From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68
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If that had been the end, there would have been no Christian Church.20 But his sad and disillusioned disciples, who must have felt that all their hopes had been thwarted, suddenly gained a new assurance: Christ’s death was followed by his resurrection. However the accounts of the empty tomb and the various appearances of their Risen Lord to different groups of his followers are to be explained, it is quite clear that these disheartened men suddenly became completely convinced that Jesus had ‘risen from the dead’ and was actively guiding and commissioning them to continue to spread his teaching ‘both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth’. To this task they pledged themselves when they gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem. ‘The number of names together were about an hundred and twenty’; these quickly increased, first to 3000, and then to 5000. Under the leadership of Peter they continued to observe the Jewish law and to attend the Temple services, but a less rigidly orthodox element was injected into their number when they converted some of the Jews of the Dispersion who had come to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. Now the Jewish authorities, who had been responsible for the death of Jesus, were not likely to be tender-hearted towards his followers who instead of melting away began to consolidate into a new sect, especially when some of its members began to argue that it should release itself from the bonds of strict Judaism in order to appeal to the Gentile world. Thus persecution started and the persecutors were Jews not Romans.
Their first victim was Stephen, the leader of the Hellenist Christians who advocated a more liberal Judaism for propagation among the Gentiles. He was condemned by the Sanhedrin and was stoned to death. Then followed systematic persecution of the Christian leaders who were driven out of Jerusalem, some as far afield as Syrian Antioch, where they and their followers first received the name of Christians.21 One of the fiercest persecutors was a strict Pharisee, Saul from Tarsus, who acted with the blessing of the High Priest – until his astounding conversion to Christianity when he was journeying on the road to Damascus in order to persecute the Christians there. Using his Latin name Paul (he was a Roman citizen), the persecutor now became the defender of the faith and of the faithful, and a leader of the stature of Peter.22 At first the scattered Christians preached only to Jews, but they then began to baptize Gentiles, Samaritans, an Ethiopian and the Roman centurion Cornelius. This created a new and difficult question: must Gentile converts accept Jewish customs in full? The problem was solved when Peter was finally convinced that the more liberal policy of Paul was right. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, could now carry the Christian message throughout the Roman world, freed from the narrower shackles of Judaism.
The account in Acts of the missionary journeys that Paul made through Asia Minor and Greece throws much light on conditions there; he won many converts, mostly in the humbler walks of life, but met with much opposition and persecution from the local Jewish communities. His journeys were facilitated by the pax Romana, and his preaching by the koine, the common Greek dialect that was widespread in the East: his life was saved by his possession of Roman citizenship. His presence often led to disturbances, provoked by Jews who trumped up charges against him or by people with vested interests in pagan cults who feared for their livelihood (as at Philippi and Ephesus). Thus he came for investigation or trial before various authorities: Gallio, the proconsul of Achaea, Claudius Lysias, the military tribune in command of the cohort at Jerusalem, Felix and Festus, the procurators of Judaea, and king Herod Agrippa II (pp. 266 f.). These men in general did not find him guilty of any offence against Roman law, and regarded the issues at stake as internal religious matters that concerned only the Jews themselves (p. 266). Finally, when accused of treason, Paul appealed to Caesar, and Festus sent him to Rome, which he reached after shipwreck and other adventures. There he was kept for two years in some kind of free custody; whether he was tried and acquitted is not known since the book of Acts breaks off at this point. There is a strong tradition, which may well be true, that he perished with other Christian martyrs in the Neronian persecution.
