Marius and Sulla – the (first) Roman Civil War

Marius and Sulla – the (first) Roman Civil War

Sources: Sallust Jugerthine War, Plutarch Marius, Sulla, Cassius Dio, others
I. Rome after the death of Gaius Gracchus
1. murderers of the Gracchi go unpunished
2. (unusual) era of dominance of one gens, Caecilii Metelli
a. an unparalleled level of consular dominance
b. they conquer Balaerics, Macedon, Numidia, etc.
3. Roman power stretches from Spain to Asia Minor, many provinces
4. Marius was a client of Q. Caecilius Metellus (later Numidicus) cos. 109

II. Rome and Numidia come to blows
1. Micipsa dies and leaves his throne to Jugertha, Hiempsal, Adherbal
2. Jugertha rubs out Hiempsal and drives out Adherbal
3. Called to Rome he says “Rome is a city where everyone and everything is for sale.” In past has bribed his way out of trouble.
4. Jugertha kills Adherbal after siege of Cirta, but also slays Romans
5. Roman senators forced by popular opinion to favor a war with Numidia

III. The war drags on 115-109
1. No swift victory
2. Aulus Postumius’ army forced to surrender and walk under the yoke
3. Q. Caecilius Metellus elected consul to run the war in Africa, brings Marius

IV. Metellus vs. Jugertha, 109-108
1. Metellus defeats Jugertha in battle several times, but can not destroy him
2. Metellus captures Jugertha’s treasury (J has trouble paying his troops)
3. Jugertha resorts to guerilla warfare since he can not beat QCM in field
4. QCM renewed in command, but still can not defeat J.
5. Marius often exercises command of half the army when R army divides
6. Marius, though a novus homo wants to run for consul for 107 and asks QCM to send him to Italy to campaign; QCM insults him

V. Marius elected consul
1. Marius asks his friends to launch first grass roots candidacy
2. QCM finally yields and lets Marius return to Italy to canvass
3. Marius wins on a platform to end Jugerthine War, accuses QCM of ineptitude
4. 1 Jan 107, Marius as consul is sent to Africa, but must raise his own troops
5. Marius opens Roman army to landless volunteers and raises 2+ legions
6. Brings as his lieutenant L. Cornelius Sulla
7. QCM in disgust quits Africa and undoes much of the work he started to make Marius’ job harder. Rutilius hands over command to M (QCM left)

VI. The War in Africa 107-106 and France
1. Marius has same exp as QCM; J refuses a pitched battle
2. Jugertha finally enlists Bocchus of Mauretania to fight Rome for $$
3. Sulla, on a secret mission, invites Bochus to betray Jugertha
4. Jugertha betrayed in 107, (anti climactic)
5. Germans defeat Servilius Caepio at Arausio (Orange, FR) in terrible defeat, all Italy threatened with destruction
6. Marius, right after his triumph over J is asked to command vs Germans
7. Metellus and Marius and Sulla share credit for victory

The below is not on the exam, but for lecture on Monday
VII. The German War
1. Marius elected consul for 105-101 year after year (irregular, but emergency)
2. M destroys Teutons at Aquiae Sextiae (near Aix en Provence)
3. M and Q. Lutatius Catulus destroy Cimbri at Vercellae (No Italy)
4. Marius takes the credit and is reelected in 101 for 100 after war is over
5. These victories saved W civilization as we know it

VIII. Political turmoil in Rome
1. Q. Appuleius Saturninus (tr. 102-100) sees self as an heir to Gracchi; his foes call him a demagogue.
2. Appuleius ingratiates self to Marius by forcing the exile of QCM Numidicus when the latter refuses to swear to abide by a plebescite
3. Marius craves recognition/welcome from Senatorial patrician elite
4. The patricians use M against Saturninus
5. Marius betrays his ally for political recognition, but after he uses troops to suppress Saturninus, the senatorial elite abandon him and leave him isolated
6. M retires from politics in disgust
7. M. Livius Drusus as tribune champions the rights of the Italians, incl their request for full citizenship in 91.
8. M. Livius Drusus murdered, Italians rebel and start Social War (Marsic War)
9. Sulla, L. Julius Caesar, and Marius all command armies; Sulla emerges as more of a hero than Marius.
10. Social War rages -89 when Romans offer full citizenship to Italians.

