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Notes, RH chapter 1 Indo-European Note the similarities between the words in the following languages: Latin mater ped pater frater edo nox Greek mater, pod pater phrater edomai nyx meter Sanskrit matar pad pitar bhrater admi German Mutter Fuss Vater Bruder essen Wendish mac, (pesi, macer on foot) bratr Nacht noč Around 3500-2500 B.C., a group of people living around the Black and Caspian Seas started migrating, and groups of them ended up in Europe and Asia. We call that people the Indo-Europeans, and their language proto-Indo-European. Their language evolved into the languages shown here: http://www.danshort.com/ie/iecentum.htm http://www.flickr.com/photos/aliarda/5222418678/ Here are some non-Indo-European families of languages: • Sino-Tibetan. This includes Tibetan and the languages/dialects of modern Chinese: Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu, Yue, Min, and Hakka. • Mon-Khmer. This includes Mon (spoken in Burma and Thailand), and Khmer (Cambodian), and Vietnamese. • Tai. This includes Thai and Laotian. • Finno-Ugric. This includes Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian. • Hamito-Semitic. This includes the ancient languages Akkadian (the language of ancient Mesopotamia), Aramaic (language of ancient Syria, parts of the Bible, and probably the first language of Jesus), and Phoenician (or Punic, the language of ancient Carthage); it 2 also includes the modern languages Arabic, Hebrew, Ethiopian, and Coptic (ancient and modern). • Malayo-Polynesian. This includes most of the languages in the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, such as Javanese, Tagalog, Samoan, Fijian, and Hawaiian. • Altaic. This includes Turkish, Uzbek, and Kazakh, and some linguists posit a distant relation with Japanese and Korean. • Australian and Papuan. These include the various languages spoken by the aborigines in Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea. • Niger-Congo. These are many of the languages of sub-Saharan Africa, or “Black” Africa, such as the language of Nigeria, Yoruba, Igbo, Bantu, Swahili, and Zulu. • Khoisan: Bushman and Hottentot, particularly interesting to the linguist because these languages have “clicks.” • North American Indian • Eskimo. Aleut and Athabasian • Algonquian • Iroquoian • Siouan • Mayan • South America Indian. This includes Quechua, Arawak, Carib, and Inca. Notable language isolates are Basque and Etruscan. Latin was the language of the Latin people, who lived in the area south of Rome called Latium. The city Rome was founded by people from Latium in the middle of the 8th century B.C. Like all languages, Latin was influenced by the languages of the peoples with whom its speakers came into contact. Scholars have identified words of Etruscan, Sabine, Greek, Celtic, German, and even Persian origin in Latin. 3 The history of the Latin language can be broken up into rough time-periods. Archaic–beginnings until 250 B.C. or so. From this era we have only fragments of literature, and inscriptions (e.g., tombstones). Pre-classical-250 B.C. until 100 B.C. The Romans produced much literature during this time, but plays by only two authors—Plautus and Terence—survive. We have fragments from other authors of the time. Classical–100 B.C.-A.D. 200. Golden Age-80 B.C.-A.D.17 (Cicero, Caesar, Catullus, Lucretius, Vergil, Horace, Propertius, Tibullus, Ovid, Livy) Silver Age–A.D.17-200 (Seneca the Elder, Seneca the Younger, Statius, Lucan, Petronius, Tacitus, Juvenal, Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger) Post-classical-A.D.200–500 or so Christian Latin writings by early Christian writers–Tertullian, Augustine, Prudentius, Jerome, et al. Medieval 500-? The spoken language is evolving into Romance languages; the written language is “frozen” and not changing. The major Romance languages are Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Rumanian. There are also Catalán, Provençal, Romantsch, in addition to a dozen or so dying or already extinct Romance languages: Limousin, Asturian, Leonese, Walloon, Gascon, Aragonese, IstroRomanian, Ladin, Friulian, Galician, Mozarabic, Corsican, Sardinian, Sicilian, and more. 4 notes, RH chapter 2 1. Problems in studying ancient history • ancients did not know early history; explained past with myths and legends, passed down via oral tradition • loss of books from ancient world • biases • philosophy of historiography (emphasis on morality and patriotism) • wie es eigentlich gewesen 2. Mythical beginnings: • Aeneas as in Aeneid by Vergil (70-19 B.C.) Aeneas, Trojan prince and son of Venus, famous for pietas and valor in battle, flees Troy upon its destruction by Greeks in Trojan War (1200 B.C.). As he leaves, he carries his father out of the city, and his father holds the Lars and Penates, and the Palladium. aeneas.jpg. With his father Anchises, his son Ascanius, and other Trojans, Aeneas travels around Mediterranean, looking to establish new Troy. He hears that he is destined to establish what will become a great empire. • The Dido episode: He meets Dido, queen of Carthage (in northern Africa, around Tunis wlAncientItaly.tif), and falls in love with her; he leaves her to establish the new Troy, which causes her to curse him and his descendants (Rome and Romans) before she commits suicide. • Aeneas arrives in Italy and travels to Underworld (as Odysseus did), sees his father, and gets preview of Roman history to come. • After returning from the Underworld, Aeneas fights hostile natives in order to gain foothold in Italy, and establishes town Lavinium. • Aeneas’s son Ascanius founds town Alba Longa, in Latium. 5 RH Chapter 3: Romulus and Remus found Rome In the 8th century B.C. • Numitor, the king of Alba Longa, is deposed by his brother Amulius. • Numitor is driven into exile, his sons are murdered, and his daughter, Rhea Silvia, is made a Vestal Virgin. ..\..\Pics for RH\tempio-di-vesta[1].jpg • She becomes pregnant by the god Mars, and bears twins, Romulus and Remus. • Amulius learns of the twins’ existence and orders that they be drowned in the Tiber river. They are placed in a basket in the river, which runs aground, leaving the twin babies safe. • They are nursed by a she-wolf and then found by a shepherd, who takes them home and raises them. cap wolf.jpg ..\My RH pics\R&R.jpg Romulus and Remus grow up to be strong and brave young men. They rob robbers of their loot, and distribute it to the poor. Remus is captured by some robbers, but Romulus rescues him (before Amulius can kill him), and then they depose Amulius and restore Numitor to the throne. Romulus and Remus decided to found a city on the Palatine Hill. • April 21, 753 B.C. • augury • Romulus kills Remus, and becomes first king of Rome: R&R quarrel.pdf • King Romulus establishes certain customs of Rome: lictors fasces ..\..\Pics for RH\lictors400[1].jpg • senatus • patricians/nobiles • plebs • asylum • Rape of the Sabinespoussin_sabinem.jpg, ..\..\Pics for RH\IMG_1169.JPG 6 • Wars with the Sabines • Tarpeia, Tarpeian Rock • Alliance with Sabines; Hersilia ..\..\Pics for RH\david35[1].jpg Death of Romulus: disappears into a cloud, or is torn apart by senators. Apotheosis: he becomes Quirinus, the deified form of the mortal Romulus. Story that after death he appeared to Proculus Julius, urging Romans to conquer the world. The real history of Rome’s beginnings? niger lapis recei casa Romuli Lupercalia—purification of Palatine pomerium Have archaeologists found the original pomerium? “Rome existed before it became Rome.” Rome wasn’t named after Romulus; Romulus was named after Rome. Whole Romulus story heavily influenced (if not created) by Greeks. “The archaeological evidence thus bears witness to a dramatic reorganization in the last decades of the 7th c. B.C.” 7 RH, chapter 4: Kings after Romulus Numa Pompilius (a Sabine) • interregnum • Titus Tatius • peace-loving, with great reputation for justice and piety, made Romans religious to keep a Sabine them from degenerating during times of peace • made instructions for worshipping the gods. He received the instructions from the nymph Egeria. • made calendar for establishing religious festivals and religious days • pax deorum • built Temple of Janus; what its gates signified—open, closed • flamen, flamines; flamen Dialis (the strange restrictions—couldn’t touch a goat, dog, raw meat, beans, ivy; hair and nails couldn’t be cut with iron knife; he couldn’t leave his house for a single night; his wife might not appear in public with hair done up, and couldn’t wear shoes made from skin of any but a sacrificial victim) • numen (Rose, p. 161: “What works to effect everything which is beyond the ordinary power of men, outside the common processes of nature.” ) • pontifex, pontifex maximus, Regia • He established the Vestal Virgins in Rome. • http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/Maecenas/black/t_vesta/ab661506.html • fas nefas Tullus Hostilius • Latin League • waged war on Alba Longa • fear of Etruscans (the etruscans.pdf) prompted Hostilius and Alba Longa’s leader, Mettius Fufetius, to decide issue with battle between two sets of triplets, Horatii (for Romans), Curiatii (for Alba Longa). horatii.jpg • Lesson of battle: 8 • Horatius killed his sister • treachery of Mettius Fufetius, and his punishment. Alba Longa was destroyed. • Hostilius killed, after committing sacrilege. Ancus Marcius • established rites for declaring war; fetials • Ostia, port of Rome, first Roman colonywlAncientItaly.tif • Tyrrhenian Sea • built carcer • Lucumo (“king” in Etruscan) came to Rome from Tarquinii, Etruscan city; eagle landed on his head as he entered the city. He became Tarquinius. Tarquinius became king of Rome when Ancus Marcius died. Tarquinius (Priscus) • established ludi • built Circus Maximus (http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/Maecenas/rome/circus_max/ac881618.html • drained swamp, where Forum was eventually built (http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/Maecenas/black/forum_rom/ab660802.html ..\My RH pics\Forum1.jpg ..\My RH pics\Forum2.jpg • story of power of augur and auspices to sceptical Tarquin • bought Sibylline books, after fabled delay • started construction of temple for Capitoline Jupiter and Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva). This marks a turning point in Roman religion: “Before the temples and statues, no deity of the city had been so housed, because he could not be thought of in terms of human life, as visible in human form and needing shelter.” • story of the head of a slave’s son bursting into flames; Servius Tullius • Tarquin assassinated by the sons of Ancus Marcius; Servius Tullius became king Servius Tullius • 9 divided Roman plebs into classes, reformed army: Knights (equites, conspicuous for customary golden ring), 1st class, 2nd class, 3rd class, etc; lowest class, proletarii. Rich voted before the poorer. • each class divided into centuriae, in which soldiers voted • established census, assessment of number of citizens and their property. Reasons? • established lustrum, purification ceremony every five years • added remaining hills to Rome. Altogether, they are Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, Palatine, Capitoline, Caelian, and Aventine. • “Wall of Servius” ..\My RH pics\Wall of Servius.jpg • pomerium “When the army returned, a lustrum had to be repeated in order to rid men, horses, arms, trumpets, etc., of such evil contagion they might have contracted during their absence.” • Campus Martius “Mars was always worshipped outside the city, as a god who must be kept at a distance.” (“Quirinus est Mars qui praeest paci et intra civitatem colitur, nam belli Mars extra civitatem templum habet.”) Rome during Republic.jpg 10 RH Chapter Five: The End of the Monarchy • Lucius Tarquin, son of Tarquinius Priscus, agitates to become king. After securing support from the leading families of Rome, he overthrew Servius and had him murdered; did not allow burial of Servius, even joked about it. • He got the name Tarquinius “Superbus” (the Proud): He did not ratify his position with people or Senate; executed hostile Senators and seized their property; employed a bodyguard beyond the lictors. Overall, he gave the concept rex great unpopularity in Rome. Maybe he was like the Greek tyrants—too friendly to common people. • He built the cloaca maxima, (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/121939/Cloaca-Maxima) and finished the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter and the Capitoline Triad. Although the Romans centuries later looked back at this time as one of noble simplicity and poverty, the truth is that Rome in the late regal period was one of the greatest cities in the Western Mediterranean. • Tarquin sent sons and Brutus (his sister’s son, whom many thought an idiot–he was pretending to be dumb, brutus in Latin) to Delphi to consult oracle. After getting the information he wanted, they asked the oracle who would be the next king in Rome. The oracle answered that the one who next kissed his mother will be the next king of Rome. While leaving the temple, Brutus pretended to trip and fall, and, while lying on the ground, kissed the earth, the mother of all living things. • Sextus Tarquin, the king’s son, raped Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus; she was a paragon of female virtue (cf. Most Faithful Wife story). She summoned her husband, her father, and Brutus to tell them of the rape; after telling them, she committed suicide. http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=1750 • Brutus led the rebellion against the king, and he and the other Romans swore an oath that they would never allow another man to be king in Rome. Tarquin, who was outside of the city on a military campaign, returned to find the gates closed against him. • The period of the monarchy was over, in 509 B.C. 11 RH Chapter 6 Res publica: SPQR • res publica: commonwealth, property of the people • Senatus Populusque Romanus..\My RH pics\sewer cover.JPG • Republic not democratic; power vested in magistrates, who consulted the Senate; the magistrates came from the senatorial class. The Magistrates consul • the culmination of a Roman politician’s life, position ennobled man’s family forever; intense competition • two per year, term lasted one year; one consul could veto the other’s actions • assumed king’s power; purple stripe on toga denotes semi-royal power • chief generals of the army, chief duty leading the army in war • led Senate in discussions of policy; consuls expected to heed Senate’s advice • had imperium, power to lead army and punish citizens; while on campaign, had power to execute soldiers without a trial. His imperium shown by twelve fasces and sella curulis (ivory chair allowed only to holders of imperium) • year named after the consuls: “In the consulship of Cicero and Antony,” i.e., 63 B.C. • elected by comitia centuriata, assembly of soldiers • the year after a consul’s term ended, he would have to serve as governor of a province (proconsul) • checked auspices • minimum age for consul, 42 dictator • appointed only during times of crisis, or when the consuls were out of the city or otherwise unable to perform duties • had supreme power–actions and rulings not subject to veto or appeal until after 300 B.C; 12 his supreme power symbolized by 24 lictors with fasces • term of office 6 months, customary for dictator to resign at end of crisis • assistant was magister equitum, in charge of the cavalry Characteristics of men appointed dictators? censor • two of them, elected every five years; usually completed work in 18 months • assessed citizen’s property and number of citizens • performed lustrum at conclusion of census • enrolled men in Senate, or kicked them out • in charge of maintaining moral standards of Rome; passed “sumptuary laws” • awarded government contracts for building bridges, roads, collecting taxes in the provinces, etc. Characteristics of men elected censors? praetor • regarded as junior colleague of consul • held imperium (with fasces and sella curulis), shown by 6 lictors • main duty presiding over courts; Roman law consists mostly of praetorian edicts • could (and did) lead small armies • could convene Senate if consuls couldn’t • might have to serve as governor of a province the year after his praetorship (propraetor) • praetor urbanus reponsible for administration of justice in Rome; praetor peregrinus dealt with lawsuits in which one or both parties were foreigners • minimum age, 39 quaestor • “go-fer” in Roman government; first significant office a rising politician could be elected to • in charge of treasury (aerarium) and public records • 13 as a minor officer in army, would command wing of cavalry during battle and procure supplies for army • minimum age, 30 tribunes (tribuni plebis, or tribunes of the people) • protected common people from abuses of power of the magistrates and Senate, who were predominately nobles if not patricians; only plebeians were allowed to be tribunes. • had great power, the intercessio, power to veto anything the magistrates and Senate were doing, if it harmed the common people • supposed to be sacrosanct–cannot be harmed, even by holders of imperium • elected by concilium plebis, assembly of the common people • led meetings of concilium plebis • after 149 B.C., tribune automatically enrolled in the Senate aediles • originally subordinates to tribune • responsible for maintenance of roads, buildings, and bridges in Rome, the infrastructure (root aed has to do with “building”) (cf. story of Caligula and Vespasian) • supervised weights and measures in the market place, and traffic regulations • cura annonae, made sure Rome had adequate supply of grain • from own pocket paid for ludi, public games (why?) Senate • stable political body in Rome, since magistrates changed every year • represented community’s collected political wisdom, with members being ex-consuls, expraetors, ex-dictators, ex-censors, etc. • met in curia, or Senate house • had no formal power, only the power to advise and make recommendations for magistrates; recommendations were called decreta or consulta • had great prestige, especially during Punic Wars • 14 until 267 B.C., it could veto laws passed by Concilium Plebis, or Popular Assembly. The Senate’s approval was patrum auctoritas. • determined expenditures and revenues, rate of tribute of allies, taxes, etc. • not elected to office, and in for life, unless expelled by censors • minimum property requirement • no pay for being a senator; even barred from engaging in business and owning large ships • princeps senatus, “chief of the Senate,” was the most eminent man in the Senate • consul would lead meetings of the Senate, calling first upon those of consular and dictatorial rank, then those of praetorian rank, etc., for their opinions on a matter • latus clavus, wide purple stripe on toga cursus honorum • The ladder of offices leading to the top: quaestor, aedile/tribune, praetor, consul. Assemblies comitia centuriata meetings of men of military age, by groups of 100, in their classes; • elected consuls, praetors, and quaestors, and appointed dictators • voted whether or not to go to war • heard appeals of citizens condemned to death • approved laws recommended by Senate or consuls • met on Campus Martius concilium plebis assembly of common people; led by tribunes • after 267 B.C. could pass laws without approval of Senate (such laws were called plebiscita); elected tribunes and aediles priests The seven pontifices formed a college of priests which oversaw all aspects of the official state religion; the chief among them was the pontifex maximus. They supervised the haruspices, Vestal Virgins, augurs, and flamines (there were three flamines maiores: flamen Dialis; flamen Quirinalis; and flamen Martialis. There were twelve flamines minores.) 