After Caesar spent 51 BC and the better part of 50 BC touring his newly conquered province of Gaul, political chaos was developing back in Rome. The optimates despised Caesar and his conquests (viewing much of his campaigning as unnecessary and illegal) and looked for every opportunity to strip him of his command. These conquests not only brought in a great number of slaves, but brought so much monetary wealth into Rome, that the value of gold was actually reduced by as much as 1/4 or even 1/3 of its value before the wars. Though the common people noticed little effect, and seemingly loved Caesar, the optimates had a great deal to lose from this devaluation of their wealth. That was only one small piece of the puzzle, however.

 Caesar’s original Consulship in 59 BC was one in which he not only obstructed optimate interests but pushed forward a populares agenda that not only made life miserable for the conservatives but generally rejected some Roman laws and political customs. Such actions were destabilizing and dangerous for the health of the Republican system.

They wanted to prosecute Caesar for a variety of reasons, including conducting an illegal war into Germania that the Senate never authorized. In fact, many argued that the protection of Cisalpine Gaul and Narbonensis didn’t require the war that Caesar conducted in the larger part of Gaul in the first place. Prosecuting Caesar, whether the goal was death, exile or just a symbolic limitation of his power, would prevent his re-establishment of the populares agenda that he so masterfully manipulated previously. The years 50 and 49 BC were pivotal because during this time, Caesar’s ‘imperium’ or safety from prosecution was set to expire. Caesar badly desired the ability to run for the Consulship in abstentia, thereby allowing him the safe transfer of protection from his Proconsular Imperium, granted by his command in Gaul, back to that of the actual Consulship once again.

By this time, however, Pompey, likely the only man able to smooth things over, had clearly sided with the optimates. His jealously over Caesar’s success and his ultimate goal of acceptance and power within the Senate took him ever further from the alliance with Caesar. The Lex Pompeia De Magistratibus that was passed while Pompey was Consul without colleague forced any candidate for Consul to be present in Rome to run for office, and of course, one couldn’t legally bring their legions to Rome for protection. Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Consul for 51 BC, tried to have Caesar recalled from his command prior to its actual legal expiration, and in 50 BC, his cousin Gaius Claudius Marcellus attempted to the same. Caesar’s only hope in Rome from a legal standpoint was the intervention of the Tribunes of the Plebes, who managed to veto any attempts to bring Caesar to his knees.

The situation continued in a virtual stalemate, with neither side willing to budge on their legal standpoints. More optimate officials were elected in 50 BC to take office for 49, but Caesar still managed to hold ground. His legate Marcus Antonius was elected as Tribune for the same year, and a former opponent, Gaius Scribonius Curio was also elected but paid handsomely to side with Caesar. 49 BC was shaping up to be yet another stalemate politically for Caesar, but he was quite simply running out of time. Already, in the autumn of 50 BC, in an effort to weaken Caesar, the Senate asked both he and Pompey to give up one legion each (Pompey had his armies in Spain) to secure the east against Parthia. In a wise move, the Senate boldly stripped Caesar of 2 legions though, 1 of his own, and one that Pompey had lent Caesar several years earlier during the Gallic revolt. Caesar was left with 8 legions and the legions that he had given up were never sent to Parthia. They stayed in Italy and were given to Pompey in a shrewd move that strengthened Pompey while weakening Caesar.

By late 50 BC, various attempts were made by the Consul Marcellus to stifle Caesar’s tribunes and allow some measures of anti-Caesarean policy to go through. Curio however turned the tables and forced a unique vote to the senate floor. On December 1, 50 BC, Curio proposed a motion that would force both Pompey and Caesar to simultaneously lay down their commands, and the motion was passed 370 votes to 22. Though the Senate vote indicated that civil war was trying to be avoided, the hatred and/or political fear of Caesar simply couldn’t compromised. The following day, before the measure could even be brought to Caesar, Consuls Gaius Claudius Marcellus and Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus ignored the Senate vote. In what was certainly an illegal action, in an era filled with political illegalities, the consuls ordered Pompey to take up command of the local legions and to raise more in defense of Rome against Caesar.