At the time of his arrival in Rome, a Christian community was established there, consisting probably of some Gentiles as well as Jews. The Jews, expelled under Claudius’ order (p. 249), will have soon returned. Membership of this community was probably largely confined to the poorer classes; some adherents were found in the service of the emperor, but it is not certain whether the externa superstitio, with which a noblewoman Pomponia Graecina was charged in A.D. 57, was Christianity. At first to the man in the street the Christians were probably not distinguished from the rest of the Jewish community, but then came the fire and Nero’s savage onslaught. Thereafter they will have been known as a sect apart, suspect and liable to persecution. But the blood of the martyrs proved the seed of the Church. Few who witnessed their sufferings under Nero would have believed that in two hundred and fifty years Christianity would have triumphed, that the Roman Empire would have accepted it as an official religion and that a Christian emperor, Constantine, would be sitting on the throne of the Caesars.
ABBREVIATIONS
AJArch.
American Journal of Archaeology.
AJP
American Journal of Philology.
Aufstieg
Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt (ed. H. Temporini, 1972–).
Badian, For. Cl.
E. Badian, Foreign Clientelae, 264–70 B.C. (1958).
Badian, Studies
E. Badian, Studies in Greek and Roman History (1964).
Broughton, MRR
T. R. S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic.
CAH
Cambridge Ancient History.
CIL
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.
Cl. Ph.
Classical Philology.
Cl. Qu.
Classical Quarterly.
Cl. Rev.
Classical Review.
Crawford, RRC
M. H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage (1974).
Dessau, ILS
H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae.
Ehrenberg and
V. Ehrenberg and A. H. M. Jones,
Jones, Documents
Documents illustrating the Reigns of Augustus and Tiberius (2nd. ed. 1955).
Gabba, RR, Army
E. Gabba, Republican Rome, the Army and the Allies (1976).
Gr. and R.
Greece and Rome.
Greenidge, Sources2
A. H. J. Greenidge and A. M. Clay, Sources for Roman History, 133–70 B.C. (2nd ed. by E. W. Gray, 1960).
Gruen, Rom. Pol.
E. S. Gruen, Roman Politics and the Criminal Courts, 149–70 B.C. (1968).
Inscr. Ital.
Inscriptiones Italiae.
Jacoby, Fr. Gr. Hist.
F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker.
Jones, CERP
A. H. M. Jones, The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces.
JRS
Journal of Roman Studies.
Lewis and
N. Lewis, and M. Reinhold, Roman Civilization. Reinhold, Rn.Civ
Magie, RRAM
D. Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor.
Malcovati ORF
H. Malcovati, Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta (2nd ed. 1955).
Num. Chron.
Numismatic Chronicle.
OCD
Oxford Classical Dictionary2 (1970).
OGIS
G. Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae.
Rice Holmes, RR
T. Rice Holmes, The Roman Republic.
Riccobono, FIRA
S. Riccobono, Fontes Iuris Romani Antejustiniani, I.
Seager, Crisis
R. Seager (ed.), The Crisis of the Roman Republic (1969).
Sydenham, CRR
E. A. Sydenham, The Coinage of the Roman Republic (1952).
Sylloge
G. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum
Graecarum (3rd ed. 1915).
TAPA
Transactions of the American Philogical Association.
Warmington, ROL
E. H. Warmington, Remains of Old Latin, IV.
NOTES
The text reference is given thus [p. 76] at the end of each note.