15 RH Chapter Seven: Traitors and Heroes of the Early Republic • Brutus drafted more men into the Senate; they were called patres conscripti. • The first consuls were Brutus and Collatinus. The Romans, nervous about their new liberty, became suspicious of Collatinus, as his name (Tarquinius Collatinus) reminded them of the hated king. Deferring to their fears, Collatinus resigned. • He was replaced by Publius Valerius. Valerius also aroused the people’s fear: he built a splendid house on the highest hill of the city, which prompted the people’s fears that he would use the house to spy on the people, and when Brutus was killed in combat, Valerius did not seek a replacement for his colleague. Deferring to their fears, Valerius tore down his house and had it rebuilt in the lowest part of the city, so that the citizens could always look over him. He also started the tradition of having the fasces lowered in the presence of the people, showing that the power of the people was greater than that of the consuls. Valerius was also thought to have been responsible for the law that established the citizen’s right to appeal a capital sentence (ius provocationis) to the comitia centuriata; for all the things he did for the common people, he got the nickname Poplicola, “lover of the common people.” • Tarquin in exile tried to stir up discontent among the nobles with the new form of government. A conspiracy to recall Tarquin arose; Brutus’s own sons Titus and Tiberius were involved in it. Since Brutus’s job was to administer justice, he executed his own sons. ..\..\Pics for RH\brutus[1].jpg He had the power to do that anyway; the father’s absolute power over his children is called patria potestas; the power over their very existence is ius vitae necisque. The father of the family was called paterfamilias (the mother of the family is called materfamilias). Matrona was highly respected within the family and in the community (“of more than Victorian correctness” as one scholar put it). • Tarquin’s son Arruns led an army against Rome. He and Brutus had a duel during the battle, and killed each other. • The gravest threat to the new republic came from the Etruscan king Lars Porsenna, of the city Clusium. Under his command the Etruscans launched a sudden attack; Horace “Cocles” saved Rome with his heroics at the bridge. (Horace at the Bridge story, p. 42) • 16 Gaius Mucius tried and failed to assassinate Lars Porsenna; Mucius got the nickname “Scaevola.” (p. 43) • Lars Porsenna apparently had enough power to demand that the Romans hand over hostages. Story of Cloelia, the courageous girl (p. 44) • Rome had lost its superiority over the Latins in the Latin League; in 496 the Romans tried to regain their hegemony, at the Battle of Lake Regillus. The battle was inconclusive; treaty reached in foedus Cassianum Story of the Dioscuri, or Gemini (p. 44); story of how the Ahenobarbus family got its name. Mecastor! Edepol! http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/Maecenas/black/t_castor/ab661507.html • Rome had armies fighting in many different places, and needed one to stop Etruscan raiding (from the city Veii the etruscans.pdf) on the border. The Roman clan of the Fabii sent out all 307 of its men to stop the Veientes. After experiencing great success in small battles, the Fabii were led into a trap, and 306 were killed in the battle. 17 RH, Chapter Eight: Class Conflict in Rome • plebeians in early Republic had no representation in the government. Only help they received was from patron-client relationship, which merely strengthened the power of the wealthy nobles. Plebeians felt that with the aristocrats ruling the city, they had many kings instead of just one, and felt they were safer among the enemy abroad than with fellow citizens at home • story of old soldier (p. 51)–duties of (unpaid) military service more onerous to peasant farmers more than to aristocrats • crushing debt laws–debtor in default of his payments could be sold into slavery: nexum (“arrangement between debtor and creditor, by which the debtor pledged his liberty as security for his debt” Cassell’s Latin Dictionary). Aristocracy saw no need to solve the debt-problems: “It is virtually certain that the function of nexum in early Rome was to provide dependent labor for exploitation by large landowners.” (T.J. Cornell, p. 283) • plebs secedes to Sacred Mount • “Parts of Body” speech given to them by Menenius Agrippa (pp. 52-53) • tribunate created; plebs forms a state within a state. • problems still not solved after tribunate created. Only the aristocrats knew the law, as it was passed down via oral tradition, and could mold it to their needs. Twelve Tables created, in 451 by decemviri, panel of ten men (supposedly they went to Athens to study the laws of Solon); basis of ius civile and basis for many law systems today. Twelve Tables were inscribed in bronze and posted in Forum, so all could know their rights and responsibilities. Romans believed that this was the real revolution in Roman politics, as it established government by law, rather than by caprice of aristocracy. Characteristics of Twelve Tables: both remarkably primitive and remarkably modern (p. 54) Class conflict continued through Roman history. Plebeians couldn’t even run for consulship until 367. Marriages between plebeians and patricians were illegal until 445. Plebs seceded again in 287; we don’t know the reason, but after a law passed then (lex Hortensia), laws passed by popular assembly were binding upon whole community even without patrum auctoritas. 18 Chapter 9 Coriolanus, Cincinnatus, and Camillus Coriolanus • Rome was suffering from a famine, and had to import grain. When the Senate was debating at what price they should sell the grain, Coriolanus, a noble who hated the tribunate and the power the plebeians were gaining, advised the Senate to hold the grain hostage until the plebeians gave up the tribunate and their recently acquired power. The plebeians were outraged. Before he could be put on trial for tyrannical behavior, Coriolanus went into exile with the Volsci, enemies of Rome. Rome and its neighbors.pdf • Coriolanus soon led the Volscian army against Rome. The Romans were thoroughly unprepared, and Coriolanus pitched camp five miles from Rome. Things looked bad for Rome. • Coriolanus’s mother Veturia, wife Volumnia, and their children soon showed up at his camp. Veturia upbraided her son: “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.” (speech, p. 59) Coriolanus.jpg or ..\..\Pics for RH\Coriolanus.JPG • Coriolanus, touched by the weeping of the women and children (and overwhelmed by the guilt), withdrew the army. Rome was saved. Cincinnatus • The Roman army under the consul Minucius lost a minor engagement against the Aequi. Minucius decided to not risk further losses and kept his army inside the camp. Soon the Aequi trapped him and his army. Five Romans managed to escape, and told the Senate of the danger that Minucius and the army were in. • The Romans decided to appoint a dictator to rescue Minucius and the army. They chose L. Quinctius, or Cincinnatus (“Curly”). • Messengers from the Senate went to tell Cincinnatus that he had been appointed dictator. They found him plowing his fields. Cincinnatus_statue.jpg He returned to the city, with people greeting him and joining him on his journey to the city. He ordered the soldiers to 19 assemble at dawn in the Campus Martius. • Cincinnatus then led the army against the Aequi. The Romans won the battle, and saved Minucius and his army. • The Romans greeted the victorious Cincinnatus with great fanfare upon his entrance into the city. He and his soldiers marched through the city, showing the captured prisoners and the loot seized. This was the triumph, the ticker-tape parade given for victorious generals and their armies (description, p. 63) • The victorious general in the triumph was allowed to look like Jupiter for a day; he wore clothes from the temple of Jupiter. To keep bad luck from harming him in such an exalted state, he carried a staff of laurel, and a slave kept whispering in his year, “Remember that you are only mortal.” The soldiers in the triumph carried laurel so that cleansed from human bloodshed, they could enter the city. • A less splendid type of triumph was the ovatio. • Fifteen days after assuming dictatorial power, Cincinnatus resigned, and returned to his plow. Defeat of Veii • In 405 the Romans decided to conquer Veii, a rich and powerful Etruscan city only 15 km. from Rome. the etruscans.pdf • It took a long time (ten years, according to tradition), but the Romans finally sacked Veii. (The siege lasted so long, the Romans had to start paying their soldiers for their service.) They did so by the great leadership of Camillus, by tunnelling into the city. It was the greatest victory of the Romans so far, and they won a huge amount of loot. (Camillus and his prayer, p. 64) Now there was no obstruction to Rome’s northern expansion. • Before conquering a city, the Romans did evocatio, in order not to offend the gods residing there. According to tradition, the Romans started worshipping Juno because of the conquest of Veii. Camillus and Roman Honor • While besieging Veii, the Romans were attacked by Falerii, allies of Veii. After finishing off Veii, the Romans turned their attention to Falerii, to get revenge. Soon Falerii was 20 under siege. • story of schoolmaster of Falerii, pp. 65-66. ..\My RH pics\School master of Falerii.jpg Chapter 10, The Gauls Sack Rome • The Gauls were migrating, and entered Italy, supposedly because they wanted wine. The presence and power of the Etruscans had kept them from central Italy, but the Etruscans now were weak. • The Gauls threatened Rome. The Gauls and Romans had a battle at the river Allia in 390; it was such a disaster and devastating loss for the Romans they cursed dies alliensis. • The Gauls entered the city, uncontested; the Romans who did not flee to the countryside took refuge in the Capitol, and the Vestal Virgins carried images of gods to safety in friendly cities. The Romans believed that the original XII Tables, along with records of the earliest years of the city’s history, were destroyed at this time. • Story of Fabius and his religious duties • Camillus in exile was appointed dictator in absentia. He started rounding up an army to rescue Rome. • Story how the Sacred Geese of Juno saved the Capitol. • Romans offered to pay the Gauls to leave: “vae victis!” Camillus: “ferro, non auro” • Romans considered moving city to a site with better natural fortifications: “hic manebimus optime.” Camillus’s speech, based on religious reasons, convinced Romans to stay. • Camillus successfully led army against Gauls and all those who attacked Rome during its difficulties; Camillus earned title “Second Founder of Rome.” ..\..\Pics for RH\395pxLudovisi_Gaul_Altemps_Inv8608_n3[1].jpg Persistent fear of the Gauls helped the Romans unite Italians under their leadership against the barbarians. • signum, as a military term ..\My RH pics\signa.jpg • Story of Titus Manlius and the tribune (p. 73) • Story how Titus Manlius earned nickname “Torquatus” (p. 74) 737px-Dying_gaul[1].jpg 21 Chapter 11 The Wars with the Samnites • The Samnites were a loose confederacy of people living in the Appenine Mountains southeast of Rome. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd_1911/shepherdc-029.jpg They were tough fighters. • In 343 they attacked the Sidicini, a group of people living in Campania, an area with very fertile land. • The Sidicini asked other towns in Campania, including Capua (the largest and richest city in Campania–richer than Rome at that time), for help against the Samnites. • After giving help to the Sidicini, the Capuans and Campanians themselves were in turn attacked by the Samnites, and the Samnites were winning. • The Campanians and Capuans asked Rome for help. The Romans already had a treaty with the Samnites, and no alliance with the Campanians. The Romans asked the Samnites to stop. The Samnites ignored the Romans’ requests. • Desperate, the people of Campania are said to have given their territory to the Romans, so that the Romans would be forced to defend their own property. The Romans now had legal justification for going to war with the Samnites; they already had a strategic reason– they didn’t want the Samnites to get the wealthy land of Campania. • First Samnite War. Rome won first battles, but against the toughest enemy they had ever encountered. • A mutiny in Roman army prevented the Romans from capitalizing on their victories, and they agreed to a peace treaty with the Samnites, in 341. • Great Latin War. In 358 the Latins had signed a treaty recognizing Rome’s leadership over them. By 341, the Latins were wanting to reassert themselves. They attacked the Samnites, without seeking Rome’s approval or help. Romans summoned Latin leaders to a conference; the Latins demanded strict equality, with one of the consuls, and half of the Senate, to be Latin. Outraged, the Romans declared war on the Latins. The Romans’ new allies were the Samnites, against the Latins and their allies, the Campanians (who hated the Samnites). • Story of consul who executed own son for deserting his post (p. 78), at Veseris. • 22 Romans won battles, but it was a tough war. • Despite the victory, the Romans granted full Roman citizenship to many Latins and Campanians. End of the Latin League. • Second Samnite War. Samnites had a large garrison in Naples (Neapolis), or a part of Naples, which lay in Campania. That small city (if not a part of Naples itself) attacked Rome’s allies. The Romans’ demand for reparations was ignored. Romans defeated the Samnite garrison. • The Roman army was marching through Samnite territory, devastating the land, when they heard that the Samnites were attacking Luceria, an ally of Rome. They could get to Luceria by either a long path, on a plain, or a short path, through a valley with mountains to the sides. They chose the valley, an area called Caudium–the Caudine Forks. They marched through the valley only to discover at the far end of it that it was a trap: they couldn’t get out, as Samnite soldiers in the mountains had them surrounded and trapped. • Story of Samnite commander getting strategic advice from father (p. 80) • Romans were forced to go “under the yoke.” http://www.allartclassic.com/pictures_zoom.php?p_number=54&p=&number=GLM006 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX7wtNOkuHo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Tm0SQT7N4 • Description of humiliating surrender (p. 81). Romans signed peace treaty, and pulled troops from Samnium. • Second Samnite War came to humiliating end, in 321. • During peace that followed, Romans made alliance with Samnites’ neighbors. • Third Samnite War. Samnites attacked Lucania, allies of Rome. Rome declared war, 298. • Romans stormed through Samnite territory, winning battle after battle. Samnites tried to stir up Gauls, Etruscans, and Umbrians to join them against Rome. • P. Decius did devotio for Rome’s cause (pp. 82-83). • Samnites, losing battles and desperate, created Linen Legion (pp. 83-84) • 23 Final big battle, at Aquilonia. Romans won, despite lie from keeper of Sacred Chickens. • Samnites held out for three more years. They finally gave up in 290. • Romans changed name of Samnite town from Malventum to Beneventum. 24 Chapter 12 King Pyrrhus’s Pyrrhic Victories • Greeks from mainland Greece had sent colonies into southern Italy and Sicily as early as 1000 B.C., and those in Italy had exercised great influence on early Rome. The Greek Italian cities (which the Romans called the area Magna GraeciawlAncientItaly.tif) had once been very prosperous; Pythagoras, Archimedes, and Gorgias were from Magna Graecia. By this time, however, the Greek cities in Italy were in decline. • Tarentum, a Greek city in instep of Italy, had been founded in 706 as a colony. It still had close ties to Greeks in Greece, across the Adriatic. Tarentum and Rome had signed a treaty at some time in the past. • In 282 some Roman patrol boats were passing through Tarentine waters. The Tarentines attacked the ships and captured the crews; the Roman commander was killed. • The Romans didn’t want war (they were busy with Gauls and Etruscans), and asked merely for the release of the crew and the payment of reparations. The Tarentines refused. • The Romans sent a consul with an army to pressure Tarentum, but he was given orders to not attack the city. The Tarentines called for the help of Pyrrhus, the king of the Greek country Epirus (http://plato-dialogues.org/tools/gk_wrld.htm). He had the reputation of being an excellent general. The Tarentines promised that he would be joined by 20,000 Italian Greeks and enemies of Rome. He crossed over the Adriatic in 280, with 25,000 soldiers and 20 elephants. He took control of Tarentum and, to the displeasure of the Tarentines, imposed military discipline on the city. The Tarentines failed to deliver the 20,000 they had promised him. • He and the Romans had their first battle at Heraclea, in 280; it was the first time that the Romans faced elephants in battle. Pyrrhus won the battle, but lost 4,000 soldiers, while the Romans lost 7,000. • Romans sent ambassadors to Pyrrhus to discuss ransom of the Roman and Italian soldiers; he was shocked that they hadn’t come seeking peace. Story of Fabricius and his integrity (p. 87) • 25 Pyrrhus sent “gifts” to Roman nobles and their wives to prompt them to make peace. As the Senate was discussing peace with Pyrrhus, Appius Claudius “Caecus” (censor, 312) delivered a stinging rebuke and shamed the patres (p. 88). They called off negotiations. • Pyrrhus’s own doctor told Fabricius he would poison Pyrrhus if the price were right. Fabricius informed Pyrrhus of his doctor’s offer with the comment that he was entrusting his life to ignoble men, while fighting against honest men. In gratitude, Pyrrhus released all his Roman captives, without ransom; the Romans then released all their Greek captives, in order to not appear as if they had needed a favor. • The Romans and Pyrrhus had their second big battle at Ausculum, in 279. Again, Pyrrhus won, but at great cost: hence the term, “Pyrrhic victory.” Pyrrhus stated that he was fighting the Lernaean Hydra–“If we beat the Romans in another battle, we’ll be completely destroyed.” • Pyrrhus left Italy for Sicily, thinking that he might have greater success helping the Greeks there against the Carthaginians. • He returned to Italy and faced the Romans at Beneventum, in 275. The Romans won this battle, and Pyrrhus sailed back to Greece, leaving his army behind. The Romans and the commander of Pyrrhus’s army in Tarentine reached an agreement: he and his army could leave, safe, if they delivered Tarentum to the Romans. The Romans then made treaties with Tarentum and its allies. (Pyrrhus was later killed in street-fighting in Greece, when a woman dropped a rooftile on his head.) • By 264, Rome was master of most of peninsular Italy. Romes conquest of Italy.jpg • ..