The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic

by Mike Duncan

HAVING NOW PROVOKED the Italians to war, the Senate suddenly woke up to the fact that they were about to lose control of the whole peninsula. The question of Italian citizenship had been floating around for fifty years, and was rejected every time it arose. But with the mortal necessity of making sure no other Italians went into revolt, the Romans finally relented. The Italians could have their citizenship. After the consul Lucius Caesar returned to Rome to oversee the elections for the next year, he carried a bill through the Assembly: the Lex Julia. The Lex Julia offered full Roman citizenship to any Italian who had not yet taken up arms. The newly enrolled would enjoy the rights of full citizens, including protection from arbitrary abuse and the ability to vote in the Assembly. But even though it was pitched as full citizenship, the Senate could not resist a subtle catch. The entire population of Italy would be lumped into ten new tribes who would always vote last in the Assembly. With voting only proceeding until a majority of tribes agreed, the final tribes were rarely called on to vote. The Senate was willing to enfranchise the Italians, but not to let them take over the Republic. But that was for a later debate—for now the word spread that the Romans had caved and it was civitas for everyone.54 After Lucius Caesar promulgated the Lex Julia, he presided over the consular elections for 89 that saw Pompey Strabo elected. A severe and ambitious novus homo, Strabo was no...