Ancient History Rome: Relations with Senate, Equestrians and the People: Panem et Circenses: Bread and Circuses

Roman Social Structure

Broadly based on a rigid class system

Patricians:

The Roman elite
Wealthiest and most influential in Roman society - the aristocracy
Members could trace their lineage back to the original nobility of the Roman kingdom
Men from this class would be enrolled into the Senate

Equestrians:

Wealthy individuals in Rome who were not Patricians
Far greater in number than the Patricians
Original name derives from the fact that in the early Republic the Equestrians were the cavalry in the Roman army, since they were wealthy enough to own a horse

Plebeians

Freeborn Roman citizens, with full political and legal rights
Differed greatly in wealth and status, with some very rich all the way down to the urban poor who depended on state handouts of food and provisions for their survival

Political Representation

The Plebs

Domestic power was vested in the Roman people through:

the Centuriate Assembly (Comitia Centuriata)
the Tribal Assembly (Comitia Tributa)
the Plebeian Council (Concilium Plebis)

The two Assemblies passed new laws, as did the Council, which also elected Rome's magistrates

The Senate

The Senate did not have law-making power. It only made recommendations to the Plebeian Council

Nevertheless, the Senate held considerable clout (auctoritas) in Roman politics:

It was the official body that sent and received ambassadors, and it appointed officials to manage public lands, including the provincial governors
It conducted wars and it also appropriated public funds
It was the Senate that authorised the city's chief magistrates, the consuls, to nominate a dictator in a state of emergency

The Senate

In theory the senate was purely and advisory body
In practice it became a real governing body in Rome

Power Increase:

This came about during the wars with Carthage and its supremacy in the state was consolidated during the second century. Senatorial power was based not on law but purely on custom, precedent and prestige of its members

Late Republican Senate

In the Late Republic, an archconservative faction emerged, who called themselves the boni (The Good Men) or Optimates
The Late Republic was characterised by the social tensions between the broad factions of the Optimates and the newly wealthy Populares. This became increasingly expressed by domestic fury, violence and fierce civil strife
Examples of Optimates include Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Pompey the Great, while Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Gaius Julius Caesar were Populares
The labels Populares and Optimates are not, however, as concrete as sometimes assumed, and politicians could often change factions

Populares = favouring the people

Populares sought popular support against the dominant oligarchy, either in the interests of the people themselves or in furtherance of their own personal ambitions

Optimates = the dominant group

Pro-aristocratic faction of the later Roman Republic. They wished to limit the power of the popular assembies and the Tribunes of the Plebs, and to extend the power of the Senate

The Senate (again)

In our period, senators were the wealthy, educated male elite of the empire
In AD 14, most senators were drawn from either long-established Roman families or the Italian nobility
They had to own property in excess of 1,000,000 sesterces, and membership of the senate was hereditary

Entry Methods

This system was not effective at maintaining numbers in the senate, though, as the senatorial families did not reproduce reliably enough to fill all gaps left by deaths or retirement
So two other means were created to allow people to enter the order:

Someone who did not belong to the senatorial order were given the right to wear latus clavus (thick purple stipe denoting senatorial status) by the emperor, which then gave them the right to stand for magistracies and enter the senate
Adlection: the practice of the emperor nominating someone who has won his favour to automatic membership of the senate, without them needing to hold a magistracy first

These methods might be used to bring members of the equestrian order into the senate, and, increasingly, to bring wealthy provincials into the senate

Role and Regulations

In Rome, the Senate met once a fortnight, held debates and proposed legislation. Under the emperors, though, the issues they dealt with tended to be those which were unlikely to be controversial e.g. the construction of roads, aqueducts, religious matters.
More important issues, such as taxation, foreign relations, military policy, etc. were now considered chiefly by the imperial court instead - i.e the emperor, his household and a select group of Senators
'Good' emperors made a point of showing interest in the debate and opinions of Senators, 'bad' emperors did not
The Senate also acted as a criminal court for cases of corruption and adultery committed by people within their own social class and as governors of provinces

What was central to the relationship?

