Editor's Pick

When we think of ‘Ancient Rome’ as a period of history usually three things come to mind: marble statues with empty eyes staring down large columned structures, a melodramatic murder of the general Julius Caesar with the final words ‘Et tu Brute!’(2), and an expansion across continents spearheaded by impeccable bureaucracy and big red shield formations. Each of these elements appeal to a certain imperialistic view of grandeur which was the centre of the justification of violent expansionism perpetrated by the European colonial powers from Columbus to Napoleon to Bismarck to Churchill, which is likely why many of us shelter this mythical view of what we would know as ‘The Roman Empire’. However, the Romans did not begin as imperialists, but as innovators, not kingmakers but revolutionaries, deciding to shirk their unjust kings for a ‘res publica’ a ‘thing of the people’. It was fear of the loss of this republic that caused Brutus, whose forefather was one of the very first revolutionaries to depose tyranny and hail republic, to incite Caesar's assassination. Yet despite this, Octavian, who would later take on the name ‘Augustus’ which surely shows his marked humility (‘Augustus’ at the time would have meant ‘venerable’ or ‘exalted’ one), would go on to reinstate emperors in such a way that befitted the kings of the days of old, ending the great experiment of the previous revolutionaries. So what was it about the Republic, which would go on to last a mere 482 years (for context, that’s from Henry VIII marrying Catherine Parr to now), which prophesied its eventual downfall? And, bluntly, why should we care?

If we are to believe the words of Vergil, Rome’s foundation was secured by Trojan (of innocuous wooden horse fame) hero Aeneas who, after packing up his family and a proportion of his people and leaving behind his citadel(3) under attack, followed a comet sent by the gods in order to find his new troy(4). After interventions by both Aphrodite(5) (his mother) and Athena (his first cousin once removed), benefiting from the hospitality of Carthage(6), descending to the underworld, etc. he finally reaches Italia, a land of disparate tribes. He would then go on to wage war upon the people of Italy, eventually beating them and taking one as his wife(7). This lineage is said to have resulted in the birth of the Roman empire as Virgil’s contemporaries would have known it in Augustus’ period a millenia later(8). The second, perhaps most well known foundation story for Rome(9) would be that of Aeneas’ descendants. Romulus and Remus were borne of Rhea Silva, daughter of Numitor, King of Alba Longa who at the time had been made a vestal virgin after her father was deposed by his brother(10), and Ares(11), who raped Rhea Silva while she was under a vow of chastity. The twins born of this crime were a challenge to the reign so they had to be disposed of, with Rhea Silva placing them in a stream for them to be found by a she-wolf and a woodpecker next to a sacred fig tree, raised, and led to fulfil their destiny and depose their uncle. To celebrate, they founded a city in 753BC where they were first found, yet after Remus mocked the citadel his brother had created, Romulus killed him. The story only becomes darker, as Romulus and his men go on to kidnap the women of the nearby Sabine people, and rape them in order to form the first generation of Romans. After the disappearance of Romulus, six elective kings followed in his train(12), the last of whom, Tarquinius Superbus(13), a known tyrant, was so oppressive that he led to the overthrow of the entire monarchical system. Now, despite the annual elections which would follow, this overthrow did not lead to a democracy(14) but a structured oligarchy controlled by a group of wealthy patrician families who would boost their members into the seats of the consuls. The republic worked through the appointment of two ‘consuls’ who would act as leaders of the senate per year, and no one person being able to hold the office of consul for longer than a year,  the idea being that each would keep the other under control, and that no one person could accrue the power of a monarchy. With consuls Junius Brutus and Tarquinius Collatinus(15) the Republic almost immediately fell into warfare, whether with the Sabines or the Etruscans(16), the Gauls(17), or its favourite enemy: Carthage(18). After beating all three, they went on to conquer parts of Europe and north Africa, and by the time of the Battle of Actium and the ascendency of Octavius they had control of most of the Mediterranean. 

