Download Roman Revolution text

Roman Revolution text
Main Ideas
Rome had been a republic for hundreds of years but one man’s decisions set
Rome on a course of change. The civil war and revolution that followed
created what we know today as the Roman Empire.
Rome on the eve of Revolution
As we enter the story of the Roman Revolution, the City of Rome
is already 700 years old. The City of Rome was the little town set on the
seven hills and east of the Tiber River, close to the Tyrrhenian Sea. The system
of government is 450 years old. Rome had been a republic since the days it
abandoned monarchy. Italy was then divided in two along the Po River, South
of the Po every freeborn person had the rights of being a Roman citizen. This
meant that free males in this region could vote both in their local elections
and in the city of Rome itself. Rome was known as “Communis patria” or the
common fatherland. This was similar to being a citizen of the state of
California and the United States. Slaves did not count as citizens in this
system, of course, rights came with freedom, manhood, and wealth. The term
“nation” to the Romans meant ethnicity not geographical area.
Outside of Italy, Rome gained Provinces, these were acquired in many
different ways and sometimes by accident. Sometimes Kings willed their
kingdoms at their death to the Roman people, but why? Nobody knows,
though we do know the Roman Senate didn’t want them, but some ambitious
person always figured out what to do with the new territory. There is a myth
that Romans had a reputation for organization, but the truth is, they were
anything but organized most of the time. Romans were, in the republican
period, were reluctant Imperialists.
Monarchy and Republic
There were two main forms of government at the time in
the Mediterranean, there was Monarchy and Republic. To the Romans, living
in a Monarchy meant all of the people are like slaves to the King. In the
Roman view, Kings were all bad and the only free person in a monarchy was
the King. To them the idea of someone in their nation using the title, “king”
was just as bad as it would be here in the United States since if someone
declared themselves “King”. For example after one of his campaigns, a crowd
of people started calling Julius Caesar “Rex” (King in Latin) and he became
nervous and he joked and said, “No Mr. Rex is over there.” (Pointing to a man
whose last name happened to be Rex).
Julius Caesar was a Roman senator and general and unlike
other Romans he wanted to expand Rome so lead his armies out to conquer
many territories in Europe. He was incredibly successful. He had a problem
after his victories, his friends in Rome had turned on him and were now his
enemies. The Senate ordered him to resign his command and return to Rome,
but he refused.
When the Republic Faltered
In 49BC the senate had declared Julius Caesar a public
enemy. He was North of Italy and made a choice to cross the Rubicon River
into Italy with is army, armed and ready for battle. In his view he did this to
protect himself against his enemies, but it was illegal to bring an army armed
for battle, into Rome and this was bad! This action started the civil war with
both sides saying that they were fighting to defend the Republic. Instead of
saving the Republic they ended up destroying it.
In the civil war Julius Caesar fought the supporters of his
enemy Pompey. Pompey had thought that he could easily get money and
support for the Roman people, but he was wrong and he ran away without
fighting. Caesar took the city and declared victory. Caesar was brutal but he
offered forgiveness to anyone that would switch sides. He even tried to trap
Cicero, the great senator and writer, but Cicero was smart, and stayed away
from Rome. Cicero believed that no matter who won the civil war they would
become dictators, and that the republic was doomed.
In this first phase of the civil war thousands were killed in Italy,
In North Africa 800,000 died, and in Spain 30,000 died. After this much of the
senatorial class was gone (Patricians). They were replaced by friends and
soldiers of Caesar. These newcomers owed their new jobs and status to
Caesar himself and not to the senate for electing them. Any surviving old
senators were offended because Caesar started to act like he was better than
them, but he was supposed to be their equal. It is at this time that Caesar
started making big mistakes.
Caesar’s mistakes
Caesar was given new jobs and titles by his friends in the
senate. In 44BCE he decided to have them make him “Dictator Perptuus”
(dictator for life) This was a big mistake, and may have eventually got him
killed. He also accepted every honor that was given to him. He was allowed to
wear special clothes and the laurel wreath all the time, they named a month
after him (July), and he was given a fancy chair, which, to the Romans was a
symbol of monarchy. This time it was Caesar that was being trapped.
One day in the year 44BCE, Julius Caesar was sitting in front
of the temple of Venus, and he did not get up from his seat to greet a group
of senators, who were supposed to be his equals, this was very rude in Rome
and that was bad for Caesar. These senators were offended by his behavior to
them, they felt that he was acting like a King! Caesar had set himself above
the system and this was unacceptable.
M. Junius Brutus (a descendant of L. Brutus who had
abolished the monarchy centuries before, and made the Republic possible)
and some of his friends. Brutus and his friends had a plot to murder Caesar,
spread rumors about him, and restore the Republic. On “The Ides of March”
(March 15th) under a statue of Pompey the Great Julius Caesar lay dead.
The assassination was a shock to all who not involved in the plot. There was
chaos, confusion, and fear. The praetors (public officials) should have met to
decide what to do in the crisis, but they didn’t. Instead of calling a meeting of
the senate the praetors ran away. The day after the assassination there was a
speech by Brutus, it was quite elegant. Both Julius Caesar’s death and Brutus’
speech were dramatized centuries later by William Shakespeare.
When the senate finally met they also made some bad choices.
Instead of restoring the republic they decided to keep all of Caesars actions
and decisions as they were. Caesar had chosen people to do jobs for years in
advance, and this meant even though they had killed him he was still in
charge because only his friends would still get to make government decisions.
