Republic in Crisis: 146 BC to 46 BC

In 146 the Romans destroyed Carthage and Corinth. In 133 a popular tribune was beaten to death in front of the Capitol by a mob led by the High Priest. At the other end of the period, in 49 Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, and in 46 crushed his enemies at the battle of Thapsus, celebrating his victory with an unprecedented quadruple triumph.

Despite repeated deeply threatening crises, Rome survived - capital of an increasingly large and organized Mediterranean-wide empire, its constantly growing populace more and more diverse, its richest citizens vastly wealthier, its cityscape more and more monumental. But the tradition of the ancestors, the rule of the aristocracy, the armies and their recruitment, the sources of wealth, the cultural horizons of the literate, the government of allies and subjects, the idea of a Roman citizen, the landscape of Italy, and Roman identity itself had all changed for ever. This subject studies how.

For the earlier years, from the Gracchi to the Social War, we mainly have to rely on the writings of later historians and on contemporary inscriptions, although Sallust and Cicero offer some near-contemporary illumination. But for the latter part of this period our knowledge is of a different quality from that of almost any other period of Roman history thanks to the intimate light shed by the correspondence, speeches and other works of Cicero, with strong backing from Caesar’s Gallic War and the surviving works of Sallust.

If you offer this period as a text-based subject, passages for compulsory comment and translation will be set from: Sallust Histories 1.55,77; 2.47, 98; 3.48; 4.69 (OCT = 1.48, 67; 2.44, 82; 3.34; 4.67 in McGushin’s translation and commentary); Cicero Verrines I; De Imperio Cn. Pompei; Cicero Letters: ad fam. I. 2,9; V.7; VI. 6; VII.5; VIII.1,4, 8, 13, 14; XIII.9; XV.2; ad Att. I.1, 13,14,19; II.16,18,19,24; IV.1,3,5; V.16; VI.2; VII. 5, 7, 10, 11; VIII 3, 11, 12D, 13; IX 6A, 9, 10, 11A; X 8, XI 6, XII 2; ad Qu. fr. I.2; II.3,4; III.8.

A document on WebLearn (‘Documents Roman HistoryI.5.doc’) lists key documents, some of which will be set (with a translation) among the optional gobbets (qu. 16).

It has been decided that (where possible) tutorials for this period of Roman History will take place in Trinity and the first half of Michaelmas Terms, and Lectures on this subject will thus normally take place in Trinity and Michaelmas Terms.

Choosing your combinations - this period makes a natural pair with both the preceding and the following one, since I. 4 shows what Rome was like before the period of crises, and I. 6 explores how the legacy of Julius Caesar developed into the imperial monarchy. Those who really want to understand Cicero and the circles in which he moved will combine it with Option I. 10 Cicero: politics and thought. This period also offers excellent historical background to work on first-century B.C. literature (III. 2, 9 or 11). (Note however that you may not combine I. 10 and III.9, the two Cicero papers).