In Addressing What He Considered to Be a Crisis of the Demise of Family Life in Rome

Learning Objective

• Explain how crises in the 1st century BCE further destabilized the Roman Republic

Key Points

• Though the causes and attributes of individual crises varied throughout the decades, an underlying theme of conflict betwixt the aristocracy and ordinary citizens drove the majority of actions.
• The Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius, introduced a number of populist agrarian and land reforms in the 130s and 120s BCE that were heavily opposed by the patrician Senate. Both brothers were murdered by mob violence after political stalemates.
• Political instability continued, as populist Marius and optimate Sulla engaged in a series of conflicts that culminated in Sulla seizing power and marching to Asia Minor against the decrees of the Senate, and Marius seizing power in a insurrection back at Rome.
• The Catilinarian Conspiracy discredited the populist political party, in turn repairing the paradigm of the Senate, which had come to exist seen as weak and not worthy of such violent set on.
• Under the terms of the First Triumvirate, Pompey's arrangements would be ratified and Caesar would exist elected consul in 59 BCE; he subsequently served as governor of Gaul for five years. Crassus was promised the consulship later.
• The triumvirate crumbled in the wake of growing political violence and Crassus and Caesar'due south daughter'southward death.
• A resolution was passed by the Senate that declared that if Caesar did not lay down his arms by July 49 BCE, he would be considered an enemy of the Commonwealth. Meanwhile, Pompey was granted dictatorial powers over the Republic.
• On January 10, 49 BCE, Caesar crossed the Rubicon and marched towards Rome. Pompey, the consuls, and the Senate all abandoned Rome for Greece, and Caesar entered the urban center unopposed.

Terms

Gracchi Brothers

Brothers Tiberius and Gaius, Roman plebeian nobiles who both served as tribunes in the late 2d century BCE. They attempted to pass land reform legislation that would redistribute the major patrician landholdings among the plebeians.

plebeian

A general body of gratis Roman citizens who were function of the lower strata of society.

patrician

A group of ruling form families in aboriginal Rome.

The Crises of the Roman Republic refers to an extended period of political instability and social unrest that culminated in the demise of the Roman Democracy, and the appearance of the Roman Empire from about 134 BCE-44 BCE. The exact dates of this period of crisis are unclear or are in dispute from scholar to scholar. Though the causes and attributes of private crises varied throughout the decades,
an underlying theme of conflict between the
aristocracy and ordinary citizens drove the majority of actions.

Optimates were a traditionalist majority of the late Roman Republic. They wished to limit the ability of the popular assemblies and the Tribune of the Plebeians, and to extend the power of the Senate, which was viewed as more dedicated to the interests of the aristocrats. In particular, they were concerned with the ascension of individual generals, who, backed by the tribunate, the assemblies, and their ain soldiers, could shift power from the Senate and aristocracy. Many members of this faction were so-classified because they used the backing of the aristocracy and the Senate to achieve personal goals, not necessarily considering they favored the aristocracy over the lower classes. Similarly, the populists did not necessarily champion the lower classes, but often used their back up to achieve personal goals.

Following a period of great military successes and economic failures of the early Republican menses, many plebeian calls for reform among the classes had been quieted. However, many new slaves were existence imported from abroad, causing an unemployment crisis amidst the lower classes. A flood of unemployed citizens entered Rome, giving rise to populist ideas throughout the urban center.

The Gracchi Brothers

Tiberius Gracchus took office every bit a tribune of the plebeians in late 134 BCE. At the time, Roman society was a highly stratified class system with tensions bubbling below the surface. This system consisted of noble families of the senatorial rank (patricians), the knight or equestrian course, citizens (grouped into two or three classes of self-governing allies of Rome: landowners; and plebs, or tenant freemen, depending on the time flow), non-citizens who lived outside of southwestern Italy, and at the bottom, slaves. The government owned large tracts of farm land that it had gained through invasion or escheat. This country was rented out to either big landowners whose slaves tilled the state, or modest tenant farmers who occupied the holding on the basis of a sub-lease. Beginning in 133 BCE, Tiberius tried to redress the grievances of displaced pocket-size tenant farmers. He bypassed the Roman Senate, and passed a law limiting the amount of country belonging to the state that any private could farm, which resulted in the dissolution of large plantations maintained by rich landowners on public land.

A political back-and-forth ensued in the Senate as the other tribune, Octavius, blocked Tiberius's initiatives, and the Senate denied funds needed for land reform. When Tiberius sought re-ballot to his one-twelvemonth term (an unprecedented action), the oligarchic nobles responded by murdering Tiberius, and mass riots bankrupt out in the metropolis in reaction to the bump-off. About nine years later, Tiberius Gracchus's younger brother, Gaius, passed more radical reforms in favor of the poorer plebeians. One time again, the situation ended in violence and murder as Gaius fled Rome and was either murdered by oligarchs or committed suicide. The deaths of the Gracchi brothers marked the beginning of a late Republic trend in which tensions and conflicts erupted in violence.

