Importance Of The Senate Flashcards
(10 cards)
What did Sulpicius use of violence to get his way with the mithridatic campaign 88BC show ?
‘Attacked them with a mob’ - plutarch sulla
The Senate was strong at the start of the period and the only way to gain power was through violence.
‘The Senate was not its own master’
What does this show about the importance of the Senate?
Plutarch life of sulla 9
The Senate was under the control of one man and reverted almost to pre Republican rule.
How was the power structure altered to reduce the status and power of lesser members of the Senate.
Caesar and sulla increased the number of minor senatorial positions such as aediles, queastors etc.
What were the main ways yo gain power?
Corruption such as bribes - Verrees
Violence - Augustus, Marius
‘I saw unworthy men elevated to honourable poaitions’
Sallust, Catilines war
‘He seized the consilship at 19, marching on Rome as if it were his enemy’
What does this show?
When was this?
Suetonius defied August’s
That Augustus seized power through violence
43BC
‘Raised, praised and erased’
What does this show?
Cicero
The Senate elevated people to power to deal with conflicts but had no power to de-escalate their political and military control afterwards
Why was the Senate limited in its usefulness at preventing tyranny?
It had no military force
Example of the tribunal bypassing senatorial authority
Lex Titia
Optimates (best people ) politicians cater to who?
Senate and Patricians
According to cicero
