Ink 2017

population found itself without farms
or the opportunity to offer their labour
competitively (3).
The result was political turmoil fuelled
by populism and demagoguery. Many
impoverished rural citizens moved to
the city of Rome where they began to
support populist politicians. The first
of these, Tiberius Gracchus, demanded
land redistribution in 133 BCE, but was
assassinated on the streets of Rome by
the Senate. His brother, Gaius, likewise
was forced to suicide
in 121 after assuming
Tiberius’ mantle.
Marius reformed
the army in 88 BCE,
allowing it to employ
Rome’s urban poor.
As a consequence,
soldiers became loyal
to their paymaster
generals, and intense
rivalries between
these generals
sparked civil wars,
between Marius and
Sulla (88–87 BCE),
Caesar and Pompey (48–46 BCE), and
ultimately, between Caesar’s successors
Octavian (later Augustus) and Mark
Antony (33–31 BCE). Augustus became
Rome’s first emperor, and his victory
marks the death of the Republic.
In our century similar pressures
of globalisation are beginning to
Caesar, in a
similar position
to Corbyn, had
little support
amongst the
established order
of the senate and
drew on support
from Rome’s
deprived urban
citizenry.
undermine the
established
political
order. Across
the western
world antiglobalisation
sentiment is
fuelling support
for populist
politicians on
both the left
and right: UKIP,
Donald Trump
and Podemos
are but a few.
Caesar, in a
similar position
to Corbyn, had
little support
amongst the
established order
of the senate
and drew on support from Rome’s
deprived urban citizenry on the one
hand and from his soldiers on the other,
in whose economic interests he acted
(a comparable nexus exists between
Labour and the trade unions). When the
senators assassinated him on the 15th
March 44 BCE, they did so to preserve
their vision of a Roman aristocratic
oligarchy, the Republic. They imagined
they would be praised as regicides in
a political culture that was supposedly
hostile to one man
rule, according
to its imagined
traditions. One
of the assassins,
Brutus, a former
ally of Caesar,
even envisaged
the assassination
as his duty, given
his ancestor’s role
of bringing down
Rome’s ancient
monarchy in 509
BCE. The assassins
thought they would
be praised for freeing Rome from the
ambitions of an upstart unconstitutional
monarch. Our established political
parties should pay attention to this
historic event: the assassins could not
have been more wrong.
The Republicans underestimated
Caesar’s popularity with the Roman
9
citizens, who, roused by Caesar’s ally,
Mark Antony, forced the assassins to
flee Rome. Ultimately the Senate would
not recover their support in Italy and
were defeated by Caesar’s successors,
Mark Antony and Octavian, in Philippi,
Greece, two years later. The senate
held to visions of the noble Republic
and failed to see that these no longer
reflected the reality faced by Rome’s
citizenry, who supported the Caesarean
revolution. The factors behind the
Republic’s destruction were larger than
the personality of Caesar, but were
rooted in the problems an expanded
empire brought: slavery, inequality and
concentrated land ownership.
Our established parties are facing a
reaction to globalisation in the form
of widespread populism, whether it be
through the Brexit vote or the strong
hold Corbyn has over Labour party
members. The lesson the Conservative
and Labour parties should learn from
Rome is that a change in leadership will
not solve their problems. Globalisation
means existential crisis for the status
quo. They must respond to these
challenges directly, or, like Rome’s
Republic, become irrelevant in an
unfolding new world.
Latin teacher, Churcher’s College,
Petersfield
References:
1 https://www.theguardian.com/
business/2016/jun/26/brexit-isthe-rejection-of-globalisation
2 https://www.theguardian.com/
commentisfree/2016/jun/27/
liverpool-london-brexit-leave-eureferendum
3 Scullard, (2011) p16, Chapter 1,
section 8: Economic changes and
the land problem. Crawford, M.
(1992) p. 99f
Further Reading:
Scullard, H.H. (2011) From the
Gracchi to Nero, Routledge, London.
Crawford, M. (1992) The Roman
Republic, Fontana, London