Fortune's Favorites

by Colleen McCullough

  Gaius Gracchus, ten years Tiberius's junior, was elected a tribune of the plebs in 123 b.c. More able than his brother, he had also profited from his mistakes, and bade fair to alter the whole direction of the ultra-conservative Rome of his time. His reforms were much wider than Tiberius's, and embraced not only the ager publicus, but also cheap grain for the populace (a measure aimed not only at the poor, for he adopted no means test), regulation of service in the army, the founding of Roman citizen colonies abroad, public works throughout Italy, removal of the courts from the Senate, a new system to farm the taxes of Asia Province, and an enhancement of citizen status for Latins and Italians. When his year as a tribune of the plebs finished, Gaius Gracchus emulated his brother and ran for a second term. Instead of being killed for his presumption, he got in. At the end of his second term he determined to run yet again, but was defeated in the elections. Helpless to intervene, he had to see all his laws and reforms begin to topple. Prevented from availing himself of peaceful means, Gaius Gracchus resorted to violence. Many of his partisans were killed when the Senate passed its first-ever "ultimate decree," but Gaius Gracchus himself chose to commit suicide before he could be apprehended.

  The glossary attached to The Grass Crown contains a much fuller article on the Gracchi.

  guild An organized body of professionals, tradesmen, or slaves. One of the purposes behind the organization of guilds lay in protective measures to ensure the members received every advantage in business or trade practices, another to ensure the members were cared for properly in their places of work, and one interesting one, to ensure that the members had sufficient means at their deaths for decent burial.

  Head Count The capite censi or proletarii: the lowly of Rome. Called the Head Count because at a census all the censors did was to "count heads." Too poor to belong to a Class, the urban Head Count usually belonged to an urban tribe, and therefore owned no worthwhile votes. This rendered them politically useless beyond ensuring that they were fed and entertained enough not to riot. Rural Head Count, though usually owning a valuable tribal vote, rarely could afford to come to Rome at election time. Head Count were neither politically aware nor interested in the way Rome was governed, nor were they particularly oppressed in an Industrial Revolution context. I have sedulously avoided the terms "the masses" or "the proletariat" because of post-Marxist preconceptions not applicable to the ancient lowly. In fact, they seem to have been busy, happy, rather impudent and not at all servile people who had an excellent idea of their own worth and scant respect for the Roman great. However, they had their public heroes; chief

  (JUUSSARY

  among them seems to have been Gaius Marius-until the advent of Caesar, whom they adored. This in turn might suggest that they were not proof against military might and the concept of Rome as The Greatest.

  Hellenic, Hellenized Terms relating to the spread of Greek culture and customs after the time of Alexander the Great. It involved life-style, architecture, dress, industry, government, commercial practices and the Greek language.

  hemiolia A very swift, light bireme of small size, much favored by pirates in the days before they organized themselves into fleets and embarked upon mass raiding of shipping and maritime communities. The hemiolia was not decked, and carried a mast and sail aft, thus reducing the number of oars in the upper bank to the forward section of the ship.

  herm A stone pedestal designed to accommodate a bust or small sculpture. It was chiefly distinguished by possessing male genitals on its front side, usually erect.

  horse, Nesaean The largest kind of horse known to the ancients. How large it was is debatable, but it seems to have been at least as large as the mediaeval beast which carried an armored knight, as the Kings of Armenia and the Parthians both relied on Nesaeans to carry their cataphracts (cavalry clad in chain mail from head to foot, as were the horses). Its natural home was to the south and west of the Caspian Sea, in Media, but by the time of the late Republic there were some Nesaean horses in most parts of the ancient world.

