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182-454: They are mentioned as Cadurcus by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC), Kadou͂rkoi (Καδοῦρκοι) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD) and Ptolemy (2nd c. AD), and as Cadurci by Pliny (1st c. AD). The etymology of the ethnonym Cadurci remains uncertain. Pierre-Yves Lambert has proposed to interpret it as a haplology (loss of syllabe) for the Gaulish compound Catu-turci ('battle-boars'), formed with

364-496: A right of legislative initiative of their own, instead being convened by magistrates and voting only on matters put before them by the presiding magistrate. The power granted to a magistrate was such that he could reject votes given by a voting block and request that it reconsider its choice. Over the years, laws were passed which mandated a written ballot, attempted to reduce voter intimidation, and established procedures to watch over voting and prevent voter fraud. For elections, it

546-520: A bloody battle at Munda on 17 March 45 BC, Caesar narrowly found victory; his enemies were treated as rebels and he had them massacred. Labienus died on the field. While one of Pompey's sons, Sextus , escaped, the war was effectively over. Caesar remained in the province until June before setting out for Rome, arriving in October of the same year, and celebrated an unseemly triumph over fellow Romans. By this point he had started preparations for war on

728-601: A certain amount, and thrown games distributing food. Many of his enemies during the civil wars were pardoned – Caesar's clemency was exalted in his propaganda and temple works – with the intent to cultivate gratitude and draw a contrast between himself and the vengeful dictatorship of Sulla. Constitution of the Roman Republic The constitution of the Roman Republic was a set of uncodified norms and customs which, together with various written laws , guided

910-429: A citizen's home or even place of birth. Because the urban poor were largely registered in the four urban tribes and the rural poor would be unable to go to Rome in person to cast their votes, the tribal assembly was likely dominated by the rich landholding magnates of the 31 rural tribes, with some allowance for the fact that rural immigrants to Rome usually retained their ancestral tribes. The vast majority of legislation

1092-412: A class of equites by wealth, each further subdivided by age into a junior and senior bloc ( seniores being 46 years or older). The first class and the equites held 98 of the 193 voting blocs, an absolute majority. This was later reformed some time between 241 and 221 BC, eliminating the majority possessed by the first class with equites and moving about five per cent of the centuries to favour

1274-453: A collateral manner in the trial of Gaius Rabirius by one of the plebeian tribunes – Titus Labienus – for the murder of Saturninus in accordance with a senatus consultum ultimum some forty years earlier. The most famous event of the year was the Catilinarian conspiracy . While some of Caesar's enemies, including Catulus, alleged that he participated in the conspiracy, the chance that he

1456-433: A compromise where Caesar would resign his priesthood but keep his wife and chattels; Sulla's alleged remark he saw "in [Caesar] many Mariuses" is apocryphal. Caesar then left Italy to serve in the staff of the governor of Asia, Marcus Minucius Thermus . While there, he travelled to Bithynia to collect naval reinforcements and stayed some time as a guest of the king, Nicomedes IV , though later invective connected Caesar to

1638-537: A constitutional impossibility – which led Caesar to distance himself from the proposals: hopes for a provincial command and need to repair relations with the aristocracy took priority. He also was engaged in the Bona Dea affair, where Publius Clodius Pulcher sneaked into Caesar's house sacrilegiously during a female religious observance; Caesar avoided any part of the affair by divorcing his wife immediately – claiming that his wife needed to be "above suspicion" – but there

1820-714: A critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire . In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus , and Pompey formed the First Triumvirate , an informal political alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass political power were opposed by many in the Senate , among them Cato the Younger with the private support of Cicero . Caesar rose to become one of

2002-504: A deliberative body. In the middle republic, only a few bills (most famously, war with Macedon in 200 BC, which was passed when the centuries were recanvassed shortly thereafter) were rejected, mostly due to counter-mobilisation from other politicians. Still in later periods, laws were rejected only rarely and under special circumstances, reflecting division within the elite and resulting mobilisation of opposition. The curiate assembly ( Latin : comitia curiata ) traditionally dates to

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2184-419: A document by the presiding magistrate; the results were recorded in the aerarium (the public treasury) and sometimes published in a gazette . In the late republic, the senate claimed – and was generally accepted to have – the authority to authoritatively advise magistrates to use force to suppress domestic uprisings – killing citizens and violating their legally-enshrined provocatio rights – by passing

2366-547: A group of senators led by Brutus and Cassius assassinated Caesar on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC. A new series of civil wars broke out and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. Caesar's great-nephew and adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus , rose to sole power after defeating his opponents in the last civil war of the Roman Republic . Octavian set about solidifying his power, and

2548-506: A homosexual relation with the monarch. He then served at the Siege of Mytilene where he won the civic crown for saving the life of a fellow citizen in battle. The privileges of the crown – the Senate was supposed to stand on a holder's entrance and holders were permitted to wear the crown at public occasions – whetted Caesar's appetite for honours. After the capture of Mytilene, Caesar transferred to

2730-457: A kind of authority known as imperium , the authority to command in a military or judicial sense. The various magistrates were not required to work together. They largely acted as individuals pursuing their own policy goals and ambitions. Successfully administering the republic required substantial cooperation brought about by non-binding policy direction from the senate. Deference to the senate, ingrained in aristocratic social norms, therefore

2912-429: A last resort. At the start of 49 BC, Caesar's renewed offer that he and Pompey disarm was read to the Senate and was rejected by the hardliners. A later compromise given privately to Pompey was also rejected at their insistence. On 7 January, his supportive tribunes were driven from Rome; the Senate then declared Caesar an enemy and it issued its senatus consultum ultimum . There is scholarly disagreement as to

3094-536: A legal action, such as enacting laws, electing magistrates, and trying judicial cases. The second type of legislative meeting was the council ( Latin : concilium ), which was a gathering of a specific group of citizens. For example, the concilium plebis , or plebeian council, was for meetings of plebeians only. The third type of gathering, the convention ( Latin : contio ), was an unofficial forum for communication where citizens gathered to hear public announcements and arguments debated in speeches as well to witness

3276-541: A legion and five cohorts in the winter of 55–54 BC produced substantial concern in Rome about Caesar's command and competence, evidenced by the highly defensive narrative in Caesar's Commentaries . The death of Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife Julia in childbirth c.  late August 54 did not create a rift between Caesar and Pompey. At the start of 53 BC, Caesar sought and received reinforcements by recruitment and

3458-466: A life appointment to the Senate. Other minor magistrates, by the late republic called the vigintisexviri , had administrative duties relating to six boards: judging free or slave status, policing, coining of money, road maintenance in Rome, road maintenance near Rome, and administration of justice in Capua and Cumae . These junior posts were usually held before election to the quaestorship, and this became

3640-470: A limited number of powerful dynasts within the elite. The resources of the provinces and a growing culture of political violence heightened competition within the Roman elite while weakening republican political norms that maintained cohesion. The increasing legitimisation of violence and centralisation of authority into fewer and fewer men would, with the collapse of trust in the republic's institutions, put it on

3822-451: A magistrate, known as intercessio and auxilium , respectively. The people gave the tribunes, whose number at this early time is unclear, two assistants known as plebeian aediles . The attempt of the decemviri to entrench a patrician-dominated state, traditionally dated to 457 BC, was similarly thwarted by a plebeian secession. Reforms in 449 BC may have formalised recognition of military imperium by requiring its conferral by

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4004-510: A more clear evolution between monarchy and government led by elected magistrates. A growing number of historians also doubt the reliability of the consular fasti (the list of consuls ostensibly going back to the start of the republic posted in Rome), viewing them as a "product of the late republic" with "minimal" accuracy on the early republic. Remnants of the monarchy, however, were reflected in republican institutions. There is, however, evidence that

4186-415: A number of symbolic honours which saw Caesar's portrait placed on coins in Rome – the first for a living Roman – with special rights to wear royal dress, sit atop a golden chair in the Senate, and have his statues erected in public temples. The month Quintilis, in which he was born, was renamed Julius (now July). These were symbols of divine monarchy and, later, objects of resentment. The decisions on