\My RH pics\West Medi..jpg How Rome Organized Its Leadership Over Italy Rome made a separate treaty with each city or town, depending upon its past relations with Rome. There were four types of legal statuses an individual could fall into. • civitas Romana: Roman citizenship, which included the right to marry other Roman citizens, conduct business with Romans, vote in Roman elections, and ius provocationis, the right to appeal a capital sentence to comitia centuriata. Men had to serve in the military. After 167 B.C., Roman citizens paid no direct taxes. • 26 Latinum nomen (“Latin rights”): defined as civitas sine suffragio, it was awarded to many Latins after the Great Latin War. The most important benefit was ius provocationis. They held dual citizenship, in a way. • civitas sine suffragio: this was awarded to the nobles of non-Latin towns and cities that had shown special loyalty to Rome. Towns and cities that received it were called municipia. They too held dual citizenship, in a way. • socii Italici: mostly Etruscans, Greeks, Samnites, and Gauls, they had no real rights comparable to what citizens had–most importantly, they didn’t have ius provocationis. They did have ius gentium, rights under a sort of international law, but that wasn’t much. Slaves were res mancipi (property) and thus had no rights, and freedmen (liberti) did not have rights either, although up to a point in Roman history freedmen were eligible to apply for citizenship. The Colonies To exercise a greater influence on the peoples who were hostile to Rome, the Romans sent out colonies of citizens to show a military presence and also to spread Roman civilization. One type of colony was the Roman colony, which had 200-300 Roman families; a dozen or so of them were sent to various places in Italy. Of much greater importance, however, were the Latin colonies: they had 6,000-12,000 Romans and Latins, and the Romans sent out 30 such Latin colonies, mostly in areas like Etruria and Samnium. The Latin colonies played a crucial role in spreading Roman and Latin civilization and in keeping the newly conquered people under control (on the diversity of Italy before Romans established control: scholars have been able to identify about 40 different languages and dialects in Italy before Latin became the predominant language). Commerce and communication were enhanced by the excellent roads that Rome built. Roads of common Italy.jpg Chief of the roads was Via Appia, named after Appius Claudius “Caecus” (censor 312 B.C.). ..\..\Pics for RH\Via Appia.jpg After the war with Pyrrhus, the Romans started issuing coins regularly and systematically. 27 Chapter Thirteen The First Punic War • Carthage was a Semitic (Phoenician, hence name Punic) city in northern Africa, founded, according to myth, by Queen Dido. A rich and prosperous city, it had a trading empire and a very powerful navy, greatest in the western Mediterranean. map It controlled Corsica, Sardinia, and western half of Sicily; Greeks controlled the eastern half. Sicily and south ital in 5th century bc.pdf ..\My RH pics\West Medi..jpg • Mercenaries from Campania, called Mamertines (after Mamers, Oscan word for Mars), who had been hired by king of Syracuse, upon his death took control of Messana, the city they had been hired to protect. Hiero, the general of the army of Syracuse, then conquered the Mamertines (for which victory he was crowned king); needing help, they sent ambassadors to Rome and Carthage. Carthage sent an army to help the Mamertines, and the army got into the city. • Romans were worried, as they didn’t want Carthage to have a base so close to Italy. Therefore in 264 they sent consul Appius Claudius “Caudex” to Sicily to drive the Carthaginians out of Messana. • When Claudius got there, he learned that things had changed. The Mamertines had tricked the Carthaginians into leaving the city, so the Carthaginian army and the Syracusan army made a truce so that they could together conquer the Mamertines. Claudius first conquered the army of Syracuse, after which Hiero became a steadfast ally of Rome; then Claudius conquered the Carthaginian army. • Carthage in turn sent an army of 50,000 to Agrigentum, a city it controlled on the western tip of the island. Claudius marched across the island and conquered that army, too. Because of that victory, the Romans got the idea of conquering the whole island. • Romans knew they would not be able to conquer the whole island, as they had no navy to speak of. By sheer luck, they managed to capture a Carthaginian warship and used it as a model for building their first navy, 120 ships. First battle was a complete disaster for the Romans–their commander was killed, and many ships captured. • Romans created “raven” on ships to change rules of combat (description, p. 96). The 28 raven made naval battle hand-to-hand combat, at which the Romans excelled. Description of raven. Romans win next naval battle. Subsequent naval battles did not turn out as well for Rome, however, mostly due to inexperience of Roman commanders. The Romans ended up losing approximately 500 ships in the coming years, and finally gave up on the navy. • Story of Sacred Chickens at Drepana. • While the Romans were gaining control over Sicily and restricting the Carthaginians to two cities on the western part of the island, they sent consul M. Atilius Regulus to attack Carthage itself. Regulus conquered Carthaginian army, prompting Carthage to seek peace; the terms Regulus proposed were so harsh that the Carthaginians rejected them. • Carthage hired a Spartan mercenary to revamp their army in Africa. He did so, and conquered Romans in next battle, even capturing Regulus. Carthaginians again sought peace, and sent Regulus to convince Senate to grant peace. He swore he would secure peace or return to Carthage. • Regulus’s oath, speech to Senate, and subsequent fate (p. 97). ..\..\Pics for RH\Regulus.jpg • The Romans had great success on land, and eventually had cornered the Carthaginians into their last two strongholds, Lilybaeum and Drepana, on the far western coast of the island. Eventually the Romans realized they couldn’t finish war without a navy. By great sacrifice, they built one last navy and trained it extensively. • The new Roman navy caught the Carthaginians by surprise, and obliterated it, at battle of Aegates Islands in 241. The Romans finished off the last two Carthaginian strongholds in Sicily, and Carthage asked for peace. • By terms of treaty Carthage had to abandon holdings in Sicily. Rome also took Corsica and Sardinia, a breach of faith and dirty dealing that embittered Carthage against Rome. Other Developments • Pirates in the Adriatic were causing problems for Italian traders. The Romans went to war with the pirates, and ending up taking over the islands Pharos and Corcyra, and the Greek cities Apollonia and Dyrrhachium. (http://plato-dialogues.org/tools/gk_wrld.htm • 29 The Romans continued wars with the Gauls in the north of Italy. After various battles and wars in 225-224, the Romans extended their control up to the Po River (Padua, in Latin). • During one of those battles, the Roman commander M. Claudius Marcellus won spolia opima. Only Romulus and A. Cornelius Cossus had done it before him, and no other commander did it after him (although the son of Crassus tried). RH Chapter Fourteen The Second Punic War • After losing Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia, the Carthaginians expanded into Spain. The Romans became suspicious, and concluded a treaty by which Carthage would not cross the Ebro river or attack the town Saguntum, which lay on the Carthaginian side of the Ebro. ..\My RH pics\West Medi..jpg • In 221, Hasdrubal, the general of the Carthaginian forces in Spain, died, and he was succeeded by Hannibal, his brother-in-law. Hannibal’s father had fought against Rome and bitterly hated Rome; Hannibal inherited his father’s hatred. (Story from Hannibal’s youth p. 100.) • Hannibal continued Carthage’s expansion in Spain, and abided by the terms of the treaty. • In 219 Hannibal attacked Saguntum, knowing that that would instigate war with Rome. The Senate protested to the Carthaginian Senate, but Carthage backed its general; the Romans failed to deliver help to Saguntum, and Saguntum fell. Hannibal ordered his soldiers to kill every male of military age. • Rome sent another delegation to Carthage. Again, Carthage supported its general. (Story of Q. Fabius and his toga, p. 101) Rome and Carthage declared war on each other. • Hannibal then led his army out of Spain. An advance force under P. Cornelius Scipio sailed to Massilia (modern Marseille) to stop Hannibal in southern Gaul, but arrived too late–Hannibal had already passed by. (half of 2nd punic war.jpg, other half punic war.jpg) Scipio then sailed to Transalpine Gaul to try to stop Hannibal at the Alps, but Hannibal surprised him by crossing through more difficult terrain. 30 http://www.illustrationartgallery.com/acatalog/info_HowatEleLL.html • Hannibal entered Italy unopposed, and the Romans were unprepared for the coming struggle. • Battle at Ticinus, in 218. The Romans lost this minor engagement. Most noteworthy was that the consul Scipio was rescued by his 17 year old son, P. Cornelius Scipio. • Battle at Trebia, 218. Hannibal inflicted a devastating loss on the Romans; the Romans lost approximately 30,000 men. (How Hannibal did it, p. 102) • In 217, Hannibal marched through swamps to surprise Roman consul Flaminius and gain favorable ground. Flaminius foolishly decided to fight, and was led into a trap at Lake Trasimene. Hannibal again inflicted a serious defeat on the Romans, who lost 15,000 men, including the consul Flaminius. How Hannibal did it. “Pugna magna victi sumus.” • Romans appointed a dictator, Q. Fabius Maximus “Cunctator.” Fabius avoided set battle with Hannibal, choosing instead to use guerilla tactics and to wage a war of attrition to wear Hannibal out. The tactic (called Fabian) was successful. A poet would later write of Fabius, “unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem” (cunctor, “delay” restituo, “restore”). • Story how Fabius trapped Hannibal in a valley, and how Hannibal got his army out of the jam. (p. 105) • Despite his military success (i.e., no recent losses), Fabius was becoming unpopular: the Romans wanted action against Hannibal. Even Fabius’s Master of Horse was badmouthing him. Senate voted to split the command, but Fabius insisted that they split the army, rather than alternate days of command over the whole army. With his half, Minucius then attacked Hannibal, and got into trouble; Fabius rescued him. • The next year (216), the consuls were L. Aemilius Paullus and G. Terentius Varro. Paullus was cautious, Varro aggressive. Varro promised to destroy Hannibal’s army the first day he saw it. Since the consuls were so different, they split the command–Paullus one day, Varro the next. • Hannibal took a position at Cannae. Romans amassed an army of more than 50,000, hoping to smother Hannibal’s army of 40,000. Varro led army out, without even consulting Paullus. • 31 Again Hannibal inflicted a devastating defeat on the Romans, who lost 45,000 men, including the consul Paullus, who had argued against the battle; how Hannibal did it this time. Varro, who was largely culpable for the disaster, was later congratulated by the citizens “for not despairing of the Republic.” • Rome had lost three major battles. Capua revolted from alliance, as did Greeks; Gauls and Samnites joined Hannibal’s side. Syracuse under its new young king revolted. Most Italians, however, stayed loyal to Rome. • Romans were in a panic—Roman society forever changed by the trauma. They sacrificed a pair of Greeks and a pair of Gauls. Some Vestal Virgins were found to have lapsed in their vows; they were buried alive, and the man implicated in their lapse (a minor priest) was beaten to death by the pontifex maximus in a public ceremony. The Romans declared a ver sacrum. They devoted a golden thunderbolt of 50 pounds to Jupiter. Women were sweeping the floors of the temples with their hair. Silence was imposed everywhere. Certain religious ceremonies had to be cancelled, as everybody had lost a family member in the various battles. • Romans did maintain some discipline and sense of order. One man turned down opportunity to become consul because of poor eyesight, and instructed the comitia centuriata to elect a more capable general (p. 109). Fabius convinces the comitia centuriata to select a candidate more qualified than his niece’s husband. The Romans refused to pay ransom for the soldiers Hannibal had captured; story how the Romans sent back a soldier who reneged on his oath. They punish the 5,000-10,000 survivors of Cannae for cowardice and bad soldiering. • Rome sent an army to Spain to cut off Hannibal’s supply lines. The two Roman generals there were the brothers Gn. Cornelius Scipio and P. Cornelius Scipio. They were killed in battle in 211 and were succeeded by P. Cornelius Scipio, then only 24 years old. By arms and diplomacy young Scipio conquers Spain for Rome and turns Spanish against Carthage. • Term imperator, p. 111. “conquering general” • Hannibal failed to capitalize on glorious victories: “Victoria uti nescis,” one of his men is said to have told him. He lacked the materials to besiege Rome, and had to constantly 32 move to get provisions for soldiers and horses. His soldiers are said to have lost their fighting edge after spending the winter of 216 in Capua’s decadence and luxury (“Hannibal’s Cannae”). Hannibal spent the next 10 years marching up and down the peninsulae, accomplishing little. other half punic war.jpg. He was also losing many soldiers through the constant guerrilla warfare. The Roman general M. Claudius Marcellus (the winner of spolia opima) proved to be a match for Hannibal in wits, and inflicted serious losses upon his army. While the cautious Fabius had been called “The Shield of Rome,” the more aggressive Marcellus was called “The Sword of Rome.” Marcellus was killed in 208 while on reconnaissance. • During that time Rome reconquered Capua and Sicily. Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier in Syracuse. • The Romans were so successful in Spain the Carthaginians gave up on their hopes there, and instructed their general, Hasdrubal (Hannibal’s brother), to bring his army and treasury to Hannibal in Italy. • The Romans knew they had to prevent Hasdrubal and the reinforcements from joining Hannibal. They destroyed Hasdrubal’s army in northern Italy at the Metaurus other half punic war.jpg, in 207, their first victory of the war in Italy. Hasdrubal was killed in the battle, and his head was cut off and later brought to Hannibal in southern Italy. • Scipio proposed invading Africa. Some Romans (Fabius, for example) opposed his idea, thinking that they needed to take care of Hannibal first. The Senate gave Scipio its grudging approval, but only minimal supplies. Nonetheless Scipio got together an army of volunteers (many of those who had survived Cannae and were desperate for an opportunity to win back their honor) and enough provisions to invade Africa. By diplomacy in Spain, Scipio had gained an ally in Numidia, Carthage’s enemy and neighbor. • In Africa Scipio destroyed the Carthaginian army, by a trick. Carthage was forced to recall Hannibal to defend Carthage. • Scipio and Hannibal had battle at Zama in 202. Scipio won. Carthage sued for peace. Rome was now master of western Mediterranean, with involvement in Spain and southern Gaul, and an ally in northern Africa. Since Philip V, king of Macedonia, had sent help to Hannibal 33 after Cannae, the Romans turned to Philip next and got involved in Greece and the eastern Mediterranean. Chapter 15 Rome Encounters the East The Second Punic War ended up getting the Romans involved in the affairs of the eastern Mediterranean, and through the wars they fought in the East the Romans came into contact with Hellenistic civilization. Hellenistic civilization was the widespread Greek-based culture and civilization that had taken root in the countries ruled by the generals of Alexander the Great. Alexander (356-323) had destroyed the political structure of the Persian Empire1st part of alex the great.jpg 2nd half of alex the great.jpg. Upon his death, his generals (all Greeks, particularly, Macedonian Greeks) each claimed a part of Alexander’s huge empire for himself. Those generals were Ptolemaeus, who took Egypt hellenistic kingdomw 185 BC.pdf and its capitol, Alexandria, which become one of the great centers of learning in the world and tremendously important in the development of Christianity; Seleucus, who took Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, and Iran (a few kings of the Seleucid Kingdom are named Antiochus); Eumenes, who took Pergamum and a large chunk of Asia Minor (the ruling family is called the Attalids, after Attalus); and the various kings of Macedon, who often exercised power over the Greeks in the south, were often named Philip. (map) Other players in the Hellenistic East were Rhodes, an island-nation with a great navy (it built the Colossus); the Achaean League, composed of Athens and many cities and towns in southern Greece; and the Aetolian League, a confederacy of towns in northern Greece. Hellenistic civilization was a hybrid culture common in those areas, which were united by a common Greek language, koine Greek, a simplified version of the dialect spoken in Athens (Attic Greek); Alexandrian Jews, for example, translated some of their sacred writings into koine Greek—the Septuagint. Since Philip V of Macedon had sent help to Hannibal after Cannae, and had tried to take over Apollonia and Dyrrhachium during that time, the Romans waged a brief and indecisive war with Philip, called “The First Macedonian War.” During the war the Romans had urged the Greeks, particularly the Aetolians, to rebel against Philip; the Romans, distracted by their problems with Hannibal and Spain, arranged a truce with Philip in 205, and deserted the 34 Aetolians, who were quickly defeated by Philip. They never forgave the Romans for that. • The Second Macedonian War: The Romans were worried about Philip’s friendship with Antiochus the Great, of the Seleucid Empire. He and Philip had made a treaty to not obstruct each other’s aggression and to assist each other: Antiochus wanted Egypt, and both wanted Pergamum; Philip wanted Thrace. Rhodes and Pergamum fought an indecisive battle with Philip, and then asked Rome for help. Romans feared Philip would combine with Antiochus and attack Italy, using Macedonia as a base. The proposal for war against Macedonia was vetoed at first by the comitia centuriata, whose members wanted peace after the long war with Hannibal. The consul gave a stirring speech to change the soldiers’ minds (p. 121). The Roman army crossed Adriatic in 200. The Greeks, who hated Philip and his brutality (in many ways, Hellenistic warfare was more humane than previous warfare, but Philip played by the old, more brutal rules), joined Romans against him. Rome and allies led by T. Quinctius Flamininus won the battle at Cynoscephelae in 197, ending the Second Macedonian War. • Flamininus declared Greeks free of foreign rule at Isthmian Games in 196. The Greeks were ecstatic–only the Aetolians were angry, as they did not get back the land they had lost during the previous war with Philip. Rome was very popular in Greece, for a little while, but the Greeks were incapable of living at peace with each other, and the Romans became unpopular when they had to take sides in the internecine wars the Greeks habitually engaged in. • War with Antiochus Antiochus had taken part of Egypt, and was attacking Asia and Pergamum. The Romans warned him to stay out of Europe, but were worried mostly because of his strategic advisor–Hannibal, who had been driven into exile and had taken refuge at his court. The Aetolians told Antiochus that the Greeks all hated Rome and would greet him as a savior from Roman oppression. • Antiochus brought army to Greece in 192, and the Romans sent army back to Greece. 