Page 152 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS The End of the Republic: Three Views
Although Rome stood supreme over the Mediterranean world by 133 B.C.E., the internal structure of the republic had begun to disintegrate. During the next hundred years, the republic was afflicted with mob violence, assassinations, civil wars, and unscrupulous politicians who seized every opportunity to advance their own interests. The Roman historian Sallust (86-35 B.C.E.), who lived through many of these crises, reflected on the causes of Rome’s problems. In the first selection below, he discusses the moral decline that set in after the destruction of Carthage in 146 B.C.E. Sallust presented a broad, philosophical view of the problem, but some figures directly involved in the struggles of the last century—namely, Caesar and Cicero—had their own ideas about the immediate crisis that led to the end of the republic. In the second selection, taken from The Civil Wars, Caesar presents a defense of his decision to move into Italy with his troops. In the third selection, a letter from Cicero to his friend Atticus, Cicero indicates what he thinks of Caesar’s action.
Sallust, The War with Catiline
Good morals were cultivated at home and in the field; [in the early republic] there was the greatest harmony and little or no avarice; justice and honesty prevailed among them, thanks not so much to laws as to nature. Quarrels, discord, and strife were reserved for their enemies; citi- zen vied with citizen only for the prize of merit. They were lavish in their offerings to the gods, frugal in the home, loyal to their friends. By practicing these two qual- ities, boldness in warfare and justice when peace came, they watched over themselves and their country. . . .
But when our country had grown great through toil and the practice of justice, when great kings had been vanquished in war, savage tribes and mighty people sub- dued by force of arms, when Carthage, the rival of Rome’s sway, had perished root and branch, and all seas and lands were open, then Fortune began to grow cruel and to bring confusion into all our affairs. Those who had found it easy to bear hardships and dangers, anxiety and adversity, found leisure and wealth, . . . a burden and a curse. Hence the lust for power first, then for money,
114 Chapter 5 The Roman Republic
grew upon them; these were, I may say, the root of all evils. For avarice destroyed honor, integrity, and all other noble qualities; taught in their place insolence, cruelty, to neglect the gods, to set a price on everything. Ambition drove many men to become false; to have one thought locked in the breast, another ready on the tongue; to value friendships and enmities not on their merits but by the standard of self-interest, and to show a good front rather than a good heart. At first these vices grew slowly; from time to time they were punished; finally, when the disease had spread like a deadly plague, the state was changed and a government second to none in justice and excellence became cruel and intolerable.
Caesar, The Civil Wars
Having called the senate together, he [Caesar, who refers to himself in the third person] recounts the wrongs done him by his personal enemies. He explains that he had sought no extraordinary office, but, waiting for the legitimate time of his consulship, had been con- tent with privileges open to all the citizens. . . . He sets forth his own patience when under no pressure he had made the request about the disbandment of the armies, a point in which he was ready to make a personal sacri- fice of dignity and position. He tells them of the bitter- ness of his foes who refused in his case what they demanded in the other, and preferred utter confusion to the surrender of military power and armed force. He tells of their injustice in robbing him of his legions, . . . he enumerates the terms that he had offered, the con- ferences asked for and refused. On these considera- tions he exhorts and charges them to take up the burden of state and administer it with his help; but if they shrink through fear he will not burden them, and will administer the state himself. Envoys should be sent to Pompey to effect a settlement, nor was he afraid of the remark made by Pompey a little before in the senate, to the effect that undue influence is attrib- uted to those to whom envoys are sent and fear argued on the part of those that send them. Such considera- tions seemed to belong to a poor and weak spirit. His own wish was to be superior to others in justice and equity as he had striven to surpass them in action.
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