Octavian, Augustus, and the Fall of the Republic

1. Octavian, Augustus, and the Fall of the Republic

2. 218 – 202: The Second Punic War • Hannibal is defeated at Zama by Scipio Africanus • Rome becomes ruler of the Mediterranean (Mare Nostrum) • The army is needed to protect the new empire of Rome. Enlistment is for six years.

3. Because of the length of enlistment, many soldiers lose their family farms, and go to Rome, becoming part of the Head Count (capiti censi)

4. 133 BC Tiberius Gracchus • To deal with the problems of increasing landless poor in Rome, and the dwindling numbers of landowners for the army, Tiberius proposed a land grant to the poor, to be taken from the ager publicus, the public lands. • At this point, the ager publicus is largely leased by owners of latifundia, large industrial farms, run on slave labor. If Gracchus’s bill goes through, the owners of these large farms will lose money. • The Senate refuses to approve of the bill

5. 133 BC Tiberius Gracchus • Tiberius bypasses the Senate to bring the vote to the plebs. • Marcus Octavius, a tribune attempts to veto the bill, Tiberius postpones the vote. • Octavius interposes his veto twice more, Tiberius responds by having him removed from the Tribunate. • The agrarian law passes

6. 133 BC Tiberius Gracchus • The Senate refuses to fund the Agrarian commission • King Attalus of Pergamum dies, leaving his country to Rome in a will; Tiberius says he plans to use some of the money for his land reform. • Graccus announces his intention to run for a second tribunate, a violation of the mos maiorum.

7. 133 BC Tiberius Gracchus • 132 BC, in the face of violence by the mob, Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, the Pontifex Maximus takes action. • Nasica and his followers beat Gracchus and his supporters to death, and dump the bodies into the Tiber. • Violence as a political tool is now a part of Roman life.

8. 122 BC Gaius Gracchus • 123 BC, elected tribune of the plebs • 123 BC, Lex Sempronia passed, forbidding the execution of a Roman citizen without a trial before the comita centuriata. • 123 BC Lex Frumentaria, subsidizing cheap grain prices for all citizens • 123 BC Lex Militaris, subsidizing the costs of military clothing and equipment

9. 122 BC Gaius Gracchus • 122 BC, “spontaneously “ elected a second tribunate • 122 BC, Lex repetundis, changing extortion trial juries from the Senate to the equites. • 122 BC proposed a bill granting full citizenship to Latin Allies, and limited voting rights to the rest of Italy

10. 122 BC Gaius Gracchus • 121 BC, open efforts to repeal Gaius’s legislation • At a public meeting in the forum, a dispute between supporters of Gaius and Senatorial opponents, Senator Quintus Antyllius is killed • The Senate authorizes the consul Lucius Opimius to take steps that the Republic take no harm: Senatus Consultum Ultimum

11. 122 BC Gaius Gracchus • Gracchus and Fulvius Flaccus take refuge on the Avetine hill • Gracchus, Flaccus and his eldest and youngest sons, and hundreds of followers are killed when troops march against them.

12. Gaius Marius • A novus homo, Marius is elected consul in 107 BC, commissioned to finish the war in Numidia with Jurgurtha • In order to fill out the depleted legions, Marius opens up the army to the head count (non land owners)

13. Gaius Marius • The poor sign up in large numbers, motivated by the promise of wages for service, promises of bonuses, and land after their service is over • The soldiers see their generals as their source of economic stability, resulting in divided loyalties

14. Gaius Marius • In his consulship of 100 BC, Marius attempts to get land grants promised for his soldiers • 100 BC, Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, a tribune of the plebs, forces through legislation for the land grants, despite bad omens, with the help of Marius’s veterans

15. Gaius Marius • Saturninus passes a law requiring the Senate to swear to uphold the law • 100 BC Consular elections produce gang violence, Saturninus and Servilius Glaucia take refuge on Capitoline Hill • The Senate passes the Senatus Consultum Ultimum.

