From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68

BOOK: From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68
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From the Gracchi to Nero

‘Still the best introduction to Roman history’

Miriam Griffin, University of Oxford, UK

‘For a concise, factual narrative of the Roman world’s traumatic transformation from Republic to Empire, [it] remains unsurpassed. As a foundation for university and college courses, it is invaluable.’

Richard Talbert, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA

‘Without a rival as a guide to the intricacies of Republican politics.’

Greg Woolf, University of St. Andrews, UK

‘A classic textbook: clear, authoritative and balanced in its judgements … it has established itself as the fundamental modern work of reference for teachers, sixth-formers and university students … it is still the best and most reliable modern account of the period.’

Tim Cornell, University of Manchester, UK

‘This book is a modern classic. It provides a clear narrative of the two centuries from 133 B.C. to 68 A.D., but it is especially valuable for Scullard’s extensive footnotes which provide undergraduates with both the ancient sources and the most important scholarly contributions.’

Ronald Mellor, University of California at Los Angeles, USA

Routledge Classics contains the very best of Routledge publishing over the past century or so, books that have, by popular consent, become established as classics in their field. Drawing on a fantastic heritage of innovative writing published by Routledge and its associated imprints, this series makes available in attractive, affordable form some of the most important works of modern times.

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H. H. Scullard

From the Gracchi to Nero

A history of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68

With a new foreword by Dominic Rathbone

London and New York

First published 1959 by Methuen & Co.

First published in Routledge Classics 2011
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.

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© 1959, 1963, 1970, 1976, 1982 H. H. Scullard

Foreword © 2011 Dominic Rathbone

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0-203-84478-5 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN10: 0–415–58488–4 (pbk)

ISBN10: 0–203–84478–5 (ebk)

ISBN13: 978–0–415–58488–3 (pbk)

ISBN13: 978–0–203–84478–6 (ebk)

CONTENTS
 

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 
 x

PREFACE 
 xxi

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION 
 xxii

PREFACE TO THIRD, FOURTH AND FIFTH EDITIONS 
 xxii

FOREWORD 
 xxiv

 

