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The government that led Rome's rise to world power in the middle and late Republic was founded on aristocratic competition. What drew men to the struggle was the prospect of personal honor and political authority.[1] Entry into the highest stratum of Roman society came with victory at the polls: for most of the history of the Republic those who won a curule magistracy could expect enrollment in the senate at the next census, but even before that date they enjoyed a senator's prerogatives. They perhaps also earned a place among the nobilitas and passed this distinction on to their sons.[2] Furthermore, winning public office was inseparably bound up with the moral imperatives of aristocratic status. Virtus,gloria,dignitas, and a constellation of associated ideals represented the highest aspirations of aristocratic endeavor, and although in the abstract the qualities these words defined were capable of various manifestations, only rarely and awkwardly in fact could they be revealed apart from service to the state. Hence the vital importance of winning public office and thereby gaining the chance to display them: the moral superiority that their possession implied, quite as much as membership in the senate or noble birth, enabled individuals to

Scholarship on Sulpicius Rufus has long been guided by an old paradigm of prosopography, which dictated that political events in the Roman Republic were based on long term alliances built through kinship ties and mutual ideology. While modern scholarship has changed to view Roman political alliances more fluidly, views of Sulpicius have not changed. Most scholars accept the view that Sulpicius was little more than a lackey of Marius, who switched to Marius' side after a bitter split with his former comrades, the optimates. Sulpicius' tribunate was a time of great change in Rome, at the eve of the Social War and the dawn of a new era of civil wars. Thus it is key to re-evaluate his actions and motives in light of more recent studies that give evidence of independent agency among Roman politicians, and especially among tribunes. Thus, this paper discusses the nature of power politics and the institution of the tribunate in the late Republic as well as argues that Sulpicius Rufus acted as an independent agent who made his own decisions rather than be the tool of another.

Daniel De Leon's pamphlet on Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus and other tribunes in ancient Rome. De Leon was a leading U.S. socialist and Marxist in the late 19th and early 20th century. His focus is mostly on class struggle in in the Roman Republic. His points are polemical with constant comparison and contrast to contemporary class struggle and politics.

Daniel De Leon's pamphlet on Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus and other tribunes in ancient Rome. De Leon was a leading U.S. socialist and Marxist in the late 19th and early 20th century. His focus is mostly on class struggle in in the Roman Republic. His points are polemical with constant comparison and contrast to contemporary class struggle and politics.

Daniel De Leon's pamphlet on Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus and other tribunes in ancient Rome. De Leon was a leading U.S. socialist and Marxist in the late 19th and early 20th century. His focus is mostly on class struggle in in the Roman Republic. His points are polemical with constant comparison and contrast to contemporary class struggle and politics.

Daniel De Leon's pamphlet on Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus and other tribunes in ancient Rome. De Leon was a leading U.S. socialist and Marxist in the late 19th and early 20th century. His focus is mostly on class struggle in in the Roman Republic. His points are polemical with constant comparison and contrast to contemporary class struggle and politics.

Review of Michael Parenti's book on Caesar and "populism in the late Roman Republic in "Revolutionary History"

Review of Michael Parenti's book.

This dissertation applies the principles of fiscal dissertation to the study of the Roman Republic. I argue that the creation of a profitable empire allowed the ruling elite to end their reliance on domestic taxation to fund state activity, and that Rome's untaxed citizens were effectively disenfranchised as a result. They therefore lacked the bargaining power to prevent aristocrats from enriching themselves at the expense of the state. The result was a set of leading individuals whose resources could overwhelm those of communal, public institutions. This wealth allowed them to control the distribution of economic resources within Roman society, reinforcing hierarchies and forcing less fortunate citizens to tie themselves to patronage networks instead of state institutions. This state, unable to command the respect of its constituents, was eventually picked off in the competition between great individuals.

Novel about the Tribune Saturninus written by Raffaello Giovagnoli, in the 19th century.  Raffaello Giovagnoli was an early historian of the Rissorgemento and also wrote straight histories about ancient Rome. This novel about Saturninus was popular in Italy at the time of publication. 

Novel about the Tribune Saturninus written by Raffaello Giovagnoli, in the 19th century.  Raffaello Giovagnoli was an early historian of the Rissorgemento and also wrote straight histories about ancient Rome. This novel about Saturninus was popular in Italy at the time of publication