From Tiberius Gracchus to Sulla
Before the Second Punic War, the difference in wealth between the upper and lower classes was not as great as it would be after the war. Plebeians worked for respectable wages as farmers and laborers. With the onset of Hannibal, however, everything was changed. Hannibal’s army destroyed countless houses and farmlands, while the wealthy remained safe inside the walls of Rome. After the war, the wealthy bought up these farmlands, creating the need for extensive slave labor, and slashing the minimum wages of the region. The poor moved to the cities to look for work, but became furious at having to work for next to nothing. Internal conflicts erupted into civil war in 133 BC.
Along came Tiberius Gracchus, who in 133 was elected as a tribune of the assembly. Gracchus wanted to end the conflict and help the poor at the same time, and so proposed a land reform which would restrict the amount of land that could be owned by wealthy, giving the result of the land to the poor. The Senate and the wealthy were opposed to this reform, and used another tribune to repeatedly veto his proposition. Gracchus had this tribune removed from office, and ran for reelection after his first term ended. Both of these actions were considered unconstitutional, and members of the Senate assassinated him at the elections.
Tiberius Gracchus changed the face of politics. Instead of appealing to patricians, as was the norm, he called on the support of the populace. Such politicians would later be labeled populares, while the more traditional politicians became known as optimates.
Tiberius’s brother, Gaius Gracchus, was elected a tribune in 123 BC, and with the support of the populace, passed various laws that helped the poor survive, including lowering grain prices and attempting to grant citizenship to all of Italy. The Senate again feared these reforms, and labeled Gaius Gracchus an enemy of Rome. He was hunted down and forced to suicide, while thousands of his supporters were killed.
The Jugurthine War broke out in 111 BC, between Rome and Jugurtha, king of Numidia. The people of Rome became angry with the Senate’s handling of the war, and in 107, Gaius Marius was elected a consul over Numidia. Marius, along with his lieutenant Sulla, quickly defeated Jugurtha. While Sulla was from an aristocratic background, Marius was a novus homo (new man), in that he was the first in his family to acquire consulship. The aristocrats were opposed to these “new men”, and the conflict between Marius and Sulla resulted in civil war in 88. Marius vastly increased the size of his armies by enlisting the support of the poor, providing food and shelter, with the promise of land ownership after the war. These individuals were still bitter about the deaths of the Gracchi, and gave their loyalty to their commander, rather than to the government which disregarded them.
With Sulla’s success in battles against Italian allies, Rome elected him consul in 88 BC. Sulla went on to defeat Marius. The Senate quickly appointed Sulla dictator of Rome, fearing revolts by the populace. Sulla, who was firmly in support of patricians, moved power from the assembly back to the Senate. Sulla’s methods were new and harsh-he simply used his army to kill any opposition to his imperium. Thus, his actions did less to reform Rome and more to provoke violence back and forth. This would lead to the end of the Republic of Rome, and the eventual rise of the Roman Empire.
