A remarkable effort at agrarian legislation was made at the beginning of the year by P. Servilius Rullus, tribune of the plebs. In December, 64, shortly after entering office, he promulgated a bill, comprising more than forty articles,[2738] with the intention of having it voted on in January.[2739] The administration of the law was to be in the hands of ten men elected by seventeen tribes after the manner of the comitia pontificis maximi,[2740] to hold office five years.[2741] Candidates should be required to present themselves in person[2742] (so as to exclude Pompey). This commission was to have the irresponsible[2743] management of large resources[2744] for the purchase of land in Italy,[2745] on which they were to plant colonies at their discretion.[2746] The object of the rogation seems to have been the creation of an oligarchy of ten who with their vast powers and revenues should control Rome and counterbalance the military prestige of Pompey. Caesar and Crassus were probably behind the scheme. Should it by any chance succeed, they would be the dominant members of the board. Its faulty structure and revolutionary demands, however, made failure almost certain from the outset. At all events Cicero, driven into the ranks of the optimates by the necessity of opposing it,—so Caesar may have reasoned,—would thus be eliminated from the leadership of the democratic party, while the populace, with appetite whetted for an agrarian law, would be ready for the saner measure which Caesar was himself intending to propose as soon as an opportunity offered. But Cicero out-manoeuvred his adversaries. It was as a friend of the people and an ally of the tribunes that he opposed the bill in two contiones,[2747] after which a threat of intercession on the part of a colleague induced Rullus to withdraw it.
In Cicero’s judgment there was pressing need of a new lex de ambitu to cover the loopholes left by the Acilian-Calpurnian statute of 67.[2748] Early in the year he passed through the senate a decree which so interpreted that enactment as to make it apply to the hiring of sectatores, the granting of free seats to the tribes at gladiatorial shows, and the entertainment of the public at dinners.[2749] Later in the summer, after the elections of the year had been announced, a dispensation from the Aelian-Fufian law[2750] enabled him and C. Antonius, his colleague,[2751] to propose and carry a new statute concerning bribery at elections.[2752] It increased the penalty on the divisores,[2753] and forbade any one within the two years preceding the announcement of a candidacy to give gladiatorial shows excepting in fulfilment of a testament.[2754] The penalty for the convicted candidate was ten years’ exile.[2755] The part of the law which had to do with the jurors included a provision for fining those who absented themselves from the trial even on the ground of illness.[2756] A measure certainly passed in this year, and probably forming an article of the Tullian lex de ambitu, forbade candidacies in absentia.[2757] Amid the troubles connected with the Catilinarian conspiracy Cicero found time for an attempt to relieve the provincials of one of the most flagrant abuses inflicted on them by the senatorial oligarchy. To increase the dignity and lessen the expense of a member while travelling even on private business through the provinces, the senate was accustomed to have the office of public legatus conferred on him by a magistrate, which honor at the same time implied the right to be absent from sessions of the senate.[2758] In this capacity a senator represented the state,[2759] and could have lictors assigned him by the provincial governors.[2760] Abuses of this privilege were to the provincials an especially vexatious form of oppression.[2761] Cicero’s first rogation on the subject proposed to abolish the free legation, but when a tribune in the service of the illiberals interceded, the measure before enactment was so weakened as to limit the privilege of any one person to a single year,[2762] and hence did little to remedy the mischief.[2763] There was in fact no hope for the provincials either from the avaricious plutocrats or the hungry proletarians.
