The Lex Manilia was a Roman law established in 66 BC

66 BC

Year 66 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lepidus and Tullus...

. The proposal of the law was supported by Cicero in his De Imperio Cn. Pompei

De Imperio Cn. Pompei

De Imperio Cn. Pompei was a speech delivered by Cicero in 66 BC in support of the proposal made by Gaius Manilius, a tribune of the people, that Pompey the Great be given sole command against Mithridates in the Third Mithridatic War....

 speech, as an attempt to gain the notice of the influential Pompey.

Instituted by the Tribune Gaius Manilius

Gaius Manilius

Gaius Manilius was a Roman tribune of the people in 66 BCE.At the beginning of his year of office he succeeded in getting a law passed , which gave freedmen the privilege of voting together with those who had manumitted them, that is, in the same tribe as their patroni; this law, however, was...

 one year after the passage of the Lex Gabinia

Lex Gabinia

In the law of ancient Rome, the Lex Gabinia of 67 BC granted Pompeius Magnus extraordinary proconsular powers in any province within 50 miles of the Mediterranean Sea...

, it gave Pompey

Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...

 supreme command in the war against Mithridates, in place of Lucius Licinius Lucullus

Lucullus

Lucius Licinius Lucullus , was an optimate politician of the late Roman Republic, closely connected with Sulla Felix...

. The command against Mithridates was taken from Lucullus.

The law was granted at a key point in Pompey's career, after his enormous success against the pirates in the Mediterranean. The transfer of command from Lucullus to Pompey angered the aristocracy, who, as with the Lex Gabinia, felt threatened by Pompey's increasing power. Many members of the aristocracy were also angered over the humiliation of Lucullus, and viewed Pompey with envy and suspicion.

Significance of the Lex Manilia

Like the Lex Gabinia, the Lex Manilia awarded more military power to Pompey. Because these laws gave supreme military power to one man, they did not meet with the approval of the traditional aristocracy. However, despite Pompey’s growing unpopularity with the wealthy aristocracy, his popularity with the common people was at its peak. This enabled the passing of the two laws by the Popular Assembly, an unorthodox, but not a completely unfamiliar way of bypassing the senate to enact legislation ( These laws reflect the constant political struggle between the optimates and the populares. But, more importantly, they show that the Senate was not always in control of the passage of legislation.

Despite the unhappiness of Lucullus and other members of the Aristocracy, Pompey emerged victorious in the war after the suicide of Mithridates in 63 BC

63 BC

Year 63 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Cicero and Hibrida...

.

Suggested further reading

• David Shotter: The Fall of the Roman Republic, 2nd ed.

• Plutarch: Fall of the Roman Republic