Swords Against The Senate: The Rise Of The Roman Army And The Fall Of The Republic

SWORDS AGAINST THE SENATE, by Erik Hildinger, doesn't cover quite the same ground as Tom Holland's RUBICON, as it covers a briefer time period. However, this gives it the opportunity to go a little deeper into the information it does present. It covers the first three decades in the 70 years it took for the Roman Republic to fall to pieces. It also gives a bit more information on the rise of the Republic to begin with, from its rise in the 400's BC to the sack of Rome by the Gauls in 386 and its subsequent recovery. Between this brief overview and the extensive look at the seemingly endless wars that brought down the Republic, this book is a great find. It's also fairly short, which adds to its attraction.

In his introduction, Hildinger remarks that his book will cover three aspects of Roman life: the army, the personalities, and the "gradual chipping away of the constitution" that led to the republic's demise. He expertly interweaves these branches of the story into a wonderful narrative that's interesting to read and hard to put down. At times, this does feel a bit disjointed, as he will introduce the characters involved and then go on a brief diversion to explain how the army was set up at that time. Once he gets back to the narrative, though, it's obvious why he diverted down the path as the knowledge is valuable to understanding what is happening. While this may sound boring, it really isn't. He rarely spends more than a couple of pages on the specifics of the army make-up before moving on.

One place where I have to give Hildinger a lot of credit is in his use of sources. He uses a variety of primary and secondary sources, along with some more modern interpretive sources (something Holland didn't really do) to back up his narrative. He also is not afraid to say when the sources are unclear on a subject, especially where casualty figures are concerned. He often states the given casualty figures and then reminds us that these figures were often exaggerated. If something was taken from Sulla's memoirs (for example), he'll remind the reader that this could very well have been included to make Sulla look good. He'll make informed suppositions about certain things, but he's always clear when something might not be true:

"Sulla took no direct hand in following up the killing, and *apparently* no one was punished." pg 184 (emphasis added)

I found that this added to the attraction of the book, giving me a feeling of piecing together history along with Hildinger.

The book does have a heavy concentration on the army and on military elements. Hildinger details the various wars (both external and civil) that took place in this 30 year period, how various Roman generals and consuls took their troops and marched them on Rome, or formed their own private armies and went campaigning in Asia. We get descriptions of the battles, some of the tactics (at least as much as is known), and the fight for who would get credit for various victories. We also get the politics behind the various wars, along with the personality conflicts that would ultimately sunder the republic, especially those between Marius and Sulla. Ultimately, Sulla would win out and become the appointed dictator while he got the constitution back in order.

The book ends with Sulla's victory, and the epilogue talks of how Sulla created a new constitution and then retired after three years as dictator, allowing the Roman Republic to reassume power, though the fissures were already in place to bring it toppling down again. This makes a good stopping point for Hildinger, as this book is really about how the army was involved in this conflict, and how the personalities used it. Once Sulla retires, it becomes much more of a personal battle between strong-willed men.

For those who wish a general overview of how the Roman Republic fell, SWORDS AGAINST THE SENATE isn't really a good place to start. It doesn't cover the whole thing and it's a little too detailed for that. It may, however, spark your interest so that you do want to go on to an overall account after you have read it. It also is a valuable source for military matters in this time period. In whatever order you decide to read it, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy.

David Roy


The Fall of the Roman Republic   April 19, 2003
publius cornelius tacitus (VA, US)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Erik Hildinger ties together the rise of professional armies and the downfall of the Roman Republic in a cohesive, encompassing narrative. He does make reading more challenging to those without a working knowledge of Latin, but not particularly difficult as he defines the key terms and translates the lengthy quotes. Nevertheless, this book is well worth the time and effort.


Swords Against the Senate   September 9, 2008
Alexander M. Waite
Great book. It made me understand on how the great of the Senate used the Roman Army for their own gain and how their actions started the Roman Republic on the path to becoming the Roman Empire.


The End of the Republic begins here   January 11, 2003
Russell D. Melling (Coatesville, Indiana)
0 out of 7 found this review helpful

An excellent study of an important period of Roman history.


A good place to start   March 19, 2004
Timothy J. Graczewski (Burlingame, CA United States)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

In a 1962 journal piece ("Waiting for Sulla" JRS, Vol. 52, pp. 47-61), classical scholar Ernst Badian noted that the age of Marius and Sulla (roughly 110-78 BC) is of critical importance to understanding the decline and collapse of the republic and the rise of Caesar and the empire, yet precious little energy had been devoted to re-examing this period with the critical eye of modern historiography.

One might also argue that this period was, until the publication of Erik Hildinger's "Swords Against the Senate", totally inaccessible to the layman. There are scores of popular histories and biographies on Caesar and the Roman Revolution - the commercial success of Anthony Everitt's "Cicero" is but one recent example - but the epoch that set the republic wobbling on its foundation and offered the precedent for Caesar's march on Rome has been largely ignored in popular history until now.

The author does a superb job of framing the issue by first providing an outline of the development of the Roman state with a particular focus on the army and the role it played socially and politically. Hildinger then provides a good general overview of the central figures and events of the period (the Gracchi, Marius and Sulla and the Jurgurthan, Cimbrian/Teuton, Social, Mithridatic and First Civil Wars) as related in the works of Appian, Sallust and Plutarch. There is no critical examination of the sources or revisionism to the traditional account of the events, such as the ones Badian provides in the article cited above.

In closing, if you are new to the subject and are looking for a crisp overview of this extremely important period preceding the rise of Caesar and the triumvirate "Swords Against the Senate" is highly recommended. If you are a rather serious student of Republican Rome (i.e. you've read all the ancient authors; you're familiar with the major arguments and works of Brunt, Badian, Gruen, Millar and Syme; you read the Journal of Roman Studies on occasion) there isn't much in this account that will inform, interest or challenge you.