The End of the Roman Republic

      The Roman Republic, a bold experiment begun in 509 BCE, eventually collapsed. At the outset, when the Etruscan monarchy was overthrown, true democracy had seemed possible. This possibility seemed to be strengthened by the fact that Rome's dealings with its neighbours had been generally fair, if often harsh. Strong divisions between the landowning and commercial elites, and the army reforms of Marius led to factional strife with the people supporting particular army chiefs, like Sulla, Pompey, or Caesar. In the Rome of the first few centuries BCE, if you were poor and without personal means of livelihood, you either starved or were reduced to slavery, or worse.
      Under the Empire, things would get only slightly better for most Romans, who were tired of bloody civil wars. Augustus, the first emperor, consolidated his stranglehold on political and military power and claimed that he had restored the Republic. In reality, he was just the first in a long line of emperors that lasted until at least 476 CE. These emperors were in fact monarchs who relied on military power, moral authority, or perceived divine will to make their control of the known world legitimate. Whether or not Augustus and his successors were good emperors, their rule was absolute.

History Continues to Unfold

      Until fairly recently, much of the story of the Etruscan monarchy and the early Roman Republic supplied by the ancient historian Livy was more or less accepted as fact, or at least as a useful model given that there was no other. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that Livy's account is a less than reliable discussion of early Rome. There are no written records of any sort from earlier than the third century BC, and even the date of the founding of Rome - 753 BCE - is a product of the first-century BCE. Archaeology is the most important key to understanding the remote past, and it is now clear that Roman society is much older and more complex than Livy led us to believe. A current trend in scholarship is to concentrate less on wars and alliances and more on social history, on how the ancient Roman people lived.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.

Roman Republican Art and Artchitecture

      Rome was born with no strong art tradition of its own. Roman art in the early years was heavily influenced by the Etruscans util Rome's expansion into the Greek-speaking areas of Sicily and southern Italy. This contact brought a huge rise in interest in Greek sculpture and many statues were imported to the capital. The Roman appetite for all forms of Greek art - architecture, sculpture, paintings, silver plate - increased even more with conquests in Greece itself, and particularly with the capture of Corinth in 146 BCE.
      Conquering generals could acquire art by plunder, but it had to be bought by theelite in Rome. In the second century BCE, to serve a booming market, there was not only a huge influx of all forms of art, but also the immigration of large numbers of Greek artists themselves. We know several artists by name: the Athenian painter Metrodoros, Demetrios the Alexandrian who painted maps, and the southern Italian sculptor Pasiteles. At the same time, in Athens and elsewhere, workshops were set up to create sculptures of mythological subjects based on earlier Greek models. These sculptural stories were imported by wealthy Romans and displayed in their gardens or reception areas (atria) of their homes.
      In architecture, more than in the other arts, there was a fusion of the Roman and Greek cultures. The Greek style of peripteral temple (columns all around) was fused with the Italic tradition of a front-facing temple on a high podium. But while the style and structure of building in Rome owe a great deal to Greece, it was the Romans alone who gave the world one profoundly significant architectural gift - concrete.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.

Daily Life in The Republic

Beliefs

      During the 500 years since the fall of the Etruscan monarchy, the Roman people had developed superstitions, institutions, and modes of living. These practices and beliefs helped them, even in difficult times, to maintain a distinct identity and a cultural integrity. The Romans were among the most superstitious people the world had seen to that point. They essentially adopted the entire pantheon of Greek Olympian gods and created a remarkable synthesis of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan deities. In addition to the major gods, the Romans also believed in minor deities, werewolves, and all forms of magic. From the Etruscans, the Romans inherited the dark arts of laying curses, casting spells, and foretelling the future. Indeed, all public acts, including military operations and elections, were preceded by the taking of auspices (signs or omens from nature) to determine whether or not the gods approved. From their contacts with the East, the Romans also absorbed astrology and a belief in the signs of the zodiac.
     The official religions came under the supervision of the Pontifex Maximus and were administered by several different colleges of priests who were all members of the senatorial elite. Naturally, the Pontifex Maximus was a man of great political influence, one of the duties of which was to be in charge of the Roman calendar. This originally was simply an ordering of the months and days when the various deities were to be honoured.
      Do ut des - "I give so that you might give" - was an elementary principle in Roman religion. This means honouring and placating gods, or seeking their help in times of crisis, through animal sacrifice. A particular favourite was known as suovetaurilla, the simultaneous sacrifice of a pig, sheep, and ox.

