Ancient Rome: An Introductory History (28 page)

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When the envoys approached Antiochus, the king stretched out his hand and greeted them; Popilius did not shake his hand and said nothing, only handing him the Senate's orders to leave Egypt alone. Antiochus read the decree and replied that he needed time to consult with his friends; at that point Popilius took his staff, drew a circle in the ground around the king, and said, ''Before you leave this circle, give me an answer to take back to the Senate." Antiochus hesitated, shocked by Popilius' rudeness and directness. He then replied he would do what the Senate had decreed. Then Popilius stretched out his hand in friendship and treated the king like a friend (Livy XXXXV.12.5).

Other Wars

All the time that Rome was fighting those wars against Philip and Perseus, Antiochus, and the Galatians, it was also fighting in Spain. Spain was by no means a unified country: Numerous tribes existed in the mountains, each ruled by its own chieftain. Rome fought constantly in Spain during the second century
B.C.
, until its victory over Numantia in 133 (under the leadership of Scipio Aemilianus) ended Spain's organized opposition. Even after this victory the Romans still waged almost continuous warfare in Spain, for after a period of peace one tribe would revolt, followed by others; the reason for the revolts was frequently the Romans' unfair rule and taxation. It was in Spain in 62
B.C.
that Julius Caesar himself first learned the art of military leadership, one hundred fifty years after Rome first brought its arms against the Spanish.

After gaining the provinces of Africa, Spain, and Greece by bitter fighting and gloodshed, the Romans were given Asia Minor, for in 133
B.C.
Attalus III of Pergamum died without an heir. He bequeathed his kingdom instead to the Roman people, who declared it the Roman province Asia.

Imperium Romanum

How did Rome manage its far flung territories? After all, the Romans did not have a full-time, professional government filled

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with paper-pushing bureaucrats, armed with various stamps and forms to be filled out in triplicatea civil service, in other words. Lacking a civil service, the Romans had neither the desire nor the manpower to extend the range of their government and their responsibilities. They avoided the extension of their government as long as possible.

Instead, the Romans allowed many allies simply to rule themselves. Being legally outside the system of provinces, three privileged types of allies enjoyed great freedom and autonomy as a reward for their faithful service to Rome. One type was what we call client kings and the Romans simply called friends (
amici
) of the Roman people. These were kings of territories that the Romans had not conquered, did not want to conquer, or had no reason to conquer; the Romans left these kings alone because the kings cooperated with them, maintained good relations with them, and helped Rome in its time of need. Similarly, Rome provided aid to the client kings when necessary, for "manus lavat manum" (one hand washes the other). These client kings paid no taxes to Rome, kept their own laws, and were not under the power of any Roman magistrates. Still, despite the appearance of equality in the relationship, the wise client kings recognized their lower status and adapted themselves to it. One client king, Prusias of Bithynia, wore a freedman's cap (the cap that freed slaves wore after being manumitted) when he addressed the Senate, just to show that he knew who was boss.

Other free allies were
civitates foederatae
, or "states allied by treaty." They too were technically outside the provincial system, for they paid no taxes to Rome and were independent of Roman magistrates. They had full judicial powers over their own citizens and perhaps over Roman citizens in their territory. They had to provide military assistance to Rome when it was requested, and they could ask the Romans for help when needed. They did not have to quarter Roman troops. Similar to
civitates foederatae
were
civitates sine foedere liberae
, "free states without a treaty," which enjoyed all the same privileges as those bound by a treaty with the exception of security: The free states without a treaty were granted their free status by a decree of the ''Senate, which (unlike a treaty) could be revoked at any time, for any reason.

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The last class is what people usually think of when they think of a Roman province: Called
stipendiarii
(payers of a stipend) by the Romans, these peoples were ruled by a Roman governor stationed in their territory, who had the support of a force of Roman soldiers. They paid taxes or a stipend to Rome.

When the Romans decided to annex a territory as a province, the conquering general or a consul, in conjunction with a commission of ten, would write the
lex provinciae
, "the law of the province." This functioned as a charter of sorts, determining the level of taxation, boundaries, and laws, and served as a constitution. Then the Romans would install a governor. Since the governor would be in charge of a force of Roman and Italian soldiers (its size depending upon how peaceful the province was), he would have praetorian or consular status; therefore he was called a
proconsul
or
propraetor
, meaning that he was sent out with the authority of a consul or praetor. Eventually it became customary that one would go to a province as a governor the year after serving as a consul or praetor in Rome. The governor would have his staff, usually a group of his friends, and a quaestor to help him in his work. The governor would then manage the affairs of the province in accordance with the
lex provinciae
, edicts of the previous governors of the province, instructions from the Senate, and the custom not only of Roman government but also of the community. The Romans generally tried to work within the social framework that existed in the province before they took over.

The trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the province of Judaea (annexed in 59
B.C.
) gives a good example of the Romans' attitude toward preexisting institutions. Jesus was put on trial by the Sanhedrin, the council of Jewish priests, for breaking Jewish law; he broke no Roman law, but had committed blasphemy against the Jewish religion. Pontius Pilate, the Roman magistrate overseeing the trial, "washed his hands" of the matter and allowed Jesus to be condemned by the Jewish court. The Romans tried to interfere in such matters as little as possible, both out of respect for other peoples, their institutions, and their religions, and also out of a sense of realism, knowing it would be futile and disruptive to try to force Roman ways on others. One exception to this was the case of the Druid religion in Gaul, which the Romans

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sought to eradicate, since it used human sacrifice and symbolized Gallic resistance to Rome.

The governor had a great deal of power over his subjects, and his exercise of it was not closely scrutinized by the Roman Senate. If the governor was corrupt and evil, those in his province were in for a rough year, the usual term for a governor, though longer terms were not uncommon. The sad truth is that there were many such corrupt governors, who simply stole all that they could, making themselves filthy rich off the helpless provincials. The local people could not fight the governor, for he had an army and the backing of Rome, and they had no legal recourse except in far-off Rome, where the welfare of the provincial peoples was not high on the list of priorities. Their only recourse was to complain to the corrupt governor's political enemies in Rome, who might charge him with extortion in a special court set up for judging cases of extortion in the provinces (called a
quaestio de repetundis
, "court for recovering monies"). But the corrupt governor would be tried in Rome by men like himself.' governors who had already enriched themselves at the expense of the provincials, or those who looked forward to enriching themselves while governor someday, or those who were susceptible to bribes. For example, the Roman writer Cicero tells how the corrupt governor Verres had earmarked the proceeds of his first year as governor for his estate, the second year's proceeds for his legal team, and the third year's proceeds for bribing the judges (
In Verrem
I.40). If convicted (and some were), the corrupt governor simply went into exile or paid restitution. Despite the appearance of a totally corrupt system, there were good, honest and fair governors; the bad ones (like Verres, convicted of extortion in Sicily) were more sensational, while nothing was written about the good ones.

The provincial peoples who paid taxes paid them either as a war indemnity, or as upkeep of the Roman army which guarded their borders, or as a percentage of the year's produce. The system that the Romans devised for collecting taxes in Sicily and Asia Minor was horrible. Since Rome lacked a civil service to perform official functions, such as collecting taxes, the censors would sell the right to collect the taxes to the
publicani
, or "publicans," middle-class businessmen (hated in the New Testament), who would pay the

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taxes on the spot and then troop off to Asia Minor and Sicily to collect what they had paid, plus a profit. When the provincials could not pay their taxes, the
publicani
were happy to lend them the moneywith a healthy interest charge, of course. The provincials were more likely than not to have no protection against the
publicani
from the governor, for the
publicani
whose rapacity was held in check by the governor would get their revenge on him in a Roman court when he returned from his province. Such was the fate of P. Rutilius Rufus, who was convicted for extortion, even though he had actually protected the provincials. This terrible system of collecting taxes in Asia was created in 133
B.C.
and largely abolished almost a century later by Julius Caesar; Augustus created a new system that was fair to the provincials.

The Threat to the Old Ways

In the space of approximately 130 years Rome went from a position of leadership only in Italy to that of world power with dominion over many lands bordering on the Mediterranean. The Romans attributed their success to their adherence to
mos maiorum
, "the custom of our ancestors" or "the way our ancestors did things"in short, the old ways. The Roman poet Ennius (239-169
B.C.
) wrote, "Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque" (the Roman state remains strong because of its men and its ancient customs). Some of the chief customs and virtues that had made Rome great and powerful were
virtus
(courage),
pietas
(dutifulness to gods, community, and family),
gravitas
(seriousness),
constantia
(perseverance),
continentia
(self-control), and
pudicitia
(sense of shame, mostly for women).

The new and changing conditions of Roman life put great stress on the Romans' adherence to
mos maiorum
; in the view of many ancient historians this time period, the second century
B.C.
, marked the beginning of the decline of Rome's morality, which resulted in the fall of the republic. The ancient historian Sallust (86-35
B.C.
) wrote,


But once the republic had become great because of work and fair dealing, great kings were conquered in war, wild nations and vast populations

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