4368-492: A one-third write-down of tax farmers' arrears for Crassus and ratification of Pompey's eastern settlements. Both bills were passed with little or no debate in the Senate. Caesar then moved to extend his agrarian bill to Campania some time in May; this may be when Bibulus withdrew to his house. Pompey, shortly thereafter, also wed Caesar's daughter Julia to seal their alliance. An ally of Caesar's, plebeian tribune Publius Vatinius moved

4550-402: A path to civil war and its transformation by Augustus into an autocratic regime cloaked with republican imagery and legitimacy. In Roman constitutional law, the assemblies were a sovereign authority, with the power to enact or reject any law, confer any magistracies, and make any decision. This view of popular sovereignty emerged elegantly out of the Roman conception that the people and

4732-433: A permanent veto for the entire year. This clearly violated the people's well-established legislative sovereignty and triggered a riot in which Bibulus' fasces were broken, symbolising popular rejection of his magistracy. The bill was then voted through. Bibulus attempted to induce the Senate to nullify it on grounds it was passed by violence and contrary to the auspices but the Senate refused. Caesar also brought and passed

4914-578: A private deal with Pompey before two years of largely unsuccessful campaigning against Gallic insurgents. In the same year, Crassus's campaign ended in disaster at the Battle of Carrhae , culminating in his death at the hands of the Parthians . When in 52 BC Pompey started the year with a sole consulship to restore order to the city, Caesar was in Gaul suppressing insurgencies; after news of his victory at Alesia, with

5096-476: A proconsulship in Macedonia. Going after a less well-connected senator, he was successful the next year in prosecuting Gaius Antonius Hybrida (later consul in 63 BC) for profiteering from the proscriptions but was forestalled when a tribune interceded on Antonius' behalf. After these oratorical attempts, Caesar left Rome for Rhodes seeking the tutelage of the rhetorician Apollonius Molon . While travelling, he

5278-449: A programme of social and governmental reform, including the creation of the Julian calendar . He gave citizenship to many residents of far regions of the Roman Republic. He initiated land reforms to support his veterans and initiated an enormous building programme. In early 44 BC, he was proclaimed "dictator for life" ( dictator perpetuo ). Fearful of his power and domination of the state,

5460-490: A requirement after the reforms of Sulla. There were a number of extraordinary magistrates. First covered here are the dictator and the magister equitum ( lit.   ' master of horse ' ). Dictators were selected by the consuls to resolve some issue facing the republic that could not be dealt with by the ordinary magistrates. The magister equitum was then appointed by the dictator as his lieutenant. The dictator had summum imperium and supreme authority within

5642-417: A second consulship – first mooted in 52 as colleague to Pompey's sole consulship – and a triumph. He feared that his opponents – then holding both consulships for 50 BC – would reject his candidacy or refuse to ratify an election he won. This also was the core of his war justification: that Pompey and his allies were planning, by force if necessary (indicated in the expulsion of the tribunes ), to suppress

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5824-486: A succession of kings. The Romans believed that this era, that of the Roman kingdom , began in 753 BC and ended in 509. After the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the republic, the people of Rome began electing two consuls each year. According to the consular fasti , a list of the consuls going back to the foundation of the republic, the first consuls were chosen in 509 BC. Modern scholars, however, stress

6006-516: A wall, he stopped their movement near Geneva and – after raising two legions – defeated them at the Battle of Bibracte before forcing them to return to their original homes. He was drawn further north responding to requests from Gallic tribes, including the Aedui , for aid against Ariovistus – king of the Suebi and a declared friend of Rome by the Senate during Caesar's own consulship – and he defeated them at

6188-403: A well-accepted member of the aristocracy with great future prospects in his political career. Caesar decided to return shortly thereafter and on his return was elected one of the military tribunes for 71 BC. There is no evidence that Caesar served in war – even though the war on Spartacus was on-going – during his term; he did, however, agitate for the removal of Sulla's disabilities on

6370-494: A year, and by April 46 BC he was given a new dictatorship annually. The task he was assigned revived that of Sulla's dictatorship: rei publicae constituendae . These appointments, however, were not the source of legal power themselves; in the eyes of the literary sources, they were instead honours and titles which reflected Caesar's dominant position in the state, secured not by extraordinary magistracy or legal powers, but by personal status as victor over other Romans. Through

6552-521: A year-long dictatorship, after news of his victory at Pharsalus arrived to Rome. While in Alexandria, he started an affair with Cleopatra and withstood a siege by Ptolemy and his other sister Arsinoe until March 47 BC. Reinforced by eastern client allies under Mithridates of Pergamum , he then defeated Ptolemy at the Battle of the Nile and installed Cleopatra as ruler. Caesar and Cleopatra celebrated

6734-481: Is attested in evidence, did not intend to restructure Roman society. Ernst Badian, writing in the Oxford Classical Dictionary , noted that although Caesar did implement a series of reforms, they did not touch on the core of the republican system: he "had no plans for basic social and constitutional reform" and that "the extraordinary honours heaped upon him... merely grafted him as an ill-fitting head on to

6916-475: Is no evidence that Caesar himself was born by Caesarian section ; such operations entailed the death of the mother, but Caesar's mother lived for decades after his birth and no ancient sources record any difficulty with the birth. Despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential during the middle republic. The first person known to have had the cognomen Caesar

7098-554: Is no indication that Caesar supported Clodius in any way. After his praetorship, Caesar was appointed to govern Hispania Ulterior pro consule . Deeply indebted from his campaigns for the praetorship and for the pontificate, Caesar required military victory beyond the normal provincial extortion to pay them off. He campaigned against the Callaeci and Lusitani and seized the Callaeci capital in northwestern Spain, bringing Roman troops to

7280-487: The lex Pompeia Licinia extending Caesar's command and the lex Trebonia giving them respective commands in Spain and Syria, though Pompey never left for the province and remained politically active at Rome. The opposition again unified against their heavy-handed political tactics – though not against Caesar's activities in Gaul – and defeated the allies in the elections of that year. The ambush and destruction in Gaul of

7462-403: The imperium of elected magistrates and promagistrates through a lex curiata de imperio . However, there was considerable debate in the late republic on whether or not a magistrate's election actually required ratification by the curiae ; by the late republic, the effect of the lex curiata de imperio was "obscure". Broadly, however, the high degree of abstraction implicit in representing

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7644-440: The lex Gabinia tabellaria and lex Cassia tabellaria . The lex Domitia de sacerdotis in 104 abolished the cooption of priests in favour of election. More dramatic through this period was the development of provincial administration and the promagistracy . Rome's expansion through the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC saw it acquire for the first time overseas provinces, which were governed by consuls or praetors assigned by

7826-446: The lex Vatinia assigning the provinces of Illyricum and Cisalpine Gaul to Caesar for five years. Suetonius' claim that the Senate had assigned to Caesar the silvae callesque ("woods and tracks") is likely an exaggeration: fear of Gallic invasion had grown in 60 BC and it is more likely that the consuls had been assigned to Italy, a defensive posture that Caesarian partisans dismissed as "mere 'forest tracks'". The Senate

8008-461: The Battle of Ilerda before forcing surrender of the third ; his legates moved into Sicily and into Africa , though the African expedition failed. Returning to Rome in the autumn, Caesar had Lepidus, as praetor, bring a law appointing Caesar dictator to conduct the elections; he, along with Publius Servilius Isauricus , won the following elections and would serve as consuls for 48 BC. Resigning

8190-780: The Battle of Vosges . Wintering in northeastern Gaul near the Belgae in the winter of 58–57, Caesar's forward military position triggered an uprising to remove his troops; able to eke out a victory at the Battle of the Sabis , Caesar spent much of 56 BC suppressing the Belgae and dispersing his troops to campaign across much of Gaul, including against the Veneti in what is now Brittany . At this point, almost all of Gaul – except its central regions – fell under Roman subjugation. Seeking to buttress his military reputation, he engaged Germans attempting to cross

8372-481: The Black Sea in northern Anatolia. His invasion had swept aside Caesar's legates and the local client kings, but Caesar engaged him at Zela and defeated him immediately, leading Caesar to write veni, vidi, vici ("I came, I saw, I conquered"), downplaying Pompey's previous Pontic victories. He then left quickly for Italy. Caesar's absence from Italy put Mark Antony, as magister equitum , in charge. His rule

