History Ch.7 L.2

The Senate

By the second century b.c., the Senate had become the real governing body of the Roman state. Members of the *Senate were drawn mostly from the landed aristocracy. * They remained senators for life and held the chief offices of the republic. *The Senate directed the wars of the third and second centuries b.c. and took control of both foreign and domestic policy, including financial affairs.*

was known as the richest man in Rome.

Crassus

came to hold enormous military and political power. In 60 b.c., Caesar joined with Crassus and Pompey to form the First Triumvirate.

Crassus, Pompey, and Julius Caesar

had a military command in Spain.

Julius Caesar

was the next general to take advantage of the new military system. The Senate had given him command of a war in Asia Minor. When the council of the plebs tried to transfer command to Marius, a civil war broke out. Sulla won and seized Rome itself in 82 b.c., conducting a reign of terror to wipe out all opposition. Then Sulla restored power to the hands of the Senate and eliminated most of the powers of the popular assemblies. He hoped that he had created a firm foundation to restore a traditional Roman republic governed by a powerful Senate. His real legacy was quite different from what he had intended, however. His example of using an army to seize power would prove most attractive to ambitious men.

Lucius Cornelius Sulla

A Roman general That became consul and began to recruit his armies in a new way by recruiting volunteers from the urban and rural poor who did not own any property. Marius left a powerful legacy. He had created a new system of military recruitment that placed great power in the hands of the individual generals.

Marius

had returned from a successful command in Spain as a military hero

Pompey

In 27 b.c., Octavian proclaimed the "restoration of the Republic." He knew that only traditional republican forms would satisfy the Senate. At the same time, Octavian was aware that the republic could not be fully restored. Although he gave some power to the Senate, Octavian in fact became the first Roman emperor. In 27 b.c., the Senate awarded Octavian the title of Augustus—"the revered one," a fitting title in view of his power, which previously had been reserved for gods. Augustus proved to be highly popular. No doubt people were glad the civil wars had ended. At the same time, his continuing control of the army was the chief source of Augustus's power. The Senate gave Augustus the title imperator, or commander in chief. The English word emperor comes from imperator. Augustus maintained a standing army of 28 legions, or about 151,000 men. A legion was a military unit of about 5,000 troops. Only Roman citizens could be legionnaires—members of a legion. Subject peoples could serve as auxiliary forces, which numbered around 130,000 under Augustus. Augustus also set up a praetorian guard of roughly 9,000 men who had the important task of guarding the emperor. While claiming to have restored the republic, Augustus began a new system for governing the provinces. Under the Roman Republic, the Senate had appointed the governors of the provinces. During the empire, certain provinces were given to the emperor, who assigned deputies known as legates to govern them. The Senate still chose the governors of the remaining provinces. However, the power of Augustus enabled him to overrule the senatorial governors and establish unity in imperial policy. Augustus also stabilized the frontiers of the Roman Empire. He conquered the central and maritime Alps and then expanded Roman control of the Balkan peninsula up to the Danube River. His attempt to conquer Germany failed, however, when three Roman legions led by the Roman general Varus were massacred by a group of Germanic warriors. These defeats in Germany taught Augustus that Rome's power was not unlimited. This knowledge devastated him. According to legend, for months he would beat his head on a door, shouting, "Varus, give me back my legions!" Augustus was very concerned about the social health of the Roman state. He believed that the civil wars of the first century had weakened the strength of public religion, which he considered a pillar of a strong state. Thus, he rebuilt many ruined temples and built new ones to honor the Roman gods. Augustus also encouraged the development of a new religious cult dedicated to the emperor. Upon his death, Augustus was declared a god by the Senate. The Augustan Age was a lengthy one. Augustus died in a.d. 14 after dominating the Roman world for 45 years. He had created a new order while maintaining traditional values, perhaps fitting for a leader whose favorite phrase was "Make haste slowly." By the time of his death, the Republic was only a memory. Rome would now be ruled by emperors.

