Politics- the background of the late republic Flashcards
patrician
families whose ancestry could be traced to the early days of Rome when they formed a ruling aristocratic group from whom Romulus was said to have chosen the first senators
first level of cursus honorum
plebian
Roman citizens who were not patrician, originally a ‘lower’ order, gained significant wealth and nobility from ‘conflict of the orders’ from 5th to 3rd centuries BC
first level of cursus honorum
nobiles
senatorial families distinguished by the inclusion of a consul in their ancestry
formed an oligarchy
equites
emerged from Rome’s expansion across the Med
took advantage of commercial opportunities
took up the vacancy that the aristocracy left by being unable to participate in trade
new class of businessmen
principate
the new monarchy established by Augustus in the late first century BC marking the end of the imperial period
novus homo
‘new man’
managed to become consul or senator with no consulship or senators in his lineage
res publica
‘public affairs’
Republican constitution that replaced the monarchy
consisted of the SPQR- senate and people, including the cursus honorum
steps of the cursus honorum
- plebian or patrician
- quaestor/tribune
- curule aedile/plebian aedile
- praetor/ propraetor
- consul/proconsul/censor
- dictator
cursus honorum define
hierarchy within the senate
hybrid of monarchy, oligarchy and democracy
each rung ensured that top politicians would have deep political understanding
consul
2 at once
ultimate decision-making power
invested with imperium
imperium
given to consul
ultimate decision-making power
command in war
interpretation of law (and later praetor was given this)
election of consuls
elected annually
elected by Roman citizens
praetor
oversaw law courts and judicial matters
5th step on cursus honorum
senate
advisory body for the consuls
included all sections of the cursus honorum
aediles
responsible for public: food and water, festivals, building
step 3 on cursus honorum
quaestor
state treasury and financial administration
step 2 on the cursus honorum
tribunes of the plebs
10 elected annually by tribal assembly
outside of the cursus honorum
10 plebians
acted as a check on the senate and the cursus honorum
there to protect and care for plebians
could summon and attend meetings of the senate
bodies sacrosanct so safe from personal danger
could veto decrees of the senate and tribunes
tribal assembly
elect 10 tribunes of the plebs annually
tribune, consul or praetor could call
body of citizens in 35 tribes
gather outside Campus Martius
censors
elected every 5 years
work for 18 months
carried out a census
included a review of the senatorial roll
could expel consuls
centuriate assembly
elect censors every 5 years
gather outside Campus Martius
each citizen put in 1 of 193 centuries, determined by wealth
richer centuries had less members and voted first so their votes counted more
elected those who wielded imperium
could only be called by the ones they elect- consul, praetor and censor
dictator
appointed for 6 months in times of crisis
imperium of both consuls
appointed by consuls
suggested by senate
government of provinces
done by governers
selected from proconsuls and propraetors
so they were praetor or consul the previous year
main duty was to defend the peace
and ensure tax was collected safely
populares
promote measures that appeal to the general population
noble senatorial families
aimed to gain power by appealing to the people
optimates
also boni
main goal was to protect the status of the senators
work in the interst of the incumbent oligarchy
boni
optimates
‘good men’
considered to be ideal statesmen
well-educated, tradition, patriotic and experienced
Tiberius Gracchus career
164-133 BC
popularis- people over senate
tribune of the plebs in 133 BC
illustrious family
killed by optimates sympathsiers
Gaius Grachhus
brother of Tiberius
continued his brothers political reform
Land Bill of Tiberius Gracchus
133
- redistribution of public land to those who lost their farms during military service
- bypassed the senate and took to the assembly of the people
- vetoed- TG suggested the vetoer be dismissed- success
- proposal passed to senate
- Tiberius and 300 supporters beaten to death and thrown in Tiber at night by senators and optimates
- turning point in stability
patron
a man of significant social standing
offers resources to clients
client
citizen who were bound by loyalty
supports him in all his public interests- elections
military leaders as patrons
- Marius removed financial criteria for army in 107
- poor soldiers wanted land after conquest
- fought for personal ambition, not state
