The province of Asia. In 133 B. C. died Attalus III, King of Pergamon, the last of his line. In his will he made the Roman people the heir to his kingdom, probably with the feeling that otherwise disputes over the succession would end in Roman interference and conquest. The Romans accepted the inheritance but before they took [pg 104]possession a claimant appeared in the person of an illegitimate son of Eumenes II, one Aristonicus. He occupied part of the kingdom, defeated and killed the consul Crassus in 131, but was himself beaten and captured by the latter’s successor Perpena in 129.
Out of the kingdom of Pergamon there was then formed the Roman province of Asia (129 B. C.). The occupation of this country made Rome mistress of both shores of the Aegean and gave her a convenient bridgehead for an advance further eastward. The question of the financial administration of Asia and its relation to Roman politics will be discussed in a subsequent chapter.
CHAPTER XI
THE ROMAN STATE AND THE EMPIRE: 265–133 B. C.
The conquest of the hegemony of the Mediterranean world entailed the most serious consequences for the Roman state itself. Indeed, the wars which form the subject of the preceding chapters were the ultimate cause of the crisis that led to the fall of the Roman Republic. In the present chapter it will be our task to trace the changes and indicate the problems that had their origin in these wars and the ensuing conquests. Such a survey is best begun by considering the character of the Roman government during the epoch in question.
I. The Rule of the Senatorial Aristocracy
The Senate’s control over the magistrates, tribunate, and assemblies. From the passing of the Hortensian Law in 287 B. C. to the tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 B. C. the Senate exercised a practically unchallenged control over the policy of the Roman state. For the Senate was able to guide or nullify the actions of the magistrates, the tribunate, and the assemblies; a condition made possible by the composition of the Senate, which, in addition to the ex-magistrates, included all those above the rank of quaestor actually in office, and by the peculiar organization and limitations of the Roman popular assemblies.