Chapter Summary

The republican empire destroyed the way of life on which the Roman republic had been based. Hellenistic culture proved an irresistible lure. The Roman government proved powerless to prevent its oligarchs from pressing home their economic advantages to the detriment of the poorer citizens. The result was a century of revolutionary change.

The real winners in the Roman defeat of Carthage and Macedonia were the members of the aristocratic oligarchy or optimates. They continued to exercise a monopoly of political and economic power. The conquests enriched others as well. Merchants, slave traders, and bankers flooded into the newly added territories. Those able to amass wealth in the new empire became equites or knights. The newly wealthy entrepreneurs served the government as tax collectors, positions used to amass even greater amounts of money. The most fortunate of the equites were able to enter the lower magistracies and even the Senate. Four groups suffered as a result of the imperial conquests: 1) those taken as slaves, 2) the conquered provincials, 3) the noncitizen Italian allies, and 4) the small landholders and free craftsmen who had once been the backbone of Roman society.

The number of slaves in Roman society increased dramatically after the imperial conquests. Slaves replaced free labor on huge agricultural estates. The conditions under which slaves were held deteriorated rapidly, setting off a series of slave revolts between 135 B.C.E. and 71 B.C.E. All slave rebellions were doomed to failure. Rebellion was also common among the defeated provincials. In Pergamum and Pontus, both states in Asia Minor, serious revolts against Roman authority broke out. Closer to home, the Italian allies resented the failure of the Senate to extend full citizenship to all residents of Italy. Frustration led to two revolts. The most serious was the Italian Social War from 91 B.C.E. to 89 B.C.E.

The most desperate decline in status occurred among Roman citizens, the small landowners. Many lost their farms to wealthy aristocrats. Others saw the value of their work diminished by the flood of slave labor. The widespread demise of the independent family farm led to an exodus to the cities, particularly Rome. A tribune, Tiberius Gracchus, sought to relieve the problem by taking previously public land from the rich and redistributing it to the poor. Gracchus sought to have his proposal ratified in the plebeian assembly, where the tribune ran roughshod over all opposition. Gracchus also proposed other reforms in favor of the rural poor. Politicians who favored breaking the political and economic grip of the wealthy optimates were called populares. Fearing that the tribune’s appeal to the masses was intended to break the power of the oligarchy, a group of senators assassinated Tiberius Gracchus. The attempt to pass reform in favor of the poor was renewed by Tiberius’ brother, Gaius. Gaius Gracchus renewed the program of land redistribution, proposed granting citizenship to all Italians, and tried to bring the equites into the constitution as a counterbalance to the senators. Like his brother before him, Gaius Gracchus was seen as a threat to the monopoly of the senators. At the end of his term of office, the Senate removed Gaius Gracchus as a threat through assassination.

Although the murders of the Gracchi seemed to put an end to political unrest, the Romans had failed to resolve the constitutional crisis.

Under the consul and military commander Marius, the tendency to private armies became problematic. Marius first rose to favor as a victor in wars in North Africa and northern Italy. He raised armies for his wars by recruiting from the mass of rural poor and disregarding the traditional property requirements for military service. As Marius promised rewards of land for service, his troops transferred their loyalty from the state to the commander. Personal armies became political tools in the late republic. The Italian Social War gave opportunities for both Marius and Sulla to raise personal armies. The two commanders became political rivals—Marius as a member of the populares, Sulla as a member of the optimates. Their rivalry became open conflict, and each commander led military assaults on the city of Rome. Both engaged in mass executions of political opponents. Sulla emerged victorious after Marius’ death. With the support of the senatorial elite, Sulla was elected dictator for three years, 82 B.C.E. to 79 B.C.E. Sulla expanded the Senate, reduced the authority of the plebeian tribunes, excluded equites from the juries of Roman courts, and weakened the military power of magistrates. Having carried out his reforms, Sulla resigned as dictator. His reforms restored oligarchic rule, but failed to resolve the critical gulf between rich and poor.

