Gracchi Marius and Sulla | Page 8

condition of Italy
and the general deterioration of public morality imperatively demanded
reform. It has been already said that we do not know for certain how
the plebs arose. But we know how it wrested political equality from the
patres, and, speaking roughly, we may date the fusion of the two orders
under he common title 'nobiles,' from the Licinian laws. [Sidenote: The
'nobiles' at Rome.] It had been a gradual change, peaceably brought
about, and the larger number having absorbed the smaller, the term
'nobiles,' which specifically meant those who had themselves filled a
curule office, or whose fathers had done so, comprehended in common
usage the old nobility and the new. The new nobles rapidly drew aloof
from the residuum of the plebs, and, in the true parvenu spirit, aped and

outdid the arrogance of the old patricians. Down to the time of the
Gracchi, or thereabouts, the two great State parties consisted of the
plebs on the one hand, and these nobiles on the other. [Sidenote: The
'optimates' and 'populares.'] After that date new names come into use,
though we can no more fix the exact time when the terms optimates
and populares superseded previous party watchwords than we can when
Tory gave place to Conservative, and Whig to Liberal. Thus patricians
and plebeians were obsolete terms, and nobles and plebeians no longer
had any political meaning, for each was equal in the sight of the law;
each had a vote; each was eligible to every office. But when the fall of
Carthage freed Rome from all rivals, and conquest after conquest filled
the treasury, increased luxury made the means of ostentation more
greedily sought. Office meant plunder; and to gain office men bribed,
and bribed every day on a vaster scale. If we said that 'optimates'
signified the men who bribed and abused office under the banner of the
Senate and its connections, and that 'populares' meant men who bribed
and abused office with the interests of the people outside the senatorial
pale upon their lips, we might do injustice to many good men on both
sides, but should hardly be slandering the parties. Parties in fact they
were not. They were factions, and the fact that it is by no means easy
always to decide how far individuals were swayed by good or bad
motives, where good motives were so often paraded to mask base
actions, does not disguise their despicable character. Honest optimates
would wish to maintain the Senate's preponderance from affection to it,
and from belief in its being the mainstay of the State. Honest populares,
like the Gracchi, who saw the evils of senatorial rule, tried to win the
popular vote to compass its overthrow. Dishonest politicians of either
side advocated conservatism or change simply from the most selfish
personal ambition; and in time of general moral laxity it is the
dishonest politicians who give the tone to a party. The most
unscrupulous members of the ruling ring, the most shameless panderers
to mob prejudice, carry all before them. Both seek one thing
only--personal ascendency, and the State becomes the bone over which
the vilest curs wrangle.
[Sidenote: Who the equites were.] In writing of the Gracchi reference
will be made to the Equites. The name had broadened from its original

meaning, and now merely denoted all non-senatorial rich men. An
individual eques would lean to the senatorial faction or the faction of
men too poor to keep a horse for cavalry service, just as his connexions
were chiefly with the one or the other. How, as a body, the equites
veered round alternately to each side, we shall see hereafter. Instead of
forming a sound middle class to check the excesses of both parties,
they were swayed chiefly by sordid motives, and backed up the men
who for the time seemed most willing or able to gratify their greed.
What went on at Rome must have been repeated over again with more
or less exactitude throughout Italy, and there, in addition to this process
of national disintegration, the clouds of a political storm were gathering.
The following table will show at a glance the classification of the
Roman State as constituted at the outbreak of the Social War.
_Cives Romani_: 1. Rome 2. Roman Colonies 3. Municipia
Roman Colonies and Municipia are Praefectura.
_Peregrini_: 1. Latini or Nomen Latinum a. Old Latin towns except
such as had been made Municipia b. Colonies of old Latin towns c.
Joint colonies (if any) of Rome and old Latin towns d. Colonies of
Italians from all parts of Italy founded by Rome under the name of
Latin Colonies 2. Socii, i.e. Free inhabitants of Italy 3. Provincials, i.e.
Free subjects of Rome out of Italy
[Sidenote: Rights of Cives Romani.] The Cives Romani in and out