Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 - The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution

The Mediterranean and the Roman Revolution 

fromThapsustoUtica,tookthetownbyforce,madeabonfireintheforum
andburnttheinhabitantsonitalive.^50
That may lead us to a fourth basic point about the nature and scale of
Rome’simpactontheMediterraneanworldinthisperiod.Itisanessential
feature of the late Republic, beginning with Sulla’s notorious exactions in
Asiain..,thattheindividualcommunitieswerefacedwithcompeting
demandsforservicesormilitarysupport,withtheultimatethreatofannihi-
lationandphysicaldestruction,notonlyasbetweenRomeandrivalpowers,
greatorsmall,butbetweenrivalelementsoftheRomanstateitself.Itwas
precisely by being divided against itself, in Asia and Greece in the s, in
Spaininthes,andalmosteverywhereinthesands,thattheRoman
statemadeitsmostexorbitantdemandsonthemosaicoflocaleconomiesoff
whichitlived.Inthenatureofthecasethesedemandswereoftencontra-
dictory. In .., for instance, the people of Sulci in Sardinia, no doubt
havingnochoice,producedsuppliesforafleetunderNasidius,anopponent
of Caesar; later Caesar sailed in, fined them a large sum as a punishment,
raisedtheirtributeinkindfromone-tenthtoone-eighthoftheirproduce,
andconfiscatedthepropertyofsomeoftheircitizens.^51 Whatallthismeant
inbothpoliticalandeconomictermsforthecommunitiesoftheMediterra-
neandoesindeedcomebeforeusmostclearlyofallinCaesar’sCivilWar,and
theunjustlyneglectedworksoftheCaesariancorpus,whichcarrythestory
ofthecivilwardownto..;indeedtheseCaesarianworksarethebest
introductionwhichwehavetotheMediterraneanworldasitwasinthes.
More particularly, it is theseworks which show the clearest consciousness
bothofthedependenceoftherivalRomanarmiesonthepoliticalallegiances
of the provincial communities, and of theirabsolute dependence—like all
otherarmies,ofcourse—ontheeconomiesoftheareasinwhichtheywere
operating. Let me takewhat seems to me a model example of the contra-
dictorydemandsmadebytheconflictingelementsoftheRomanstateona
regionaleconomy:wefindintheAfricanWarthatin..Caesarcouldnot
findenoughwheatinAfricabecause,soitwassaid,inthepreviousyearall
theploughmenhadbeenconscriptedassoldiersbythePompeiansandno
harvesthadbeenproduced;suchcornastherewasinAfricawasstoredin
well-guardedcities,andsotherewasnothingforitbuttorelyonimported
wheat—ifonlythetradingships(naves onerariae)couldfindtherightplace
andmakeasafelanding.^52

.B. Afr.,.

.B. Afr.,.

.B. Afr.–.