The First Man in Rome

by Colleen McCullough

  knights The Equites, the members of the Ordo Equester. It had all started when the kings of Rome had enrolled the city’s top citizens as a special cavalry unit provided with horses paid for from the public purse. At the time, horses in Italy of good enough quality were both scarce and extremely costly. By the time the kings of Rome had yielded to the young Republic, there were eighteen hundred men so enrolled, grouped into eighteen centuries. As the Republic grew, so too did the number of knights, but all the extra knights bought their own horses and maintained them at their own expense; the eighteen hundred men who held the “public horse,” as it was called, were now the senior branch of the Ordo Equester. However, by the second century B.C., Rome was no longer providing her own cavalry; the Order Equester became a social and economic entity having little to do with military matters. The knights were now defined by the censors in economic terms, and while the original eighteen centuries holding the public horse remained at a hundred men each, the rest of the knights’ centuries (some seventy-one) swelled within themselves in numbers, so that all men who qualified at the knights’ census were accommodated within the First Class. Until 123 B.C., senators were actually still a part of the Ordo Equester, it was Gaius Gracchus who split them off as a separate order of three hundred men. However, their sons and nonsenatorial males of their families were still classified as knights. To qualify as a knight at the census (held on a special tribunal in the Forum Romanum), a man had to have property or income in excess of 400,000 sesterces. Though it was not always observed, some censors insisted upon a parade of the eighteen hundred knights who held the public horse, in order to make sure these men were looking after themselves and their steeds properly. The parade of the public horse (when held) occurred perhaps on the Ides of July, with the censors sitting in state at a tribunal atop the steps of the temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum Romanum, while each holder of the public horse solemnly led his mount in a kind of march-past before the censors. From the time of Gaius Gracchus down to the end of the Republic, the knights either controlled or lost control of the courts which tried senators for minor treason or provincial extortion, and were at loggerheads with the Senate fairly regularly. There was nothing to stop a knight who qualified on the senatorial means test from seeking entry to the Senate; that, by and large, they did not aspire to the Senate, was purely due to the knightly love of trade and commerce, forbidden fruit for senators. The Ordo Equester (it was not called that formally until after Gaius Gracchus) liked the thrill of the business forum more than they liked the thrill of the political forum.

  Lanuvium Modern Lanuvio.

  Lar, Lares (pl.) Among the most Roman of all gods, having no form, shape, sex, number, or mythology. They were numina (see numeri). There were many different kinds of Lares, who might function as the protective spirits or forces of a locality (as with crossroads and boundaries), a social group (as with the Lar Familiaris, the family’s private Lar), an activity (as with sailing), or a whole nation (as with the public Lares of Rome). By the late Republic they were depicted (in the form of small statues) as two young men with a dog, but it is doubtful whether a Roman actually believed there were only two of them, or that they owned this form—more that the increasing complexity of life made it convenient to “tag” them.

  Lares Permarini The Lares who protected voyagers on the sea.

  Lares Praestites The Lares who watched over the State— also called the Public Lares.

  Larius, Lacus Modern Lake Como.

  Latin Rights An intermediate citizen status between the nadir of the Italian Allies and the zenith of the Roman citizenship. Those having the Latin Rights shared many privileges in common with Roman citizens: booty was divided equally, contracts with full citizens could be entered into and legal protection sought for these contracts, marriage was allowed with full citizens, and there was the right to appeal against capital convictions. However, there was no suffragium—no right to vote in any Roman election—nor the right to sit on a Roman jury. After the revolt of Fregellae in 125 B.C., the magistrates of Latin Rights towns and districts were entitled to assume the full Roman citizenship for themselves and their direct descendants.

