Rome Notes

Today we took a few more notes:
Poor plebs (literally)

• How did you keep the plebs happy (or at least keep them from revolting)?
• the poet Juvenal said the people "anxiously hopes for 2 things: bread and circuses"
•  bread (free grain from the state) and entertainment (Circus Maximus, Colosseum), partly to keep them alive, partly to keep them quiet

A change in rule

• Tiberius Gracchus recognized the advantages of courting the plebeians (even though he was ultimately unsuccessful)
•  military generals worked that angle - led an army that conquers a land, then give them a share in the spoils
• soldiers loyalty was to their military leader, not necessarily to Rome or the Republic

Nobody did that better than Caesar

• Julius Caesar (100-44 BC)
• a highly successful general
• he conquered the huge territory of Gaul

He could play the game (of politics)

• made common folks happy
• made friends in high places
• Pompey (a general who conquered Syria and Palastine)
• Crassus (the richest man in Rome, one of the richest men in all of history)
• These three men formed the first Triumvirate ("rule of three men")