  Horse, October On the Ides of October (this was about the time the old campaigning season finished), the best war-horses of that year were picked out and harnessed in pairs to chariots. They then raced on the sward of the Campus Martius, rather than in one of the Circuses. The right-hand horse of the winning team was sacrificed to Mars on a specially erected altar adjacent to the course of the race. The animal was killed with a spear, after which its head was severed and piled over with little cakes, while its tail and genitalia were rushed to the Regia in the Forum Romanum, and the blood dripped onto the altar inside the Regia. Once the ceremonies over the horse's cake-heaped head were concluded, it was thrown at two competing crowds of people, one comprising residents of the Subura, the other residents of the Via Sacra. The purpose was to have the two crowds fight for possession of the head. If the Via Sacra won, the head was nailed to the outside wall of the Regia; if the Subura won, the head was nailed to the outside wall of the Tunis Mamilia (the most conspicuous building in the Subura). What was the reason behind all this is not known; the Romans of the late Republic may well not have known themselves, save that it was in some way connected with the close of the campaigning season. We are not told whether the war-horses were Public Horses or not, but we might be pardoned for presuming they were Public Horses.

  Horse, Public A horse which belonged to the State-to the Senate and People of Rome. Going all the way back to the Kings of Rome, it had been governmental policy to provide the eighteen hundred knights of the eighteen most senior Centuries with a horse to ride into battle-bearing in mind the fact that the Centuriate Assembly had originally been a military gathering, and the senior Centuries cavalrymen. The right of these senior knights to a Public Horse was highly regarded and defended.

  hubris The Greek word for overweening pride in self.

  hypocausis In English, hypocaust. A form of central heating having a floor raised on piles and heated from a furnace (the early ones were wood-fired) below. The hypocaust began to heat domestic dwellings about the time of Gaius Marius, and was also used to heat the water in baths, both public and domestic.

  ichor The fluid which coursed through the veins of the gods; a kind of divine blood.

  Ides The third of the three named days of the month which represented the fixed points of the month. Dates were reckoned backward from each of these points-Kalends, Nones, Ides. The Ides occurred on the fifteenth day of the long months (March, May, July and October), and on the thirteenth day of the other months. The Ides were sacred to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and were marked by the sacrifice of a sheep on the Arx of the Capitol by the flamen Dialis.

  Ilium The Latin name for Homer's city of Troy.

  Illyricum The wild and mountainous lands bordering the Adriatic Sea on its eastern side. The native peoples belonged to an Indo-European race called Illyrians, were tribalized, and detested first Greek and then Roman coastal incursions. Republican Rome bothered little about Illyricum unless boiling tribes began to threaten eastern Italian Gaul, when the Senate would send an army to chasten them.

  imago, imagines An imago was a beautifully tinted mask made of refined beeswax, outfitted with a wig, and startlingly lifelike (anyone who has visited a waxworks museum will understand how lifelike wax images can be made, and there is no reason to think a Roman imago was very much inferior to a Victorian wax face). When a Roman nobleman reached a certain level of public distinction, he acquired the ius imaginis, which was the right to have a wax image made of himself. Some modern authorities say the ius imaginis was bestowed upon a man once he attained curule office, which would mean aedile. Others plump for praetor, still others for consul. I plump for consul, also the Grass or Civic Crown, a major flaminate, and Pontifex Maximus. All the imagines belonging to a family were kept in painstakingly wrought miniature temples in the atrium of the house, and were regularly sacrificed to. When a prominent man or woman of a family owning the ius imaginis died, the wax masks were brought out and worn by actors selected b
ecause they bore a physical resemblance in height and build to the men the masks represented. Women of course were not entitled to the ius imaginis-even Cornelia the Mother of the Gracchi.

  imperator Literally, the commander-in-chief or general of a Roman army. However, the term (first attested to in the career of Lucius Aemilius Paullus) gradually came to be given only to a general who won a great victory; his troops had to have hailed him imperator on the field before he qualified for a triumph. Imperator is the root of the word "emperor."

