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The Breakdown of the Late Republic, 88–31 BC

The senatorial and equestrian orders and the publicani

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Overview

Recall questions on the senatorial order, patricians and plebeians and the nobilis, land as respectable wealth and how senators evaded the ban on trade, equestrians and their business, the publicani and why Rome farmed its taxes, oppression of provincials, the Asian tax company and Crassus, clashes over the provinces, and the gap in wealth.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Distinguish a patrician from a plebeian.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What defined membership of the senatorial order?

    Model answer

    A seat in the Senate won by holding the quaestorship, combined with a large property qualification and a way of life resting on landed wealth.

  2. 2

    Distinguish a patrician from a plebeian.

    Model answer

    A patrician belonged to one of the ancient families that had once monopolised office, while everyone else was a plebeian however rich or distinguished.

  3. 3

    Did the distinction between patrician and plebeian still matter by the Late Republic?

    Model answer

    It counted for little politically, since great plebeian houses dominated the consulship, but it still governed certain priesthoods and eligibility for the tribunate.

  4. 4

    Define a nobilis.

    Model answer

    He is a man whose family counted a consul among its ancestors.

  5. 5

    Why was land the only wholly respectable form of senatorial wealth?

    Model answer

    A law forbade senators large-scale trade and shipping, and landowning was held to be the only occupation fitting a man of rank.

  6. 6

    How did senators get round the restriction on commerce?

    Model answer

    They invested through freedmen and agents and lent money at interest, so the profits reached them without their names appearing.

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