The Rise of Client Armies

MEDITERRANEAN PEOPLES HIST 1301 | History The Rise of Client Armies Two rival groups emerged from Rome's political class following the death of Gaius Gracchus. The optimates were the defenders of the status quo and the conventional leadership of the Roman Senate's elite, while the populares were politicians who, like Gaius, aimed to win over disgruntled segments of the populace. Rome launched an invasion of Numidia (present-day Algeria and Tunisia) in 112 BCE, after Jugurtha massacred Roman subjects who had backed his brother for the throne. Roman soldiers were continually losing battle after battle, and Rome was having trouble manning its army because of the fall in Roman farming. Rising through the ranks of the Roman army, Gaius Marius was a plebian and commoner who became the populares' commander. When he stood for consul in 107 BCE, he promised to put an immediate stop to the conflict with Jugurtha and attacked the established Roman elites as incompetent generals. Those who backed him from the common masses found great appeal in his words. After seizing power, Marius changed the army's admission standards to allow proletariat members to enlist and get benefits from the war, including land. Professional client armies—armies made up of individuals who were more devoted to their leader than to the state—rose as a result of these changes. When Jugurtha was apprehended around 105 BCE, she was thereafter led in chains through the streets of Rome. Germanic tribes attempting to cross the Rhine River and attack Italy posed a fresh threat to Rome the same year. Marius was chosen by the Romans to serve as consul for five times in a row (105–101 BCE) in order to command his trained army against these adversaries. However, his opponents in the Senate sought to politically disgrace him after his triumphs, so they stopped his plan to grant veterans land from becoming law. These incidents scared Marius, so he gave up on politics. After years of providing troops without having a say in governance, Rome's Italian allies rose up in rebellion in 90 BCE, throwing the city into chaos once more. The insurgents were routed by the Romans, led by the optimate Sulla, during this "Social" War (90–88 BCE). Following years of high taxes and dishonest rulers, the provinces of Rome in Greece and Asia Minor rebelled shortly after, in 88 BCE. The rebels, inspired by Mithridates, the Hellenistic ruler of Pontus in north Asia Minor, slaughtered thousands of Roman civilians. Sulla was given the task of leading an army against Mithridates by the optimist senators. Sulla, like Marius, had given his recruits land as payment for their services. Marius, however, was given command of the army by Populares in the Plebian Assembly after he had retired. When Sulla and his client army were outside of Rome, they persuaded his men to forgo their allegiance to Rome in favour of their general's personal loyalty and his promise of territory, and they launched an assault on the city. Following the hunting down and killing of several populares, Sulla led an army against Mithridates and established his own group in control of Rome. The Roman troops had defied Rome's rules twice in the last two years, the first occasion being when Marius, who had been hiding, mustered his old veterans and marched against the city in 87 BCE. Now, optimates were sought out and killed by Marius's troops. Marius passed away from natural causes while serving as consul in 87 BCE, having been elected to a seventh term. After driving Mithridates from Greece and establishing Roman governance there, Sulla rallied his army and returned to Rome in 83 BCE with the intention of toppling the remaining populares. He forced the Senate to declare him dictator while he was in Rome. Because it offered total authority for a brief period of time to address the situation, the office of dictator was an old republican position that was only employed in times of crisis. It had not been utilised since the Second Punic War when Sulla took over the position. Sulla was a tyrant who changed the laws and ordered the killing of his political rivals. He gave up his position and left politics in 79 BCE, believing he had kept the republic intact and the Senate's old elite's authority intact. Instead, the Roman Republic was destroyed within fifty years.