The First Triumvirate and Julius Caesar

Rome struggled through a reign of terror when large numbers of important people were killed and their property confiscated under the dictatorship of Sulla:

31 Sulla now busied himself with slaughter, and murders without number or limit filled the city. Many, too, were killed to gratify private hatreds, although they had no relations with Sulla, but he gave his consent in order to gratify his adherents. At last one of the younger men, Caius Metellus, made bold to ask Sulla in the senate what end there was to be of these evils, and how far he would proceed before they might expect such doings to cease. 2 "We do not ask thee," he said, "to free from punishment those whom thou hast determined to slay, but to free from suspense those whom thou hast determined to save."
Plutarch - Life of Sulla

After unexpectedly resigning from the position of Roman dictator in 79 B.C., Sulla died a year later. His reign had drained the Senate of power, which allowed for the rise of a new political alliance.

Beginning of the Triumvirate

Between the death of Sulla and the beginning of the first Triumvirate in 59 B.C., two of the wealthiest and most powerful remaining Romans, Gnaius Pompeius Magnus (106-48 B.C.) and Marcus Licinius Crassus (112-53 B.C.), grew increasingly hostile to each other. This wasn't simply a private concern, since each man was backed by factions and soldiers. To avert civil war, Julius Caesar, whose reputation was growing because of his military successes, suggested a three-way partnership. This unofficial alliance is known to us as the first triumvirate, but at the time was referred to as an amicitia 'friendship' or factio (whence, our 'faction'). They divvied up the Roman provinces to suit themselves. Crassus, the capable financier, would receive Syria; Pompey, the renowned general, Spain; Caesar, who would soon show himself to be a skilled politician as well as a military leader, Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul and Illyricum. Caesar and Pompey helped cement their relationship by Pompey's marriage to Caesar's daughter Julia.
(www.herodotuswebsite.co.uk/roman/essays/1stTriumvirate.htm) How and why did the so-called First Triumvirate come into being?

End of the Triumvirate

Julia, wife of Pompey and daughter of Julius Caesar, died in 54, passively breaking the personal alliance between Caesar and Pompey. (Erich Gruen, author of The Last Generation of the Roman Republic argues against the significance of the death of Caesar's daughter and many other accepted details of Caesar's relations with the Senate.) The triumvirate further degenerated in 53 B.C., when a Parthian army attacked the Roman army at the Battle of Carrhae, and killed Crassus. Meanwhile, Caesar's power was growing while he was in Gaul. Laws were altered to suit his needs. Some senators, notably Cato and Cicero, were alarmed by the weakening legal fabric. Rome had created the office of tribune at an earlier time to give the plebeians power against the patricians. Among other powers, the tribune's person was sacrosanct (they couldn't be harmed physically) and he could impose a veto on anyone, including his fellow tribune. Caesar had both tribunes on his side when some members of the senate accused him of treason. The tribunes imposed their vetoes. The senate majority ignored the vetoes and even roughed up the tribunes. They ordered Caesar, now charged with treason, to return to Rome, but without his army.
Source: Suzanne Cross: "Gaul to the Rubicon"

Julius Caesar returned to Rome, but with his army. Regardless of the legitimacy of the original treason charge that had been vetoed, the moment he stepped across the Rubicon (a river), Caesar had, in legal fact, committed treason. Caesar could either be convicted of treason, or fight the Roman forces sent to meet him, which were led by Caesar's former co-leader, Pompey.

Pompey had the initial advantage, but even so, Julius Caesar won at Pharsalus in 48 B.C. After his defeat, Pompey fled, first to Mytilene and then to Egypt where he expected safety, but instead met his own death.

Julius Caesar Rules Alone

Caesar next spent a few years in Egypt and Asia before returning to Rome, where he began a platform of reform. [From The Rise of Julius Caesar www.republic.k12.mo.us/highschool/teachers/tstephen/ 07/13/98]

1. Julius Caesar granted citizenship to many colonials, thus widening his base of support.
2. Caesar granted pay to Proconsuls to remove corruption and gain allegiance from them.
3. Caesar established a network of spies.
4. Caesar instituted a policy of land reform designed to take power away from the wealthy.
5. Caesar reduced the powers of the Senate so as to make it an advisory council only.

At the same time, Julius Caesar was appointed dictator for life and assumed the title of imperator, general (a title given a victorious general by his soldiers), and pater patriae 'father of his country'. Although Rome had long abhorred a monarchy, the title of rex 'king' was offered him. When the autocratic Caesar rejected it at the Lupercalia, there were grave doubts about his sincerity. People feared he would soon become king. Caesar even dared to put his likeness on coins. In an effort to save the Republic -- although some think there were more personal reasons -- 60 of the senators conspired to murder him.

On the Ides of March, in 44 B.C., the senators stabbed Gaius Julius Caesar sixty times, beside a statue of his former co-leader Pompey.

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