Comments by "" (@neutronalchemist3241) on "Did Ancient Romans Have Freedom of Speech?" video.

  1. The story of the Gracchi is important because it had been a precedent. Never before a political dispute between Roman Citizens ended in a homicide. The senatorial class, that chose to silence the Gracchi that way, unknowingly prepared it's own demise. If the killing of a political adversary was acceptable, the the Republic would have been led by who could kill the most, the military leaders.
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  2. The "carmina triumphalia" (the legionaries making fun of their general during the triumph) also have another explanation. Pre-Marian Roman army was a militia of free citizens. Yet when the army assembled out of the city walls, in front of the temple of Mars, to go to war, one citizen was given an absolute power over the others. That was a necessity, but was in contrast with the Roman "usual" mindset. During the subsequent triumph, into the pomerium, at the end of the campaign, the general was celebrated but, at the same time, he was stripped of that power. He returned a citizen among the other citizens, and the carmina triumphalia underlined that. They reminded to the former commander he had no more the power to punish his former men.
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