The legislation of the years between the consulships of Cicero and Caesar, 63-59, involved no important principle. To prevent the introduction of forged statutes in the archives,[2764] a law of D. Junius Silanus and L. Licinius Murena, consuls in 62, forbade the filing of a statute in the aerarian archives excepting in the presence of witnesses.[2765] In this year M. Porcius Cato and L. Marcius, tribunes of the plebs, carried a law which threatened with punishment commanders who reported falsely to the senate the number of the enemy killed and of citizens lost, and required them within ten days after returning to the city to give their oath before the urban quaestors that they had transmitted correct reports.[2766] For the year 60 must be mentioned the pretorian law of Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos, which abolished vectigalia in Italy,[2767] and the tribunician rogation of L. Flavius for granting lands to Pompey’s veterans. The latter failed through the disapproval of the senate.[2768] Far more interesting because of the procedure, though otherwise of little consequence, was the tribunician rogation of Herennius of the same year for transferring P. Clodius to the plebeian rank. The subject has been considered in an earlier chapter.[2769]
The year of Caesar’s consulship was one of unusual legislative activity. Resuming the agrarian policy of the Gracchi, which had been undone by the statute of 111,[2770] he promulgated early in the year a bill for the distribution of lands, which exempted the Campanian[2771] and Stellatine[2772] territory as well as that of Volaterrae, which Sulla had confiscated without ejecting the inhabitants.[2773] As little other public land remained in Italy, the bill ordered that money accruing from the sale of booty taken by Pompey, and from the new revenues of the territory he had won for Rome, be used for the purchase of lands from those who were willing to sell at the values assessed in the last census.[2774] The beneficiaries were the needy citizens and the veterans of Pompey.[2775] The lots assigned were to remain inalienable twenty years.[2776] The work of distribution was to be in the hands of a board of twenty—vigintiviri[2777]—which should not include the author of the law.[2778] A sub-committee of this large board must have been the Vviri agris dandis adsignandis iudicandis,[2779] who in the opinion of Mommsen[2780] possessed the sole judicial power connected with the work of distribution. As the senate studiously delayed action on the measure, though unable to offer any criticism,[2781] Caesar without its sanction presented the bill to the people.[2782] Bibulus, his colleague, backed by three tribunes of the plebs, not only protested against the bill,[2783] but resorted to sky-watching and the proclamation of festivals to prevent its adoption.[2784] Disregarding this opposition, Caesar with the support of Pompey and Crassus offered his rogation to the tribes,[2785] who accepted it with great enthusiasm. For the remainder of his term he ignored the senate in all his legislation. As to his other agrarian provisions, it is difficult to determine whether they were attached to this rogation before its enactment or formed a new bill. In favor of the second alternative it is to be noticed in the first place that Cicero and others mention Julian agrarian laws,[2786] and that Cicero’s expression “Campanian lex”[2787] could describe a measure relating to the Campanian territory but not the whole group of agrarian provisions of that year. Moreover although Cicero was acquainted with the Julian rogation from the beginning of the year,[2788] he did not at Formiae hear of the inclusion of the Campanian territory till near the end of April.[2789] It might be assumed that after the senate and Bibulus showed opposition Caesar modified the original rogation before putting it to vote, but no mention is made of an alteration. Finally Dio Cassius[2790] and Plutarch[2791] speak distinctly of an earlier and a later law.[2792] On the whole it seems probable therefore that toward the end of April Caesar promulgated a second agrarian bill which provided for the distribution of the Campanian and Stellatine lands among needy citizens, preferably those who had three or more children.[2793] The complete execution of the law would dispose of all public lands in Italy from which a revenue might be derived. An article required not only senators within a specified time to swear that they would support the measures[2794] but also candidates for office for the following year to give their oath in contio that they would not propose any modification or repeal of them.[2795]
This statute was full of significance both in content and in the manner of enactment: it set at defiance the senate and the auspices; it deprived the state of important revenues, increasing correspondingly the financial burden on the provinces; it brought relief to many proletarians, while encouraging militarism through a provision for Pompey’s veterans. Ostensibly democratic, it cemented and announced to the world the triumvirate of Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey—a combination of democratic, plutocratic, and military bossism, which proved more dangerous to political liberty than had been the dictatorship of Sulla. The last great agrarian law of the republic contained in itself a prophecy of the monarchy which its author was soon to establish.
