The highlanders of the glens and hills of central Italy formed the heart of the uprising, and comprised two groups, the Marsic in the North (the whole war is sometimes named the Marsic War) and the Samnite in the South. Eight warriors, who are depicted on a coin taking an oath, probably represent the Marsi, Picentines, Paeligni, Marrucini, Vestini, Frentani, Samnites and Hirpini. They obtained no support at first in Etruria or Umbria; Latium and northern Campania remained loyal to Rome; Calabria was not affected, nor Bruttium at first; but they soon won help in southern Campania, Lucania and Apulia. Their first need was a headquarters and military organization. For the former they chose a good centre at Corfinium, which lies in a plain girdled by magnificent mountains in the territory of the Paeligni. But they at once showed that they were not mere rebels banded together to destroy Rome; rather, they sought to found an independent nation. Corfinium was proudly renamed Italia and the organization of the new confederacy may have outrun the needs of a purely military machine. Officers (two consuls and twelve praetors) and a Senate were established, but unfortunately the details are obscure: some suppose that the constitution was modelled on that of Rome, others that the council was a federal body of allied delegates, and others again that the organization was a binary league based on the two main cantonal groups of Marsi and Samnites.9 Soon no less than 100,000 men were ready for battle: Poppaedius Silo commanded the Marsic group, Papius Mutilus the Samnite, each commander having six divisional officers under him. To pay the troops special issues of coins were minted, which both helped to unify the cause and advertise its ideals: on them we see groups of warriors taking oaths of loyalty, Italia personified, the Italian bull goring the Roman wolf, and the names of the commanders in Latin or Oscan. The men themselves were sturdy fighters and many of them had served alongside Roman armies in the past. Rome now found that her selfish policy had unleashed a veritable whirlwind of potential destruction.
4. THE ITALIAN OR SOCIAL WAR10
In the hour of their self-imposed danger the Romans did not lose courage. If they could weather the first onslaught, they might hope to survive, since they mustered some 150,000 men and through their control of the sea they might get further help from the provinces or client kings. The fighting flared up in two main theatres of war, each of which was entrusted to one of the consuls of 90 B.C., supported by more experienced men serving as legati. In the North P. Rutilius Lupus had Marius and Cn. Pompeius Strabo (the father of Pompey) on his staff; L. Iulius Caesar in the South had Sulla and T. Didius. In the North the Italians hoped to extend the revolt outwards from Picenum and at the same time to thrust westwards from Corfinium along the Via Valeria, which led across the peninsula to Rome itself, sweeping past the loyal colonies at Alba Fucens and Carseoli.11 To meet these threats Strabo, who had large estates in Picenum, was sent there against Asculum, and after some misadventures he was able to start to besiege the city. In their attempts to rescue Alba, the Romans were less successful. Rutilius was defeated and killed in the Tolenus valley, and Caepio was destroyed by Poppaedius Silo; Marius, however, who had managed to retrieve the positions after these defeats, was now left in sole command and defeated the Marsi and Marrucini, though the fate of Alba remains uncertain. Meantime in the South the Italians gained successes in three areas: (a) they turned against Aesernia, a key fortress which covered their communications between the northern and southern areas; after twice defeating the consul Caesar, they forced Aesernia to surrender after a grim siege; (b) Papius Mutilus with the Samnites burst into southern Campania and won over many towns until he was defeated at Acerrae by Caesar; and (c) other Italian commanders led successful raids into Apulia and Lucania. Despite these losses, however, the Romans managed to survive the first year of the revolt and wisely made political concessions (see below) to prevent it spreading farther, for instance to Etruria which was becoming restless.