8554-464: The Cimbri . According to Plutarch's narrative, the trophies were restored overnight to the applause and tears of joy of the onlookers; any sudden and secret restoration of this sort would not have been possible – architects, restorers, and other workmen would have to have been hired and paid for – nor would it have been likely that the work could have been done in a single night. It is more likely that Caesar

8736-473: The Curia of Pompey . Many magistrates had the power to summon the senate, including the consuls, praetors, and tribunes. After religious preliminaries, the presiding magistrate gave a speech which needed not be neutral. After establishing facts, the president then outlined the issue asked of the senate, and debate started. The first to speak was the princeps senatus , followed by ex-consuls in an order decided by

8918-602: The Parthians to avenge Crassus' death at Carrhae in 53 BC, with wide-ranging objectives that would take him into Dacia for three or more years. It was set to start on 18 March 44 BC. Prior to Caesar's assumption of the title dictator perpetuo in February 44 BC, he had been appointed dictator some four times since his first dictatorship in 49 BC. After occupying Rome, he engineered this first appointment, largely to hold elections; after 11 days he resigned. The other dictatorships lasted for longer periods, up to

9100-497: The civil war (82 BC), Cinna's acta were annulled. Sulla consequently ordered Caesar to abdicate and divorce Cinna's daughter. Caesar refused, implicitly questioning the legitimacy of Sulla's annulment. Sulla may have put Caesar on the proscription lists , though scholars are mixed. Caesar then went into hiding before his relatives and contacts among the Vestal Virgins were able to intercede on his behalf. They then reached

9282-458: The comitia curiata . Shortly thereafter in 446 BC, quaestors , administrators with wide terms of reference, were first elected; and the office of censor was created to administer the census in 443 BC. The ancient literary sources also report the regular election of consular tribunes as a reaction of increased demand for generalship or as means to prevent plebeian assumption of military leadership; some modern scholars, however, believe

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9464-457: The concilium plebis in a legislative or electoral capacity, and to address the people in a contio . While the tribunician powers emerged from a revolutionary background, they were by the middle republic drawn largely from the same group of aristocrats as those which made up the senate, meaning such powers were little exercised. Only during the late republic were such powers reasserted. The aediles were in charge of various municipal tasks, e.g.

9646-405: The curiate assembly , the centuriate assembly , and the tribal assembly . Each unit (curia, century, or tribe) cast one vote before their assembly. The majority of individual votes – all given by male citizens – in any century, tribe, or curia decided how that unit voted. In legislative matters, the assemblies very rarely rejected bills put before it, serving more as a legitimising symbol than

9828-567: The death of Crassus in 53 BC. With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. In 49 BC, Caesar openly defied the Senate's authority by crossing the Rubicon and marching towards Rome at the head of an army. This began Caesar's civil war , which he won, leaving him in a position of near-unchallenged power and influence in 45 BC. After assuming control of government, Caesar began

10010-679: The Assemblies were most likely overwhelmingly members of the upper class with the time and leisure available for politics. Rome had no middle class shopkeepers: it was divided extremely unequally between the massive underclass and the very few tremendously rich. Until the Social War around 90 BC, Italian non-Romans were prohibited from voting as well due to their broad lack of citizenship with voting rights. That civil war, between Rome and her Italian allies, led to various laws granting citizenship and voting rights to their Italian allies. Even after

10192-515: The Athenian playwright Menander , in Greek, " let the die be cast ". Pompey and many senators fled south, believing that Caesar was marching quickly for Rome. Caesar, after capturing communication routes to Rome, paused and opened negotiations, but they fell apart amid mutual distrust. Caesar responded by advancing south, seeking to capture Pompey to force a conference. Pompey withdrew to Brundisium and

10374-456: The Atlantic and seizing enough plunder to pay his debts. Claiming to have completed the peninsula's conquest, he made for home after having been hailed imperator . When he arrived home in the summer of 60 BC, he was then forced to choose between a triumph and election to the consulship: either he could remain outside the pomerium (Rome's sacred boundary) awaiting a triumph or cross

10556-537: The Mediterranean and also supported the lex Manilia in 66 BC to reassign the Third Mithridatic War from its then-commander Lucullus to Pompey. Four years after his aunt Julia's funeral, in 65 BC, Caesar served as curule aedile and staged lavish games that won him further attention and popular support. He also restored the trophies won by Marius, and taken down by Sulla, over Jugurtha and

10738-473: The Rhine, which marked it as a Roman frontier; displaying Roman engineering prowess, he here built a bridge across the Rhine in a feat of engineering meant to show Rome's ability to project power. Ostensibly seeking to interdict British aid to his Gallic enemies, he led expeditions into southern Britain in 55 and 54 BC, perhaps seeking further conquests or otherwise wanting to impress readers in Rome; Britain at

10920-539: The Roman annalists , who supplemented what little written history existed with oral history . This lack of evidence poses problems for the reliability of the traditional account of the republic's origins. Many modern scholars now view, however, the Livian and annalistic accounts to be a "literary creation of the late republic" and that they broadly "cannot retain much value for... reconstructing early Roman history". According to this traditional account, Rome had been ruled by

11102-439: The Senate at the end for execution. During his year as praetor, Caesar first attempted to deprive his enemy Catulus of the honour of completing the rebuilt Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus , accusing him of embezzling funds, and threatening to bring legislation to reassign it to Pompey. This proposal was quickly dropped amid near-universal opposition. He then supported the attempt by plebeian tribune Metellus Nepos to transfer

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11284-560: The Senate from reassigning his command in Transalpine Gaul, even if his position in Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum was guaranteed by the lex Vatinia until 54 BC. His success was evidently recognised when the Senate voted state funds for some of Caesar's legions, which until this time Caesar had paid for personally. The three allies' relations broke down in 57 BC: one of Pompey's allies challenged Caesar's land reform bill and

11466-435: The Senate in hope that it would take up the matter to show its beneficence for the people, there was little opposition and the obstructionism that occurred was largely unprincipled, firmly opposing it not on grounds of public interest but rather opposition to Caesar's political advancement. Unable to overcome Cato's filibustering, he moved the bill before the people and, at a public meeting, Caesar's co-consul Bibulus threatened

11648-508: The Senate stalled and was regardless dropped. He stayed near the city until some time around mid-March. During the Gallic Wars, Caesar wrote his Commentaries thereon, which were acknowledged even in his time as a Latin literary masterwork. Meant to document Caesar's campaigns in his own words and maintain support in Rome for his military operations and career, he produced some ten volumes covering operations in Gaul from 58 to 52 BC. Each

11830-551: The actions of a magistrate. The republic's constitution, while malleable and evolving, still had substantive entrenched norms. Institutions such as the consuls, the senate, and tribunes evolved significantly in the early republic but remained relatively stable from the fourth century BC. Starting from a period of patrician domination, the Conflict of the Orders eventually granted plebeian citizens equal political rights, while also creating

12012-415: The aediles and quaestors, elected by the tribal assembly . The tribune was sacrosanct, i.e. inviolable, and protected the oaths sworn by plebeians to defend him. It was on this basis that the tribune could veto any political act or to protect any individual from an injustice committed by a magistrate, known as intercessio and auxilium , respectively. They also had powers to convene the senate, preside over

12194-418: The allies had a poor showing in the elections that year. With a real threat to Caesar's command and acta brewing in 56 BC under the aegis of the unfriendly consuls, Caesar needed his allies' political support. Pompey and Crassus too wanted military commands. Their combined interests led to a renewal of the alliance; drawing in the support of Appius Claudius Pulcher and his younger brother Clodius for

12376-453: The assemblies theoretically held all power, but were called and governed by the magistrates, who, controlling discussion, exercised dominating influence over them. Other magistrates could also veto proceedings before the assemblies, though until the late republic, this was rare. Similarly, to check the power of the magistrates, each magistrate could veto one of their colleagues and the plebeians elected tribunes who could intercede and veto

