Download Roman Senate- 63 BC Dossier

Roman Senate- 63 BC
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Roman Senate- 63 BC
Dossier
Chair: Joseph Cahoon
Crisis Director: Carter Bakkum
Roman Senate- 63 BC
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Roman Senate- 63 BC
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Roman Senate- 63 BC
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Dear Delegates,
Salvete Senatores! Welcome to the topic guide for Roman Senate, 63 BC. This is
where I help you all to be the best delegates you can be. Unlike you, most of the new
generation of Model UN students have lost sight of lofty ideals, concerned more with glory
for themselves and their schools than with honor and moral character. The lowest students
might be swayed by the offer of grades, but your desire to come and participate in VAMUN
proves you are of the highest academic stock. However, be warned: even the greatest of
students can be infected with ambition. In conferences long past, VAMUN delegates were
students of the greatest virtue, dedicated to diplomacy and immersive simulation. Emulate
these great statesmen of old, dedicated to the ideals of righteousness, and distance
yourselves from the degeneracy of the present day. After all, when delegates give no
thought to their honor and succumb to vile lust for glory, the committee might forever be
derailed. The ancient integrity of the years would be disrupted once and for all, and the
youth of this year’s class would achieve not everlasting glory, but eternal infamy for the
great evil of disorder visited upon VAMUN. Let us return to the values of our forefathers
and have an immersive, entertaining, and educational committee experience together. If you
are even half as excited about it as I am, then I know we are going to have an amazing time.
I look forward to meeting you all,
Joseph Cahoon
Roman Senate, 63 BC Committee Chairman
Roman Senate- 63 BC
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Committee Overview: The Roman Senate
The government of Rome in 63 BC was called “Republican”, but it was not a
republic in the same way that most modern countries are today. The Senate itself actually
existed before republican government was established in Rome, and would continue to
linger on until the sixth century AD. Originally the Senate was a group of wealthiest and
most powerful men in Rome gathered together to advise the king. In this position the Senate
had nearly absolute power, with the only stipulation being that they remain subservient to
the king. When the monarchy was overthrown in 509 BC, they advised the two annually
elected consuls instead. From this point forward, the Roman Senate would only become
more and more powerful. Although Tiberius Gracchus instituted reforms in 133 BC that
curbed the Senate’s power in some minor respects, for the purpose of this committee the
Senate as a body has complete sovereignty in Rome1.
Now, in 63 BC, it is incredibly difficult to join the Senate. In fact, by now the
Senators are a social class of their own, distinguished from the other wealthy families or
equites. The equites often cannot become senators at all, since the minimum amount of
wealth required to become a senator cannot have come from commerce. Roman custom
defines merchants and bankers as too dishonorable for such a lofty title. However, an eques
(that’s the singular of equites) who owns a plantation (a “respectable” profession) and can
gain enough public support to be elected as a magistrate cannot be barred from joining the
Senate.
The Senate has two political parties: the optimates and the populares. Optimates are
conservatives who favor a powerful Senate with total power over Rome, whereas the
populares are progressives who support reform and appeal to the lower classes. In the
1 Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "Senate," accessed June 11, 2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/534333/Senate Roman Senate- 63 BC
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actual Roman Senate of antiquity, the former consuls were considered to be superior to the
other senators. They would be given precedence for speaking time, even often being the
only senators to speak at all on issues2. For the purposes of our committee, previous (or
even current) consul status will not be taken into account when selecting speakers.
Committee Overview: Magistrates
There will be six pairs of magistrates in this committee: consuls, tribunes, praetors,
quaestores, aediles, and censors. Consuls have the most official power of any two people in
the Roman Republic at a given time. For many wealthy Romans, to be elected consul is the
highest possible honor. The two consuls together act much like a president or prime
minister, as well as the commander-in-chief of Rome’s military. They each hold office for
only a year, and each can veto the other’s decisions. At the beginning of the Republic, the
consuls represented the power of the monarch divided between two men, but as time has
passed their power has diminished in comparison to the Senate. The establishment of the
other magistracies also curbed consular power3. In committee, each consul will have the
power to review and possibly veto unilateral action taken by the other.