Moving back, however, one of the most interesting elements of the republic is the activity of those least represented: the plebeian class. As mentioned previously, the gentes or upper classes held power in what was nearing an autocracy of the main five families: the Amelii, Claudii, Cornelii, Fabii, and Valerii. However, most Roman citizens were ‘plebs’, the backbone working class and they used this power in succession plebi, (effectively strikes), first effected in 494BC, which forced the hand of those in power into giving them direct access to religious and civil laws and the political progress as a whole, leading them to elect tribunes to advocate for their rights as a class. The fact that such organisation of the working class was present at the time is something I find personally heartening, especially since it speaks to tactics which still work today. This growth in support elevated some to higher political standpoints, with the first plebeian consular tribunes being set up in 400BC. In the middle of the third century these consular tribunes put forward a bill which would open up the consulship to the plebeians, resulted in a 5-year stalemate, along with a law opening up priesthood for the lower classes, in fact enforcing that half of a 10-man college would have to be made up of plebeians. A mark of progress and influence in class-focused society, these laws were eventually passed, although it came with the caveat of the addition of the roles of praetor and curiae edibles, which were open only to the patrician class. Despite this, the roles of censor and dictator were opened to the lower classes and soon various edicts began reserving posts for plebeian politicians, while the lex ovina  gave the senate protection from the whims of the consuls, only being removed by censors due to admonishable behaviour. However, with this growth of a patrician elite there came a further knife drawn into the back of the lower echelons of the plebeian class, whose economic problems would only be furthered through the debt-bonds or patron-client relationships they would enter into as they saw their advances. In fact, these plebeian elites became so powerful that they created a new class along with the patricians who had still held onto power: the nobiles.

It is also important to remember the experience of slaves on the other hand, who were were seen as an essential part of a Roman household which historians such as Livy would describe as stretching back to the proto-mythical, with dominus (master) stemming from domi  as in domicile of home: to be paterfamilias (head of the family/home) was to be a slave-master. Therefore, it cannot be surprising that in the highly politicised and changeable environment we have seen, the considerable slave population would revolt. In the winter of 138 BC the first Servile war broke out in Sicily, headed by Eunus and Cleon(19), whose names are only remembered due to the considerable defeats they caused the senate, yet eventually their revolt was put down in 132BC(20). Meanwhile, Brothers Tiberius and Gaius Graccus were working under similar concepts of what it means to be fair and the dream of greater equality. The former proposed a bill to the plebeian council to redistribute wealth to poorer plebeians and got his fellow tribune Marcus Octavius’ veto nullified for going against the will of the people. His bill was passed and he was murdered the next year he decided to stand for election. The latter was elected tribune ten years later and pushed forwards the same popular bills for the lower-income plebeians in terms of welfare and extra-judicial punishments, and even proposed citizenship for Italian tribes outside of Rome. Although he was also killed, sentenced to death rather than murdered, his bills were accepted, and made great change to the lives of many.

The failures during the Cimbrian War of 113-101 as compared to the success of Jugurthine War of 111-104 would go on to further demonstrate popular (or populist) feeling triumphing over the ‘status quo’ set by the immovable elites in the senate, especially in their promotion of general Gaius Marius. Merely a legate during the start of the war, Marius’ support from the lower classes eventually elevated him to consul, from which he took over the Numidian command and eventually won the war. This efficiency in comparison to the lacklustre performance of the senate during the Cimbrian war was symptomatic of the move against the senatorial corruption and incompetence. After multiple civil conflicts, the role of consul Sulla was being pushed aside, with Marius taking his charge against the Pontic king Mithraides. Enraged, Sulla took Marius’ army and marched on an undefended Rome in protest, declaring Marius and his co-conspirators traitors to the state and exiled them to which Marius responded by returning with the help of Cornelius Cinna and taking over the city. The Mairans irregularly placed marius and cinna in the positions of consul in 86BC, and declared Sulla a public enemy. However, after Marius's death a fortnight after taking office, Cinna, who now had sole control over Rome faced Sulla's response. Making peace with Mithrades, in 83BC  Sulla turned towards Rome with a small yet experienced army and broke through the line of Marian defenders, initially allowing his army to kill wilfully and uncontrollably, before issuing kill lists for his public enemies. He was made dictator that same year, before resigning after consul elections in 80BC(21). 

