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Summary Politics of the late republic
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Summary Politics of the late republic - full course notes achieved an A* with only this knowledge
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Politics of the Late RepublicSection 1 – History: Background
Key Terms:
Cursus Honorum:
A linear system of political offices in the Roman Senate, elected annually.
- Censor: An official elected for eighteen months, responsible for the census and
supervising public morality, could remove people from the Senate if they had acted
incorrectly or failed to meet financial requirements.
- Governor: A senator elected from those who had previously served as Praetors or
Consuls, responsible for the smooth running, safety and taxation of a Roman
Province.
- Consul: One of two elected officials who led the Republic, supreme civil and military
officers.
- Praetor: Second in authority to the consuls, responsible for justice and presides over
the 8 law courts of Rome.
- Aedile: An optional magistracy, responsible for routine administration duties such as
games and public services.
- Quaestor: The first position on the cursus honorum, financial officials and
responsible for the state treasury.
- Tribune of the Plebs: One of 10 officials elected yearly by the Tribal Assembly to
champion and protect the lives of the Plebeians through acting as a check on the
Senate. (Military tribunes existed also)
Other Positions:
- Dictator: A position of state established in periods of military crisis and awarded to
one man by the consuls for six months only.
- Imperium: The power invested in a consul or praetor to command a state army.
- Novus Homo: The first person in a family to be elected to a political office, one who
had not only managed to break into the ranks of the Senate, but even to become
consul with no history of previously doing so in his lineage.
The Assemblies:
- Centuriate Assembly: The chief popular assembly of the Roman Republic. It passed
laws and elected the chief magistrates. It organised the citizens into 193 voting
centuries by wealth, with the first century, being the wealthiest, and getting to vote
first.
- Tribal Assembly: Citizens were organised on the basis of 35 tribes: four urban tribes
of the citizens in the city of Rome, and 31 rural tribes of the citizens outside the city
itself. originally geographical, however since you joined the same tribe your father
belonged to, the geographical distinctions were lost. Voted in lesser magistrates. The
order was decided randomly but due to travel, those in Rome voted first.
Classes and Groups:
- Boni: Men considered to be ideal statesmen: well educated, traditional, patriotic and
experienced in politics.
, - Senate: A deliberative assembly central to the government of the Roman Republic.
- Res Publica: The Latin term used to refer to the Republic and its constitution that
had replaced the Monarchy.
- SPQR: The Senate and People of Rome
- Plebeians: Roman citizens who were not patrician. Originally a 'lower' order but
eventually gained significant power. Usually were manual labourers.
- Populares: Roman politicians and noble senatorial families who sought to pursue a
political career based on the support of the people rather than just the aristocracy.
- Patricians: Families whose ancestry could be traced back to the early days of Rome.
Formed a ruling aristocratic group from whom Romulus was said to have chosen the
first hundred Senators. Were wealthy landowners.
- Nobiles: Senatorial families distinguished by the inclusion of a consul in their
ancestry.
- Optimates: A group of aristocratic, senatorial families concerned to preserve
tradition and the political and social status quo - a political faction.
- Equites: Added later on, a 'middle class' of sorts, which grew in wealth and status
through occupations in commerce and finance.
The ‘Spirit’ of Rome:
- Amicitia: A reciprocal familial alliance for political, legal and social benefit.
Established to further the success of influential Romans and their families.
- Inimicitia: The opposite to Amicitia. Individual disagreements with a personal enemy
extending to significant hostility between families and potentially having social or
political repercussions.
- Client: Citizens bound by loyalty to a wealthy patron to support him in all his public
endeavours in return for financial, legal or social support.
- Patron: A man of significant social standing able to offer financial, legal or social
support to his clients in return for their loyalty and public support.
The Voting System and Senate
Apart from the ten tribunes, the Senate comprised of the land aristocracy, in particular the
‘nobiles’ – elite group of families who could claim a consul in their lineage. This meant that
the governing and every strata of organisation in Rome was governed by a circle of fewer
than twenty families. E.G the Valerii and Fabii who could boast 45 consuls in their families
The elections would take place annually in the Summer in Rome – the two assemblies would
gather on the Campus Martius (outside the city because the Centuriate assembly were
originally soldiers)
By the mid-2nd century BC however, this aspect of Roman politics did not place as much
power in the hands of the populace as it seemed. Theoretically the Senate was only an
advisory body, but it became a lot more than this. As previously mentioned, the whole body
of Roman citizens weren’t actually represented at elections as the majority of those
considered would have been part of the huge new urban population as this voting system
could no longer cater for Rome due to its expansion.