16. Gaius Marius • Marius takes Saturninus and Glaucus and their followers into custody, locking them in the Curia Hostilia for safekeeping until trial. • A crowd stones them to death with roofing tiles. No arrests are made.

17. Setting the Stage • Due to an increasing military commitment, land-owning soldiers serve longer in the army, losing their land due to debt to the owners of the latifundia. • The landless poor move to Rome, straining the city’s resources, providing a large group of people for ambitious politicians. • The Senate is eager to preserve the privileges of the Patrician class, and blocks all legislation aimed to help the poor.

18. Setting the Stage • When faced with threats to their privileges, the Senate reacts with violence, and ultimately turns to the Senatus Consultum Ultimum as a means of suppressing rebellion • When the army is opened up to the Head Count, soldiers feel greater loyalty to the general promising wealth and land than to the Senate or People of Rome. • When grievances are not addressed, many turn to revolution.

19. Italian Social War 91 BC – 89 BC • Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix • Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo • Gnaeus Pompeius (Magnus) • Lucius Sergius Catilina • Marius v. Sulla 89 BC – 82 BC • M. Aemilius Lepidus 77 BC • Killed by Q. Lutatius Catulus under the authority of the Senatus Consultum Ultimum

20. Catilinarian Conspiracy • LuciusSergiusCatilina, an impoverished member of the Patrician class sought to overthrow the Senate and establish himself as Dictator in 63 BCW • Eventually thwarted by Cicero, he dies in a battle in Etruria, at the head of his army Rise of the Street Gangs • Milo v. Clodius • Pompey granted sole consulship in 52 BCE to quell the problem

21. The First Triumvirate 60 BCE • Crassus, Pompey and Caesar form an unofficial coalition to support each other’s political ambitions • The Triumvirate holds until the deaths of Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE and Julia, daughter of Caesar and wife of Pompey, who died in childbirth in 54 BCE

22. End of the Republic • Julius Caesar is made governor of Gaul for 10 years, where he seizes the opportunity of a migration of Celtic tribes to begin a series of wars; • Cato, Caesar’s implacable enemy, plans to prosecute Caesar for corruption when Caesar’s imperium is exhausted, Caesar’s only hope is to be able to secure another consulship in order to avoid prosecution, Cato blocks his attempt.

23. End of the Republic • To safeguard his dignitas (and avoid prosecution), Caesar brings his army across the Rubicon river on January 10, 49 BCE, uttering the phrase aleaiacta est. • The Senate commissions Pompey to lead an army against Caesar. Pompey promptly evacuates Rome for Greece, where he and Caesar meet at the battle of Pharsalus, and Caesar defeats Pompey • Within a year, Caesar has defeated all of his opposition, and claims the status of Dictator, to restore the Republic

25. “Beware the Ides of March!” • Claiming to want to save the Republic from Caesar, a group of senators, led by Marcus Junius Brutus, assasinates Caesar in the Theater of Pompey, 15 Mar 44 BCE • Their ambition to save the Republic failed miserably.

26. The Senate later brands the conspirators as enemies of the state, and commissions Marcus Antonius and Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus to hunt them down; • Antony forms the Second Triumvirate with Octavian and Lepidus; • The forces of Antony and Octavian meet at the battle of Philippi, October 42 BCE. Antony and Octavian win

28. Aftermath • The triumvirs divide up the governance of the Roman world: Antony takes the east, Octavian the West, Lepidus is made PontifexMaximus, and an understanding is reached with SextusPompeius, son of Pompey; • In 36 BCE, Octavian defeats SextusPompeius • In 31 BCE, tensions between Octavian and Antony come to a head, and their opposing forces meet at Actium.

29. The Battle of Actium, 2 Sept 31 BCE

30. Octavian wins. • Antony and Cleopatra both commit suicide, and Octavian retains sole authority over Rome • In 27 BCE, Octavian “returns” his powers to the Senate, for which they name him “Augustus”. • In his autobiography, Augustus would write that “After that time I excelled all others in dignity, but of power I held no more than those who were my colleagues in any magistracy.”