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- Evolution of the Roman Constitution
- Rome's achievement was to transcend the narrow political orientation of the city-state
- Overcame limitations of Hellenistic politics
- Roman history divided into Republic (509 B.C.) and Empire (27 B.C.)
- Etruscan civilization in north absorbed by the Romans
- Etruscan origins mysterious, but city-states and not a federal union
- Rome became a republic in c. 509 B.C. with overthrow of Etruscan king
- Roman republic ruled by religion and patricians
- Roman constitutionalism came from conflict (Struggle of the Orders)
- Patricians vs. plebeians
- Patricians owned land and controlled army
- Patrician-dominated government consisted of:
- Two elected executives (consuls)
- Senate
- Centuriate Assembly
- Decisions had to be agreed on by both consuls
- In crisis a dictator could take over
- Tension between patricians and plebeians stemmed from latter's grievances
- Commoners resented their inferior status, wage struggle for equality
- Plebeians wield their only weapon, to refuse taxes and service
- Patricians slowly give in and plebeians gain equality
- In fifth century they win right to form their own Plebeian Assembly
- Plebeians struggle for full civil equality, slow progress is made
- Plebeian pressure brought first Roman code of laws c. 450 B.C. (Twelve Tables)
- Plebeians win full civil equality by 287 B.C. and right to hold office
- Yet Roman Republic remained ruled by an upper class, nobility still reign
- Ruling oligarchy led Rome during constitutional period of expansion
- Romans forged a constitutional system based on civic needs, not religion
- Through process of secularization, study and interpretation of law moved to professional jurists
- Roman constitution evolved gradually and pragmatically in response to specific needs, not abstract or theoretical like the Greeks' constitution
- Roman class conflict did not lead to civil war, and harmony allowed its expansion
- Roman Expansion to 146 B.C.
- The Uniting of Italy
- By 146 BC, Rome was the dominant state in the Mediterranean world. How?
- United the Italian peninsula
- Aristocratic desire for prowess in war drove the conquests
- Romans acquired advanced siegecraft and organization from Greeks
- Military success due to Roman farmer-soldier and solid statesmanship
- In dominating the peninsula, Romans integrated other peoples as citizens
- Italian Confederation was a unique organization that gave Italians security
- By 246 B.C., Rome had achieved two successes
- Secured social cohesion by pacifying the plebeians
- Increased its military might by conquering Italy (manpower now to dominate Mediterranean)
- Conquest of the Mediterranean World
- Five great powers in the Mediterranean when Rome unified Italy:
- Seleucid monarchy in Near East
- Ptolemaic monarchy in Egypt
- Kingdom of Macedonia
- Carthage in the western Mediterranean
- Roman-dominated Italian Confederation
- By 146 B.C. (120 years later) Rome had subjected the others
- Yet Roman overseas empire was not planned but result of being drawn into conflicts
- War with Carthage over its designs on Sicily
- First Punic War (264–241 B.C.) was hard on both sides, but Rome prevails
- Second Punic War (218–201 B.C.) sees leader Hannibal bringing 26,000 men over Alps
- Carthaginian victory at Cannae (216 B.C.) shocks Romans, some Italian allies defect
- Finally Scipio Africanus defeats Hannibal in North Africa in 202 B.C., and Carthage surrenders
- Third Punic War (149–146 B.C.) was unnecessary and brutal, vengeful
- Sign of pending decline of Roman statesmanship
- Roman intervention in Greek affairs involved it in Hellenistic kingdoms
- Seleucia, Egypt, and Permamum
- Hellenistic states became client kingdoms of Rome, lose freedom of action
- Consequences of Expansion
- Thousands of Greeks came to Rome because of the city's eastern conquests
- Influx of new people accelerated process of Hellenization
- Consequences of expansion included:
- Roman contact with legal experience of others, including Greeks
- Roman jurists selectively incorporated codes and traditions into Roman law
- "jus gentium" was the law of nations or of peoples, applied across Empire
- Rise of a business class based on trade, contracts, tax collection, etc. (Equites)
- New wealth from the East brought upper class a taste for luxury
- Banquets, clothing, jewelry, etc.