Marcus Tullius Cicero represented one type of Roman politician. Although newly admitted to the ruling class, Cicero identified entirely with the optimates. Although Cicero served as consul, he was strictly a politician and had no military experience. Military commanders such as Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar represented greater threats to the constitution. All were proteges of Sulla, but achieved political support as populares. Pompey’s success as a military commander ensured his political rise. Crassus was more dependent on personal wealth than military success. Caesar began his career as a follower of Crassus. Eventually all three began to cooperate in a political alliance, the First Triumvirate. As his reward, Caesar received a military command in Gaul where he achieved a series of brilliant victories. Crassus’ death in 53 B.C.E. left only Pompey and Caesar. The two became bitter rivals. The contest for political superiority erupted in civil war in 49 B.C.E. Within one year, Caesar successfully defeated Pompey and removed him as a political rival. As the military survivor, Caesar was recognized as the political leader of Rome. He embarked on a series of reforms: adding Italians to the Senate and increasing its overall number to 900, founding colonies for retired soldiers and those in need of land, and increasing the number of magistracies to broaden political participation. Caesar had himself declared perpetual dictator. Because Caesar clearly did not intend to restore the oligarchic republic, a group of senators assassinated him in 44 B.C.E. Caesar’s death set off another round of civil wars. The Second Triumvirate—Antony, Lepidus, and Caesar’s grandnephew and adopted son, Octavian—sought to eliminate the senators responsible for the murder of the dictator. They succeeded in 43 B. C. The three then divided command of the Roman Empire, but shared authority was only a temporary expedient. While Lepidus was permitted to retire, Antony and Octavian fought for supreme command. The contest resulted in the total victory of Octavian and the death of Antony and his supporter, Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.

Although the last years of the republic were violent, Roman culture flourished. Cicero embodied the Roman acceptance of Stoicism. His belief in divine providence, morality, and duty was reflected in the idealism of his political career. The same concern for justice and morality can be discovered in the works of two important Roman historians, Sallust and Livy. Sallust’s popular political viewpoint condemned the senators for their failings, while the more conservative Livy blamed the civil disorder on all those who departed from Roman republican traditions.

The poetry of Lucretius also reflected the influence of Hellenistic philosophy. Lucretius presented Epicurean materialism as the proper goal for society. He counseled avoidance of the irrational and emotional. A different poetic style appeared in the “new-style poets,” best represented by Catullus. He avoided questions of morality or political rectitude and tried to express the emotional reality of love. Realism and a concern with the individual suffused the art of republican Rome. Sculpture and art utilized the ideal body conventions of Hellenistic art, but portrayed the heads of the subjects as individual portraits.

Octavian established the Roman Empire, but he did so gradually and without seeming to overthrow the republican traditions. In 27 B.C., Octavian restored the republican offices and received the title Augustus. He maintained power after 27 B.C.E. by holding first the office of consul, then tribune. He was also granted command over the frontier provinces of the empire. This subtle absolutism worked well for Augustus and his successors.

Key to the establishment of the empire was the Senate. Its membership became hereditary, and admission to its ranks was opened to more men, including other Italians. The reformed Senate achieved more powers, but remained subservient to the dictates of the emperor. Augustus also rebuilt the ranks of the equites. The men of this rank filled the officer corps of the legions and served in the imperial administration. In contrast, the equites no longer served as the body of tax collectors. Critical to the restoration of order was the pacification of unrest within the army. Thirty-two legions received lands in colonies far from Rome. The practice of granting lands and pensions to soldiers after their term of service (20 years) became customary. To control the city of Rome, Augustus enrolled an elite military force, the praetorian guard, responsible for the protection of the emperor. While the reforms were effective, the problem of poverty continued to grow, especially within the cities. The emperors chose to gloss over the social crisis by providing free food and entertainment for the masses.

Augustus attempted to restore the traditional values of Roman society. As a means of cultivating piety, the emperor reinvigorated the ancient cults and priesthoods. His only innovation in this area was the establishment of the cult of the emperors. Augustus also desired to bring back the typical Roman family unit, including the exclusive powers of the paterfamilias. The emperor encouraged fidelity and chastity, even when his own family provided poor examples.

The emperor personally patronized those authors who shared his conservative views. Two of his favorite authors were the poets Virgil and Horace. Horace virtually venerated Augustus. Virgil’s most famous work, the Aeneid, created a new origin myth for Roman civilization based on Homeric legend. Writers who did not share the emperor’s political and philosophical views were subject to censorship and suppression. Ovid, the Roman master of eroticism, was exiled.