  Latium The region of Italy in which Rome stood. Its northern boundary was the Tiber, its southern a point extending inland from Circei, and on the east it bordered the lands of the Sabines and the Marsi.

  lectisternium A propitiatory form of religious observance usually reserved for major crises. Images of the important gods arranged in maleIfemale pairs were placed upon couches; food was offered them and great honor paid them.

  legate, Legatus. The most senior members of the Roman general’s military staff were his legates. In order to be classified as a legatus, a man had to be of senatorial status, and often was a consular in rank (it appears these elder statesmen occasionally hankered after a spell of army life, and volunteered their services to a general commanding some interesting campaign). Legates answered only to the general, and were senior to all types of military tribunes.

  legion The smallest Roman military unit capable of fighting a war on its own (though it was rarely called upon to do so); that is, it was complete within itself in terms of manpower, equipment, and function. By the time of Gaius Marius, a Roman army engaged in any major campaign rarely consisted of fewer than four legions—though equally rarely of more than six legions. Single legions without prospect of reinforcement did garrison duty in places like the Spains, where tribal rebellions were small, albeit fierce. A legion contained about five thousand soldiers divided into ten cohorts of six centuries each; it also contained about one thousand men of noncombatant status, and usually came with a modest cavalry arm attached to it. Each legion fielded its own artillery and materiel; if one of the consul’s legions, it was commanded by up to six elected tribunes of the soldiers; if belonging to a general not currently a consul, it was commanded by a legate, or else by the general himself. Its regular officers were the centurions, of which it possessed some sixty-six. Though the troops belonging to a legion camped together, they did not mess or live together en masse; instead, they were divided up into units of eight men (the century contained only eighty soldiers, the extra twenty men being noncombatants).

  legionary The correct word for a soldier in a Roman legion. “Legionnaire,” which I have sometimes seen used instead, is more properly the term applied to a member of the French Foreign Legion.

  Lemanna, Lake Modern Lake Leman, or the Lake of Geneva.

  lex, leges (pl.) The Latin word for a law; it came to be applied also to the plebiscita (plebiscites) passed by the Plebeian Assembly. A lex was not considered valid until it had been inscribed on bronze or stone, and deposited in the vaults below the temple of Saturn; however, logic says that the law’s residence in the temple of Saturn was extremely brief, as the vaults could not have contained anything like the number of tablets necessary to hold the body of Roman law, even at the time of Gaius Marius—especially not when the Treasury of Rome was also beneath Saturn. No doubt the tablets were whisked in and whisked out again to be stored permanently in any one of many places known to have been repositories of law tablets.

  lex Appuleia agraria The first of Lucius Appuleius Saturninus’s two land bills, which were aimed at giving land on the Roman public domain to the veterans of the Marian army. This first bill concerned lands in Greece, Macedonia, Sicily, and Africa. It would seem logical to assume that these lands had all been in the possession of Rome for some considerable time, and were not regarded as important.

  lex Appuleia agraria (secunda) I have tagged this law as secunda purely as a matter of convenience, to distinguish it from Saturninus’s first land bill without giving it its full Latin title, only an additional confusion for the nonscholarly reader. This second bill is the one containing the oath of loyalty, the one which provoked such extremely bitter opposition in the Senate. The reasons behind the opposition are still hotly debated in academic circles. I have chosen to assume that the reasons lay in the newness of the
land concerned—Transalpine Gaul and Nearer Spain. There must have been many companies and large-scale pastoralists intriguing to have this very rich land given to them, especially considering that they probably hoped there was mineral wealth involved too; the West was traditionally rich in undiscovered mineral lodes. To see the lands go to soldier veterans of the Head Count must have been quite intolerable.

  lex Appuleia de maiestate The treason law which Saturninus introduced during his first tribunate of the plebs. It removed control of the treason court from the Centuriate Assembly, in which body it was virtually impossible to secure a conviction unless the culprit confessed out of his own mouth that he had gone to war against Rome. This law concerned itself with degrees of treason, and provided for convictions in what might be called “minor treason.” A special quaestio (court), hearing matters to do only with treason, was given to the knights, who were both jury and presidents.