The tribunes of the plebs speaks on behalf of the lower classes. They are elected by
the plebian assembly (a lower-class counterpart to the Senate) to serve as its leaders. They
had veto power over all decisions made by other magistrates and over legislation in the
plebian assembly itself. Some tribunes used this power to champion the people, while
others used it to stifle their more radical demands4. In committee, the tribunes of the plebs
2 Lendering John, Livius, “Senate,” accessed June 11, 2014, http://www.livius.org/se-­‐
sg/senate/senator.html 3 Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "consul," accessed June 11, 2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/134489/consul. 4 Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "tribune," accessed June 11, 2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/604799/tribune. Roman Senate- 63 BC
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will have the power to review and possibly veto unilateral actions taken by each other and
also the consuls.
Praetors are much like combinations between vice-presidents and judges. If a
Consul is for any reason unable to serve a praetor would take his place. Praetors are also
responsible for hearing cases that are deemed too important for regional judges5. Each
praetor has the ability to veto unilateral actions taken by the other.
Quaestores are typically the youngest magistrates, with the position usually acting as
a stepping-stone to more prestigious positions. They are in charge of the treasury and
collecting taxes6. Any unilateral actions taken by one quaestor is subject to veto by the
other.
Aediles are responsible for taking care of Rome’s upkeep. Repairs, traffic control,
public decency, and grain distribution all fall under their jurisdiction7. Any unilateral
actions taken by one aedile is subject to veto by the other.
Finally, the censors are in charge of the census. They keep track of the people in
Rome and how much property they own. In addition to the purpose for which the position
was created, the censors are also in charge of making sure all Roman people observed
proper moral conduct. Even other senators can be subject to punishment for immorality.
Unlike other magistracies, censors hold office for five years at a time8. In our committee, a
censor may initiate a vote to remove any of the other magistrates from office. When the
censor moves to impeach, he or she will first need to declare the accused’s moral crimes to
5 Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "praetor," accessed June 11, 2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/473655/praetor. 6 Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "quaestor," accessed June 11, 2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/485995/quaestor. 7 Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "aedile," accessed June 11, 2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/6946/aedile. 8 Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "censor," accessed June 11, 2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/101964/censor. Roman Senate- 63 BC
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the dais. If the chair deems the crimes relevant, then the other censor is given the
opportunity to veto the accusation. If no veto occurs, then the Senate will vote on whether
or not to remove the accused from office. A removed magistrate is replaced by an
immediate Senate vote (the committee cannot continue while a seat remains vacant). A
consul must be replaced by a praetor, and a tribune of the plebs is replaced by vote of the
plebian assembly (crisis).
History of the Issue: Setting the Stage for Ambition and Conspiracy
Marian Reforms
In 107 BC Gaius Marius, a consul, found that a problem the Republic had been
struggling with since the first Punic War had to be addressed once and for all: only
landowners could serve in Roman legions. This had shrunk the supply of Roman citizens
down dangerously low, and when Marius needed more legions he found there were simply
no more men to draft without endangering the Republic. In response, he did away with the
property requirement. The traditional logic was that only men with something (land) to lose
could effectively defend the Republic. The Roman elite were right to be worried by this
new change, but not because the poor would not be effective soldiers. They joined the army
out of a desire for the glory and plunder that come from war, but also more likely because
the military offered steady employment and free land from conquered nations as a retirement
benefit. This more mercenary motivation led to entire legions of armed men loyal not to the
Republic, which had left them in poverty, but to the generals who led them to wealth and
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glory. While these reforms were probably necessary to defend the Republic, they would
also end up being part of its downfall9.
Dictatorship of Sulla
The Marian reforms first bore fruit with the dictatorship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
In 88 BC Sulla was tasked with taking an army to defend Roman holdings in Asia Minor.