 The people of Rome (via the tribunes) were ignored and even the Senate in this case, though it’s assured that the optimates played a major part. Certainly fearing the worst, Cicero tried to counteract this measure and avert what appeared to be a growing danger of civil war. He met with and attempted to influence Pompey into working for a compromise, but Pompey refused, and meanwhile, Caesar waited in Gaul.Though Caesar held Rome in a precarious position by the strength of his army and the continuation of his political agenda, the Senate must hold some blame for pushing a known radical into a no-win situation. Caesar’s options in these later developments were either to surrender willingly and face certain prosecution (though the outcome of such prosecution could certainly have gone either way as Caesar did have plenty of support.. and money), or go to war. Caesar clearly had ambition that exceeded the standard and faced with personal ruin and disgrace vs. the potential disaster that a civil war could cause the Roman state, Caesar obviously chose his own status above that of Rome.

 Despite this, he began to behave rather conciliatory, perhaps sensing the dire circumstances. After having essentially been declared war on by the Senate, he attempted to offer a compromise. First he asked to be allowed to maintain his governorship of Cisalpine Gaul and 2 legions, or Illyricum and only 1 legion, until such time as he could be elected Consul and enter Rome free from fear of prosecution. The Senate didn’t act on this measure at all, though it was probably hotly debated. Without getting a response, Caesar decided to offer the same measure that already passed the Senate just a month earlier. Curio, in late December, offered that Caesar would agree to the original proposal that both he and Pompey dismiss their armies simultaneously.

 This time though, there was great debate and the Senate was divided on the issue. Whether certain members of Senate did not really desire peace, were prepared to risk war in order to defeat Caesar, or were naive enough to think that war could be averted by threatening Caesar is not entirely certain, but perhaps they simply felt that Rome would hold the loyalty of the people and that Pompey would ultimately crush Caesar if war could not be avoided.On January 1, 49 BC and the days immediately following, the Senate rejected Caesar’s final peace proposal and declared him hostis, or a public enemy. Caesar would have to give up his command completely or face war.

The Tribunes attempted to block the measure through the people once again, but this time the Senate was entrenched. Much like Caesar, they too threw constitutionality to the wind and ignored the Tribunes using physical violence to stop their objections. Around the 10th of January 49 BC, word reached Caesar and he marched south with the 13th Legion from Ravenna towards the southern limit of Cisalpine Gaul’s border. He likely arrived around January 11, and stopped on the northern bank of the small river border, the Rubicon.Caesar seemed to contemplate the situation understandably for some time before making his final fateful decision. First testing the loyalty of his men, (he only had the 13th legion with him at this point) he gave a stirring speech pointing out the wrongs done to him (and the tribunes). With the clear support of his men Caesar added, “Even yet we may draw back; but once across that little bridge, and the whole issue is with the sword.” He is then reported to have muttered the now infamous phrase, from the work of the poet Menander, “Alea iacta est”, quoted as “Let the die be cast” or “Let the dice fly high.” The Rubicon was crossed and Caesar officially invaded the legal border from his province into Italy, thus starting the civil war.

 Quickly taking several northern towns, the news reached Rome by January 17. Pompey, the Republic’s hope, was left without his main army which was still in Spain, and his support base was in the eastern provinces. Despite having 2 legions to Caesar’s 1, Caesar’s Gallic legions were on the move to join him so Pompey and the rest of Caesar’s opposition had little choice but to leave Rome immediately and abandon Italy to Caesar.

Hannibal: “The Mercy and the Thunderbolt of Ba’al”

Youth (247-219)

When Hannibal (in his own language: Hanba’al, “mercy of Baal”) was born in 247 BCE, his birthplace Carthage (today a suburb of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia) was losing a long and important war. It had been the Mediterranean’s most prosperous seaport and possessed wealthy provinces, but it had suffered severe losses from the Romans in the First Punic War (264-241). After Rome’s victory, it stripped Carthage of  its most important province, Sicily; and when civil war had broken out in Cartage, Rome seized Sardinia and Corsica as well. These events must have made a great impression on the young Hannibal. He was the oldest son of the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca, who took the ten-year old boy to Iberia in 237. There were several Carthaginian cities in Andalusia: Gadir (’castle’, modern Cádiz), Malkah (’royal town’, Málaga) and New Carthage (Cartagena). The ancient name of Córdoba is unknown, although the element Kart, ‘town’, is still recognizable in its name. In 221, Hasdrubal was murdered and Hannibal was elected commander by the Carthaginian army in Iberia. The Carthaginian government confirmed the decision. He returned to his father’s aggressive military politics and attacked the natives: in 220 he captured Salamanca. The next year, he besieged Saguntum, a Roman ally. Since Rome was occupied with the Second Illyrian War and unable to support the town, Saguntum fell after a blockade of eight months. Was the capture of Saguntum was a violation of a treaty between Hasdrubal and the Roman Republic? It is impossible to know. The fact is, however, that the Romans felt offended,  demanded that Hannibal to be handed over by the Carthaginian government to be tried by Roman justice.
 