In 89 both consuls, Strabo and L. Porcius Cato, went to the northern front, while Sulla took command of the forces in Campania; Marius was curiously neglected. When Cato was defeated and killed near the Fucine Lake, Strabo was left in command of operations in the northern theatre, where he pressed on with the siege of Asculum. In a decisive engagement he defeated an Italian army of 60,000 men, who were hastening to its relief and no doubt hoped ultimately to break through to Umbria and Etruria. After this success he forced Asculum to surrender before the end of the year,12 and the revolt in the North began to peter out: Poppaedius Silo fled to Samnium, and Italia, the confederate capital, was abandoned. Meantime in the South Sulla had moved over to the offensive: he defeated a Samnite army which was trying to relieve Pompeii, recovered some of the Campanian cities, advanced into the hills of southern Samnium where he took Aeclanum and Compsa, forced Papius to seek cover in Aesernia, and finally captured Bovianum Vetus, the Italian headquarters. With good hopes might Sulla then return to Rome to stand for the consulship of 88. Italian resistance was now concentrated among the Samnites, Rome’s old enemies, with new headquarters at Aesernia, where Silo bravely tried to build up fresh forces. He even succeeded in recapturing Bovianum, and in desperation appealed for help to Mithridates, king of Pontus, but he was soon defeated (88), while other centres of resistance in Apulia and the South were crushed: a few, as Aesernia and Nola, held out a little longer, but the war was essentially over.
The war would not have ended so quickly in the field, if Rome had not given ground on the political front and conceded the issue on which the Italians were fighting: Roman citizenship. During 90 the consul Caesar carried a lex Iulia which granted Roman citizenship to Latin and Italian communities, possibly only to those that had not yet revolted, but more probably also to any who laid down their arms; it further allowed generals to grant citizenship to individuals for service in battle.13 All communities that accepted this offer would then become self-governing municipia instead of independent sovereign states, and probably some general law was passed later (the lex Calpurnia?) which arranged details of the municipal re-organization.14 This wise measure would clearly confirm the support of the loyal and check the spread of the revolt. Early in 89 two tribunes carried a lex Plautia-Papiria, a supplementary measure under which, according to the older interpretation, individual members of allied states could obtain Roman citizenship by appearing within two months before the praetor peregrinus in Rome, that is individuals whose states had not accepted the offer under the lex Iulia and presumably any individuals whose states were still at war. This should be rejected: the lex Plautia-Papiria did not introduce a new principle of dealing with individuals as opposed to communities, but was designed partly to make good some detailed omission in the lex Iulia.15 Another supplementary measure, the lex Pompeia carried by Strabo in 89, dealt with Cisalpine Gaul and granted Latin status to the Transpadanes.16 Thus full Roman citizenship was potentially extended to all peoples south of the river Po. Those rebels who did not accept the offer in 90 or 89 became dediticii when they did finally submit, and were probably enfranchised during the struggle between Cinna and Octavius in 87.17 But although Rome’s conduct may seem generous, even if dictated by expediency, the newly enfranchised citizens still had a grievance: they were not at first distributed fairly throughout the thirty-five tribes with the result that their voting power was restricted in relation to that of the older citizens.18
The war was over, but at a terrible cost in human lives and suffering; its economic repercussions were serious19 and the importance of the army cast its shadow over civil life. Nevertheless the political unification of Italy was an immense step forward: Romans and Italians could now grow into a nation, and men learn to reconcile their local loyalties with a wider national citizenship. A man could now remain a loyal son of the town in which he was born and lived and yet enjoy the benefits of membership of a large sovereign state. Without destroying the extraordinarily varied individual pattern of life in the different parts of Italy, Rome now made it possible for all to belong to a single society, membership of which was guaranteed by the civitas Romana. Wit
hin a few years all the city-states and tribal areas were organized as municipia with quattuorviri as magistrates: semi-Celtic settlements in the north, old and proud Etruscan cities, Umbrian tribesmen, Samnite highlanders, Oscan dalesman, the old cities of Latium, the Greek cities of the South, and the wilder Bruttian tribesmen, all now found in Rome their communis patria. As Cicero said (de legibus, 2. 2. 5): ‘omnibus municipalibus duas esse censeo patrias, unam naturae, alteram civitatis’.