  lex Appuleia frumentaria Saturninus’s grain law, which I have chosen to assume belonged to his second tribunate of the plebs rather than to his first. As the Second Sicilian Slave War had been by then going on for nearly four years, it is possible that the grain shortage in Rome was growing ever more acute. The law is also better situated in the second tribunate of the plebs because by then Saturninus was actively wooing the lowly.

  lex Domitia de sacerdotiis The law passed in 104 B.C. by Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus during his tribunate of the plebs. It took control of membership in the priestly colleges of pontifices and augurs away from the incumbent members, who had traditionally co-opted new members. The new law required that future members of both colleges be elected in a special tribal assembly composed of seventeen tribes chosen by lot.

  lex Liclnia sumptuaria The luxury law passed by an unknown Licinius Crassus somewhere after 143 B.C. It forbade the serving of certain foods at banquets, including the famous licker-fish of the Tiber, oysters, and freshwater eels. It also forbade the excessive use of purple.

  lex Villia annalis Passed in 180 B.C. by the tribune of the plebs Lucius Villius. It stipulated certain minimum ages at which the curule magistracies could be held (presumably thirty-nine years for praetor and forty-two years for consul), and apparently also stipulated that two years at least had to elapse between the praetorship and the consulship, as well as that ten years must elapse between two consulships held by the same man.

  lex Voconia de mulierum hereditatibus Passed in 169 B.C. , this law severely curtailed the right of women to inherit from wills. Under no circumstances could she be designated the main heir, even if the only child of her father; his nearest agnate relatives (that is, on the father’s side) superseded her. Cicero cites a case where it was argued that the lex Voconia did not apply because the dead man’s property had not been assessed at a census; but the praetor (Gaius Verres) overruled this, and refused to allow the girl in question to inherit. Presumably the law was got around, for we know of several great heiresses (among them, Antony’s third wife, Fulvia). In this book, I have had Cornelia the Mother of the Gracchi succeed in obtaining a senatorial waiver; another ploy possible if there were no agnate heirs was to die intestate, in which case the old law prevailed, and children inherited irrespective of sex. It would seem too that the praetor urbanus had considerable latitude in interpreting the laws governing inheritance; there was apparently no court to hear testamentary litigation, which meant the praetor urbanus was the final arbiter.

  Libya That part of North Africa between Egypt and Cyrenaica.

  lictor One of the few genuine public servants in the employ of the Senate and People of Rome. There was a College of Lictors—the number of members is uncertain, but enough certainly to provide the traditional single-file escort for all holders of imperium, both within and outside Rome, and to perform other duties as well. Two or three hundred may not be unlikely. A lictor had to be a full Roman citizen, but that he was lowly was fairly sure, as the official wage was apparently minimal; the lictor was obliged to rely heavily upon gratuities from those he escorted. Within the college, the lictors were divided into groups of ten (decuries), each headed by a prefect, and there were several presidents of the college senior to the prefects. Inside Rome the lictor wore a plain white toga; outside Rome he wore a crimson tunic with a wide black belt ornamented with brass; a black toga was worn at funerals. For the sake of convenience, I have located the College of Lictors behind the temple of the Lares Praestites on the eastern side of the Forum Romanum, but there is no factual evidence of this at all.

  Liger River The modern Loire, in France.

  Liguria The mountainous region lying between the Arnus and Varus rivers, extending inland from the sea as far as the crest of the Alpes Maritimae and the Ligurian Apennines. The chief port was Genua, the largest inland town Dertona. Since its arable land was scant, Liguria was a poor area; it was chiefly famous for its greasy wool, which made up into waterproof capes and cloaks, including the military sagum. The other local industry was piracy.

  Lilybaeum The chief town at the western end of the island of Sicily.

  Liris River The modern Garigliano, in Italy.

  litter A covered cubicle equipped with legs upon which it rested when lowered. It also had a horizontal pole along either side, projecting in front of and behind the cubicle. Between four and eight men could carry it by picking it up along the poles. It was a slow form of transport, but the most comfortable one known in the ancient world.