The Beginning of the Roman Empire

The combined wealth and power of these three men was enormous and enabled them to dominate the political scene and to achieve their basic aims. Pompey received a command in Spain, Crassus was given a command in Syria, and Caesar was granted a special military command in Gaul, which is modern-day France. When Crassus was killed in battle in 53 b.c., however, only two powerful men were left. During his time in Gaul, Caesar had gained both fame and military experience. As a military leader, Caesar had always been willing to face great personal danger. Moreover, he now had an army of seasoned veterans who were loyal to him. Julius Caesar (c. 100-44 B.C.)Fearing Caesar's popularity, leading senators decided that rule by Pompey alone would be least harmful to their cause. They voted for Caesar to lay down his command and return as a private citizen to Rome. Such a step was intolerable to Caesar, as it would leave him totally vulnerable to his enemies. Caesar chose to keep his army and moved into Italy by illegally crossing the Rubicon, the river that formed the southern boundary of his province. The phrase related to this action, "crossing the Rubicon," means to take a decisive action that cannot be taken back. According to his ancient biographer, Caesar said to his troops, "Even now we could turn back; but once we cross that tiny bridge, then everything will depend on armed force." Caesar marched on Rome, starting a civil war between his forces and those of Pompey and his allies. The defeat of Pompey's forces left Caesar in complete control of the Roman government. Caesar was officially made dictator, or absolute ruler, in 47 b.c. This position was usually temporary, used only in emergencies, but Caesar was made dictator for life in 44 b.c. Realizing the need for reforms, Caesar gave land to the poor and increased the Senate to 900 members. By filling the Senate with his supporters and increasing the number of senators, he weakened the Senate's power. Caesar granted citizenship to a number of people in the provinces who had helped him. He also reformed the calendar by introducing the Egyptian solar year of 365 days. (With later changes in 1582, it became the basis of our own calendar.) Caesar planned much more in the way of building projects and military campaigns to the east but was not able to carry them out. In 44 b.c., a group of leading senators who resented his growing power assassinated him, believing that the old republican system would now return. In truth, however, they had set the stage for another civil war that delivered the death blow to the republic.

The First Triumvirate

A new struggle for power followed the death of Caesar. Three men—Octavian, Caesar's heir and grandnephew; Antony, Caesar's ally and assistant; and Lepidus, who had been commander of Caesar's cavalry—joined forces to form the Second Triumvirate. Within a few years after Caesar's death, however, only two men divided the Roman world between them. Octavian took the west; Antony, the east. The empire of the Romans, large as it was, was still too small for two masters. Octavian and Antony soon came into conflict. Antony allied himself with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII, with whom, like Caesar before him, he fell deeply in love. At the Battle of Actium in Greece in 31 b.c., Octavian's forces smashed the army and the navy of Antony and Cleopatra. Both fled to Egypt, where they committed suicide a year later. Octavian, at the age of 32, stood supreme over the Roman world. The civil wars had ended. So had the republic. The period beginning in 31 b.c. and lasting until A.D. 14 witnessed the foundations of the Roman Empire.

The Second Triumvirate

*Two brothers came to believe that the basic cause of Rome's problems was the decline of the small farmer. To help the landless poor, they had the council of the plebs pass land-reform bills that called for the government to take back public land held by large landowners and to give it to landless. *Many senators, themselves large landowners whose estates included large areas of public land, were furious. A group of senators took the law into their own hands and killed Tiberius in 133 b.c. His brother Gaius later suffered the same fate. The attempts of the Gracchus brothers to bring reforms had opened the door to more instability and more violence. Changes in the Roman army soon brought even worse problems. Romans

Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus

Swore an oath of loyalty to the general, not to the Roman state, creating a new type of army no longer subject to the state. To recruit these men, a general would promise them land. This strategy forced generals to become involved in politics to get laws passed that would provide the land they needed for their veterans.

Volunteers for the army

Over a period of time, however, many farmers of small amounts of land were unable to compete with large wealthy landowners and *lost their lands.* By taking over state-owned land and by buying out small peasant farmers, these landed aristocrats had developed large estates that used slave labor. Thus, the rise of large estates led to a decline in the number of small citizen farmers. As a result, many of these small farmers drifted to the cities, especially Rome, forming a large class of landless poor

What happened to the small farmers?

The Small Farmers

What is the backbone of the Roman state and army?

Competion for power by a number of individuals and the civil wars caused by their conflicts

What were the 2 characteristics of Roman history?

Triumvirate

a government by three people with equal power

Dictator

an absolute ruler

Imperator

commander in chief; the Latin origin of the word emperor

Financial

relating to the management of funds

Instability

the quality or state of being liable to change or alteration

Men who were landholders of small farms.

What had the Roman army had been made of firstly?