The Crisis of Rome Read online

  Ultimately, we can rely on the basic ancient premise that Rome indeed did suffer a problem in finding enough quality soldiers for her ever-increasing wars. Yet we must be careful not to assume that this was the sole reason for any presumed decline in her military efforts. As the Gallic Wars of the 120s showed, Rome in this period was more than capable of conducting a successful war against a tribal enemy. That they failed against the Cimbri for so long had more to do with more immediate factors, such as Roman commanders and Cimbric numbers rather than any deep-seated flaw in the Roman system. If there was no such flaw then there was no need for such a radical cure, such as the assumed abolition of the property qualification. Rome in this period did face a crisis on a number of issues, but these were temporary ones with temporary solutions; crisis did not mean inevitable collapse.

  Appendix IV

  The Dominance of the Metelli (123–98 BC)

  Throughout this period of Roman history one family stands out: the Caecilii Metelli. Even in a dynastic system such as Rome’s, the success of the Metelli in the period was unique. Even families such as the Scipiones had never achieved so much success by so many family members in such a short period of time, achieving seven consulships, four censorships and five triumphs within twenty-five years. Unfortunately for them, these successes occurred during a period for which our sources have now almost disappeared, leaving the majority of them in obscurity. The most well-known of this period is Metellus Numidicus and then mostly for his part in the rise of Marius, rather than on his own merit (though hopefully the preceding chapters have gone some way to correct this balance). There exists an excellent analysis of the Metelli by Van Ootegheim, which is rather inaccessible to the standard reader, being in French and long out of print.487 The following is a brief résumé of the Metellan family’s success:

  The Metelli were an old and established plebeian family, first reaching the consulate in the third century BC, serving as consuls in both Punic Wars. Following the Second Punic War, however, the family’s fortunes appear to have dipped and no Metellan reached the consulate for over fifty years. The family’s fortunes were reversed by Metellus ‘Macedonicus’, who not only won great military and political glory, but re-founded a dynasty with his brother, with five of their sons becoming consul (123, 119, 117, 115, 113 and 109 BC).

  The Third Century BC

  284 L. Caecilius Metellus Denter Consul

  The first of the family to reach the consulship and the first to bear the cognomen Metellus.

  283 L. Caecilius Metellus Denter Praetor

  There is much debate over the accuracy of this praetorship, coming so soon after his consulship. Polybius states that he was killed in the Battle of Arretium.488

  251 L. Caecilius Metellus Consul

  Served in Sicily during the First Punic War, and won a notable victory over the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal at the Battle of Panormus, capturing over 100 elephants, which he paraded in his triumph.

  247 L. Caecilius Metellus (2) Consul

  Elected consul for a second time, he again served in Sicily, laying siege to the city of Lilybaeum.

  c.243 L. Caecilius Metellus (2) Pontifex Maximus

  Became Pontifex Maximus around this period and served until his death in 221 BC.489

  206 Q. Caecilius Metellus Consul

  M. Caecilius Metellus Praetor

  The first recorded case of two Metelli holding office at the same time, consul and Praetor. Quintus and his consular colleague shadowed Hannibal’s movements about Italy.

  Second Century BC

  148 Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Macedonicus’ Praetor

  Perhaps the most famous of all the Metlli, he defeated and captured the Macedonian Pretender Andriscus, ending the Fourth Macedonian War, leading to the annexation of Macedon. He remained in Greece, winning victories at Scarpheia and Chaeronaea.

  146 Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Macedonicus’ Triumph

  Celebrated a triumph for his defeat of Andriscus.

  143 Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Macedonicus’ Consul

  Thanks to his actions in the Macedonian War, became the first Metellan consul for several generations. Defeated a slave uprising at Miturnae in Italy and then served in the Celtiberian War in Spain.

  142 L. Caecilius Metellus Calvus Consul

  Brother of Macedonicus; the first example of two Metelli following each other in the consulship, but nothing else is known of his activities during the year.

