Perspectives of Roman History

The fate of the Gracchi provides insight into the fact that Roman society appears to have had a preference for organized social operation, while the Romans of the ruling classes appear to have been willing to resort to civil war in order to pursue their programs or protect what they had acquired. The background for the activities of Tiberius Gracchus and Gaius Gracchus is the last era of the republic, during which the consequences of Rome's success in the Punic Wars began to be felt. Greer and Lewis (101) cite the emergence of latifundia, or large estates formed by appropriation and consolidation of smaller agricultural tracts on the part of war profiteers. The landowners used slave labor (from conquered territories) to work their estates, while free but destitute small farmers "drifted into the cities, especially Rome" (Greer and Lewis 101). Therefore the gap between rich and poor

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The Senate met the challenge with its own army, headed by Pompey, whom Caesar defeated. Upon return to Rome, Caesar acquired several key offices all at once: tribune, censor, pontifex maximus (chief priest of the state religion)" (Greer and Lewis 104), comporting himself as a republican friend of the people while also maneuvering to obtain popular support for his accepting a crown and adopting the symbols of ancient Roman monarchs. While Greer and Lewis cite various public administration programs undertaken by Caesar, they pass over a point made by Kebric, that under Caesar alive the republic might have survived longer than it did after his death: "He was, comparatively speaking, a mild taskmaster. his biggest mistake was that he had let too many of his enemies live, and wishing to create an impression of security and trust, he had no bodyguard" (Kebric 76). Greer and Lewis explain the motives of the assassins of Caesar in terms of the rise in his public prestige and popularity as against the comparative fall in their own. They characterize the Senatorial assassins, led by Brutus, as declaring themselves against the tyrant and in favor of sturdy republican traditions (104-5). In fact the assassination did not restore the republic
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Approximate Word count = 2132
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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