The Republic had long been dead – now it was passing out of fashion too. ‘Shaggy simplicity is yesterday’s news. Rome’s made of gold,/And coins in all the wealth of the conquered globe.’37 Greatness might have cost the Romans their freedom, but it had given them the world. Under Augustus their legions had continued to display all the martial qualities of old – pushing back the empire’s frontiers, slaughtering barbarians – but to the urbane consumer back on the Campus Martius, it was only distant noise. War no longer disturbed his reckoning. Nor, much, did morality, or duty, or the past. Nor, even, did warnings from the heavens. ‘Portents’, a contemporary historian noted with perplexity, ‘are never reported or chronicled nowadays.’38 But for this there was a self-evident explanation: the gods, surveying the scene of leisure and peace that Rome had become, had clearly decided that there was nothing left for them to say.
‘The fruit of too much liberty is slavery’39 had been the mournful judgement of Cicero – and who was to say that his own generation, the last of a free Republic, had not proved it true? But the fruit of slavery? That was for a new generation, and a new age, to prove.
Timeline
All dates are BC unless otherwise stated.
753
The foundation of Rome.
509
The downfall of the monarchy, and the establishment of the Republic.
390
The capture of Rome by the Gauls.
367
Legal restrictions on the right of plebeians to hold the consulship are abolished.
343–40
First Samnite war.
321
The Romans are defeated at the Caudine Forks.
290
The Romans complete the conquest of Samnium.
264–41
The first war against Carthage.
219–18
The start of the second war against Carthage. Hannibal marches on Italy, through southern Gaul, and across the Alps.
216
The battle of Cannae.
202
The defeat of Hannibal in Africa.
148
Macedon becomes a Roman province.
146
The destruction of Carthage and Corinth.
133
The tribunate and murder of Tiberius Gracchus. Attalus III of Pergamum leaves his kingdom to Rome in his will.
123
The first tribunate of Gaius Gracchus (starting on 10 December 124). Pergamum subjected to organised taxation.
122
The second tribunate of Gaius Gracchus.
121
The murder of Gaius Gracchus.
118
The establishment of a province in southern Gaul secures the land route to Spain. Probable birthdate of Lucullus.
115
Birth of Crassus.
112
Mithridates VI establishes himself as King of Pontus.
107
Marius’ first consulship. He abolishes property qualifications for recruitment to the army.
106
Birth of Pompey and Cicero.
104–100
Marius as Consul. Victorious campaigns against barbarian invaders from the north.
100
Birth of Caesar.
93
Birth of Clodius.
92
The conviction and exile of Rutilius Rufus for extortion.
91
Outbreak of the Italian revolt against Rome.
90
Citizenship offered to Italians loyal to Rome.
89
Sulla, campaigning in Samnium, brings an effective end to the Italian revolt. Mithridates invades the Roman province of Asia.
88
Sulla as consul. Marius, with the assistance of the tribune Sulpicius, has the Mithridatic command transferred to himself. Sulla marches on Rome. The execution of Sulpicius, and escape of Marius into exile. In Asia, Mithridates orders the massacre of 80,000 Romans and Italians.
87
Cinna as consul. Sulla leaves for Greece and the war against Mithridates. The death of Pompeius Strabo. Marius returns to power in Rome.
86
Cinna as consul. The death of Marius. Athens falls to Sulla.
85
Cinna as consul. Sulla signs a peace treaty with Mithridates.
84
Cinna as consul. He is murdered by mutineers.
83
Crassus joins Sulla in Greece. Sulla crosses to Italy, where he is joined by Pompey. The battle of the Colline Gate, and the massacre of the Samnite prisoners in the Villa Publica.
82
Proscriptions in Rome. Caesar in hiding.
81
Sulla as Dictator. He launches major constitutional reforms, including the hamstringing of the tribunate. Cicero’s first case.
80
Sulla as consul. Caesar leaves for military service in Asia.
79
Sulla relinquishes his magistracies. Cicero leaves on a two-year trip to the East.
78
Catulus as consul. The death of Sulla.
77
Pompey is given a command in Spain.
75
Cicero as quaestor. Mithridates declares war on Rome.
74
Lucullus as consul. Mithridates invades the province of Asia a second time. M. Antonius is given a command against the pirates.
73
The outbreak of a slave revolt, led by Spartacus. Lucullus expels Mithridates from Asia.
72
Crassus is appointed to command of the war against Spartacus. The end of Pompey’s campaigning in Spain. Lucullus is victorious against Mithridates in Pontus. M. Antonius is defeated by the pirates off Crete.
71
The defeat and death of Spartacus. The return of Pompey to Italy. Lucullus completes the conquest of Pontus. Mithridates takes refuge with Tigranes of Armenia.
70