The Republic of Violence and the Empire of Peace
Both conservatives in the senate and populist reformers learned how to use violence as a political tool in the years after Tiberius Gracchus’s murder. Populists allied with figures like Marius made increasingly effective use of mobs to sway elections. The senate used the senatus consultum ultimum to deprive citizens of their rights. Sulla’s use of his army to seize power over Rome and dictate the terms of his restoration of the Republic represented a natural evolution of this process. By the late 50s BC, it had again become clear that Republican political norms had deteriorated to such a degree that prominent citizens could not trust that their rights would be protected. In Cicero’s formulation, Rome had become a Republic of violence. This violent climate prompted Julius Caesar’s march on Rome, but it took Augustus’s victory in the civil war with Antony to fully restore peace and the rule of law.