The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Roman Empire (26 page)

After the conquest of Italy, Rome conquered huge areas of territory beyond. Some conquered cities and kingdoms became client states. Client states remained somewhat autonomous as long as their tribute was paid and they kept out of trouble. Other territory was under the control of no previous central authority. These conquests required Roman supervision both to maintain control and to organize ways to exploit the resources of the region. Other territories, such as those once controlled by Carthage and Macedonia, needed Roman administration to replace the authority that had been destroyed. These last two kinds of territories became
provincia
(provinces) and possessions of Rome.

Provinces were placed under the authority of a Roman governor with pro-consular or pro-praetorian
imperium
(the power of command). Minor officials were assigned within the regions and sub-regions of the larger provinces as well. General administration and taxes were drawn up in Rome as guidelines, but governors had full power to run their own affairs. Provincial governors and officials were in the position to win glory and become incredibly rich in clients and the spoils of conquest. Both became important components in the eventual rise of generals like Caesar, Pompey, Octavian, and Antony.

 
When in Rome
Provincia
originally meant an area within which military
imperium
could be exercised; provincial governors were, in effect, military commanders in occupation of conquered territory.

After the initial conquest of a province and the extraction of tribute and booty, governors were in the position to exploit every aspect of conquest. There was no real bureaucracy connecting provinces to Rome; therefore, as long as the taxes were collected, order was kept, Roman interests were protected, and the governor was free to exercise his
imperium
as he saw fit. Governors administered their provinces as a way to increase their own wealth and power, and some virtually pillaged their provinces during their stay. Not just money, but art works, commercial goods, and more were shipped back for profit or the governor's private collection. Governors and lower officials were also in the position to demand kickbacks from the equites and
publicani
who were engaged in business or the collection of taxes.

Abuses of power became so infamous that Rome introduced laws for prosecuting governors and provincial officials. However, this didn't always have the desired effect. Verres, the governor of Sicily who was prosecuted by Cicero, told his friends that the enormous profit of his three-year term was divided three ways: The first year was to pay off his campaign debts, the second year was to pay off jurors when he got back, and the third year was for him. The problem of governors and commanders who exploited their positions to advance their own personal power helped bring down the Republic and plagued the empire over its history.

Rome didn't have the magic of magnetic strips on credit cards, but it came pretty close. Banking and finance operations were complex. Letters of credit, transfers of money or goods by ledger, and sophisticated lending practices enabled Rome to manage and exploit sources of wealth in its empire. The equites handled most of the financing, lending money to individuals, trading companies, cities, and even to kings
who needed cash to pay their tribute or taxes. Rates were restricted to 12 percent officially, but with a little creative bookwork effective rates reached between 24 and 48 percent. This made Romans rich and kept client states in perpetual dependence.

 
When in Rome
Mithridates VI (134–63
B
.
C
.
E
.) was the powerful king of Pontus (on the Black Sea). Forty years of Roman oppression made the east ripe for rebellion against Rome and pro-Roman governments. When Mithridates invaded the province of Asia and then Greece in 88
B
.
C
.
E
., these areas welcomed him as a liberator and attacked Roman citizens and interests. Sulla was appointed commander against Mithridates that same year.

 
Great Caesar's Ghost!
Cicero was a man of relatively modest means by Roman standards, but through his service as governor of Sicily, his representation of clients, and his connections with the elite, he became wealthy enough to buy eight country villas and a house costing 3.5 million sesterces (the Roman currency) on the Palatine hill (
the
district) in Rome, roughly equivalent to a penthouse suite in Manhattan.

Public contracts for works and services were handled by groups of private contractors, called
publicani.
The
publicani
formed companies, which were incorporated, and sold public shares so that the companies could continue to operate as investors joined or departed.

Public contracts included the collection of taxes in the provinces. Rome set an amount that a province's taxation should be worth, and then private companies of
publicani
would bid on collecting them. The difference between the winning bid and the published amount was the tax cartel's to keep. This was big, big business, especially in the east, and the subject of tremendous exploitation. Each level of collection sought to maximize its profit, and each extorted the next level down, all the way to the taxpayers themselves. Roman governors and
publicani
were so harsh that the province of Asia erupted in revolt between 88–84
B
.
C
.
E
.; up to 80,000 Italian
publicani
and merchants were reportedly killed in one day.