Family Life and Morality

      The Roman Republic was based on the family unit, the building block of society. the head of the household, the male paterfamilias, originally held complete power over his wife, children, and slaves. This included the legal right to abuse or even to kill. He was endowed, above all, with potestas, legally recognized and absolute power. He also was expected to maintain a public appearance marked by gravitas (conservatism) and dignitas (dignified status), and usually, severitas (the ability not to shrink from harsh justice).
      Inheritance of property was the most important element in Republican life. The state consisted of families that were linked to each other in gentes (clans). Anything that endangered the integrity of the family was met with the harshest punishment.
      Since inheritance was through the male line, adoption as a regular feature of society. On occasion, younger men even adopted older men. Affection was personal; adoption was not. Men whose wives repeatedly gave birth to daughters (a state of affairs believed to be the woman's fault) could divorce and remarry at will. Julius Caesar, who had several wives, was obliged to adopt in his will the young Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus), the son of his niece Atia.
      Even though marriage was entered into as a duty rather than as an expression of love, often with neither partner having freedom of choice, marital harmony and the development of spousal affection was the norm for Roman couples. Children especially male children, were cared for well. Of course, as in any society where inheritance of property is paramount, the legitimacy of offspring was of equal concern. A newborn infant was not recognized by its father, it would be exposed, or abandoned, in a public place. A childless person could then take the infant for his or her own. Otherwise, the baby would be left to die.

Education

      Male and female children of elite Republican families were raised together until puberty, usually by a nurse and family tutor. From approximately age seven to 11, children learned to read and write Latin; some were even taught Greek. Then, from about age 12 to 15, both boys and girls were given a liberal education in language and literature; girls always received instruction at home, while boys could be aught in public. At age 16, boys normally went on to study rhetoric (logical and persuasive argument) at public lectures. During the Republic, students kept regular hours of instruction, had vacations, and did homework. We even know the names of some schoolteachers (grammatici), such as Orbilius, the harsh taskmaster of the famous poet Horace. At the onset of manhood, a youth was introduced to public life. He was formally led to the Forum Romanum dressed in the toga of manhood. After this ceremony, the youth was expected to pursue a career in the law courts or army.
      Young men were expected to serve the interests of state first and themselves last, in accordance with the interests of the dominant elite. These included the continuation of the clan, material and financial comfort, and the attainment of gloria. In such an exclusive system, children of the poor sectors of society received no education at all.
      In addition to language and literature, girls were instructed in the arts of singing and dancing, and in the crafts of spinning and weaving, thought to exemplify old Repubican virtues. Theses virtues are honoured on an old Republican gravestone that reads, "casa fuit; domum servavit; lanam fecit" (she was chaste; she kept the house; she worked the wool). This system of education ensured the stability of the social order in Rome by teaching the children of the upper classes about their privileges and responsibilities to the state.

The Role of Women

      Girls were usually educated in the home or sent to elementary school until they were married. Upon marriage, Roman women gained an independence that their earlier Greek sisters would have envied. Apart from the duty to bear children, marriage brought the ability to leave the house to go shopping, attend to business, and accompany one's husband to dinner. The normal age of marriage seems to have been about 15. There were two forms of marriage: the most ancient transferred the authority of the father to the husband. This marriage in manum (into the power) was conducted according to ancient rituals, of which the most common was a symbolic sale wherein the father sold the daughter to the bridegroom.
      The other form of marriage came to be the most popular by the end of the Republic. This was usus (cohabitation). A couple stated their intention to live together in a married state and as long as they lived together, they were married. Divorce was simple: all one partner had to do was send a messenger to the other telling him or her to take their belongings away. In this form of marriage, sine manu (without power), the woman remained legally subject to her father as long as he was alive.
      Continuing the family line was the main purpose of marriage. At about 15 years of age, a girl could expect a fairly rapid instruction to her responsibilities. Children as young as 12 suffered the risks of carrying babies in their immature bodies. Since male children were preferred, a woman could expect multiple pregnancies until she delivered a boy who was likely to survive. During the early Empire, families with three or more children were rewarded by the state.
      Women could own property and engage in business activities. Occasionally, they even sponsored public buildings and were important people in their own right. During the Republic and much of the history of the Roman Empire, though excluded from the male political sphere, women exercised great influence.

