Wanderings - Chaim Potok's History Of The Jews by Chaim Potok

Author:Chaim Potok
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0-449-21582-2
Publisher: Fawcett Crest
Published: 1978-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

By the end of the second century B.C.E. the Roman republic had been in existence about four hundred years. Its victories had gained it the awe, fear, and admiration of the world. Rome teemed with slaves, freedmen, unemployed peasants, aristocrats of noble blood, merchants of knightly rank, craftsmen, circuses, gladiatorial slaughter, practitioners of a thousand esoteric cults, prostitutes, criminals, astrologers, magicians, philosophers, diviners. At the same time, the city seethed with tension as plebeians and patricians, citizens and strangers, generals and senators vied for influence and power.

The vast manpower pool of Rome could no longer meet the demands of the legions, a powerful professional army fighting everywhere and garrisoning distant provinces. In 107 B.C.E. the consul Marius revoked the qualification of property ownership as a condition for service in the legions. He created a volunteer army, then he hit upon the idea of giving the legions regimental standards.

The professionalization of the army led to the rise in importance of generals who commanded the loyalty of their troops. One such general, Sulla, became dictator of Rome after a decade of civil war. He died in 78 B.C.E. Pompey became consul in 70 B.C.E. It was he who set out to eliminate piracy in the Mediterranean and in so doing conquered Syria and Jerusalem. Soon he too was looked upon with dread as a possible dictator. Rome boiled with disorder in the streets, and assassination, corruption, and venality in the Senate.

In 59 B.C.E. Julius Caesar, nephew of Marius, was elected consul. He was given command of the legions of Gaul for five years. He completed the conquest of Gaul in the allotted time, and was now a wealthy man with a loyal army. He was clearly a rival of Pompey. Caesar asked that his consular power be extended another five years. This request was granted. A consul was required by law to return to Rome without the provincial army. In January 49 B.C.E. Caesar crossed the Rubicon, the narrow river separating his province from Italy. He crossed it with a legion and thereby committed treason.

Civil war followed. Caesar defeated the legions of Pompey in Spain, Thessaly, and Egypt. In 46 B.C.E. the Senate appointed him dictator for ten years. Then, early in 44 B.C.E., it appointed him dictator for life.

It was Caesar who introduced the Julian calendar of 365 days with an additional day every fourth year. The calendar was suggested to him by an astronomer from Alexandria and went into effect on January 1, 45 B.C.E. On March 15, 44 B.C.E., Julius Caesar was assassinated.

The Jews of Rome mourned him deeply and joined his funeral procession, for he had been a friend to Jews throughout the empire. Soon after his death he was proclaimed a god. His images were sold in marketplaces. People prayed to him. He was assured by the state of an eternal afterlife with the great gods of Rome.

Those who slew Caesar did so in the vague hope of preserving the republic. But the republic died with Caesar. A long civil war followed out of which Octavian, nephew of Caesar, emerged victorious.

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