amicita
horizontal relationships
system of family alliances established to consolidate success
- marriages, adoption of grown heirs, political, legal, financial
- perpetuated oligarchy
Senators numbers
300 in the republic
around 600 during Sulla
inimicita
opposite to amicitia
individual agreements lead to family hostility
SPQR
senatus populusque Romanus
mos maiorum
roman moral code
- fides
- pietas, religio, cultus
- disciplina
- gravitas
-virtus
- dignitas- prestige
Marius
- novus homo- populares
- consul
- shifted loyalty from the Senate to individual generals through opening military to poor in 107
- 3x consul- popularity and the political instability
- military leader- undermines senate
- rivalry with Sulla
Sulla
138-78
Roman general and statesman
impoverished patrician family
military excellence
dictator- 81
consul- 80
retired- 79
Sulla’s impact on TLR
- Marched on Rome with an army- illegal, enemy of the state, sets a precedent - later followed by Julius Caesar
- Terrified senate vote to make him dictator, Roman Forum proscriptions and took property
- Proscriptions- terror in political classes, killed up to 9,000 people, 1,500 were equestrians
Sulla’s reforms
- increased senate to 600
- Stricter controls on provincial governments
- Gives control of courts to senate- makes it senators ONLY
- makes the tribunate less powerful
- slowed speed of rises to power
Lepidus
- elected as consul in 78
- restored tribunate, undoing Sullan reform
- returned confiscated land to original owners
Lepidus’s uprising
- fell out w other consul Catulus
- marched on Rome in 77
- senate then passed the senatus consltum ultimum- imperium for consuls
- giving the consuls the power to deal with the uprising- precedent for Pompey - military
Sertorius
- 76-73 BC Sertorius resisted Romans in Spain
- knowledge of the terrain, small surprise attacks, Iberian tribes
- Metellus and Pompey sent to suppress- fail
-alliance with Mithridates - assassinated by his own commanders in 73
- vulnerability of Rome, dissent in provinces
Pompey Piracy
- 74- 67, a special command to Marcus Antonius Med Pirates- fail
- extensive command given to Pompey under the Lex Gabinia- success
- increased his prestige and Rome’s influence in the Med
Mithridates
- king of Pontus from 120-63
- resisted Romans, 3 wars
- Cotta and Lucullus, Pompey and Crassus consuls sent in 74 BC to handle
- instability and doubt
- importance of military
Revolt of Spartacus
- defeated consul 72
- Crassus, praetor, killed him
- senate had voted for his command to be shared with Pompey
Impact of Spartacus on Pompey’s power
- Pompey wrongly claimed half of the credit
- amicitia w Crassus, pooling their wealth and armies
- coerced senate to allow them to run for consulship in 70 BC
- Pompey- triumph
- Crassus- Ovation
- Pompey was too young to be consul- undid Sulla’s reform
Crassus and Pompey’s consulship
- 70
- They restored the power of the tribunate after Sulla reduced it
- They formed amicitia together, pooling their wealth and armies, coercing senate into allowing them to run for consulship in 70 BC
They also undid Sulla’s lex annalis because (Crassus was old enough) but Pompey was too young to be consul, and was not even a member of the senate - They took a final and clear step to undo Sulla’s reforms by going against lex annalis and by restoring the tribunates
- Their power despite breaking the constitution
They proved the weakness of the senate and the optimates to resist them
The Trial of Verres facts
70
Gaius Verres
- Hortensius as the defense lawyer
- alleged extortion of 400,000 sesterces from Sicily -during consulship 73-71
- extortion court
- advised by Hortensius to flee- won by Cicero
- nobile
main focuses of In Verrem
- put the responsibility on the jury
- show the perversion of justice attempted by Verres and his friends
- detail the crimes he committed before governorship
- how Cicero paints himself
put the responsibility on the jury points
- idea of crisis for senators
- hatred of the senators
- corruption and bribery
Cicero facts
novus homo
quaestor in Sicily
Sicilian embassies to Rome to as for him as they respect him
running for aedile
judge
Manius Glabrio
senator because Sulla made the judiciary just senators
crowd context
- Roman permanent extortion court
- Pompey’s success festival in Rome
- fame of Hortensius and Verres
Verres’s delaying context
- court was inhospitable to the defense
- tried to place another similar prosecution on the docket
- wanted to draw it out to festival season- new court with Metellus in charge
apostrophe
addressing someone not present
asyndeton
omission of conjunctions
pleonasm
superfluous words
