mithridates

Pharsalus, 199-200;

Pharsalia (Lucan), 254, 258

Philip, 115, 120-122, 124

Philosophy, 137-138, 210

Phoenicians. See Punic Wars

Pietas, 134, 272

Pirates, 99, 167-168

Piso, Gaius Calpurnius, 254

Plautus, Titus Maccius, 137

Plebiscitum, 39, 166

Plebs, 11, 24, 52-57, 71. See also Classes; Patricians

Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus), 257-258, 262

Pliny the Younger (Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus), 262, 269, 280

Po (river), 99

Polybius, 128, 137

Pomerium, 26, 39

Pompeia, 174

Pompeii, 262

Pompeius Strabo, 157

Pompey (Gnaus Pompeius Maximus), 160-164, 165-170, 172, 175, 191-201, 218, 246;

Pompey's theater, 242, 248

 Pompey, Sextus, 203, 218, 221-222

Pons sublicius, 21, 42

Pontifices, 39, 177

Pontus, 158-159, 168-170, 201

Popilius Laenas, G., 129-130

Poppaea Sabina, 252-253, 255

Popular Assembly (Consilium Plebis), 36-37, 39, 144, 159, 166, 178

Populares, 147-148, 160, 171, 177

 
 Page 298

Postumius, Aulus, 46

Praetorian Guard, 233-234, 243, 247, 265, 281, 284

Praetors, 35, 56

''Primus inter pares," 230

Princeps, 228-230

Princeps senatus, 38, 230

Principate, 227-231

Proconsuls, 132-133

Proletarii, 25

Propertius, 237

Propraetor, 132-133

Proscriptions, 160, 217-218

 Provinces, 130-134, 146, 171, 228, 230-231, 242-243, 255, 269-270

Prusias, 124, 131

Ptolemy Auletes, 200. See also Egypt; Hellenistic East

Publicani, 133, 168-169, 179

Punic Wars:

First, 94-99;

Second, 100-116;

Third, 128-129

Pydna, 127

Pyrrhus, 86-89, 95

Quaestio de repetundis, 133

 Quaestors, 35-36

Quinctius Cincinnatus, Lucius, 59-64, 246

Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus), 279

Quirinal, 25, 68

Quirites, 13

Raetia, 231, 270

Raven, 96

Regia, 15, 39

Regillus, Battle of, 46

Regulus, M. Atilius, 97-98

Religion, 15-16, 107-108, 136, 237-238, 283-284

Remus, 9-11
Res Gestae (Augustus), 224, 239

Res publica, 31-39

Rex, 111, 206

Rex sacrorum, 39

Rhea Silvia, 9

Rhine, 187, 228, 282-283

Roads. See Viae

Romance languages, 4, 267. See also Colonies

Roman citizenship. See Civitas Romana

Roman colonies. See Colonies

Rome:

fire of, 253-254, 262;

 foundation of, 10;

hills of, 25;

sacking of, 67-71, 284

Romulus, 9-14, 32, 167, 256

Rubicon, 195

Rutilus, Gaius Marcius, 56

Sabines, 12-13, 89

Saguntum, 100-101

Salii, 15-16

Sallust, 134, 209

Samnites, 76-86, 107, 156-157

Sardinia, 94, 99-100, 228

 Saturnalia, 92

Saturninus, Lucius Antonius, 264

Saturninus, Lucius Appuleius, 153-154

Scaevola, Gaius Mucius, 143, 145

Scalae Gemoniae, 20

Scipio, Gnaeus Cornelius, 110

Scipio, Lucius, 124, 139-140

Scipio, Publius Cornelius, 102, 110-111

 
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Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus, 128-130, 137, 146, 151

Scipio Africanus, Publius Cornelius, 102, 114-115, 138-140, 141, 143, 275

Scipio Nasica, 145

Scipionic Circle, 137

Sejanus, Lucius Aelius, 243-244

Seleucid Empire, 119-124, 129-130

Senate, 11, 32, 37-38, 144, 166, 227, 230, 241-242, 261, 263, 283

Senatus ultimum consultum, 147, 154, 161, 172-173

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus (philosopher), 250, 253, 255, 257. See also Stoicism; Latin literature;
Aurelius, Marcus

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus (rhetorician), 257

Sertorius, Quintus, 161-163, 166

Servius Tullius, 23-26, 27-28

Severus, Lucius Septimius, 281-282

Sibylline Books, 22-23, 206

Sicily, 58, 89, 94-99, 100, 107, 112-113, 133, 142, 228. See also Provinces

Signum, 72

Slaves, 92, 135-136, 143, 248

Social War, 147, 155-157, 165

Socii Italici, 92, 143, 146, 155-157, 167

Solon, 53

Spain, 100-101, 110-111, 115, 162-164, 185, 196, 228, 231, 261, 265, 270

Spartacus, 147, 164. See also Slaves

Spolia opima, 12, 99, 112, 230

Stipendiarii, 132
 Stoicism, 137-138, 250, 264, 276-277

Stolo, Gaius Licinius, 56

Suebi, 181. See also Germans

Suetonius Tranquillus, Gaius, 280. See also Latin literature

Sulla "Felix," Lucius Cornelius, 153, 157-161, 165, 170, 199

Sulpicius, Publius, 121

Sulpicius Rufus, Publius, 158

Syracuse, 94-95, 107, 112

Syria, 169, 185, 228, 277, 282

Tacitus, Cornelius, 209, 262, 279-280

Tanaquil, 21, 23-24

Tarentum, 86, 107, 112

Tarpeia, 12

Tarquinius Priscus, 21-24

Tarquinius Superbus, 27-31

Tatius, Titus, 12-13

Taxes, 51, 109, 133-134, 162, 168-169, 179, 230, 233, 260, 284

Terence (Publius Terentius Afer), 137. See also Latin literature

Tetrarchy, 283

Thapsus, 202

Theodosius the Great, 283-284

Thermopylae, 123-124

Thrace, 119

Tiber, 9
 Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, 231, 239, 240-245, 280