# 24. The Prolongation of Military Commandsa made Rome a Servile State

A careful study of the procedure of the Roman republic will show that two causes contributed to the dissolution of that republic. The first was the disputes which arose concerning the Agrarian law. The second was the prolongation of military commands. Had their consequences been recognized from the beginning and due remedies applied, freedomb would have lasted longer in Rome, and life there would have been perhaps more tranquil. And although there is no record of any tumults having arisen in Rome owing to the prolongation of a military command, it is clear that in fact great harm was done to the city by the authority its citizens acquired in this way.

Had other citizens whose period of office was extended, been as wise and good as Lucius Quintius, this inconvenience would not have arisen. His goodness was exemplary; for when by agreement between the plebs and the senate, the plebs prolonged the tribunes’ commission for a year in the hope of thus strengthening their resistance to the ambition of the nobles, the senate out of jealousy of the plebs, not wanting to be outdone, wished to prolong the consulate of Lucius Quintius. But he would have none of it, for bad examples ought to be ignored, he said, not strengthened by the addition of another even worse example; so he desired them to make new consuls. Had such goodness and prudence characterized all Rome’s citizens, they could not have allowed this custom of prolonging public offices to be introduced, nor from these would they have passed on to the prolonging of military commands, which in due course led to the downfall of the republic.

The first to have his military command prolonged, was Publius Philo. He was besieging the city of Palaeopolis when his consulate came to an end. Since it seemed to the senate that he was on the point of winning a victory, they did not appoint a successor, but made him proconsul. He was thus the first proconsul. Though, in doing this, the senate was looking to the public interest, it was this that eventually made Rome a servile state. For, the further the Romans went afield with their armies, the more necessary did this prolonging of commands seem to be, and the more use they made of it. From which there resulted two inconveniences. First, but a small number of men acquired experience as military commanders, and in consequence but few acquired a reputation for it. Secondly, when a citizen had been for long in command of an army, he won the army over and made it his partisan; so that it came in time to forget of the senate and to recognize its commander alone as its head. It thus came about that Sulla and Marius were able to find troops to support them in actions contrary to the public good, and it thus came about that Caesar was able to reduce his country to subjection. Had the Romans not prolonged offices and military commands, they would not have attained such great power in so short a time, and, had they been slower in making conquests, they would also have been slower to arrive at servitude.67