The Fall of the Roman Republic: Six Lives

Summary

The Fall of the Roman Republic is a selection of six of Plutarch's Roman Lives, arranged to tell the story of the Republic's collapse in the century before Augustus: Marius, Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar and Cicero. Read in sequence, they show how military glory, personal ambition and civil war destroyed Rome's traditional government. Gaius Marius, a rough soldier of humble birth from Arpinum, rises through his military talent, reforms the army, defeats the invading Cimbri and Teutones, and holds an unprecedented seven consulships. His rivalry with his former subordinate Sulla leads to civil war; driven into exile, Marius hides in the marshes of Minturnae, returns to Rome with a massacre of his enemies, and dies soon after in his seventh consulship, delirious and haunted. Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a dissolute patrician of brilliant talents, defeats Mithridates of Pontus, marches on Rome with his army, makes himself dictator, posts proscription lists of enemies to be killed, then resigns his power and dies of a loathsome disease. Marcus Licinius Crassus, the richest man in Rome, builds his fortune by buying property during the proscriptions and fires, crushes Spartacus' slave revolt, joins Pompey and Caesar in the so-called First Triumvirate, and dies in a disastrous campaign against Parthia at Carrhae. Pompey the Great, a youthful prodigy, wins triumphs in Africa, Spain and the East, clears the Mediterranean of pirates, settles the East, and becomes the Senate's champion against his former ally and son-in-law Caesar, only to be defeated at Pharsalus and murdered on the shore of Egypt. Julius Caesar's Life follows his escape from Sulla, his capture by pirates, his political rise, his conquest of Gaul, his crossing of the Rubicon, the civil war, his dictatorship and reforms, the omens before the Ides of March, and his assassination in the Senate at the foot of Pompey's statue. Cicero, the 'new man' and greatest orator of Rome, rises by eloquence, crushes the conspiracy of Catiline as consul, is exiled and recalled, attacks Mark Antony in the Philippics after Caesar's death, and is murdered on Antony's orders, his head and hands displayed on the Rostra. Plutarch is interested above all in character: the virtues and vices, and the small revealing anecdotes, that explain why each man rose and how each contributed to the fall of free government. The result is both a vivid narrative and a meditation on ambition, envy and the corruption of power.

Top Lessons

• How republics die

  The Lives show institutions eroding as generals command personal armies and politicians break norms for advantage. Each precedent, from Marius' consulships to Sulla's march on Rome, makes the next breach easier.

• Character and fortune

  Plutarch weighs talent, temperament and luck in each career. Sulla attributes his success to Fortune; Pompey's luck runs out; Caesar seizes chances. The Lives ask how far character determines fate.

• The orator and the sword

  Cicero's eloquence wins power but cannot defeat armies. His Life raises the question of what intellect and speech can do in a time of violence.

Verified Quotes

Medical Lens

Plutarch includes several famous medical anecdotes. Marius is said to have undergone surgery on varicose veins in his legs without being bound, enduring the pain without a cry, but refused to let the surgeon operate on the other leg, judging the cure not worth the pain. Sulla's death is attributed to a disease in which his flesh was consumed by lice (phthiriasis), with a final haemorrhage; modern scholars treat the lice story sceptically, as a traditional death for tyrants. Marius in his last illness is described as delirious, imagining himself commanding the war against Mithridates, after heavy drinking and sleeplessness. Caesar is described as suffering from epilepsy, which Plutarch says first attacked him at Corduba, and as using hard campaigning to fortify his weak constitution; modern alternative explanations (such as cerebrovascular disease) are speculative. Pompey's dangerous fever at Naples prompts public prayers across Italy, which Plutarch sees as feeding his overconfidence. Cicero's delicate digestion and his voice training on Rhodes also appear.

• Life of Marius 6

  Marius has the varicose veins of one leg cut out without restraint, then refuses surgery on the other.

• Life of Marius 45

  Marius, aged and drinking heavily, falls ill with pleurisy and in delirium imagines himself fighting Mithridates.

• Life of Sulla 36

  Sulla's final illness, described as an infestation of lice and an internal ulcer, ending in a haemorrhage.

• Life of Pompey 57

  Pompey's serious illness at Naples and Italy-wide celebrations at his recovery.

• Life of Caesar 17

  Caesar's epilepsy and his use of hard living on campaign as a remedy for his weak health.

• Life of Caesar 63

  Calpurnia's nightmare and other portents before the Ides of March.