Because of the losses suffered in Asia in the recent war with Mithridates, Caesar carried a law, also early in the year, for a remission of a third of the sum due to the treasury from the publicans of that province. As the senate had failed to pass a measure of relief for the contractors of revenue,[2796] the concession from Caesar and the people served to alienate the feelings of the knights from the optimates and to attach them to the ambitious consul.[2797] Next to the agrarian statute, however, the lex de pecuniis repetundis was the most important piece of legislation of his consulship. Comprising at least a hundred and one articles,[2798] including much material from earlier laws on extortion, it dealt minutely with all the particulars of the offence, procedure, and punishment so exhaustively as to render further comitial legislation on the subject unnecessary.[2799] It aimed to protect alike citizens, provincials, and allies from every form of misrule and oppression by the home and promagisterial authorities. It regulated strictly the supplies due from the provincials to the promagistrate and his officium, including shelter and sustenance for man and beast.[2800] Under this law the governor was forbidden without an order from Rome to conduct diplomatic business with foreign states, to wage war, or to cross the boundary of his province,[2801] or to demand of the cities crown gold for a triumph not decreed by the senate.[2802] On retiring from his command he was to leave copies of his administrative accounts in two cities of his province and an exact duplicate in the aerarium.[2803] It provided further for the punishment of corrupt accusers, jurors, and witnesses in cases under the law.[2804] A man convicted of the crime was fined and compelled to restore extorted property; and in case his estate did not suffice to cover the loss, an investigation could be made as to who had shared his gains.[2805] He was also to be expelled from the senate and banished.[2806] The severity of the law is commended by Cicero.[2807] Caesar’s legislation concerning extortion was reënforced (i) by the judiciary law of P. Vatinius, tribune of the plebs, of the same year, which granted to both accuser and accused greater freedom in the rejection of jurors than had been allowed by the corresponding law of Sulla, the terms of which however are not definitely known;[2808] (2) by a statute of Q. Fufius Calenus, praetor in 59, which required the three decuries to deposit their votes in three separate urns, the object being to establish class responsibility.[2809] The remaining comitial acts of Caesar were merely administrative. As a favor to Pompey, who in his eastern campaign had received support from Ptolemy Auletes, king of Egypt,[2810] Caesar in the beginning of his consulship[2811] carried a resolution for acknowledging the latter as an ally and friend of the Roman people.[2812] Later in the year, to repay Pompey for his support of the agrarian statute, Caesar secured against the will of the senate the enactment of a law for confirming his ally’s arrangements in the East.[2813] Lastly may be mentioned the lex curiata for the arrogation of P. Clodius Pulcher proposed by Caesar in the capacity of pontifex maximus, a measure considered in an earlier chapter.[2814] Clodius wished to qualify himself for the tribunate of the plebs, and his design was aided by Caesar in the expectation that he would occupy the attention of Cicero, the only strong opponent of the triumviri. Caesar’s immediate future was provided for by a plebiscite of his friend Vatinius, which granted him Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum as a province for five years beginning March 1, 59.[2815] He was to have three legions[2816] and to name his own legati, who were to enjoy propretorian rank.[2817] The senate, which had looked unwillingly upon these proceedings, now added Comata and a fourth legion, partly because of the conviction that in the face of an imminent war with the Helvetians no one would be willing to take that province without Cisalpina as a support, and partly through fear lest the popular party might gain the additional credit of bestowing it.[2818] In one respect the position was far better than that held by Pompey in the East: while winning prestige in a popular conquest[2819] and attaching to himself a powerful army, Caesar would be near enough to Rome to control the political situation.[2820] Intellectual brilliancy would serve in place of experience. In fact, in addition to maintaining the position of democratic boss of Rome, the outlook seemed to him favorable for wresting from his fellow-triumvir the sceptre of the military monarch.[2821]
P. Clodius Pulcher, tribune of the plebs in 58, seems to have worked partly as an agent of Caesar for the more complete organization of democracy, and partly from motives of personal hatred for Cicero. He first proposed a frumentarian plebiscite, which provided for the absolutely free distribution of grain monthly among the citizens resident in Rome.[2822] In vain the optimates complained that the abolition of the existing price, which was that prescribed by the Sempronian law,[2823] would rob the treasury of nearly a fifth of its income.[2824] Accepted by the tribes, the law proved a most effective means of maintaining a numerous mob of proletarians ever present and willing to vote for the measures of their political patrons, the leaders of the democracy. A closely related plebiscite permitted the free organization of clubs (collegia),[2825] which a senatus consultum of 64 had strictly limited,[2826] but which now became an active part of the democratic organization.[2827] His legislation, however, was not utterly devoid of statesmanship. A third act, by repealing those articles of the Aelian and Fufian statutes which applied obnuntiations to law-making assemblies, deprived the nobility of their most effective means of controlling legislation.[2828] An article of the same statute declared all dies fasti available for legislation.[2829] This measure went far toward abolishing a usage which had made religion a mockery and public life a farce. To limit the arbitrary power of the censors, Clodius enacted through a plebiscite that these magistrates should place their stigma upon those only whom they had jointly condemned after having heard sufficient testimony.[2830] Another comitial act prohibited the secretaries of the quaestors from engaging in business in the provinces.[2831] The last three statutes mentioned were useful reforms. His most famous measure was the law which prescribed the penalty of interdict from fire and water for any one who had put to death a Roman citizen without trial.[2832] Strengthening the Sempronian law of appeal,[2833] it forced the party issue as to the question whether that act could apply to persons accused of having attempted to overthrow the state. The optimates contended that such persons were no longer citizens but enemies and hence outside the pale of law[2834]—a principle which the populares held to be destructive of liberty. From a democratic point of view the Clodian law was just and necessary; but unfortunately Cicero, who in putting to death the associates of Catiline had simply acted for the senate, was to be made the scapegoat. Fearing condemnation under the law, Cicero voluntarily retired into exile, whereupon a new plebiscite declared the interdict to be legally in operation.