12558-410: The autumn, Cicero and others sought disarmament by both Caesar and Pompey, and on 1 December 50 BC this was formally proposed in the Senate. It received overwhelming support – 370 to 22 – but was not passed when one of the consuls dissolved the meeting. That year, when a rumour came to Rome that Caesar was marching into Italy, both consuls instructed Pompey to defend Italy, a charge he accepted as

12740-456: The body of the traditional structure". The most important of Caesar's reforms was to the calendar, which saw the abolition of the traditional republican lunisolar calendar and its replacement with a solar calendar now called the Julian calendar . He also increased the number of magistrates and senators (from 600 to 900) to better administer the empire and reward his supporters with offices. Colonies also were founded outside Italy – notably on

12922-479: The boundary, giving up his command and triumph, to make a declaration of consular candidacy. Attempts to waive the requirement for the declaration to be made in person were filibustered in the Senate by Caesar's enemy Cato, even though the Senate seemed to support the exception. Faced with the choice between a triumph and the consulship, Caesar chose the consulship. Caesar stood for the consulship of 59 BC along with two other candidates. His political position at

13104-413: The census, the censors also were responsible for public morality, dealt with property disputes, public contracts, and the management of public lands. Such authority was also generally unreviewable except by the censor's colleague; if a colleague died in office, the other censor was required to resign. The lower magistrates included the tribune of the plebs , who was elected by the plebeian council, and

13286-452: The citizenry, disproportionately granting voting power to the richest in society, as at the time of its formation, the wealthiest were also expected to contribute the most to the military. By the middle republic, the connection between voting power and military service had long ceased, turning into a system to massively overweight older and richer citizens. Divided into 193 voting blocs, these blocs were further subdivided into five classes and

13468-464: The civil war with Quintus Sertorius as well as a revolt in 78 BC by the then-consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus . The larger senate and the retention of more imperium -holding magistrates close to the city made politics dysfunctional, difficult to influence, and unpredictable. The legacy of the Social war and Sullan civil war, in killing off or discrediting an entire generation of consuls, also reduced

13650-531: The civil war. Some of the Sullan nobles – including Quintus Lutatius Catulus – who had suffered under the Marian regime objected, but by this point depictions of husbands in aristocratic women's funerary processions was common. Contra Plutarch, Caesar's action here was likely in keeping with a political trend for reconciliation and normalisation rather than a display of renewed factionalism. Caesar quickly remarried, taking

13832-404: The command against Catiline from the consul of 63, Gaius Antonius Hybrida, to Pompey. After a violent meeting of the comitia tributa in the forum, where Metellus came into fisticuffs with his tribunician colleagues Cato and Quintus Minucius Thermus , the Senate passed a decree against Metellus – Suetonius claims that both Nepos and Caesar were deposed from their magistracies; this would have been

14014-404: The consuls attacked – and as governors of provinces; only later would their main responsibility become to administer justice. The late republican praetors, with their role overseeing judicial process , had a significant influence on Roman law . The praetors also had the right to introduce legislation, call the senate, and supervised certain religious festivals. Over time, as Rome's empire grew,

14196-430: The consuls was also president over the elections for curule offices. They were the normal military commanders during the late republic, with the two consuls leading separate consular armies in war, where their powers were largely unlimited. In domestic affairs they were responsible for holding the annual feriae Latinae (a spring festival), receiving embassies from foreign states, conducting discussion on those matters in

14378-631: The consulship of 54 BC, they planned second consulships with following governorships in 55 BC for both Pompey and Crassus. Caesar, for his part, would receive a five-year extension of command. Cicero was induced to oppose reassignment of Caesar's provinces and to defend a number of the allies' clients; his gloomy predictions of a triumviral set of consuls-designate for years on end proved an exaggeration when, only by desperate tactics, bribery, intimidation and violence were Pompey and Crassus elected consuls for 55 BC. During their consulship, Pompey and Crassus passed – with some tribunician support –

14560-404: The consulship qua high general or imperium as legal military authority only becomes well founded at the end of the third century BC. The early republic of the literary accounts was dominated by the patricians, and those sources overwhelmingly focus on the conflicts between the patricians and the plebs, in what is known as the conflict of the orders . In 494 BC, during a military campaign,

14742-540: The dictatorship after eleven days, Caesar then left Italy for Greece to stop Pompey's preparations, arriving in force in early 48 BC. Caesar besieged Pompey at Dyrrhachium , but Pompey was able to break out and force Caesar's forces to flee. Following Pompey southeast into Greece and to save one of his legates, he engaged and decisively defeated Pompey at Pharsalus on 9 August 48 BC. Pompey then fled for Egypt; Cato fled for Africa; others, like Cicero and Marcus Junius Brutus , begged for Caesar's pardon. Pompey

14924-403: The different crowd which voted on the final proposal. A substantial amount of public business also was expected to be conducted in public and in view of the people, forcing regular contiones for affairs ranging from reading decrees of the senate to renouncing provinces. Assemblies and councils operated according to established procedures overseen by the augurs . The assemblies did not possess

15106-412: The early monarchy, from 30 divisions of the city made by Romulus . By the middle republic, it served only a symbolic purpose. At some point, the 30 curiae ceased to actually meet and were instead represented by 30 lictors . For religious purposes, it also met as a comitia calata under the presidency of the pontifex maximus . This assembly had authority over some elements of family law and ratified

15288-523: The early republic was a time of violent change, with the word rex carrying tyrannical connotations. The first assemblies of the republic emerged during the kingdom as means to ratify regal elections and the comitia centuriata was then repurposed to elect the first consuls. It is likely, however, that the exercise of military authority in the early republic was not institutionalised and consisted more of aristocrats leading private raids than formal state ratification of commanders' authority. The position of

15470-566: The election of magistrates to recall Cicero from exile on the condition that Cicero would refrain from criticism or obstruction of the allies. Politics in Rome fell into violent street clashes between Clodius and two tribunes who were friends of Cicero. With Cicero now supporting Caesar and Pompey, Caesar sent news of Gaul to Rome and claimed total victory and pacification. The Senate at Cicero's motion voted him an unprecedented fifteen days of thanksgiving. Such reports were necessary for Caesar, especially in light of senatorial opponents, to prevent

15652-493: The elimination of enemies from the body politic. The Sullan civil war , proscriptions , and the reforms that followed saw a change in the character of the res publica , producing a novel constitutional structure unlike the consensus-based senatorial culture of the middle republic. His reforms created a series of law codes, enforced by expanded quaestiones perpetuae staffed senators drawn from an expanded senate. The reforms also attempted to concentrate political power into

15834-464: The emergence of the unified aristocratic class called the nobiles , which were both patrician and plebeian. While the patricians retained rights from time immemorial, the pre-eminence of the nobiles over time became centred on winning elections to offices before the people rather than on their circumstances of birth, producing a semi-open aristocracy which could incorporate elite families from outside Italy. Any final dispute ended in 287 BC with

16016-436: The era of the Roman Empire began. Caesar was an accomplished author and historian as well as a statesman; much of his life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns. Other contemporary sources include the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust . Later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also important sources. Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of

16198-420: The examination or execution of criminals. Here, no legal decisions were made. Voters met in contione to deliberate prior to meeting in assemblies or councils to vote. These contiones were very common and served as means for politicians to engage with the public and receive feedback on their proposals, although only from whatever crowd that appeared on the day of the contio , which might bear no resemblance to

16380-454: The expulsion of the kings, there were four urban tribes and 17 rural tribes. By 241 BC, fourteen rural tribes had been added, bringing the total to thirty-five. The "tribes" were not ethnic or kinship groups, but rather a district to which people were assigned. A citizen's tribe was inherited from his father, and only changed upon adoption or reallocation in the census; over time, this meant that tribal affiliation had little relationship to

16562-460: The extremely influential Gaius Marius , he also served on the Saturninian land commission in 103 BC and was elected praetor some time between 92 and 85 BC; he served as proconsular governor of Asia for two years, likely 91–90 BC. Caesar's father did not seek a consulship during the domination of Lucius Cornelius Cinna and instead chose retirement. During Cinna's dominance, Caesar

