WHY DID ROMAN REPUBLICAN CONSTITUTION FAIL TO FUNCTION PROPERLY IN THE PERIOD FROM 146 TO 31B.C.?

                Having conquered Greece, the Romans were in turn conquered by its culture, this culture was less of abstract Greek philosophy than a taste for Greek wine and Literature. Roman conquest over the Mediterranean world formed greater and greater gap between the poor and the rich people. Romans who were grown up under the great influence of traditional Roman culture ,that is, authority, patriotism, piety and simplicity couldn't withstand the attraction of Hellenistic civilization with its wealth, luxuries and individual values. Finally, the Roman government cold not restrain the ambitions of its oligarchs or protect the interests of its ordinary citizens and this ignited beginning  of the end of the Roman Republic.
        The real winners that is ones who were most benefited after the conquests were optimates whose wealth and power growth beyond imagination.  in fact the minority of the society were the winners. There were also the losers , tens of thousands of people who were sold into slavery, farmer soldiers who were obligated to serve in the army and lost their homes and prosperity and the Italian allies who had to serve in the army but have not got the rights of Roman citizens  as a result there were many revolts throughout the history of the Roman Republic. Roman government and as a part of it the Roman republican constitution remained insufficient to meet the demands of the expansion and the new problems .
        To prevent these revolts and stop the recession of the Republic reforms were tried to be introduced by some Roman politicians and commanders. These reforms focused on the subjects of  land  and extension of citizenship. For instance, Tiberius Gracchus descended from the aristocracy wanted give away the huge tracts of land to Roman veterans but much of the state was in the hands of  aristocracy and senators and they opposed this reform. Land act passed with the help of tribunes however Senators who were furious at being circumvented killed  Tiberius and 300 of his supporters. There were several other reformers who followed  Tiberius and shared the same unfortunate end. This reveals  one of the deficiency of
the Constitution that there were no laws to protect these reformists  and also reveals that   although Tiberius Land Act was law, it was essentially ignored  which means  the circumvention of the constitution.
        During this period, Roman politicians forged close bonds with the soldiers of their armies. Individual commanders, not the state or the Senate, ensured that their recruits received their pay, obtained land upon their retirement. In turn, the soldiers became fanatically devoted to their commanders and the Republican armies became personal armies, potent tools in the hands of ambitious politicians. As a result, great bloody civil wars occurred  when the Senate and a powerful commander or two commanders got into  conflict because of their personal benefits and ambitions. One of these commanders Lucius Cornelius Sulla became a dictator in 82 B.C. defeating 100.000 army of the Senate. Once he had  implemented all the reforms he thought necessary, the dictator resigned in 79 and retired to his estates. He
returned control of Rome to the Senate and refused to be drawn back into politics. He died the following year. After his death since there was no law of succession in the Constitution powerful generals and the Senate got into conflict this resulted in civil wars.
         Main causes of the  failure of  Roman  Republic Constitution  can be summarized as follows . Roman law and politics was unable to deal with the political gangs, the assassinations, the terrorism, the proscriptions. The end of this covers a quarter century of almost unbroken civil war. Few political structures could survive that. The acquisition of numerous large provinces  required new laws about land reforms and extension of citizenship.  Even though several reformist tried to realize part of these reforms they did not made a complete revolution in the constitution since there were no law of succession in the Constitution these partly reforms did not last after the death of reformist. Hence,  Roman Republican Constitution fail to function properly in the period from 146 to 31 B.C.
 
 
 
 
 

The University of Southern California does not screen or control the content on this website and thus does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity, or quality of such content. All content on this website is provided by and is the sole responsibility of the person from which such content originated, and such content does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the University administration or the Board of Trustees