FREE THE FALL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC PDF Plutarch,Rex Warner,Robin Seager | 464 pages | 25 Apr 2006 | Penguin Books Ltd | 9780140449341 | English | London, United Kingdom The Fall of The Roman Republic | Open Universities Australia Internal The Fall of the Roman Republic provoked in BC by economic stagnation in the city of Romeslave revolts without, and dissension in the military precipitated a period of unrelenting political upheaval known as the Roman Revolution, the Late Roman Republicor the Fall of the Republic, BC. In essence, the republic system of government underwent a painful and violent transition from irresponsible oligarchy to a more accountable autocratic form of government. While it is difficult to appreciate the political and social issues that provoked the incessant political disruptions of the late Republic, it is possible to discern a pattern in the devolution of legal, constitutional authority in the Republic. And C. Sempronius Gracchus exploited the power of the plebeian tribuneship to seize power in Rome. They essentially used their sacrosanctitas to veto all other public activity in the city in order to force the senate and the magistrates to focus on their own political agendas. They tried to restore order to the military by reclaiming public land and putting landless poor citizens back on land. Gracchus also attempted to grant Italian allies Roman citizen status. Both men were killed with their political followings through urban mob violence fomented by the aristocracy. When the oligarchy failed to resolve the military problem, Roman generals, specifically C. Marius consulBC and L. Cornelius Sulla consul 88, dictator BCrecruited private armies more loyal to themselves than to the state. In addition to the draft, they recruited landless poor citizens by offering them bounties and land upon discharge. The soldier's status as Roman or allied mattered little to these generals either, both of The Fall of the Roman Republic made extensive grants of citizenship to allied forces. Ultimately, the two men came to blows in 88 BC in the midst of the Social War and the Asian rebellion induced by Mithradates. So violent were popular feelings that Sulla was able to persuade his field army in southern Italy to march on the city of Rome to expel Marius and his followers. Three men, Cn. Pompeius Magnus, M. Licinius Crassus, and C. Julius Caesarcombined their influence to seize power in Rome. Pompey was an extremely popular general who defeated numerous enemies of the oligarchy, including a rebellion in Spain led by the renegade Roman general Q. Pompey had a loyal private army, but proved politically incapable The Fall of the Roman Republic delivering on his promises of land and bounties. As an officer of Sulla during the Civil War, Crassus had made himself the wealthiest man in Rome by profiting from Sulla's proscriptionsthat is, the outlawing of Roman citizens by putting their names on lists and putting a price on their heads, wanted dead or alive. All proscribed citizens saw their civil rights nullified and their property confiscated and auctioned off by the state. He used his wealth to buy influence in the Senate and throughout the urban populace and emerged as a powerful, but surreptitious influence on the roman state. Caesar began his career in a seemingly hopeless situation as the nephew of C. Marius confronted by the dictatorship of Sulla. As a young aristocrat he excelled at manipulation of the symbols of Marian reform and public generosity and became the darling of the masses by the late 60s BC. By offering his political abilities to aid Pompey and Crassus The Fall of the Roman Republic their political agendas, he rose to the consulship in 59 BC basically to work as a tool for his two more powerful partners. He delivered necessary legislation in the face of senatorial The Fall of the Roman Republic and received for his effort a year extraordinary command in Gaul. Intense rivalry existed between these three dynasts, but so long as they maintained their illegal political association, the senatorial aristocracy was powerless to thwart them. He hoped to use the aristocracy to reduce Caesar's influence with the army in Gauljust as the aristocracy hoped to use him for the same purpose if only to discard him once Caesar was destroyed. Pompey was defeated at Pharsalus and killed in Egyptand the rest of the oligarchs opposing Caesar were mopped up across the Mediterranean. Having defeated all his enemies, Caesar was granted a year dictatorship for purposes of restoring the republic. His solution was to reconstitute himself as a Roman form of Hellenistic divine king or ruler. Since BC however, the Romans had prided themselves with having obtained their freedom by expelling their Etruscan King. The very word king, REXwas anathema to the Republic mentality. Roman citizens had a civic duty to suppress any attempt at tyranny though political assassination and could do so with impunity. Although carefully