[2835] In the following year he was recalled with great enthusiasm by a resolution of the comitia centuriata proposed by the consuls P. Cornelius Lentulus and Q. Caecilius Metellus.[2836] The same magistrates were authors of a law for conferring upon Pompey the care of the grain supply, which he was to administer five years with unlimited proconsular imperium.[2837] In spite of such efforts to prop up his power in order to counterpoise that of Caesar, the latter through the prestige of his brilliant victories in Gaul and the liberal use of money in the capital far outshone his fellow-triumviri. The only hope for their ambition was to be found in the good will and favor of the great proconsul. As the result of the conference held by the triumviri at Luca, 56, Pompey and Crassus were elected to a second consulship for 55 through the votes of Caesar’s soldiers, who were given a furlough to attend the comitia held purposely late in the year.[2838] As proconsuls Pompey and Crassus were to be given advantageous commands, and Caesar was to receive as his reward a prolongation of his governorship.[2839] Subservient tribunes were found to propose the desired measures, and it had long been an easy matter to obtain a majority in favor of any conceivable bill. C. Trebonius drew up a law for granting Syria to Crassus and the two Spains to Pompey for a period of five years, with a dispensation for both from that article of the lex Iulia repetundarum which forbade promagistrates of their own free will to declare war.[2840] The intercessions of tribunes and all other opposition were violently overborne, and the rogation was readily accepted by the people.[2841] Thereupon the two consuls secured the passage of an act for extending Caesar’s command.[2842]
Notwithstanding the fact that these consuls had been elected with the help of the clubs organized under the Clodian law of 58, they must have felt such associations to be a menace to themselves as well as to the public peace. Crassus accordingly carried through the assembly a lex de sodaliciis, which increased the penalty for ambitus committed through the agency of clubs.[2843] It also ordered that the jury in such cases be made up by the accuser from any four tribes he should choose, however unfavorable they might be to the accused,[2844] who had merely the right to reject one of the four tribal decuries thus presented,[2845] in so far as the court itself did not grant him the further privilege of rejecting individuals.[2846] It is difficult to understand how impartial justice could be administered under such a law. But no further legislation concerning ambitus was attempted till 52, when Pompey in his third consulship carried a statute which increased the penalty for the offence and made the procedure more strict.[2847] The attention of Pompey in his second consulship was directed rather to other classes of crimes. First he had a statute adopted concerning parricide (the murder of a near relative or patron), which hitherto had been provided for by the Cornelian lex de sicariis et veneficis.[2848] His project for displacing the lex Iulia repetundarum by a statute which should make the non-senatorial class specifically responsible failed to become a law.[2849] A sumptuary rogation for restricting personal expenditure he voluntarily withdrew on the advice of Hortensius, who persuaded him that luxury and delicacy of life were but the fitting adornments of empire.[2850] His lex iudiciaria ordered the urban praetor to begin the selection of jurors from the wealthiest of each of the three classes, and thence to descend gradually to the poorer members, the object being to make the composition of the courts as aristocratic as the terms of the Aurelian statute of 70 would allow.[2851] The lex de vi of his third consulship, 52, was merely for the appointment of a special commission to try those who were accused of having murdered Clodius, burned the Curia, and besieged the house of the interrex M. Aemilius Lepidus. It determined the composition of the court and the penalty to be inflicted.[2852] Of his statute de iure magistratuum, passed in the latter year, that article only is known which reiterated the law of 63 for prohibiting candidacies in absentia. But as a plebiscite had been passed earlier in the year to dispense Caesar from the law of 63,[2853] and as Pompey did not dare antagonize him by abolishing the plebiscite here mentioned, he secured the adoption of an additional law for excepting such candidates as had been or should be dispensed by comitial action.[2854] But Caesar’s prospect of passing immediately from his Gallic command to a second consulship was more effectually blocked by Pompey’s lex de provinciis, which, embodying a senatus consultum of the previous year,[2855] ordered that five years should intervene between the expiration of a magistracy and the beginning of the corresponding promagistracy.[2856] The general purpose was to dampen the ardor of the ambitious, who sought praetorships and consulships merely as a stepping-stone to lucrative and influential commands in the provinces. Its immediate effect, however, was to precipitate the conflict between Caesar and Pompey which brought the republic to ruin. The relation of the law to this event requires explanation. In the Pompeian-Licinian act of 55 for prolonging Caesar’s command measures were taken that the senate should not discuss the question of succession to him before March 1, 50. According to the Sempronian law,[2857] therefore, the senate could assign his provinces to no consuls earlier than those of 49; hence Caesar would continue in command during that year while suing for the consulship for 48. But by the Pompeian law of 52 the Sempronian was abolished, and the senate was given an opportunity to appoint a successor to him on or after March 1, 50.[2858]
From the close of the second consulship of Pompey to the beginning of Caesar’s dictatorship there was no important legislation.[2859]