16744-533: The greatest military commanders in history. His cognomen was subsequently adopted as a synonym for " Emperor "; the title " Caesar " was used throughout the Roman Empire, giving rise to modern descendants such as Kaiser and Tsar . He has frequently appeared in literary and artistic works . Gaius Julius Caesar was born into a patrician family, the gens Julia on 12 July 100 BC. The family claimed to have immigrated to Rome from Alba Longa during

16926-505: The hand of Sulla's granddaughter Pompeia . For much of this period, Caesar was one of Pompey 's supporters. Caesar joined with Pompey in the late 70s to support restoration of tribunician rights; his support for the law recalling the Lepidan exiles may have been related to the same tribune's bill to grant lands to Pompey's veterans. Caesar also supported the lex Gabinia in 67 BC granting Pompey an extraordinary command against piracy in

17108-403: The historical consuls". The lex Genucia some decades later in 342 BC went beyond allowing plebeians access to the consulship, and requiring at least one of the consuls to be a plebeian. As the privileged status of the old patrician elite eroded over time, a plebeian aristocracy developed whose status was based on merit and popular election rather than birth. The late fourth century saw

17290-569: The influence of the senate in the state. By 70 BC, it had become clear that the neutering of the tribunes had to be reverted; the consuls Pompey and Crassus that year passed legislation with such effect. The long proconsular commands given to Caesar and Pompey in the 50s BC have been thought of as a rejection of republican principles. Erich Gruen , in Last generation of the Roman republic , argued against this, noting that long commands had been common during Second Punic War as well as through

17472-436: The issue and resign to restore ordinary government. In the middle and later republic, with the office of dictator falling out of fashion, the need for dictatorial authority was not granted to some extraordinary magistrate, but rather, to the consuls, through a senatus consultum ultimum , or final decree. This decree took the form of a recommendation from the Senate to the consuls to take whatever actions were necessary to defend

17654-416: The last plebeian secession. To end the secession, the lex Hortensia was passed, which gave plebiscites – decrees of the concilium plebis – the force of law. The middle and early late republics saw gradual change in the constitution. The lex Villia annalis in 180 BC formalised the cursus honorum by setting minimum ages for each office. The 130s saw the introduction of secret ballot through

17836-427: The later sources assert he instead wanted the conspirators imprisoned pending trial. Most accounts agree that Caesar supported confiscation of the conspirators' property. Caesar likely advocated the former, which was a compromise position that would place the Senate within the bounds of the lex Sempronia de capite civis , and was initially successful in swaying the body; a later intervention by Cato , however, swayed

18018-473: The liberty of the Roman people to elect Caesar and honour his accomplishments. Around 10 or 11 January 49 BC, in response to the Senate's "final decree", Caesar crossed the Rubicon – the river defining the northern boundary of Italy – with a single legion, the Legio XIII Gemina , and ignited civil war . Upon crossing the Rubicon, Caesar, according to Plutarch and Suetonius, is supposed to have quoted

18200-543: The magisterial president: if called by a plebeian tribune it was a concilium plebis but if called by a curule magistrate it was a comitia tributa . If distinct, the plebeian tribunes and aediles, and later, various other minor posts, were therefrom elected. It also had the ability to enact laws called plebiscites , which in the early republic, only applied to plebs, but after the passage of lex Hortensia (287 BC), applied to all Romans. The assemblies all retained theoretical judicial functions. The comitia centuriata

18382-526: The massive expansion of the citizenry in the aftermath of the Social War, however, the Romans made no efforts in republican times to make voting easier or make the assemblies more representative. Votes were never called on the market days on which rural citizens might be present in the city; arcane and time-consuming procedures persisted unchanged. This was in part because the Romans did not view legitimacy to rest in

18564-438: The middle republic this was slightly less than every five years, after Sulla's dictatorship the term became erratic. This involved counting the Roman people, assessing their property, and assigning them to their appropriate centuria and tribus . After the passage of lex Ovinia , the censors were also transferred the power from the consuls to control membership in the Senate. Along with the main responsibility of dealing with

18746-476: The minutes of the Senate and the assemblies, signalling the Senate's accountability to the public. He then brought in the Senate a bill – crafted to avoid objections to previous land reform proposals and any indications of radicalism – to purchase property from willing sellers to distribute to Pompey's veterans and the urban poor. It would be administered by a board of twenty (with Caesar excluded), and financed by Pompey's plunder and territorial gains. Referring it to

18928-457: The modern scholars, however, reject these explanations and suggest them to be a late republican misunderstanding of the evidence. Regardless, in 367 BC, with the Licinio-Sextian rogations , plebeians were allowed to stand for the consulship. This date also marks the emergence of the classical form of the republic with the end of the consular tribunate (if it existed) and the creation of

19110-414: The most powerful politicians in the Roman Republic through a string of military victories in the Gallic Wars , completed by 51 BC, which greatly extended Roman territory. During this time he both invaded Britain and built a bridge across the river Rhine . These achievements and the support of his veteran army threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate after

19292-419: The normal operation of the state – justice, legislation, administration, and public works – were concentrated into Caesar's person without regard for or even notice given to the traditional institutions of the republic. Caesar's domination over public affairs and his competitive instinct to preclude all others alienated the political class and led eventually to the conspiracy against his life. Caesar, as far as

19474-436: The ordinary magistrates such as the consuls, products of the republican constitution, and the extraordinary magistrates such as the dictators, remnants of the monarchial constitution and reserved primarily for emergencies. Each magistrate held potestas , the authority to exercise the office's powers conferred by custom or statute. The most powerful magistrates, such as the extraordinary magistrates, consuls, and praetors, held

19656-468: The outbreak of the Third Mithridatic War over the winter of 75 and 74 BC; Caesar is alleged to have gone around collecting troops in the province at the locals' expense and leading them successfully against Mithridates' forces. While absent from Rome, in 73 BC, Caesar was co-opted into the pontifices in place of his deceased relative Gaius Aurelius Cotta . The promotion marked him as

19838-440: The people qua multitude, but rather, in the few people assembled as a structured assembly observing the rules of procedure and symbolically representing the will of the people. There were three types of gatherings, the comitia , the concilium , and the contio . The first two were formal gatherings where legal decisions were made. The first, the comitia (or comitiatus ), was an assembly of all Roman citizens convened to take

20020-434: The period after Pharsalus, the Senate showered Caesar with honours, including the title praefectus moribus ( lit.   ' prefect of morals ' ) which historically was associated with the censorial power to revise the Senate rolls. He was also granted power over war and peace, usurping a power traditionally held by the comitia centuriata . These powers attached to Caesar personally. Similarly extraordinary were

20202-438: The place of another magistrate with imperium and auspicium while not holding that post. Over time, however, with increasing need for competent generals and administrators, prorogation became the norm; and the device was used, increasingly by the assemblies, also to imperium to popular politicians. The two censors were appointed specifically to conduct the census. For this purpose they were elected semi-irregularly: during

20384-410: The plebeian tribunate and for those who supported Lepidus' revolt to be pardoned. These advocacies were common and uncontroversial. The next year, 70 BC, Pompey and Crassus were consuls and brought legislation restoring the plebeian tribunate's rights; one of the tribunes, with Caesar supporting, then brought legislation pardoning the Lepidan exiles. For his quaestorship in 69 BC, Caesar

20566-487: The plebeians under arms seceded to the mons Sacer outside the city and refused to fight in the campaign without political concessions. With the pressure of an external threat, the patricians were forced to recognise the office of plebeian tribune ( Latin : tribunus plebis ) and accept their sacrosanctity. This was the basis of the tribune's ability to veto ( lit.   ' I forbid ' ) any political act or to protect any individual from an injustice committed by

20748-409: The pontifical election before the tribes , Caesar faced two influential senators: Quintus Lutatius Catulus and Publius Servilius Isauricus . Caesar came out victorious. Many scholars have expressed astonishment that Caesar's candidacy was taken seriously, but this was not without historical precedent. Ancient sources allege that Caesar paid huge bribes or was shamelessly ingratiating; that no charge

20930-401: The position by the king. In the very early republic, senators were primarily chosen due to their birth, but by the late republic, and especially after Sulla, membership in the senate became predicated on having previously held a magistracy. The plebiscitum Ovinium of the late 4th century BC required the censors to enrol meritorious men into the senate; this, by c.  300 BC

