This book originally struck me as just another book on the history of Rome... But it has been very enlightening to read. It has cleared up some misconceptions I have had on the Gracchi brothers and their land reform ideas. Previously I would cringe when I would come to the chapter on the Gracchi as a wingy-winey saga of martyrdom; whereas this book cast them and the theory of the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic starting with their saga. This is very exciting as I have spent so much time studying the fall of the Roman Republic and want to know more... Why?
I am going to write here about the idea presented in the beginning of the book, that is land reform. I think it is one characteristic of the beginning of the end of the Republic; but yet quite important aspects, socio-economic if I have to pick one ;) I know it's two... (Remember in high school social studies when your teacher said everything in history has to be analyzed politically, economically and socially? Well, he/she was right!)
Furthermore, this book makes the story of the Gracchi brothers much more realistic and interesting. They might have been martyrs for the cause, but they tried to do something they believed would save the essence of the Republic. [Later I would like to compare/contrast this with what Barry Strauss wrote in his book Caesar Must Die on Cassius and Brutus. I see several parallels!] So, let's go!
The Spanish wars were taking men away from the farms. Much land went fallow as the farmers were away. Other, richer, land owners bought up the land making large patron farms. Then the boys would come home from their tour of Spain and find their land gone. This increased the number of poor migrating into the cities. Their livelihood gone. [The book notes that this is before the standing armies/legions of Caesar and Augustus 100 or so years later.] Also, the rich seemed to get richer from holding all the land. This represented a situation which came to the notice of Tiberus Gracchus, the older of the two brothers.
Through his reforms he wanted to re-distribute the land to the poor or the original users of the land. This did not go over too well with the aristocrats. Though a series of events, not under his control, his reforms were not made.
add more detail from T & G life... getting the Lex Agraria passed, or not
add more info on the conflict of the Italians and their rights
So the connection of this to the beginning of the end for the Republic or the initiation of the decline would be the greed and/or control of the aristocracy of the land and/or it's profits. The idea that they could hold all the land without respect to the rest of the people (of a lower class/clients.) I think this is telling, that the aristocracy was better than everyone else. What gave them that grandiose idea? Wealth and power, as the aristocracy had that. Whereas the clients had none. To be poor or unskilled at that time meant death or enslavement. Neither seems too appealing.
Also, the usage of the institutions of the Republic. The rights of all Italians. The Social Wars did not occur until 91-88 BC. Right now we are in the period of 146 - 120 BC. Right now the institutions of the Republic were also slanted toward the aristocratic/patron Senators. What about the plebs? What about the people the Republic was supposed to represent. One could argue they were representing them, but to their own benefit....
The connection to Caesar Must Die, Cassius and Brutus, to the Gracchi brothers is that influential older men were egging them on. In the case of the Gracchi it was Tiberius's father-in-law, Appius Clodius Pulcher. In the case of Brutus and Cassius,.... [fill in detail from Death of Caesar book....]
I am going to write here about the idea presented in the beginning of the book, that is land reform. I think it is one characteristic of the beginning of the end of the Republic; but yet quite important aspects, socio-economic if I have to pick one ;) I know it's two... (Remember in high school social studies when your teacher said everything in history has to be analyzed politically, economically and socially? Well, he/she was right!)
Furthermore, this book makes the story of the Gracchi brothers much more realistic and interesting. They might have been martyrs for the cause, but they tried to do something they believed would save the essence of the Republic. [Later I would like to compare/contrast this with what Barry Strauss wrote in his book Caesar Must Die on Cassius and Brutus. I see several parallels!] So, let's go!
The Spanish wars were taking men away from the farms. Much land went fallow as the farmers were away. Other, richer, land owners bought up the land making large patron farms. Then the boys would come home from their tour of Spain and find their land gone. This increased the number of poor migrating into the cities. Their livelihood gone. [The book notes that this is before the standing armies/legions of Caesar and Augustus 100 or so years later.] Also, the rich seemed to get richer from holding all the land. This represented a situation which came to the notice of Tiberus Gracchus, the older of the two brothers.
Through his reforms he wanted to re-distribute the land to the poor or the original users of the land. This did not go over too well with the aristocrats. Though a series of events, not under his control, his reforms were not made.
add more detail from T & G life... getting the Lex Agraria passed, or not
add more info on the conflict of the Italians and their rights
So the connection of this to the beginning of the end for the Republic or the initiation of the decline would be the greed and/or control of the aristocracy of the land and/or it's profits. The idea that they could hold all the land without respect to the rest of the people (of a lower class/clients.) I think this is telling, that the aristocracy was better than everyone else. What gave them that grandiose idea? Wealth and power, as the aristocracy had that. Whereas the clients had none. To be poor or unskilled at that time meant death or enslavement. Neither seems too appealing.
Also, the usage of the institutions of the Republic. The rights of all Italians. The Social Wars did not occur until 91-88 BC. Right now we are in the period of 146 - 120 BC. Right now the institutions of the Republic were also slanted toward the aristocratic/patron Senators. What about the plebs? What about the people the Republic was supposed to represent. One could argue they were representing them, but to their own benefit....
The connection to Caesar Must Die, Cassius and Brutus, to the Gracchi brothers is that influential older men were egging them on. In the case of the Gracchi it was Tiberius's father-in-law, Appius Clodius Pulcher. In the case of Brutus and Cassius,.... [fill in detail from Death of Caesar book....]
