Niebuhr's lectures on Roman history, Vol. 1 (of 3)

by Barthold Georg Niebuhr

INVASION OF THE SENNONIAN GAULS. LEAGUE WITH THE LATINS AND HERNICANS. CHANGES IN THE DOMESTIC AFFAIRS OF ROME.

According to Joannes Lydus, that is to say, according to Gracchanus, at the end of the commotions, the government remained for some time under the sway of the tribunes. This is highly probable. The fact that Varro in his memoir to Pompeius, de Senatu habendo, mentions the triumviri rei publicæ constituendæ among those who had the right of calling the senate together, is very strong evidence for it. It may also have been with reference to that earlier magistracy, that the later triumvirs called themselves by the very same name. Nor is it at all unlikely that the first military tribunes were likewise designated in the old accounts as triumviri rei publicæ constituendæ.

When the Licinian laws had been carried, and the first plebeian consul elected, every thing was nearly on the point of being undone again; inasmuch as the patricians refused their confirmation to the plebeian consul. After a great deal of trouble, matters were made up: the patricians yielded, and acknowledged the plebeian consul L. Sextius. Thus was brought to a conclusion this moderate, legal, and necessary revolution, of which the stages were somewhat like the normal changes in the bodily constitution of one who is growing up out of childhood into early manhood. That the peace was a hollow one, is not to be wondered at: the patricians yielded to necessity; but with the fixed intention to get back by force, at the very first opportunity, all that they had lost. About twelve years later, 339 according to Cato’s chronology, which Livy also follows,[125] the struggle was renewed. The patricians succeeded in engrossing again the second place of the consulate; and they kept up this contest until 413, during which they usurped the consulship more than a third of the time. At last they were obliged with shame to give in, and in the course of the struggle to yield to claims which the plebeians would not have urged with such violence, had the treaty been honestly observed.

The beginning of this period is marked by few incidents. Livy’s statement, that no wars had been waged lest the plebeian consuls should have an opportunity of gathering laurels, can only be a mere supposition. The whole of men’s attention was bent on domestic affairs; and it is but natural, that the immense number of arrangements at home which followed from the Licinian law, should have entirely absorbed it. Surveys of the whole of the ager publicus had to be made; a commission was engaged in regulating the matter of the debts, and a great deal of other business was lying on hand. The general allotment of land to the plebeians is to be considered as the cause of the rebuilding of the city. We do not easily find in history such a speedy recovery: Rome seems to have become young again, although there are wars nearly every year. The debts still partly continued, and the right of the nexum was not done away with; but it became less oppressive by degrees. The changes extended further than what we know; the treasury of the patricians now became in all likelihood the general exchequer of the country. These were also quiet times abroad: the Latins, separated from Rome, lived in peace; single towns only, like Tibur and Præneste, were hostile, rather from mistrust than from any special reasons. The people of Tarquinii were the only enemy who threatened Rome. But from afar a new foe made his appearance—the Sennonian Gauls, in the year 393, thirty years after the first invasion. What has been mentioned of earlier inroads of the Gauls, is contradicted by Polybius, who records all their expeditions, and speaks of this one as being the first after the destruction of Rome. It seems that the Gauls, after the taking of Rome, had retired into Apulia, and there had concluded a treaty with Dionysius of Syracuse: they then returned to their abodes in what is now-a-days the Romagna, and the territory of Urbino. Yet there was a new migration over the Alps, which forced its way as far as the Anio. Here was said to have been the single combat of Manlius Torquatus, who took from the Gaul his golden chain: this appears to be historically authenticated, and we have no grounds for deeming it a fable. A great battle was not fought there: the Romans, who were in readiness to receive the enemy, were now fully awake, and on their guard. The Gauls then took up a strong position: they seized upon the Alban Mount and the heights of Latium, and from thence they wasted the Latin country, roving beyond Tivoli[126] as far as Campania, even to Apulia, as is stated in one account. They must therefore have overcome the Samnites, and passed through their long and narrow territory, as afterwards the Romans did also.

