Roman Republic 6b 60’s BC Crassus & Cicero & Catiline in ROME

By now the religious traditions & respect for the mos maioram were long gone, and the state was fatally corrupted –Ambitious politicians would no longer submit to the results of elections, –resorted to bribes, mob violence, proscriptions, assassination, & even civil war to get their own way –Power arose from the sword, and fixed any illegal means to get it. Cicero verses Catiline –Catiline stood unsuccessfully against Cicero for 63BC consulship He was the spoiled son of an old patrician family They’d not had consuls for 200 years, so thought they were long overdue for political prominence –64BC campaign he accused Cataline of plotting to remove the current consuls at the last elections Catiline had tried to stand in 65 but wasn’t allowed because of charges against him of corruption as pro-praetor in Africa The 2 who were elected were accused of bribery and another election held Cicero accused Catiline and the 2 dumped consuls of plotting to kill the new consuls at election (but the plot went wrong) No evidence for this though Catiline had carried arms. Pompey was patron of both Catiline and the new consuls so its unlikely – more likely he was self-defending with arms Cicero, a novus homo, needed this scandal to win support of optimates (who dominted the comitia centuriata) with this accusation against Catiline (Pompey’s client) Catiline Conspiracy (63BC). –Catiline put himself up for consul for the next year (after Cicero - 62BC) but lost Had a populares platform of debt cancelation which optimates and equites hated Cicero spoke against him, (in armour – against Catiline’s organised thugsl) – he had a reason to fear once his imperium expired. –So Catiline and other disaffected elites planned a coup to overthrow the republic so Cicero persuaded senate to pass a senatus consultum ultimatum and survived an attempt on his life Next day he gave a famous speech confronting Catiline with his crimes – the first of famous 4 Catiline Orations these forced Catiline’s friends to desert and him to flee Rome to an indebted associate of Pompey’s from the north who was raising troops (& would have liked Catiline’s debt-canceling program) –Consul Cicero arrested the other conspirators (including a praetor), presenting documentary evidence, and senate debated weather they could legally execute them. Caesar wanted life imprisonment, Cicero & Cato persuaded the senate to execute, and they were strangled immediately. –Catiline was cornered with his army in Etruria & killed – Cicero was haled “pater patriae” Cicero’s execution of Roman citizen’s was not forgotten – Pompey organised that his farewell consul speech be vetoed The Catiline conspiracy (63BC)

Concordia ordinum –To heal the divisions in the republic, Cicero now tried to set up ‘unity of officers’ between Senate & equites Planned to use Pompey’s clients and himself as guiding light To ensure that law was upheld he proposed that “boni” (good men) – moderate optimates – would form an enlightened oligarchy, with a senior man moderator to keep them honest. He proposed Pompey for this though HE was les than enthusiastic Doomed to failure as he didn’t take account of the deep factional divisions between Senate and equestrians politics, having thought that the agreement during the Catiline crisis indicated long term goodwill – forgetting how reluctantly they had ‘agreed’ to resist Catiline’s conspiracy. The Bona Dei scandal –62BC Clodius, a notorius noble, gained unlawful access to women’s ritual dressed as a woman. Being held at the house of the Pontifex Maximus, Caesar who divorced his wife due to the rumour that Clodius was having as affair with her. Was he trying to embarrass Caesar, or merely trying to court publicity, He was put on trial Pompey, back from the East, remained aloof, trying not to upset anyone needing support for upcoming triumph & veteran land allocation. Trial became a political showdown over senate authority – He was acquitted thanks to Crassus’ bribes, despite Cicero’s disproving his alibi and this outraged the optimates faction & strengthening their will. It upset any chance of a concordia between equestrians (who dominated the jury) and the senate optimates was gone. The return of Pompey 61BC –Before his return Rullus put a land commission law which would distribute lands to the poor and veterans Was Crassus behind it, trying to win pleb support, and block Pompey’s ability to reward his own soldiers? Was Pompey behind it to prepare land settlements for his veterans? It was blocked by Cicero (maybe why Pompey was cool to Cicero on his return) –HE returned to fears that he would march on Rome with his troops as Sulla had done But he dismissed his troops –Was Pompey a constitutionalist & not a political intriquer as some have suggested? i.e. valued Rome’s constitution above his own personal ambition? Unlikely – his career is full of exceptions to the constitution, eg he undid Sulla’s reforms which tried to reinforce the mos maiorum, he got unconstitutional triumphs & consular imperium before even being a quaestor, and he used tribunes to get his lucrative overseas commands His concerns now were to get recognition for his work in the east with client kingdoms, get land for his veterans, get his third triumph for victory over the pirates and Mithridates. Using a tribune he tried to give land and tax relief to the plebs but this time it was blocked by the optimate senators to avoid ore instability. After his triumph he appeared to retire into private life –Pompey failed to see that the optimates were gaining power again Rallied by the Catiline conspiracy, and even more by the Bona Die scandal, and by Cato, and reaction to the growing power of Pompey & Crassus –In 60 Caesar returned from his Pro-praetorship of Spain seeking glory Wanted a triumph, and to apply to be consul the following year but as this had to be done IN PERSON, he had to enter Rome, and lost the chance of a triumph –To be elected consul for 59BC he needed powerful and wealthy support; Pompey had the clients, Crassus had the cash & both needed a friendly consul SO the private political coalition (amitica) was born. (63-60BC)