Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/782

Rh ROME [HISTOE ilure the rarian 'orm. 6. 3. trius, 8-100 = 6-654. The indifference of the city populace, to whom the pro- spect of small holdings iu a remote district of Italy was not a tempting one, was overcome by the establishment of regular monthly doles of corn at a low price. 1 Finally, the men of business the publicans, merchants, and money- lenders were conciliated by the privilege granted to them of collecting the tithes of the new province of Asia, and placed jn direct rivalry with the senate by the substitution of men of their own class as judges in the " quaestio de repetundis," in place of senators. 2 The organizer of this concerted attack upon the position of the senate fell, like his brother, in a riot. The agrarian reforms of the two Gracchi had little per- manent effect. 3 Even in the lifetime of Gaius the clause in his brother's law rendering the new holdings inalienable was repealed, and the process of absorption recommenced.* In 118 a stop was put to further allotment of occupied lands, 5 and finally, in 111, the whole position of the agra- rian question was altered by a law which converted all land still held in occupation into private land. 6 The old controversy as to the proper use of the lands of the com- munity was closed by this act of alienation. The contro- versy in future turns, not on the right of the poor citizens to the state lands, but on the expediency of purchasing other lands for distribution at the cost of the treasury. 7 But, though the agrarian reform failed, the political conflict it had provoked ended only with the dictatorship of Caesar, and the lines on which it was waged were in the main those laid down by Gaius Gracchus. The sover- eignty of the assembly continued to be the watchword of the popular party, and a free use of the tribunician powers of interference and of legislation remained the most effective means of giving effect to their aims. At the same time the careers of both Tiberius and Gaius had illustrated the weak points of their position, the un- certain temper and varying composition of the assembly, the limited tenure of office enjoyed by the tribunes 8 and the possibility of disunion in their own body, and, lastly, the difficulty of keeping together the divergent interests which Gaius had for a moment united in hostility to the senate. Ten years after the death of Gaius the populares once more summoned up courage to challenge the supremacy of the senate ; and it is important as marking a step in advance that it was on a question not of domestic- reform but of foreign administration that the conflict was renewed. The course of affairs in the client state of Numidia since Micipsa's death in 118 had been such as to discredit a stronger government than that of the senate. 9 In open defiance of Roman authority, and relying on the influence of his own well-spent gold, Jugurtha had murdered both his legitimate rivals, Hiempsal and Adherbal, and made himself master of Numidia. The declaration of war Plut., C. G., 5 ; App., i. 21 ; Livy, Epit., Ix. ; Festus, 290. 2 Hence Gaius ranked as the founder of the equestrian order. Plin. , N. If., xxxiii. 84, "judicum appellatione separate eum ordinem . . instituere Gracchi;" Varro ap. Non., 454, "bicipitem civitatem fecit." 3 Traces of the work of the commission survive in the Miliarium Popiliannm, C. /. L., i. 551, in a few Gracchan "termini," ib., 552, 553, 554, 555, in the "limites Gracchani," Liber Colon.., ed. Lach- mann, pp. 209, 210, 211, 229, &c. Compare also the rise in the numbers of the census of 125 B.C. ; Livy, Epit., Ix. 4 Lex Minucia, 121 B.C.; App., i. 27 ; Oros., v. 12 ; Festus, 201. 6 The so-called lex Thoria ; App., i. 27 ; Cic. Brut., 36 ; cf. Wordsworth, Fragm., 441. 6 The "lex agraria," still extant in a fragmentary condition in the museum at Naples. See Mommsen, C. I. L., i. 200 ; Wordsworth, 441 sq. ; Bruns, Fontes Juris Rom., 54-67 ; App., i. 27. 7 Cic., Lex Agr., ii. sect. 65. 