I
 Rome at the Cross-Roads 
 1

1.
 Introductory 
 1

2.
 The Growth of Rome’s Empire 
 2

3.
 The Senatorial Government 
 4

4.
 The People and the Knights 
 7

5.
 Greek Cultural Influences on Roman Life 
 8

6.
 The Effects of Wealth and Slavery 
 11

7.
 Rome’s Allies 
 13

8.
 Economic Changes and the Land Problem 
 16

II
 The Gracchi 
 19

1.
 Attempts at Reform 
 19

2.
 Tiberius Gracchus 
 20

3.
 The Land-bill of Tiberius Gracchus 
 22

4.
 The Importance of Gracchus’ Attempt 
 24

5.
 The Land Commission, Scipio Aemilianus and the Allies 
 25

6.
 The Legislation of Gaius Gracchus 
 27

7.
 The Opposition to Gaius Gracchus 
 30

8.
 The Importance of the Gracchi 
 32

9.
 Foreign Affairs: Asia and Gaul 
 33

III
The Rise and Fall of Marius 
 36

1.
 The Senatorial Settlement 
 36

2.
 The Metelli and Marius 
 37

3.
 The Outbreak of War against Jugurtha 
 39

4.
 The Defeat of Jugurtha 
 41

5.
 The Northern Menace and its Political Repercussions 
 44

6.
 L. Appuleius Saturninus 
 46

7.
 Marius’ Victory over the Germans 
 47

8.
 Marius’ Sixth Consulship (100 B.C.) 
 49

IV
 The Rise and Fall of Sulla 
 52

1.
 The Nineties 
 52

2.
 The Younger Drusus 
 53

3.
 The Outbreak of the Italian or Social War 
 54

4.
 The Italian or Social War 
 56

5.
 Sulpicius’ Tribunate and Sulla’s Capture of Rome 
 58

6.
 Cinna 
 60

7.
 Mithridates, King of Pontus 
 61

8.
 The First Mithridatic War 
 63

9.
 Civil War 
 65

10.
 Sullanum Regnum 
 67

11.
 Sulla’s Reforms 
 68

12.
 Sulla’s Retirement 
 71

V
The Rise of Pompey 
 73

1.
 The Counter-revolution of Lepidus 
 73

2.
 Q. Sertorius 
 74

3.
 The Senate’s Administration 
 77

4.
 Spartacus 
 79

5.
 The Consulship of Pompey and Crassus (70 B.C.) 
 80

6.
 Pompey’s Commands 
 82

7.
 The Pirates 
 83

8.
 The Third Mithridatic War: Lucullus 
 84

9.
 Pompey’s Victory 
 86

10.
 Pompey’s Settlement of the East 
 88

VI
 Pompey and Caesar 
 90

1.
 Crassus and Caesar 
 90

2.
 Catiline’s Conspiracy 
 93

3.
 The Return of Pompey 
 95

4.
 The First Triumvirate 
 96

5.
 Caesar’s First Consulship (59 B.C.) 
 97

6.
 Clodius 
 99

7.
 The Renewal and Breakdown of the Triumvirate 
 101

8.
 Crassus and Parthia 
 105

VII
The Domination of Caesar 
 107

1.
 Conditions in Gaul 
 107

2.
 The Reduction of Gaul (58–56 B.C.) 
 109

3.
 Germany and Britain (55–54 B.C.) 
 111

4.
 Revolt and Reconquest 
 112

5.
 Civil War in Italy, Africa and Spain (49 B.C.) 
 114

6.
 War in Greece, Egypt and Asia (48–47 B.C.) 
 116

7.
 The End of the Civil War 
 119

8.
 Reform and Reconstruction 
 121

9.
 Policy and Administration 
 124

10.
 Caesar’s Autocracy 
 125

VIII
 The Second Triumvirate 
 131

1.
 The Rise of Antony 
 131

2.
 The Rise of Octavian 
 132

3.
 The Second Triumvirate and Philippi 
 134

4.
 Octavian’s Consolidation of the West 
 137

5.
 Antony in the East 
 140

6.
 The Final Break and War: Actium 
 143

IX
 Economic and Social Life in Italy and the Provinces in the Late Republic 
 146

1.
 Agriculture, Industry and Trade 
 146

2.
 The Aristocracy 
 149

3.
 The Knights 
 151

4.
 Other Classes 
 151

5.
 The City 
 153

6.
 The Provinces 
 154

X
 Art, Literature and Thought in the Late Republic 
 159

1.
 Graeco–Roman Culture 
 159

2.
 Art and Architecture 
 161

3.
 The Poets 
 163

4.
 Historical Writing 
 166

5.
 Oratory 
 169

6.
 Education and Learning 
 170

7.
 Law 
 171

8.
 Philosophy and Religion 
 173

XI
The Augustan Principate 
 176

1.
 Octavian’s Problem 
 176

2.
 The First Settlement (27 B.C.) 
 178

3.
 The Second Settlement (23 B.C.) 
 180

4.
 Consolidation of the Principate 
 181

5.
 The Last Twenty-five Years of Augustus’ Principate 
 183

6.
 Princeps and Senate 
 185

7.
 The Executive: Magistrates and Officials 
 189

8.
 Rome and Italy 
 192

9.
 Social Reforms 
 195

10.
 Religious Reforms 
 197

11.
 Virgil, Horace and Livy 
 199

12.
 Other Writers of the Augustan Age 
 203

XII
Frontiers and Provinces 
 205

1.
 Imperial Problems 
 205

2.
 The Army 
 205

3.
 The Eastern Frontier 
 208

4.
 Africa, Spain and Gaul 
 212

5.
 The Northern Frontier 
 214

6.
 Provincial Administration 
 219

7.
 Augustus 
 223

XIII
 Tiberius and Gaius 
 226

1.
 The Accession of Tiberius 
 226

2.
 Germanicus 
 228

3.
 The Civil Government of Tiberius 
 230

4.
 Sejanus 
 232

5.
 Provincial Affairs under Tiberius 
 234

6.
 Tiberius’ Last Years 
 236

7.
 Gaius (Caligula) 
 239

8.
 The Provincial Policy of Gaius 
 240

XIV
 Claudius and Nero 
 243

1.
 The Accession of Claudius 
 243

2.
 Claudius and the Senate 
 245

3.
 Claudius’ Centralized Administration 
 246

4.
 The Provincial Policy of Claudius 
 249

5.
 The Conquest of Britain 
 252

6.
 Court History under Claudius 
 255

7.
 Nero’s First Years 
 256

8.
 The Administration of Seneca and Burrus 
 258

9.
 Nero the Artist 
 259

10.
 The Gathering Storm 
 260

11.
 The Provinces and Foreign Affairs 
 263

12.
 The Storm Breaks 
 268

XV
 Economic and Social Life in the Early Empire 
 272

1.
 Agriculture 
 272

2.
 Industry and Trade 
 273

3.
 Trade Beyond the Empire 
 277

4.
 General Economic Conditions 
 279

5.
 The Senatorial Class 
 283

6.
 Social Life 
 285

XVI
 Art, Literature and Religion in the Julio-Claudian Period 
 292

1.
 Architecture and Art 
 292

2.
 Post-Augustan Literature 
 295

3.
 The Writers 
 297

4.
 Philosophy and Religion 
 302

5.
 Judaism and Christianity 
 306

 

ABBREVIATIONS 
 311

NOTES 
 313

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 396

INDEX 
 399

MAPS AND TABLE
 

 

The Roman Empire
circa
A.D. 68 
xxx–xxxi

 

The Roman Empire
circa
133 B.C. 
224

 

The Roman Empire at the Death of Augustus 
224

 

Genealogical Tree of the Chief Members of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty 
270

 

Italy 
290

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