Augustus was never able to provide for an orderly system of succession to the powers of the emperor. He was succeeded by a number of relatives, the Julio-Claudians, none of whom were particularly popular. The continued smooth operation of the empire despite incompetence and disorder at the top of the government testified to the success of Augustus’ constitutional changes. The last member of the Julio-Claudians, Nero, committed suicide in the face of a general revolution of the armies. After a period of civil war to determine a successor, the members of the Flavian dynasty ruled from 69 to 96 A.D. The Flavians were efficient, if unspectacular. During this dynasty, the last artificial trappings of the republic were removed.

During the Flavian dynasty, there were some outbreaks of violence. Trajan began the last expansion of Roman boundaries and subdued a rebellion among the Palestinian Jews. Hadrian similarly suppressed a Jewish rebellion against Roman rule.

The government of the empire was essentially oppressive. It demanded a full range of wealth, goods, and services from its subjects. In many provinces, the native elite continued to exercise authority in the name of the emperor in return for the gift of Roman citizenship. In the imperial provinces under the direct command of the emperor, the legions provided much of the force behind the administration. The last elements of imperial administration were the households of the Roman elite, including the household of the emperor. Minions of the emperor’s household, regardless of status of birth, commanded those vast territories belonging personally to the ruler.

While participation in the traditional Roman cults was considered an act of patriotism, many residents of the empire embraced newer forms of religion that offered greater personal bond with the divine. Among the most popular were the Egyptian cult of the goddess, Isis and the Anatolian cult of Cybele.

Judaism, which demanded absolute obedience to the principle of exclusive monotheism, could not be incorporated into the polytheism typical of Roman religious practice. At first, the Romans were tolerant of the special demands of Jewish religion and exempted the Jews from the public cults. Jews, themselves, were divided into those willing to admit newer Roman religious traditions (Sadducees) and those who insisted on strict separation (Hasidim and Pharisees). One member of the latter group, Hillel, began the process of legal and scriptural interpretation that became the Talmud. The most radical of the separatists, the Zealots, plotted revolt to free the Jews from Roman influence.

Jewish relationships with Rome were complicated by Christ’s messianic claims. The Roman procurator determined that Jesus of Nazareth represented a political disturbance and had him executed. Jesus followers claimed that he rose from the dead and initiated a new religion, Christianity. During the missionary expeditions of Paul of Tarsus, the new religion spread beyond the Judaic communities to Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome. Christians shared with Jews the dedication to monotheism and refused to participate in the public cults of Roman religion, including the worship of the deified emperor. Under Nero, persecution of Christians began. Persecutions failed to halt the growth of the new religion within the empire.

As the religion grew in numbers and as it became clear that the anticipated end of the world was not near at hand, Christians sought a more formal organization. In each community, bishops emerged as leaders responsible for both order and administration of the early sacraments. Authority within the new Church was based on Gospels, early letters, and visionary writings of the early disciples and their followers. Bishops connected these with Jewish texts to provide a basis for belief and Christian instruction. Bishops also took up responsibility for defending Christianity from external attacks and for settling internal disputes over interpretations of belief and scripture. Bishops of the most ancient Christian communities—Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, and latter Constantinople and Jerusalem—emerged as the most powerful officials of the Church. The elevation of the bishop within the Christian community corresponded to the separation of the priesthood from the laity.

Cities remained the bastions of Roman culture within the empire. They were connected by one of the wonders of Roman engineering, the Roman roads, the arteries of Roman administration. From A.D. 120 to A.D. 131, the emperor Hadrian traveled the Roman roads and visited every corner of his far-flung empire.

In the west, his tour included the border provinces of the Danube, Rhine and Britain which had to be defended against “barbarian” incursions and the provinces of Gaul and Spain which had long been Romanized.

In the East were the wealthiest provinces of the Empire such as Egypt which supplied the grain to feed the Roman masses, but whose cultural traditions threatened to fuel opposition to imperial control. Despite his odyssey, weaknesses began to appear in the imperial structure: 1) the extensive frontiers were often under attack, 2) the professional legions were becoming progressively less Roman and more provincial, 3) corruption was rampant in the administration, and 4) city and countryside remained culturally separated.