Latin Language and Literature

Language
      The Romans spoke Latin, the language of their neighbours to the south, in modern-day Lazio. As the Romans became dominant, the other local languages of the Italian Peninsula, such as Etruscan, soon died out. Only the Greek cities in southern Italy retained much of their own language. From the early years of the Republic, we have only a very few small scraps of Latin, usually on gravestones or other inscriptions. The Latin of those early centuries seems to have been rough and unsophisticated.
      The favourite writing materials were papyrus, made from an Egyptian reed plant that grew in the Nile Delta swamplands, and later, parchment, the skin of goat or sheep (membrana). Papyrus was sold either in long rolls of 20 sheets that were sun-dried then glued together, or as individual sheets. For less formal writing, such as messages, wax tablets (tabelli) were used. The writer would scratch a message on the wax with a sharpened writing implement called a stylus. Once the message had been received and read, the recipient would scrape the wax smooth and write a return message.
      For writing on papyrus or parchment, pens dipped in ink were used. The ens could be made of copper ally, though often they were simply sharpened reeds or goose quills. The ink was made from several substances such as soot, resin, and the excretions of squid or cuttlefish. Care had to be taken not to dilute the ink too much, which would make it too faint to read. Writing errors could easily be erased with a clean, wet sponge.

Literature
      In Republican literature, Ennius (239-169 BCE) stands out for his attempt to provide a year-by-year account of Rome's developing power. This account, the Annales, was in verse because in the earlier stages of the development of a literature, when there is a heavier reliance on memory than the written record, verse (which is easier to remember than prose) was more commonly used.
      There are many people, mostly men, known to us by name through large or small fragments of their work. From the period before 133 BCE, two writers of comedy are known to us: Titus Maccius Plautus (?-184 BCE) - more commonly known as Plautus - and Publius Terentius Afer (195-159 BCE) - more commonly known as Terence. We are fortunate to have many complete plays by them. Peopled by stock characters such as love-sick youths, cunning slaves, prostitutes, and grasping old men, these plays have had an enormous influence on the development of Western drama, including the works of Shakespeare. Since plays were not considered good for public morality, there was no permanent theatre in Rome until Pompey the Great had his stone theatre built in 55 BCE.
      In the first century BCE, literacy in Latin and Greek became common among the elite. All sorts of people committed their thoughts to writing, such as the philosopher Lucretius (T. Lucretius Carus, 94-55 BCE), who wrote On the Nature of Things, an epic poem describing his theories on existence and ethical behaviour.
      Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BCE), one of the most famous Romans, was a prolific philosopher, writer, consul, and staunch defender of the Republic. As an orator, Cicero defended notable Romans and prosecuted others in the courts. As a defender of the idea of constitutional government, Cicero was bitterly opposed to Marc Antony, whom he attacked in his published speeches, the Philippics. Eventually, in 43 BCE, he was killed by Marc Antony for his outspokenness.
      Known to both Cicero and Julius Caesar was the poet Catullus (Gaius Valerius Catullus, ca. 84-47 BCE). Catullus was known for his lampooning and abusive attacks, and although some of his poetry would be considered obscene even today, on the whole, it is entertaining and skillfully created. For exmaple:

I hate and I love

well, who do I, you probably ask

I don't know, but I know it's happening

and it hurts. 

      Latin, for the next thousand years and more, was first and foremost the language of the Roman government and he legal system. After the Empire had transformed into a number of successor kingdoms in the mid-sixth century CE, Latin continued to spread and was confirmed as the international language of the Christian church, of education, and of scholarship (e.g., Issac Newton's Principia Mathematica, 1687). Latin still has a strong presence in the language of medicine and law, and is still taught and studied in most universities of the Western world.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.

