Romanifesto by Asa Bennett

Author:Asa Bennett [Asa Bennett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781785905360
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
Published: 2019-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Tiberius sought to right this wrong by proposing a law to limit the amount of public land a citizen could own to around 125 hectares, with anything above that limit confiscated by the state and redistributed to Rome’s poor and homeless veterans. But rich landowners ignored it, continuing to build up their empires by inventing fake names to buy new properties, and then not even bothering to hide their identities. He tried to soften the language in his law, and compromised by offering compensation to those who had to sell off their excess land, but it was still opposed. Rich senators hated him for pushing this change, claiming he was ‘stirring up a general revolution’ with his desire to redistribute Roman wealth.

Knowing the Senate would never approve a law that would hit its members’ finances so badly, Tiberius tried to sidestep them by taking it through the People’s Assembly, the alternative law-making body. Senators did not take kindly to being cut out of the process, deciding to try to stop him by asking another tribune – one who was less awkward – to go and veto the Bill. After shooting it down, Tiberius replaced the Bill with a harsher one, offering no compensation to the rich landowners who had to get rid of their excess land. But Tiberius and his tribunal nemesis were locked in a stalemate that dragged on for days. Tiberius heightened the stakes by using his own veto powers to bring the government to a grinding halt. He issued an edict banning his fellow officials from doing any public business and preventing them from using the state Treasury until his law was voted on, an effective government shutdown. When he finally called a vote on his proposed law, its rich opponents caused mayhem by storming in and stealing the voting urns people used to cast their ballot.

Eventually, Tiberius got his way. After trying to ask his rival tribune nicely to leave, a new law was proposed to kick him out of office that was swiftly voted on and approved. With the main roadblock cleared away, the Bill quickly passed, to the delight of Tiberius’ supporters. He got his measure into law, with an official commission set up to enforce it by investigating landowners, measuring out how much excess land they owned and finding new tenants who could be equipped with the basic tools of the farming trade.

But that did not mean the Senate was any happier, as it still resisted the new land law by trying to starve the commission of the funds it needed. Events abroad gave Tiberius a chance to save his masterplan, as the King of Pergamon (in the north-west of what we now know as Turkey) died away and left his entire fortune to Rome. Tiberius seized his chance by proposing a Bill that would give the late king’s inheritance to his agricultural commission, which senators were desperate to kill off.

That was the final straw for the Senate, and members plotted ways to get rid of the troublesome tribune Tiberius for trying to thwart their plans.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.