avoiding the title "rex", Caesar The Fall of the Roman Republic to collect for himself all facets of constitutional authority, serving at the same time as dictator, as consul, The Fall of the Roman Republic Pontifex Maximus, and as Plebeian Tribune for life. He was murdered by a conspiracy of some 60 odd senators a few weeks later. At this point the precedent of rule by one man had been established at Rome. The only question remained which The Fall of the Roman Republic his supporters would most likely succeed him to this position. This turned out to be his great The Fall of the Roman Republic nephew, C. Julius C. Caesar Octavianus, or Octavian. Causes of the Political Decline:. Economic and Social Changes Consequent to Imperialism. Booty and profits of war. Roman overseas conquest resulted in too much wealth coming into Italy too quickly to enable equitable distribution throughout society. In general, wealthier elements benefited while lower elements failed to keep pace. In addition, rising expectations of profits from war led to abuses and illegal behavior by governors and generals in the field. The lex Calpurnia of BC established a permanent court for extortion in the The Fall of the Roman Republic. The prospect of profiting from war led to heightened competition for high office as well and extensive electoral bribery. Heightened Status of Roman Senators. The Roman aristocracy was now recognized as important world leaders. Senators and wealthy knights engaged in extensive practices of conspicuous consumption, creating palatial town houses and monumental "art villas" to demonstrate their high rank in society. The Equites or Knights emerged as a powerful social stratum in society in part because of their involvement in the public contracting that maintained the empire. Development of a slave agricultural economy in Italy and Sicily. Destruction of farmsteads throughout southern Italy by Hannibal led to a reorganization of the rural landscape toward larger estates run by slave laborers. Generally, reports indicate the development of medium sized estates for the purpose of producing wine and oil for export, a development demonstrated by the emergence of Italian transport amphoras as the dominant commercial export container of the western Mediterranean by the late second century BC. Some estates, known as latifundiacould be huge however. Many wealthy investors leased Roman The Fall of the Roman Republic publicus or public land, to developed cattle ranches, again worked by slaves. A conservative estimate suggests that somepersons forcibly migrated from the Mediterranean peripheries to the core regions of Italy and Sicily as a result of enslavement through conflict. Rome and neighboring Italian cities did not have sufficient police forces to monitor slave behavior. Living conditions for slaves were generally harsh and rebellions inevitable. Between BC a massive slave revolt seized control of the island of Sicily ; in BC a second revolt caused upheaval throughout Sicily and southern Italy ; in 72 BC came the famous slave rebellion of Spartacuswho led a sizeable army of slaves throughout the Italian peninsula, remaining undefeated until cornered by M. Licinius Crassus in 70 BC. Emergence of Rome as an imperial capital. Estimated population of Rome stood atby BC. Small farmers, both Roman and Italian, migrated to the capital in search of employment and cultural benefits, even though living conditions remained squalid for all but the wealthiest elements. As late as BC Rome reportedly only had 2 paved streets in the entire city. With profits of war Roman magistrates engaged in sustained building program to develop the necessary urban infrastructure -- roads, granaries, docks, aqueducts, etc. Thousands of slaves were imported to engage in artisan labor for the city. Urban development was made possible by the profits of war, but once Roman conflict ceased after BC, revenues declined, as did public contracting. Evidence of economic stagnation by the s BC, but now Rome had a large surplus population that could not return to the land because of the radical agricultural changes The Fall of the Roman Republic. Changes in the military. Conquest required maintenance of a permanent military establishment in the provinces to cope with rebellions. Roman authorities continued to rely on conscription to man overseas armies, but the prospect evolved for an 18 year old draftee to spend 16 to 20 years The Fall of the Roman Republic Italyall the while receiving minimum pay for military service. Little profit was to be gained from garrison duty in hostile regions such as Spain, Sardinia, and Corsica. Since the draft was based on the property assessments of the Roman census, abandonment of property resulted in decline in civic status and ineligibility for the draft. At the same time Italian allied states became increasingly called upon to sustain Rome's overseas military establishment. Allied states were required to contribute their native forces to Roman war efforts.