The emperor's relationship with the Senate centred on two main areas:

Respect for their privileges and powers
The use of the Senate in administration - giving them roles and responsibilities to fulfil

Post	Responsibilities	Pre-requisites	Age qualification	Number of officer-holders p.a.
Vigintivir	Junior magistrates responsible for minting coins, executing criminals, judging legal cases and overseeing care of streets	Must be sons of senators	18	20
Military tribune	One of six assistants to the commander of a legion	Optional follow-up to vigintivirate	Usually early 20s	6 per legion (of which there were normally 28).
Quaestor	Treasurer – often served in provinces	Follow-up to vigintivirate. Candidate enters senate proper at this point	24	20
Aedile	In charge of city maintenance, markets and games in	Optional follow-up to quaestorship	After quaestorship	6
Tribune of the plebs	In the Republic, a defender of the ordinary people; by now largely ceremonial post whose powers had passed to the emperor	Optional follow-up to quaestorship	After quaestorship	10
Praetor	Mainly responsible for the administration of justice	Must have completed quaestorship; ideally also aedileship / tribunate	29	12 under Tiberius; 17 or 18 by time of Trajan
Consul	Chief magistrates of in the Republic; now second only to the emperor	Must have completed praetorship	42	2 at any one time, but 4 per annum (i.e. two pairs) under Tiberius, rising to 8 or 10 by the end of the first century AD.

Roughly 350 positions in total

The Equestrian Order

The Equestrian Order (ordo equester) is very much a part of the ruling elite of the empire, but is distinct from and slightly less prestigious than the senatorial order
It has its roots in the Republic, when equestrians were essentially wealthy citizens who were not politically active. They were not members of the senate, and tended to involve themselves in trade and tax collection instead
They were also closely involved in the army - initially they had literally been 'knights' in the sense of cavalry, but by the late Republic were serving instead as army officers. However, from the Augustun period onwards, their role in both military and civilian administration increased

Differentiating Equestrians/Senators: Eligibility

Equestrians were distinguished from the senatorial order partly by wealth - the property qualification to be an equestrian was 400,000 sestertii, compared to 1 million for a senator
Even if they acquired the necessary wealth, they could not enter the senatorial order without special dispensation from the emperor, as senatorial status was hereditary
Entry into the equestrian order was much more open. All that was needed was the 400,000 sestertii and 'good morals' (adherence to the Roman state and its values
This meant that members of local civic elites in Italy and the provinces could readily achieve equestrian status
Membership carried with it visible privileges (as with the senatorial order) - e.g the angustus clavus (narrow purple stripe on the tunic and toga) and seats in the front rows in the theatre and amphitheatre

Role in the Period

In the period covered by this module, all emperors came from the senatorial order - so another important distinction between senators and equestrians is that senators could potentially set themselves up as rivals to the reigning emperors, but equestrians could not
As for senators, there was a distinct career ladder for equestrians to climb - generally they tended to hold procuratorships first and then move on to prefectures, but individuals varied, with plenty clearly choosing to specialise in military posts only
Typical careers are preserved by honorific and funerary inscriptions - examples can be seen at LACTOR 8, nos. 21-23 (Tiberian period), 37 (Nero's Praetorian Prefect, Burrus) 70 (Flavian period) and 82-83 (Trajanic period)

Use of Equestrians

Reasons for the increasing use of equestrians during the imperial period are debated:

Some argue that emperors preferred to entrust sensitive positions (e.g the command of the Praetorian Guard or the governorship of Egypt, which supplied much of Rome's grain), to them because senators appointed to these positions might potentially use them as leverage in order to mount a challenge to the emperor's power
But this is not entirely consistent - senators also commanded the legions and governed most of the provinces, and could (and did) usurp power on the basis of the military control which this gave them
The alternative argument is that equestrians were used because the emperors simply needed:

the political support of the order; and
their military and financial experience to help them in the vast task of governing the empire

Senators: Activity

Which emperors maintained good relations with these groups? Which did not? Why?