35 Antiochus was disappointed with the few Greeks that joined his side, and the Aetolians were disappointed that he brought only 10,000 men. He and his army were defeated at Thermopylae in 191, chiefly because of the tactics of M. Porcius Cato. After the defeat, Antiochus fled, and was pursued by L. Scipio, brother of Africanus (who was on his staff); Scipio pursued Antiochus into Asia and defeated him at Magnesia in 190. Antiochus then sued for peace. (Hannibal fled to Prusias, king of Bithynia; seeing that Prusias would hand him over to the Romans, Hannibal committed suicide.) • Wars with the Galatians The Romans had wars with the Galatians, a Gallic tribe that had migrated into central Asia Minor. They had helped Antiochus, and the Romans, wanting revenge, defeated them in two battles. • Third Macedonian War. Late in life, Philip wanted to wage war on Rome again, and had made preparations for another war. He had two sons, Demetrius and Perseus. Demetrius was on good terms with the Romans, which made Philip suspicious of him; Perseus played upon those suspicions and convinced Philip that Demetrius was a traitor. Philip ordered Demetrius killed, and realized too late that Perseus was evil; Philip was said to have died of a broken heart. Perseus succeeded Philip as king in 179, and stirred up other Greeks against the Romans. He tried to poison Roman officials and assassinate Eumenes of Pergamum. The Romans declared war in 171. • The Roman army was ill-prepared and undisciplined for the war, no match for the tough Macedonian veterans. The Romans made no progress in the war until 168, when L. Aemilius Paullus became consul. He restored morale and discipline, and within three months destroyed Perseus’s army at Pydna in 168. (Paullus’s speech on the mutability of human fortunes, p. 127. ) Macedon was dismantled into four independent republics, so it would never cause trouble again. • Polybius Paullus made a walking tour of Greece to assess the help given to the Romans by the various Greek cities. He was dissatisfied with the Achaean League, and took as 36 hostages 1,000 prominent Achaeans. One of them was named Polybius (“one of the most hard-headed and reliable historians in antiquity”); he became a friend of many leading Romans (including the Scipios), and ended up writing a history of Rome’s rise to power. It is one of our great sources for the Punic Wars and other wars of that time. • Antiochus Epiphanes (“God Manifest”), the son of Antiochus the Great, invaded Egypt in 168. The Romans wanted him to leave Egypt alone, and sent the consul G. Popilius Laenas to convince him to leave Egypt alone. (Laenas’s rude but effective actions, p. 130.) This is the same Antiochus who thought that Judaism needed to be reformed and made rational with Greek philosophy; his aggression and establishment of a pagan cult in the Temple instigated the Maccabean revolt and resulted also in Hanukkah. • The Fourth Macedonian War. A man named Andriscus, claiming to be Phillip’s long-lost son, started a rebellion in Macedon. Rome conquered him in 148 and annexed Macedon as a province of Rome. The Roman governor of Macedonia had power over all Greece. • Third Punic War: Carthage had lived by the terms of the treaty and had regained its prosperity. Its neighbor and enemy, Numidia, whom the Romans relied upon to keep Carthage in check, continually encroached on Carthaginian territory, capturing more than 70 Carthaginian towns. When Carthage protested to Rome about Numidia’s encroachments on its territory, Rome always sided with its ally. Desperate, Carthage declared war on Numidia (a breach of the treaty with Rome), and lost the war. The hardliners in the Senate, like Cato (who ended every speech he gave in the Senate with the words “Carthago delenda est!”) now had the excuse they were looking for and gave the Carthaginians the ultimatum: either desert their city and move inland, or face war. Carthage chose war in 149, and lost after a three-year siege. Led by P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus (he had been adopted by P. Scipio, the son of Africanus), the Romans sacked Carthage in 146, destroyed it, sold the survivors into slavery, and sowed the land with salt. The area became the Roman province Africa, and soon regained prosperity. • 37 War in Spain was continuous, until the Romans broke the back of organized Spanish opposition with their victory at Numantia in 133. Spain would not become peaceful until the time of Augustus. (Julius Caesar would learn the art of being a general while serving in Spain.) • In 133 Attalus III of Pergamum died, without an heir. In his will he bequeathed his empire to Rome. It became the Roman province Asia. roman empire at 100 bc.jpg Romans start calling Mediterranean mare nostrum. Imperium Romanum Rome didn’t have a civil service or a blue-print for running a large empire. The Romans didn’t want to create a large government, either–their “constitution” was that of a small, 6th century city-state. How the Romans managed their empire: • The largely independent allies. These were allies of the Romans, and they were free to run their cities or kingdoms as they saw fit: they did not pay taxes to Rome, nor did a Roman governor rule them, and they had jurisdiction over Romans and Italians in their territory. One group of these was called amici, the client-kings. Another group was the civitates foederatae, states allied by treaty. Another group was civitates sine foedere liberae, who differed from the previous group only in that their status could be revoked by the Senate, while the previous group’s status was solidified by a treaty. (Story of Prusias of Bithynia addressing the Senate.) • The unfortunate group were the provincials, or stipendiarii. They were ruled by a Roman governor (a proconsul or propraetor) who was backed by a standing Roman army, and paid taxes to the hated publicani. The bad thing about the Romans’ management of the provinces was the system of tax-farming, which not infrequently made the taxation oppressive, and the corrupt Roman officials (the governor and his staff and army), who abused their power to enrich themselves. The Roman Senate often was not interested in 38 prosecuting its corrupt officials (in fact, Romans looked forward to becoming governors so they could enrich themselves off the provincials–story about three year’s term). The good thing was peace and stability, not to mention the ethical Roman governors who ruled fairly, as their uneventful terms as governors are rarely mentioned in history because scandals, not ethical government, make news worth writing about. The Romans did set up a court for trying corrupt officials (quaestio de repetundis) which did occasionally convict the flagrantly corrupt. • The Threat to the Old Ways The Romans are changing. The soldiers campaigning in Sicily, Greece, and the East saw advanced civilizations and foreign ways which gave them some perspective on traditional Roman ways. Also, tons of money were pouring into Rome from tributes paid by subject peoples and the booty taken by soldiers. Traditional Roman ways are in danger, and some Romans later thought that it was during this time–particularly, after the destruction of Carthage– that Rome started to decline. (Quote from Sallust, pp. 134-5) Those traditional Roman values were virtus–courage, manliness (“all that is best in the physical and moral nature of man”) pietas–dutifulness to the family, gods, and community gravitas–seriousness ..\..\Pics for RH\stern patrician.jpg constantia steadfastness, self-control, consistency pudicitia–modesty, sense of shame (for women) • The conflict of the times can best be seen in the feud between Cato and Scipio. M. Porcius Cato (known as “Cato the Censor” [184] or “Cato the Elder”) believed firmly in traditional Roman values; the Latin phrase is mos maiorum, “the custom of our ancestors.” He believed that traditional Roman values had made Rome powerful; why adopt the culture of the Greeks, who had lost the war and were ruled by the Romans? (As the poet Ennius said, “Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque.”) Seeing that there was not a native Latin literature for his son to use while learning to read, Cato wrote a 39 book for him, on Rome’s beginnings (Origines). While many Romans were handing their sons over to Greek tutors for their education, Cato himself gave his son a traditional Roman education–swimming, boxing, riding on horseback, etc., and reading with The Twelve Tables. Cato was a stern censor, but the Romans apparently thought they need to be reformed, because they elected him censor knowing full well that he would be stern. Cato had contempt for Greek ways and the Romans who adopted them. • Scipio, on the other hand, was a Hellenophile. While relaxing in Sicily (before the invasion of Africa), Scipio had Greek athletic contests between his soldiers, Greek theater for them, etc., and even wore Greek slippers and Greek clothes while his soldiers were on parade. Cato was Scipio’s questor at that time, and complained to the Senate that Scipio was wasting money on amusements for his soldiers. Eventually Scipio went on trial for that, but was acquitted; he was so bitter about how he had been treated by the Romans that he went into voluntary self-exile and wrote in his will to not bury his body in ungrateful Rome. Cato won that battle. Cato didn’t win the war, though. The Romans adapted Greek culture to Roman ways, and Greek culture profoundly changed Roman civilization, and that Greco-Roman-Italian amalgam shaped European civilization. mystery religions (Isis and Osiris, Mithras, Eleusinian Mysteries, Cybele The Beginnings of Latin Literature: “Graecia Capta Ferum Victorem Cepit” Under the influence of Greek culture, the Romans began creating Latin literature. The first Roman poet was Livius Andronicus (mid-3rd century), a Greek from Tarentum, who translated The Odyssey into Latin. His Odyssia became a textbook for Roman schoolboys. Plautus (dead, 184?) wrote comedies of a rough and boisterous nature, yet in the style of Greek New Comedy; he was extremely popular during his lifetime, and praised for his style: if the Muses spoke Latin, said one ancient critic, they would speak Plautine Latin. Twenty of his plays survive today. Terence (190-159), wrote comedies (also in Greek New Comedy style) of a more 40 genteel and sophisticated nature, but was not as popular with the Roman audiences; Caesar himself praised the purity of Terence’s style. Six of his plays survive. Ennius (239-169), or “pater Ennius” as Cicero refers to him, was the first Roman poet to write epic poetry in the dactylic hexameter, a Greek meter; his most famous work was the Annales, an epic poem of Roman history. Only fragments of it survive (cf. quote on Fabius). The Romans did not produce any philosophy at this time, but they did learn some. They found Stoicism most congenial to Roman ways, for Stoicism emphasized selflessness and self-abnegation, and fulfilling one’s duty to the community, gods, and family: “The Romans found in Stoicism an explanation of man’s place in the universe.” Vis deos propitiare? Bonus esto. Satis illos coluit, quisquis imitatus est. Their big hero was Hercules—he of the twelve labors. They were very hostile to Epicureanism, which stressed that the most important thing in life was the avoidance of pain; since such a goal would require that one withdraw from the stresses and strains of political and community life to the quiet of contemplation in one’s garden, the Romans disliked Epicureanism (cf. “Behold the lilies of the field...” http://biblehub.com/matthew/6-28.htm) The Romans could not comprehend Cynicism, which taught that human institutions such as government and society are evil; Cynics preached a life of virtuous poverty (cf. http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/muddepaws/jesus.html). The Romans had great suspicion of philosophy, since the supposed goal of some philosophy was to “make the worse cause appear the better.” The only literary genre that the Romans created is satire, and it is typical of Roman culture. In it the poet can, by using humor, point out the vices of others and thereby spur them on to improvement. Lucilius wrote satire during this time period, but only fragments of his satires survive today; he was very influential on a later Roman satirist, Horace. 41 Chapter 16 The Gracchi: The Beginning of the End of the Res Publica The period of the Gracchi inaugurates a century of constant civil strife alternating with bursts of civil war that will culminate in the destruction of the Republic and the creation of the Principate, in 31 B.C. Tiberius (tribune, 133 B.C.) and his brother Gaius (tribune 123-122 B.C.) belonged to an illustrius plebeian family. Their father had been consul twice, and their mother, Cornelia, was the granddaughter of Scipio Africanus. (Story about Cornelia and jewels) Tiberius had won corona muralis at Carthage in 146, and should have won corona civica in Spain. Elected tribune in 133, Tiberius called for reforms to address the following problems: • decline of the peasantry (reasons), and growth of latifundia; growing masses of unemployed idle in city; loss of property requirement, fewer soldiers for the army, of poorer quality. (“Latifundia perdidere Italiam”) • slave rebellions, too many slaves in Italy; there had been a huge slave rebellion in Sicily in 135 • agitation of Latins and Italian allies for more, if not some, political power in Republic Tiberius made a proposal to give public lands (ager publicus--lands confiscated from Rome’s enemies and those that took Hannibal’s side) to landless poor, with some restrictions on how much a family could get. The terms were very generous. Yet many rich people and aristocrats had been farming public lands illegally (and had made huge investments and improvements on the land), and obstructed him. To circumvent the obstruction, Tiberius took his proposal immediately to the concilium plebis without seeking the Senate’s advice or approval. It was not illegal to do so, but not good politics. When another tribune vetoed the proposal, Tiberius got a law passed deposing the tribune. The bill passed, but now the Senate was really afraid: was Tiberius seeking to establish a radical democracy in Rome, with him as a tyrant? If the tribunes could legislate in such a way in the concilium plebis, what would serve as a check on their power, if not the Senate? Work started on the distribution of the public land. Tiberius knew he had to be re-elected to obstruct future opposition to his land law. He was re-elected for a consecutive term, 42 something that was illegal for other office-holders, but it was uncertain whether or not it was illegal for a tribune. Now the Senate was even more alarmed. A group of Senators, led by Scipio Nasica the pontifex maximus (and a cousin of Tiberius and owner of a large amount of public land) attacked and killed Tiberius and 300 of his supporters, and dumped their bodies into the Tiber; they even refused permission to bury the dead. Thousands other supporters were driven into exile, without a trial. Nonetheless, the land-law was not repealed, and much public land was distributed to landless poor. Gaius, nine years younger, more passionate and fiery than his brother; (the whistle anecdote). He made many proposals during his two years in office: • establishment of many colonies, to reinvigorate the peasantry and get the idle poor out of the city; one colony was on site of former Carthage • a law for the regulation of the sale of grain in Rome, to protect poor from huge fluctuations in prices • changes in the make-up of juries: the juries of nobles were far too lenient on corrupt governors, and Gaius wanted to punish the corrupt and ensure ethical administration in the provinces • grant of Roman citizenship to Latins, and Latin status to Italian allies • miscellaneous other reforms Almost everybody was unhappy with his proposals. As opposition mounted, Gaius and supporters occupied Aventine Hill. The Senate passed senatūs consultum ultimum. Armed citizens attacked Gaius and his supporters, killing thousands; Gaius committed suicide. The consul Opimius condemned 3,000 of his supporters to death without a trial; their estates were confiscated, and the families forbidden to wear mourning. The problems were left unsolved, and caused tremendous upheavals in the next centuries. • The unemployed, idle masses in Rome continued to grow, dependent on the grain dole (“bread and circuses”), ready to agitate for any demagogue • there were more slave rebellions (e.g., Spartacus), and gangs of runaway slaves made travel between cities and towns very dangerous • Roman politics was split between the boni (or Optimates), who wanted the 43 Republic run by the Senate, and the populares, who wanted to run the Republic through the Popular Assembly. Do not think of this opposition in terms of Republicans vs. Democrats! • The Latins and Italian allies were unhappy, and another war between Rome and her allies looms ahead. 