5. SULPICIUS’ TRIBUNATE AND SULLA’S CAPTURE OF ROME
Sulla was rewarded for his services in the war by election to the consulship of 88; later he was granted the province of Asia and the command against Mithridates who was on the war-path in the East. Sulla’s colleague in the consulship was an Optimate of no great distinction, Q. Pompeius Rufus. A more dominant figure however, was one of the tribunes, Publius Sulpicius,20 a former friend of the younger Drusus and a great orator, whose main object was apparently to secure fair play for the newly enfranchised Italians, whom (together with all freedmen) he was ultimately to propose to distribute over the thirty-five tribes. Such a statesmanlike measure was bound to provoke the opposition of the Optimates which in turn provoked Sulpicius to collect some armed bands in his support (even though the story that he had an escort of 600 young Equites who were called ‘anti-senators’ may be doubtful). He then turned for co-operation to Marius with whom he had already collaborated in opposing the consular candidature (for 88) for Caesar Strabo. Marius’ support would be valuable because it would swing the Equites behind Sulpicius, but it was dangerous: Marius had been curiously neglected since 90 and was now embittered; Sulpicius therefore agreed to secure the transference of the Mithridatic command from Sulla to Marius. Such a proposal was constitutionally improper and was not justified on military grounds since Marius was now nearly seventy and Sulla’s war-record was quite creditable. Marius, however, had long hankered for such a command (he had visited Asia Minor after his sixth consulship, partly in order to investigate the eastern situation). With this backing Sulpicius could now proceed with his programme which included lesser measures: to recall exiles and to expel from the Senate all members who owed more than 2000 denarii (this would please the Equites). When the consuls tried to check the tribune’s work by proclaiming a suspension of public business (iustitium), Sulpicius declared this to be illegal. An armed clash took place in the Forum, in which Pompeius Rufus’ son was killed and Sulla was forced to seek refuge in the house of Marius. After this indignity Sulla called off the iustitium and joined his army that was mustering for the Mithridatic war at Nola.
Now master in Rome Sulpicius secured the passing of all his laws, including the transference of the Eastern command. Had Marius hastened to Campania, he might possibly have won over the army; instead he stopped in Rome and allowed Sulla the initiative. Sulla promptly appealed to the troops, and they stoned Sulpicius’ envoys. Then a momentous event in Rome’s history took place. At the head of six legions Sulla marched on Rome which he captured after a few hours of street-fighting since Marius and Sulpicius had no troops available. They fled, leaving Sulla in undisputed control of the city.
With an army at his call Sulla easily persuaded the Senate and Comitia to implement his wishes. Marius, Sulpicius and their followers, though unheard and untried, were declared outlaws. Sulpicius, a tribune in office, was hunted down and killed. Marius was luckier: after many adventures which included hiding in the marshes of Minturnae, he escaped to Africa where many of his old soldiers were settled.21 Sulpicius’ laws were then declared invalid, as carried per vim. Sulla, however, did not intend to forgo his Mithridatic command and so he passed some measures through the Comitia to strengthen the Senate until his return. It was enacted that all business brought before the People must go to the more conservative Comitia Centuriata (as tribunes could not present bills to the Populus but only to the Plebs, their activities were thus skilfully curtailed) and at the same time no business that had not previously received the Senate’s approval was to be brought before the People. If Sulla thought of adding 300 new members to the Senate, this plan was certainly not implemented, but he did carry an emergency measure to relieve debt. He allowed the consular elections to take their course, though his own nephew failed and one of the successful candidates was L. Cornelius Cinna on whose support he could hardly count; he perhaps made Cinna swear not to interfere with his arrangements. The other consul-elect, Cn. Octavius, was a loyal Optimate. Finally, in order to check Strabo, who still had an army in central Italy, Sulla transferred this command to his own colleague, Pompeius Rufus, though in fact the troops preferred Strabo and later murdered Rufus in a disturbance in which Strabo himself clearly was not disinterested if not involved. Sulla and his army then left Italy.