Senators were restricted from commercial business endeavors, but they found ways to reap profits in spite of such restriction. They became silent partners of the
publicani,
established shell corporations, and installed front men. They also went into money lending, especially to their foreign clients. Moreover, senators became patrons and partners of equites in many ways. Each needed the services of the other. Senators, for example, received loans for economic ventures, political campaigns, or private expenses at plumb rates. The equites in turn needed the favor of the aristocrats who became the magistrates, commanders, and provincial governors under whom they conducted business.

Throughout the growing Roman Empire, political and economic business was still conducted on the basis of personal relationships, patron/client bonds, and personal authority. A senator who served abroad developed constituencies of Roman expatriates, businessmen, and important nationals who depended on him to protect and represent their interests in Rome. There was no state bureaucracy as such. Senators achieved both power and prestige by representing foreign interests; embassies, delegations, and private individuals streamed to Rome in order to affect business, bend the political process, or achieve redress against corruption. Such representation enriched an aristocrat's reputation, status, and purse.

By the time of the later Republic, Rome had far outgrown the city of small farmers it had once been. Since the end of the Punic Wars (146
B
.
C
.
E
.), Rome and Italy had moved toward urbanization where people lived and worked in urban centers instead of on small farms. Rome's conquests brought enormous changes in how Romans and Italians lived, worked, and fought. Huge urban markets were created that needed to be fed, housed, and entertained; new means of production were formed based on the enormous pool of slave labor; and a growing number of middle-class and fabulously wealthy upper-class citizens sought imported goods and services.

 
Great Caesar's Ghost!
Today, with the advent of elevators, apartments on the top floor have a cachet for their views and their remoteness from the grime of street life. But in Roman times, the worst place to live in an
insula
(a multistory block apartment building) was the top floor.
Insulae
were notorious both for falling down and for burning up around the inhabitants.

 
Roamin' the Romans
You can find the well-preserved remains of Roman
insulae,
working-class bars, and a port marketplace at Rome's port of Ostia—just a short hop from Rome.

The wealth of conquest brought great building projects—fabulous villas in and around the cities, public buildings, roads, and aqueducts. Middle class Italians and Romans ran small shops with small groups of slaves, imported and exported goods, and labored as tradesmen. But by and large the city was filled with unskilled workers. Rome grew to a population of nearly a million people, populations that London achieved only around 1800 and New York around 1850. Workers lived in the flimsy
and squalid
insulae
(literally, islands), which were cheap multistory apartments that landlords threw up around the city. Crassus made a fortune buying burnt
insulae
on the cheap (some of which he had torched in order to buy them), renovating and reselling them; others made money running private fire brigades (which went hand-in-hand with fire extortion rackets).

Over time, Rome attempted to settle the urban problem by establishing new colonies to which urban poor could relocate and homestead, settling veterans on public lands, and inaugurating public works projects. The numbers of urban poor, however, kept growing until they came to depend on the largesse of patrons, the import of subsidized grain, gifts provided to the public as a part of campaign elections, and the entertainment of public games. Bread and circuses.

In the country, small landholders could manage to get by from their holdings and pick-up work from larger landholders. That is unless bad harvests, more powerful neighbors, extended military service, illness, invasions, civil disruption, or other such happenings got in the way. If you consider Roman history since the Second Punic War, there was scarcely a year in which several of these things weren't occurring simultaneously over much of Italy! (For more, see Chapters 6, “On Golden Pond: Rome Conquers Italy and the Mediterranean,” and 7.) Many small farmers, overwhelmed by a variety of these factors, were displaced and left for the cities. Wealthy landholders and Roman aristocrats built huge country estates with the wealth of conquest, acquired failed land holdings, and reduced farmers to the status of tenants. Some small farmers who lived near enough to cities switched from growing grain to growing premium cash crops and vegetables for the urban market and were able to make it this way.

