Important Events in Roman History, 120-70 BC

Date	Event	Significance
116-112	Jugurtha builds power in Africa/Numidia	Though thoroughly Romanized and connected to family of Scipiones, seeks independence for Numidia
113/112	Roman army defeated by Gauls; Roman Cirta sacked by Jugurtha	Exposes Roman vulnerability to wars on two fronts at same time
111-107	Numidia: Roman misadvantentures	Exposes Roman command weakness and corruption of elite
107	Marius elected consul; leads army to Numidia	A 'new man' who seeks command against Jugurtha; opposed by elite, but elected by lower orders. Division in state intensifies.
107-105	Marius successful in Numidia, but Roman armies destroyed in Gaul (Arausio); Italy threatened.	Marius and Sulla, his aide, gain credit while stature of elite diminishes.
104-100	Marius elected consul annually; reforms Roman army; defeats Gauls and Germans	Clear violation of constitution; army professionalized, but now client of commander.
100	Satuninus proposes legislation for Marius veterans; Senate opposes; rioting; Marius restores order	Senate feared Marius unprecedented behavior; could only deny him the settlement for vets. By destroying his agent Saturninus, Marius loses political control.
92	Trial of Rutilius Rufus. The equestrian courts condemn senatorial governor who had protected provincials from equestrian tax collectors.	Exposes deep division between senatorial and equestrian orders
91	Tribunate of Livius Drusus; his law on franchise; assassination. Social War	Same pattern as earlier; reform legislation that all could support breaks down on over issue of clientele
91-88	Social War; leges Julia, Plautia, Papiria, Pompeia	After several defeats, Roman divide Italians by selective extension of citizenship secured through laws of a number of individuals.
88	Sulpicius Rufus tribune, proposes law to transfer command from Sulla to Marius; he marches on Rome and secures his reappointment	Sulla had been assigned command by senate. The march on Rome by army escalates problems.
88-83	Sulla in East against Mithradates; Rome controlled by Marius and Cinna. Italians evenly distributed throughout tribes	Clear division in state. Senate not functional.
83-80	Sulla returns to Italy; marches on Rome and restores senatorial control.* Proscriptions follow	Sulla becomes dictator for restructuring the constitution. New constitution favors Senate
80-79	Sulla resigns, retires and dies
78-77	Lepidus challenges Sullan order, but defeated	Pressure is building to restore "popular" power.
78-70	Pirates active and threaten eastern Mediterranean; Roman renegade Sertorius active in Spain; Spartacus revolts in Italy	Pressure at many points. Pompeius sells himself as the man to restore order.
71	Order restored throughout Mediterranean	Will it last?
70	Pompeius** and Crassus, competitors ally against Senate, are elected consuls and restore traditional tribunician powers.

*Sulla’s reforms:

Sulla's laws-as much as we know of them- are curiously backward-looking but attempt to remedy ills of his time in the way he thought best. He tried to restore position of authority and the cohesion of the senate by legislation. To that end he deprived the tribunate of much of its explosive power, enlarged the senate and the magisrates who would eventually keep the senate at it new number in order that that the larger empire had an adequate number in its governing class. He renewed the self-policing role of the senate but tried to make it more responsible by regulating the duties of the governors. Clearly Sulla saw the problems but the surgery was cosmetic and sort lived.

Tribunate: rights of veto were limited, debarred from further office

Senate: enlarged to double its size, quaestors increased to 20, praetors from 6 to 10, succession of magistracies reenacted, duties of provincial governors regulated

Equestrians: courts removed from this group and restored to senate

**Career of Pompey the Great to the first triumvirate:

Rise to prominence as 23 year old under Sulla. Involved with the re-establishment of Sulla, hunting down and executing for Sulla opponents who had taken a hold of the Roman provinces of Sicily and Africa. Recovers Africa and earns triumph.

After Sulla’s death senate invests him with command against rebel Sertorius who had gained control of Spain. After 6 years returns to Rome in triumph and is elected consul for the year 70 B.C. Pompey as consul restores the power of the tribunes and the equites to the law courts.

In 67 Pompey secures an extra-ordinary (out of the ordinary) command against the pirates for himself (by tribunician law). The war against the pirates was over within half a year but Pompey loiters in the East to wait until another plebiscite transfers the command against Mithridates from Lucullus to him. Pompey who not only finished Mithridates but in the process conquers large parts of the languishing Seleucid empire and organizes large parts as provinces: Syria, Pontus-Bythinia, client kings without reference to the senate.

In 63 Pompey is on his way home with a large and enormously enriched army, huge amounts of booty and captives. Upon arrival in Brundisium, he dismisses his army to alleviate fear of a second Sulla. Seeks acceptance by the oligarchy. Stalemate over the issue of rewards for the veterans of his army. Finally, Pompey gives up and turns for help outside the oligarchy. His allies are Caesar and Crassus, both politicians who were perceived as having too much ambition and too little regard for traditional politics. The first triumvirate is formed, a coalition of clientele, and results in the election of Caesar to the consulate in 59 B.C., the desirable command against the Parthians in the east for Crassus, and the prospect of getting his way for his veterans for Pompey.