44 Chapter 17 The War against Jugurtha and the Rise of Marius Numidia had become an ally of Rome during the Second Punic War, to wage war on Carthage, and had been loyal to Rome. Soon they would fight a war against each other. The king of Numidia, Micipsa, had three sons; two were by marriage, and the third, Jugurtha, was by adoption. On his deathbed, Micipsa asked his sons to divide the kingdom into three parts and to rule in peace. He died, in 118. Shortly after Micipsa’s death, Jugurtha had one brother murdered, and attacked the kingdom of the other, Adherbal. Adherbal sent envoys to Rome to seek the Senate’s help against Jugurtha. Jugurtha, however, had already bribed many senators, and they therefore rejected Adherbal’s pleas for help. The Senate decided to divide Numidia between the two. A few years later, in 112, Jugurtha again attacked Cirta, the capital of Adherbal’s kingdom, where thousands of Italian merchants lived. Adherbal again sent envoys to ask for help; the Senate summoned Jugurtha to Rome to address the Senate. Feeling safe, the people of Cirta surrendered to Jugurtha; he tortured and killed his brother, and ordered his soldiers to kill every adult male in the city. The thousands of Italian merchants fell in the massacre. Outraged, the Romans declared war on Jugurtha, in 112. The consul Aulus Bestia had destroyed a few small towns when Jugurtha bribed him into making peace. Bestia returns to Rome, where the citizens are outraged at his tender treatment of Jugurtha. Jugurtha was summoned to Rome to give testimony about bribery, but his testimony was blocked by a tribune, whom he had bribed. After having a rival to the throne assassinated while in Rome, Jugurtha was ordered to leave; while leaving Rome he said, “That’s a city available for a price, and it will fall soon enough, once it finds a buyer.” The Romans sent the consul of 110 to renew the war. He allowed his brother to take charge, and he got the army trapped; to avoid a massacre, the Roman army had to go under the yoke. The next consul was Metellus. Metellus restored discipline and morale in the army, and inflicted many defeats on Jugurtha, but was unable to capture him or deliver a decisive blow. He was helped by his legate, Gaius Marius. Marius was from an equestrian family from Arpinum, outside of Rome. He was fearless 45 in battle, and very popular with the soldiers under his command, for he did not act like a snobby officer–he marched with them, dug trenches with them, ate alongside of them, etc. Marius, despite rude discouragement from Metellus, ran for consulship for 107. His chief attraction to the common people was that he was not a noble, and he used that to his advantage, and constantly railed against the nobles for their loose morals, luxury, decadence, effeminate natures, love of power, incompetent management of Rome’s armies, etc., and he spoke in un-educated, common Latin. (speech from Sallust, p. 152) He became a folk-hero to the commoners, and they elected him consul for 107. He became a novus homo, a consul who could boast of no consuls in his family. Marius took over the command from Metellus, whom he had (unfairly) maligned in particular, despite the help that Metellus had given him in his career. While enrolling soldiers in the army, Marius did something seemingly insignificant, that had tremendous consequences for the Republic. He was forced, by the lack of soldiers with the necessary property qualification, to enroll men who had no property. That is, when the war was over, these men would have no farm to return to. Since the Republic provided no pension for its soldiers–it didn’t have to, as they were supposed to have a farm to return to upon their discharge from the army--they looked to their general to provide them with a farm upon their discharge from the army. In effect, the soldiers became the general’s clients, and he became their patron; they became loyal to him, not the State, because he, not the Senate or the State, was providing for their livelihoods in the future. The reforms of Marius—besides the reorganization of the army for battle—also created a professional army, which provided, for men who lacked property or family background, a career and chances of advancement and wealth; but it also influenced Roman attitudes towards the army, for such soldiers did not want to leave the military, since it was their livelihood. Marius was an excellent general–perhaps even a genius–and won many great victories over Jugurtha. He couldn’t capture him, however, or deliver the final defeat. Finally he managed to force one of Jugurtha’s allies to betray him, and Jugurtha was handed over to Sulla, Marius’s quaestor, in 105. The war was over. Italy at that time was being threatened by the Germanic tribes the Cimbri and Teutones. In fact, they had already destroyed two armies under patrician generals. Worried, the Romans 46 elected Marius consul in absentia (which was illegal) for 104; the Germans didn’t invade that year, but the Romans, still worried, elected Marius consul for 103, too, and again the Germans didn’t invade. It’s good that the Romans elected him consul for 102, for that year the Germans did start for Italy; Marius crossed the Alps to meet them. Marius kept his men from fighting; comments from German soldiers made Marius’s men beg him to allow them to fight. Marius then allowed them to fight, and his army destroyed one German army at Aquae Sextiae (modern Aix-en-Provence); the next year, with Marius again consul (his colleague was Catulus), the Romans won another devastating victory over another Germanic tribe at Vercellae. For these victories Marius was honored with the title “Third Founder of Rome.” Marius now needed land for his veterans. He used the tribune Saturninus to get land. Saturninus proposed a law to grant land in Africa to the veterans. When another tribune tried to veto the bill, Marius’s soldiers threw rocks at him and drove him from the assembly. The bill passed. Next year, Saturninus (having been re-elected) proposed another land-bill, which displeased everybody but the soldiers; Saturninus got the bill passed through violence and the threats of violence. The Senate, alarmed, passed the consultum ultimum and ordered Marius to restore order. Saturninus and many of his supporters were killed in the violence of the restoration. 47 Chapter 18 The Italian Wars and the Career of Sulla After gaining control over the Italian peninsula in 270, the Romans had made alliances with the different peoples living there. There were three different non-slave groups: Roman citizens, holders of Latin rights (Latinum nomen), and socii Italici. Increasingly the Latins and the allies were growing dissatisfied and restless–their different statuses hadn’t changed in almost 200 years, and the Romans certainly could not have conquered their empire without the help of the Latins and Italians. Moreover, the conduct of the Roman magistrates was becoming more obnoxious. (Story told by Gaius Gracchus, pp. 155-56) In 91 B.C. a tribune proposed a law giving citizenship to Latins and Italians. Romans, for selfish reasons, obstruct the bill; a law was passed making it illegal to try to help the Italians get the vote. Many eminent Romans were driven into exile. One town had rebelled against Rome, in 125. In 91, Asculum rebelled, killing the Roman praetor there. Both sides prepared for war. The Latins, Greeks, Gauls, and Etruscans did not rebel, but the Samnites, Marsi, and Paeligni did in what is called the “Italian War,” “Social War,” or “Marsic War.” Rebels established capital in Corfinium (in Samnite territory), named their confederacy “Italia,” and issued own coinage (a bull goring a wolf). Romans quickly learned it would be a tough war. The rebels won the first battles. The Romans finally started winning under the leadership of Marius and Sulla. Seeing that a victory would be too costly, the consul Lucius Caesar (uncle of Julius, then 10 years old), passed a law giving citizenship to all Italians who had remained loyal to Rome. The next year, the lex Plauta Papiria was passed, giving citizenship to rebels who stopped fighting. Little fighting remained. Sulla took the opportunity to try to exterminate Samnite race. By 88, the fighting was finished. By 84, all free-born Italians had Roman citizenship. Sulla and Marius, despite serving as colleagues in many successful battles, hated each other. Sulla (Lucius Cornelius Sulla “Felix”) was from an aristocratic family, although he had grown up in poverty and his family had not accomplished anything in many generations, while Marius was more common, and Sulla got much of the credit for the defeat of Iugurtha (statue story). The Senate backed Sulla, while the plebs backed Marius. Both wanted the command in the war against Mithridates, king of Pontus roman empire 48 at death of augustus.jpg, who had been attacking Rome’s allies in Asia Minor; his son was conquering Thrace and Macedonia, and inciting the rest of Greece to rebel; he claimed he would liberate them from Roman oppression. Mithridates had arranged a massacre of 80,000 Romans and Italians living in Asia Minor. The Senate had voted that Sulla should get the command against Mithridates, but Marius got a tribune, named Sulpicius, to back his demand; Sulpicius formed a huge gang, called the Anti-Senate, and used violence to compel the Popular Assembly to transfer the command to Marius. Fearing for their lives, Sulla, family, and friends fled Rome. The army for the war against Mithridates was in Campania. Sulla dashed down to Campania and arrived before Marius did. Sulla got the army and marched back to Rome. It was the first time that a Roman army invaded Rome. After some street fighting, Sulla gained control of Rome, and put a price on the head of Sulpicius and Marius, who fled to Africa to gather together an army of his veterans. Sulla passed a law that concilium plebis could not legislate, and that legislation from the comitia centuriata need the Senate’s approval. Then he went east, to fight Mithridates. During Sulla’s absence from Rome, Marius returned to Rome, and joined Cinna as consul. They had a reign of terror in which they murdered hundreds of the leading members of the aristocratic party. Sulla’s wife, Metella, fled to him, as he was besieging Athens (which had taken Mithridates’ side). Marius died, drinking himself to death. Sulla finally conquered Athens, and allows his soldiers to loot and kill at will in the city; he resented the words they had said, and the gestures they had made, to him and his wife during the siege. Sulla concluded a hasty peace with Mithridates, which angered his soldiers, but he had other things on his mind. They wanted revenge for the murders of the thousands of Romans and Italians, orchestrated by Mithridates. Sulla had to fight to retake Rome, in 83. He was helped by Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius. Pompey held no legal position or magistracy; he had just gathered up 6,000 supporters who had fought for his father during the Italian War, and joined Sulla’s side. Sulla won his battles, and had himself appointed dictator for re-establishing the republic. As dictator, Sulla held a reign of terror worse than that under Marius and Cinna. He started the proscription lists; 6,000 are said to have been murdered, with the murderer earning a handsome reward. 49 He also made some changes in the Roman constitution. We call this the Sullan Constitution. • He brought more equestrians from Italy (not just Rome and Latium) into the Senate. • He made a law that a consul had to wait 10 years before being eligible to be consul again; the minimum age to be a consul was 42, for praetor 39, and quaestor, 30. • He made a law that tribunes could not legislate in the concilium plebis. • He makes a law that a tribune would be ineligible for other political office after serving as tribune, and had to wait ten years before being tribune again. • He restored the law-courts to senatorial control. After being dictator for three years, Sulla retired, in 79 B.C. He died the next year. The new Sullan constitution was challenged the very next year. The consuls were Lepidus (who was opposed to the Senate), and Catulus (who had been pro-Sulla). The two argued so much the Senate made them swear that they would not resort to violence against each other. At the end of their term, Lepidus led an army against Rome, and demanded another consulship for himself and the restoration of the tribune’s powers. The Senate passed the ultimum consultum. Catulus defeated Lepidus, and Pompey defeated and killed Brutus, Lepidus’s lieutenant (and father of Brutus the tyrannicide). The Lepidus episode was finished, because he was not a good general. Sertorius was different. He had been part of Marius’s party, but had objected to the use of violence and political murders. After Sulla’s return, Sertorius went to Spain as governor, and found the natives there bitterly resentful of Roman rule. He ruled fairly, however, and earned their respect and goodwill. Soon another governor was sent by Sulla to replace him; Sertorius had to flee from Spain. Eventually, he returned, and made an army of the Spanish against the Roman government in Spain. With his small army of peasants, Sertorius inflicted serious defeats on the Roman armies sent against him, through guerilla warfare (Story of the white fawn, p. 162) The Senate, finding Pompey a potential threat (he hesitated to disband his army after defeating Brutus), sent him against Sertorius. Sertorius defeated him too, and even captured his 50 horse. Thousands more joined Sertorius’s side, and Sertorius won the battles. Pompey put an enormous bounty on Sertorius’s head, but it did no good; Sertorius was assassinated, however, but only because of rivalry. Pompey then conquered the assassin, and returned to Italy, victorious. He arrived in time to take on Spartacus. Spartacus, a Thracian slave, had led a rebellion of slaves in Campania, in 73. He wanted to lead his army to the Alps, and freedom in northern Europe. His slave army grew to 70,000 men, and conquered the Roman armies sent against it. Crassus, then praetor, managed to win some battles, and hoped to inflict the final defeat on the slave army before Pompey returned from Spain. He did win a decisive victory over Spartacus’s army, but the survivors fell in with Pompey’s army, which conquered them. Pompey then crucified 6,000 of them along the Appian Way. Pompey sent a letter to the Senate, claiming the victory over Spartacus as his (he had “ripped the heart and soul out of the rebellion”), and the Romans believed him: quote from letter. Crassus forever after that held a grudge against Pompey for stealing the credit. 51 Chapter 19 The Rise of Pompey After defeating the remnants of Spartacus’s army, Pompey did not immediately disband his army. Instead, he and his army camped just outside of Rome and he asked the Senate for a triumph (he wanted his chariot to be drawn by elephants) and for permission to run for the consulship in 70. He had not gone through any of the steps of the cursus honorum, and was only 36 years old. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/469463/Pompey-the-Great The Senate wanted to play Crassus and Pompey off each other. Crassus and Pompey were too smart for that, however, and joined forces, leaving the Senate helpless. Crassus and Pompey were therefore both elected consuls for 70 B.C. Having not served in any magistracies, Pompey was ignorant of the workings of the Senate, and had the scholar Varro write a handbook for him on the procedures of the Senate. The first thing Pompey and Crassus did, once in office, was to quickly repeal the laws against the tribunes. Why was tribunate good, and why was it bad. What were the problems in Roman government? The repeal of the laws against the tribunes was their only accomplishment; they were distrustful of each other, but had a reconciliation at the end of the term. In 69, a friendly tribune proposed a law for an extraordinary command in a war against the pirates, who infested the Mediterranean; since merchants feared to sail, the price of bread skyrocketed, and people (e.g., Julius Caesar) were kidnapped and held for ransom. The law passed, and the command was given to Pompey; it had huge, sweeping powers, with vast sums of money, ships, and manpower. (Pompey’s vanity, p. 168) He started the war against the pirates, and cleared the Mediterranean of pirates within three months. Since the price of bread plummetted, Pompey was incredibly popular. Mithridates was causing problems in Asia Minor again. The general Lucullus had been having success against him, and had even won some allies back to Rome (they had taken Mithridates’s side because Roman taxation was so oppressive). Nonetheless, Lucullus was unpopular with his soldiers and the equites: the soldiers hated him because he was a harsh disciplinarian, and the equites hated him because he protected the provincials from their rapacity. By political machinations, Pompey got the command against Mithridates transferred from 52 Lucullus to himself (Pompey’s vanity, p. 169) Pompey changed many of Lucullus’s arrangements, just to anger him. Lucullus said that Pompey was a “crazed vulture.” Pompey won many battles against Mithridates, but could not deliver the final, decisive blow. Pompey chased Mithridates all over Asia Minor before he committed suicide, in 63. (BTW, through Lucullus apricot trees were brought to Europe.) Pompey “the Great” created new Roman provinces: Syria, Judaea, Bithynia, and Pontus. He was particularly hated by the Jews for sacking Jerusalem in 63 (see Psalms of Solomon), and after generally friendly relations with Rome, now came to hate Romans. Upon his return to Rome in 62, he held a triumph that last for two days. He was the first Roman general to have won triumphs for victories in three continents. The Conspiracy of Catiline While Pompey was fighting in the East, L. Sergius Catilina was causing problems in Rome. Catiline was not a virtuous Roman (he killed his brother-in-law, slept with a Vestal Virgin, and killed his own son); an arrogant noble, he lived way beyond his means and was tremendously in debt. Catiline felt that he, as a noble, was entitled to a consulate, which he failed to win in 65 and 64. While campaigning for 63, he ran on a platform of novae tabulae, and even let it be known that as consul he’d have proscriptions of the rich and confiscations of their estates. He gathered together a large band of trashy followers, many of whom were former soldiers. The equites became worried, and managed to get two safe candidates elected consul for 63: G. Antonius and Marcus Tullius Cicero, a novus homo from Arpinum. Cicero (http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/Maecenas/black/capit_museum/ab661329.html) had made his first real splash in Roman politics by successfully prosecuting Verres for corruption in Sicily, in 70. He backed the Senate, but fully understood how corrupt, arrogant, and exclusive they were. Cicero had served in the military with distinction, but he was basing his career on his oratorical abilities and his knowledge of the law. After Cicero and Antony took office, they had to hold elections for the consuls for 62. Again, Catiline lost, and he was getting increasingly desperate. Therefore he formed a plan to assassinate Cicero; during the chaos, he’d seize power. Cicero found out, convened the Senate, and gave his First Speech against Catiline. He lacked hard evidence, though, and could do little more than convince the Senate to pass the ultimum consultum. Cicero did succeed in getting 53 Catiline to leave Rome; Catiline went to Etruria, where his