Crisis of the Late Republic

I. Plebian Grievances

A. Farmers lose their land

1. war

2. rising costs and debt

3. slaves

B. Non-Roman desire for citizenship

1. wish for loyalty to be rewarded  

II.  Populares vs. Optimates

A. Tiberus Gracchus introduces land reform (133 BCE)

1. enacted by Tiberius and other tribunes

2. his assassination opened era of violence

3. Gaius Gracchus also killed (121 BCE)

B. Conservative fears

1. rise of plebian power

2. decay of Roman virtues

3. (later) the rise of powerful generals

III. Rise of the Generals

A. Troubles of the republic offer opportunities to a few great men

1. Marius invents the private army

2. different sort of soldiers with different sort of motives

B. Battle between Marius and Sulla

1. Sulla attacks Rome to save it

2. Senate forced to rely on a general

C. Pompey rules from the sidelines

D. Caesar improves on these earlier models

1. Proves himself by conquering Gaul

2. wins as many political friends as possible

3. unafraid to cast aside the Republic and rule directly

4. Gets the Gracchus treatment, but there is no going back