Social Developments during the Early Republic: the Conflict of the Orders
With the ousting of the Etruscan dynasty in 509 BC begins a new period in Roman history, known as the Republic (from res publica or commonwealth).
The first two centuries of this period witnessed the gradual transformation of Rome's social and political institutions. This transformation was brought about in part by the necessity of modifying the system of government to meet the needs of a rapidly growing community, and in part by the internal political struggle between the patrician aristocracy and the plebeian class.As has been noted, the downfall of the Monarchy was brought about by an uprising of the patrician aristocracy against the authority of the king - an uprising probably inspired by similar movements in neighbouring cities and facilitated by the general weakening of the Etruscan power in Italy. During the early years of the Republic the political power of the patrician class appears to have increased. The plebeians, on the other hand, continued to be denied access to state offices and remained, both socially and economically, subordinate to the patricians. But the patricians' monopoly of political power was soon challenged by the plebeians who, having defined themselves as an independent social order, began to press for political equality. As the burdens which the plebeians were called on to bear became heavier (especially with respect to the defence of the state), the plebeians could no longer remain a silent majority in politics and the patricians found themselves under increasing pressure to make political concessions.[176] [177] In the conflict between the classes, which lasted more than two centuries, the rich plebeians were looking for a share in the government, while the poor were more interested in improving living conditions and in securing protection from the arbitrary power of the patrician magistrates.
But this conflict never resulted in an outright civil war because the patricians gradually, although not without resistance, agreed to meet the plebeian demands and, by the middle of the third century BC, all political distinctions between the two classes had disappeared. A brief description of the main events marking this process is offered in the following paragraphs.[178]In 494 BC, according to the traditional dating, the plebeians refused to serve in the army and left the city, establishing their own settlement on a nearby hill {Mons Sacrum)?[179] In order to avoid civil war, a compromise was reached and the plebeians were granted the right to elect officials of their own {tribuni plebis) to act as their spokesmen and to protect them against arbitrary acts of patrician magistrates. These officials were declared to be sacrosanct {sacrosancti) and inviolable.[180] Although not regarded as magistrates, the tribunes of the plebeians had the right to veto acts of magistrates threatening the interests of the plebeian class (ius intercessionis) and the power to protect the plebeians against abuses of patrician officials (ius auxilii). The tribunes were elected by the plebeians' own assembly, the concilium plebis. In 471 BC, under the lex Publilia Voleronis, the plebeian assembly was accorded legal status and was reorganised on a tribal basis. The plebeian assembly met to elect the tribunes and to vote on various measures put before it.[181] [182] But the plebeian assembly was not regarded, in this phase, as an element of the Roman constitution, since it was not for nearly another two centuries that its resolutions came to be recognised as having the full force of laws.
In 462 BC the plebeians demanded, through their tribune Terentius Harsa, that the customary law of the land which guided magistrates and judges in their decision-making should be written down and made public.
As was noted earlier, until that time the law was largely unwritten and known only to the patricians. As the plebeians did not know what their rights were, they had little chance of obtaining justice under the prevailing informal enforcement of customary laws. This demand, although at first strongly resisted by the patricians, was finally accepted and a special commission was appointed to carry out the codification of the law. The code, which was probably modelled on similar codes of law enacted by Greek city-states some two centuries earlier, was finally published about 450 BC. After its enactment it was set up in public on twelve wooden tablets and for that reason it became known as the Law of the Twelve Tables (lex duodecim tabularum). But the Law of the Twelve Tables was neither a constitution nor a comprehensive code of laws - it was simply a compilation of basic customary civil and criminal laws and rules of procedure. Important areas of the law, such as constitutional law, were not included and remained under the exclusive control of the patricians.[183] Moreover, existing customary norms, such as the ban on the intermarriage between the patricians and plebeians and the rule pertaining to the right of creditors to imprison and sell into slavery their insolvent debtors, now received legislative recognition. Furthermore, the interpretation of the provisions of the Law of the Twelve Tables remained within the exclusive competence of the pontiffs who, as was noted earlier, were members of the patrician class. Yet the publication of the law proved advantageous to the plebeians, for the law was now accessible to all and not, as before, only to the patricians. Ordinary citizens were now able to defend themselves against exploitation by the powerful through recourse to explicit legal rules and procedures and judges were bound to give their decisions according to written laws.[184]In 449 BC the right of Roman citizens (both patricians and plebeians alike) of appealing to the assembly of the people (provocatio ad populum) against sentences involving capital punishment was confirmed by the lex Valeria Horatia?[185] The same law also gave some legislative power to the plebeian assembly by enacting that 'what the plebs assembled in tribes ordered was binding on the whole people',[186] but the scope of this provision is not clear. It is more likely that this law recognised the right of the plebeian assembly to enact legislation, even though such laws did not become binding until approved by the senate and the assembly of the people (comitia centuriata).