Augustus - relatively good relationship:

Augustus' rise to power effectively rendered the senate powerless in political policy making. The constitutional settlements in 27 and 23 BC established the principate and greatly reduced the power of the senate. This meant that he needed to placate the senate to a degree. He did this by giving money to individual senators to secure their loyalty and create dependency on the princeps
Macrobius "Augustus had actually paid off the debts of a senator friend of his unasked, to the tune of about four million sesterces. In return, by way of thanks for his generosity he got the following note "nothing for me then?"" - ungrateful. Augustus paid off his debt but didn't give him any money to spend himself.
Augustus also worked hard to maintain the Republican framework for senators, making it appear on the surface that nothing had changed, in order to keep a good relationship with the senate
Suetonius - "To enable more men to take part in the administration of the state, he (Augustus) devised new offices"

Included officials for city management and preservation, grain distribution, and new censors. By increasing the number of roles he increased competition by expanding the cursus honorum, which gave senators something to work towards

Suetonius - Augustus purged the senate of troublemakers and made it more exclusive. During his reign he reduced the number of senators from 1,000 to 600. He also imposed extra restrictions, for example an inheritance tax of 5% in 6AD, which reinforced his dominance (auctoritas)
Augustus created a privy council, the Concilium Principis, which included 2 consuls and 15 senators. It changed every 6 months and allowed him to exert greater control over policy
He also increased the influence of the Equestrians with roles meant specifically for them, including the Superintendents of the Roman Police force/Fire Brigade, of the Province of Egypt and of the Praetorian Cohorts. According to Suetonius "at the elections for tribunes if there were not candidates enough of senatorial rank, he made appointments from among the Equestrians" - he did this because Equestrians could never dream of overthrowing him, and so there was no harm in giving them certain positions, whereas senators were of a high enough social rank to be a threat, and so their power had to be mitigated
However:

Giving money to certain senators could have caused a bad relationship with other senators as they could have thought that he was playing favourites. This could have created a foundation for a revolt or a coup. This did in fact happen, as Suetonius tells us that senators Varro Murena and Fannius Caepi tried to kill him. This shows that Augustus only really had good relations with specific senators
Suetonius - when Augustus went into the senate house, he would greet each senator by name. He would also go to their birthday parties and socialise with them, and there was even one incident where he went to visit a depressed senator who was starving himself. He made a real effort to treat the senators as equals. Augustus once said that he was inter pares (first among equals)
Tacitus - "Augustus forbade senators and equestrians of higher rank from entering Egypt except by permission, and he had specially reserved the country, from a fear that any one who held a province containing the key of the land and of the sea, with ever so small a force against the mightiest of army might distress Italy by famine" - this shows that there was little trust between the emperor and the senate/equestrians
Augustus also took all military provinces for himself
The most sensitive positions were given to himself or equestrians
Reduced the senate's power in Egypt
In 28 BC (just before the first constitutional settlement) Augustus and Agrippa selected senators to remove, but Suetonius tells us that this initially didn't work, as there were too many senators, so then they have the senate the power to remove others from their ranks
Suetonius - During this period, Augustus was so scared of the senate's reaction that he used to wear chain mail under his toga
Suetonius - Augustus deliberately made friends with the big boy senators and would have people coming close to him frisked

Tiberius - poor relationship with the senate

Failed to maintain a good relationship with the senate and equestrians, despite efforts to work with the senate (during his accession and his claims of not wanting sole power). He actually tried to give the senate more power, but they thought he was bluffing and became even more sycophantic.
Tacitus - He gave the senate the power to create legislation without him, and the first thing the senate did was to decree that any time the emperor's name was to be written it must be written in gold (Tiberius was like ffs I tried)
A growing fear of the emperor stunted any good relations
Tacitus - "So corrupted indeed and debased was that age by sycophancy that not only the foremost citizens who were forced to save their grandeur by servility, but every ex-consul, most of the ex-praetors and a host of inferior senators would rise in eager rivalry to propose shameful and preposterous motions. Tradition says that Tiberius, as often as he left the Senate House used to exclaim in Greek "How ready these men are to be slaves!" Clearly, even he, with his dislike of public freedom, was disgusted at the abject abasement of his creatures"
The treason trials scared the senate so much that they resorted to sycophancy