After he destroyed the forces of his enemy, Mithridates, the Republic demanded that he give
up his army to Marius. Sulla refused, and instead took the army, loyal to him personally,
and occupied Rome itself. Rome would sometimes appoint a leader with absolute power in
a time of dire crisis, but the “dictator” would always have a time limit on his power. Sulla
declared himself to be dictator of Rome for life. To cement his power, he made lists of his
political enemies and promised their property as a reward to whoever captured or killed
them. This was known as “proscription,” and even senators were not safe from mob
execution. However, even as Sulla killed senators in droves he bolstered its power as an
institution by taking away the power that the Gracchi brothers had given the plebian
assembly. Sulla marched into Rome, engaged in sweeping constitutional reform, ruled for a
while, and then retired in 79 BC without naming a successor. Despite spending years under
the rule of a dictator, the overall power structure of Rome had not been permanently
affected. Rome after Sulla was not significantly different than it had been before him.
However, the notion that one man could succeed at seizing power in Rome through force
9 UNRV History, “Marius Reforms The Legions,” accessed June 30, 2014, http://www.unrv.com/empire/marius-­‐reforms-­‐legions.php Roman Senate- 63 BC
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would not be forgotten in a hurry, especially among the now-unemployed soldiers who had
conquered the city just a few years earlier10.
Third Servile War
Right after the reign of Sulla and the nightmare of proscription, a new threat emerged
in Italy. A group of escaped gladiators, led by a man named Spartacus, began plundering
the area around Pompeii. The freed slaves from the destroyed estates joined the band, soon
becoming too much for the locals to handle. To solve this problem, the Senate sent in
Clodius Glaber, a praetor, with 3000 soldiers. His failure to stop Spartacus allowed the
slave army to grow to 30,000 strong, prolonging the war for a full two years (73-71 BC).
Eventually two of the most powerful men in Rome, Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus
Pompeius Magnus (often known as “Pompey” in modern accounts), pooled their resources
to put an end to the war, but not before Spartacus’ army showed just how close an army of
escaped slaves could get to defeating the Romans.11
Analysis
In all of the above events ancient Roman ideals are decaying. The Roman Senate
had a very clear idea of how Rome ought to look, contrasted sharply by the events of the last
century. Roman soldiers were supposed to be virtuous citizens responding to the call of
duty, defending their homes and families. The new, poorer Roman soldiers were fighting to
improve the quality of their lives. This meant they fought for a change in the social order,
not to maintain it in its current state. Sulla was somewhat of a conservative himself, but it
can never be said that he fit the ancient ideal of a Roman dictator. With no limit to his term,
10 Illustrated History of the Roman Empire, “Lucius Cornelius Sulla,” accessed June 11, 2014, http://www.roman-­‐empire.net/republic/sulla.html 11 Tribunes and Triumphs, “Spartacus Timeline,” accessed June 11 2014, http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/gladiators/spartacus-­‐timeline.htm Roman Senate- 63 BC
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it was clear that he was interested in personal power, not defending the Republic. If he had
appointed a successor, the Roman Republic would have probably been abolished for good.
Only Sulla’s whim had saved the Republic, fatally weakening its legitimacy. It would be
only a matter of time before someone would repeat Sulla’s takeover and choose to establish
a dynasty, and in 63 BC Pompey had all of the right resources to do so. If that was not
enough, the Third Servile War challenged the Republic’s legitimacy again, and highlighted
the tenuous position of an economy based on slave labor. However, where slavery exists the
large plantations run by aristocrats who can afford to invest in slaves will always
outcompete poorer, smaller-scale farmers. Farmers unable to pay their debts end up losing
their land, and look for work in the city instead. This sort of thing changes a society, and
when a society changes power has a chance to change hands. Roman society and culture
was changing, and the conservative Senate wanted desperately to stop it.
The Current State of Affairs: 63 BC
Prior to the beginning of this committee session, the Populares senator Servilius
Rullus proposed a bill that would require plundered assets to be reported to a ten-man
Senate-appointed committee. The committee would be responsible for the management and
sale of these assets, and were granted by the bill a general right to buy and sell public land.