  131 Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Macedonicus’ Censor

  First Metellan to become censor; clashed with the Tribune Atinius Labeo, who threatened to throw Metellus from the Tarpeian Rock, after his omission from the Senate. Also of note is the fact that this pair of censors was the first ever all-plebeian pairing (traditionally, it had been a patrician and a plebeian).

  The Metellan Period of Dominance

  123 Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Baliaricus’ Consul

  Son of Metellus Macedonicus, invaded and annexed the Balearic islands (see Chapter 1).

  121 Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Baliaricus’ Triumph

  Celebrated a triumph for the conquest of the Balearic Islands.

  120 Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Baliaricus’ Censor

  119 L. Caecilius Metellus ‘Dalmaticus’ Consul

  Son of Metellus Calvus; in Rome he clashed with the tribune C.

  Marius, who threatened him with imprisonment, whilst in his province he fought the Dalmatians, earning the cognomen ‘Dalmaticus’.

  117 L. Caecilius Metellus Diadematus Consul

  A son of Metellus Macedonicus; no clear detail on his activities as consul.

  L. Caecilius Metellus ‘Dalmaticus’ Triumph

  Celebrated his triumph for fighting the Dalmatians.

  115 M. Caecilius Metellus Consul

  Another son of Metellus Macedonicus received Sardinia and Corsica as his province, possibly to fight increased banditry.

  L. Caecilius Metellus ‘Dalmaticus’/Diadematus Censor

  It is unclear which of the two L. Caecilii Metelli became censor this year.

  c.114 L. Caecilius Metellus ‘Dalmaticus’ Pontifex Maximus

  We are not told for certain when he took office but he was certainly in post this year.

  113 C. Caecilius Metellus Caprarius Consul

  Another son of Metellus Macedonicus campaigned in Thrace against the Scordisci (see Chapter 3).

  111 M. Caecilius Metellus Triumph

  C. Caecilius Metellus Caprarius Triumph

  In an unprecedented move, both brothers celebrated their triumphs on the same day; Marcus for his activities in Sardinia and Caius for those in Thrace.

  109 Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Numidicus’ Consul

  Again, in another unprecedented move, both censors came from the same family. Their censorship also saw the attempt to remove Saturninus and Glaucia from the Senate.

  106 Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Numidicus’ Triumph

  102 Q. Caecilius Metellus ‘Numidicus’ Censors

  C. Caecilius Metellus Caprarius

  Again, in another unprecedented move, both censors came from the same family. Their censorship also saw the attempt to remove Saturninus and Glaucia from the Senate.

  98 Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos Consul

  Thus this period saw seven different brothers and cousins become consul, with four of them going on to reach the censorship, including the extraordinary double censorship of 102 BC, at a time when Marius was consul for the fourth time. One of their number even became Pontifex Maximus (Rome’s chief priest). Furthermore, they celebrated five triumphs, including the extraordinary feat of two triumphs on the same day in 111 BC. It is easy enough to understand why this dominance petered out, given that all available Metelli of that generation had been advanced through the cursus honorum (the sequence of offices a senator aspired to gain). Following this period, the children and grandchildren of these men achieved consulships in 80, 69, 68, 60, 57 and 52 BC, with a second period of consulships, the last of which being the noted
Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica, a Scipio by birth, but a Metellan by adoption, who was the father-in-law of Pompey and fought Caesar at the Battle of Thapsus in 46 BC. Like his colleague Cato, he too committed suicide rather than come to terms with Caesar.490

  The key issue that has not yet been accounted for is how these two branches of the family came to exercise such dominance in this period. Certainly, Metellus Macedonicus raised the profile of the family once more and made the elections of his sons much more likely, as well as his own brother. Yet to have all the available sons of both brothers reach the consulship was unprecedented. Regrettably, like much in this period, without a good surviving narrative source we have little clear information to go on. Nevertheless, it does hint at a degree of co-ordination and resources that no other family was able to muster.