Elections were not part of the senate’s plans, and they really should have
been. At the same time the Senate then decided to let the assassins go
because they had saved then from Caesar’s dictatorship. This is the backdrop
for the struggle for power that was about to start.
Successors
One of Julius Caesar’s friends had been correctly elected, his
name was Marc Antony. With the death of his friend he had a problem. He
could not just size power, and the heir to Caesar’s wealth and property was
very young and away in school, Caesar’s nephew Octavian. In Caesar’s will
Octavian was adopted as his son (adoption to rise in social status was done
frequently in Rome). Antony didn’t like Octavian and refused to recognize him
a Caesar’s heir.
It did not take long before trouble started between
Octavian and Antony and Octavian had to run away to the hills, having been
declared enemy of the state. There were senators that supported Octavian
and they voted to give him “Imperium Propraetore” (the power to act in the
name of the state). These new powers to act in the name of the state made
him the most powerful man in Italy. After a series of battles Antony found
himself needing to join his enemy, Octavian. It is at this time that they, and
another older general, Lepidus, created the board of three men, the
“Triumvirate” (the Triumviri Rei Publicae Constinendae in Latin). This began a
new phase of the Revolution.
The Roman Revolution Phase II
The Triumvirate carved up the Mediterranean among themselves, each taking
a third and legions to hold them with. Antony, got the East, Lepidus got the
West (Spain) and Octavian got Italy, Switzerland, and Sicily.
Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus sat together and wrote an
agreement they called the “Lex Titia”. Their first job was supposed to be to
get rid of Brutus, the man who had assassinated Caesar. To do this the
decided they would appoint all public officials and write a list of people that
should be executed and on it were all of their personal enemies. This list was
called the proscription list. For the men (only adult males were supposed to
be listed) on the list. For those listed there was no trial, just execution and
their property was also taken, leaving their families nothing. The person who
killed a person on the list would profit and those that helped a person on the
list were to be killed. Nobody was safe. What followed was a reign of terror
that touched every Roman family. Whole classes of people were almost gone.
Antony’s own wife, Fulvia was also killed as a result of the proscription list.
Octavian and Antony were partners on paper but they still
didn’t like each other and this became worse when Antony constantly tried to
make trouble for Octavian. In order to stop fighting Antony married
Octavian’s sister Octavia. This seemed like it would work but there was a
problem.
Antony had fallen in love while he was away in the East with
one of the most powerful women in the world at the time, Cleopatra of
Egypt.
Cleopatra was a very powerful woman and last Pharaoh of Egypt. She ruled
Egypt at a time when it was and beautiful and wealthy place. The Romans
thought poorly of things that were too grand and they didn’t like women that
had power. Roman women were supposed to be humble and support their
husbands and fathers. Roman writers all wrote of Cleopatra as a villain. There
is no evidence that Cleopatra was any more or less brutal in her reign than
and male monarchs were. She and her brother had fought for the throne of
Egypt and she had absolute power in Egypt. In fact she was raised to do her
job and she did it very well but she chose the wrong side.
Cleopatra and Antony fell in love and she helped Antony to fight Octavian.
Antony had forgot his marriage to Octavia and his promise to keep the peace
and had declared that he wanted to move the capital of Rome to Alexandria
in Egypt. This was treason against Rome and Octavian had to do something
about it.
Octavian and Antony fought at the battle of Actium.
Octavian won and Antony fled to Egypt on Cleopatra’s royal barge. Octavian
followed and executed both of them by forcing them to commit suicide.
Suicide was preferable to execution in the Roman world because it was
considered more honorable than being killed.
After Antony was out of the way Octavian went home to Rome and
announced that he was going to retire. Lepidus also retired. The Triumvirate
was at last over. The senate, which was now full of new people because all of
the old people had died or run away, begged Octavian to come back. He
reluctantly did return to Rome and the third Phase of the Revolution began.
Phase III of the Revolution: Putting Rome Back Together Again
Octavian now had a tricky job. Apart from trying
to forget the horror of the past years of Civil War, he had to restore order
fairly and in a way that the people of Rome could accept. He had to be
careful not to act the way his uncle had, like a king. He also had to try not to
lose too much power because if he did he could not fix anything. He could
have created a state with informants and secret police but he didn’t (in the
1930s a man in the same situation as Octavian did chose this, his name was
Hitler). The problem he had was that the Republic was dead and gone.
Octavian created a new government he called a “Principate”, instead
of a republic or a simple monarchy. In his new system there was one person
that was voted, by the senate, to be the “first citizen” or “princeps”. This
person was not a superior to any of the senators, he was supposed to be
their equal, and Romans liked this. He also did not have absolute authority
over the senate’s decisions, but he could call them to meet and control the
armies outside of Rome. If this sounds familiar it is because in the United
States we have a similar position, the office of President has similar powers,
and he can veto bills and command the armed forces.
When they senate chose a “first citizen” they also voted to give him legal
powers, one legal power was his Tribune Powers, these gave him authority to
call the senate to meet. The second power was “Imperium” which was his
power to act in the name of Rome. These powers together made him the
most powerful man in the Roman world.
In January 27 BCE Octavian called a gathering of senators and
he declared in his speech to them that he was restoring their power to them.
They were stunned. They were so grateful they gave him a new title,
Augustus, which meant “your excellency”. We now remember him as Caesar
Augustus the first Roman Emperor.