Rubria's Law (2nd century BC.)

By the second half of the II century BC. e. in Rome , contradictions accumulated between the bulk of the devastating peasantry and large landowners, who concentrated in their hands a significant share of the public lands ( ager publicus ), which were nominally still considered the property of the Roman people. The reform of the Gracchus brothers was devoted to solving the land issue, part of which was the large-scale withdrawal of the colonies. In Italy, two or three colonies were founded by Guy Gracchus, but they could not solve the problems, since there were few free lands on the peninsula. Therefore, Gracchus came to the idea of ​​establishing a colony outside Italy - on the former territory of Carthage. The fact that the place where Carthage stood was officially cursed by the Senate after defeating the long-standing enemy of Rome did not bother Gracchus. The new colony was named Junonia ( lat. Iunonia ) ^[2] .

The introduction of the bill in comitia under the name of another tribune can be explained by its specificity. The practice of organizing settlements outside of Italy was quite new, as a result of which it was not clear what kind of reaction the law would cause for the plebs . The negative reaction could cause significant damage to the authority of Gracchus and cast doubt on his future political plans, which is probably why the Gracchans preferred to introduce a bill under the name of Rubria. The dating of the law is complicated by the contradictory nature of information from ancient sources. Some of them attribute its adoption to the first tribune of Guy Gracchus (123 BC), others - to the second (122 BC) ^[3] .

In accordance with the law of Rubria, a commission IIIviri coloniae deducendae was formed, which included Guy Gracchus and Mark Fulvius Flaccus . The name of the third member did not survive, perhaps Rubrius himself, although there are other assumptions ^[4] . In the spring of 122 BC e. Gracchus and Flaccus left for Africa for 70 days to settle Junonia, including boundary works. The initial number of colonists is unknown. Appian reports that during the adoption of the law, Gracchus increased it to 6,000 people - perhaps in response to the populist ^[5] proposals of his political opponent Marc Livius Druz , and the triumphs recorded people “from all over Italy” among the colonists, but most likely we are talking only about Roman citizens , and not Italian allies ^[6] .

For the use of land in Junonia, a rent was provided. This could be due to the size of allotments, which significantly exceeded the size of the plots in the "Senate" colonies of the first half of the II century BC. e. This size of allotments was intended to stimulate the desire of Roman citizens to change their place of residence and indirectly testifies in favor of the “market” orientation of this bill by Guy Gracchus. Through the introduction of rents, the authors of the Rubria law intended to indicate the participation of the state in profit from the use of land from the ager publicus fund ^[7] .

The central place in the economic development of the new colony was given to the cultivation of grain crops. Perhaps the removal of Junonia was in close connection with the lex frumentaria of Guy Gracchus, although the existence of such a connection is not directly confirmed by ancient sources. It is suggested that the Italian colonies of Gracchus had a commercial orientation, as they were located in very favorable places from the point of view of trade. In addition, they were halfway from Africa to Rome, which undoubtedly should have had the most positive effect on the development of economic ties with the colony of Junonia. In this case, the law of Rubria was part of a large-scale program aimed at providing Rome with bread ^[8] .

On December 10, 122, the tribune powers of Gracchus ended, and the elections for 121 BC. e. he lose. On January 1, 121, new consuls took office. For the many enemies of Gracchus, an opportune moment has come to deal with him. The reason for this was the question of Junonia. People’s stands Mark Minucius Ruf introduced a bill to eliminate it. At the same time, public opinion was being processed: news came from Africa that a gust of wind scattered the insides of sacrificial animals on the altars, and the wolves had pulled the boundary posts. This was interpreted by the augurs as an unfavorable omen. In general, the religious aspect was central to Senate propaganda against the law of Rubria ^[9] . This was facilitated by the fact that the plans of the Gracchans also affected the territory, in relation to which, by order of Scipio Emilian , a rite of passage to the gods was performed ^[10] . Further developments led to armed clashes between the Gracchans and their opponents, during which Gracchus and Flaccus perished ^[11] .

The law of Rubria marked the beginning of a new stage in the history of the Grakhan movement. The lack of direct access to the ager occupatorius fund forced the opposition to turn to the land resources of the Roman provinces . The plans of Guy Gracchus and his supporters included not only the continuation of the policy of redistributing the Roman public land, but also the creation of the material base for providing cheap bread to the plebs in accordance with lex frumentaria. Such plans could not but cause concern on the part of the Senate, since their implementation carried the threat of further strengthening the political positions of the Grachens. The scale of the measures that the opposition took during the second tribune of Guy Gracchus forced the Senate to use all means to neutralize its opponents. The law of Minute and the massacre on Aventina was the logical conclusion of the struggle for ager publicus ^[8] .

In 46 BC e. Gaius Julius Caesar returned to the idea of ​​founding a colony in this place, but he did not manage to realize it, as he soon died at the hands of the conspirators . The city called Colonia lulia Concordia Carthago was founded only in 29 BC. e. his heir, Octavian. ^[12]

• Borisov O.K., Lapyrenok R.V. Antique tradition of the law of Rubria // Problems of History, Philology, Culture: Journal. - M. — Magnitogorsk — Novosibirsk, 2015. — April – May – June ( No. 2 (48) ). - ISSN 1992-0431 .
• Lapyrenok R.V. Tarentum Neptunia and Scolacium Minervia: from the history of Roman colonization in Gracian time // Bulletin of Voronezh State University. Series: History. Political science. Sociology: journal. - Voronezh, 2013. - No. 1 . - ISSN 1995-5480 .
• Kovalev S.I. Part I. Republic. Chapter XX. Gracchus Movement // History of Rome. Course of lectures . - 2nd edition, revised and supplemented. - L .: Leningrad State University Publishing House, 1986. - 744 p. - 25,000 copies.
• Lex Rubria // The Real Dictionary of Classical Antiquities / ed. F. Lubker ; Edited by members of the Society of Classical Philology and Pedagogy F. Gelbke , L. Georgievsky , F. Zelinsky , V. Kansky , M. Kutorgi and P. Nikitin . - SPb. , 1885. - S. 764.