Utiles esse amicos

Cicero and Caesar: Reflections on the “Non Coercive” Conquest

Abstract

At the end of his fourth Catilinaria, Cicero exposed two forms of submission of the indigenous peoples, once conquered. The first of these presupposes absolute submission and total disposition at the hands of the Roman State, achieved through force. However, the second shows us a benevolent empire, in which clementia or lenitas allow the acceptance of its power in exchange for the concession of some beneficia to the indigenous peoples. We will see that this form of conquest is not only a rhetorical or propagandistic praise of the virtues of the empire, but a utility-based form that allows control, with less effort and greater stability, fundamental elements for the independence of peoples such as their iura et leges. Its practical application will be seen through Caesar and his conquest of Gaul, demonstrating that this policy is not peculiar to Cicero or a specific ideology, that of the optimates, but a resource commonly used by Roman magistrates.