- Millions of enslaved people transported to Italy, deemed necessary by Romans
- Slaves abused, tortured, and even executed (no civil rights)
- Periodic slave revolts (as in gladiator uprising in 73 B.C.) terrified Romans
- Overseas inhabitants treated differently than Italian allies, who had more privileges
- Exploitation, corruption, and extortion allowed to take place in the provinces
- Roman nobility proved unfit to manage a world empire
- However, Roman administration had many positive features
- Allowed subjects major self-government
- Did not interfere with religion and local customs
- Roman taxes not much higher, and sometimes lower, then previous ones
- Reduced endemic warfare
- In sum, Rome used its power for constructive ends and created a cosmopolis
- Yet prisoners, slaves, and victims of expansion perceived Rome as evil oppressor
- Culture in the Republic
- Culture in the Republic
- Major consequence of expansion was more contact with Greek culture
- Roman generals shipped libraries and works of art from Greek cities
- Romans adopted Greek humanist outlook, valuing prose and poetry
- Plautus (c .254–184 B.C.) was Rome's greatest playwright
- Adopted Greek characters and settings, similar to Menander
- Plots usually consisted of struggle over woman or money or both, good guy usually won
- Terence (c. 185–159 B.C.) was another great playwright
- Was a slave from North Africa until his owner educated and freed him
- Lucretius (c. 96–c. 55 B.C.) influenced by civil war and yearned for tranquility
- Wrote On the Nature of Things, denouncing superstition and advancing materialistic ideas
- Argued that the soul perishes with the body, proposed the simple life
- Cicero (106–43 B.C.) was Rome's best orator and a leading statesman
- Unsurpassed Latin stylist and student of Greek philosopher
- 800 of his letters still survive, useful sources for historians
- Cicero sought to prevent one-man rule and urged Romans to serve their city
- Drawn to Stoicism, the philosophy that most influenced Rome
- Admired Stoic goal of the self-sufficient sage
- Appreciated linking of knowledge and virtue
- Shared Stoic view that all people were citizens under natural law
- U.S. Founding Fathers would praise Cicero's natural law, constitutionalism
- Collapse of the Republic
- Crisis in Agriculture
- Downhill slide of the Republic began with agricultural crisis
- Fields lay neglected due to farmers serving in the army
- Large plantations ("latifundia") squeeze out small farms
- Farmers sank into poverty and went to Rome, where slums developed
- The Graachan Revolution
- 133 B.C. Tiberius Gracchus (163–133 B.C.) was elected tribune
- Became spokesman for land reform, moderate and traditional measures
- But leading families saw him as a revolutionary
- Senatorial extremists killed Tiberius and 300 of his followers
- His brother Gaius Gracchus (153–121 B.C.) took up the cause
- He won support of the city's poor and became tribune in 123 B.C.
- Gained support from the Equites (plebeian businessmen) and by promising citizenship to Italians
- However, his murder was also ordered, and 3000 of his followers died
- The Senate had substituted murder for reason, now clearly an entrenched oligarchy
- Roman politics in the next century full of rivalry and violence
- Unscrupulous demagogues called insincerely for reform to gain power
- The poor were bribed into supporting whoever made glittering promises
- The Roman Republic had passed its point of greatness
- Rival Generals
- Marius (157–86 B.C.) became consul in 107 B.C.
- His military policy ultimately contributed to wrecking the Republic
- Marius disposed of property requirement for entrance into army
- He filled army with volunteers from the urban poor disillusioned with Rome
- Now soldiers' loyalty was not to Rome but to Marius
- This was a dangerous precedent that later commanders followed
- Army became the private possession of generals used for civil war
- Sulla
- In 88 B.C., invasion of Roman province in Asia caused a crisis
- Senate gave command to Sulla, but Marius' supporters had the order rescinded
- Sulla marched on the capitol to fight for his position
- As a result, civil war erupted between Marius and Sulla
- After a short victory, Marius died
- Sulla became dictator of Rome with reign of terror and cruelty
- Sulla believed only aristocratic oligarchy could protect Rome
- Restored Senate's rights and limited tribunal and military authority
- Julius Caesar
- The Senate failed to wield its restored authority effectively
- In 60 B.C., a triumvirate of Julius Caesar (c. 100–44 B.C.), Pompey (general), and Crassus (banker) took over
- Caesar began conquest of Gaul and was a brilliant general
- Pompey became jealous and urged the Senate to dismiss Caesar
- Caesar marched on Rome in 40 B.C. and civil war raged again, but Caesar dominated
- Senate acknowledged Caesar's victory and made him dictator (a legal office)
- Caesar developed strong, enlightened leadership to create order out of chaos
- Lowered taxes
- Restrained Roman businessmen from sapping the provinces
- Generously extended citizenship
- Created public works program for employment and beautification
- Relocated veterans to provinces
- Reorganized government and courts
- In February 44 B.C., Rome's ruling class (fearing his lifelong office) assassinated him
- The Republic's Last Years
- Assassination of Julius Caesar did not restore republican liberty
- Instead, it brought renewed civil war between Mark Antony and Octavian
- In 31 B.C., Octavian crushed Antony and Cleopatra in the battle of Actium
- In 27 B.C., Octavian became the first Roman emperor, spelling death of Roman Republic
- The Roman Republic was wrecked by several internal factors:
- Personal ambitions
- Degeneration of senatorial leadership
- Formation of private armies
- Transformation of self-reliant peasantry into impoverished urban rabble
- Deterioration of ancient virtues underpinning Rome's vitality
- Prior to 146 B.C., foreign threat forced cooperation and equilibrium
- When foreign threat diminished, social cohesion broke down
- In sum, the city-state constitution of the Republic was too limited to govern an empire
- Augustus (Octavian) made that broader government possible
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