Lex Vatinia

The lex Vatinia (passed probably in May or early June 59 BC)[1] also known as the lex Vatinia de provincia Caesaris[2] or the lex Vatinia de imperio Caesaris,[3] was legislation which granted to Gaius Julius Caesar governorship of the provinces of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum for five years.[4] It was named after and proposed, in the tribal assembly, by plebeian tribune Publius Vatinius.[5] Along with this, it also gave him the three legions already present in the province and the privilege of naming his own legates.[6]

Impact

At the proposal of Pompey and Piso,[4] the senate also added to Caesar's assigned provinces the province of Transalpine Gaul after the unexpected death of the governor of that province in that year and granted him another legion.[5] The army assigned to Caesar in Cisalpine Gaul and the provinces close to it would prove both useful in Caesar's civil war and, in the immediate term, for the protection of Caesar's legislative programme against repeal.[7] It gave Caesar, governor of the provinces, a chance to show his martial quality with great potential for military glory by campaigning for an extended period in Germany and Gaul; the selection of the provinces also helped in that the provincial populations were flush with Roman citizens who could be recruited for Caesar's campaigns.[5]

The granting of a proconsulship in Gaul also gave Caesar legal immunity against prosecution by his political enemies and a number of armies.[8] While Caesar did not appear to desire a war against his countrymen upon his accession to Gaul and Illyricum, the following Gallic Wars and his subsequent personal popularity, along with legitimate fears of prosecution, led him to rebel against the senate and start a civil war to protect his personal interests.[8]

See also

References
  1. Lily Ross Taylor, 'The dating of major legislation and elections in Caesar's first consulship' (1968) 17 Historia: Zeitschrift Fur Alte Geschichte 173, 173.
  2. Martin Jehne, 'Why the anti-Caesarians failed: political communication on the eve of the civil war' in Christina Rosillo-Lopez (ed), Political communication in the Roman World (Brill, 2017) 210.
  3. Taylor, Lily Ross (1951). "On the Chronology of Caesar's First Consulship". The American Journal of Philology. 72 (3): 254–268. doi:10.2307/292075. ISSN 0002-9475. JSTOR 292075.
  4. von Ungern-Sternberg, Jurgen (2014). "The Crisis of the Republic". In Flower, Harriet (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic (2 ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 91. doi:10.1017/CCOL0521807948. ISBN 9781139000338.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  5. Chrissanthos, Stefan (2019). The Year of Julius and Caesar : 59 BC and the Transformation of the Roman Republic. Baltimore, Maryland: JHU Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-4214-2969-4. OCLC 1057781585.
  6. Lily Ross Taylor, 'The dating of major legislation and elections in Caesar's first consulship' (1968) 17 Historia: Zeitschrift Fur Alte Geschichte 173, 182.
  7. Lily Ross Taylor, 'The dating of major legislation and elections in Caesar's first consulship' (1968) 17 Historia: Zeitschrift Fur Alte Geschichte 173, 188 (quoting Ronald Syme (1944) 34 J Roman Studies 92, 98).
  8. Bucher, Gregory S (2011). "Caesar: the view from Rome". The Classical Outlook. 88 (3): 82–87. ISSN 0009-8361. JSTOR 43940076.


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