The collapse of the Republic (79–60 B.C.)
In 77 B.C., Rome sent one of its leading generals, Pompey (PAHM-pee; 106–48 B.C.), to
put down an uprising in Spain. Only a few years later, Pompey had to rush back to
Rome in order to deal with a new force that threatened the very heart of Roman power,
both for the nobiles and for the populares: a slave revolt.
Its leader was Spartacus (SPAHR-tuh-kuhs), a Thracian slave sent to a school in Capua
for the training of gladiators (GLAD-ee-ay-tohrz). Gladiators were warriors who fought
to their deaths in a ring, watched by cheering spectators. The spectators paid good
money for this form of "entertainment," and they expected to see the death of at least
one of the two combatants in a match. No wonder, then, that Spartacus and the other
slaves at the gladiatorial (glad-ee-uh-TOHR-ee-uhl) school revolted in 73 B.C. Within a
short time, they had an army of more than 120,000.
Slavery was the foundation of ancient Rome's great wealth. Rome was not about to
allow the slave revolt, sometimes called the Gladiatorial War (73–71 B.C.), to proceed
unchecked. Not only did Rome call back Pompey, but it sent another army under the
control of Crassus (KRA-suhs; c. 115–53 B.C.), an ally of Sulla who had become
incredibly wealthy by buying up property confiscated under the dictatorship. In the
final battle, Spartacus himself died rather than be captured— a wise choice, since the
Romans crucified some 6,000 slaves along the Appian Way (AP-ee-uhn), the main road
from Capua to Rome.
The Death of Spartacus. Drawing by H. Vogel. Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.
Pompey went on to deal with a group of pirates threatening the eastern Mediterranean.
As the power of Greece had ebbed and Roman control of the region had remained
uncertain, the pirates had returned. In 67 B.C., Pompey broke their hold, thus making
the area safe for shipping. The following year saw his destruction of the other principal
challenge to Roman control over the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor: Mithradates.
Mithra-dates had allied with his son-in-law, Tigranes of Armenia, against Rome. The
defeat of both men gave Rome lands that stretched from the Black Sea to the Caspian
Sea. Pompey's victory in the east was marred at home, however, by a revolt whose
leader was Catiline (KAT-uh-leen; c. 108–62 B.C.) Catiline might have overthrown the
government in 63 B.C., but the noted orator Cicero (SIS-uh-roh; 106–43 B.C.) helped
foil his plan. Catiline was executed the following year.
To prevent the rise of another Catiline, Pompey proposed to form a new government.
He had come out of the wars with Spartacus and Mithradates as one of the most
powerful men in Rome, but he was wise enough to recognize that he could not rule on
his own. Therefore he turned to Crassus, whose wealth, if nothing more, made him a
formidable ally. These two formed an alliance with another soldier-statesman,
a rising star named Julius Caesar (102–44 B.C.) As leader of the populares, Caesar
would help to balance the patrician Crassus and garner more support for the proposed
government of three, a triumvirate (try-UHM-vuhr-eht).