Hello, and welcome to the History of Rome, Episode 38, the Catalan Conspiracy.

There were dozens of contributing factors to the breakdown of the Old Republican Order

in the first century BC, some economic, some administrative, some martial, but what was

really an issue was a sickness that had taken hold at the very root of the political system.

Now, the quasi-religious sovereignty of the electoral process and the officials it produced

was unquestion. If you ran for consul and lost, that was it, you had lost. Maybe your political

career was dead, and maybe you would run again someday, but you abided by the decision.

When the Senate handed down to Cree's or the Tribune's past laws, maybe you didn't like it,

and maybe you did everything in your power to get them repealed, but there was a way things were

done. Maybe it entered into your head to do something about those so-and-so's down in the forum,

and maybe after too much drink, the conversation turned to topics like assassination and military

coups, the latter no doubt, a favorite topic amongst landless veterans for the whole of Roman history.

But in the morning, everyone sobered up, the inertia of the system was simply too great to overcome.

While there is ample evidence of political assassination directed at threats to the Old Order,

the crack-eyed being the most famous example, there is scant record of extra legal killing

directed at the Old Order. But by the first century BC, whatever spell that held ambitious

men in check when they didn't get their way had been broken. The corruption that had taken hold

at all rungs of society, the kickbacks enjoyed by provincial governors, the bribery that secured

lucrative posts and favorable court rulings, the cash for vote schemes that more and more determined

the outcome of elections had finally reached the heart of the system. An entire generation of men

had grown up in the shadow of Marius and Solo. No amount of democratic whitewashing could hide the

truth, power spraying from the sword. And for those bold enough and strong enough to seize what

...