  Although this period of dominance was always going to come to an end, the rise of Marius too has often been overstated in its impact on the Metelli, especially in the light of the double Metellan censorship of 102 BC. The family did survive the disruptions and mass murder of the First Civil War and was able to gain a number of consulships in the late Republic, albeit without the same level of dominance that they saw in this period.

  Appendix V

  Sources for the Period

  As has been mentioned throughout this work, the fundamental problem we have when analysing the wars of this period, is the lack of surviving sources. As we have seen, wars were raging throughout Spain, Gaul, Sicily, Africa, Illyria, Macedon and Thrace, not to mention an invasion of Italy itself. Yet in most cases all we have are a few lines or at most a few paragraphs of detail. Had we fuller sources then this period would have a far higher profile than it currently does, especially given fuller accounts of the key battles of Arausio, Aquae Sextiae and Raudian Plain. The following is a brief overview of the surviving and lost sources for the period.

  Surviving Roman Sources

  Sallust – The Jugurthine Wars (First Century BC)

  Sallust’s narrative of the Jugurthine Wars is an invaluable piece of evidence and the only in-depth narrative of the period to survive. Furthermore, it was written just sixty years after the war itself and benefited greatly from Sallust’s use of the works of men such as Cornelius Sulla, Rutilius Rufus and Aemilius Scaurus, who had taken part in the events described. It also benefited from Sallust’ governorship of Africa Nova, the name given to the new province created from eastern Numidia when it was annexed in 46 BC. The position gave him access to the library of the Numidian kings (itself composed of a number of volumes taken from the sack of Carthage in 146 BC). Sallust refers to The Libri Punici in his work.491 The major danger in using the Jugurthine Wars is Sallust’s stated intent to show how corrupt and degenerate the Romans had become, which had led to the civil wars of his day and explains the constant barrage of accusations of corruption against key figures of this period. Furthermore, as has been detailed, he was not writing a military history, and misses or condenses vital information for our understanding of the war.

  Plutarch – Lives of Marius, Sulla & Sertorius (First Century AD)

  Plutarch’s ‘lives’ are today indispensable biographies of a number of the Republic’s most famous figures. His life of Marius gives us our best source for the final clashes with the Cimbri and Teutones. Furthermore, he also made use of the biographies of both Sulla and Catulus, key figures involved in these wars. This latter point is his key weakness as he uses material written by men who became enemies of Marius in latter life and wanted to thoroughly darken his name and downplay his abilities.

  Orosius – Seven Books against the Pagans (Fifth Century AD)

  Orosius was a Christian writer of the fifth century AD, whose work on pagan history preserves a number of interesting accounts of Roman history. In particular, his details on the Jugurthine War, though brief in places, gives us a good source to compare to the account of Sallust.

  (Unknown) Periochae of Livy

  Despite the loss of Livy’s grand narrative history of the Republic, for events after 167 BC, we do have a surviving collection of summaries of his lost books. We have little idea when they were summarized or by whom, but they condense Livy’s narrative into a series of headlines for events that took place each year. Even reduced to such a format they still provide us with valuable information for the period.

  Florus – Epitome of Roman History (Second Century AD)

  Florus wrote a short abridgement (epitome) of Roman Republican history. Despite its brevity he preserves accounts for a number of the wars of the period and gives us an insight into the narrative histories that are now lost.

  Velleius Paterculus – Roman History (First Century AD)

  Paterculus also wrote a short history of the Republican period, but preserves less military material than Florus for the period in question.

  Diodorus – Library of History (First Century BC)

  Diodorus’ work took the form of a universal history of the ancient world from its earliest day down to his time. Although much of it has been lost, his later chapters on Roman history provide a wealth of previously unknown details, including a full account of the Servile wars.