CHAPTER I
1 THE DOWNFALL OF THE REPUBLIC. This subject has been treated in a lecture by R. Syme entitled A Roman Post-mortem (Sydney 1950 = Roman Papers, 1979, i, 205 ff.), in ch. x of The Theory of the Mixed Constitution in Antiquity by K. von Fritz (1954) and in a book by R. E. Smith on The Failure of the Roman Republic (1955). Smith attributes the failure largely to the Gracchi and believes that the senatorial class, if left to itself, would have worked out a satisfactory system; this view has not gained wide support. The topic is handled now by Christian Meier in Res Publica Amissa. Eine Studie zu Verfassung und Geschichte der späten römischen Republik (1966; 2nd ed. 1980, with long new introduction), who regards the late Republic as a reasonably contented community which was upset by the problems arising from the excessive extension of the territory of the State, and not least from the decline in moral standards among the powerful individuals who found themselves supported by professional armies as the result of exceptional crises; since, in his view, the political classes were reasonably satisfied, there was not sufficient pressure to adapt old institutions to meet the threat from the military principes. For a discussion of this book see P.A. Brunt, JRS, 1968, 229ff., and E. W. Gray, Cl. Rev., 1969, 325 ff. In ‘The Army and the Land in the Roman Revolution’, JRS, 1962, 69 ff., P. A. Brunt has emphasized the continuing need of the poor for land as a major factor in the revolution which transformed an oligarchic Republic into the Principate of Augustus. E. S. Gruen (whose book, The Last Generation of the Roman Republic (1974), provides a valuable survey of the political history of the last decades of the Republic) believes that modern historians have tended to regard the ‘downfall’ with too much hindsight: the oligarchical government was stronger than often envisaged and civil war was not anticipated by contemporaries until it was almost upon them; the breakdown was relatively sudden rather than gradual. [p. 1]
2 ROME’S ITALIAN CONFEDERACY. See Tenney Frank, Roman Imperialism (1914), chs. i–v; A. J. Toynbee, Hannibal’s Legacy (1965), i; H. H. Scullard, History of the Roman World, 753–146 BC4 (1980); E. T. Salmon, The Making of Roman Italy (1982). On ius fetiale see Frank, op.cit., R. Ogilvie, Commentary on Livy books i–v (1965), 110 ff., 127 ff., and V. Ilari, L’interpretazione storica del diritto de guerra romana (1981), ch. i. [p. 2]
3 ROMAN IMPERIALISM. The earlier view of Rome as Dryden’s ‘old unquestioned pirate of the land’ has long been largely superseded by the idea that Rome’s creation of a Mediterranean empire resulted essentially from a policy of defensive imperialism (see, e.g., Tenney Frank, op.cit. supra, and M. Holleaux in CAH). This interpretation in turn has recently been challenged by W. V. Harris, War and Imperialism in Republican Rome, 327–70 BC (1979), who attributes to Rome a much more aggressive policy (but this reaction may be too strong: see, e.g., A. N. Sherwin-White, JRS, 1980, 177 ff.). Some aspects of Roman Imperialism are discussed in Imperialism in the Ancient World, ed. R. D. A. Garnsey and C. R. Whittaker (1978), while K. Hopkins, Conquerors and Slaves, i (1978), considers the impact of empire on the political economy of Italy. See also the important study by E. Badian, Roman Imperialism in the Late Republic2 (1968). [p. 5]
4 THE NOBLES. The true nature of the Roman nobility was revealed in an epochmaking little book by M. Gelzer, Die Nobilität der römischen Republik (1912), of which an English translation is now available: The Roman Nobility (1969). For some of the ideas and ideals which inspired the nobles see D. Earl, The Moral and Political Tradition of Rome (1967), who writes (p. 21), ‘Virtus, for the Republican noble, consisted in the winning of personal preeminence and glory by the commission of great deeds in the service of the Roman state.’ In the late Republic men struggled for fama, gloria, auctoritas and above all dignitas: it was in defence of his dignitas, which he asserted to be more important than life itself, that Caesar crossed the Rubicon and marched on Rome. On the novi homines see T. P. Wiseman, New Men in the Roman Senate, 139 BC–14 A.D. (1971). See also L. Schatzman, Senatorial Wealth and Roman Politics (1975). [p. 6]
