Roman Civilization

CMS 206 /History 206

The Rise of Pompey

•  Despite the retrospective inevitability of the civil wars that would plague Rome until Octavian established his principate, it is important to remember that Romans did not believe that one man rule was inevitable. Sulla, himself, had worked quite hard to restore what he thought was the correct, conservative constitution, and to ensure that no Roman would ever repeat the example of his dictatorship. In the 50 years of conflict that would follow Sulla, it is important to remember two things: first, partisans of each side each believed that they were acting acting to preserve the republic. The optimates, like Cato, sought to preserve the senatorial privilege of directing Rome's affairs (and, in fairness, Rome had come along way under the Senate's leadership). The populares, like Caesar, believed that the optimates' obsession with preserving senatorial privilege could not serve Rome as she expanded from a city state to empire.
  
  
• Partisans on both sides were motivated by private ambition, and as always in Roman history, it is good to read the propaganda with a healthy dose of skepticism (if not cynicism). However, it is equally important to remember that Roman cultural values and social structures shaped the way the partisans in question saw the issues before them. The culture of the Roman political elite was extraordinarily competitive. Men sought to increase their dignitas (the esteem in which they were generally held) so they might have greater auctoritas (political and social influence). In the rough and tumble of competition for office and influence, no Roman could afford to let a challenge to his dignitas go unanswered.
  
  
• Moreover, Roman leaders operated in a vastly different world than they had a century before. Generals led armies overseas for years at a time. Because the Senate had refused to compromise on land reform, and because the Roman army did not have a pension system, soldiers' only promise of economic security lay with their generals, not their government. To meet their soldiers' expectations (and win their loyalty), generals needed political influence (which they rivals sought to thwart) in Rome (to get land to settle their veterans who would become citizen-clients) and virtually any opportunity they could find for war abroad. It was a game of increasingly high stakes in which the competitors could not afford to lose - hence the almost paranoid response to challenges to dignitas, even at the expense of the mos maiorum. Julius Caesar invaded Italy because his optimate enemies left him no choice - it was his dignitas or his life.
  
  
• After Sulla's death, Rome quickly fell back into the pattern of relying on generals with extraordinary imperium to solve their foreign policy problems (Pompey, for example, was sent to Spain where a Marian ally named Sertorius had managed to rouse the locals against Rome, and then to drive the pirates from the sea, and then back against Mithradates). Year by year, for reasons that made sense in terms of the immediate politics, Sulla's conservative constiutional reforms were abandoned (the tribunate no longer precluded election to other magistracies; equites regained control of the juries, etc.).
  
  
• Pompey's military successes had earned him extraordinary popularity among ordinary citizens, and the potent loyalty of his powerful army. In his shadow, virtually every other politician outside the optimate camp claimed to serve his interests. The optimates were deeply suspicious of Pompey precisely because of his popularity, his army and his past (this is the fellow who earned the nickname "teenage butcher" under Sulla), and treated with him only when they had to. Politically, the situation in Rome was very confusing (and increasingly subject to mob violence), because Pompey was away conquering the East for years at a time. It was in his absence that a group of rather interesting men came to political prominence in Rome: Crassus, Cicero, Julius Caesar, and Lucius Catilina.
  
  
• In the mid 60s, Catiline, a patrician whose family had fallen on (relatively) hard times, was following the traditional career path of Roman politicians. A novus homo, Marcus Tullius Cicero, was similiarly climbing the ladder of magistracies. Cicero had made an incredible name for himself in youthful lawsuits successfully attacking Verres, the corrupt governor of Sicily, and a henchmen of Sulla's in the proscription business. After these youthful forays on behalf of the little people, however, Cicero allied himself with the economic interests of the equites and strove politically to walk a fine line. Tempermentally, he was conservative in nature and preferred the company of the optimates. He held Pompey's military genius in awe (Cicero personally hated military life and considered his limited military experience a penance) and seemed often to be driven by a desperate, sometimes resentful, desire for his approval. He represented Pompey's political interests while trying to further his own in Rome (but remember, a host of others were claiming to as well) and tried to mediate between the optimates and Pompey. Cicero deeply appreciated Julius Caesar's political, military and literary genius - and seems just genuinely to have liked the man, but he never trusted him. Caesar always seemed capable of taking populares politics one step to far. Pompey, Cicero felt sure, never would. Cicero had a theory that Romans ought to recognize, not gloss over their class differences - the senatorial class had a set of interests that were not identical to the equites. If they acknowledged these differences and worked out a mutually set of shared goals and interests, however, Rome would be sure to flourish and the plebs would be well provided for. Cicero's theory was not a bad one, but Cicero did not have an army. He believed he could persuade everyone to see the truth of the matter. Lawyers often make this kind of mistake - but Cicero was the greatest orator of his age (and some would say of any).
  
