Crisis of the Roman Republic
The tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC led to a breakup of the long-standing norms of the republican constitution. Gracchus was successful in passing legislation to pursue land reform over a norms-breaking attempt by Marcus Octavius. Octavius was a tribune in the same year as Gracchus who vetoed proceedings overwhelmingly supported by the people. Gracchus' legislation would challenge the socio-political power of the old aristocracy along with eroding their economic interests. The backlash against Tiberius Gracchus' attempt to secure for himself a second term as tribune of the plebs led to his assassination. Scipio Nasica acted as a private citizen and against the advice of the consul and jurist Publius Mucius Scaevola to kill him. The Senate's violent reaction served to legitimise the use of violence for political ends. Political violence showed fundamentally that traditional republican norms were incapable of resolving conflicts between political actors. Tiberius Gracchus' younger brother Gaius Gracchus later won repeated office to the tribunate so to pass similarly expansive reforms. He was killed by similar violence when Consul Lucius Opimius was empowered by the senate to use military force. Foreign mercenaries from Crete participated in this state of emergency declared to kill Gaius Gracchus, Marcus Fulvius Flaccus and followers.
Following the Social War which had the character of a civil war between Rome's Italian allies and loyalists, the main question looming before the state was how Italians could be integrated into the Roman political system. Tribune Publius Sulpicius Rufus in 88 BC attempted to pass legislation granting greater political rights to the Italians. One addition to this legislative programme included a transfer of command of the coming First Mithridatic War from Sulla to Gaius Marius. Marius had re-entered politics at this time. Attempts to recall Sulla led to his then-unprecedented and utterly unanticipated marching on Rome with his army encamped at Nola near Naples. This choice collapsed any republican norms about the use of force. In this first march on Rome he declared a number of his political opponents enemies of the state and ordered their murder. Marius escaped to his friendly legionary colonies in Africa while Sulpicius was killed. He also installed two new consuls and forced major reforms of the constitution at sword-point before leaving on campaign against Mithridates. While Sulla was fighting Mithridates Lucius Cornelius Cinna dominated domestic Roman politics controlling elections and other parts of civil life. Cinna and his partisans razed Sulla's house in Rome and revoked his command in name. They forced his family to flee the city. Cinna himself won election to the consulship three times consecutively and conducted a purge of his political opponents displaying their heads on the rostra in the forum. Sulla returned in 82 BC at the head of his army after concluding a generous peace with Mithridates to retake the city from the domination of the Cinnan faction. After winning a civil war and purging the republic of thousands of political opponents and enemies many targeted for their wealth he forced the Assemblies to make him dictator for the settling of the constitution with an indefinite term.
Further political violence emerged in the sixth consulship of Gaius Marius known to us as 100 BC. Marius had been consul consecutively for some years by this point owing to the immediacy of the Cimbrian War. These consecutive consulships violated Roman law which mandated a decade between consulships further weakening the primarily norms-based constitution. Returning to 100 BC large numbers of armed gangs perhaps better described as militias engaged in street violence. A candidate for high office named Gaius Memmius was also assassinated. Marius was called upon as consul to suppress the violence which he did with significant effort and military force. His landless legionaries also affected voting directly as while they could not vote themselves for failing to meet property qualifications they could intimidate those who could. Even by the early-60s BC political violence began to reassert itself with unrest at the consular elections noted at every year between 66 and 63. The revolt of Catiline which we hear much about from the consul for that year Cicero was put down by violating the due process rights of citizens and introducing the death penalty to the Roman government's relationship with its citizens. Over the course of the late republic formerly authoritative institutions lost their credibility and authority. For example the Sullan reforms to the Senate strongly split the aristocratic class between those who stayed in the city and those who rose to high office abroad further increasing class divides between Romans even at the highest levels. Furthermore the dominance of the military in the late republic along with stronger ties between a general and his troops caused by their longer terms of service together and the troops' reliance on that general to provide for their retirements made a huge number of malcontent soldiers willing to take up arms against the state. Adding in the institutionalisation of violence as a means to obstruct or force political change eg the deaths of the Gracchi and Sulla's dictatorship respectively the republic was caught in an ever more violent and anarchic struggle between the Senate assemblies at Rome and the promagistrates. Pompey's extraordinary multi-year commands in the east made him wealthy and powerful. His return in 62 BC could not be handled within the context of a republican system.
