[Edited 10/6/14 and 10/4/16]
POMPEY AND
CRASSUS
Introduction
Sulla’s
conservative
constitution stripped the tribunes and the assembly of power,
eliminating the
lex hortensia.
Further, Sulla
incorporated safeguards designed to prevent the rise of another
Marius—or, for that matter, another Sulla. The
courts reverted to
senatorial control. Running for tribune was a political dead end: the
new rules
forbid former tribunes from running for other offices.
On top of that, the proscriptions eliminated
the most prominent figures who might have challenged the senate. Sulla
laid down his dictatorship, ran for consul in 80 BC, then
after the traditional political process had been restored, went
into retirement.
Senatorial
hegemony seemed assured for years. And
yet Sulla’s constitution was remarkably short-lived.
I series of threats in the 70’s and 60’s BC
gave ambitious young men all the excuse they needed to subvert Sulla’s
constitution and, ultimately, to bring senatorial control of Roman
affairs to
an end.
And
so it’s time
to begin a new round of the most exciting of all game shows: Let’s
destroy the
Roman Republic.
Sulla's
Constitution
Elite
Romans are
playing for some valuable prizes.
Wealth, power, and things like fama,
gloria, auctoritas and
dignitas.
Most valuable of all, the
distinction of
being princeps senatus, the
first man of the Roman senate, the man
designated
to speak first on any issue—and likely just by that fact to carry the
day.
Here’s
how the
game is played under the new Sulla rules.
There are minimum ages for every office, and one has to wait ten
years before holding that office again. Consuls,
for instance, have to be at least
42. This ensures (or seems to ensure) a fairly even distribution
of prizes. rather than one great grand prize.
Ok,
those are
the rule changes. Now to meet our
contestants.
Main
contestants
Our
first
contestants are our returning champions, agreeing once again to play as
a team
and to share their prizes more or less equitably—the Roman Senators. Sulla’s new rules give them a great
advantage, and they are favored to retain their title.
But there are other contestants who, though they could be
content with just
their fair share of the usual senatorial prizes, instead want an
especially big grand prize, e.g.,
Crassus.
Crassus
is the
wealthiest man in Rome. He made lots of
money during the proscriptions, buying up land cheap—and buying plenty
of
slaves to work that land. He added to
his fortunes with a fire department.
Whenever fire broke out in Rome, he offered to buy threatened
homes. If the owners sold, he sent in
his fireman to protect his new investment. Quite clever—and Crassus is
certainly a leading contender for the princeps title.
Another
contestant: Pompey. Pompey
had served under Sulla, and, after one
victory against the Marians, Sulla had called him Pompeius Magnus,
Pompey
the Great.
Sulla was probably a little mocking, but Pompey did have the makings of
a great
player. At this point (78 BC, the year of
Sulla's death), the rules
say he isn’t yet old enough to be a consul.
But there’s an important point to remember, well put in the
musical The
Roar of Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd:
Life is like cricket, we play by the
rules, and the secret which few people know, that keeps men of class
far apart
from the fools is to make up the rules as you go.
Pompey
gets his
opportunity to modify the rules as a result of a formidable threat in
Spain,
the threat posed by a man named Sertorius.
Sertorius
After
the defeat
of the Marians in Rome, the survivors took refuge with the general
Sertorius in
Spain. Sertorius had an alliance with
some of the Spaniards, and, for ten years (82-72), was able to hold out
against
any force sent against him. One of the
Metelli
failed and had to return to Rome. Consuls were reluctant to go
themselves, and they
sent
out a propraetor--who got himself killed.
Pompey pressured the senate to give him proconsular authority
(remember,
he’s never served as consul!). He gets
that authority and eventually wins…helped by the betrayal and
assassination of
Sertorius. Eventually, after
consolidating his position in Spain, Pompey is going to return to Rome
in a
very good position to play for an even bigger prize.
[Pompey is in Spain from 76-71 BC. Sertorius fights a guerilla
war, and Pompey can't bring about a decisive win. Sertorius is
assassinated in 72 BC, and Pompey is able to finally get the victory he
had been aiming for.]
Spartacus
Meanwhile, back
in Rome, Crassus also has taken advantage of a crisis to improve his
position. A Thracian gladiator named
Spartacus and a fellow-gladiator named Crixus escaped from their
barracks. With other gladiators, they went
from estate
to estate, liberating the slaves and creating a huge slave army—70,000
strong. In 73, Spartacus beat two
praetor-led armies. In 72, he and Crixus
divided their forces. Two consuls led
out the troops. They defeated Crixus and pursued Spartacus.