21112-474: The praetorship and aedilate. Traditionally viewed as emerging from the conflict of the orders, the settlement may also have emerged from a Roman need for more magistrates. The consulship and praetorship were at this time not clearly separated: "scholars increasingly view the Sextian-Licinian Rogations as establishing a college of three (and only three) praetors, two of whom eventually developed into

21294-415: The president. If there was a consul-designate, it was customary to ask him first. After querying the ex-consuls, the ex-praetors were queried. This continued through all magisterial ranks. Unimportant matters could be voted on by a voice vote or by a show of hands, while important votes resulted in a physical division of the house, with senators voting by taking a place on either side of the chamber. Any vote

21476-547: The procedural governance of the Roman Republic . The constitution emerged from that of the Roman kingdom , evolved substantively and significantly – almost to the point of unrecognisability – over the almost five hundred years of the republic. The collapse of republican government and norms beginning in 133 BC would lead to the rise of Augustus and his principate . The republican constitution can be divided into three main branches: A complex set of checks and balances developed amongst these three branches. For example,

21658-457: The region of Quercy . Their chief town was originally named Divona (present-day Cahors ). Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate , Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war , and subsequently became dictator from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. He played

21840-733: The remaining anti-Caesarian leaders, including Metellus Scipio and Juba, also committed suicide shortly thereafter. Labienus and two of Pompey's sons, however, had moved to the Spanish provinces in revolt. Caesar started a process of annexing parts of Numidia and then returned to Italy via Sardinia in June 46 BC. Caesar stayed in Italy to celebrate four triumphs in late September, supposedly over four foreign enemies: Gaul, Egypt, Pharnaces (Asia), and Juba (Africa). He led Vercingetorix, Cleopatra's younger sister Arsinoe, and Juba's son before his chariot; Vercingetorix

22022-455: The republic (usually from internal uprisings), also emerged from 121 BC, with the senate exercising its traditional power to advise and magistrates following succinctly. The use of such power, though not challenged as per se invalid, was heavily debated. However, the senate's institutionalised resorts to force augured poorly for the republic, setting a precedent to resolve disputes between citizens not by consensus and arbitration but rather by

22204-430: The republic there was no evidence of any kind of property qualification. The senate consisted of around 300 prior to the dictatorship of Sulla, but after his dictatorship, it consisted of somewhere over 500 men. The senate met in inaugurated spaces ( Latin : templa ) both within the outside the formal boundary of the city (the pomerium ). Such places included the curia in the forum – the curia Hostilia for much of

22386-489: The republic – but also other temples such as the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus (the customary meeting place at the start of the year) as well as the temples of Fides , Concord , Castor and Pollux , and Jupiter Stator . Common locations outside the pomerium , necessary to allow magistrates with imperium to attend ( imperium evaporating when entering the pomperium ), included the temples of Bellona and Apollo along with

22568-474: The republic. Due to its general vagueness, however, its use was hotly contested in the late republic and is still debated among scholars today, as in a strict legal sense, the final decree did not grant legal authority to the consuls, but rather, served as an urging from the Senate to ignore the laws to protect the state. The interrex was an extraordinary magistrate appointed when there were no curule magistrates – consuls, praetors, or dictators – in office. He

22750-465: The rest of the magistrates for 47 BC – no elections had yet been held – and also for those of 46 BC. Caesar would serve with Lepidus as consul in 46; he borrowed money for the war, confiscated and sold the property of his enemies at fair prices, and then left for Africa on 25 December 47 BC. Caesar's landing in Africa was marked with some difficulties establishing a beachhead and logistically. He

22932-516: The root catu- ('combat, battle') attached to the plural of turcos (' wild boar '). The city of Cahors , attested ca. 400 AD as civitas Cadurcorum (' civitas of the Cadurci', Cauricio in 1200, Caurs 1279), and the region of Quercy , attested in 565 AD as Cadurcinus ( pagus Catorcinus in 628, Caercino in 1095, with Latin suffix -inus ), are named after the Gallic tribe. The Cadurci dwelled in

23114-431: The scope of his mandate. The magister equitum had similar plenary authority, with parallel and somewhat subordinate authority to the dictator. In the early and middle republic, the dictatorship was largely a customary institution where the dictator's supreme authority was limited to the mandate ( Latin : provincia ) assigned along with the almost-universally-realised expectation that the dictator would quickly resolve

23296-412: The second class. While described as democratic, "the change had no impact on the overall timocratic structure of the assembly". The body was primarily called for the election of consuls, praetors, and censors; legislation was increasingly rare by the second century BC. The tribal assembly ( Latin : comitia tributa ), according to Livy, was formed around 471 BC. In 495 BC, shortly after

23478-506: The senate and the comitia centuriata , while trying to reduce the obstructive and legislative powers of the tribunes and plebeian council. To this end, he required that all bills presented to the assemblies first be approved by the senate, restricted the tribunician veto to only matters of individual requests for clemency, and required that men elected tribune would be barred from all other magistracies. Sulla's reforms proved unworkable. With little legitimacy, his regime faced continuation of

23660-486: The senate, and proposing legislation. By the middle and late republic the consuls' judicial functions were rarely exercised except in serious matters. The next magistrate was the praetor . Their number increased over the course of the republic: initially one in 367 BC, a second was added in 242; two were added in 228 and 198; by Sulla's time there were eight. Also endowed with imperium , they were initially elected to military commanders – possibly to defend Rome while

23842-400: The senate, with the latter having few tools with which to control governors except on their return from abroad. A plethora of such tools developed, including laws making certain practices illegal, such as extortion, as well as establishing quaestiones perpetuae to try them for violations. The senatus consultum ultimum , a senatorial decree advising the magistrates to use force to defend

24024-481: The senate. As the number of provinces increased with Roman expansion, the election of magistrates was unable to keep up, forcing those magistrates to have their provincial commands extended. The emergence of prorogation meant that by the end of the second century BC, the generals were no longer serving magistrates but their prorogued equivalents acting in place of a consul or praetor ( pro consule or pro praetore ). Differences emerged between provincial governors and

24206-429: The seventh century BC after the third king of Rome , Tullus Hostilius , took and destroyed their city. The family also claimed descent from Julus, the son of Aeneas and founder of Alba Longa. Given that Aeneas was a son of Venus, this made the clan divine. This genealogy had not yet taken its final form by the first century, but the clan's claimed descent from Venus was well established in public consciousness. There

24388-479: The sites of Carthage and Corinth, which had both been destroyed during Rome's 2nd century BC conquests – to discharge Italy's population into the provinces and reduce unrest. The royal power of naming patricians was revived to benefit the families of his men and the permanent courts jury pools were also altered to remove the tribuni aerarii , leaving only the equestrians and senators. He also took further administrative actions to stabilise his rule and that of

24570-450: The so-called senatus consultum ultimum ("final decree of the senate"). The first such decree was moved in 121 BC against Gaius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius Flaccus . In such instances, the consul presented information to support his position that the republic was in imminent danger and the senate responded with an opinion that "magistrates [should] defend the res publica and take whatever measures they thought necessary to see that

24752-535: The speakers put forth by the presiding officer. And after such discussion, the presiding officer could call for a direct up or down vote. Without a magistrate, there would be nobody to legally call upon the assembly; and without the citizens – or at least those who represent the citizens divided into voting blocks – there is naught but a magistrate. Assemblies did not consist of the whole Roman people ( Latin : populus Romanus ) as only adult male citizens were permitted to participate. Those who actually showed up to form

24934-454: The specific reasons why Caesar marched on Rome. A very popular theory is that Caesar was forced to choose – when denied the immunity of his proconsular tenure – between prosecution, conviction, and exile or civil war in defence of his position. Whether Caesar actually would have been prosecuted and convicted is debated. Some scholars believe the possibility of successful prosecution was extremely unlikely. Caesar's main objectives were to secure