They would also be granted the right to raise troops unilaterally, which meant the ten
individuals would have an incredible amount of power. The consul Marcus Tullius Cicero
rallied the Senate against the bill, and in the end it was not introduced to the floor. Because
it was never introduced, not even the Roman people in 63 BC knew exactly what it
contained, much less historians today. It may have been an effort by Senate conservatives to
curb the power of Gnaeus Pompey, whose victorious and personally loyal army in Asia
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Minor was making him look a lot like Sulla. Alternatively, it could have been a play by
Pompey to ensure that his veterans actually received the land they had been promised when
he returned (his veterans from the Third Servile war were still waiting for theirs even after a
decade). Regardless of the text of the bill the topic was land reform, an incredibly divisive
issue. When the swelling ranks of landless urban poor and forgotten veterans heard that the
Senate had crushed a bill having to do with the sale of public land, they were not at all
pleased. This is a perfect climate for an ambitious young politician to seize power. This is
where our committee begins12.
Questions To Consider:
As you do your research, consider the following1. What threats exist to the hegemony of the Roman Senate in 63 BC? How were these
threats handled?
2. Many could stand to profit from unrest. Which groups are the greatest risks to
Roman peace in the event of a crisis?
3. Look further into the conflicts preceding 63 BC. How could Sulla’s hostile takeover
have been averted? What would you have done about Spartacus’ slave revolt?
4. What is my position with regards to the optimates and populares? How
conservative/progressive am I, and whose interests am I beholden to? How
important are civil rights of traitors in times of crisis?
5. How can the crisis benefit me?
12 Stavis Zahra, Academia.edu, “State of Affairs before the Fall,” last edited 2006, http://www.academia.edu/897776/State_of_Affairs_before_the_Fall_Roman_Agrarian_Legislation_in_th
e_Republic_of_Cicero Roman Senate- 63 BC
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For Your Further Research:
Should you come across the name of a specific conspiracy that took place in 63 BC Rome,
be sure to check out Sallust’s account of the whole affair. However, do keep in mind the
possible biases of the writer. Also, we may not stick to the exact historical narrative
depending on how the committee decides to act.
The positions you receive will be in the form of a Roman name. To better understand how
Roman names worked, try this link:
http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/roman_names.html
Be aware that multiple Romans may have had similar or even the same names. It is safe to
assume that your position is the most renowned person of that name alive during 63 BC
(unless your dossier says otherwise).
It may also be useful to look into the events that took place after 63 BC. The invasion of
Italy by Julius Caesar and the civil war that followed his assassination are two of the most
important events in Roman history altogether, as they marked the shift from an oligarchical
republic to a dictatorship. Just be sure to keep in mind that none of the members of our
committee could have suspected these things would come to pass.
Displaying a general knowledge of Roman culture reflects well on a delegate, but some
aspects may appear more prominently in the committee. Be sure to understand how Roman
patronage worked: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/121483/clientship
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Works Cited
Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "aedile," accessed June 11, 2014,
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/6946/aedile
Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "censor," accessed June 11, 2014,
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/101964/censor
Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "consul," accessed June 11, 2014,
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/134489/consul.
Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "praetor," accessed June 11, 2014,
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/473655/praetor.
Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "quaestor," accessed June 11, 2014,
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/485995/quaestor
Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "Senate," accessed June 11, 2014,
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/534333/Senate
Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "tribune," accessed June 11, 2014,
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/604799/tribune.
Illustrated History of the Roman Empire, “Lucius Cornelius Sulla,” accessed June 11, 2014,
http://www.roman-empire.net/republic/sulla.html
Lendering John, Livius, “Senate,” accessed June 11, 2014, http://www.livius.org/sesg/senate/senator.html
Stavis Zahra, Academia.edu, “State of Affairs before the Fall,” last edited 2006,
http://www.academia.edu/897776/State_of_Affairs_before_the_Fall_Roman_Agrarian_Legi
slation_in_the_Republic_of_Cicero
Tribunes and Triumphs, “Spartacus Timeline,” accessed June 11 2014,
http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/gladiators/spartacus-timeline.htm
UNRV History, “Marius Reforms The Legions,” accessed June 30, 2014,
http://www.unrv.com/empire/marius-reforms-legions.php