  imperium Imperium was the degree of authority vested in a curule magistrate or promagistrate. It meant that a man owned the authority of his office, and could not be gainsaid provided he was acting within the limits of his particular level of imperium and within the laws governing his conduct. Imperium was conferred by a lex curiata, and lasted for one year only. Extensions for prorogued governors had to be ratified by the Senate and/or People. Lictors shouldering fasces indicated a man's imperium; the more lictors, the higher the imperium.

  in absentia In the context used in these books, a candidacy for office approved of by Senate (and People, if necessary) and an election conducted in the absence of the candidate himself. He may have been waiting on the Campus Martius because imperium prevented his crossing the pomerium, as with Pompey and Crassus in 70 b.c., or he may have been on military service in a province, as with Gaius Memmius when elected quaestor.

  in loco parentis Still used today, though in a somewhat watered-down sense. To a Republican Roman, in loco parentis (literally, in the place of a parent) meant a person assumed the full entitlements of a parent as well as the inherent responsibilities.

  insula An island. Because it was surrounded on all sides by streets, lanes or alleyways, an apartment building was known as an insula. Roman insulae were very tall (up to one hundred feet-thirty meters-in height) and most were large enough to incorporate an internal light well; many were so large they contained multiple light wells. The insulae to be seen today at Ostia are not a real indication of the height insulae attained within Rome; we know that Augustus tried fruitlessly to limit the height of Roman city insulae to one hundred feet.

  [FF 978.jpg]

  in suo anno Literally, in his year. The phrase was used of men who attained curule office at the exact age the law and custom prescribed for a man holding that office. To be praetor and consul in suo anno was a great distinction, for it meant that a man gained election at his first time of trying-many consuls and not a few praetors had to stand several times before they were successful, while others were prevented by circumstances from seeking office at this youngest possible age. Those who bent the law to attain office at an age younger than that prescribed were also not accorded the distinction of being in suo anno.

  interrex "Between the kings." The patrician senator, leader of his decury, appointed to govern for five days when Rome had no consuls. The term is more fully explained in the text.

  Iol Modern Cherchel, in Algeria.

  Italia The name given to all of peninsular Italy. Until Sulla regulated the border with Italian Gaul east of the Apennines by fixing it at the Rubico River, the Adriatic side probably ended at the Metaurus River.

  Italian Allies Certain states and/or tribes within peninsular Italy were not gifted with the Roman citizenship until after they rose up against Rome in 91 b.c. (a war detailed in The Grass Crown). They were held to be socii, that is, allies of Rome. It was not until after Sulla became dictator at the end of 82 b.c. that the men of the Italian Allies were properly regulated as Roman citizens. Italian Gaul See the entry under Gaul. index The Latin term for a judge.

  iugerum, iugera The Roman unit of land measurement. In modern terms the iugerum consisted of 0.623 (five eighths) of an acre, or 0.252 (one quarter) of a hectare. The modern reader used to acres will get close enough by dividing the number of iugera in two; if more accustomed to hectares, divide the number of iugera by four.

  Iulus Strictly speaking, the Latin alphabet owned no J. The equivalent was consonantal /, pronounced more like the English Y. If rendered in English, Iulus would be Julus. Iulus was the son of Aeneas (q.v.) and was believed by the members of the gens Julia to be their direct ancestor. The identity of his mother is of some import. Virgil says Iulus was actually Ascanius, the son of Aeneas by his Trojan wife, Creusa, and had accompanied Aeneas on all his travels. On the other hand, Livy says Iulus was the son of Aeneas by his Latin wife, Lavinia. What the Julian family of Caesar's day believed is not known. I shall go with Livy; Virgil was too prone to tamper with history in order to please his patron, Augustus.

  ius In the sense used in this book, an incontrovertible right or entitlement at law and under the mos maiorum. Hence the ius auxilii ferendi (q.v.), the ius imaginis (see imago), and so forth.

  ius auxilii ferendi The original purpose of the tribunate of the plebs was to protect members of the Plebs from discriminatory actions by the Patriciate, this latter group of aristocrats then forming both the Senate and the magistracy. The ius auxilii ferendi was the right of any plebeian to claim to the tribunes of the plebs that he must be rescued from the clutches of a magistrate.