Caligula - poor relationship with the Senate

Following Caligula's reintroduction of the Maiestas Trials, Seneca writes that Caligula "tortured them in every conceivably painful way known to nature - by garrote, ankle pins, the rack, fire, and even having to look upon his face"
Caligula brought all of the documents from Tiberius' Maiestas Trials and burned then, but Suetonius and Cassius Dio tell us that it was fake (copies)
When Caligula reintroduced the treason trials, the senate actually thanked him for not killing them sooner (example of sycophancy)
Suetonius - Caligula once burst out laughing at a senate dinner, and when he was asked why, he said it was because he could have all of their throats slit right there and then if he wished, which is similar to when he exclaimed "If only all of Rome had but a single neck"
He once pulled all of the senators out of bed to dance for them, and had one senator killed when he hesitated to answer after being asked whether Caligula or a statue of a god was better
He thought so little of the senate that he once tried to make his horse consul (not madness, but taking the piss out of the senate)

Claudius - struggled to maintain a good relationship with the senate

Suetonius - the use of his wives and freedmen to run the empire was in direct contradiction to the senate's wishes
He gave freedmen political positions and jobs usually reserved for senators
One inscription at Ostia shows that the superintendent of the port was an imperial freedman
He expanded equestrian rights, giving them the right to admission to imperial presence, however, Suetonius tells us that 300 equestrians were killed during Claudius' reign, implying a poor overall relationship
The fact that the senate tried to restore the republic shows how much they didn't want another emperor after Caligula. it is possible that his reign destroyed any possibility of Claudius having a good relationship with the senate

Nero - poor relationship

Pisonian conspiracy - 41 senators were involved in the plot. They wanted rid of him because of his criminal record, his abolition of senate's rights, the way he lowered the tone of the imperial position, and the fact that he stripped the power to mint coins from the senate
Nero used the conspiracy to execute dozens of senators and equestrians, including Seneca (there was no evidence, Nero just wanted rid of him)
Suetonius "Often he hinted broadly that it was not his intention to spare the remaining senators, but would one day wipe out the entire senatorial order"
It's clear that Nero sought to humiliate the senate - though this may be an emphasis from the largely senatorial sources
The way he treated the people and the senate ultimately brought about his downfall at the hands of the senate and senatorial members during the revolts of Galba and Vindex (both senators) - this shows how bad the relationship was
Contrast between the Quinquennium Neronis and his later reign. During the first few years of his reign things were generally positive (largely due to his advisors and mother). It only worsened once he had Agrippina killed
Equestrians - Evidence for similar humiliation prevalent in Suetonius, where Nero uses the Equestrians as an order to heap praise and fawn over the emperor during artistic pursuits. Suetonius tells us that Nero selected some Equestrians and more than 5,000 commoners to learn the Alexandrian style of applause, and ordered them to applaud him whenever he sang.

How did the functions of the Senate/Equestrians change under the emperors?

Claudius allowed Gauls to enter the senate
Caligula gave the power of elections back to the people
Augustus restricted Egypt and added more to the cursus honorum
Pisonian conspiracy
Nero stripped the power to make coins from the senate

What evidence is there for resistance to the emperors from the Senate? How widespread were these threats?

Caligula was literally assassinated
Nero was made a public enemy
Thrasea Paetus showed unusual open opposition to the emperor by walking out of the senate. Nero would late have him killed after the Pisonian Conspiracy, and killed many other potential opponents too
Nero's reign was marred with conspiracies, such as the revolts of Galba and Vindex and the Pisonian conspiracy
Claudius also faced assassination attempts. According to Suetonius - "he was attacked by individuals, by a conspiracy and finally by a civil war. A man of the commons was caught near his bed chamber in the middle of the nigh, dagger in hand; and two members of the equestrian order were found lying in wait for him in public places"
According to Suetonius, Gallus and Corvinus (two senators) also tried to kill him, aided by his own freedmen, and Scribonianus started a civil war
Suetonius - Augustus "faced opposition from senate and family" - he put a stop to several outbreaks, attempts at revolution and conspiracies, which were betrayed before they became formidable"
However, all conspiracies against Augustus were personal rather than relating to his reign

The People and the Emperors

Key areas of importance:

Communication
Emperors paying attention
Emperors gaining the support of the people

