Reforms
During his time in politics, Cicero came up against quite a few reforms, but those by P. Servillus Rullus were the ones that he fought against most strongly, in order to support Pompey’s political beliefs to gain friendship. P. Servillus Rullus proposed two bills to the senate involving land rights, that Cicero overturned vehemently.
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Firstly, the Agrarian Bill intended to elect 10 land commissioners to oversee the selling and concerns of public land by distributing it to veterans. However, the positions would have been powerful, and full of extortion and greed. Due to Cicero’s renowned oratorical skills, he was able to defeat the bill and keep the public land as it was. This is shown in Cicero’s own account of the events when he confirms that, “I, on the firft of January, delivered the senate and every worthy patriot from the Dread of the Agrarian Law and extravagant corruption.” (Cicero, cited in Gutherie, 1868). This was supported by Chris Heaton, an extensive researcher who studied classics and ancient history who stated that, “Cicero vehemently opposed the concept in light of the massive corruption of the time… in a testament to his oratory skills and prestige, this was the first land reform bill that was ever defeated in a vote of the citizen assemblies.” (Heaton, 2014)
Ancient Roman Agriculture
The second of Rullus’ ideas was his Land Reform Bill, which attempted to abolish all debts, and provide new colonies land to be founded upon, allowing them a new start. However, Cicero was once again greatly opposed to this bill as it would drain large amounts of money from Rome, as shown when Susan O Sharpe an associate professor of history and classics endorses that, “Cicero argued that he was not opposed to land reform per se, but he feared this bill would drain the public treasury…” (Sharpe, 2005) With Cicero’s mounting pressure and infamous speeches, Rullus withdrew the bill before it was able to be voted on.
"...this was the first land reform bill that was ever defeated in a vote of the citizen assemblies.”
During his time in political office however, Cicero did propose one of his own concepts, the idea of a ‘concordia ordinum’, which was an alliance of the senate and equestrians against the masses. Cicero believed that the senatorial class was too narrow and that a united front needed to be shown in front of the people as a way of creating new changes to secure the future of the Republic.
Sources
Heaton, C., 2014. Catiline. [Online]
Available at: http://www.unrv.com/roman-republic/cataline.php
[Accessed 8 May 2014].
Shapiro, S. O., 2005. O Tempora! O Mores! Cicero's Catilinarian Orations. USA: University of Oklahoma Press.
Gutherie, W., 1868. The Oration of Cicero. London: T. Waller Publisher.
Shapiro, S. O., 2005. O Tempora! O Mores! Cicero's Catilinarian Orations. USA: University of Oklahoma Press.
Gutherie, W., 1868. The Oration of Cicero. London: T. Waller Publisher.