reform would be seen as an attempt to destroy the Republic. The result was a government where political power was gained by appealing to the masses which were thereby increasingly dependent on the state, but in which no real significant change could be allowed. Rome had reached its point of no return. Though it did not know it, it was doomed.
The paralysis made it increasingly difficult to get anything done. Action required power, and power required political support, and that depended on who could sway the masses. As a result political power began to center around personalities that could attract large followings.
Rome was still threatened on many fronts. Defeating these threats and making Rome ‘safe’ combined with the wealth such victories brought was the surest way to gain the support of the masses. A general with the military skills to win battles, and political skills to appeal to the masses could rise very quickly. Within twenty years of the death of Gaius, following a series of military victories, Marius was reelected consul not only for a second term, but for five terms, later adding a sixth, and then even a seventh.
The giveaways continued. Food prices were reduced even further. More land was given away in an effort to please the people. In 105 B.C. the state began to sponsor gladiatorial games, adding entertainment to the growing list of dependencies. Seeing all these benefits going to Rome, Italy revolted. When it became clear that Rome could not win, it ended the war by granting full Roman citizenship to the rest of Italy, though some procedural maneuvering undercut this citizenship such that little actually changed and the paralysis continued.
But political paralysis in the face of large problems breeds instability, and instability in turn breeds the desire to get something done. Political battles became more pronounced. The courts increasingly became little more than a tool to be use against political opponents. Increasingly political battles ended in bloodshed, both with individuals and, given the political importance of generals, in some cases with armies from the opposing factions. In 82 B.C. an army supporting the Senate and led by Sulla, who had been a general under Marius, defeated an army, supported by the Assembly and led by Marius’ son.
Following the victory, Sulla demanded that he be made dictator, the Senate agreed in an effort to restore order and get something done. Sulla further expanded the vote to include some who had supported him, restored the power of the Senate, re-instituted the one-term limit on consuls, and greatly limited the office of Tribune of the Plebs, that had in his eyes caused so much trouble. Confident that he had restored Rome to its former glory, and that most of his enemies were dead, he stepped down as dictator after only two years. But the examples set by Sulla and Marius proved more lasting than Sulla’s reforms, needing only a new crisis to reemerge.
The new crisis came just seven years later. It started at a gladiatorial training compound in Campania, where slaves were trained for the games. During a mass escape attempt, seventy-eight gladiators made it out. Led by Spartacus, they began raiding nearby villages for food. Rome’s best general of the time, Pompey, was already famous and very popular. But he was away fighting in Spain. Still, it was only a small group of gladiators, so Rome sent an army of 3,000 men to deal with them before the situation could get out of hand.
Unlike the Spartacus of the movie, the real Spartacus was not born into slavery, but had been a mercenary who had served in the Roman army. So Spartacus not only knew how to fight as a gladiator, he knew how the Roman armies fought, and so how to fight them. When the Romans thought that they had the gladiators trapped on a mountain side, they relaxed a bit as they starved the gladiators out. But instead of attacking the army directly, the gladiators used vines to climb down cliffs and sneak around behind the army. They attacked from the rear where the Romans were not prepared.
The defeat of the Roman army of 3,000 sent shock waves across the countryside. Spartacus issued a call for all slaves to revolt and join him. And come they did. The small group of gladiators, who had escaped to become a band of raiders, grew to become a disciplined army of 70,000 men, defeating several more Roman armies along the way. The huge mass of slaves began to move north to the Alps and freedom, looting whatever they needed from the towns they passed along the way.
In response, Rome sent even larger armies, headed this time by the two consuls of Rome. One consul found a splinter group and defeated it. The other found Spartacus’ main force. However, this consul, Gellius Publicola, was known more for his ridicule of Athenian philosophers than his generalship. His army was defeated.
The way to Alps and freedom was now open; but the slaves, having their freedom, now sought to be like their former masters. Having defeated all that Rome had thrown at them and having looted the towns they passed by had given them the confidence to believe that they were invincible. The rest of Italy would be theirs for the taking.
The former slaves became the masters. They even took some of the prisoners from Gellius’ army and made them fight in their own gladiatorial games. Then they turned and headed south. Their numbers continued to grow and the army of 70,000 became 120,000. It could have grown even larger but Spartacus, fearing the problems of maintaining an even larger force, began turning recruits away.
Rome was now in full panic. Pompey was recalled from Spain but that would take time. Marcus Licinius Crassus, an ambitious and wealthy man, seized the opportunity and stepped forward. He demanded complete authority, for he did not want to share the glory that would come as savior of Rome, nor the power that would surely follow from it.
While an accomplished general, he was also the wealthiest man in Rome. Some questioned whether he had what it took to defeat Spartacus. His opportunity to remove all doubts occurred when two of his legions, disobeying orders, attacked Spartacus before Crassus was ready and were defeated. Crassus had the legions decimated as a punishment. Decimation was an ancient but rarely used punishment. The legions were lined up and then every tenth man was selected out and killed. It was a brutal punishment, but one that convinced Rome that Crassus would do whatever it took to win.
As Spartacus headed south, Crassus and his army pursued. Spartacus sought to escape to Sicily but when he was betrayed by the pirates he had hired, he was trapped in the toe of Italy. Crassus built a barricade across the entire peninsula to lock them in. After two failed attempts to break through, time was running out for Spartacus.
But time was running out for Crassus as well. Pompey was coming and when he arrived, as the senior General, he would take charge. If that happened, Pompey, not Crassus, would get any glory that came from the victory. Knowing this, Spartacus sought a negotiated settlement. But such a settlement would not serve Crassus’ need. He wanted all or nothing.
When a third attempt to break the barricade succeeded, a mad dash across Italy ensued, Spartacus and his forces attempting to reach Brundisium, where they hoped to get passage out of Italy. Crassus’ forces were in pursuit and Pompey’s forces were getting ever closer. Finally Crassus was able to force the main body of Spartacus’ army into battle. Crassus’ victory was complete. Contrary to the movie, Spartacus died in the battle. Six thousand of the captured slaves were crucified along the Appian Way.
But Crassus did not get the total glory that he had sought or that his victory had earned. Pompey had arrived on the scene just in time to clean up some of the stragglers from the battle. Militarily Pompey’s contribution was negligible. Politically, Pompey, already being very popular with the people, claimed and received half the glory of ‘saving Rome.’ Always seeking the best in any situation, Crassus formed an alliance with Pompey. The two commanders marched their armies back to Rome and together sought to be made consuls.
This move violated a whole new series of traditions. But by this time what was Roman law had ceased to really matter. The only thing that really mattered was what one could actually get away with, at least as long as your side controlled the courts, and if they didn’t the law still didn’t really matter. But the idea of the Republic was still important, or at least useful, and so the facade of an election was maintained.
