Poor Plebs
-How do you keep the plebs happy (or at least keep them from revolting)?
-The post Juvenal said the people “anxiously hope for two things: bread and circuses”
-Bread (free grain from the State) and entertainment (Circus Maximus Coliseum), partly to keep them alive, and partly to keep them quiet
A Change in Rule
-Tiberius Gracchus recognized the advantages of courting the plebeians (even though he was the ultimately unsuccessful)
-Military generals worked that angle – lead an army that conquers a land, then give them a share in the spoils
-Soldier’s loyalty was to their military leader, not necessarily to Rome or the Republic
Nobody did it better than Caesar
-Julius Caesar (100 – 44 BCE)
-A highly successful general
-He conquered the huge territory of Gaul
-The soldiers were getting rich (from all of Gaul’s money) and so was Caesar
-Made common folks happy
-Made friends in high places
-Pompey (a general who conquered Syria and Palestine)
-Crassus (the richest man in Rome, one of the richest men in all history)
-These three men formed the First Triumvirale (“rule of three men”)
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