Roman+Sentate+Topic+1+Josh+Vincent

Josh Vincent

Roman Senate

Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus

Arundel High School

January 8, 2012

Land Reform

 Currently, the Roman Empire is on the verge of collapsing: corruption is rampant, our armies are losing loyalty for Rome to single generals, and hundreds of thousands of unemployed, with little hope and even less future, infest the urban areas surrounding Rome. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and his land reform bills have swept the plebs around Rome off their feet and he is soon to become more powerful than our Senate. We must reduce individual corruption, give land and jobs to the plebs, and unify our army before we are at the mercy of a man with a million worthy servants at his disposal.

 First, we must diminish the uncontrolled corruption in our Empire. Presently, the publicani are in a position to make enormous profit; they are in a position to excel their greed through the disadvantage of others. This is unacceptable, tax collecting being an investment for them. However, we should not revolutionize the entire system, rather just alter it: by reducing the maximum profit a publicani can make to 5%, the corruption that emerges from tax collection becomes manageable.

 Then, we please the citizens by conforming to a slightly modified version of their land bill. Gaius Gracchus’ proposed colonies for urban poor and retired soldiers should be done away with, but not completely: these colonies will now become refuge for our latifundias. The existing land around Rome, the land that we control for our farms, will be donated to the soldiers who lost their land will on overseas military campaigns. The senators who are willing to comply with this will receive 100 acres, plus their original acreage, along with free shipment of their slaves and equipment to overseas land in the nearby conquered colonies. Any senator not willing to comply will have to pay extremely high taxes on any land that is over the 300 acre limit. We must get the slaves out of Rome and put the citizen soldiers back to work.

 To prevent this problem from reoccurring (for the soldiers to lose their land and then be out of a job and home, and in rather extraneous debt) we must give a guarantee of 5 years for repayment by soldiers on any current debt. In the future, any soldier with less than 2 sons to maintain the farmland will only be obligated to 10 campaigns rather the usual 20. Also, while in military service, a soldier’s farmland will be considered tax free, as they are off giving their life for the Roman Republic, and not living there to make profit off of it.

 With the farms back into the hands of the farmers, and with new ones being created from the land bill, the influx of land deprived emigrants who come to Rome in search of work will be reduced.

 Now our last step is to unify our army. The poor citizens of Rome are in a situation to be swayed by the highest bidder; we must have a strong, loyal source of manpower to deal with any riots or rebellious outbursts. A program of “10 Campaigns, 10 Acres” should be established that allows the remaining poor, jobless citizens of Rome’s urban area to be conscripted into the army. After 10 campaigns in warfare, the soldiers are rewarded with 10 acres of land in the conquered territory. These soldiers are rewarded directly by the State of Rome, which will keep their allegiance strong to Rome. In turn, by having Roman soldiers settle in the new provinces, it will provide a Roman influence in the area – an influence that has campaigns of military experience, and an influence that is able to quell any resistance.

 It is worth noting that these provinces should be governed as is the old way of doing things: through illusion of freedom coupled with intimidation. As Titus Quinctius Flamininicus put political governance in the hands of the conquered, we must do the same. To keep the citizens of those inferior provinces happy, and to prevent riots – and therefore to prevent disruption of their precious grain – we must allow them to feel as if they’re in control. If they begin to wean from our influence, our soldiers rooted in the very earth of the area will be present to attend to any disturbances.

 Finally, having said such a method of control, management of rampant corruption in the provinces is as important as it is in the Italian countryside. This new system will reduce provincial corruption as the political power is placed primarily in the hands of their people.