Under the emperors the wishes of the people no longer counted as much, as elections were held in the senate and real power was in a single person's hands - the emperor
HOWEVER
The emperor still needed public support which could be gained through generosity - baths and games, the building of an ever more splendid and glorious city, control of grain supply and a better run and ordered city. Another powerful development was the imperial cult

Popular Emperors

Augustus and Claudius were popular because of their generosity, catering to the people through entertainment and a 'man of the people' image. The most successful were Augustus and Claudius
Keeping order in the city, maintaining peace and avoiding civil war were also important considerations
Augustan re-organisation of the city administration and the removal of corruption was also significant, as was military success

The Games and Theatre

Under the empire, the popular assemblies declined in importance - formal political contiones became much less frequent - although the emperor would on occasion address the people
Suetonius reports that Nero, about to be overthrown, had it in mind to make a speech to the people and throw himself on their mercy, but thought better of this scheme and the text of this speech was discovered on his desk after his death
The games provided an occasion at which emperor and people could meet, the emperor displaying his generosity to his citizens and enjoying the people's pleasures
BUT
The people might also seize the opportunity to express their disapproval of his activities

Case in Point

Tiberius returning a statue which he had removed to his palace from the Baths of Agrippa, and popular complaints about the high price of corn
Caligula, however, was less tolerant of such opposition and was said to have wished that the Roman people 'had only one neck' (Suetonius). On one occasion, spectators at the games protesting at high levels of taxation were executed

Emperors and the Plebeians

Which emperors maintained good relations with the plebs? Which did not? Why?

Augustus:

Maintained good relations
His success can be seen in public inscriptions commemorating vows for his safety (as seen on coins)
Used two key methods to ensure the loyalty of the plebs: entertainment and largesse (handouts)
Created the model used by later emperors "bread and circuses"
"Augustus won over the soldiers with gifts, the populace with cheap corn, and all men with the delights of peace" - Tacitus
Res Gestae - The people demanded that Augustus be given dictatorship in times of crisis, such as food shortages. He refused this, but took the superintendence of the corn supply and "through (his) expenditure and care", fixed the issue in a matter of days.
The management of grain was vital - the corn dole was how a large proportion of the Roman people were fed - they needed it to survive
Augustus set up a formal management system to deal with the shortages in AD 6-7 as a long term solution
He also used congiara - handouts of money. According to the Res Gestae he paid 300 sesterces to each man, which helped them to provide for themselves and avoid poverty. He gave them 400 sesterces each from war booty in his fifth consulship [29 BC] and again in his tenth consulship [24 BC]. This would have maintained a good relationship with the plebs, as previously they would have simply been ignored by the patricians who kept their money and power to themselves. Augustus made the people feel as if he cared for them, especially since it was his own money that he used. He also made twelve distributions of corn "purchased at my own expense" and he claims that "These gifts of mine never reached fewer than 250,000 citizens"
He paid 150 million sesterces (over four different occasions) to the treasury and paid 170 million sesterces to the military treasury (which was created by him to pay rewards to soldiers who had served for 20 years or more)

These constant gifts made him seems generous and made him indispensable. His money was essential to the running of the city. As they relied on him, they couldn't afford to get rid of his (besides the people would have reacted badly as they all loved him). This, therefore, kept him in power

According to the Res Gestae, he gave gladiatorial shows in his own name three times and five times in the names of his sons or grandsons (roughly 10,000 fought in these shows) - he also held "a display of athletes" three times and held the Centennial Games on behalf of the quindecimviri college (with Marcus Agrippa in 17 BC)
Also staged a naval battle in which 30 vessels joined
He also made a lot of administrative changes (see administration of imperial Rome post) which helped the city.