5 GROUP POLITICS. On the nature of political life in the Roman Republic in general see R. Syme, The Roman Revolution (1939); L. R. Taylor, Party Politics in the Age of Caesar (1949); H. H. Scullard, Roman Politics, 220–150 BC. (1951, 2nd ed. 1973); E. Badian, Foreign Clientelae, 264–70 BC (1958); A. E. Astin, Politics and Policies in the Roman Republic (Belfast, 1968), a lecture; E. S. Gruen, Roman Politics and the Criminal Courts, 139–70 BC (1968); and a balanced assessment by T. R. S. Broughton, ‘Senate and Senators of the Roman Republic: The Prosopographical Approach’, Aufstieg, I, i, 250 ff. (with relevant bibliography). See also R. Seager on factio, JRS, 1972, 53 ff. Much of this modern work stems from F. Münzer’s study of Roman aristocratic parties and families, Römische Adelsparteien und Adelsfamilien (1920), which in turn developed some of Gelzer’s ideas (though not all in a way acceptable to Gelzer himself) and thus gave rise to the ‘prosopographical’ interpretation of Roman politics. While most historians would now agree on the essentially personal nature of Roman political life and on the absence of anything like modern political parties, they remain divided on the extent to which groups, based on family connexions, formed around outstanding individuals, and above all on how permanent such groupings, which were held together by ties of family and amicitia (political alliance), might be. An extreme view of the essential unimportance of such coteries is advanced by Chr. Meier, Res Publica Amissa (see above n. 1), who believes that in the late Republic senators were divided into coteries only on everday matters in general (though occasionally on greater issues) and that conflicting interests led to constant changes in such groups which must be regarded not as enduring family alliances but as ephemeral kaleidoscopic entities. E. S. Gruen (op.cit. supra.) on the other hand, though cautious, finds ‘a strikingly consistent structure of political alliances for the 140s and 130s … the factional structure of senatorial politics admits of no doubt’ (p. 25. See further below ch. II, n. 8). [p. 6]
6 OPTIMATES AND POPULARES. See Ch. Wirszubski, Libertas as a Political Idea at Rome (1950), ch. 2. On the Populares see Chr. Meier, Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopaedie, Suppl. x, 550 ff., and Res Publica Amissa, 116–50 on ‘the methods of the populares and the great political themes of the late Republic’; also R. Seager, Cl. Qu., 1972, 328 ff., on Cicero’s use of popularis and on Livy’s use Cl. Qu., 1977, 377 ff. On the Optimates see H. Strasburger, Pauly-Wissowa, xviii, 773 ff. [p. 6]
7 THE TRIBUNATE. There had been exceptions to the general docility of the tribunes, especially in the two decades before the Gracchi. One cause of trouble was a widespread dissatisfaction with the military levy, especially for service in Spain, which on appeal was sometimes voiced by tribunes on behalf of the dissentients. On two occasions, in 151 and 138, feelings reached such a pitch that the tribunes had temporarily thrown the consuls into prison. This was open sedition, even if of brief duration (cf. p. 14). It is against the background of such ‘forerunners of the Gracchi’ as they have been dubbed in an article with that title by L. R. Taylor (JRS, 1962, 19 ff.) that the revolutionary use of the tribunate by the Gracchi should be seen. On the tribunate see J. Bleiken, Das Tribunat der klassischen Republik (1955).
On the relationship of the Roman citizens to the structure of the State in the second and first centuries B.C. see the detailed study by C. Nicolet, The World of the Citizen in Republican Rome (1980). [p. 7]
8 THE MIXED CONSTITUTION. See K. von Fritz, op. cit., n. 1, and C. O. Brink and F. W. Walbank, Cl. Qu., 1954, 97 ff. [p. 7]
9 THE EQUITES. On the history of the Equestrian Order during the Republic see H. Hill, The Roman Middle Class (1952); ‘The establishment of the equester ordo’ by M. I. Henderson (JRS, 1963, 61 ff. = Seager, Crisis, 69 ff.); C. Nicolet, L
’ordre équestre à l’époque republicaine, i (1966), ii (1974); and P. A. Brunt, ‘The Equites in the late Republic’ in Deuxième conférence internationale d’histoire économique, Aix-en-Provence, 1962, i (1965), 117 ff. (= Seager, Crisis 83 ff.); E. Badian, OCD2 s.v. Equites, Roman Imperialism in the late Rep. (1968), vii ff. and especially Publicans and Sinners (1972).