6. CINNA
Scarcely was Sulla’s back turned when Cinna, oblivious of his oath, proposed to re-introduce Sulpicius’ measure for the new citizens. After some violence in the Forum Cinna was driven from Rome by his colleague Octavius and was declared a public enemy by the Senate. He then won over a legion which Sulla had left besieging Nola and he was soon joined by many disgruntled ex-allies and others. Meantime Marius had returned from Africa and was raising troops in Etruria. The Senate, thus threatened from north and south, was in a perilous position since it lacked an army on the spot; it hastily summoned Strabo from Picenum and levies from Transpadane Gaul, but the latter were intercepted by Cinnan troops. Strabo responded, but slowly. Finally under the weak protection of Strabo and Octavius, Rome was attacked by Marius, who reached the Janiculum after seizing Ostia, and by three divisions of Cinna’s forces, led by himself, Q. Sertorius and Cn. Carbo. Strabo died of disease, a man who had shown a certain moderation and willingness to compromise though the Optimate tradition regarded him as ‘dis ac nobilitati perinvisum’.22 Before the end of the year (87) Rome had fallen: Marius and Cinna controlled its fate.
That fate proved terrible. Marius, maddened by hate, allowed his troops and slaves to loot and murder. Although official executions may have been limited, they included Octavius, the orator M. Antonius and Q. Catulus (cos. 102). After five days even Cinna was disgusted and ended the bloodbath by force. Marius and Cinna were then declared consuls for 86, Sulla was formally exiled and his laws repealed, but a few days after entering upon his seventh consulship Marius died, and Rome breathed more freely.23
For the next three years Cinna was in control: he managed to secure his re-election to the consulship each year without undue regard to the formalities, and took as his colleagues L. Valerius Flaccus for 86 and Cn. Carbo for 85–84. Some attempt was made to improve economic conditions. Flaccus carried a measure which cancelled three-quarters of all outstanding debts. The Equites would be more pleased with a currency reform announced in the edict of a praetor, Marius Gratidianus, which re-asserted the old official exchange rates of silver and bronze.24 But the greatest achievement of these years of Cinna’s dominatio was the final settlement of the citizenship question. Censors were appointed for 86 to carry out the registration of the new citizens, and some progress was made. At last too the new citizens received justice: they were distributed throughout the thirty-five tribes, though perhaps not until 84 B.C.25
But if these years were peaceful at home, over all loomed the shadow of Sulla. In 86 Flaccus had been sent with a force to the East against Mithridates (cf. p. 64), but neither he nor his legate Fimbria who soon murdered him could win the co-operation of Sulla in joint operations. It then became clear that Sulla’s campaign against Mithridates was ending in victory and that he would soon seek to return. In a despatch at the end of 85 he complained of his treatment, reminded the Senate of his past services and perhaps guaranteed to respect the rights of the new citizens. The Senate tried to open negotiations with him by offering an amnesty. But meantime Cinna had to prepare for the risk of war and possibly he took a bold decision: he would, if necessary, face Sulla in Greece and spare Italy further civil war at home. He shipped some troops across the Adriatic, but other men waiti
ng to embark at Ancona, mutinied and killed him (84). The government was left in the hands of Carbo, who with considerable skill averted the election of a colleague and remained sole consul. Resistance to Sulla must now be built up in Italy, the more so as a further defiant message proclaimed that Sulla would not be reconciled with his enemies, nor disband his loyal troops, but would see to his own safety. In 83 while Carbo as proconsul took up a strong position in Cisalpine Gaul, the two consuls, L. Scipio and C. Norbanus, advanced to Campania. Soon afterwards Sulla landed with some 40,000 men at Brundisium.26
From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68 Page 12