The Decline of The Roman Republic

Military Reform and the Rise of Roman Generals

      The formation of the Roman citizen army can be attributed to Gaius Marius (ca. 155-86 BCE) in 100 BCE. Throughout all of previous Roman history, soldiers had been farmers who tilled their fields, sowed their grain, and then went off to war when necessary. The campaigning season ended in the fall, always in tim for the soldiers to return home to gather their harvest.
      Seasonal campaigning had become a problem by Marius's time. Now, there were not as many citizen soldiers who owned land left in Rome. Grain, therefore, was becoming scarcer. The scarcer the grain, the more essential it was for the soldiers who did own land to return to their fields in the fall. At the same time, there were now many landless people normally resident in the city and these people had less reason to return home in the fall.

      Marius realized the size of the problem and created a standing army. A standing army is a permanent force, not one recruited only to meet a particular need. Marius also gave his soldiers a fixed term of service - 16 years in the ranks and four years as a veteranus (reserve soldier) - with the possibility of being called up if needed. After his term of service, the soldier retired with a pension, a gratuity (fixed sum of money), or a plot of land - and he was now allowed to marry.

      The new conditions of service, inlcluding regular pay, the provision of food, and clothing allowances, were only part of the more seeping rearrangments that now affected "Marius's Mules," as the men were called. (This name came about because each man had to carry a standard, minimum amount of equipment when on the march.) Soldiers now served in re-formed legions and, with a new aquila (the eagle insignia), began to develop a fierce pride in belonging to a particular unit.

      The legion was now a heavy infantry unit of about 6000 men, broken into smaller subdivisions called cohorts. There were ten cohorts to a legion with the first and most experienced cohort having a double complement of soldiers. Each cohort had approximately 480 men. These units were further divided into six smaller and more manageable units called centuries with 80 men to a century; each century reported to a centurion, the equivalent of a sergeant. The ultimate division was the contubernium of eight men sharing one tent. There were ten contubernia to a century and two centuries to a maniple. 

      The result of these complicated arrangements was that a recruit would begin his service in the most junior century of the most junior cohort of a legion. As he gained experience, the soldier could work his way through the ranks to the primus pilus, the centurion commanding the first century of the first cohort. Another advantage of this arrangement was that the legion, with its smaller divisions, was easily deployed. The major drawback of the military hierarchy was that ordinary soldiers looked to their generals rater than to the state for security and pensions. By the first century BCE, these were "Sulla's legions" or "Marius's legions," not Rome's legions. 

From Pompey to Caesar

      By now, Romans understood that any men backed by either a powerful army or a band of ruthless, armed thugs could usurp the constitutional government. In quick succession, three men - Pompey the Great (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, 106-48 BCE), Crassus (Marcus Licinius Crassus, 115-53 BCE), and Julius Caesar (Gaius Julius Caesar, 100-44 BCE) - came to power. These men were all military adventurers who cared nothing for the Republican constitution by which they had prospered. According to their own private arrangement, they split the government of Rome among themselves in 60 BCE and formed the First Triumvirate, the Rule of the Three Men. 

      Caesar had the armies of Northern Italy. He set about gaining military glory by subjugating the entire population of what is now southern Germany, France, Switzerland, and parts of Austria. Crassus first did his part in Italy by crushing the bloody slave rebellion led by Spartacus in 71 bCE. Six thousand of this ex-gladiator's followers were crucified in a line flanking the Via Appia. Crassus then went off to campaign in Persia (modern-day Iran) against the Parthians. Pompey was already covered in glory from his vanquishing of the pirates in the Mediterranean Sea (67 BCE). 

