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Allied Disaffection and the Revolt of Fregellae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2015

P. Conole
P. Conole*
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
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Extract

In 125 B.C. the Latin town of Fregellae rebelled against Rome and was captured and destroyed by the praetor L. Opimius. A year later Fabrateria Nova was founded near the site of the defunct municipality. There has been a tendency, especially among English-speaking scholars, to treat the revolt as an isolated event; David Stockton, for example, has recently stated that ‘no other community joined in the revolt.. .’ Such views have gained wide currency, possibly because our sources for the event are diverse and rather unattractive; there is, however, evidence to suggest that the insurrection was more widespread than Stockton (inter alios) would have us believe. We need to re-examine this anti-Roman outbreak in such light as might be shed on the matter by certain neglected source material.

Type
Research Article
Information
Antichthon , Volume 15 , 1981 , pp. 129 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © Australasian Society for Classical Studies 1981

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References

1 The abbreviations used in this article are those of L’Annèe Philologique.

The following additions should be noted:

Badian = Badian, E. Foreign Clientelae (264–70 B.C.) (Oxford 1958)Google Scholar

Brunt = Brunt, P.A. Italian Manpower 225 B.C.-A.D. 14 (Oxford 1971)Google Scholar

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Salmon, RC = Salmon, E.T. Roman Colonization under the Republic (London 1969)Google Scholar

Salmon, SS = Salmon, E.T. Samnium and the Samnites (Cambridge 1967)Google Scholar

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Toynbee = Toynbee, A.J. Hannibal’s Legacy (Oxford 1965)Google Scholar

All dates referred to are B.C.

2 Stockton 96.

3 App. BC 1.19.79: cf. Gabba ad loc.

4 App. BC 1.20.84: Astin, A.E. Scipio Aemilianus (Oxford 1967), 240 with note 2.Google Scholar

5 App. BC 1.21.86; Dio 83.2; Liv. Per. 59–60. The commission still had enough authority to attempt to force through some redistributions: presumably the consuls judged only difficult cases brought before them. Cf. Gabba, ad App. I.e.; Liv. Per. 59; Dio 84.2.

6 Gruen 71–2.

7 Gabba, RR 71; Badian, E. ‘Roman politics and the Italians’, Dial. di Arch. 4–5 (1970–1), 385–92.Google Scholar Worthy of serious consideration are the arguments of Brunt, P.A. ȈItalian aims at the time of the Social War’, JRS 55 (1965), 90–1.Google Scholar

8 The advantages of civitas would be most obvious to those on military service, i. e. it was a way of escaping harsh army discipline. See Lintott, A.W. ‘Provocatio’, in Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt 1.2, Temporali, H. (ed.) (Berlin 1972), 249–53.Google Scholar

9 Contra Salmon, SS 325–7: he posits a consistently anti-Oscan climate of opinion at Rome. But very few cases of violence or extortion directed at Oscans are listed by Toynbee. (See note 10 below.)

10 Vol. 2, 608–45.

11 Incidently, it was not only aliens who wanted protection from this legislation; Scipio Aemilianus had his friends among the Roman nobility to consider — was he in part using the Italians as a front to protect their holdings?

12 The best discussion of Latin and Italian grievances and resentments is in Salmon, SS 302–32.Google Scholar

13 Brunt 677–87.

14 App. BC 1.21.86; 1.34.152: cf. Gabba ad loc.

15 Liv. Per. 59; Obseq. 28, 28a. Above, note 5.

16 Flaccus’ importance has often been grossly underestimated. Gruen (p. 72) concedes that his age and prestige may have enabled him to assume temporary leadership of his factio. His career has been more recently analysed by Hall, U. ‘Notes on M. Fulvius Flaccus’, Ath. 55 (1977), 280–8Google Scholar and z Reiter, W.L. ‘M. Fulvius Flaccus and the Gracchan Coalition’, Ath. 56 (1978), 125–44Google Scholar. Neither study, I feel, is entirely adequate either in overall interpretation or in point of detail. I hope to examine the political career of Flaccus elsewhere.

17 App. BC 1.21.87 : the two statements appear contradictory, but the fears of the senators show that the equality aspect may have been raised by Flaccus.

18 Contra Badian, Dial, di Arch. (1970–1), 389.

19 App. BC 1.21.86–7 is quite clear on this. However, we cannot be sure of the ultimate results if the bill had been carried. One wonders what would have happened to poor Italians who used pasture lands held in common by some Italian communities. They were, presumably, rather pleased by Scipio’s intervention in 129. See Bernardi, A. ‘La guerra sociale e le lotte dei partiti in Roma’, Nuov. Riv. Stor. 28–9. (1944–5), 68–72.Google Scholar

