Lucio Opimio y los inicios de la violencia de estado en la Roma tardorrepublicana

Lucius Opimius was praetor in 125 and consul in 121. During his terms of office, the violent destruction of the Latin colony of Fregellae and the fierce repression of Gaius Gracchus, Fulvius Flaccus, and their followers in Rome are known as his main actions. Opimius defended the use of state violence as an adequate solution to political problems, even over and above the laws of the res publica. He put this violence against Roman citizens (and Italians) into practice without limitations, and so doing Opimius pushed open the door towards practices of ‘demonisation’ of political adversaries, and the detrimental consequences this had for the ideological, social, and political polarisation that took place in the late Republican period. Lucius Opimius’ actions marked a point of no return in the history of Rome, critical to the understanding of the Republic in the era of the Civil Wars.