      Still, no private arrangement could outlive ambition. Crassus was defeated by the Parthians at Carrhae and killed in 53 BCE. Pompey, having become the fervent guardian of senatorial privilege, came to oppose Caesar and agreed with a senatorial demand in 50 BCE that Caesar disband his army. Caesar realized that disbanding his army would leave him defenseless and would amount to suicide. He committed an illegal act, and in January 49 BCE crossed the stream known as the Rubicon with his army and therefore entered Italian territory. Pompey hurried to the defense of the constitutional, senatorial government but was beaten back on all fronts. He was forced to retreat to Alexandria in Egypt, where his army was defeated and he was decapitated.

      in 46 BCE, Julius Caesar, the last surviving member of the Triumvirate, had himself appointed dictator for ten years.  In 45 BCE, the appointment was extended to life. In the same year, he became Pontifex Maximus (Chief Priest) and assumed virtually all responsibility for decision making. Caesar was now behaving more like a king than a guardian of the Republic. He was even offered a golden crown by a young supporter named Marc Antony (Marcus Antonius, 93-30 BCE). Caesar's glory was short-lived. On 15 March 44 BCE, a day known as the Ides of March, several self-proclaimed defenders of liberty - Brutus, Cassius, and other senate conspirators - converged on the dictator in Pompey's theater and stabbed him to death. 

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd. 

Republican Law and Legislation

      Rome was among the very few societies in the ancient world to develop laws that were codified (officially written down) and analyzed in detail by professional jurists. The history of Roman law begins very early in the Republic, with the Twelve Tables in 450 BCE (which consisted of only a few sentences), and reaches its maturity with the legislation of the Emperor Justinian in 528-534 CE, the Corpus Juris Civilis, with over a million words! Latin was the language of law throughout the Roman world, even in the Greek-speaking east. The judicial history of the Republic can be divided into two periods: a relatively primitive period ending in the third century BCe, and the later Republican period when a legal profession evolved, beginning around 200 BCE and ending with the victory of Augustus in 31 CE. Similarly, historians of Roman law identify two major legal divisions, not originally distinguishable: civil law and criminal law. To a great degree, Roman criminal law, in which the community acted for the sake of the public interest, sprung from an original tradition of the taking of private revenge. Theft, for example, was originally a private matter for civil action and only much later became the subject of criminal prosecution. Also, whereas in our society the law does not distinguish between the status of the individuals (rich or poor, male or female), a fundamental aspect of Roman law made that distinction. For example, there was not only a distinction between free people and slaves, there were also categories of free people, who were treated differently according to their status.

The Twelve Tables

      According to tradition, pressure by the ordinary people led to the appointment of a board of ten men with consular power in 451 BCE, established for the writing down of statutes. This was to break the monopolization of the law by the patricians and priestly elite. Ten tables were compiled, with two added the following year. The tables originally included a law banning marriage between patricians and plebeians, but it was quickly struck down in 445 BCE. Most of the contents of the Twelve Tables, not formally abolished until the sixth century CE, were related to civil matters. Essentially, the Twelve Tables formed a list of basic legal procedures and appropriate punishments.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.

External Forces: The Punic Wars, 264-146 BCE

      There were three fateful clashes between Rome and the Carthaginians , called the Punic Wars (the word "Punic" is derived from the Latin word meaning Phoenician). Undoubtedly, the most dangerous time for Rome after the defeat of the invading Gauls, was the Second Punic War (218-202 BCE). The Carthaginian military leader at this time was Hanibal, the son of Hamilcar Barca, who had done much to help restore Carthage after its first defeat by the Romans in the First Punic War (264-241 BCE). Hannibal now ruled the Iberian Peninsula as if it were his private kingdom.
      In 218 BCE, Hannibal left Spain and led a land-based attack on the Romans by crossing the Alps, a feat still marveled at today. Hannibal started from Spain with 35 000-40 000 troops and 37 elephants; by the time he arrived in northern Italy, only about 26 000 soldiers and one elephant had survived the crossing. It is likely that Hannibal's military skill was poor and that the Alpine barrier was much more formidable than he had been led to believe. For all Hannibal's losses, however, he engaged in four great battles over the next two years. These battles were astounding for the number of Roman losses. On 2 August 216 BCE, for example, at Cannae in southern Italy, over over 50 000 soldiers from a Roman army of 86 000 were annihilated in one day.
      Hannibal managed to conquer most of the Italian Pennisula. Fourteen years later, through patient guerilla warfare, the Romans eventually came at the battle of Zama (202 BCE) in Tunisia, North Africa, under the leadership of the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio. For this victory, Scipio was given the honorary title Scipio Africanus. The Roman state had learned that it now had the potential to be the pre-eminent power in the Mediterranean world, and not merely a powerful city in the Italian Peninsula.
      For their defeat at Zama, the Carthaginians paid a heavy toll to Rome: they were obliged to pay huge war reparations, forfeit their commercial empire, and dismantle their once powerful navy. Within 50 years, however, the Carthaginians were again on the rise, and when a neighboring kingdom in North Africa became fearful, it appealed to Rome for help.
      Rome then waged war against Carthage for the last time. Remembering their incredible losses at Cannae and elsewhere, the Romans utterly destroyed the city of Carthage. thanks to a historian named Polybius, who was present at the destruction of Carthage, we have a record of the words spoken by the commanding Roman general, Publius Scipio Aemilianus, grandson of Scipio Africanus: "We have made a desert and called it peace."