 
Veto!
You will sometimes read that the creation of
latifundia
(large corporate farms) and the import of slaves obliterated the Italian small farmer.
Latifundia
did have a decided impact, especially in Latium, Campania (southwest Italy), and Sicily; but in other parts of Italy small farms remained the norm.

From the time Rome began to conquer large portions of northern and southern Italy, it controlled huge tracts of public land (
ager publicus
). Even though there was a legal limit on the amount of public lands a private party could control, enormous parcels were leased long-term at rock-bottom rates to wealthy senators and equites hoping to make the switch to the noble life. They created huge corporate farms,
latifundia,
worked by gangs of slaves imported from Roman conquests and were able to produce grain and raise livestock at cheaper prices. Owners were able to weather price fluctuations by having
latifundia
in different districts to offset the uncertainties of local harvest conditions.

The
latifundia
compounded problems for the rural poor and contributed to urbanization. In addition, deplorable conditions on the farms in Campania and Sicily led to huge slave uprisings in the second and first centuries. Control of public lands by a relative few also led to conflict during the time of the Gracchae, when
populares
(see Chapter 7) attempted to portion out the
ager publicus
to the needy public. Citizens with vested interests, however, had come to consider the land as theirs.

Rome's wealth and the conquest of the provinces brought about a surge in trade and the development of luxury goods. Italy grew enough to feed itself and then some, but Rome was always in need of more than its direct environs could produce. Trade and shipping was big business with Italian merchants controlling much of the trade routes in the west. Italy exported wine and oil to France and Spain and imported raw materials. Wealthy Romans cultivated vineyards in Italy and other provinces. In the eastern Mediterranean, the Greeks continued to control most shipping. Italy imported grain, exotic materials, animals, fabrics, foods, and spices to meet the tastes and demands of Rome's economic and cultural elite.

The gap, however, between haves and have-nots increased as the spoils of victory sifted into comparatively few hands while the burdens of conquest fell upon many who lost what little they had. By the second century, the loss of property was enough to threaten Rome's ability to field the forces it needed to continue and maintain the empire. Marius abandoned the conscription of citizens and made the army into a career (see Chapter 7).

Enlistment in the army was generally for 20 years (instead of the six years conscripts served), and bonuses were offered to veterans. For service, one received a steady paycheck (from which the cost of rations was deducted) and a job. It was a hard and grueling life, and some would rise through the enlisted ranks to the highest enlisted post of
centurion
. Soldiers fought for more than just the glory of Rome; their financial success depended upon their victories. They received a portion of the spoils taken as a part of conquest, a share of the commander's portion of booty, and other bonuses. These, when conquering the rich east, could be quite handsome.

 
Roamin' the Romans
Any soldier who saved the life of a citizen would be awarded the
corona civica,
the civic crown. An emblem of the civic crown, a woven crown of oak leaves, was proudly displayed by veterans. You can see one of them over the door of a house preserved in Pompeii.

 
When in Rome
Centurions
were originally the leaders of the centuries (units of 100 men) furnished to the army by the property divisions of the ancient
comitia centuriata
. They became the Roman army's highest professional officer. After Marius's reforms, there were six centurions for each of the ten cohorts that made up a legion. Centurions were promoted in order within their cohort, and between cohorts and legions until they reached the highest post, the first centurion of the first cohort of a legion.

In the last century of the Republic, campaigns were long—six to ten years. Soldiers looked forward to returning to Italy, setting up a small farm with a land grant and retirement pension. What kind of honorable discharge (
missio honesta
) they got depended upon their commander winning confirmation of his arrangements (
acta
) by the senate. Thus, soldiers came to depend on, and to support, their commanders as a patron and protector more than they did the state.

• Roman citizenship evolved and broadened as Rome incorporated conquered peoples into its empire.
  
• Roman nobles and equites exploited provincial resources and sought personal power through wealth and the patronage of foreign clients.
  
• Roman conquests during the Republic brought enormous numbers of slaves and great wealth into Italy and created a powerful upper and middle class.
  
• Roman conquests took a toll on the small farmers and allies but improved the status of upper- and middle-class women.
  
• Roman culture became progressively urbanized in the Republic.