Poor Plebs
- The poet Juvenal said the people "anxiously how for two 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.
Change in rule
- Tiberius Gracchus recognized the advantages of courting the plebeians
- 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
Caesar
- Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE)
- A highly successful general
- He conquered the huge territory of Gaul
- Made common folks happy
- Made friends in high places
- - Pompey
- - Crassus
- These three men formed the First Triumvirate
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