From Saguntum to Cannae (218-216)

While these negotiations were still going on, Hannibal continued to extent Carthage’s territory: He appointed his brother Hasdrubal (not to be confused with Hannibal’s brother-in-law) as commander in Iberia, and in May 218 he crossed the Ebro River in order to complete the conquest of the Iberian peninsula. On hearing the news, Rome declared the Second Punic War and sent reinforcements to Sicily, where they expected a Carthaginian attack. Hannibal interrupted his campaigns in Catalonia, and decided to win the war by a bold invasion of Italy before the Romans were prepared. In a lightning campaign, he crossed the Pyrenees Mountains with an army of 50,000 infantry, 9,000 cavalry and 37 elephants; next, he crossed the river Rhône.

His elephants carried across the water on large rafts – a remarkable achievement. By a heroic effort, made difficult by autumn snow, he crossed the Alps.

 In October 218, 38,000 soldiers and 8,000 cavalry had reached the plains along the Po River in the vicinity of the present city of Turin in northern Italy. The Po-plains were inhabited by Gauls, who had recently been subjected to Rome, and were only too willing to welcome Hannibal and throw off the Romans.

 The Romans were aware of the danger that Hannibal might entice the Gauls into rebellion, and immediately sent an army to prevent this. However, in a cavalry engagement at the river Ticinus (east of Turin), the Carthaginians defeated the Romans. Now, some 14,000 Gauls volunteered to serve under Hannibal.

 Thanks to their help, Hannibal won a second victory at the river Trebia (west of modern Piacenza), defeating a Roman army that had been supplemented

 with the Roman troops that had been sent to Sicily earlier that year (December 218). In March 217, Hannibal left his winter quarters at Bologna, traversed the Apennines and ravaged Etruria (modern Tuscany). During a minor engagement, he lost an eye (although some historians claim that he suffered from opthalmia). The Romans counterattacked with some 25,000 men, but their consul Flaminius was defeated and killed in an ambush between the hills and Lake Trasimene. Two entire Roman legions were annihilated. Hannibal expected that Rome’s allies would now leave their master and come over to Carthage. This did not happen, and he was forced to cross the Apennines a second time, hoping to establish a new base in Apulia, the ‘heel’ of Italy. At the same time, Rome attacked his lines of conmuciation and his supply base in Iberia. While Hannibal tried to win over Rome’s allies by diplomatic means, the Romans appointed Quintus Fabius Maximus as a dictator (a magistrate with extraordinary powers). He tailed Hannibal, but evaded battle; the Romans found Fabius’ strategy unacceptable and called him ‘the dawdler’ (Cunctator). This was not entirely fair: Fabius’ policy had been successful. Besides, a Roman army had attacked Carthage’s African possessions, which prevented the Carthaginians sending reinforcements. And, contrary to Hannibal’s expectation, Rome’s allies remained loyal. In 216, the Roman Senate decided that time had come to solve the problem by one great, decisive battle. Taking no risks, the two consuls raised an army of no less than 80,000 men, whereas Hannibal’s army counted some 50,000 men. In July, the Romans pinned down the Carthaginian army in the neighborhood of Cannae on the Italian east coast; battle was engaged on the second of August. Hannibal’s convex, crescent shaped lines slowly became concave under pressure of the Roman elite troops in the center, which, being encircled and finally surrounded by the Carthaginian cavalry in the rear, failed to break through  the Carthaginian lines and were destroyed. After this event, many Roman allies switched sides. Sardinia revolted; Capua became Hannibal’s capital iin Italy. The successful commander was thirty years old when he entered Capua, seated on his last ssurviving elephant. His brother Mago Barca was sent to Carthage to announce this victory. He made quite an impression when he poured out hundreds of golden rings taken from the bodies of the Romans killed  in action . ]]> http://balboahsroom208.edublogs.org/2008/02/18/hannibal-barca-birth-to-the-battle-of-cannae/feed/ 1 http://balboahsroom208.edublogs.org/2008/02/10/this-week-in-mrs-class-it-gets-even-more-exciting/ http://balboahsroom208.edublogs.org/2008/02/10/this-week-in-mrs-class-it-gets-even-more-exciting/#comments Sun, 10 Feb 2008 17:24:03 +0000 room208 http://balboahsroom208.edublogs.org/2008/02/10/this-week-in-mrs-class-it-gets-even-more-exciting/ WELCOME BACK BALBOANS!!. THIS WEEK YOU WILL MEET THE GRACCHI, SCIPIO AMELIANUS, HANNIBAL AND HAMLICAR BARCA, CANNAE AND LAKE TRASIMENE, SCIPIO AFRICANUS AND ZAMA..LEARN  ALL ABOUT THE ROMAN WAR MACHINE…LEARN OF THE TREACHERY OF CARTHAGE AND THE FIRST AND SECOND PUNIC WARS.

