Transcript Cato the elder and the roman republic

CATO THE ELDER AND THE
ROMAN REPUBLIC
Week Four
less = without
speech_____
fear_____
breath_____
ology = the study of
cosmetology
psychology
meteorology
I. Cato the Elder

A spokesperson for
traditional values, even as
he benefits from the new
world of commerce and
internationalism
II. Hellenistic Greece
A. The Rise of Macedon


Philip II (359-336) fills
the vacuum left by the
Greek disunity
Assassination leaves
the throne to son
Alexander
II. Hellenistic Greece
B. Empire of Alexander the Great
1. Alexander’s conquests (334-323)

Military victories to India
2. Binding together an empire



Respected local customs
Alliances through marriage
New cities: Alexandria in Egypt
Alexander’s empire
III. The Roman Republic
A. Roman ideals



Farming in Latium
Paterfamilias: system in
which father has total
authority; curia
Traditional values


Honesty, hard work,
frugality, and farming
Legends of early Rome:
Cincinnatus and Remus
and Romulus
paterfamilias
Cincinnatus plowing his land
Roman legend of Romulus and Remus
III. Roman Republic
B. Etruscan realities (800-500)

Not so provincial
Etruscan League.
 Urban growth


Not so ideal
Class divisions between patricians and
plebeians
 Political inequalities in the new
centuriate


Legacy of the Etruscans

Rome transforms into a unified,
prosperous urban center
IV. Roman Imperialism
A. Political expansion

Military campaigns
brought all of Italy
under Roman control by
264.
B. Punic Wars

First Punic War (265241): Rome outlasts
Carthage
The Punic Wars
IV. Roman Imperialism

Second Punic War
 Cato
joins the army
 Hannibal’s epic march—
with elephants!—inflicts
devastation on Romans.
 Romans rally; defeat
Hasdrubal; take the fight to
North Africa

Third Punic War
 Cato:
“Carthage must be
destroyed”
Hannibal’s elephants
IV. Roman Imperialism
C. Expansion into the Hellenistic East
phobia = the fear of
acrophobia
claustrophobia
arachnophobia
ian/or = a person who . . .
centenar_____
vegetar_____
librar_____
What suffix could finish these?
V. The Roman Republic
A. Cato’s rise to power

Public service


An arbitrator of
disputes
Patronage

Flaccus: a young
nobleman from a
patrician family
Sabine farm
V. The Roman Republic
B. Cato’s offices and
republican civilization
Military tribune
 Aedile
 Quaestor
 Censor
 Consul: Oppian Law and the
women’s rebellion
 Governor of Hispania:
ruthless destruction and then
incorporation of the
conquered

V. The Roman Republic
 Plebeian
resistance
 Law of the Twelve
Tables
 Cato’s support of
democratic reform
 Traditional values
 Severity
 Frugality
 Simplicity
Reading the Twelve Tables
Tour of a Roman home
V. The Roman Republic
Crisis of Roman Virtue
 Gender
roles change
 More luxury
 Urban squalor
 Cato, like many others,
complicit in these
changes
 Cato as a transitional
figure—Janus-faced
Roman fly-over
Epilogue

The Cato Institute
A
prominent libertarian think
tank in Washington, D.C.