25116-557: The staff of Publius Servilius Vatia in Cilicia before learning of Sulla's death in 78 BC and returning home immediately. He was alleged to have wanted to join in on the consul Lepidus ' revolt that year but this is likely literary embellishment of Caesar's desire for tyranny from a young age. Afterward, Caesar attacked some of the Sullan aristocracy in the courts but was unsuccessful in his attempted prosecution of Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella in 77 BC, who had recently returned from

25298-425: The state (or government) were one and the same. With a single law, the people – properly assembled – held the authority to override the norms and precedents of the republic as well as ancient laws long unchanged. There were two necessary components to any assembly: (1) the convening magistrate and (2) the citizens in the assembly itself. Assemblies did not participate or discuss matters laid before them, they heard

25480-514: The state did not suffer any harm": the effect of a decree from a legal perspective was minimal and it granted no legal immunity; it rather granted political cover, along with the promise of later senatorial sanction, for magistrates to evade accountability for illegal actions by giving the senate's support for them. The magistrates were elected by the people in competitive elections, with successive offices generally having more responsibilities and power. There were two broad categories of magistrates,

25662-505: The state. Caesar reduced the size of the grain dole from 320,000 down to around 150,000 by tightening the qualifications; special bonuses were offered to families with many children to stall depopulation. Plans were drawn for the conduct of a census. Citizenship was extended to a number of communities in Cisalpine Gaul and to Cádiz . During the civil wars, Caesar had also instituted a novel debt repayment programme (no debts would be forgiven but they could be paid in kind), remitted rents up to

25844-476: The support of Pompey he received twenty days of thanksgiving and, pursuant to the "Law of the Ten Tribunes", the right to stand for the consulship in absentia. From the period 52 to 49 BC, trust between Caesar and Pompey disintegrated. In 51 BC, the consul Marcellus proposed recalling Caesar, arguing that his provincia (here meaning "task") in Gaul – due to his victory against Vercingetorix in 52 –

26026-476: The three so-called triumvirs sought to maintain the goodwill of the extremely popular Publius Clodius Pulcher , who was plebeian tribune in 58 BC and in that year successfully sent Cicero into exile. When Clodius took an anti-Pompeian stance later that year, he unsettled Pompey's eastern arrangements, started attacking the validity of Caesar's consular legislation, and by August 58 forced Pompey into seclusion. Caesar and Pompey responded by successfully backing

26208-446: The time was strong: he had supporters among the families which had supported Marius or Cinna; his connection with the Sullan aristocracy was good; his support of Pompey had won him support in turn. His support for reconciliation in continuing aftershocks of the civil war was popular in all parts of society. With the support of Crassus, who supported Caesar's joint ticket with one Lucius Lucceius , Caesar won. Lucceius, however, did not and

26390-481: The time was to the Romans an "island of mystery" and "a land of wonder". He, however, withdrew from the island in the face of winter uprisings in Gaul led by the Eburones and Belgae starting in late 54 BC which ambushed and virtually annihilated a legion and five cohorts. Caesar was, however, able to lure the rebels into unfavourable terrain and routed them in battle. The next year, a greater challenge emerged with

26572-420: The tribal assembly – as in the two were the same institution – is that ancient sources make no such distinction. However, other scholars counter that late republican practice shows that curule magistrates held elections and legislated before the tribes, implying it could not be a solely plebeian institution. If the two were distinct, it is likely that the main difference was not in the eligible voters, but rather,

26754-460: The tribunate and aedilate, normally without repetition or tenure of a junior office after a senior one. The two consuls were the supreme magistrate for an annual term, endowed with imperium to command both in the civic and military spheres, and the auspices allowing them to consult the gods for the people. Such powers may have been derived from the unlimited powers of the kings, and were transmitted through an unbroken curule succession. One of

26936-400: The tribunate to check patrician power and empowering the plebeian assembly , an assembly composed of the plebeians of Rome, with full legislative authority. Nor was it entirely unwritten, as there were many laws which required procedural changes or changed the number of magistrates elected. The late republic saw a breakdown in elite cohesion which led to its loss of control over the state to

27118-419: The two annual consuls and the limited number of praetors ceased to be enough to command its many armies in the field or administer its many provinces. To solve this problem, it became normal to prorogue the authority of current consuls and praetors beyond their normal terms so they could continue to command in the field. Prorogation was a device which allowed the people, later the senate, to send someone to act in

27300-409: The upkeep of temples, streets, and the water-supply. They were also responsible for public games, and some aspects of police work in the city. The quaestors were elected administrators, which could be put in charge of the treasury, the granaries, or various administrative postings in Italy, with the consuls, or in the provinces. In the late republic, election to the quaestorship became the basis for

27482-477: The uprising of most of central Gaul, led by Vercingetorix of the Averni . Caesar was initially defeated at Gergovia before besieging Vercingetorix at Alesia . After becoming himself besieged, Caesar won a major victory which forced Vercingetorix's surrender; Caesar then spent much of his time into 51 BC suppressing any remaining resistance. In the initial years from the end of Caesar's consulship in 59 BC,

27664-571: The victory with a triumphal procession on the Nile . He stayed in Egypt with Cleopatra until June or July that year, though the relevant commentaries attributed to him give no such impression. Some time in late June, Cleopatra gave birth to a child by Caesar, called Caesarion . When Caesar landed at Antioch , he learnt that during his time in Egypt, the king of what is now Crimea, Pharnaces , had attempted to seize what had been his father's kingdom, Pontus, across

27846-452: The voters returned Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus instead, one of Caesar's long-standing personal and political enemies. After the elections, Caesar reconciled Pompey and Crassus, two political foes, in a three-way alliance misleadingly termed the "First Triumvirate" in modern times. Caesar was still at work in December of 60 BC attempting to find allies for his consulship and the alliance

28028-412: The whole Roman people in 30 lictors displayed the high degree to which Romans accepted all of their assemblies as symbolising the whole people as abstract voting blocks rather than as people directly. The centuriate assembly ( Latin : comitia centuriata ) was formed under the monarchy, and widely seen by the ancients as a means of allotting voting privileges in proportion to military duties demanded of

28210-432: The year. This opposition caused serious political difficulties to Caesar and his allies, belying the common depiction of triumviral political supremacy. Later in the year, however, Caesar – with the support of his opponents – brought and passed the lex Julia de repetundis to crack down on provincial corruption. When his consulship ended, Caesar's legislation was challenged by two of the new praetors but discussion in

28392-434: Was a participant is extremely small. Caesar won his election to the praetorship in 63 BC easily and, as one of the praetor-elects, spoke out that December in the Senate against executing certain citizens who had been arrested in the city conspiring with Gauls in furtherance of the conspiracy. Caesar's proposal at the time is not entirely clear. The earlier sources assert that he advocated life imprisonment without trial;

28574-557: Was a praetor in 208 BC during the Second Punic War . The family's first consul was in 157 BC, though their political fortunes had recovered in the early first century, producing two consuls in 91 and 90 BC. Caesar's homonymous father was moderately successful politically. He married Aurelia , a member of the politically influential Aurelii Cottae , producing – along with Caesar – two daughters. Buoyed by his own marriage and his sister's marriage (the dictator's aunt) with

28756-414: Was able to escape to Greece, abandoning Italy in face of Caesar's superior forces and evading Caesar's pursuit. Caesar stayed near Rome for about two weeks – during his stay his forceful seizure of the treasury over tribunician veto put the lie to his pro-tribunician war justifications – and left Lepidus in charge of Italy while he attacked Pompey's Spanish provinces. He defeated two of Pompey's legates at

28938-548: Was allotted to serve under Gaius Antistius Vetus in Hispania Ulterior . His election also gave him a lifetime seat in the Senate. However, before he left, his aunt Julia, the widow of Marius died and, soon afterwards, his wife Cornelia died shortly after bearing his only legitimate child, Julia . He gave eulogies for both at public funerals. During Julia's funeral, Caesar displayed the images of his aunt's husband Marius, whose memory had been suppressed after Sulla's victory in

29120-443: Was also one of the few places in which free political discussion could take place. Because of this, and the fact that basically the entire political elite were senators with procedural influence allocated to the influential ex-consuls, the senate had substantial influence on the current magistrates. Even without the official right to create law, senatorial opinion – enshrined in a senatus consultum ( pl.   senatus consulta ) –

