Progress of Rome.As we look back over the period which we have just completed, we may ask the question whether Rome had made any progress since the days of her great conquests. More than a hundred years had passed away since the beginning of the commotions under the Gracchi. During this time we have seen the long conflict between the senate and the people; we have seen the republic gradually declining and giving way to the empire. But we must not suppose that the fall of the republic was the fall of Rome. The so-called republic of Rome was a government neither by the people nor for the people. It had become the government of a selfish aristocracy, ruling for its own interests. Whether the new empire which was now established was better than the old republic which had fallen, remains to be seen. But there are many things in which we can see that Rome was making some real progress.
Appearance of Great Men.The first thing that we notice is the fad that during this period of conflict Rome produced some of the greatest men of her history. It is in the times of stress and storm that great men are brought to the front; and it was the fierce struggles of this period which developed some of the foremost men of the ancient worldmen like the two Gracchi, Marius, Sulla, Cato, Cicero, and Julius Caesar. Whatever we may think of their opinions, of the methods which they used, or of the results which they accomplished, we cannot regard them as ordinary men.
Extension of the Franchise.Another evidence of the progress of Rome was the extension of the rights of citizenship, and the bringing into the state of many who had hitherto been excluded. At the beginning of this period only the inhabitants of a comparatively small part of the Italian peninsula were citizens of Rome. The franchise was restricted chiefly to those who dwelt upon the lands in the vicinity of the capital. But during the civil wars the rights of citizenship had been extended to all parts of Italy and to many cities in Gaul and Spain.
Improvement in the Roman Law.We have already seen the improvement which Sulla made in the organization of the criminal courts for the trial of public crimes. But there were also improvements made in the civil law, by which the private rights of individuals were better protected. Not only were the rights of citizens made more secure, but the rights of foreigners were also more carefully guarded. Before the social war, the rights of all foreigners in Italy were protected by a special praetor (praetor peregrinus); and after that war all Italians became equal before the law. There was also a tendency to give all foreigners in the provinces rights equal to those of citizens, so far as these rights related to persons and property.
Progress in Architecture.That the Romans were improving in their culture and taste is shown by the new and splendid buildings which were erected during this period. While some public buildings were destroyed by the riots in the city, they were replaced by finer and more durable structures. Many new temples were builttemples to Hercules, to Minerva, to Fortune, to Concord, to Honor and Virtue. There were new basilicas, or halls of justice, the most notable being the Basilica Julia, which was commenced by Julius Caesar. A new forum, the Forum Julii, was also laid out by Caesar, and a new theater was constructed by Pompey. The great national temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which was burned during the civil war of Marius and Sulla, was restored with great magnificence by Sulla, who adorned it with the columns of the temple of the Olympian Zeus brought from Athens. It was during this period that the triumphal arches were first erected, and became a distinctive feature of Roman architecture.
Advancement in Literature.The most important evidence of the progress of the Romans during the period of the civil wars is seen in their literature. It was at this time that Rome began to produce writers whose names belong to the literature of the world. Caesar wrote his “Commentaries on the Gallic War,” which is a fine specimen of clear historical narrative. Sallust wrote a history of the Jugurthine War and an account of the conspiracy of Catiline, which give us graphic and vigorous descriptions of these events. Lucretius wrote a great poem “On the Nature of Things,” which expounds the Epicurean theory of the universe, and reveals powers of description and imagination rarely equaled by any other poet, ancient or modern. Catullus wrote lyric poems of exquisite grace and beauty. Cicero was the most learned and prolific writer of the age; his orations, letters, rhetorical and philosophical essays furnish the best models of classic style, and have given him a place among the great prose writers of the world.
Decay of Religion and Morals.While the Romans, during this period, showed many evidences of progress in their laws, their art, and their literature, they were evidently declining in their religious and moral sense. Their religion was diluted more and more with Oriental superstitions and degrading ceremonies. In their moral life they were suffering from the effects of their conquests, which had brought wealth and the passion for luxury and display. Ambition and avarice tended to corrupt the life of the Roman people. The only remedy or this condition of religious and moral decay was found in the philosophy of the Greeks, which, however, appealed only to the more educated classes.2
SELECTIONS FOR READING
Abbott, Ch. 7, “The Period of Transition” (13).
Merivale, Empire, Vol. III., Ch. 25, “Cicero and the ‘Philippics’” (7).
Leighton, Ch. 28, “Last Days of the Republic” (1).
Schmitz, Ch. 39, “Rome during the Later Republic” (1).
Taylor, Ch. 16, “Struggle for the Crown” (1).
Seeley, Essay, “The Great Roman Revolution” (7).
Shakespeare, “Antony and Cleopatra” (37).
Plutarch, “Antony,” “Brutus” (11).
CHARACTER OF CICERO.Plutarch, “Cicero” (11); Mommsen, IV., pp. 724-726 (2); Merivale, Empire, Vol. III., pp. 148-153 (1); Forsyth, II., Ch. 25 (23). See also Appendix (23) “Cicero.”
1 Son of the Lepidus who opposed the Sullan party (p. 180).
2 Roman education was patterned in many respects after that of the Greeks; for its general character, see p. 260.
3 The figure in parenthesis refers to the number of the topic in the Appendix, where a fuller title of the book will be found.