20 Badian 177.

21 Festus 388L: the interpretation is that of Badián, 176–8.

22 Cf. Hall 282.

23 Val. Max. 9.5.1: Badian 177 and Dial, di Arch. (1970–1), 392–3.

24 App. BC 1.34.152: Gruen 73 with note 139.

25 Firstly by Carcopino, J. in ‘Les lois agraires des Gracques et la guerre sociale’, BAGB 22 (1929), 13.Google Scholar

26 Badian, E. ‘L. Papirius Fregellanus’, CR 5 (1955), 22–3.Google Scholar However, it should be noted that Fregellae may not have been immune from the migratory drift to Rome; Papirius could have been the spokesman for all Latin and Italian socii suffering from the trend: Malcovati, E. ‘L. Papirius Fregellanus’, Ath. 33 (1955), 139.Google Scholar

27 Argued in The Crisis of the Roman Republic, Seager, R. (ed.) (Cambridge 1969), 60–1.Google Scholar See now, however, Coarelli, F. ‘Public Building in Rome between the Second Punic War and Sulla’, PBSR 45 (1977), 1–23.Google Scholar

28 Dial. di Arch. (1970–1), 390–1.

29 Salmon, E.T. ‘The cause of the Social War’, Phoenix 16 (1962), 110 CrossRefGoogle Scholar claims that there was now little reason for worry among the allied aristocracy insofar as the land law was concerned.

30 Gabba, RR 217, note 11; Badian, Dial, di Arch. (1970–1), 389;Google Scholar Stockton 96–7.

31 ForFregellan unpopularity: Badian, E. CR (1955), 23;Google Scholar for ethnic rivalries at Fregellae: J. Carcopino, 12–13; for Fabrateria as a citizen colony: Salmon, RC 117–18.Google Scholar

32 Brunt, P.A. JRS 55 (1965), 97–101.Google Scholar The increasing use of Roman magisterial titles and political institutions is most instructive. The bulk of the evidence can be found in Vetter, E. Handbuch der italischen Dialekte (Heidelberg 1953), nos. 2, 11–12, 16–19, 149, 154, 168, 180 and 228d.Google Scholar

33 For Corfinium, see La Regina, A. ‘I territori sabellici e sannatici’, Dial, di Arch. 4–5 (1970–1), 459.Google Scholar Coarelli 19 refers to possible late-second century building activity at Praeneste and Pompeii.

34 The Roman Citizenship (Oxford 1973), 102–3.

35 Ibid., 103.

36 Above, p. 135.

37 For example, by Brant, JRS (1965), 90.Google Scholar The sources of De Vir. Ill. remain unknown: Sherwin, W.K. Jr. Deeds of Famous Men (De Vins Illustribus) (Oklahoma 1973),Google Scholar Introd. 9. The following comment by Dr. R. Develin may be of some interest: ‘there is little reason why [the author] should be wrong. It can hardly be related to tendentious historiography.’ (Letter of August 20th, 1981.)

38 See the legionary lists in Toynbee 1.647–51 and in Brunt 417–22.

39 Vell. 1.15.3. For the date: Stockton 134 with note 55; contra Salmon, RC 113.

40 ‘An allied view of the Social War’, AJA 77 (1973), 372–3.

41 Ascon. 17C: his capture of Fregellae cowed the other Latins.

42 Vell. 1.15.4. There is no evidence for the assertion (MRR 1.511) that Cassius Longinus, C. cos. 124,Google Scholar may have founded Fabrateria.

43 MRR 2.463.

44 For example: Cic. Balb. 20.47; Liv. 9.36; 28.45; Plin. HN 3.4; 19.113.

45 MRR 1.8.

46 He was aedile c. 253 (MRR 1.211) and consul in 249, the year of his terrible defeat at the hands of the Carthaginians (MRR 1.214).

47 MRR 2.76.

48 Harris 78.

49 Ibid. 84.

50 For the foedus: Harris 100. See ILLRP 183 for a second–century Latin inscription from the municipium. Harris 187 sounds a warning note: such evidence cannot be pushed too far.

51 Harris 217 and 238–40.

52 D. Brendan Nagle 368 note 10: ‘It is undeniable that many of the Italian domi nobiles who possessed the franchise were able to exploit Roman ager publicus … Such individuals were naturally, even among their own class, not in the majority.’ These statements tend to distort the picture: non-citizens could exploit ager publicus (App. BC 1.16.162); their basic problem was insecurity of tenure. See Toynbee 2.243. The leasing and occasional sale of land confiscated by the Roman state is thoroughly discussed by Johannsen, K. Die lex agraria des Jahres 111 v. Chr. (Munich 1971), 189–94.Google Scholar

53 Above, p. 131.

54 Both events can perhaps be assigned to the year 124: Veil. 1.15.4.

55 CIL 10. 5584, p. 547.

56 Salmon, RC 189 note 212.

57 Ibid. 197 note 316. The author wishes to thank Professor R.D. Milns (University of Queensland), Dr. B.W. Jones (University of Queensland) and Dr. R. Develin (University of Tasmania) for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Responsibility for the finished product (and any remaining errors) is his alone.