Gaius Gracchus Addressing the People. Silvestre David Mirys' rendition of the the tribune, Gaius Gracchus, addressing the people of Rome.

Marius and Sulla

The next major reformer of the time was Gaius Marius, who like the Gracchi, was a populist who championed the lower classes. He was a full general who abolished the property requirement for becoming a soldier, which allowed the poor to enlist in large numbers. Lucius Cornelius Sulla was appointed equally Marius'due south quaestor (supervisor of the financial diplomacy of the state) in 107 BCE, and later competed with Marius for supreme ability. Over the side by side few decades, he and Marius engaged in a series of conflicts that culminated in Sulla seizing power and marching to Asia Pocket-sized against the decrees of the Senate. Marius launched a coup in Sulla's absenteeism, putting to death some of his enemies and instituting a populist regime, merely died shortly subsequently.

Bust of Sulla. The bosom of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, an optimate who marched against Rome and installed himself equally dictator in 82-81 BCE.

Pompey, Crassus, and the Catilinarian Conspiracy

In 77 BCE, two of Sulla'southward former lieutenants, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Bang-up") and Marcus Licinius Crassus, had left Rome to put downwards uprisings and constitute the populist party, attacking Sulla's constitution upon their render. In an try to forge an agreement with the populist party, both lieutenants promised to dismantle components of Sulla'due south constitution that the populists found disagreeable, in return for existence elected consul. The ii were elected in lxx BCE and held true to their give-and-take. Four years later, in 66 BCE, a move to use peaceful ways to address the plights of the various classes arose; withal, later several failures in achieving their goals, the movement, headed past Lucius Sergius Catilina and based in Faesulae, a hotbed of agrarian agitation, decided to march to Rome and instigate an uprising. Marcus Tullius Cicero, the consul at the time, intercepted messages regarding recruitment and plans, leading the Senate to qualify the assassination of many Catilinarian conspirators in Rome, an activeness that was seen as stemming from dubious authority. This effectively disrupted the conspiracy and discredited the populist political party, in turn repairing the prototype of the Senate, which had come to exist seen every bit weak and not worthy of such violent set on.

Offset Triumvirate

In 62 BCE, Pompey returned from campaigning in Asia to notice that the Senate, elated by its successes confronting the Catiline conspirators, was unwilling to ratify any of Pompey's arrangements, leaving Pompey powerless. Julius Caesar returned from his governorship in Espana a yr afterwards and, along with Crassus, established a private agreement with Pompey known as the First Triumvirate. Under the terms of this agreement, Pompey's arrangements would be ratified and Caesar would be elected consul in 59 BCE, subsequently serving as governor of Gaul for five years. Crassus was promised the consulship later on.

When Caesar became consul, he saw the passage of Pompey's arrangements through the Senate, at times using violent ways to ensure their passage. Caesar also facilitated the election of patrician Publius Clodius Pulcher to the tribunate in 58 BCE, and Clodius sidelined Caesar's senatorial opponents, Cato and Cicero. Clodius somewhen formed armed gangs that terrorized Rome and began to attack Pompey'southward followers, who formed counter-gangs in response, mark the finish of the political alliance betwixt Pompey and Caeser. Though the triumvirate was briefly renewed in the face of political opposition for the consulship from Domitius Ahenobarbus, Crassus's death during an trek against the Kingdom of Parthia, and the expiry of Pompey's wife, Julia, who was as well Caesar's daughter, severed whatever remaining bonds between Pompey and Caesar.

Starting time in the summertime of 54 BCE, a moving ridge of political corruption and violence swept Rome, reaching a climax in Jan 52 BCE, when Clodius was murdered in a gang war. Caesar presented an ultimatum to the Senate on January 1, 49 BCE, which was ultimately rejected. Subsequently, a resolution was passed that declared that if Caesar did non lay down his arms by July, he would be considered an enemy of the Commonwealth. The senators adopted Pompey as their champion, and on January 7, Pompey was granted dictatorial powers over the Republic past the Senate. Pompey'south regular army, nonetheless, was composed mainly of untested conscripts, and on January 10, Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his more experienced forces in disobedience of Roman laws, and marched towards Rome. Pompey, the consuls, and the Senate all abased Rome for Greece, in the face up of Caeser's rapidly advancing forces, and Caesar entered the metropolis unopposed.

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-herkimer-westerncivilization/chapter/crises-of-the-republic/

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