  Long-haired Gaul See Gallia Comata. Lucius Tiddlypuss See Tiddlypuss, Lucius. Lugdunum Modern Lyon, in France.

  Lugdunum Pass The name I have used to indicate the modern Little St. Bernard Pass between Italian Gaul and Gaul-across-the-Alps. It lay at a high altitude, but it was known and had been occasionally used before the time of Gaius Marius. The Great St. Bernard Pass was also known, but was not used. Both passes were guarded in Italian Gaul by a tribe of Celts called the Salassi, who occupied the modern Val d’Aosta.

  lustrum The Latin word which came to mean both the entire five-year term of the censors, and the ceremony with which the censors concluded the census of the ordinary Roman People on the Campus Marti us.

  lychnites A term used by Pliny the Elder to describe a precious stone found in western Numidia. It is now thought to have been tourmaline.

  Macedonia To a Republican Roman, a much larger region than the Macedonia of today. It commenced on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea below Dalmatian Illyricum, at a point about where the town of Lissus was; its southern boundary on this western extremity lay against Epirus; and its two major ports receiving Adriatic traffic from Italy were Dyrrachium and Apollonia. Bordering Moesia in the north, Macedonia then continued east across the great highlands in which rose the Morava, the Axius, the Strymon, and the Nestus; in the south it bordered Greek Thessaly. Beyond the Nestus it bordered Thrace, and continued as a narrow coastal strip along the Aegean all the way to the Hellespont. Access to and from Macedonia was limited to the river valleys; through the Morava, Axius, Strymon, and Nestus the barbarian tribes of Moesia and Thrace could—and often did—invade, chiefly the Scordisci and the Bessi in the time of Gaius Marius. To the south, the only comfortable access between Macedonia and Thessaly was the pass at the Vale of Tempe. The original inhabitants of Macedonia were probably Germano-Celtic; successive invasions over the centuries mingled this original people with others of Dorian Greek, Thracian, and Illyrian origins. Long divided by natural topographical barriers into small nations tending to war with each other, a united Macedonia came into being under the kings prior to Philip II; but it was Philip II and his son Alexander the Great who thrust Macedonia into world prominence. Following the death of Alexander, Macedonia was first exhausted by a struggle between rivals for the throne, then ran afoul of Rome; its last king, Perseus, lost to Aemilius Paullus in 167 B.C. Roman attempts to convert Macedonia into a self-governing republic failed, so in 146 B.C. Macedonia was reluctantly incorporated into the expanding Roman empire as a province.

  macellum An open-air market of bo
oths and stalls.

  magistrates The elected executives of the Senate and People of Rome. By the middle Republic, all the men who held magistracies were members of the Senate (elected quaestors were normally approved as senators by the next censors); this gave the Senate a distinct advantage over the People, until the People (in the person of the Plebs) took over the lawmaking. The magistrates represented the executive arm of government. In order of seniority, the most junior of all magistrates was the tribune of the soldiers, who was not old enough to be admitted to the Senate, but was nonetheless a true magistrate. Then came the quaestor; the tribune of the plebs and the plebeian aedile were next; the curule aedile was the most junior magistrate holding imperium; next was the praetor; and at the top was the consul.

  The censor occupied a special position, for though this magistracy owned no imperium, it could not be held by a man who had not been consul. In times of emergency, the Senate was empowered to create an extraordinary magistrate, the dictator, who served for six months only, and was indemnified against answering for his dictatorial actions after his term as dictator was over. The dictator himself appointed a master of the horse to function as his war leader and second-in-command.

  maiestas minuta Literally, “little treason,” so called to distinguish it from the kind of treason where a man abrogated his citizenship by going to war against Rome. Lucius Appuleius Saturninus first put maiestas minuta on the law tablets as a criminal charge, and set up a special quaestio or court to hear it during his first tribunate of the plebs in 103 B.C. The court was staffed entirely by knights, but the men tried in it were senators. After Saturninus’s act, the old-style treason charge—called perduellio—heard in the Centuriate Assembly was virtually abandoned.