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In early Rome, about 2000 years ago, some citizens thought that there were
various problems forming within their government, the Republic. They thought it
was becoming weaker and tried to save it in different ways. Some examples of this
were Marcus Cicero, Tiberius Gracchus, Gaius Gracchus, General Gaius Marius,
General Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and Julius Caesar. They all thought the Republic
was becoming fragile and had different takes on how to solve this problem.
Marcus Cicero was elected consul when he was 43 years old and he was a strong believer of
the Republican government. Because of this, he opposed when the three leaders started to
come to power. Because he resisted, Julius Caesar, one of the leaders, forced him to leave
Rome for Greece. From Greece, Cicero supported one of Caesar’s opponents in the Roman
civil war. It was an attempt to get rid of the triumvirate and bring back the Republic.
However, Julius Caesar was eventually the victor. Besides all of this, he allowed Cicero to
come back to Rome. There, he created an enemy of another leader, Mark Antony, and was
killed by his soldiers as he tried to flee.
Tiberius Gracchus believed that foreign slaves worked too much of Rome’s land and that
there were way too many people who lived in poverty. He thought that this was going to be
the reason for the reason for the failure of the Republic. To try to find a solution, he went
into politics. He was elected tribune and his first act was to pass a law that divided large
farms of the rich into smaller ones and distribute them among the poor. However, members
of the Senate did not agree and the law was never passed. Tiberius ran for a second term, but
angered members of the Senate organized a riot and Tiberius was murdered.
Gaius Gracchus, brother of Tiberius Gracchus, also believed that there was too many poor
people living in Rome. He was elected tribune, and unlike his brother, received a second
term. During that time, he created reforms that benefitted many of Rome’s poorest citizens.
He passed a new law that divided the land of the people they conquered and gave it to the
poor. He also created corn allowances, so that they would not starve. However, none of his
new laws had benefitted the Senate. They elected their own nominee and Tiberius lost when
he ran for his third term as tribune. Then, a mob of soldiers were sent after him. He realized
it was hopeless, and he ordered his personal servant to shoot him.
General Gaius Marius saw many problems within the Republic’s army. First of all, it was very hard for someone poor to become a
soldier. Soldiers had to be in a high class, own a lot of land, and supply his own weapons. Also, the consuls were the ones to lead their
armies into combat, and not all of them were adept for that. To solve these problems, Marius became a consul himself. He was a great
general and he wanted to lead his troops into battle. His first reforms as consul were to help fix the army. He allowed poor men who
had no property to join in. Then, he provided them with weapons and rations bought with the government’s money. His next reform
was to create a standing army. He standardized training and equipment throughout the Roman legions. Furthermore, drilling and
training took place all year round, even in times of peace. His last reform was to give a pension and a piece of land to every soldier who
finished their term, which was about 16-20 years. This served as a retirement fund, so they would not go back to poverty. Also, he
gave full citizenship to their Italian allies if they joined Rome’s military. All of this helped Rome to gain its outstanding army, which
helped Rome to become the great civilization it is.
Sulla was a consul when the senate decided for him to lead the war against Mithridates, who was attacking Rome.
However, a tribune, chose Marius instead. In revenge, Sulla marched over Rome with his troops. He proved that he was not
a man to be messed with. After he defeated Mithridates, he came back home and he once again marched over Rome. His
troops took over and he declared himself the dictator, where he would have complete and absolute power. Sulla made a new
law called the proscription, where he would post a list of names and whoever had killed them would be rewarded. He used
this law to get rid of all of his political competition. He added new laws which gave the Senate all the power. In addition, he
added a new law where a person could not run for office a second time before waiting 10 years first. All of this helped to
restore much of the Senate’s authority and prevent someone like the Gracchi to come to power again. This helped the
Senate to become more in control of the Republic and caused less civil wars. Sulla retired in 79 B.C. and died peacefully of
old age.
Julius Caesar saw all of the many problems in the Republic. There was crime everywhere, taxes were
outrageous, people were hungry, and many were out of work. Caesar promised the people that he would
solve these problems if he could. He made various trips throughout Europe and returned to Italy with new
troops. He crossed the Rubicon River without disbanding them, and he defeated the Republic’s forces.
From there, Caesar made himself consul and dictator. With his new found power, he helped to decrease
debt, enlarge the Senate, build the Forum, and revise the calendar. He probably would have fixed even
more of the Republic, but he was assassinated by a group of strongly alienated Republic senators. This
brought about the end of the Republic and onto the next era, the empires.
The Roman Republic is much like the current United States of America. Both of our
governments have problems within them. We have problems with poverty and people are out
of work. Furthermore, our taxes are outrageous. The Roman Republic is even more like us
because we almost have the same government system. We vote for our president like they
voted for their consuls. We need to find solutions to our problems, like the Romans had done
with the Republic.