  
• Cicero and Catiline were in the same age cadre as the climbed the cursus honorum. At one point Cicero even contemplated campaigning with him for the consulship. [Read the Catilinarian Chronology for a more detailed discussion of Roman politics between 67 and 62 BCE]. The optimates, however, despised Catiline (because of his populares politics) and used every trick in the book to block his efforts to run for consulship. Every time he was thwarted, Catiline's rhetoric got a little more radical, which made the optimates even more skittish. In 64, when they had run out of tricks, he ran for consul. Cicero was one of the leading contenders in the race. While patricians might instinctively despise a novus homo, like Cicero, when faced with the alternative of Catiline, they backed him quite gladly. Cicero accomplished the unimaginable feat of becoming consul (the first year he was eligible to run, and without any military background to speak of). Catiline was soundly defeated. According to Cicero, this drove Catiline to revolution. According to Catiline, he simply decided to run again the next year. The year 63 BCE saw an attempted military revolt by Catiline and his allies (rumored to include slaves and Gauls), the decision of the Senate to grant Cicero a senatus consultum ultimum, and Cicero's decision to execute associates of Catiline without a trial. Pompey finally returned. The Republic, for all practical purposes, had come to an end.
  
  

The End of the Republic

• A. 63 BCE - 58 BCE
  • 1. Catilinarian affair (63).

    2. Pompey returns to Rome (62).

    3. Populares, led by Publius Clodius (brother-in-law of G. Memmius and brother of Clodia) begin agitating against Cicero (62).

    4. Pompey, Caesar and Crassus establish the "first triumvirate" (60).

    5. Caesar leaves for Gaul (for 9 years) (58).

    6. Pompey marries Julius Caesar's daughter, Julia.
    
    

  B. 55 BCE - 49 BCE

  • 1. Pompey, Caesar and Crassus renew the "triumvirate."

    2. But Julia dies in 54 and Crassus is killed in Parthia in 53.

    3. The nobiles begin to woo Pompey, hoping to drive a wedge between Pompey and Caesar.

    4. Pompey joins the nobiles and the Senate recalls Caesar.
    
    

  C. 49 BCE - 44 BCE

  • 1. Caesar leads his troops against Rome and quickly takes control of Italy, Gaul and Spain. Pompey escapes with his army to Greece.

    2. Caesar appointed dictator for 10 years by the Senate he has hand picked. He names Marcus Antonius (Marc Antony) his second in command.

    3. In 48, Caesar's forces defeat Pompey's army and the nobiles at Pharsulus in Greece. What's left of the senatorial armies join Cato in N. Africa.

    4. In 47, Caesar's army defeats Cato in Africa.

    5. Caesar is effectively master of Rome. He beings a variety of social and legal reforms and is noted for his "clementia."

    6. In 44, Caesar is offered the title of "rex," but refuses it. Instead the Senate names him "dictator for life." In March 44, Caesar is assignated by the "Liberators."
    

The Rise of Augustus

• A. 44 - 40 B.C.E. - Absolute Power Makes Strange Bedfellows:
  • 1. Julius Caesar assassinated (44). Although Caesar named Octavian his heir, most folks expected Antony, his second in command to take control of Rome. Octavian, born in the year of the Catilinarian affair, was only 19.

    2. Cicero comes out of retirement to lead the cause for the Optimates. He hoped to block Antony from continuing Caesar's one man rule, and assumed he would be able to manipulate Octavian to achieve this. Cicero gave a series of blistering speeches (called the "Philipics") against Antony which made the Catilinarians look like a letter from a sweetheart.

    3. Brutus, one of the "Liberators," refused to turn his army and province (Cisalpine Gaul) over to Antony and Antony lead an army against him, besieging him at Mutina. The Senate supported Brutus and sent armies under the command of the consuls and Octavian (whom they figured would command the loyalty of Julius Caesar's veterans) to relieve the siege. Antony was forced to retreat to Gaul, and the consuls were killed in the fighting. This left Octavian with sole command of Caesar's army. At the army's urging (remember Sulla), the Senate named Octavian consul. Two equites, Marcus Agrippus and Gaius Maecenas are and will remain Octavian's closest advisors.