THE LAWS OF THE TWELVE TABLES ADDRESSED PROPERTY, FAMILY, CRIME, THEFT, MARRIAGE AND INHERITANCE. THE LAWS DID TRY TO BE FAIR.WHAT MATTERS IS THAT THESE LAWS WERE WRITTEN DOWN AND ACTUALLY ENGRAVED ON METAL PLATES AND POSTED IN THE ROMAN FORUM, SO THAT EVERYONE COULD SEE THEM. YOU PASSED BY THEM EVERY DAY. THE LAWS WERE THE SAME FOR EVERYONE, RICH OR POOR. NO ONE COULD SAY THEY DID NOT KNOW WHAT THE LAW WAS..IGNORANCE OF THE LAW WAS NO EXCUSE. (At the time, only adult free males were citizens. Women, children, and slaves were not citizens.) 

LIKE THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION, THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION IS UNWRITTEN..UNWRITTEN ? WHAT? SO HOW DOES THAT WORK? THE WORD “CONSTITUTION” TO THE ROMANS AND THE BRITISH MEANS A TRADITION OF LAW AND PROCEDURE THAT SHOULD NEVER BE VIOLATED. MANY DOCUMENTS OVER THE CENTURIES MAKE UP THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION AND PRESUMABLY THAT MEANS THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION WILL CONTINUE TO GROW.

 IN THE U.S. THE WORD “CONSTITUTION” MEANS ONE ACTUAL DOCUMENT ENTITLED “THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.” THIS DOCUMENT YOU MIGHT ACTUALLY TOUCH…(IT’S UNDER GLASS AND GUARD AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES IN WASHINGTON, D.C. OK, SO YOU CAN’T REALLY TOUCH IT.. BUT IT IS A DOCUMENT)

THESE CONSTITUTIONS FORM THE BASIS OF HOW THE PEOPLE LIVING IN ROME OR THESE LATER COUNTRIES AND THEIR COLONIES GOVERNED AND RULED THEMSELVES. IT WAS TO THE ROMANS A SACRED AND RELIGIOUS RESPONSIBILITY TO OBSERVE THESE LAWS. WHILE CHRISTIANS AND JEWS WOULD FOLLOW TEN COMMANDMENTS, THE ROMANS WOULD FOLLOW THE “LAW” ON THE TWELVE TABLES.

REMEMBER THAT OUR STUDY OF HISTORY IS OFTEN SOMEWHAT DEPENDENT ON THE SCIENCE OF ARCHAEOLOGY. I AM PROVIDING YOU WITH A TRANSLATION OF WHAT CAN BE FOUND “IN STONE” OF THE SACRED ROMAN ”TWELVE TABLES.” REVIEW THIS SECTION CAREFULLY…TAKE GOOD NOTES ON NOTECARDS AND BE COMPLETELY PREPARED FOR THE TWELVE TABLES QUIZ THIS WEEK.. 