These events had again the most fortunate consequences for the Romans, as had been the case with the Volscian war, a hundred years before. They themselves, as well as the Latins and Hernicans, now came to the conviction, that their division exposed them to great danger. Between the Romans and Latins, there was no hostility; between the Hernicans and Romans there was open war, in which the Romans may have taken the strong town of Ferentinum: it ended in the return to the old relation. False is the story that the Hernicans surrendered; for so late as half a century afterwards, they received one-third of the booty, or an equivalent in money, until C. Marcius conquered them. Latins and Hernicans united with Rome, and a new state was now formed which Livy mentions in two places,[127] without, however, being aware of the circumstances connected with it. The Latins were to all appearance no more a compact state: to restore themselves to the condition in which they were before, was impossible; very many of their towns had been destroyed by the Volscians and Æquians, or by the Gauls. But now, the Volscians, their former enemies, were likewise split into several states:—the Antiates seem to have kept by themselves, but other towns of them united with Latium; they had urgent reasons for annexing themselves, as they were hard pressed by the Samnites, who were making conquests on the upper Liris, and had taken Fregellæ, and become masters of Casinum. Thus a new Latin political league was formed, which was joined by the Latin colonies and part of the Volscians; for with regard to the Latin colonies the Romans seem to have renounced every claim to hegemony: Sutrium and Nepete, which lay on the left bank of the Tiber, entered likewise into the confederacy. Forty-seven peoples shared in the sacrifice on the Alban mount; but that was in those times when Latium, as a powerful state, stood by the side of Rome. As a counterpoise to Latium, another part of the Volscians seems to have been admitted to the rights of full Roman citizenship; for two new tribes are formed, which had their abode near the Volscian frontier; just as in the treaty of Sp. Cassius, the Latins yielded to the Romans the Crustuminian territory. Thus the year 397 is remarkable for Rome’s having renewed the old relations with Latium and the Hernicans. Festus, in the article Prætor ad portam, which is borrowed from Cincius, speaks as if the Romans, since the fall of Alba, had always been on a footing of equality with the Latins. This was the case from the peace of Sp. Cassius to the year 290, and from 397 to the consulate of Decius Mus; but the intervening period is overlooked. Cincius has certainly stated what was correct, and indeed has only been misunderstood by Verrius Flaccus. A very broad distinction is here to be made between the different times: I was mistaken in this respect for many years.[128] A Roman and a Latin imperator held by turns, for a year, each the chief command of the combined army: they offered their sacrifice in Rome on the Capitol, and were there greeted at the gate.

The new league of the three states had undoubtedly sprung from the fear of the Gauls, who, although they did not make their appearance that year on the Tiber, were still very near. It would serve no purpose to tell in detail how the contest was carried on. It was a dreadful time for the Romans. The struggle with the Gauls lasted until 406 and 407; and Latium and Campania, especially, had to suffer for twelve or thirteen years from the continual devastation of the Gauls. Once the enemy was seen before the Colline gate: the Romans stood their ground against them, or at least it was a drawn battle. It was on the same spot where Sylla afterwards defeated the Samnites, and which is now within the city. It is a prolongation of the Quirinal into table land: on the left, there is a deep valley; beyond the table ground, there are other hills, on which the city-wall now stands. It was there, without doubt, that the Gauls and the Samnites posted themselves.

One of the changes, occasioned by the establishing of the new Latin league, is this: that, as the older Latium had, according to Cato (in Priscian), a dictator, this new Latium had also for its chiefs two prætors, as Livy expressly mentions. A league between the Samnites and Romans, which is likewise to be found in Livy, belongs to this, or to a somewhat later period: that, however, before that time, such relations had already existed between the Samnites and the Romans, may be surmised, but cannot be asserted with certainty, inasmuch as a notice of Festus, under the head of Numerius, is too vague. As early as the battle at the Cremera, according to that quotation, one of the Fabii, who was sent as a hostage to the Gauls, was married to the daughter of a Samnite of Beneventum; but without a treaty no connubium took place. It is yet possible that this relation was instituted between Sabines and Romans alone, and that it was extended by the Sabines to their Samnite colonies. The motive of the league was a double one; partly the threats of the Gauls, and in this case it is to be placed between the second and the third Gallic inroads, those to the Anio and the Alban mount; and partly, according to a highly probable supposition, jealousy against Latium. The latter state, when joined by the Volscians and Æquians, was so powerful, that Rome had cause to be jealous. The Latins bordered immediately upon the Samnites, and these tried to spread themselves out on the upper Liris; so that a league between the Romans and Samnites was very natural, whereas Rome and Latium were allied indeed, but did not trust one another. A league of this kind must not of necessity be understood to mean one of mutual assistance; it is not at all to be looked upon as such. It is rather a treaty, than an alliance; and in fact there was in such leagues of the ancients an honest clause, wherein the contracting parties, on both sides, prescribed to each other the bounds of their intended encroachments upon other nations. Such was the league of Rome with Carthage; that of the Carthaginians under Hasdrubal with Spain; and likewise of Rome with the Ætolians. It is mere declamation, when in moral disquisitions the division of countries in the new world, as laid down by Pope Alexander VI., between Spain and Portugal, has so often been reviled: it was nothing else but such a line of demarcation for eventual conquests. Even thus was a limit afterwards drawn in the first actual peace between the Romans and the Samnites, and it was its want of precision which occasioned the second war.

Notwithstanding the general peace with the Latins, the Tiburtines were at enmity with the Romans; they seem to have formed a distinct state, and they took the Gallic armies in their pay. A war against the people of Tarquinii brought the Roman arms along the coast to Etruria. It was carried on with great exasperation. The Etruscans advanced even against Rome; but the plebeian consul C. Marcius utterly routed them, and compelled them to make a long truce.

