and
workmen's associations.

The main source of the growing strength of this new Popular Party was
the weakness and inefficiency of the Government. Sulla had erected a
remarkable machine, intended to prevent all change and keep the power of
the State in the hands of a small ruling class, the patricians. But the
machine would not work when his strong directing hand was removed. It
was too stiff and rigid to cope with the growing tasks of administering
the great empire over which Rome had to rule. Bit by bit Sulla's system
broke down; his rules were swept aside. In the years between his death
and that of Caesar the rule of Rome extended enormously; each extension
made the need of a strong and efficient Government more pressing. The
actual government of Rome through the Senate was neither strong nor
efficient. Nothing was well managed. This growing mismanagement
compelled men of active minds to look around and ask themselves what was
wrong. They found different answers. But the need of change was clear.

IX

Lucius Licinius Lucullus

If great men are those whose action brings about great changes, Lucius
Licinius Lucullus was one of the greatest men of his time. His campaign
in Asia Minor started an altogether new policy. Hitherto Rome had
acquired provinces in an accidental way; there had been no purpose of
conquest. In Spain and Africa the influence of Carthage had to be wiped
out; in Greece Rome was nominally a protector only, called in to help
against outside dangers. In Asia Minor it was more or less the same. As
regards Asia Minor no one in Rome was satisfied with the treaty Sulla
had made with Mithridates. It was felt to be a disgrace to Rome that the
man who had caused the murder of hundreds of thousands of Italians in
cold blood was recognized as the 'friend and ally' of Rome and left in
undisturbed possession. Mithridates had got to be punished. When
Lucullus went to the East it was for this purpose. But he did far more.
He discovered that these great Asiatic monarchies, with their myriad
armies, looked strong but were really weak; they could not maintain
themselves, if attacked. He did not merely make Rome safe against their
attack; he marched through kingdom after kingdom, conquering and
subduing them to Rome. Thus, in fact, if not yet in name, he made Rome
an empire.

The work he thus began Lucullus did not complete. The idea was his; it
was his hard fighting, the courage with which he overrode in