Table I. 1. If anyone summons a man before the magistrate, he must go. If the man summoned does not go, let the one summoning him call the bystanders to witness and then take him by force. 2. If he shirks or runs away, let the summoner lay hands on him. 3. If illness or old age is the hindrance, let the summoner provide a team. He need not provide a covered carriage with a pallet unless he chooses.

By about the 6th century B.C., Roman people (who weren’t slaves) could be divided into two classes: patricians and plebians. The former were wealthy, landowning citizens who had money and power and wealth and the right to vote. The latter were none of the above (or very little) but were not slaves. Since the patricians made up most of the ruling class and made the laws, they tended to make laws to protect their own interests. If the interests of the plebians got in the way, then the laws came first–at least that’s what the patricians thought.

The plebians had other ideas. They wanted certain basic rights, and they were willing to cause civil disturbances to get it. They even threatened to secede or leave and begin their own city-state, in 494. By this time, the large numbers of the plebian class made the patricians sit up in their governing chairs and take notice. The result was the Twelve Tables. The Tables themselves, which were finalized in the mid-5th century, were pieces of stone with writing carved into them. The main benefit of having laws written down was that the lawmakers and law-enforcers couldn’t change them to suit their whims. Once a law was made public (and carving it into stone was about as public as it got), the law was known to everyone. This also had the benefit for the lawmakers and law-enforcers of ruling out a lawbreaker’s protestation that he or she didn’t know that what he or she was doing was against the law. It also gave us the English saying “carved or set in stone”… meaning If a law was made public, then it was everyone’s responsibility to know and obey.

Of the fragments of the Twelve Tables we have remaining, here are some points of interest:

• Table I mandates that when a person is accused of something, both accused and accuser must be present at a hearing or trial on the matter. Also, if both parties don’t show up for a court date, the judge is free to rule in favor of the party that did show up.
• Table III gives debtors 30 days to pay off a debt. After that, a creditor is free to seize the debtor and make him or her a prisoner.
• Table IV makes a man’s will binding.
• Table VIII lists specific punishments for certain crimes. It also says that if a person fails to show up as a trial witness, then that person will never again be allowed to be a witness. Most importantly, it says that a person shown to have lied in court will be put to death.
• Table IX specifies capital punishment for judges who have taken bribes and for people who have committed treason. 

It’s also interesting to note that Table XI prohibits marriages between plebians and patricians. So, even though the plebians got some very important rights through the Twelve Tables, they couldn’t marry into the upper class. The ruling class had to keep the upper hand, after all.

  

Aeneas was raised by Nymphs and received his education from Cheiron, the King of the centaurs. During the Trojan wars, he served under the command of Hector, the Prince of the Trojans. Aeneas was encouraged by Apollo to challenge the Greek warrior Achilles. Poseidon removed Aeneas from the area to preserve him so that he could become the future leader of Troy. However, when Troy was destroyed, Aeneas began an odyssey very similar to that of Odysseus in Homer’s tales. Instead of trying to return home like Odysseus did, Aeneas tried to find a new home.

Aeneas went through a series of adventures trying to find a place to settle with his fellow Trojans. They encountered Harpies and bleeding bogs. At the urging of Juno, Aeneas and his companions were attacked by the god of the winds Aeolus. There were then protected by Neptune. who keep them from being shipwrecked and from other perils. Finally Aeneas arrived in Carthage where Cupid disguised himself as the son of Aeneas and influenced the Queen Dido to fall in love with Aeneas. Aeneas did fall in love with Dido. Mercury, the messenger of the gods, was sent to visit Aeneas twice to remind him of his destiny and to get him to break away from Dido, after which Aeneas resumed his journey to his new land.

After landing in Italy, Aeneas was tried to determine where to settle. Aeneas visited Cumaean Sibyl, a prophetess who had access to the underworld through a cave with a hundred openings. Sibyl agreed to be the guide and directed Aeneas to take an item from a nearby magical bough which was sacred to Proserpine, wife of Pluto. Charon, the ferryman of the river Styx, allowed Aeneas to pass because of the item from the magical bough. In the underworld, Aeneas spoke to his father Achises and was told where to settle. He returned from the underworld and sailed again to the Tiber River in a land called Latium.

