Last Day of Notes

Here our the notes we took today..

• Poor Plebs
• How do you keep the Plebs happy?
• The poet Juvenal said the people "anxiously hope for 2 things: bread and circuses."
• Bread (free grain from the state) and entertainment (Circus Maximus, Colosseum), partly to keep them alive, and partly to keep them quiet.
• A Change in Rule
• Tiberius Gracchus recognized the advantages of courting the Plebeians (even though he was ultimately unsuccessful.
•  Military generals worked that angle-lead an army that conquers a land, then give them a share in the spoils.
• Soldiers' loyalty was to their military leader, not necessarily to Rome or the Republic.
• Nobody did that better than Caesar
• Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE).
• A highly successful general.
• He conquered the huge territory of Gaul.
• He Could Play the Game of Politics
• Made common folks happy.
• Made friends in high places.
• Pompey (a general who conquered Syria and Palestine).
• Crassus (the richest man in Rome, one of the richest men in all of history).
• These 3 men formed the first Triumvirate ("rule of three men").