8 Efforts were repeatedly made to get over this difficulty, e.g., the lex Papiria, 131 B.C.; Livy, Epit., lix. Gaius was himself tribune for two years, 110-109 (cf. Sail., Jug., 37, " tribuni continuare magis- tratum nitebantur)", and Saturninus in 100 B.C. 9 Sallust, Jug., 5sq.; Livy, Epit., Ixii., Ixiv. wrung from the senate (112) by popular indignation had 642. been followed by the corruption of a consul 10 (111) and 643. the crushing defeat of the proconsul Albinus. 11 On the news of this crowning disgrace the storm burst, and on the proposal of the tribunes a commission of inquiry was appointed into the conduct of the war. 12 But the popular leaders did not stop here. Caecilius Metellus, who as con- sul (109) had succeeded to the command in Numidia, was 64 an able soldier but a rigid aristocrat ; and they now resolved to improve their success by entrusting the com- mand instead to a genuine son of the people. Their choice fell on Gaius Marius (see MARITJS), an experienced officer and administrator, but a man of humble birth, wholly illiterate, and one who, though no politician, was by temperament and training a hater of the polished and effeminate nobles who filled the senate. 13 He was triumph- antly elected, and, in spite of a decree of the senate continuing Metellus as proconsul, he was entrusted by a vote of the assembly with the charge of the war against Jugurtha. 14 Jugurtha was vanquished ; and Marius, who had been a second time elected consul in his absence, arrived at Rome in January 104, bringing the captive prince with him in 6 chains. 15 But further triumphs awaited the popular hero. The Cimbri and Teutones were at the gates of Italy ; they had four times defeated the senatorial generals, and Marius was called upon to save Rome from a second invasion of the barbarians. 16 After two years of suspense the victory at Aquae Sextiae (102), followed by that on the 6 Raudine plain (101), put an end to the danger by the 6 annihilation of the invading hordes; and Marius, now con- sul for the fifth time, returned to Rome in triumph. There the popular party welcomed him as a leader, and as one who would bring to their aid the imperium of the consul and all the prestige of a successful general. Once more, however, they were destined to a brief success followed by disastrous defeat. Marius became for the sixth time consul ; 17 of the two popular leaders Glaucia became praetor Satnr- and Saturninus tribune. But neither Marius nor his ninus allies were statesmen of the stamp of the Gracchi ; and the laws proposed by Saturninus had evidently no other serious aim in view than that of harassing the senate. His corn law merely reduced the price fixed in 123 for the 6 monthly dole of corn, and the main point of his agrarian law lay in the clause appended to it requiring all senators to swear to observe its provisions. 18 The laws were carried ; the senators with the exception of Metellus took the oath; but the triumph of the popular leaders was short-lived. Their recklessness and violence had alienated all classes in Rome ; and their period of office was drawing to a close. At the elections fresh rioting took place, and at last Marius as consul was called upon by the senate to protect the state against his own partisans. In despair Saturninus and Glaucia surrendered, but while the senate was dis- cussing their fate they were surrounded and murdered by the populace. The popular party had been worsted once more in their struggle with the senate, but none the less their alliance with Marius, and the position in which their votes placed him, marked an epoch in the history of the revolution. 10 Calpurnius Bestia ; Sail., Jug., 28. 11 Ib., 38, 39. " Ib., 40. 13 Sallust, Jug., 63 ; Plut., Marius, 2, 3. For the question as to the position of his parents, see Madvig, Verfas., i. 170; Diod., xxxiv. 38. 14 Sallust, Jug., 73. 15 Ib., 114. Forthe chronology of the Jugurthine war, see Momm- sen, R. G., ii. 146 note; Pelham, Journ. of Phil., vii. 91. 16 Livy, Epit., Ixvii. ; Pint., Mar., 12 ; Mommsen, ii. 171 sq. 17 Livy, Epit., Ixix.; App., B. C., i. 28 sq. 18 For the "leges Appuleiae," see Livy, Epit., Ixix.; App., i. 29 ; Cic. Pro Balbo, 21 ; Auct. Ad Herennium, i. 12, 21. They included also allotments to Marius's veterans ; Auct. De Vir. III., 62.
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