army was waiting for him. He even had his own standards carried before him. He made plans for fomenting chaos in Rome–men were to set fires simultaneously to different parts of the city, during which Catiline would seize power. Cicero soon got the hard evidence he needed. Catiline approached the Allobroges, a tribe of Gauls, for help; they secretly asked Cicero what to do. He instructed them to play along with Catiline and get hard evidence. They did, and handed it over to Cicero. Cicero had many conspirators arrested (some he put to death without a trial), and a praetor conquered Catiline’s army in Etruria. Catiline was killed during the battle, fighting courageously. For saving Rome, Cicero was called pater patriae. Yet later he was sent into exile for executing citizens without a trial. This was also the high point of Cicero’s political career. His speeches against Catiline are stock material for Latin students, as is also a different portrayal of Catiline by the historian Sallust (Bellum Catilinae). Bona Dea Scandal The annual celebration of the Bona Dea, a goddess of women’s health, was held at the Regia, the house of the Pontifex Maximus, with his wife being the host. All male creatures (even pets) were expected to leave the house during the celebration. Julius Caesar was the Pontifex Maximus, and his wife Pompeia therefore was the host. Publius Clodius was in love with Pompeia, and sneaked into the house by wearing women’s clothes, in order to have a rendez-vous with her. He was discovered in the house, and eventually put on trial for sacrilege. Caesar protested for his wife’s innocence, but divorced her anyway (“Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion as well as accusation”). He also refused to give testimony against Clodius. Cicero, however, testified and wrecked Clodius’s alibi, for which Clodius held a grudge against Cicero. Clodius was acquitted, probably because Crassus had bribed the jury. 54 Chapter 20 The First Triumvirate While Pompey was fighting Mithridates, Crassus worried: Would Pompey return as Sulla had? Crassus desperately tried to find a command or an army, but everything fell through. He nervously waited, and before Pompey’s arrival, packed up his family and left Rome. Pompey returned and immediately disbanded his army (and divorced his wife Mucia, who, according to rumors, had been having an affair). His triumph lasted for two days (details, p. 175). He had no revolutionary intentions. He had only two requests of the Senate: to ratify his settlement of the East, and to grant his soldiers land for their retirement. His political enemies went into action: Lucullus (the general whom he had replaced in the war against Mithridates) and Metellus (brother of Mucia) obstructed the various proposals. Nothing passed, and Pompey was said to have regretted disbanding his army. Pompey was soon approached by Julius Caesar. Caesar had just finished his praetorship in Spain, and hoped to be elected consul in 59. The Optimates hated Caesar, and he knew he would need help to have an effective consulate. The two then entered into secret negotiations with Crassus (the richest man in Rome) and Cicero about forming a pact to help each other. Cicero declined the offer, but Crassus joined: we call it the First Triumvirate. Caesar gave his daughter to Pompey in marriage to seal the deal, and got elected consul for 59. His colleague was M. Calpurnius Bibulus, who hated Caesar bitterly; Bibulus himself was elected consul only after a bribery fund had been set up for him by the optimates. Caesar’s First Consulship The optimates hated Caesar. ..\..\Pics for RH\Julius Caesar.jpg He was a popularis: his aunt Julia had been married to Marius, and at her death Caesar had dared to have the imagines of Marius brought out and worn. The optimates knew of his incredible ambition and hunger for power; as aedile he got himself tremendously in debt (320 pairs of gladiators, p. 178), etc., and won election to Pontifex Maximus by rampant bribery. As consul, Caesar brought forward to Senate many proposals, two to ratify Pompey’s settlement of East and grant his soldiers their land. Cato, who utterly hated Caesar, obstructed the bill, so Caesar had him arrested and jailed. (Later he had to release him, as Cato was more 55 dangerous in jail than in the Senate.) (other interesting stories, p. 178) Caesar’s colleague Bibulus tried to obstruct the bills, but was treated roughly by the soldiers in the crowd; after that, he stayed at home for his entire term, “watching the heavens” (i.e., for bad omens, which technically rendered the laws invalid). Because Caesar was so dominant, with Bibulus staying at home hearing thunder, critics of Caesar said the legislation was passed during the consulship of Julius and Caesar. Caesar got the bills passed, by rampant bribery and threats of violence. For Caesar, the most important legislation he got passed was a change in his proconsulate: instead of a non-military position, he got himself the proconsulate of the Gauls. Crassus’s reward was getting a remission of 1/3 of the taxes of Asia; it was a huge bribe for Crassus and the publicani. Triumviri very unpopular in Italy. Letter from Cicero, p. 179-80. Cicero questioned the legality of the laws during one speech, and Caesar’s reaction was swift: that afternoon Clodius was adopted into a plebeian family (even though he was twenty years older than his adoptive father), and later elected tribune. Clodius hated Cicero. Cicero was very nervous now, as Clodius was now in a very powerful position, without much to restrain him. At end of term, Caesar departed for his proconsulate in Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul. He fought in Gaul for next 10 years, and recounted his battles and experiences there in the Gallic Wars. While in Gaul, he had Clodius in Rome to watch his interests. As tribune in 58, Clodius passed a few laws. • one to give free grain to the urban masses, instead of at reduced prices • another to legalize clubs, which he used to form his own political gang • another to deprive of fire and water anyone who had put a Roman citizen to death without a trial. It was aimed at Cicero. Consequently, Cicero was driven into exile, and his houses were burned down. Clodius’s gang threatened even Pompey; Pompey, tired of it all, went into semi- retirement for a while. Eventually he formed a gang of his own, under the leadership of a noble named T. Annius Milo. There were huge fights between the gangs of Milo and Clodius. Eventually Pompey got Cicero recalled from exile, in 57. (Cicero’s letters about the chaos in Rome, p. 183) Cicero proposed law that Pompey be appointed dictator for the grain supply, as there was 56 a famine. The price of grain plummetted, and Pompey was popular again (Pompey’s vanity). Clodius charged that the famine had been created so that an extraordinary command could be created for Pompey (his vanity, p. 184). Conference at Luca: relations among Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar were tense, so the three met in 56 to iron out their differences and renew the pact for five more years: Crassus and Pompey would be consuls for 55, with Crassus getting a proconsulate in Syria afterwards, and Pompey in Spain, and Caesar got five more years in Gaul. (How they overcame the technical difficulty of missing the deadline, p. 183) Pompey warned Cicero to stop speaking out on politics; Cicero, no doubt remembering the year in exile, therefore retired and wrote philosophical works. Problems in the triumvirate. In 54, Julia, Caesar’s daughter and Pompey’s wife, died; she had been an intermediary between the two. In 53, Crassus had started his war on the Parthians; he got his army trapped at Carrhae (Harran, in modern Turkey), and it was annihilated. With Crassus dead, it was only Pompey and Caesar, and they weren’t united by common bond of Julia. Caesar completes subjugation of Gaul through 49. Anarchy in Rome. The gangs of Milo and Clodius had more riots in the Forum. The year 53 began without consuls, as all candidates were on trial for bribery. Pompey was elected sole consul, and restored order; even Cato, a strict constitutionalist, agreed that it was necessary. The tribunes passed a law called the Law of the Ten Tribunes, which would allow Caesar to run for the consulship of 48 in absentia; he needed a command waiting for him when his term in Gaul expired. Why? Caesar, still working hard in Gaul, needed more soldiers, so Pompey, who was supposed to be governor of Spain but had never left Rome, lent him a legion. Milo laid an ambush for Clodius outside of Rome, at Bovillae. Clodius was wounded, and later killed on Milo’s orders. When Clodius’s body was returned to Rome, the mob used the Curia as a funeral pyre. Milo was put on trial for the murder of Clodius, and Cicero defended him; Cicero lost his nerve because of the shouting of the mob, and lost the case. Milo was convicted and driven into exile in Marseilles. (Cicero sent him a copy of the speech that he had intended to deliver. Milo wasn’t real appreciative.) Pompey passed a law barring candidature in absentia. After the law was passed, he 57 added a rider making an exception for Caesar, but the rider was invalid as it had not been approved by the voters. Caesar needed the next command waiting for him, and if he couldn’t run for the consulate in 48 in absentia, he wouldn’t have the command waiting for him. Why was it such a big deal for him? 58 Chapter 21 Civil War M. Claudius Marcellus, consul of 51, hated Caesar violently. That year Caesar asked the Senate for an extension of his command, and Senate rejected the request; Marcellus even proposed a law that Caesar immediately relinquish his command. That was rejected, too. To show his contempt for Caesar, Marcellus whipped a Gaul that Caesar had made a citizen. One of the consuls of 50 was Marcellus’s cousin. With Pompey’s connivance, he proposed that both Pompey and Caesar be required each to give up a legion for the defense of Syria, which was in severe danger after Crassus’s disaster. Pompey gave the legion that he had given to Caesar, meaning that Caesar had to give up two legions. Before the soldiers left, Caesar gave them lavish gifts. (The legions never went to Syria–they stayed in Italy.) Late in 50, the tribune Curio proposed a law that Caesar and Pompey should both abandon their commands. The Senate approved the measure 370-22, but it was vetoed by the consuls. Marcellus entrusted Pompey with the defense of the Republic. Caesar received no extension of his command and no dispensation to run for the consulship of 48 in absentia. Why was Pompey not avoiding a showdown with Caesar? (Examples of Pompey’s vanity; his marriage of Crassus Jr.’s widow) Pompey overconfident: “Wherever I should stamp my foot in Italy, there will rise up forces of infantry and cavalry.” One of Caesar’s lieutenants (Titus Labienus) had defected to the Optimates side and told them that the army that had conquered Gaul was wounded, dead, or retired. Most people wanted peace, even Cato. Only die-hard Optimates wanted war; Pompey turned down Caesar’s numerous offers for a face-to-face meeting. The consuls of 49 were G. Claudius Marcellus and Lucius Lentulus, both hostile to Caesar. Mark Antony, one of Caesar’s officers, was elected tribune. Caesar made peace offers, all of which were rejected; when Antony and another tribune who was friendly to Caesar were warned that they might meet with violence if they stayed in Rome, they fled (they had to disguise themselves as slaves) from Rome, to safety with Caesar. It made a propaganda point for Caesar: the Senate was destroying the rights of the tribunes. Upon hearing that his latest peace proposal had been rejected, Caesar led one legion across the Rubicon. “Alea iacta est,” he said. (Although one scholar, citing an ancient Greek 59 source, argues that Caesar said “Alea iacta esto”–“Let the die be cast.”) Optimates were unprepared for war: their only forces in Italy were the two legions that had formerly served under Caesar. The Optimates never expected Caesar to strike immediately. Caesar took all of northern Italy without bloodshed, even Picenum, the area that Pompey was from. Pompey and Senate fled Rome, to Brundisium, and then to Greece. Caesar took Rome without a fight, had himself appointed dictator, held elections for the consuls of 48, and was elected consul. He then went to Spain to destroy Pompey’s army there. He managed to “conquer” Pompey’s army in Spain without fighting a major battle; he managed to trap the enemy army, and forced them to surrender. He let them go, and many joined his army. Caesar became famous for his clementia. Caesar returned to Rome, and then went to Brundisium, where he crossed the Adriatic. (Bibulus died, trying to prevent Caesar’s crossing.) Pompey had stationed army in Dyrrhachium. Time was on Pompey’s side, as he had plenty of supplies (Caesar’s army, however, was always short on food and supplies), and he needed time to train his recruits. After losing a small battle, Caesar decided to leave for Thessaly, where he could more easily get food. The Optimates thought victory was certain. (Their plans for a post-Caesarian Rome; Caesar’s letter, and Cicero’s letter, p. 198) Pompey finally yielded to demands of the Optimates, who were eager for battle; it was fought at Pharsalus in 48. (Description of battle, p. 199). When the battle seemed lost, Pompey fled; he went to Egypt, where he was murdered (mentioned in Jewish literature http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/noncanon/ot/pseudo/psalms-solomon.htm). When the battle was turning into a rout, Caesar instructed his soldiers to spare their fellow Romans. Seeing the field of dead Optimates and soldiers, Caesar said, “Hoc voluerunt.” Caesar went in pursuit of Pompey. While in Egypt, Caesar spent some time with Cleopatra. ..\..\Pics for RH\Cleopatra.jpg In 47, he then went to Asia Minor to take on Pharnabazus, king of Pontus (son of Mithridates), at Zela: veni, vidi, vici. Caesar then returned to Rome, and quelled a mutiny of his soldiers just by addressing them as “Quirites.” In 46 Caesar went to Africa to take on the Republican army under Cato. The battle was at Thapsus. Caesar won, and Cato committed suicide rather than allow Caesar the glory of granting clemency to his hated enemy; a cult of Cato arose. (Character of Cato, p. 60 202: victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni. ..\..\Pics for RH\cato2[1].gif) Caesar then conquered the last remnants of the Republican opposition at Munda, in Spain, in 45; he almost lost the battle. After returning, Caesar forgave his former enemies, including Cicero, and even Marcellus. He gave positions of authority to former enemies. He was appointed dictator for ten years. Populace dedicated a temple clementiae Caesaris. He made some reforms: • reduced the number of people eligible for free grain. • established colonies in Africa, Spain, and Gaul (consequences?) • gave citizenship to certain nobles from Spain and Gaul (jokes of the time told of Gauls, wearing trousers in Rome, asking where the Senate house was), and to many other Gauls • reformed calendar from lunar to solar calendar (“Julian calendar”) He planned a massive expedition against the Parthian Empire, and on the way back, the conquest of Germany. He was appointed dictator for life. A conspiracy against his life arose (p. 206). The conspirators managed to get Brutus into their group. Ides of March, 44 B.C. “Et tu, Brute?” (description of assassination, p. 207) Shoe cartoon.pdf Latin Literature of the Late Republic Caesar: Gallic Wars and Civil Wars. Other works did not survive: Anti-Cato, Iter, and De Analogia. Clear, simple, elegant prose Lucretius: De Rerum Natura, epic poem on Epicurean philosophy; only substantial remains of Latin epic poetry before Roman poets become influenced by Alexandria. Catullus: lyric poetry on love and various other topics; member of novi poetae, influenced by Alexandrian esthetic. Sallust: history, Bellum Catilinae, Bellum Iugurthinum, maybe letter to Caesar, Invectio in Ciceronem. Cicero: arguably ancient Rome’s greatest literary figure. Most famous speeches: In Catilinam, Pro Caelio, In Verrem. Oratorical works: Brutus, De Oratore, Orator. Philosophical: De Officiis, De Amicitia, De Senectute, De Republica, De Natura Deorum, Tusculan 61 Disputations. He even wrote an epic poem, which did not survive (most famous line from it: “O Rome, that became lucky when I was consul!”). Eight volumes of letters to friends–best friend was Atticus), other friends and acquaintances (Caesar, Pompey, Brutus, his slave Tiro, and others), family members, etc.; they show Cicero with his guard down, and are invaluable for the information gleaned from them and for the knowledge they give us of how educated Romans spoke in ordinary conversation (sermo cotidianus). Cicero had enormous influence on Latin and Western literature in general. 62 Chapter 22 Renewed Civil War and the Rise of Octavian The conspirators had made no plans for a change in the Roman constitution. Without a change in the constitution, one could expect just another round of generals like Sulla, Marius, Pompey, et al. The citizens were unhappy that Caesar had been assassinated and besieged conspirators on the Capitol. Antony was consul and Lepidus, Caesar’s former master of horse, was in charge of an army outside Rome. Antony received Caesar’s cash, will, and state papers and documents from his widow Calpurnia. Antony and Lepidus met with conspirators and reached an agreement: amnesty was granted to the conspirators, while Caesar’s proposals (recorded in the state documents, in Antony’s possession) were given blanket ratification. Land was granted to Caesar’s soldiers. Provinces were allotted to Antony and his brother, and to the conspirators M. Brutus, D. Brutus, and Cassius. Brutus issued a coin commemorating the liberation of Rome from the tyranny of Caesar. ..\..