29302-782: Was also persuaded to assign to Caesar Transalpine Gaul as well, subject to annual renewal, most likely to control his ability to make war on the far side of the Alps. Some time in the year, perhaps after the passing of the bill distributing the Campanian land and after these political defeats, Bibulus withdrew to his house. There, he issued edicts in absentia, purporting unprecedentedly to cancel all days on which Caesar or his allies could hold votes for religious reasons. Cato too attempted symbolic gestures against Caesar, which allowed him and his allies to "feign victimisation"; these tactics were successful in building revulsion to Caesar and his allies through

29484-545: Was always between a proposal and its negative, but the senators could demand joined questions be divided up for separate votes. Since all meetings had to end by nightfall, a senator could talk a proposal to death (a filibuster ) if he could keep the debate going until nightfall. A motion could be vetoed by a consul or one of the plebeian tribunes. If it was not vetoed, it was called a senatus consultum ; senatorial opinions which were vetoed were instead termed senatus auctoritas and so recorded. The results were transcribed into

29666-514: Was an on-going struggle between two tribes in central Gaul which collaterally involved Roman alliances and politics. The divisions within the Gauls – they were no unified bloc – would be exploited in the coming years. The first engagement was in April 58 BC when Caesar prevented the migrating Helvetii from moving through Roman territory, allegedly because he feared they would unseat a Roman ally. Building

29848-661: Was complete; it evidently was incomplete as Caesar was that year fighting the Bellovaci and regardless the proposal was vetoed. That year, it seemed that the conservatives around Cato in the Senate would seek to enlist Pompey to force Caesar to return from Gaul without honours or a second consulship. Cato, Bibulus, and their allies, however, were successful in winning Pompey over to take a hard line against Caesar's continued command. As 50 BC progressed, fears of civil war grew; both Caesar and his opponents started building up troops in southern Gaul and northern Italy, respectively. In

30030-501: Was defeated by Titus Labienus at Ruspina on 4 January 46 BC and thereafter took a rather cautious approach. After inducing some desertions from the republicans, Caesar ended up surrounded at Thapsus . His troops attacked prematurely on 6 April 46 BC, starting a battle ; they then won it and massacred the republican forces without quarter . Marching on Utica, where Cato commanded, Caesar arrived to find that Cato had killed himself rather than receive Caesar's clemency. Many of

30212-472: Was elected by the patrician members of the senate for a term of five days. With the authority to summon the senate and, most importantly, the assemblies, a series of interreges – the first interrex, by tradition, could not hold elections – was expected to hold elections as quickly as possible to restore ordinary consular government. The main literary sources for the origins of the Roman political system, Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus , relied heavily on

30394-411: Was enacted in the comitia tributa , which also elected quaestors, curule aediles, military tribunes , and other minor magistrates . The plebeian council ( Latin : concilium plebis ) is more debated. Many modern historians believe that it was distinct from the tribal assembly in that it was organised on the same lines but only plebeians could vote. The main argument for the plebeian council being

30576-466: Was ever laid alleging this implies that bribery alone is insufficient to explain his victory. If bribes or other monies were needed, they may have been underwritten by Pompey, whom Caesar at this time supported and who opposed Catulus' candidacy. Many sources also assert that Caesar supported the land reform proposals brought that year by plebeian tribune Publius Servilius Rullus , however, there are no ancient sources so attesting. Caesar also engaged in

30758-467: Was executed. According to Appian, in some of the triumphs, Caesar paraded pictures and models of his victories over fellow Romans in the civil wars, to popular dismay. The soldiers were each given 24,000 sesterces (a lifetime's worth of pay); further games and celebrations were put on for the plebs. Near the end of the year, Caesar heard bad news from Spain and, with an army, left for the peninsula, leaving Lepidus in charge as magister equitum . At

30940-454: Was finalised only some time around its start. Pompey and Crassus joined in pursuit of two respective goals: the ratification of Pompey's eastern settlement and the bailing out of tax farmers in Asia, many of whom were Crassus' clients. All three sought the extended patronage of land grants, with Pompey especially seeking the promised land grants for his veterans. Caesar's first act was to publish

31122-406: Was in charge of the remaining republicans; they allied with Juba of Numidia ; what used to be Pompey's fleet also raided the central Mediterranean islands. Caesar's governor in Spain, moreover, was sufficiently unpopular that the province revolted and switched to the republican side. Caesar demoted Antony on his return and pacified the mutineers without violence before overseeing the election of

31304-430: Was intercepted and ransomed by pirates in a story that was later much embellished. According to Plutarch and Suetonius, he was freed after paying a ransom of fifty talents and responded by returning with a fleet to capture and execute the pirates. The recorded sum for the ransom is literary embellishment and it is more likely that the pirates were sold into slavery per Velleius Paterculus . His studies were interrupted by

31486-457: Was killed when he arrived in Alexandria , the capital of Egypt . Caesar arrived three days later on 2 October 48 BC. Prevented from leaving the city by Etesian winds , Caesar decided to arbitrate an Egyptian civil war between the child pharaoh Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator and Cleopatra , his sister, wife, and co-regent queen. In late October 48 BC, Caesar was appointed in absentia to

31668-421: Was largely deferred to. In that role, the senate resolved disputes between magistrates and oversaw the allocation of public resources and responsibilities, including provinces, to magistrates. Some of its responsibilities were enshrined in specific legislation, such as the lex Caecilia Didia which gave the senate power to declare a law invalid. During the monarchy, the senate consisted of persons selected to

31850-417: Was likely produced in the year following the events described and was likely aimed at the general, or at least literate, population in Rome; the account is naturally partial to Caesar – his defeats are excused and victories highlighted – but it is almost the sole source for events in Gaul in this period. Gaul in 58 BC was in the midst of some instability. Tribes had raided into Transalpine Gaul and there

32032-470: Was merely restoring his family's public monuments – consistent with standard aristocratic practice and the virtue of pietas – and, over objections from Catulus, these actions were broadly supported by the Senate. In 63 BC, Caesar stood for the praetorship and also for the post of pontifex maximus , who was the head of the College of Pontiffs and the highest ranking state religious official. In

32214-421: Was named as flamen Dialis (a priest of Jupiter ) which led to his marriage to Cinna's daughter, Cornelia . The religious taboos of the priesthood would have forced Caesar to forgo a political career; the appointment – one of the highest non-political honours – indicates that there were few expectations of a major career for Caesar. In early 84 BC, Caesar's father died suddenly. After Sulla 's victory in

32396-441: Was necessary for the state to maintain any sense of coherent policy. Of the ordinary magistrates, there were two further divisions: the higher magistrates, composed of consuls, praetors, their prorogued equivalents , and the censors; and the lower magistrates, composed of the tribunes, aediles, quaestors and other minor positions. These offices were held in order – the cursus honorum – from junior to senior, with exceptions for

32578-405: Was not a matter of who received the most votes, but rather who could first be approved by a majority of the voting blocs. All votes had to be completed within a single day and had to be done again if interrupted or abandoned. Roman citizens were organized into three types of voting units: curiae , centuria , and tribus or tribes. These corresponded to three different kinds of assemblies:

32760-402: Was taken to mean having served as dictator, magister equitum , consul, praetor, or curule aedile. Some time between 122 and 102 BC tribunes were enrolled as well, with membership extended to quaestors in 81. In line with the censor's duty to protect morals, senators could be expelled if they were not of good character, found guilty of a criminal offence, or tainted with infamia . During

32942-472: Was the only place where capital charges could be brought, with the comitia tributa and concilium plebis hearing still serious charges with punishment usually by fine . Most of these judicial powers by the last century BC had been taken over by the permanent jury courts ( Latin : quaestiones perpetuae ). The senate was the predominant political institution in the Roman republic. The senate's authority derived primarily from custom and tradition. It

33124-403: Was unpopular: Publius Cornelius Dolabella , serving as plebeian tribune in 47 BC, agitated for debt relief and after that agitation got out of hand the Senate moved for Antony to restore order. Delayed by a mutiny in southern Italy, he returned and suppressed the riots by force, killing many and delivering a similar blow to his popularity. Cato had marched to Africa and there Metellus Scipio

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