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Social Upheaval in the Early RepublicContents
SummaryFrom the late fifth century BCE to the early third century BCE, there was strife between the plebeian and patrician citizens of Rome. This strife was known as the “Struggle of the Orders.” The patricians were the Roman aristocracy, while the plebeians were all the other citizens. The plebeians mainly used a type of military strike called a secession, in which plebeian soldiers would retreat rather than fight. These secessions helped the plebeians to gain various advantages, such as the plebeian tribunes and a separate set of plebeian officials. Later, a tribal assembly for the election of plebeian officials was set up to combat the corruption of the wealth-based comitia centuriata. In the third and fourth centuries BCE, the plebeian tribunes began to assimilate into the Roman government, and positions were opened to plebeians that had not been before. Founding of the RepublicIn the early fifth century BCE, the last Roman king, Tarquinius Superbus, was overthrown. In the following years, the aristocrats or the Roman monarchy formed the Roman Republic’s Senate. In the Republic, the people had to find a new type of leader. There was a short period of military rule (Grant 498); the Romans then decided on elected magistrates (Boatwright 49). The comitia centuriata, originally made up of members of the Roman army, elected two consuls, the Roman leaders, every year. These consuls had imperium, or supreme executive power. Most consuls were patricians, or members of the Roman aristocracy. The patricians held most of the power in the Republic—the consulship, senatorship, and religious offices were all available only to patricians at first. The plebeians consisted of impoverished rural workers, self-sufficient farmers and artisans, and rich families who wanted offices held by patricians (Forsythe 158). Therefore, the plebeians began to resist the patricians’ power. Struggle of the OrdersAlso, because there were wars going on in the fifth century, famine was a common occurrence. This affected the lower-ranking plebeians the most. Therefore, there was often conflict over land and debt within this group. There was also conflict over access to magistrates, the officials’ power to punish with impunity, and the roles of magistrates and citizens’ assemblies. These conflicts as a whole formed part of the overall conflict known as the “Struggle of the Orders” (Boatwright 53). Plebeian ResistanceThe plebeians began to organize a resistance movement centered around a trading community near a Greek temple on the Aventine Hill. They acted as a group, and their major tactics were collective bargaining and preconcerted resistance (Cary). Their main form of resistance was the secession, in which plebeian troops would retreat rather than fight (Boatwright 55). The first such secession was in 494 BCE. After each secession, the plebeians would be given some sort of compensation, but it was not until the Hortensian Law was passed in 284 BCE, more than two hundred years later, that they were truly equal to the patricians (Forsythe 158). Tribunes & the Tribal AssemblyThe first secession occurred when the plebeians withdrew to the Sacred Mountain north of Rome and agreed to choose their own officials—plebeian tribunes—and the plebeian aediles, who assisted the tribunes. These tribunes would provide leadership for the plebeians and provide aid, or auxilium, to them, protecting them from some magistrates’ harsh punishments. The tribunes were given sacrosanctity—that is, anyone who attempted to harm a plebeian tribune would be cursed, or sacer. The senate acquiesced to the plebeians’ demands to be able to elect their own officials, and they were content for a while. Twenty years later, a tribal assembly was created for the election of plebeian official. The comitia centuriata, or centuriate assembly, was corrupt and favored wealthy individuals. Volero Publilius, a plebeian, stirred up the plebeians after a plebeian tribune was found dead on the day of the trial of the ex-consuls he was investigating. Publilius was elected tribune in 472 and attempted to pass a law making such an assembly, but failed; he was re-elected the next year, and passed the law with the help of Gaius Laetonius despite the protestations of that year’s patrician consul, Appius Claudius. The number of tribunes also increased in 471, from two to five (Forsythe 177). The assembly sorted its members by the geographical tribe to which the voter belonged, thus preventing the corruption of the comitia centuriata. New tribes were added in even numbers to keep the number of tribes odd and prevent ties. The laws passed by this assembly, the comitia tributa, were known as plebiscita, or plebiscites, as opposed to the comitia centuriata’s leges (Forsythe 182). The Third & Fourth CenturiesIn the third and forth centuries, offices that had previously only been available to patricians were opened to plebeians. Plebeian consuls began to show up; in fact, one consul every year was plebeian. The tribunes also became a part of the cursus honorum and the established order, making them less radical than they had previously been. The tribunes were also allowed to be in the senate after serving their term as a tribune (Boatwright 99). Importance of the StruggleThis early period was important to the Republic because important government positions and systems that helped to prevent government corruption were set up at this time. This kept the Republic from being just as corrupt as the monarchy from which it had been formed, and allowed it to last longer.
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BibliographyBoatwright, Mary T., Daniel J. Gargola, and Richard J. A. Talbert. The Romans: From Village to Empire. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. “butcher.jpg.” Image. <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~klio/im/dailylife/butcher.jpg> Cary, M. and H. H. Scullard. A History of Rome. London: Macmillan, 1975. “farmer.gif.” Image. <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~klio/im/rr/gen/farmer.gif> Fresco from the Tomb of the Augurs. [c. 500 BCE]. The Romans: From Village to Empire. By Mary T. Boatwright, Daniel J. Gargola, and Richard J. A. Talbert. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 2.3 Forsythe, Gary. A Critical History of Early Rome. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005. Grant, Michael, and Rachel Kitzinger, eds. Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988. “Italy—The Growth of Roman Power in Italy.” Map. <http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd_1911/shepherd-c-029.jpg> “Roman Forum and its Vicinity at the Time of the Republic.” Map. <http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd/republican_forum_shepherd.jpg> Scullard, H. H. A History of the Roman World: 753 to 146 BC. New York: Routledge, 1980.
Captions Image #1: butcher.jpg “A butcher prepares a cut of meat” (<http://www.darkwing.uoregon.edu/~klio/im/dailylife/butcher.jpg>). Image #2: farmer.gif “A poor farmer with his cow” (<http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~klio/im/rr/gen/farmer.gif>) Image #3: scan003.png “Two men wrestle over a stack of bowls while an augur observes” (Boatwright). Image #4: shepherd-c-029.jpg Map. “Map showing growth of Roman influence” (Shepherd). Image #4 republican_forum_shepherd.jpg Map. “Shows the Roman Forum as it was during the Republic” (Shepherd).
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