  Appian – Histories of the Civil, Gallic, Illyrian, Numidian & Spanish Wars (Second Century AD)

  Appian was a second-century AD Greek scholar, who wrote a series of works charting the various wars the Romans fought, separated geographically, along with his Civil Wars, Unfortunately, aside from his work on the Civil Wars, the other wars survive in varying degrees of completeness. Nevertheless, they prove a number of useful narratives.

  Granius Licinianus – Roman History (Second Century AD?)

  We only have a handful of fragments of Licinianus’ work, but it is believed to have been an epitome of Roman history. The few fragments we have cover the period

  163–78 BC and provide some interesting insights into the events under discussion.

  Unknown – De viris illustribus (Late Empire)

  The de viris illustribus, or lives of famous men, is a compilation of short biographies of famous Romans and non-Romans, mostly from the Republican period. Despite its brevity and unknown sources, we have biographies of Marius, Metellus Numidicus, Sulla, Aemilius Scaurus and Saturninus, as well as Scipio Aemilianus, the Gracchi, Metellus Macedonicus and even Viriathus.

  Strabo – Geography (First Century AD)

  Strabo’s work on geography contains the most detailed accounts of the tribes that were at war with Rome in this period, notably the Cimbri and the Scordisci. He made extensive use of Poseidonius and allows us a glimpse at the origins and culture of Rome’s enemies.

  Lost Roman Sources for the Period

  Detailing all the sources that have been lost to us but which would have covered the events of this period would be another book in itself. Nevertheless, there are a few which have been mentioned in the preceding text.

  Livy – History of Rome from the Foundation of the City (First Century BC)

  Of all the lost Roman works, it is perhaps Livy’s that stand out the most. His history of Rome from Romulus to Augustus was composed of 142 separate books. Today all that survive are books 1–10 (753 to 293 BC) and 21–45 (218–167 BC). Thus books 46 to 142 covered the last 100-plus years of the Republic and would provide us with such a wealth of information that it would transform the study of Roman history. We know from the summaries that books 62–69 covered the period 120–100 and would have provided us with details on all the wars that Rome fought in this period.

  L. Cornelius Sulla – Autobiography (Second / First Century BC)

  Sulla famously wrote an autobiography of his life, giving later historians a firsthand account of the events he took part in, although as such it was prone to increasing his own role at the expense of others, notably Marius, who became his sworn enemy during the First Civil War.

  Q. Lutatius Catulus – Autobiography and history of the Cimbric War (Second/First Century BC)

  Catulus, consul 102 BC, was another contemporary Roman
who wrote on the events of his life. As well as an account of his won consulship, used by Plutarch, which clearly disguised his military shortcomings, he also wrote a history of the Cimbric War. He too clearly suffered from the desire to inflate his own achievements and also became a sworn enemy of Marius, an act that cost him his life; a victim of the bloodbath that accompanied Marius’ capture of Rome in 87 BC, though by his own hand.

  P. Rutilius Rufus – Autobiography and History of Rome (Second / First Century BC)

  Rutilius Rufus was another of the men involved in these events to write an autobiography. He was a legate to both Scipio Aemilianus in Numantia and Metellus Numidicus in Numidia, serving with Marius on both occasions, and was elected to the consulship in 105 BC. Following the disaster at Arausio it was Rutilius who had charge of Italy. He was exiled from Rome in 92 BC, a victim of an equestrian rigged jury, due to his campaign against corruption in the provinces. Nevertheless, this exile allowed him to avoid the bloodshed of the First Civil War and live out a comfortable exile in the Greek islands, writing his accounts of the events in which he had taken part.492

  Poseidonius – Histories and Geography (First Century BC)

  Poseidonius was a Greek scholar of the first century BC who wrote extensively on matters of science and nature. He also wrote historical works continuing Polybius’ histories from 146 to 88 BC. From the references in Strabo it appears that his works contained detailed accounts of the various tribal enemies which faced Rome, especially the Cimbri.