Why the Roman Republic let Piracy Flourish

Why did Rome, unlike every other kingdom and empire, back then come up with a distributed power structure like the Republic? Here’s how Tom Holland summarizes it in his book, Rubicon:

“What else had the Republic been founded upon if not this single great perception – that the taste of kingly authority was addictive and corrupting?... It was the intoxicating quality of power that made it so dangerous.”

 

But, as mentioned in earlier blogs, the model still created the problem that wars had to be fought, rebellions put down. The victorious general always returned with fame, adulation, riches and influence. A first among equals in the Republic. To avoid this, the Senate would often not authorize wars!

“If Rome’s interests were not immediately threatened, then senators might prefer to tolerate any amount of low-level anarchy rather than grant one of their peers a license to clear things up.”

 

This explains why piracy lasted for so long during Roman rule. To begin with, piracy arose because Rome had often defanged the rulers of the conquered provinces to the point of impotence. All Rome wanted was for the tributes to keep pouring in. This led to a situation where people in those provinces were bled dry and their rulers were too weak to impose law and order. Left with no options, many turned to piracy. Robbing, and kidnapping for ransom was lucrative. To the Senate, piracy was “low-level anarchy” and not worth risking a war that might elevate a general too high.

 

Besides, this was an enemy very similar to modern day terrorism:

“The shadowiness of the pirates’ organization, and their diffuse operations, made them a foe unlike any other… ‘The pirate is not bound by the rules of law, but is the common enemy of everyone”, Cicero complained… How can such an adversary ever be pinned down, still more eradicated?”

Going to war against pirates felt like a war “without promise of an end”. And so Rome avoided the fate of the US in Afghanistan. By not going to war.

 

And last but not least, many in the Senate were getting a cut of the piracy. As in modern times, politicians had their fingers everywhere. Now you know why there were pirates in all those Asterix comics…

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