poor plebs
- poet Juvenal said "Rome anxiously hopes for 2 things: bread and circuses"
- bread (free grain from the states)
- entertainment (Circus Maximus, Colosseum)
- this was to keep them alive, quiet, distracted, and docile
- Tiberius Gracchus recognized the advantages of courting the plebeians (even though he was ultimately unsuccessful)
- military generals worked that angle and lead an army that conquered a land and then shared it
- soldier's loyalty was to their military leader not necessarily to Rome or the Republic
- Senate spread rumor that Tiberius wanted to become king
- then Tiberius got killed by chairs and thrown in a river
Julius Caesar
- (100-44 BCE)
- highly successful general
- conquered the huge territory of Gaul
- made common folks happy
- made friends in high places
- Pompey (conquered Syria/Palestine)
- Crassus (richest man in Rome)
- these 3 formed the first Triumvirate
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