After the death of Sulla came the rise of Pompey Magnus who due to his hard stance on the recent piracy issue and strong foundation in the Sullan Republic encouraged the senate to lean more heavily towards him. In 72BC while there was war being held overseas, the famous Spartacus uprising (or third servile rebellion) took place, a revolt of some 70,000 men, only to be stopped by Licinius Crassus, whose troops decimated their attempt at escape. Despite their disagreements, these generals held joint consulship in 70BC , setting up the foundation for the first triumvirate. This was only solidified when Pompey took over from Lucinnus Lucullus, one of Sulla’s great generals, after he lost Rome and much of Armenia, and went on to win the long-standing war against Mithrades. Pompey would return triumphant from the third Mitriadic war at the end of 62BC, making a point of publicly dismissing his army on the way back to assuage worries that he would take the city by force as Sulla did, to a Rome which had just successfully suppressed attempted insurrection by senator Lucius Servus Catalina. During all of this, an up-and-coming politician was coming onto the scene, a man known as Julius Caesar. After his growth to the consulate of 59BC we see the start of the alliance dubbed by scholars as ‘The First Triumvirate’, a mutually beneficial agreement which gave Pompey support through the distribution of land for poor relief and to reward veterans, gave Crassus relief on taxes for farmers and a place on the agrarian council, and gave Caesar an advantageous position in Gaul and the political support required to effect his plans. 

At this point we reach the beginning of the end. Caesar, after his many years in control of Gaul, was facing opposition from the senate, while the death of Crassus while on a campaign in the Parthian Empire, and the death of Julia- Caesar's sister and Pompey’s wife, finally broke down the first triumvirate. After the senate deemed him unsuitable to stand for consul and called him to trial, Caesar would march on Rome after his ultimatum in 48BC was ignored and he was declared an enemy of the state. Pompey was then placed as dictator of Rome by the senate yet they would soon all be forced to flee after Caesar's famous ‘crossing of the rubicon’, leaving the city undefended for him to take. In order to solidify this victory, Caesar marched on Pompey’s hispania(22) but after a win from Pompey would eventually defeat him in Greece, from which he fled to Egypt, only to be murdered by Ptolemy XIII in an attempt to win over Ceasar’s favour during a time of civil war for both countries. His army continued after his death and Caesar did lose a third of his army during the fight, but finally won against the Pompeiian army under the command of Metellus Scipio. Caesar proceeded to give himself all of the titles he could and became so close to the power of King that he was murdered on the 15th of March 44 BC in the senate by a group of conspirators led by Gaius Cassius and Marcus Brutus(23). In the wake of this murder, the second triumvirate, formed of Mark Anthony Caesar’s co-consul, Octavian his adopted son and great-nephew, and Lepidus his lieutenant defeated the conspirators in the Battle of Philippi in 42. This pro-republican spirit gone, initially Rome’s territories were divided equally between the three men. However Octavius’ ambition caused him to want more. He exiled Lepidus over a land dispute, and subsequently took his holdings, then turned his eyes to Mark Anthony, who had been residing in Egypt as Cleopatra’s lover. Having built up a strong foundation of patronage back in Rome, Octavian waged war on Egypt, culminating in his success at the battle of Actium in 31 BC followed by the suicide of the lovers. Octavian would go on to receive sole imperium in Rome and take on the name ‘Augustus’. The Roman Republic had officially fallen.

If this feels familiar, it should. A constitution built after the rejection of an unfair monarch, the bright-eyed idealism of a new age, the rise of populism and a growing distrust for authority, and the fear of the rise of new kings should feel familiar, because it’s going on all around us. Classics is important, History is important, because as much as we may adapt to our respective environments, and have our technology adapt with us, there is ever something innately human about us and our societies which draws us to make the same mistakes over and over. We can see in the ‘No Kings’ movement in America, the rise of far right populism in Europe, the increasingly authoritarian backlash to progress labelled as ‘woke’, the ignorance of pain around the world replaced for individualism, we’re slipping into ever the same habits. The plebeian engagement led to their involvement in politics, and face-to-face with the same level of populism which is yet again drawing in the disenfranchised young we must do the same if we are to break out of the cycle of tyranny. We can make a change. You can make a change. The choice is yours.