The destruction of the senate house and escalation of violence continued until Pompey was simply appointed by the senate without consultation of the assemblies as sole consul in 52 BC. The domination of the city by Pompey and repeated political irregularities led to Caesar being unwilling to subject himself to what he considered to be biased courts and unfairly administered laws starting Caesar's civil war. Whether the period starting with Caesar's civil war should really be called a portion of the republic is a matter of scholarly debate. After Caesar's victory he ruled a dictatorial regime until his assassination in 44 BC at the hands of the Liberatores. The Caesarian faction quickly gained control of the state. They inaugurated the Second Triumvirate comprising Caesar's adopted son Octavian and the dictator's two most important supporters Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus purged their political enemies and successfully defeated the assassins in the Liberators' civil war at the Battle of Philippi. The Second Triumvirate failed to reach any mutually agreeable resolution leading to the final civil war and permanent collapse of the Republic. Octavian now Augustus became the first Roman Emperor in 27 BC and transformed the oligarchic republic into the autocratic Roman Empire.
For centuries historians have argued about periodization the start specific crises involved and end date for the crisis of the Roman Republic. As a culture or web of institutions Florence Dupont and Christopher Woodall wrote no distinction is made between different periods. However referencing Livy's opinion in his History of Rome they assert that Romans lost liberty through their own conquests morally undermining consequences. Arguments for an early start-date range from c. 134 to 73 BC. Von Ungern-Sternberg argues for an exact start date of the 10th of December 134 BC with the inauguration of Tiberius Gracchus as tribune or alternately when he first issued his proposal for land reform in 133 BC. The Greek historian Appian of Alexandria wrote that this political crisis was the preface to the Roman civil wars. The Roman historian Velleius Paterculus commented that it was Gracchus' unprecedented standing for re-election as tribune in 133 BC and the riots and controversy it engendered which started the crisis. In any case the assassination of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC marked a turning point in Roman history and the beginning of the crisis of the Roman Republic. Barbette S. Spaeth specifically refers to the Gracchan crisis at the beginning of the Late Roman Republic. Nic Fields in his popular history of Spartacus argues for a start date of 135 BC with the beginning of the First Servile War in Sicily. Fields asserts the start of the Social War 91, 87 BC when Rome's nearby Italian allies rebelled against her rule may be thought of as the beginning of the end of the Republic. Fields also suggests that things got much worse with the Samnite engagement at the Battle of the Colline Gate in 82 BC the climax of the war between Sulla and the supporters of Gaius Marius. Barry Strauss argues that the crisis really started with The Spartacus War in 73 BC adding that because the dangers were unappreciated Rome faced the crisis with mediocrities. Arguments for a later start date range from 69 to 44 BC. Pollio dates the Crisis only from the time of Julius Caesar in 60 BC. Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon a river marking the northern boundary of Roman Italy with his army in 49 BC a flagrant violation of Roman law has become the clichéd point of no return for the Republic as noted in many books including Tom Holland's Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic. The end of the Crisis can likewise either be dated from the assassination of Julius Caesar on the 15th of March 44 BC after he and Sulla had done so much to dismantle the government of the Republic or alternately when Octavian was granted the title of Augustus by the Senate in 27 BC marking the beginning of the Roman Empire. The end could also be dated earlier to the time of the constitutional reforms of Julius Caesar in 49 BC. A further line of argument questions whether it was a single coherent long crisis proposing instead a sequence of distinct ruptures and republics.
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Common questions
When did the crisis of the Roman Republic begin according to Tiberius Gracchus?
The crisis began on the 10th of December 134 BC with the inauguration of Tiberius Gracchus as tribune. Some historians argue it started when he first issued his proposal for land reform in 133 BC.
Who assassinated Tiberius Gracchus during the Roman political crisis?
Scipio Nasica acted as a private citizen and killed Tiberius Gracchus against the advice of Publius Mucius Scaevola. This assassination occurred in 133 BC after Gracchus attempted to secure a second term as tribune of the plebs.
What event marked the end of the Crisis of the Roman Republic?
Octavian was granted the title of Augustus by the Senate in 27 BC marking the beginning of the Roman Empire. The crisis also ended at the assassination of Julius Caesar on the 15th of March 44 BC or when Octavian became the first Roman Emperor.
How many times did Gaius Marius serve as consul consecutively before 100 BC?
Gaius Marius served as consul six times consecutively known as his sixth consulship in 100 BC. These consecutive terms violated Roman law which mandated a decade between consulships.
When did Sulla return to Rome with his army to retake control from Cinna?
Sulla returned in 82 BC at the head of his army after concluding peace with Mithridates. He defeated the Cinnan faction and forced the Assemblies to make him dictator for an indefinite term.