Eastern Expansion and Its Consequences

      The Greek world in the eastern Mediterranean also experienced the power of the Republic's armies. After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, there were squabbles among the inheritors of his empire: the kingdoms of Antigonus (Greece and Macedonia), Seleucus (Asia Minor), and Ptolemy (Egypt and eastern Libya). Added to this explosive mixture were the pirates in the Adriatic Sea. All of this put Roman trading and maritime commerce at risk.
     The Romans had no particular desire to become embroiled in the politics of the Greek world. The state had its hands full with Carthage. Nevertheless, matters came to a head when a senatorial deputation that arrived in Corinth in 147 BCE was treated badly, and Rome oculd not tolerate the insults of the Greeks. In 146 BCE, an attack was mounted against Corinth - the city was razed and plundered. Romans would later equate the destruction of that wealthy city and the theft of its reasures in fine art and opulent furnishings with the beginning of decadence and a love of luxury in their own city.

Expansion and Colonization in Italy

      As an important step in the Romanization of the Italian Peninsula, and a model for the subsequent domination of the rest of Europe, coloniae (colonies) were created in strategic places where there was no existing population. These colonies were composed of full Roman citizens who could be counted on to support the interests of the Roman regime. As often as not, the inhabitants of the colonies were recently discharged soldiers or members of the urban poor who had exchanged their impoverished occupation for a tract of land and the benefits of a rural existence. After the construction of the first paved road leading out of Rome, the Via Appia (Appian Way), colonies were planted throughout the Italian Peninsula south of the Po River during the third century BCE. Examples were Cosa in the northwest and Venusium (modern Venosa) in the wild interior of southern Italy, a colony that became an important Roman presence during the conquest of southern Italy and the subsequent opposition to Hannibal in 216 BCE.

Conflict at Home: Dissatisfaction in the Republic 

      There was a widening gulf between the landowning rich and the urban poor, who had no means to support themselves. A reformer named Tiberius Gracchus, elected tribune of the people in 133 BCE, thought he know how to solve the problems of the urban poor. Earlier, much of the public land had been seized quite illegally by richer members of the Roman populace, so Tiberius set about redistributing land. A Land Commission was set up to distribute ten hectare plots.
      Tiberius Gracchus, however, overstepped his authority. He announced that he would seek re-election as tribune which was unheard of. His action instigated a riot by the angry, landowning senators in Rome. Some 300 people were killed, among them Tiberius himself. Nevertheless, the Land Commission continued to function and about 80 000 people from the city were resettled.
      Tiberius's brother, Gaius Gracchus, was elected tribune in 123 BCE. He too was a zealous reformer and believed he had the answer to the problems of the conflicting interests of the population. First, to satisfy the urban poor, he instituted free, monthly supply of grain. Second, in an attempt to meet the needs of the landless poor and not offend the Senate, he proposed new colonies at Capua, Taranto, and Punic Wars and so were available for resettlement. Lastly, he proposed a package of moderate compromises to give some rights to the non-Roman population. All Roman citizens were offended by this either on moral or religious grounds, or because they feared the loss of their privileges. given the almost unanimous opposition, Gaius Gracchus made no progress with his proposals and succeeded only in incurring the wrath of the public. He was declared a public enemy in 121 BCE, and along with 3000 of his supporters, was attacked by a mob and killed.
      The attempts made by the Gracchus brothers to bring greater political harmony to the Roman state had come to nothing. Eventually, over the course of the next hundreds years, the state's inability to bridge the gulf between rich and poor and to come to grips with the Republic's new-found wealth and increasing commercialism led to its downfall.