Appendix II – Notes on Polybius – The Constitution of the Roman Republic
Analysis of the Constitution at the time of the Second Punic War
,[6.11.11] “…no one, not even any of the Romans themselves, could say for certain whether
their system of government was aristocratic in its general nature, or democratic, or
monarchical,”
[6.15.1] “He (the consul) requires the cooperation of both the people and the Senate, and
without them he lacks the sufficient power to bring his (military) operation to a successful
conclusion,”
[6.16.1] “The Senate in turn, which enjoys so much authority, first of all must pay attention
to the masses and court the favour of the People in matters of public concern…those
(penalties) that requires the death sentence cannot be carried out unless the People first
ratify what it (the Senate) has proposed.”
(For additional quotes from Polybius see Background 1 document)
Key Dates and Events:
Date Event
753BC Rome founded by Romulus. At first, Rome was a Monarchy, ruled by the 7 kings of
Rome until Tarquinius Superbus was expelled from Rome by Brutus
509BC After Tarquinius Superbus’ expulsion, the Republic (‘Res Publica’) is founded
146BC Carthadge is destroyed, the Third Punic War Ends.
91- The Social Wars (Wars between the Roman Republic and other cities and tribes in
87BC Italy who had been ‘socii’ of Rome for centuries, the Italian allies wanted Roman
citizenship and the right to vote at Rome as they believed that due to their cultural,
social, linguistic and military ties, they should be treated as equal to the Romans.
82- Sulla is the Dictator of Rome
79BC
79BC BEGINNING OF COURSE – Rome remains a Republic as Sulla resigned from his
dictatorship, the Republican values are deeply seated in the Roman psyche. It was a
theoretical meritocracy, everyone could supposedly be in positions of power and
share in the decisions of state through voting.
27BC Augustan Empire – The Republic has completely fallen by this time
Things to add, the Grachi bros, comb through for modschol
Section 2 – Source: Cicero as orator, In Verrem I
70BC, Forensic (legal) oratory. The first of seven speeches. Only two were delivered. Cicero
here focuses on the responsibility of the jury, details Verres’ early crimes before and during
his officer as governor and mentions the ways in which Verres and his supports try to
pervert the course of justice.
This speech allowed Cicero to break free from the reputation of a ‘novus homo’ and
establish his name as the ultimate Roman patriot.
Setting, Delivery and Publication
By 70BC, Cicero had established a name for himself through the pro Roscio Amerino ten
years prior and since then had married and acquired wealth. He had been elected quaestor
at the earliest year allowed and had served a successful term in Lilybaeum. The Sicilians sent
embassies to Rome to ask Cicero to plead their case against Verres and his exhortation and
cruel provincial rule.
, He was to deliver the speech in the extortion court in Rome and Verres’ fame and that of
Hortensius – his defence counsel meant that it would draw a crowd. It was the perfect arena
for Cicero to showcase his talent and raise his profile.
The judge was Manius Acilius Glabrio and the jury comprised senators alone due to Sulla
removing the right for equites to stand on juries. Verres was a member of the nobiles and
Cicero was a novus homo, meaning the odds were stacked against him. However, despite a
number of setbacks presented by Verres, Cicero acquired an overwhelming number of
witnesses and evidence and delivered the first Verrine to a devastating effect. Verres left
Rome in voluntary exile without Cicero giving the rest of his speech. In winning the case,
Cicero became an acclaimed orator and an influential member of the Senate as a law
allowed any senator who had won a prosecution to be given the accused’s position in the
Senate. He extended his client base including the grateful Sicilians and one of their
patrons – the Claudii Marcelli family.
It is also interesting how Cicero marries his personal ambition with his political ideals. He
fights for a return to the status quo and traditional Roman values and presents himself as a
friend of the clients Verres insulted and a champion of traditional Roman law and justice.
His decision to publish the speeches monumentalised his words and solidified his status in
the public eye.
Rhetoric was also a cornerstone of Roman society and Cicero employed many features
common to speeches in which the speaker wished to move his audience emotionally. Such
features included:
- Appealing to the importance of the issue in a wider societal context and to an
authority such as the Senate.
- Presenting those who have been affected sympathetically
- Exploring what would happen if the criminals were to go unpunished
- Appealing to the idea of setting an example for the future
- Emphasising the inability to reverse the judgement in the future
- Emphasising the foulness of the crime
- Noting the unique nature of the crime and preventing further examples through
suitable punishment in this instance
- Underlining the scale of the crime by comparing motives to those of other wrongs
- Describing the crime in immersive detail so we feel as though we are witnessing it
Corruption, Justice and the Defence of the State
At face value, Verres was being bought to trial for the extortion of 400,000 sesterces from
Sicily. In Cicero’s speech however, this specific crime is mentioned only in the final
paragraph, instead, he frames the jury as morally and politically obliged to pass a guilty
verdict due to a crisis of state. He also represents himself as a champion of traditional
Roman values – moral, legal and political and as a defender of the prestige of the Senate
and the status quo.
At a glance:
- Verres was the governor of the Province of Sicily in 73-71BC (propraetor) and a
member of the nobiles, he had been cruelly exhorting the province for years.
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