The End of the Republic Quiz | Roman History

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1. In 133 BC, Tiberius became a tribune of the plebs and began his agricultural legislation program. However, the methods he used to pass many of his controversial laws angered the nobility. Who was the tribune the Optimates used to oppose this legislation?

Answer: Marcus Octavius

When Tiberius Gracchus' bill was to be read to the Concilium Plebis his fellow tribune, Marcus Octavius, imposed his veto on the proceedings. Tiberius reconvened the assembly two weeks later and proposed a bill to remove Octavius from office. Octavius was successfully removed and Gracchus' legislation was passed.

2. In 122 BC, Tiberius' brother, Gaius Gracchus, revived his brother's revolutionary legislation. Part of it was the founding of colonies, one of which was to be founded on the site of Carthage. What was the name of that colony?

Answer: Junonia

The colony of Junonia was to be founded on the site of Carthage and would have been made up of 6,000 poor Italians and Romans. The colonial program of Gaius that included this colony was aborted after he and his followers were killed.

3. Gaius Gracchus held the city of Rome under such undisputed control that for a year he was considered the uncrowned king of Rome. Who was the senator who finally defeated Gaius?

Answer: Opimius

In order to oppose the bill of Minucius Rufus that would have annulled the settlement of Junonia, Gaius gathered together a gang of followers. In the ensuing scuffle, a servant of consul Lucius Opimius was killed. In response, the consul persuaded the senate to pass a decree that would give him the power to save the republic.

This was the first use of the Senatus Consultum Ultimum. Gaius' friend, Flaccus, persuaded him to resist the Senatus Consultum Ultimum by force. Gaius and his followers entrenched themselves on the Aventine Hill but were eventually overwhelmed and killed.

4. In 107 BC, the popular assembly appointed the consul, Gaius Marius, to act against Jugurtha thus usurping the Senate's supremacy in foreign affairs. Who was the commander that Marius replaced?

Answer: Caecilius Metellus

While all the officers listed as possible answers served against Jugurtha, it was Caecilius Metellus who was replaced by Marius. Marius had been one of Metellus' legates during the war; however, he received permission to stand for the consulship in 108 BC.

He used his position in Rome to turn public opinion against his former commander, Metellus. The Popular Assembly then overrode the Senate and made Marius supreme commander in Africa.

5. In 113 BC, the Romans had their first encounter with the Cimbri and the Teutones. This was the first in a long line of engagements. After the battle of Arausio, where eighty thousand Roman lives were lost, the people appointed Marius to the command against the Germanic tribes. He defeated them in two battles. The first was at Aquae Sextiae. What was the name of the other?

Answer: Vercellae

While Marius was waiting for the Germans at Aquae Sextiae, his colleague Lutatius Catulus prepared to face the Germans in a valley of the upper Adige. Upon siting the enemy, Catulus withdrew. The Germans, instead of continuing their invasion of Italy, stayed in the sub-alpine region. In 101 BC, Marius joined with Catulus and crushed the Germans at Vercellae.

6. After the death of the tribune Livius Drusus, son of the tribune that had opposed Gracchus, and his Italian enfranchisement bill, the Senate sent a commission to travel through Italy and visit the disaffected towns. The Roman magistrate in one of these towns mistreated the residents thus provoking in the complete massacre of all Romans there. What was the name of this town?

Answer: Asculum

The Italians had been advocating for the citizenship since the time of Tiberius Gracchus. The ideas of Livus Drusus were seen as the last chance for Italian citizenship. The senatorial commission was given the task of placating the allies. Unfortunately, the indifferent and discriminatory attitude of the magistrates pushed an already volatile situation over the edge and resulted in the Social War.

7. In 88 BC, Gaius Marius and Cornelius Cinna took control of Rome. During this time a young Julius Caesar was named to what special priesthood?

Answer: Flamen Dialis

The Flamen Dialis was a special priest of Jupiter, and that post was left vacant after the suicide of Mucius Scaevola. The Flamen Dialis was not allowed to "see death", touch metal, or ride a horse. Later Sulla emancipated Caesar from the priesthood since this would have seriously harmed Caesar's military career.

8. When Sulla finished with the First Mithridatic War, he returned to Italy and captured Rome from Cinna and Carbo. Sulla then had the Senate name him dictator. After this, he began to reconstruct the Roman constitution. One major part of this reconstruction was the debilitating of the tribune of the plebs. Which one was not one of his measures to shackle the tribunes?

Answer: The removal of the tribune's power of ius auxilii

The tribunes had been the primary tool for military adventurers, like Marius, to procure military commands that the Senate denied them. Sulla had his command against Mithridates taken from him and given to Marius by a tribune named Sulpicius Rufus. Sulla was forced to march on Rome and drive out Marius and Sulpicius starting the first Roman Civil War. Sulla then left to fight Mithridates. During Sulla's absence Marius and Cinna recaptured Rome.

When Sulla returned, Marius had died and Rome was left in the hands of Cinna and Carbo.

He then re-recaptured Rome and set up his reconstructed government. The tribunate, which had caused him so many problems in the past were left impotent. The ius auxilii of the tribunes was their oldest power and left untouched for reasons of tradition.

This power allowed the tribunes to "rescue" a pleb from the oppression of a magistrate.

9. In 78 BC, the consul Macus Aemilius Lepidus and the praetor Marcus Junius Brutus rebelled against the reconstructed government of Sulla. Pompey and Lutatius Catulus swiftly crushed the rebellion in 77 BC in two battles. What was the name of the second battle where Lepidus was defeated?

Answer: Milvian Bridge

Because of the Senate's refusal to grant him a second successive consulship, Lepidus and his friend Brutus decided to take their chances in open rebellion. The Senate issued a Senatus Consultum Ultimum and sent the proconsul Quintus Lutatius Catulus and the young Pompey to meet this threat. Pompey met Brutus in battle at Mutina where he dishonored his victory by executing Brutus without trial. Upon hearing of his compatriot's death, Lepidus made a dash for Rome.

He was defeated at the Milvian Bridge by Lutatius Catulus.

10. The last of the Marians to be defeated was Quintus Sertorius, the governor of Spain. The Pontifex Maximus, Metellus Pius, was sent to dislodge him from his stronghold. In 77 BC, the fugitives of Lepidus' failed rebellion joined hands with Sertorius. The war was brought to an abrupt end when the leader of the fugitive forces murdered Sertorius in 72 BC. What was his name?

Answer: Marcus Perperna

After Lepidus' defeat at the Milvan Bridge he retreated to Sardinia. Shortly afterward, he died under mysterious circumstances. Perperna then took the refugees to Spain. He expected to be treated as an equal with Sertorius. However, Sertorius put Perperna in a subordinate position, which greatly embittered him.

At a meeting between the leaders of the rebellion in Osca, Perperna and his followers sprang upon Sertorius and stabbed him to death.

Source: Author bulk

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The End of the Republic Trivia Quiz

The first in a series of quizzes about the end of the Republic.

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