Citizenship in Italy 

      In the aftermath of the failed attempts at reform, the free population of the Italian, non-Roman communities (which were located throughout the peninsula, especially to the south of the Po River) felt increasingly isolated from decisions affecting their welfare. Eventually, their resentment of Rome came to a boil. It was not that the Italians, as they called themselves, wanted to replace Rome but rather what they wanted was a share of the privileges that came with Roman citizenship.
      The privileges of citizenship were significant. For example, a full Roman citizen was protected in Roman civil law from the arbitrary exercise of power by a Roman magistrate. A child born to a Roman citizen was also a Roman citizen if the father had the legal right (conubium) to marry the mother. Roman citizens enjoyed a favourable tax status and, with expansion overseas, were exempted from paying tribute in Italy. Finally, and high on the list of privileges, was the fact that any slave freed by a full Roman citizen was himself automatically a Roman citizen, although always dependent by law on his benefactor.
      A bitter Social War broke out in 90 BCE. The Romans retained the upper hand and suppressed the uprising of the non-Roman Italians in 89 BCE. At the same time, they made several concessions. Later, after Julius Caesar's invasion of Italy south of the Rubicon in 49 BCE, the whole Italian Peninsula would gain full Roman citizenship and, under the Emperor Caracalla in 212 CE, all free males within the Empire were granted citizenship. By that time, however, provincial Roman citizens had lost their tax exemptions.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd. 

The Roman Republic

      The Roman Republic (Res Publica, public matter) was a result of the people's discontent with the tyrannical, domineering attitudes of the Etruscan kings. However, up to 27 BCE< much of the subsequent internal history of the state of Rome can be traced by following the relationship that existed between an overbearing, landowning aristocracy, known as the patricians, and the often landless poor, the plebeians.
      The Roman Republic was known to its citizens as the Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR, the Senate and People of Rome). As the name implies, there was a constant tension between the senatorial aristocracy and the people. Nowhere was this tension and the state's efforts to accommodate it more evident than in the system of government that developed as Rome achieved political maturity.

Assemblies

      The Roman Republican government was composed of several assemblies from which magistrates were drawn. Before the expulsion of Tarquin the Proud in 509 BCe, the kings of Rome had been advised and supported by a council made up of the men who controlled the most land. This body was known as the Senate and continued to be important throughout the history of the Roman Republic.
      The Comitia Centuriata (Assembly of Centuries) was an important assembly of male citizens segregated into five electoral classes according to wealth. The wealthiest landowners were the first to vote and the proletarii (those who owned no land), were the last. The Comitia Centuriata passed laws presented to it by the annually elected senior magistrates. This assembly also included the Comitia Curiata, another assembly of the 30 divisions of citizens from the three clans: the Ramnes, Luceres, and Tities. The main function of the Comitia Curiata seems to have been to attend the inauguration of the king during the period of Etruscan rule. During the Roman period, it confirmed a magistrate's right to exercise the authority already granted to him by the Comitia Centuriata.
      The Comitia Tributa (Assembly of Tribes) was an assembly that consisted of all the enfranchised people (those who had a right to vote) in the city who belonged to tribes, at least nominally. This assembly could pas laws on behalf of all the people including the aristocrats who owned land and the mass of ordinary folk.
      Finally, the Concilium Plebis (Plebeian Tribal Council) was a tribal assembly much like the Comitia Tributa with the exception that aristocrats could not be members. It passed plebiscita (plebiscites), votes that had the force of law.