At home, there was continual distress in consequence of debt. One commission after the other was appointed; respites were granted; and the state again took the matter in hand. The latter, owing to the tithes which came in from the public fields, was now so well off that it could effect a general arrangement. The debts were inquired into by a commission; and all those who owed money, but were able to give security, received an advance from the treasury to enable them to discharge their liabilities. This was a wise measure; as by the paying off of principals the rate of interest was lowered, so that money became exceedingly plentiful, and it was requisite to find out where to place it. On the other hand, it was ordered that those who had property, should not be obliged to sell it, as in that case the price of estates would have fallen; but that they should be allowed to give it up for the debt, according to a fair valuation. By this means, the value of landed property must have risen, and the rate of interest have been lowered; a most prudent and judicious financial calculation. It had lasting and excellent consequences, although fresh misery was caused soon afterwards by new disasters. If the misfortune of an age is once made decisive by extraordinary events, the wisest of rulers cannot ward off a state of pressure and distress. Such a calamity, which befell Rome at that time, was the third Gallic invasion in the year 405, a much more frightful one than the second. The Gauls appeared before the city, the Romans did not venture to give them battle; for though their military science had been brought to a high perfection, yet it was well judged to confine themselves to the defence of the town: the consequence of this, however, was the devastation of the open country. The Gauls, that time, remained long in Latium, even throughout the winter. If we may believe the account of the Romans, they were then in the same plight as the barbarians under Radagaise, whom Stilicho pushed on to the Apennines not far from Fiesole;—even now the name which the peasants have given to those heights, still refers to that period:—[129] they must have retired to the Alban hills, that is to say, the Monte Cavo. It is possible, but inconceivable, that they should have gone of their own accord to mountains covered with snow. Certain it is, that L. Furius Camillus, a nephew, not a son of the great Camillus, marched against the Gauls as a distinguished general: he was in other respects a headstrong patrician who broke the peace between the two orders, yet bono publico natus. It is manifest that the Romans and Latins combined sent a large force into the field; they formed ten legions, a number which could have never been raised by the Romans alone. A very clever campaign was carried on against the barbarians. The Romans fought no battles, but brought them into great straits by their entrenched lines. To this perhaps refers the notice of a grammarian, that the Gauls concluded a treaty with the Romans. They were allowed to march off; on which they spread over Campania, and ravaged the country, still going lower down.

Many important changes date from the beginning of the fifth century. As early as 397, we meet with an account of the tribes deciding on war. This right we found belonging at first to the curies, then to the centuries, and now to the tribes. It was natural that when the nation had grown into more vigorous life, the old customs were no longer kept, according to which, for instance, the deliberations were to be stopped because there was a flash of lightning, or because a bird of evil omen was flying past, and the like; so that no army could then be levied, and, in short, no resolution of the centuries be passed. Very properly then was recourse had to the assembly of the tribes, which from the very first was an institution based on a practical plan, and adapted to the real wants of the commonwealth.

The enlargement of the plebeian rights is linked to the name of C. Marcius Rutilus, the first plebeian censor and dictator. He preserved the peace of the two orders; and we remark in his case a change in the mode of electing the dictator, which Zonaras also mentions, but which Livy has entirely overlooked. Down to that time, the patricians had always had the actual choice of the dictator; that is to say, they had to select one out of candidates proposed to them. We have a passage in Livy which expressly states this. Sulpicius was the last dictator nominated by the curies; there would otherwise have been no occasion for particularly mentioning it. Livy has merely copied it in a heedless manner: he has many more notices of the same kind, which appear superfluous, when one does not know how to explain them from any other circumstances. Three years later, we find a plebeian dictator, whom the curies would never have confirmed. Only the senate now decided the election, and the consul proclaimed it. This is also recorded in the statement of Dionysius, which has been transferred to an earlier age, that the nomination of the dictator had been restricted for some time to the discretion of the consul; I have discussed this in the first volume of the new edition of my Roman History. The more, therefore, the curies lose, the more does a power grow up in the senate, which it had not before. Of very violent commotions which then took place, the traces have been much obliterated: a mention of it occurs in Cicero, where he tells us how Popilius Lænas when consul had repressed the seditio plebis, for which he had got a cognomen. This consulship I place immediately before the election of the plebeian dictator. Thus in the year 400, the patricians had succeeded in hindering the Licinian law from being kept, and this lasted for a few years. Another great change was this: that the nomination of a number of military tribunes was given to the tribes.

In Etruria, it is said that the town of Cære was obliged to give up part of its territory in consequence of a truce; so that, what never happened before, a war must have been waged with Cære. There is generally a great deal of declamation against this, as a piece of ingratitude; for Cære had, in the Gallic war, given shelter to the sacred things of Rome. We do not, however, know any thing positive about it.