Aeneas, after beating a rival tribe who had been pitted against him by Juno, began to rule the area where he settled. For twelve generations the throne was passed peacefully down until the thirteenth king, Numitor. Numitor was removed from the throne by his own brother Amulius. Amulius tried to make sure that none of Numitor’s descendents could challenge him for the throne. Amulius killed both of his nephews and appointed his niece Rhea Silvia a Vestal Virgin. This position forced Rhea to stay a virgin, which would eliminate any prospect of Numitor’s children to challenge Amulius.

Mars, the god of war and farming, became enamored with Rhea, and depending on the account, seduced or raped her. She became pregnant and gave birth to two sons, Romulus and Remus. Amulius had Rhea imprisoned. He put the two boys in a basket and tossed it into the Tiber River. The boys were saved by their father Mars, who sent two animals to feed them. A she wolf fed the boys until they were discovered by a shepherd named Fausulaus. The boys were sheltered by the sheppherd and his wife until they had grown. The boys were united with their grandfather Numitor, and they then planned revenge on Amulius. The three, along with a band of shepherds, stormed the palace and killed Amulius and restored Numitor to the throne.

Aeneas, son of the goddess Venus and the mortal Anchises, left the burning city of Troy with his son Ascanius. After many adventures, which the Roman poet Vergil describes in the Aeneid, Aeneas and his son arrived at the city of Laurentum on the west coast of Italy. Aeneas married Lavinia, the daughter of a local king, Latinus, and founded the town of Lavinium in honor of his wife. Ascanius, son of Aeneas, decided to build a new city, which he named Alba Longa, under the Alban mountain.

Aeneas as Founder of Rome: Aeneas is sometimes credited with the founding of Rome, but the version of the Roman foundation myth that is most familiar is that of Romulus, the first king of Rome.

The Family of Romulus and Remus: Romulus and Remus were twin brothers, the sons of a vestal virgin named Rhea Silvia and the god Mars, according to legend. Since vestal virgins could be buried alive if they violated their vows, whoever forced Rhea Silvia to enter the equivalent of an ancient convent assumed that Rhea Silvia would remain childless.

The grandfather and great-uncle of the twins were Numitor and Amulius, who between them divided the wealth and kingdom of Alba Longa, but then Amulius seized Numitor’s share and became sole ruler. To prevent retaliation by offspring of his brother, Numitor made his niece a vestal virgin. When Rhea (also called Ilia) became pregnant, her life was spared because of the special pleading of Amulius’ daughter Antho, but Rhea was confined.

When the twin boys were born, Numitor wished to have them killed, and so bid Faustulus, a swineherd, expose the boys. Faustulus left the twins on the river bank where a she-wolf nursed them, and a woodpecker fed and guarded them until Faustulus took them into his care again. The two boys were well educated by Faustulus and his wife, Acca Larentia. They grew up to be strong and attractive.

As adults, Remus found himself imprisoned, and in the presence of Amulius, who determined from his age that Remus and his twin brother could be his grandsons. Learning of Remus’ predicament, Faustulus told Romulus the truth of his birth, and sent him off to rescue his brother.

Numitor was despised, and so Romulus drew a crowd of supporters as he approached Alba Longa to kill the king. The twins re-installed their father Amulius on the throne and freed their mother.

The Establishment of Rome: Since Numitor now ruled Alba Longa, the boys needed their own kingdom and settled on the area in which they had been raised, but the two young men couldn’t decide on the exact site and started building separate sets of walls. Each twin claimed his was the city and used omens to support his claim. An angry Remus jumped over Romulus’ wall and Romulus killed him.

Rome was therefore named after Romulus.

Points to Note About the Founding Legend:

• Rome was founded on 21 April 753 B.C., according to tradition. It was celebrated in Rome with the festival of Parilia.
• Because a woodpecker tended to the twins, the woodpecker was sacred to Rome.
• In some versions of the story, Rhea was drowned and then married the river god Tiber.
• When Faustulus first let the twins go, they floated into the river and then washed ashore at the base of a fig tree. This was the site where they built their city.
• In some versions, Acca Larentalia was a prostitute.