The same enactment confirmed the inviolability of the plebeian tribunes and their right to block by veto acts of magistrates they considered detrimental to the interests of the plebeian class (ius intercessionis).The ban on the intermarriage between patricians and plebeians, which had been included in the Law of the Twelve Tables, was finally removed by the lex Canuleia of 445 BC. This law had far-reaching social and political implications, as wealthy plebeian families, who were leading the fight for political equality, now began to contract alliances by marriage with patrician families with which they shared potentially common economic and political interests.
The plebeians had another success in their struggle for political equality in 367 BC with the passing of the leges Liciniae Sextiae, a series of laws proposed by the tribunes Lucius Sextius Lateranus and Gaius Licinius Stolo.[187] One of these laws recognised the right of the plebeians to hold the consulship, the highest office of the state, by providing that at least one of the two consuls elected each year should be chosen from the plebeian class.lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;color:black'>[188] At the same time the office of praetor was introduced, as an office open only to the patricians, to take over the judicial duties of the consuls.[189] By the close of the fourth century BC the plebeians had gained access to all the highest magistracies of the state (the dictatorship in 356 BC, the censorship in 351 BC and the praetorship in 337 BC).
Moreover the leges Liciniae Sextiae sought to improve the position of those without property and to address the problem of debt which gave rise to the condition of servitude to which large numbers of plebeians had been reduced.
Thus it was provided that the portion of public land (ager publicus') that could be held by individuals could not exceed the 500 jugera (about 330 acres). As a result of this measure, large tracts of public land became available for distribution among the impoverished plebeian peasantry. Another provision reduced existing debts by providing that the interest paid should be deducted from the sum due and that the remainder should be paid in three annual instalments.[190] [191] Another important enactment designed to improve the position of the poor was the lex Poetelia Papiria de nexis of 326 BC. This law abolished the early rule (sanctioned by the Law of the Twelve Tables) which allowed creditors to sell their insolvent debtors into slavery (nexum se dare).**In 326 BC the plebeians were admitted to the most important priestly colleges, those of the pontifices and the augures, by the lex Ogulnia de auguribus. This law increased the number of the pontiffs by four and the augurs by five and provided that the new members were to be chosen from the plebeian class. Through their membership in the college of the pontiffs, the plebeians gained access to the formulae used in legal transactions and members of their class acquired the right to act as interpreters of the law.
The conflict of the orders came to an end in 287 BC with the introduction of the lex Hortensia de plebiscitis. Under this law the enactments of the plebeian assembly (plebiscita) were given the full force of laws binding on all Roman citizens.89 From that time the senate's sanction was no longer required for the resolutions of the plebeian assembly to be regarded as legally valid.
The plebeians' success in the conflict of the orders and the elimination of the political division between the two classes did not result in the eradication of social and economic inequalities.
Instead, a new type of nobility (nobilitas) emerged in the place of the old patrician aristocracy. This new nobility was based on wealth and the participation in the government of the state through the holding of high office. The political rights which their success in the struggle of the orders guaranteed for the plebeians allowed wealthy plebeian families access to the highest offices of the state through which membership in the nobility was secured.[192] In the course of time (especially from the beginning of the third century BC) Roman government came to be monopolised by a small number of patrician and plebeian families from which almost all the high magistrates and members of the senate were drawn. Thus, the fundamentally aristocratic character of the Roman state did not change. What changed was the constitution of the aristocracy in power: the old patrician aristocracy was replaced by a new patricio-plebeian nobility based on wealth and officeholding. This new nobility soon became exclusive and its members treated with suspicion or even overt hostility members of lower classes who sought to attain high office.[193]
More on the topic Social Developments during the Early Republic: the Conflict of the Orders:
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- The Archaic Period (Monarchy and Early Republic)
- Advocacy and legal orders
- NATION-STATES AND REGIONAL ORDERS
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