  Jupiter Stator That aspect of Jupiter devoted to halting soldiers who were fleeing the field of battle. It was a military cult of generals. The chief temple to Jupiter Stator was on the corner of the Velia where the Via Sacra turned at right angles to run down the slope toward the Palus Ceroliae; it was large enough to be used for meetings by the Senate.

  Kalends The first of the three named days of each month which represented the fixed points of the month. Dates were reckoned backward from each of these points-Kalends, Nones, Ides. The Kalends always occurred on the first day of the month. They were sacred to Juno, and originally had been timed to coincide with the appearance of the New Moon.

  knights The equites, the members of what Gaius Gracchus named the Ordo Equester. Under the Kings of Rome, the equites had formed the cavalry segment of the Roman army; at this time horses were both scarce and expensive, with the result that the eighteen original Centuries comprising the knights were dowered with the Public Horse by the State. As the Republic came into being and grew, the importance of Roman knight cavalry diminished, yet the number of knight Centuries in the Classes increased. By the second century b.c., Rome no longer fielded horse of her own, and the knights became a social and economic group having little to do with military matters. The knights were now defined by the censors in economic terms alone, though the State continued to provide a Public Horse for each of the eighteen hundred most senior equites. The original eighteen Centuries were kept at one hundred men each, but the rest of the knights' Centuries (between seventy-one and seventy-three) swelled within themselves to contain many more than one hundred men apiece.

  Until 123 b.c., all senators were knights as well, but in that year Gaius Gracchus split the Senate off as a separate body of three hundred men. It was at best an artificial kind of process; all non-senatorial members of senatorial families were still classified as knights, and the senators were not put into three senator-only Centuries, but left for voting purposes in whatever Centuries they had always occupied.

  The insoluble puzzle is: who were the tribuni aerarii? A knight's census was 400,000 sesterces, presumably income, and the tribunus aerarius had a census of 300,000 sesterces. At first I thought they were possibly senior public servants–Treasury supervisors and the like–but I have swung round to thinking that Mommsen was right. He suggested that there were at least two echelons of knight of the First Class: those with a census of 400,000 sesterces, and those with a census of 300,000 sesterces; and that the lesser-incomed knights were the tribuni aerarii. Does that mean only the eighteen hundred knights owning the Public Horse possessed a census of 400,000 sesterces or more? I would doubt that too. There were many thousands of very rich men in Rome, and no census could so neatly divide one income group from another at a round-figure cutoff point. Perhaps it went more that a senior knight dowered with the Public Horse had to have at least 400,
000 sesterces income for census purposes. Whereas the other seventy-plus Centuries of the First Class contained a mixture of full knights and tribuni aerarii. The Centuries of juniors, one imagines, contained more census-rated tribuni aerarii than the Centuries of seniors. But no one knows for certain!

  There was nothing to stop a knight who qualified for the (entirely unofficial) senatorial means test of one million sesterces becoming a senator under the old system, wherein the censors filled vacancies in the Senate; that by and large knights did not aspire to the Senate was purely because of the knightly love of trade and commerce, forbidden fruit for senators, who could only dabble in land and property. When Sulla reorganized senatorial admission by regulating it through election to the quaestorship, presumably the electoral officers (whose duty it was to accept or deny a candidacy) inspected the candidate's means. But I also suspect that quite a few men firmly ensconced in the Senate did not have one million sesterces income!

  Lake Nemi A small volcanic lake in the Via Appia flank of the Alban Hills. In a grove of sacred trees on its shore stood Diana's temple, served by a priest called Rex Nemorensis. He was an escaped slave who succeeded to the priesthood by first defiling the grove by breaking off a bough from a tree, then killing the existing Rex Nemorensis in combat.