    4. Meanwhile, all of Julius Ceasar's old provincial governors backed Antony. Octavian and Antony decided to make a deal and cut the Senate and Cicero out of the negotiations. In 43 the formed a new triumvirate (remember Pompey, Caesar and Crassus) which included Lepidus, a Caesarian governor who never amounted to much. The triumvirs divided the Roman empire. Antony took the "east" [Egypt and Asia], Octavian took the West [Italy, Spain, Gaul and Africa]. At the time it looked like Antony had outfoxed Octavian because a) the east was where the money was and b) Italy had been completely ravaged by the wars of the last generations.

    5. The Triumvirs announced proscriptions in 43. Antony insists on Cicero's head - literally. After his soldiers killed Cicero, they cut off his head and hands and stuck them up on the Rostra in the Roman Forum.

    6. In 42, Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius (the "Liberators") at Philippi in Macedonia. A young Roman student, Horatio Flaccus, who had been studying in Athens, fought on the losing side.

    7. In 42, Octavian passes a law that deifies Julius Caesar, and adopts the title, divi filius - son of a god.

    8. Off organizing the eastern half of the empire, Antony meets Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, and spends the winter with her in Egypt. Cleo had already had an affair and she claimed a child with Julius Caesar.

    8. In 40, Antony's brother raised a rebellion against Octavian which Octavian crushed, thereby securing his hold on Italy. He makes peace again with Antony, taking Antony's province of Gaul, and giving him in return his sister Octavia in marriage.
    
    

  B. 39 - 32: Trouble in Paradise:

  • 1. Antony spends 39-37 reorganizing the East while Octavian reorganizes the West (legal and administrative reforms; extensive rebuilding).

    2. They quarrel overe decisions each makes which the other regards as beyond the scope of the authority they had agreed to, and as preparation for a bid for one man rule (they're both right).

    3. In 37, they renegotiate a peace. When Antony leaves for Egypt, however, he leaves Octavia at home, moves in with Cleopatra and begins a propaganda campaign in the eastern provinces which portray Cleo and Antony as a) a couple; b) married Egyptian gods. Antony's military campaigns are not successful, however, and he has to send to Rome for more soldiers.

    4. Octavia leads troops to him in 35, but only 1/10 of what her brother had promised to send. Antony refuses to receive her. Octavian starts a propaganda war against Antony in Italy exploiting Octavia's position as the wronged wife.
    
    

  C. 32-30: The End of the Affair

  • 1. Octavian forces Antony's supporters to leave Rome.

    2. Italy and the western provinces swear allegiance to Octavian personally.

    3. Antony divorces Octavia.

    4. Octavian seizes and publishes Antony's will (seriously against the mos maiorum), which Octavian claims a) treats the children of Antony and Cleopatra as legitimate children and b) requests burial for Antony in Egypt. Octavian's propoganda was that Antony had turned the empire upside down and a) wanted to be a rex and b) wanted to treat Rome as though it were a province of Egypt.

    5. The Senate cancels all of Antony's powers and declares war on Celopatra. In 31, Octavian's forces defeat Antony and Cleopatra's forces at Actium in Greece. They retreat to Egypt, but rapidly lose the support of Greek and Roman governors and vassels. In August of 30, they commit suicide before Octavian enters Alexandria in victory.
    
    

  D. 30 - 27: The "Restoration" of the Republic:

  • 1. In 29, Octavian celebrates his triumph and the doors of the temple of Janus (which must remain open if Rome is at war) are closed. Many legions are disbanded and settled.

    2. In 28, Octavian and Agrippa hold the census, reforms the Senate, announces religious reforms, and Octavian dedicates a temple to Apollo.

    3. In Jan. 27, Octavian declares that his work is done and formally hands back provinces in his control to the Senate's authority (with the proviso that Spain, Gaul and Egypt would remain his provinces and that the armies in these provinces would remain under his control for the next ten years). The Senate, in gratitude, proclaim that he will be called, henceforth, "Augustus." Augustus announces that he is now simply a simple citizen, if one who has earned a lot of respect and therefore exercises a lot of authority. Scholars begin to refer to him in this period as the "princeps," which means "first man." The modern English word "prince" is derived from this term.

Sallust's account of Catiline's revolution / Cicero's speeches against Catiline / Plutarch's version /

The Moment of the Trial of P. Sulla in 62 / Relative Deprivation and the Ides of March

Cato and the optimates / Optimates responsibility for the civil wars of 49 bce

Antony and Octavian