Page:Cicero And The Fall Of The Roman Republic.djvu/47

Rh

people. It was strong enough to give a preponderating power to whichever of the extreme parties it might favour for the moment; and, as its interests were in many respects identical with those of the Commonwealth, it seemed as if this influence was likely to be used for good. To men of substance, engaged in commerce and banking at Rome and throughout the civilised world, public order and the maintenance of credit were matters of prime importance. Whenever the democratic factions resorted, as under Saturninus, to riot and bloodshed in the streets, the Knights took sides with the Senate against the disturbers of the peace. When the slackness of the Senate allowed piracy to get the upper hand in the Mediterranean or when its leaders pocketed Jugurtha's bribes, while he was cutting the throats of Roman merchants in Africa, the Knights bestirred themselves and gave valuable support to the democratic opposition. Unhappily there were other considerations which touched them more nearly. In the first place the State-contracts were their monopoly, and the equestrian order was apt to be the humble servant of whichever party promised the best bargains. Scarcely less important were its interests in the provincial administration. The Roman Knights trafficked with and lent money to the subjects of the Republic; they had control of the lucrative slave-trade; they collected from the provincials the taxes which had been farmed from the Roman treasury, or which had been pledged to them as security for debt by the local exchequers of client kings and