IX. Eastern Affairs
1. Mithridates VI hates Rome (immune to poison and a new Hannibal)
2. Massacres 80,000 Romans in Asia Minor (exaggeration?)
3. Rome declares war, everyone wants to command
4. Sulla gets the command, but Marius craves it.
5. Marius gets a tribune to reverse in the comitia tributa the Senatorial bill (passed in comitia centuriata) so that M replaces Sulla as the general.
6. Sulla marches back to Rome and purges M’s supporters; Marius forced into flight and has narrow escapes from death
7. Sulla goes East; Marius flees Italy in exile and lurks in ruins of Carthage
8. Sulla’s party has Marius declared an exile and public enemy

X. Roman Affairs while Sulla is in Greece/Asia Minor
1. The consuls Octavius and Cornelius Cinna quarrel; Cinna driven out
2. L. Cornelius Merula (Flamen Dialis) tapped to replace Cinna
3. Cinna calls upon Marius for help
4. They march on Rome, which surrenders without a fight
5. Marius insists his exile be lifted, but then just tires and enters Rome
6. The Proscription begins, a headhunt for enemies
7. Marius elected to his 7th consulship along with Cinna for 86
8. L. Cornelius Merula commits suicide in Temple of Jupiter Optimus et Maximus and curses Rome for the proscription
9. A teenage Gaius Julius Caesar nominated to be Flamen Dialis
10. Marius dies on 14 or 17 January in his 7th consulship
11. Cinna and his gang run Rome – 82; Cinna consul (illegally) from 86-83

XI. Sulla in the East
1. Sulla repeatedly defeats Mithridates’ generals in Greece and eventually Asia
2. Mithridates enlists Tigran the Great of Armenia; Sulla defeats them
3. Sulla gives M generous terms so that he can turn back to Italy
4. Sulla besieges Athens and sacks it.
5. Sulla invades Italy in 83; his staff generally refuses to follow him, but his soldiers fight enthusiastically.

XII. Civil War, 83-82
1. Sulla acquires allies in Pompey and Crassus, both of whom bring troops
2. Sulla fights his way up Italy, defeating army after army from Populares
3. Sulla takes Rome at Colline Gate, due to Crassus
4. Sulla launches a Proscription and massacres or exiles the Marian party; young Julius ordered to divorce Cornelia, and was hunted when he refused (82)
5. Sulla takes the dictatorship of Rome (illegal) in 81
6. Sertorius quits Italy and raises revolt in Spain
7. Sulla elected consul with Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius for 80.

XIII. Sulla’s Constitutional reforms (think of the Compromise of 1850)
1. Courts of provincial extortion returned to Senate
2. New age minimums for office (consul 43, praetor 39, aedile 35), three year gap between posts, 10 year gap between consulships mandated by law
3. Promotion of 300 Italian equites into Senate
4. Tribune becomes a dead end post, rendering one ineligible for higher office
5. Election to quaestorship renders automatic entry to Senate (bypassing censors)

XIV. Sulla retires and the aftermath
1. P. Servilius and App. Claudius Pulcher coss. 79 under Sulla’s eye
2. Sulla retires to the country to hunt and indulge self
3. Q. Aemilius Lepidus and – consuls in 78, a near civil war
4. Metellius Pius and Pompey sent to Spain to destroy Sertorius
5. Sertorius defeats them, but is assassinated by his lieutenant Perpenna
6. Pompey restores rule in Spain, builds ties to local towns
7. Stage set for new leaders: Pompey, Catulus, Crassus, Lucullus