\Pics for RH\IdesMarchcoin.jpg Brutus foolishly allowed Antony to plan Caesar’s funeral. (Description of Antony’s speech, pp. 212-213; tie-in to Shakespeare) Fearing the wrath of the mob, Brutus and Cassius fled Rome, to go to their provinces. Antony exploited blanket ratification of Caesar’s proposals and enriched himself tremendously. He had parties with actresses, mimes, and jugglers (not respectable and reputable people to middle-class and aristocratic Roman society), and was frequently drunk; he even vomited while giving a consular speech. He surrounded himself with an armed guard of 6,000 soldiers. At this point Octavian entered the scene. Caesar had adopted, as his son, Octavian, the 19 year old grandson of his sister. By the terms of the will, Octavian had been awarded 3/4 of Caesar’s estate, and he now came forward to claim his inheritance; Antony controlled Caesar’s estate. Antony treated Octavian with contempt (he called him “boy”) and delayed handing over the estate. Octavian, now Caesar’s son, ingratiated himself with the populace, and gained great popularity among Caesar’s soldiers, who were angry at the fact that Caesar’s assassins had not been punished. Octavian got those soldiers together into his own private army. Feeling 63 threatened, Antony went to get his army (he was consul), and when they mutineed, he performed a decimatio. He marched on Rome with his army, where ½ of his soldiers switched to Octavian’s side. Octavian was joined by members of the Senate, who feared Antony wanted to take the place of Caesar. One of Antony’s brothers was praetor, and the other brother could expect to be praetor next year. (In a letter of April 44, Cicero called the assassination of Caesar “a great and beautiful deed, but incomplete”) Consequently, Cicero came out of retirement and delivered a series of speeches and wrotes pamphlets attacking Antony; they were called the Philippics (pp. 215-216). With Cicero exhorting them to action, the senators declared war on Antony. The battle was fought at Mutina, in 43. Octavian, now a propraetor, with consuls Pansa and Hirtius, defeated the army of Antony and his brother. Antony escaped and found safety. Hirtius, however, was killed during the battle, and Pansa later died of his wounds. Only Octavian and Antony remained. Octavian returned to Rome, and expected to be treated with respect by Senate (letter from Cicero, p. 217). The Senate refused him a consulship, so Octavian marched his army into Rome and got a consulship. He declared Caesar’s assassins outlaws. On election day, when he entered the Campus Martius, Octavian is said to have seen first six, and then twelve, vultures, as Romulus had. Octavian soon realized that he needed Antony and Lepidus more than the Senate and Cicero. So he deserted Cicero and the Senate, and joined Antony and Lepidus in the “Second Triumvirate.” Unlike the First Triumvirate, this agreement was legal (ratified in lex Titia); it was good for five years. The three divided the provinces among themselves, and Octavian married Clodia, daughter of Antony’s wife Fulvia by her first husband, Clodius the tribune. The three men then started the proscriptions and confiscation of estates. They did this to get revenge on their enemies and to raise money to pay their combined 45 legions. One of the victims was Cicero, whose death Antony insisted upon ..\My RH pics\Cicero.jpg; Cicero’s son escaped, but his brother Quintus and his son were among the hundreds killed. Those fleeing the proscriptions joined Brutus and Cassius in Greece, where they were amassing an army. The last big battle for the Republic was fought in 42, at Philippi. On one side were Brutus and Cassius, and on the other were Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian. Brutus’s army was winning, while Cassius’s was losing; thinking all lost, Cassius committed suicide. The next day, Brutus 64 lost to Antony in another battle, and committed suicide. The Republic was officially dead. After Philippi, Antony left Italy for the East, to prepare for his invasion of Parthia. He thought it was a good idea, as he left Octavian a huge mess to clean up–to demobilize hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Octavian had to find land for them, and to do that he took the land from rightful owners (one of whom was Vergil: First Eclogue: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0057%3Apoem%3D 4). Consequently he became hated among the Italians. Antony’s brother and wife tried to capitalize on that hatred and started a war with Octavian; he won, and when Antony came back to war upon Octavian, the soldiers insisted they make peace. They made a new treaty, and Antony married Octavian’s sister Octavia to cement the deal (the marriage was the occasion of Vergil’s 4th Eclogue), and redivided the Empire. Antony returned to the East. While preparing for the invasion of Parthia, he met Cleopatra ..\..\Pics for RH\Cleopatra.jpg, and fell under her spell. He engaged in un-Roman practices, which Octavian played up to his Roman and Italian audience. (Description, pp. 220-21) While Antony was in the East, Octavian was working hard to gain the support of the Italians and people in the West. He gave gifts to the populace, had a massive building program, and gave literary patronage to poets. Over time, Octavian came to symbolize stable government and prosperity. He conquered S. Pompey, the last son of Pompey, who was harassing shipping; stability and prosperity returned to the West, and Octavian got the credit. (pp. 222-3) Lepidus was sent into exile, for plotting against Octavian. Octavian also won a military reputation for himself by waging successful campaigns in Pannonia and Illyricum. News reached Rome of the “Donations of Alexandria” and Antony’s will. It seems that Cleopatra dreamed of conquering the West, and she was using Antony in her plans. People knew it would come down to war. In 32, Antony divorced Octavia, who was a good and loyal wife despite her husband’s opposition to her brother. She even cared for Antony’s children by his previous wife. In 31 B.C. Antony and Cleopatra brought their navy to Greece; the issue was fought at Actium. After being defeated, Antony and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, where they eventually committed suicide. Octavian had Caesarion (Cleopatra’s son by Caesar) killed, and incorporated Egypt into Empire as his own personal property. (Horace’s “Cleopatra” Ode.) 65 RH notes, Chapter 23 The Roman Empire The Principate The problems Octavian faced: • he couldn’t restore the Republic • he couldn’t make himself king or dictator “festina lente” How Octavian kept himself in power: from 43-33, by his triumviral powers; from 31-23 by successive consulships (nobles started to resent his monopoly on consulate). After serious illness in 27, he offered to restore the old Republic, but Senate refused and begged him to continue. The “settlement” of Octavian: the Empire was divided into two types of provinces: the Senatorial provinces, which were peaceful and did not need a large standing army (Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Greece, Asia, Bithynia, Crete, and Africa); and the Imperial provinces (ruled by the Emperor), which needed a large standing army, were actively involved in war, or too valuable to entrust to a Senator (Gaul, Spain, Syria, and Egypt). After re-establishing the Republic, Octavian was given honorary title “Augustus” by the Senate. The month Sextilis was renamed in his honor. After another major illness in 23, he was granted maius imperium, which allowed him to override the decision of any magistrate; he already had tribunicia potestas. By another law, princeps legibus absolutus est (legal ramifications?). All the positions and privileges he had (except for the one mentioned last) were standard Republican positions. Officially, he was princeps, “chief man.” He wanted himself to be thought of as primus inter pares. He and his family had a monopoly on military positions, however, and the consulate ended up becoming largely ceremonial; the Senate had much less autonomy, and became the civil service for the government positions. Since Augustus picked the candidates for the governors, and paid them a salary, he was able to ensure fair and ethical government in the provinces. 66 Since Augustus controlled all the armies, and there was no one left to oppose him, peace returned to the Empire. This is the beginning of the Pax Romana. aug12.jpg aug13.jpg ..\My RH pics\August togatus.jpgSpain and Gaul finally saw the establishment of peace, and prosperity returned. Augustus also made a peace treaty with the Parthians, and won a public-relations coup by regaining the standards lost by Crassus’s army. In campaigns along the Danube in 17-10 B.C., he or his generals incorporated new provinces into the Empire: Rhaetia, Noricum, Upper and Lower Pannonia, and in A.D. 6, Moesia. roman empire at death of agustus.jpgThe gates of the Temple of Janus were closed, for a brief time period; Augustus did have armies fighting intermittently in Germany, as they were trying to establish the Elbe as the border between Gaul and Germany. In Germany there occurred the one military disaster of his reign. In A.D. 9, the Roman general Varus was led into a trap by the German Arminius in the Teutoberg forest; Varus and his entire force of three legions were annihilated. It was a big blow to Augustus: “Varus, give me back those three legions!” After that disaster, Augustus decided to withdraw Roman troops and to establish the Rhine as the frontier; he decided not to expand the borders of the Empire, a policy most of his successors followed. Such was the stature of Rome that ambassadors from India came to Rome, as Augustus acknowledged: Ad me ex Indiā regum legationes saepe missae sunt non visae ante id tempus apud quemquam Romanorum ducem. (Trade with India and China increased after the discovery by Hippalus that the monsoon could drastically shorten the journey; ships could sail through the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.) Augustus had started a public-relations campaign, during the early and mid 30s, to solidify his position against Antony. He continued his policy of improving Rome, Italy, and the provinces: “I found Rome a city of clay, but left it a city of marble.” He built the Ara Pacis (http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/italy/rome/arapacis/arapacis.html); repaired roads, aqueducts, temples, and sewers, under his right-hand man, Agrippa (0148.jpg ..\..\Pics for RH\Pont du Gard.jpgHe established fire brigades for the city and a type of police force to cut down on the bandits that made travel between towns unsafe. He established the aerarium militare and the Praetorian Guard. He abolished the system of tax-farming and put it entirely in the hands of paid equestrian procurators. He also engaged in literary patronage, and in that was helped by his wealthy friend Maecenas. This was the Golden Age of Latin literature: • 67 Vergil, who wrote Eclogues, Georgics, and The Aeneid: “There is no better way of getting to understand the spirit of the Roman religion than by continual study of the Aeneid, where the hero is the ideal Roman, pius in the best and wisest sense.” (N.b.: On his deathbed Vergil ordered that the Aeneid be burned.) • Horace, who wrote lyric poetry–Odes, Epodes, Sermones (Satires), and more • Ovid, who wrote the Metamorphoses, Ars Amatoria, elegy, and others • Livy, author of Ab urbe condita, a history of Rome from its founding • Tibullus, author of elegies • Propertius, author of elegies and erotic poetry Because of the establishment of peace–this was the beginning of the pax Romana–and the return of prosperity, there grew up the cult of the Emperor, which Augustus certainly fostered, to increase his subjects’ loyalty to him and the new type of government. The ruler-cult had existed for a long time in the Hellenistic East before Augustus; in such a far-flung empire, with so many different languages and cultures, the emperor cult fostered unity. Augustus tried to revive the old religious practices and old Roman morality; many thought that the Republic had fallen because the gods were angry and the Romans were corrupt. He revived the laws against adultery, and even banished his profligate daughter to an island; the poet Ovid was banished to Tomi, on the Black Sea. He passed laws to encourage Italian and Roman women to have more children, by rewarding those who had three or more. He himself encouraged Romans and Italians to live simply with his own simple lifestyle. The only problem Augustus had was that of finding a worthy successor. The ones he hoped would succeed him tended to die. Eventually, the only real possibility was Tiberius, of whom Augustus was not too fond; nonetheless, Tiberius became the heir-apparent. Before his death, Augustus recorded his accomplishments in Res Gestae, his record of his accomplishments. He died, in A.D. 14. At his funeral, an eagle was released from under his funeral pyre, to symbolize his apotheosis and ascent into heaven. 68 Chapter 24 The Julio-Claudian Emperors Tiberius (A.D. 14-37): Ambiguus Imperandi Tiberius had a hard act to follow. Who wouldn’t suffer in a comparison with Augustus? Tiberius was 56 when he assumed power he didn’t really want; he had been Augustus’s last choice for a successor, and was old and tired after a long and successful career fighting the Germans. He felt he was holding a wolf by the ears. ..\..\Pics for RH\tiberius[1].jpg Few were alive who remembered the horrors of the civil wars, and aristocracy increasingly resented the imperial family’s monopoly of positions of military power. Our main source for the Julio-Claudians, Tacitus, was bitterly hostile towards them because he and other nobles were shut out of positions of power. Upon assuming power, Tiberius offered to share the rule of the Empire with Senate: he’d rule 1/3, and the Senate would rule 2/3. Senate, full of sycophants (or fearing his power), begged him to take all the power: “Men fit for slaves,” he muttered. Tiberius lacked people skills; he wanted the Senate to run the Empire, and tried to prod them into ruling and acquiring some backbone by not speaking his mind. People were never too sure what he wanted, and feared his power. Very unpopular ruler: very conservative with money, giving few games and public amusements. People were well fed and the government functioned well, but they wanted amusements and resented Tiberius’ frugality; peace and prosperity weren’t enough. Tiberius became hated also because of the trials of maiestas minuta, a type of treason. The delatores were hated and feared, and Tiberius apparently didn’t do enough to stop them. Problem with Sejanus, his Commander of the Praetorian Guard. Sejanus wanted to become emperor himself. Sejanus convinced the tired and weary emperor that there were conspiracies against his life, and Tiberius eventually secluded himself on his island palace of Capreae, letting Sejanus govern and control access to him. Sejanus enriched himself and killed off personal enemies and rivals, even driving Tiberius’s granddaughter Agrippina into exile. Sejanus was very powerful, and hated and feared, and was trying to do away with Tiberius entirely in order to establish himself as emperor. 69 Tiberius managed to figure out what Sejanus was trying to accomplish, and created a counterplot. The dramatic story inside the Curia (p. 244). Sejanus, his friends, and his wife and children were killed. Tiberius, old, miserable, and constantly drunk ruled from Capreae: “Biberius Caldius Mero.” Died in 37. “In Tiberim Tiberium!” cried the Romans upon learning of his death. No successor had been arranged for, but Tiberius was deified. Gaius “Caligula” (AD 37-41) Very popular upon assuming power; young, lavish, and fun, very different from dour Tiberius. He gave parties and games. He quickly ordered the death of a cousin, whom he perceived to be a rival, and killed others he feared; Tiberius had said that Gaius would have all the vices of Sulla, but without the virtues. ..\..\Pics for RH\caligula1a[1].jpg Six months into his reign, he became very ill, and the illness made him insane. He became a bloodthirsty tyrant after that (examples, p. 245). A megalomaniac, he thought he had become a god (he replaced the heads on the statues of the gods with his own). (Torquatus, Cincinnatus, Pompeius stories) Incitatus. He wasted all the money the frugal Tiberius had saved, and had to raise taxes. He was assassinated in 41. Claudius (AD 41-54) He was an unlikely choice for emperor: sickly, drooly, with uncontrollable laugh; his family, out of shame, had kept him out of public view, and he had spent his time in literary and historical pursuits. Mother’s cruel words about him. Yet he was a diligent, devoted emperor, the best Rome had seen since Augustus. He engaged in a public works project, and passed laws to protect old and sick slaves. He even sat in court and pronounced judgement (although he fell asleep occasionally). His greatest accomplishment was his invasion of England, and making it a province of Rome; his generals gained control of much of southern part of the island. Later generals would be constantly engaged in pushing the Roman frontier further north towards Scotland, and stamping out the rebellions.Roman empire from tiberius.jpg The bad things about Claudius’s rule: he was controlled by his wives and freedmen. His 70 first wife, Messalina, used her power to kill or exile personal enemies; eventually she was found to be plotting against him, and was put to death. His freedmen (Narcissus, Callistus, and Pallas ) ran the Empire, enriched themselves, and killed or exiled personal enemies. His second wife Agrippina convinced him to place her son, Nero, before his son, Britannicus, in line for the succession; when Claudius later changed his mind, Agrippina fed him poisoned mushrooms. Nero, after becoming emperor, joked that mushrooms were the food of the gods, for by them Claudius had become a god. Nero (54-68) He became emperor at age 17, due to the machinations of his mother, Agrippina ..\..