But Spartacus turned the tables on them,
winning a major victory. What now?
Crassus
persuades the senate to give him control of 6 legions.
Spartacus decided to cut a deal with pirates:
he’ll pay them to transport his men out of Italy altogether. The pirates take the money…and run. Crassus
takes advantage, defeats the slave army—and crucifies 6000 slaves (71
BC). Pompey makes a somewhat belated move,
returning with his army to mop up some of the slaves who had escaped.
Pompey
thinks he
deserves some prizes: a consulship and a triumph. Neither were in
accord with
the rules. Pompey hadn’t gone through
the ranks, and triumphs were only awarded for defeating a foreign
enemy, not
other Romans. But Pompey is a master
player. He had fought alongside Sulla,
and defeated the Marians who had taken refuge with Sertorius. But he now finds political support from the
Populares—enough support that he may get the prizes he wants.
So,
Marcus
Crassus, how do you play the game?
Pompey
and Crassus join forces
Crassus
has a
choice. He can side with the Optimates
and the Senate against Pompey, making sure Sulla’s rules are followed. But Crassus isn’t all that happy with senate
either: he’s not getting big enough prizes.
So Crassus decides to cut a deal—with Pompey!
And the two men combined have enough
political support they can outmaneuver the senate.
And
we have nice
prizes for them right away. Crassus and
Pompey both are consuls for the year 70 BC—with more prizes to come. After your consulship, you get a
proconsulship, a potentially valuable prize.
But
there aren’t
any good proconsulships available right away, so it’s time to change
the
rules. Crassus and Pompey throw their
support that restores the power of the tribunes and the assembly. Now why would they do that?
Well, we’re about to see.
Pirates!
In 67
BC, Pompey
finally sees the opportunity he wants.
Pirates are menacing the grain trade, driving food prices too
high. Pompey gets a tribune to sponsor the
Gabinian
law giving him a special command: 120,000 troops that he can take as
far as 50
miles inland anywhere the pirates roam—and he has that authorization
for 3
years. Well, he deals the pirates—in 3
months! Time to retire?
Not a chance.
There’s another threat that has to be dealt with: Mithridates.
MithridatesPart
II (actually, the 3rd Mithrdaic War--but who's counting?)
Mithridates
of
Pontus had been an ally of the pirates, and he had once again risen in
an attempt
to drive Rome from the eastern Mediterranean.
Pompey wanted a command against him.
Trouble was, someone already had that command: Lucullus.
Lucullus
had
been doing a fine job, but he had alienated the equestrian tax farmers. He saw, rightly, that extortionate taxes were
the main reason for anti-Roman sentiment, and he had tried to rein the
tax
collectors in. Sulla’s treaty had called
for 20,000 talents—and they tax collectors gouged the people for
120,000! Vae victus.
One
of these is Gaius
Julius Caesar who, with Crassus support, becomes aedile in 65, praetor
in 63,
and Pontifex Maximus (also in 63).
Also
into the
game, Catiline, an unsuccessful candidate for consul in 64 BC and again
a
candidate for consul in 63. Catiline was
an enormously unsavory character—but a formidable campaigner, offering
lavish
banquets featuring beautiful girls or handsome boys (whichever you
liked) for
your after-dinner entertainment. And
then there was his great promise: a cancellation of all debts.
In
political affairs, too, Cicero was quite skillful. He made his
mark as a lawyer prosecuting a Sicilian governor named Verres…a man who
had openly boasted that his first years takings were for himself, his
2nd years takings for his friends, and his third years’ taking to bribe
the judges.
He
was
successful in winning one of the two consulships, and Catilline was
shut out.
When Catilline’s bid for the 63 consulship also didn’t pan out
either,
he
hatched up a scheme to assassinate Cicero and seize power.
Cicero was tipped off, arrested the
conspirators—and executed them without a trial.
Thus
when Pompey
returns, he is going to find a political mess—justification for taking
whatever
prizes he wants, perhaps.
Pompey's return
But
when he gets
to Rome, expecting his grand prize, a prize which would include
ratification of
his treaties and a triumphal march through Rome. And
the senators? Well, they don’t like this. They give Pompey none of what he thinks he
has a right to expect. Are they going to
get away with it? Well, we will see.