Rome, Blood and Power: Reform, Murder and Popular Politics in the Late Republic 70-27 BC

Following the First Civil War the Roman Republic was able to rebuild itself and restore stability. Yet the problems which had plagued the previous seventy years of the Republic, of political reform being met with violence and bloodshed, had not been resolved and once again resumed. Men such as Catiline and Clodius took up the mantle of reform which saw Rome paralyzed with domestic conflict and ultimately bloodshed and murder. In the search for stability, the Roman system produced a series of military dynasts; men such as Pompey, Crassus and Caesar, who strove to bring stability to Rome. Ultimately this led to the Republic’s collapse into a second and third civil war and the end of the old Republican system. In its place was the Principate, a new Republic founded on the promise of peace and stability at home and end to the decades of bloodshed. Gareth Sampson analyses the various reforming politicians, their policies and opponents and the violence and bloodshed that resulted. He charts the Republic’s collapse into further civil wars and the new system that rose from the ashes.