It would also be wrong to say that every ideal of the Republic was dead. Some administrators were so shocked and disgusted by what was happening that they tried to take a stand against it. This could be very dangerous if the business consortiums found their interests seriously undermined, they weren't shy about taking aim at the whistleblower. Rutilius Rufus was the most prominent of the victims of the publicani. He was a provincial administrator known for his honesty. Rufus had wanted to defend his subjects against the voracity of the tax collectors. In 92 BC he was brought to trial on trumped-up charges before a jury packed with supporters of the publicani. The charge--which must have been the ultimate slap in the face to such an honest man was extortion. After his preordained conviction Rufus, who also sought to slap is tormentors in the only way he could, chose as his place of exile the very province he was supposed to have looted. When he arrived at his place of exile he was greeted warmly with honors and scattered flowers. The province that welcomed him: Asia, formerly the kingdom of Pergamum, and the foundation stone of the Roman empire in the East. The provincials took the conviction of Rufus to mean that Roman greed would never be capable of controlling itself. These victimized peoples, looking back on the devastation of Corinth, must have wondered many times, "What can possibly be done to fight a power as great as Rome's?" Not only taxes, but hopelessness smashed the spirits of the Greeks of Asia. In one of the many events that happen in history where a small matter snowballs to become a history changing affair, a 'saviour' to the Eastern Greeks did appear, three years after the conviction of Rufus. In the summer of 89 BC, Manilus Aquilius, the Roman commissioner in Asia, invented a reason to invade the Greek kingdom of Pontus. For awhile, Roman business interests had been looking at the kingdom, on the Black Sea coast, in the north of modern Turkey, with hunger. Perhaps Pontus could be the next imperial milk cow?
Aquilius miscalculated very badly in underestimating the opponent he faced in Mithridates, the King of Pontus. Manilus Aquilius's first mistake was in using troops from a client kingdom to do the fighting instead of Roman troops. Mithridates had a special genius for espousing a grandiose propaganda. Indeed his childhood had similiarities to many fairy tales. As a young child, Mithridates had been persecuted by his wicked mother. The young king had to take refuge in a forest for seven years. During his seven years of exile, he supposedly outran deer and fought lions to the death! Mithridates was so obsessed that his mother might try to have him killed, he developed an interest in toxicology. He took antidotes to become immune to specific poisons. Mithridates eventually returned to the capital in command of an army. Once his army secured his throne for him, he ordered his mother killed and to make sure no family 'issues' would come back to haunt him, he also ordered the deaths of his brother and sister. Twenty years after these events took place Mithridates remained as ruthless as ever. Upon his own life, he would fight to the death not to become a Roman puppet.
Now Mithridates had to make a much more fateful decision. Should he attack Rome herself? He knew this would be a fearsome contest, Rome was the superpower in the region-the world and seemed invincible to many, especially the poor, over-taxed, over-burdened Greek kingdoms of the east. A possible war with the Republic was something Mithridates had been preparing for all through his reign. Mithridates liked to think of himself as a second Alexander the Great, and worked to improve the offensive capacities of his military. His newly minted army literally shone like the sun, with its polished weapons and breastplates that were embossed with gold and bright jewels. Traveling incognito in Asia, it seems Mithridates also had a flair for spycraft. He had an up close and personal look at how deep the hatred for Rome had become--this was a factor more than any other that convinced him to make war with the Republic.
Just for a quick summing up before the next post-I hope that it is getting across how imperial overstretch and hubris can have a terrible effect-on even the most powerful of nations-in fact maybe on them moreso than others. I also hope the horrid corrosive effect of money and treasure on a nation when its government and business interests start becoming intertwined-and then actually working together is being brought out in these posts-if it isn't -I am not doing a good job! It seems to me that business and the inevitable corruption of bought influence and bribes have no place in the councils of any government -be it ancient or modern. I hope in the next post about our story about Rome, Pergamum, Mithridates and Pontus to continue showing how when military-industrial-financial axes begin to have an effect on the lawmaking bodies of a nation how terrible the results can be. I am still looking for posts to do to get away from the ancient era for a bit-and because I am overly tired and not feeling the greatest I haven't had much luck so far-although I would definitely not want to break up the current story with Rome, Asia and Mithridates anyway. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithridates_VI_of_Pontus
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