\Pics for RH\46.agrippina_younger[1].jpgSince he was so young, he had as tutors Seneca, a Stoic philosopher and the foremost intellectual of the age, and Burrus, commander of the Praetorian Guard. Burrus and Seneca saw how much power Agrippina had over her son, so to decrease her power they allowed him to engage in his various interests–painting, singing, sculpting, dancing, and sexual affairs with slave girls. While he was busy in his various amusements, they ran the Empire, and did a good job of it. Soon Agrippina realized she was losing her control over her son, and she threatened to replace him with Britannicus. “I made you Emperor!” she told him. So Nero poisoned Britannicus (dramatic story of the banquet, p. 251). Later Nero killed his mother as well (the boat story). Nero did little to govern the empire. He busied himself with poetry, and went on tour as a poet. He always performed to packed houses, and had his professional clappers always in attendance; people were not allowed to leave the performance. Burrus, one stabilizing influence in his life, died, and Seneca, feeling less powerful, retired; the new commander of the Guard was the evil Tigellinus. Nero divorced his wife, Octavia, accusing her of adultery (her slaves, even under excruciating torture, refused to lie), and had her killed. He then married Poppaea Sabina, who gave birth to a baby girl, who died not long after. The most famous event of Nero’s reign was the great fire, July 18, 64. Did Nero fiddle while Rome burned? He blamed the Christians for it, and thus started the first of the persecutions 71 against Christians. Peter and Paul were among the victims of this round of persecutions. Nero aroused much suspicion against him by starting construction on his domus aurea, a huge and extravagant palace. He planned to have a 200 feet-tall statue of himself, and planned to rename Rome “Neropolis.” Since Nero was hated and feared, and always in need of money to fund his extravagant lifestyle, he restarted the trials of maiestas. A conspiracy arose to kill him, under the leadership, it seems, of the poet Piso (hence the name, the Pisonian Conspiracy). Hundreds of nobles were murdered in Nero’s relentless and savage quest for revenge. Three famous victims: Seneca, the Stoic philosopher; Lucan, the poet and author of Pharsalia; and Petronius, the arbiter elegentiae and author of Satyricon. Description of Petronius’s death. Trimalchio’s dinner Despite the chaos in the palace, the Empire itself was prospering; Nero’s insanity affected only the nobility and the palace. A rebellion in England was crushed. Armenia was gained for the Empire; and a Roman army was besieging Jerusalem in the Jewish war. Since the treasury was drained, Nero needed money; crazy delusion (p. 255). Fearing a conspiracy, Nero ordered the death of one excellent general (who had mistakenly trusted him). After his death, one general revolted, and then another; the Senate voted Nero out of power. Nero thought he could always make a living from his poetry, if he lost his political power. He committed suicide. His last words: “Qualis artifex pereo!” The Year of the Four Emperors (68-69) Galba, marched to Rome and made himself emperor. He was murdered by Otho, who became emperor. Vitellius’s soldiers revolted and made their general emperor. Vespasian, who had been in Jerusalem, marched on Rome and made himself Emperor. Latin Literature of the Julio-Claudian Emperors “Silver Age” Seneca Stoic philosopher (Epistulae Morales), tragedian (“closet” tragedies, never really meant to be performed), Apocolocyntosis (“The Pumpkinification of the Divine Claudius”) Pliny the Elder (Natural History) Petronius Satyricon and “Cena Trimalchionis” Lucan Pharsalia 72 Chapter Twenty-Five The Flavian Emperors Vespasian (69-79) Vespasian faced many problems: empty treasury; war in Jerusalem; war in Gaul; and Dacians (from modern Romania) were invading Roman territory. Vespasian had none of the pretensions of his predecessors. He had the gift of common sense (tax on tanners story). Earlier in life he had incurred Caligula’s anger (dirty alley story), and later Nero’s, for falling asleep during one of his recitals. “I would rather you smelled of garlic.” He raised taxes to restore the treasury, yet when natural disasters struck, he remitted the taxes for those areas. Peace was restored in Gaul, and the Dacians were driven out of the Empire, and his son Titus carried on the siege of Jerusalem to total victory, and the Temple was destroyed in 70. Arch of Titus: http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/titus/titus.html ..\..\Pics for RH\column of Titus, detail.jpg He stopped trials of maiestas and even restored citizenship to those exiled because of maiestas. He stopped the delatores, and committed only one political murder; apparently L. Helvidius Priscus would not get the message to stop agitating for a revolution. He built roads and buildings, one of which was the Colosseum (Amphitheatrum Flavianum). ..\My RH pics\Colosseum.jpg ..\My RH pics\Colosseum2.jpg ..\..\Pics for RH\Colosseum, interior.JPGHe also started something like public education in Italy by paying for professional teachers and granting them immunity from taxes. He granted Latin rights to all Spain and drafted provincials into the Senate; an African became consul in 80. He died in 79. His last words show his common sense and humor: “Vae, puto deus fio” Titus (79-81): Amici, diem perdidi. Titus was very young when he became emperor. People were afraid that he would turn out like Nero or Caligula, as he too had had a wild, dissolute youth. Yet he became immensely popular, giving games and all sorts of entertainment. He respected private property and tried to use all his powers to help his subjects. He is said to have exclaimed that he had lost a day when 73 he had not helped someone. He suspected that his brother Domitian was plotting against him, but never did anything to stop him, only begging him to stop. The most significant event of his reign was the eruption of Vesuvius. It buried Herculaneum and Pompeii. The British revolted, and were squashed by Roman armies; the navy sailed around Britain and learned that it was, in fact, an island. He died in 81, perhaps poisoned by Domitian. Domitian (81-96) Domitian was very different from his brother and father. He became one of the most hated and feared emperors. He had 24 lictors precede him, and made himself censor perpetuus. He insisted that people call him dominus et deus, and ordered that they make sacrifices to him. he revived trials of maiestas, and unleashed the delatores. He was very paranoid about conspiracies against his life; he coated the columns around his palace with some reflective substance so that he could always see everything in the room. He was an efficient emperor, for the most part. He did engage in a not-successful war in Dacia. He started construction of the Pantheon. His wife joined a conspiracy against him, and she removed the blade from a dagger that he kept under his pillow; he put up a terrific fight when the assassins came, but they succeeded. So hated had he been that the Senate voted a damnatio memoriae for him. 74 Chapter Twenty-Six The Five Good Emperors The Culmination of the Pax Romana Nerva (AD 96-98) For the first time ever, the Senate was given the opportunity to choose the next emperor. The senators chose Nerva. Nerva was an old man, but well respected among the patres. He lacked the total support of the army, however, as the soldiers were unhappy that Domitian’s assassins had not been brought to justice; Domitian had been very popular with the soldiers. For a while, Nerva was besieged in his palace by the soldiers; then he took an unusual step–he named his successor, Trajan, the general of the armies along the Rhine. Then the unrest quieted down, and Nerva died of natural causes. Trajan (98-117) “Optimus Princeps” “Take this sword to use for me, if I rule well, or against me, if I rule badly.” He had been born in Spain (Baetica). A good emperor Trajan did not allow trials for maiestas (Sura story, p. 266). He engaged in a large public works project: Forum Traiani, with two libraries, one for Latin, and the other for Greek; the Forum also had the Column of Trajan. He sought to restore prosperity in Italy. He gave subsidies for poor children. He waged two wars. ..\..\Pics for RH\Trajan.jpgThe first was against Dacia (modern Romania). The first campaign was 101-2 was successful, and Trajan allowed Decebalus, the king of the Dacians, to retain his kingdom. In 103, Decebalus revolted, and overran the Roman garrisons. Trajan returned to Dacia and completed the conquest in 105. It became the province Dacia, and Trajan colonized it with peoples from all over the Empire. Therefore Romanian is the youngest of the Romance languages. The Column of Trajan commemorates the battles (p. 269). ..\My RH pics\Column of Trajan.jpg ..\..\Pics for RH\Trajan's Column, detail.jpg Trajan’s other war wasn’t as successful. Parthia had long been a problem for Rome. In 113 he started for Armenia, which had long been a problem between Rome and the Parthians. He deposed the Parthian puppet-king of Armenia, and made it a province of Rome. Then he invaded Parthia itself, crossing the Tigris and capturing Ctesiphon, the capital of Parthia; he couldn’t 75 capture the king, however. He made Parthia the Roman province Mesopotamia, and the Roman Empire then reached its greatest extent, including Iraq and northern Iran. Roman empire from tiberius.jpg Trajan then became the first Roman emperor to see the Persian Gulf. The Parthians revolted and invaded Armenia. The Romans managed to keep Mesopotamia and to regain Armenia, but gave up other of their new acquisitions. While resting in Syria, Trajan died. Hadrian (A.D. 117-138) • Devoted and diligent (old lady story) • no serious war • Like Trajan, he too came from Spain. He showed great respect for the Senate, and brought more provincials into it: “The men who were prominent in it, like himself, were no longer Romans; hardly three of the old Roman families were still to the fore. Spaniards, Gauls, Africans, natives of Asia Minor, who were rich and established, and possessed a strong following, composed the assembly of the illustrious, who were no longer a reflection of Rome, but a collection of a new upper class of the Empire, divergent in their interests, world-wide in their horizons, united by the influence of a uniformly political and intellectual culture.” (Cambridge Ancient History XI, p. 308) • He renounced Trajan’s gains in Parthia, stopped Rome’s advances in England, and allowed Armenia to be ruled by his own king. He didn’t want to overextend Rome’s resources, and instead sought to solidify and strengthen what Rome already had. He toured the entire empire to inspect conditions. • He started the construction of a wall to keep marauding Scots out of England. Called “Hadrian’s Wall,” the wall stretches from one side of England to the other. Parts of it survive today. ..\..\Pics for RH\Hadrian's Wall.jpg • He made more humane conditions for slaves, and gave Christians some measure of protection. He continued Trajan’s work of helping the poor and children. • He built Hadrian’s villa and huge mausoleum (now Castel San Angelo), 76 and restored other buildings. http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/castelsa/distant.jpg • Yet was unpopular. He was very knowledgeable about philosophy and poetry, and liked to engage in discussions with philosophers and poets; he wanted to win the arguments, yet his opponents could not really argue. He did commit a few political murders early in his reign, and that soured people’s opinion of him. • He suffered a hemorrhage and died, in great pain. Before he died, he appointed M. Antoninus as his heir. • His villa at Tivoli: http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/italy/tivoli/hadrian'svilla/hadrian3.html Marcus Antoninus, “The Dutiful” (138-161) • Very gentle, simple, dutiful, generous with his wealth, but frugal in his lifestyle. He is said to have eaten the food that came from his own estates, and even helped in harvesting the grapes. Visitors to his house are said to have found him wearing simple clothes, doing household chores. • He enlarged upon the welfare system for widows and orphans, calling them “Faustinians” in honor of his wife Faustina, who died in the third year of his reign. When his officials collected more money in taxes than had been called for, they had to explain the reason. • He did not persecute Christians. • There was very little warfare during his reign. He is said to have quoted a saying of Scipio, that he would rather save one citizen than kill one thousand enemies. • Senate wanted to rename the month of his birth in his honor. He refused. • He named Marcus Aurelius as his successor. Marcus Aurelius, “The Philosopher” (161-179) 77 He was co-emperor with brother Verus. Verus, however, did very little to • help the Empire, while Aurelius did most of the work. • Aurelius was a devoted Stoic. Major tenet of Stoicism: to live in accordance with nature and the will of God (Stoicism was monotheistic). Despite the great similarities between Christianity and Stoicism, Aurelius persecuted Christians. • War with Parthia. Parthians take over Armenia, but Romans drive them out and inflict serious losses on Parthian army. Romans then withdraw from Armenia. Returning soldiers brought back a plague, which is estimated to have killed 25% of Roman populace. • Germanic tribe Marcomanni overrun Dacia and advance into Empire as far as Aquileia. Emperors drive Germans out, but the pressure on the borders never abates, and Aurelius spends most of the rest of his reign along the Danube, leading the campaign against the Germans. http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/italy/rome/marcusaurelius/marcusaurelius.htm l • To raise money for the army, Aurelius sold treasures from his palaces, instead of raising taxes. • The governor of Syria, who was having an affair with Aurelius’s wife, revolted. Aurelius had to leave war to take care of him (the governor was murdered by one of his own. • He wrote Meditations, a book of inspirational and philosophical thoughts on life, man’s place in it, and how to get by in it from a Stoic perspective. People still read it today. • Appoints son Commodus as his successor, the only bad thing he did as emperor. Commodus (180-192) • He turned out to be worse than Nero. He was murdered after a brutal reign. 78 Epilogue M. Didius Julianus, the emperor after Commodus’s replacement (M. Helvidius Pertinax), was the highest bidder when the Praetorian Guard put the position of Emperor on the auction block. He enjoyed the position for only three months, for he was overthrown and killed. Septimius Severus (193-211), who was born in Lepcis Magna in Africa and was a Semite, restored order and had a great arch built to commemorate his victories over the Parthians. http://www.livius.org/a/italy/rome/arch_severus/arch_septimius_severus_03.jpg His son Caracalla gave citizenship to all free men in the empire (mostly because it brought money into the treasury). The empire celebrated its 1,000th year of existence on April 21, 247, when Philip “The Arab” was emperor. Some believe that Philip was Christian. The persecution of Christians reaches a high point under the emperor Decius (ca. 250) and Diocletian. The Germans become a greater presence in the history of the Empire. It must first be stated that they did not aspire to destroy the empire; in fact, they wanted to become a part of it and to enjoy its benefits, as they themselves were being pushed west by yet more ferocious tribes (e.g., Huns). Yet they wished to enter when the Empire did not want them to, and the invasions caused chaos along the Danube and Rhein, at the same time that the Parthians were causing problems in the East. To secure peace with the barbaric tribes, the Emperors started allowing them to enter the empire and settle as confederate nations. It was cheaper and more feasible to pay the barbarians to defend the Empire from other barbarians and to not invade, which can be thought of as a “subsidy” as well as “extortion.” (What choice did the emperors really have?) Over time—decades--Germans come to fill most positions in the army, from the common foot-soldiers to the leadership positions, while “Romans” (that is, non-barbarians) dominate the civilian positions in the government. Diocletian came to power (284-305) and pulled the Empire back from the abyss. He created the “Tetrarchy.” As “Augustus” he ruled eastern part of Empire with his assistant Galerius (“Caesar”), while the “Augustus” in the western part was Maximian, 79 and his “Caesar” was Chlorus. The Augustus/Caesar arrangement clarified the issue of succession. Diocletian and his successor Constantine bear much of the responsibility for making the position of emperor much like the oriental despots; Constantine started wearing a diadem. The emperor alone had the power to legislate. One had to do proskynesis before addressing the emperor, and address him as dominus; despotes is also used regularly to address the emperor (although the emperor “seldom forgot that if he was a dominus, he was a dominus liberorum.” Bury I.16). The adjective sacer comes to refer to anything having to do with the emperor. The emperor’s council/cabinet was called a consistorium because its members had to stand in the emperor’s presence, and the emperor’s dominance of its proceedings is indicated by the term for a meeting, silentium. To support the oriental-type court and the costs of defending the frontiers, taxes became outrageously high. As farmers started deserting their lands (either to join the barbarians or to seek other occupations), new laws were instituted binding them to their land; they become coloni. Another law required that the son follow the occupation of his father. Diocletian retired, and the new tetrarchy did not survive, as its members began fighting with each other. Eventually Constantine replaced his father, Constantius, and he became allied with Licinius. Together they issued the first edict of toleration for the Christians; Licinius’ soldiers were even instructed to say a prayer before the big battle with Maximin, who was hostile to Christians. The Christian writer Lactantius tells us the prayer: Summe deus, te rogamus, sancte deus, te rogamus. Omnem iustitiam tibi commendamus, salutem nostram tibi commendamus, imperium nostrum tibi commendamus. Per te vivimus, per te victores et felices existimus. Summe, sancte deus, preces nostras exaudi; bracchia nostra ad te tendimus, exaudi sancte, summe deus." Constantine later eliminated Licinius and (324-337) moved the capitol to 80 Byzantium, and renamed it after himself, establishing it under Christian auspices; Italy itself was becoming the backwater of the Empire. The new city allowed greater access to the Rhine, Danube, Asia Minor, and Euphrates. http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/italy/rome/archconstantine/0001.jpg He issued Edict of Milan (313) which granted Christians full religious freedom; he had seen in hoc signo vinces before the battle of Milvian Bridge. At Council of Niceae (325), he made Christianity official religion of Empire and the church becomes the “alter ego” of the state, that is, another governmental power over the citizens/subjects; the emperor can see himself not only as the viceregent of God but also as one to arbitrate and settle theological disputes. He even assigned judicial powers to bishops. Theodosius banned pagan religions (395). The Empire was permanently split between East and West in 364. Yet the people of the time still thought of it as being just one empire. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd/roman_empire_395.jpg The Western part suffered much from Germanic invasions. The Goths, angered by the dishonesty of imperial officials, revolted in 378 and destroyed a Roman army under Valens at Hadrianople (378), a “second Cannae.” Later, an emperor withheld the annual subsidies from the Visigoths without at the same time forming an army to stop them, so under their leader Alaric the Visigoths invaded Italy and sacked Rome in 410. During the chaos of these decades Germanic tribes take over parts of the Empire: Vandals and Suevi in Spain (and Vandals cross into Africa in 429 and take Carthage, 439); Visigoths, Burgundians, and Franks in Gaul; and eventually the Lombardi in Italy. During this same time the Huns (not Germans, but from the Ural-Altaic group) are pressuring Europe and are at the height of their power in Europe from 445-450. Yet the danger of the Huns forced the Germans to cooperate more closely with the Romans, as the Germans now saw that they shared a common heritage with the Empire, a heritage they needed to protect and foster. The Eastern part of the Empire fared very well for centuries, but certainly had many struggles against Arabs, Christians (particularly the Crusaders), and then the Turks. It was sacked by its “allies” during the Fourth Crusade (1204). It fell in 1453 to 81 Muhammed II, the Ottoman sultan. People say that the sack of Constantinople was a great contributing factor to the Renaissance, for during the Dark Ages the West had lost its knowledge of Greek, and the fleeing Greek scholars found jobs in Italy, where there was a hunger for classical Greek.