Tiberius:

Poor relationship with the plebs
He was cautious with money, which did not sit well with the people as they had become accustomed to the generosity of Augustus.
Suetonius - "He gave no public shows at all, and very seldom attended those given by others"
After he was forced to buy the freedom of an actor, Actius, he declared that he would help no others unless they proved to the Senate that there were "legitimate causes for their condition"
Suetonius - "He showed generosity to the public in but two instances"

He offered to lend 100 million sesterces without interest for three years
He made good the losses of owners of houses in the Caelian mount, which had burned down

According to Suetonius, the former "was forced upon him by the clamour of the people for help in a time of great financial stress"
Suetonius also accuses Tiberius of "rarely allowing veteran soldiers their discharge" and hoping to save money through their deaths
"He did not relieve the provinces either by any act of liberality, except Asia, when some cities were destroyed by an earthquake"
Velleius Paterculus - Does give the impressions that Tiberius was extremely generous, but this may be due to his own personal favourability towards Tiberius - "how often and how generously he gave largesse to the people"
Generally there could be an unfair presentation by the sources - yes he was not a popular emperor, but who would be when compared to Augustus? Tiberius did what was needed but not what was expected

Caligula

Poor relationship with the plebs
According to Pliny, Caligula began working on many new aqueducts, including the Anio Novus. This helped to improve the lives of ordinary Romans. See the Administration of Imperial Rome post for more detail
There is some evidence Caligula made steps to please the people, but Josephus follows the line that Caligula would brutalise any protesting citizens:
"Rome herself above all became only too aware of the sheer horror of his actions, since he afforded her no special treatment compared with other cities"
"He plundered and laid waste her citizens, but in particular the Senate, and those of its members who were patricians or highly respected for their distinguished ancestry" - which shows that his relationship with the plebs might not have been that bad as he focused the majority of his brutality on high society (and all writers were from the high orders of society)
Caligula forced parents to watch their children be executed (Suetonius)
Ordered a bridge to be built between his palace and the temple of Jupiter, claiming that he was a god and should be able to talk to this fellow deity
When meat became too expensive to feed to wild animals, he fed them criminals instead
Suetonius portrays Caligula in similar manner. After telling us about Caligula's treatment of Senators, he comments:
"He behaved just as violently and just as arrogantly towards the other orders of society"
Caligula once had a crowd, that was trying to get into the Circus to secure free seats, driven away with clubs. He also removed the canopy which provided shade at gladiatorial shows and blocked exits
"More than once he closed down the granaries and let people go hungry" - Suet
Cassius Dio - Caligula introduced severe tax measures and inscribed them on boards in very small letters and hung the, in a very high position so they would be "unaware of what was lawful and unlawful" - he did this because he had squandered 575 million denarii in less than a year
Caligula would complain that his reign had not been "marked by any great disaster which would have allowed him to win popularity through his relief efforts"

In other words, generosity to the people was just political expediency, not genuine concern for their welfare. This is not unique to Caligula. Suetonius tells us that Augustus realised this too, as he had been considering stopping the grain supply but didn't because he knew some politician would reintroduce it to gain popularity

All writers were upper-class, so there is a limited focus on Caligula's cruelty towards the plebs, except for some particularly notorious examples

Claudius

Good relationship with the plebs - much stronger than the others
Executed the people who had killed Caligula
Established a civil service in the form of freedmen and brought about agrarian reforms (such as the draining of the Fucine lake) - see administration
Claudius also began the conquering of Britain and conquered Mauretania in North Africa, Thrace in the Balkans and Lycia in Turkey, adding them all to the Roman empire
His administrative successes (see Administration of Imperial Rome post) such as securing grain and water supply in Rome, were popular measures that should not be overlooked
Claudius also lavished largesse and entertainment on the people to secure their loyalty
Suetonius - "he very often distributed largesse to the people" + Claudius was innovative and threw some (shows) "of a new kind, and some revived from ancient times, and in places where no one had ever given them before"
Restored Pompey's theatre when it was damaged by fire and held games there
"He gave many gladiatorial shows and in many places" - he held one annually in the Praetorian camp in celebration of the accession
"he would address the audience and invite them to merriment, calling them "masters" from time to time"
Dio also surveys Claudius' treatment of different groups in Rome, highlighting not only more positive interactions with the Senate and Equestrians, but his concern that the city must be well administered:

"He refused to accept any gifts of money, a thing which had been usual under Augustus and Gaius (Caligula)"
He would not allow anyone who had any relatives still living to nominate him as heir
All the funds that had been confiscated under Tiberius and Gaius (Caligula) he gave back to the victims themselves, if they were still alive, or othrewise to their children
He closed down the taverns where people would meet and drink and issued an edict that no meat or hot water should be sold, and punished some who did not obey. He did this because "he realised that it was pointless to ban the populace from doing something unless it helped to reform their daily habits"
He forced those who had been accustomed to performing on the stage during Caligula's reign to appear on the stage. "He did this not because he took any delight in it, but to censure these people for their past conduct"
"By such conduct he won so much love and devotion in a short time"
His popularity with the plebs is further shown by how the people reacted to a rumour that he had died. The people were "horror-stricken, and with dreadful execrations continued to assail the soldiers as traitors, and the senate as murderers" until it was eventually revealed that he was in fact alive

Nero

Poor relationship with the plebs (although during the quinquennium neronis it was pretty good)
At the beginning of his reign he put on many shows and spectacles
Tacitus - "Soon he actually invited all the people of Rome, who extolled him in their praises like a mob which craves for amusements and rejoices when a prince draws them the same way. However, the public exposure of his shame acted on him as an incentive instead of sickening him, as men expected"
Suetonius - "He gave many entertainments of different kinds" Including the Juvenales, chariot races, stage-plays, and gladiatorial shows
At the Juvenales, he had old men "of consular rank" and "aged matrons" take part
During the chariot races he even matched chariots drawn by four camels
Every day "all kinds of presents" were thrown to the people, including "a thousand birds of every kind each day, various kinds of food, tickets for grain, clothes, gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, paintings, slaves, beasts of burden, and even trained wild animals; finally, ships, blocks of houses, and farms"
At the start of his reign (during the Quinquennium Neronis), Nero attempted to follow the "principles of Augustus", which included generosity to the plebs
Suetonius - "To make his good intentions still more evident, he declared that he would rule according to the principles of Augustus, and he let slip no opportunity for acts of generosity and mercy, or even for displaying his affability"
More oppressive sources of revenue were either abolished or moderated
He reduced the rewards paid to informers against violators of the Papian law to 1/4 of the former amount
He gave 400 sesterces to each man of the people
He granted to the most distinguished of the Senators who were without means an annual salary (some even up to 500,000 sesterces)
He gave a monthly allowance of grain to the Praetorian cohort for free
He exclaimed "How I wish I never learned to write!" when asked to sign a death warrant
He allowed the plebs to watch his exercises in the Campus, often spoke in public and read his poems both at home and in the theatre "so greatly to the delight of all that a thanksgiving was voted because of his recital"
Nero devised a new way of feeding the people. He changed the banquet system to grain parcels that would be given out at games (Suetonius)
However, even the plebs would turn on Nero, largely as a result of his neglect of their wishes, and him profiting from crises where the plebs struggled
He was violent and depraved. He would attack people in the street for fun, bar people from leaving performances to the extent that women were giving birth in the audience. He built the Domus Aurea on top of the ruins of people's houses (after the fire) abd had stopped people searching in the rubble of their own property. He also encouraged depravity and debauchery
He also had the idea that a gentleman should spend extravagantly, which just made him look like a dick
Suetonius - "The bitter feeling against him was increased because he also turned the high cost of grain to his profit, for indeed it so fell out that while the people were suffering from hunger, it was reported that a ship had arrived from Alexandria, bringin sand for court wrestlers"
There was also Nero's treatment of the Christians, as well as the Great Fire of Rome, which ultimately hurt the people of Rome the most - the rumours circulating that Nero began the fire would of course damage his relationship with them, and particularly his neglect following the fire and his building of the Domus Aurea (golden house) on the ruins of people's homes showed the plebs that Nero had little care for their wishes or needs
On the other hand, Tacitus tells us that after the Great Fire of Rome, Nero opened up his private property to refugees, and that he improved the city afterwards. However, his overall behaviour and cruelty overshadows this

What provisions were made for the people by the emperors? Is Juvenal's claim that the people only desired "bread and circuses" true?

Ancient History Rome

Tuesday, 4 August 2020

Relations with Senate, Equestrians and the People: Panem et Circenses: Bread and Circuses

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