Despite the failure of Flaccus’ and Gaius Gracchus’ proposals to upgrade the status of Rome’s Italian allies, discontent among the latter had not grown out of control so far. The agrarian law of 111 left substantial allied-occupied tracts of ager publicus untouched, and the censors of 97, M. Antonius (consul 99) and L. Valerius Flaccus (consul 100), friends of Marius both, registered unprecedented numbers of allies as citizens: clearly, mechanisms were developing to extend Roman citizenship, at least among the local elites of Italy.
It thus came as a shock to the Italian allies when legislation by the consuls of95, L. Licinius Crassus and Q. Mucius Scaevola, set up a special court to investigate and try anyone who claimed citizenship without legally qualifying for it. Large numbers of those recently enrolled suddenly became vulnerable; the penalty upon conviction may have been capital. Worse, the law signaled a sharp turnabout in what had appeared to be an accommodating stance on this issue in recent years; the leaders of allied communities, in particular those not privileged by Latin status, reacted with outrage, and for the first time, their continued loyalty became questionable, should Rome persist in this course (Asc. 67 C; see also Chapter 28).
At last, a group of powerful optimates came to understand that both Italy and the res publica might slip from their grip unless they seized the initiative. With the backing of L. Crassus and Aemilius Scaurus, princeps senatus, the tribune M. Livius Drusus, son of the man who had derailed Gaius Gracchus, in 91 introduced a legislative package aimed at simultaneously solving the allied question and returning control of the courts to the senatorial oligarchy. All Italian allies were to be granted citizenship. Three hundred equestrians (many of them, conceivably, from Italian local elites, now enfranchised) would be added to the Senate, and juries would henceforth be taken from this enlarged 600-member Senate. The plebs was to benefit from a colonization program that relied heavily on ager publicus hitherto held by allies (App. B Civ. 35).34
Some senators objected to the ‘‘dilution’’ of their order and the near tripling of the citizen body virtually overnight. The principal losers, however, would be equestrians, especially those connected with the courts and the publicani, who stood to lose what made them a force in the state - control of the courts.35 Among the allies, the great landholders of Etruria and Umbria in particular resented having to pay (as it were) for citizenship with their excess possessions of ager publicus.
Nevertheless, several of these bills passed, endorsed by the Senate. In September, however, Crassus died - and with him, crucial support for Drusus. Marshalling the opposition, the consul L. Marcius Philippus (almost certainly aided by Marius, friend of equestrians and allies, and resenting Drusus for stealing the latter issue from him36) within a month swayed the Senate to annul the laws already enacted, on grounds of augural violations. Drusus was assassinated a few days before the scheduled vote on his citizenship bill, which thus became moot (App. B Civ. 36).37
Convinced that the oligarchy would never grant them, by way of citizenship, a fair share in the empire they had helped build, numerous allied states - chiefly in southern Picenum, central Italy, Samnium, Campania, Lucania, and Apulia - now formed their own confederacy, under the name Italia, hoping to break Roman domination of Italy and seize the empire by force. Early in 90, they scored notable victories in what is known as the ‘‘Social War’’ (from socius, ‘‘ally’’); but Etruria and Umbria gave little help to them, and when the Latin colonies (except Venusia) decided to support Rome, the allies no longer stood a chance: Rome’s resources, in money and manpower, outweighed theirs.38
Within two years, the ‘‘Italian’’ confederacy was defeated. Concerned that the Latins and Etruscans might join the insurrection, in 90 the Senate authorized a law by the consul L. lulius Caesar that offered citizenship to all allies loyal or willing to lay down arms; in 89, a tribunician law extended the offer to any free inhabitant of Italy presenting himself in Rome within 60 days, while a law of the consul Cn. Pompeius Strabo granted Latin status to the communities north of the Po River: the Roman state now encompassed the peninsula. By 88, only parts of Samnium and Lucania remained at war, with no hope of victory (App. B Civ. 37-53).39
World History
