Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/235

Rh bar. Caesar and the democrats also supported it, perhaps not of their own free will, as the power of Pompeius was already endangering the success of the democratic party. No one dared to intercede, and the bill passed almost unanimously.

Nature of the Extraordinary Military Commands. — The tendency toward monarchy is one of the salient characteristics of the fourth period, and is manifest, not only in democratic, but also in oligarchic, measures. It was the oligarchy which gave Antonius general command at sea (imperium infinitum), which placed Lucullus in charge of more than one province, which conferred supreme authority (imperium) on the private knight Pompeius — acts that were contrary to the republican constitution and dangerous to its existence. The democracy followed these precedents, and furnished the model for the Roman monarchy. In other words, the distinctive features of the naval and military commands established by the Gabinian and Manilian laws, — the abolition of the collegiate and annual tenure, the appointment of praetorian lieutenants, the combination of provinces, the general command at sea, and the concurrent or superior powers in the coast regions, — formed some of the leading principles of the Roman empire under Augustus. The real nature of these measures was abundantly shown by Catulus and others; but the people considered simply their immediate economic interests, and the comprehension of republican principles was already so imperfect that the moderate aristocrats, like Cicero, now readily supported the Manilian law, and later bewailed the loss of liberty and the establishment of a monarchy. On the other hand, the brilliant results achieved by Pompeius seemed to justify the democratic policy, and tended to reconcile the people in general to the preëminence, if not the rule, of one man.