Recent political doings
made me think this might be relevant.
In the fractious latter
days of republican Rome, the democratic aspect of the city’s
politics was on the wane. The prolonged period of republic had
enabled dynasties to establish deep-rooted power bases, and army
reforms meant that soldiers often felt more loyal to generals than
the state.
A few decades earlier
Marius and Sulla, erstwhile colleagues in the Jugurthine War, had
tussled over supremacy in Rome. This ended up being a warm-up act for
the Caesar/Pompey clash that was destined to determine the
destruction of the Republic.
Soldiers were not
generally allowed in the City of Rome, for the rather obvious reason
that having thousands of armed men might just upset the balance of
power, and move the governance of Rome from the Senate to whomever
commanded the legions.
At the same time,
gladiator games (which were used by politicians and aspiring
politicians to improve or cement their popularity) were increasingly
common and occurring on an ever larger scale. It didn’t take long
for the men plotting supremacy to realise that having hundreds of
professional killers as bodyguards or hired thugs could be useful for
both protection and aggression.
Milo was a supporter of
Caesar, and Clodius of Pompey. The two men were political enemies and
frequently travelled with gangs of armed men, including gladiators.
They encountered one another, Clodius attacking Milo (according to
some accounts, others say they met by chance and a fight started by
their followers). Clodius, however, was the man who ended up dead.
Cicero defended Milo,
but despite that, Milo was found guilty and sentenced to exile. The
trial was notable for the mob drowning out Milo’s lawyers and
intimidating Cicero. The mob also meant Pompey’s cohorts turned up
to ‘ensure order’, but as Clodius was his ally this also helped
the jury to give a result that would have pleased Pompey.
Democratic or mixed
constitutions rarely slip into tyranny or political violence
overnight. The arms race of protection and aggression in latter day
republican Rome added to the powder keg of politics in the
city at the time, caused by the erosion of institutions and the
rising power of particular individuals.
When political violence
becomes widely endorsed, accepted or commonplace, power shifts away
from the people, or even the political class, and towards those
willing and able to commit acts of violence to acquire and maintain
power.
Rome never solved this
problem when the Republic became the Empire. At times, transition was
orderly (notably during the Golden Age, until Marcus Aurelius
buggered it up). But the fundamental problem of the lawful nature of
who the emperor was remained unresolved. It, ultimately, always came
down to the same answer, an answer that resulted in increasingly
common civil war, and the Empire devouring its own strength in petty
power struggles.
Might was right.
Thaddeus