Magistrates

      After Tarquin's removal, two men from the Senate were elected by the members of the Comitia Centuriata to become consuls, the chief magistrates of the Roman state. Consuls were elected annually; with the other lesser magistrates (discussed below), one colleague could veto (Latin for "I forbid") the decisions of the other, thereby acting as a check against abuse of power.
       In addition to the regular, annual cursus honorum - the magistracies held consecutively - there was the extraordinary position of dictator. A dictator was appointed by the consuls for a specified period, originally six months. Such appointments were made in times of crisis, especially during wars.
      Also elected annually by the Comitia Centuriata were the praetors. After the consuls, these officers were the next most powerful men in the state. Originally, there was only one, a patrician responsible for the administration of justice in Rome itself. After a short while, however, another was added whose primary responsibility became relations between Roman citizens and non-Romans. As Rome conquered foreign territories, more praetors were added. The number of praetors was increased to four in 227 BCE upon the conquest of Sicily and Sardinia, and then to six in 197 BCe, when Rome acquired Spain. Eventually, the power of the patricians was eroded to the point where the number of praetors grew so large that the position was no longer something special, and even plebeians won the right to stand for election.
      The position of censor was established in the mid-fourth century BCE. Two censors were elected by the Comitia Centuriata to hold office together for five years. As former consuls, the major task facing these men was to draw up revised lists of citizens (the census). As Rome became more powerful, Roman citizenship became more attractive. The modern meaning of censor is derived from a secondary responsibility of the Roman officials, which was to oversee public morality.
      Next down the ladder of elected officials in the Roman Republic were the Curulian aediles who were elected by the Comitia Tributa. Originally, there were two such officials. Later, their number was increased and they became responsible for such things as the maintenance of roads in the city, public executions, water, and official standards of measure.
      The last of the originally patrician officers were the quaestors. They were elected annually by the Comitia Tributa and were charged with administering financial matters, always considered a rather sordid business. At first, there were two quaestors, but as the area of Roman influence expanded, more positions were added.

The People and Their Representatives

     For all the continuing attempts to control tensions and curb individual abuse of power, the division of patricians and plebeians remained a division between rich and poor, between those with power and influence and those without. Early in the fifth century (494 BCE), in an attempt to correct that imbalance, the Concilium Plebis ( Plebeian Tribal Council) was established and membership was restricted to non-senatorial males. Two plebeian tribunes, who were given sacred immunity (like that of foreign diplomats today), were elected annually by the Concilium Plebis. The plebeian tribunes had the authority to veto decisions made by the consuls. Gradually, the number of plebeian tribunes was increased to ten. in time, they came to be very powerful interpreters of the people's wishes. This became especially true later in the fifth century BCE when decisions made by the Concilium Plebis no longer needed the Senate's approval.

Growth and Maturity of the Republic

      For the next 400 years, the Roman Republic underwent great expansion and faced extreme danger. First, the Gauls (a Celtic people of Europe north of the Alps), crossed the mountains into Italy, forced to do so by an increasing population. Their leader Brennus is remembered at the Brenner Pass, one of the most important road and rail links today between Italy and the rest of Europe. Although Rome was besieged and sacked by the Gauls in 390 BCE, the city recovered and struck back. The Gauls were defeated and dispersed. This action marked Rome's first major expansion to the far north of the Italian Peninsula, a move that had more to do with responding to external military pressure than with economic need.
      By the second century BCE, Sicily was fast becoming Rome's breadbasket, supplying the many thousands of tonnes of grain required annually to feed the city's inhabitants. approximately half of the grain was handed out to the people by the state, while the other half remained in the hands of entrepreneurs (negotiatores). There was also a constant and ever increasing need for cooking oil; southern Spain eventually became an important source of that essential commodity. This inevitably led to clashes with the Carthaginians, who were at that time the greatest maritime power in the western Mediterranean.
      The Carthaginians were quite different from the Romans. In times of crisis, their gods demanded the sacrifice of infant sons. the Carthaginians came originally from Phoenecia (what is now Lebanon) and settled in North Africa. Above all, they were traders. Throughout much of their conflict with the Romans, from 264 BCE until the time of the final destruction of Carthage in 146 BCE, they maintained a commercial empire and effectively had control over Sicily and the Iberian Peninsula (present-day Spain and Portugal_.
      At the same time that Rome was in conflict with Carthage, it was also expanding its dominion into the eastern Mediterranean, taking control of eastern Greek cities. In Italy, spurred on in part by a constant growing need for wine, produce, leather, and woolen goods, the Romans had already subdued many rival city-states and tribes, created towns that would support their interests, and encouraged other towns to prosper. Finally, and importantly, the great increase in military activity led to a massive increase in the trade in arms and armour.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.