At the age of thirty-three Octavian had made good his claim to the political inheritance of Julius Caesar. His victory over Antony [pg 196]closed the century of civil strife which had begun with the tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus. War and the proscriptions had exacted a heavy toll from Romans and Italians; Greece, Macedonia and Asia had been brought to the verge of ruin; the whole empire longed for peace. Everywhere was Octavian hailed as the savior of the world and, as the founder of a new golden age, men were ready to worship him as a god.
IV. Society and Intellectual Life in the Last Century of the Republic
The upper classes. The characteristics of Roman society in the last century of the republic are the same which we have previously seen developing as a result of Rome’s imperial expansion. The upper classes of society comprise the senatorial nobility and the equestrians; the former finding their goal in public office, the latter in banking and financial ventures, and both alike callously exploiting the subjects of Rome in their own interests. Of this one example will suffice. Marcus Brutus, the conspirator, who enjoyed a high repute for his honorable character, loaned money to the cities of Cyprus at the exorbitant rate of 48% and influenced the senate to declare the contract valid. He did not hesitate to secure for his agents military authority with which to enforce payment, and was much disappointed when Cicero, as governor of Cilicia and Cyprus, refused to give his representative such power or to allow him to collect more than 12% interest on his debt.
As corruption characterized the public, so did extravagance and luxury the private life of the governing classes. The palaces of the wealthy in Rome were supplemented by villas in the Sabine hills, in the watering places of the Campanian coast, and other attractive points. The word villa, which originally designated a farm house, now meant a country seat equipped with all the modern conveniences of city life.
The solidarity of the family life which had been the foundation of Roman morality was fast disappearing. In general, wives no longer came under the authority (manus) of their husbands upon marriage, and so retained control of their properties acquired by inheritance or dowry through a guardian from their own families. Consequently women played an increasingly independent and important [pg 197]part in the society of the day. In Rome at least the age was one of a low tone in morals, and divorces were of common occurrence. At the same time social intercourse was characterized by a high degree of urbanity—the good manners which mark the society of cultured men.
The plebs. Of the life of the plebs who thronged the high tenement houses and narrow streets of Rome we know very little. But until the Assembly was overawed or superseded by armed forces the city populace could not be ignored by the upper classes. Their votes must be courted by magnificent displays at the public games, by entertainments and largesses of all kinds, and care must be taken to provide them with food to prevent their becoming a menace to the public peace. This latter problem was solved as we have seen after the time of Caius Gracchus by providing them with a monthly allowance of corn, at first at a greatly reduced price, but after 57 B. C. gratuitously. Julius Caesar found about 320,000 persons sharing in this distribution, and reduced the number to 150,000 male citizens. The city mob thus became to a certain degree state pensioners, and placed a heavy burden on the treasury. There can be no doubt that the ranks of the urban proletariat were swelled by peasants who had lost their holdings in the course of the civil wars and the settlements of discharged soldiers on Italian soil, but the chief increase came from the manumission of slaves, who as liberti or freedmen became Roman citizens. Sulla’s 10,000 Cornelii were of this number. The influx of these heterogeneous elements radically changed the character of the city populace which could no longer claim to be mainly of Roman and Italian stock but embraced representatives of all races of the Mediterranean world. The population was further augmented by the great numbers of slaves attached to the houses of the wealthy or engaged in various industrial occupations for their masters or others who hired their services.
In the rural districts of Italy the plantation system had been widely extended and agriculture and grazing were in the main carried on by slave labor. Yet the free farmers had by no means entirely disappeared and free labor was employed even on the latifundia themselves. The discharged veterans who were provided with lands attest the presence of considerable numbers of free landholders.
Religion. In religion this period witnessed a striking decline of interest and faith in the public religion of the Roman state. This [pg 198]was in part due to the influence of Greek mythology which changed the current conceptions of the Roman divinities and to Greek philosophy with its varying doctrines as to the nature and powers of the gods. The latter especially affected the upper classes of society upon whom fell the duty of maintaining the public cults. From the time of the Gracchi the public priesthoods declined in importance; and in many cases they were used solely as a tool for political purposes. The increase in the numbers of the priestly colleges and the substitution of election for coöptation brought in many members unversed in the ancient traditions, and the holders of the priesthoods in general showed great ignorance of their duties, especially with regard to the ordering of the state calendar. Some religious associations like the Arval Brotherhood ceased to exist and knowledge of the character of some of the minor deities was completely lost. The patrician priesthoods, which involved serious duties and restricted the freedom of their incumbents were avoided as much as possible. At the same time the private religious rites, hereditary within family groups, fell into decay. While the attitude of educated circles towards the state cults was thus one of indifference or skepticism, it is hard to speak of that of the common people. Superstitious they were beyond a doubt, but in the performance of the state cults they had never actively participated. The more emotional cults of the oriental type made a greater appeal to them if we may judge from the difficulty which the Senate experienced in banishing the priests of Isis from the city.
Stoicism and Epicureanism. The philosophic systems which made the most converts among the educated Romans were Stoicism and Epicureanism. The former, as we have seen, had been introduced to Rome by Panaetius, whose teaching was continued by Posidonius. It appealed to the Romans as offering a practical rule of life for men engaged in public affairs. On the other hand, the doctrine of Epicurus that men should withdraw from the annoyances of political life and seek happiness in the pursuit of pleasure, that is, intellectual pleasure, was interpreted by the Roman as sanctioning sensual indulgence and became the creed of those who gave themselves up to a life of ease and indolence.