Test

• The soldier/farmers who fought in Rome’s wars often lost their farms when they returned to Italy and were reduced to the lowest “proletarian” citizen status
• War profiteers abounded and traded in slaves, weapons, and often bought abandoned farms to create large plantations (latifundia)
• "Just grab some land!" (Tiberius Gracchus is NOT cool with that)

War Profiteers

• used their wealth to buy up ruined farms
• small plots were merged into large estates for use as vineyards, olive groves, or pastureland for livestock
• displaced farmers could not compete with the low cost of hiring slaves (Carthage)
• in 150 BC, slaves made up one third of the population of Italy

• In the second century B.C., the Gracchi brothers attempted to carve out special rights for the poor, but their attempts were opposed and they were eventually murdered by their enemies in the Senate

• The Plan:
• resettle many of the city's poor (including army veterans) on small farms
• provide a public subsidy of grain (welfare) for those who remained in Rome
• this would raise the number of independent, self sufficient farmers
• would also reduce the gap between rich and poor
• with Tiberius in the assembly as a tribune, this woulda shoulda coulda worked
• sometimes run out of time.
• Tribunes only served one year, so Tiberius came up short
• his (possibly illegal) re-election simply enraged his enemiesh
• they killed Tiberius, and over 300 of his supporters
• his younger brother Gaius, meanwhile...

What happened to Gaius after he was killed by the Senate:

Gaius' head was cut off, as Opimius had announced that whomever brought back the head would be paid its weight in gold. When the head measured an astonishing seventeen and two-thirds pounds, it was discovered that Septimuleius, who brought the head, committed fraud by removing the brain and pouring in molten lead and therefore received no reward at all. The bodies of Gaius, Fulvius and the three thousand supporters who also died were thrown into the Tiber, their property confiscated and sold to the public treasury.

Civl War

• Julius Caesar, a talented patrician, formed a unique government with two former Sulla allies, Pompey and Crassus, known as the triumvirate
• Pompey was an accomplished general, Crassus the richest man in Rome               (and one of the richest men in history)
• Julius was named proconsul of so. Gaul, and within eight years conquered the rest of it, as well as parts of Britain and Germany, giving him great wealth, power, and influence

• Pompey is jealous, and the Senate is worried
• they tell Caesar to disband his army before returning to Rome
• instead, he and his army cross the Rubicon and make a grand, heroic entrance
• this causes a near civil war between Caesar's forces and Pompey's troops
• Pompey is defeated in Greece, and is killed in Egypt where he had taken refuge
• 46 BC: Caesar returned to Rome in triumph  and was declared “Father of the Fatherland” (an awesome title invented just for him)
• JC had himself appointed tribune, supreme pontiff, consul, and dictator - some at the same time
• why not shoot the works? - he had the Senate name him dictator for life
• we have now come full circle since the days of Tarquin the Proud, haven't we?
• resettle war veterans on farmlands in Italy and in the provinces
• extend Roman citizenship to parts of Gaul and Spain
• appointed citizens from the provinces to the Senate
• build splendid buildings and roads
• introduce reforms into every department of administration