Roman Peasant
(After Racinet)
It is no wonder that out of conditions so one-sided and oppressive, the deepest aversion should have arisen among the plebeians against the patrician rule. There were, indeed, some among the noble families who sought to establish better and more conciliatory relations between themselves and the lower people, notably the Valerii and the Horatii; but for the most part the patricians of those days were characterised by the harshest egotism and imperiousness. These qualities were particularly conspicuous in the Sabine Fabii, in the newly settled family of Appius Claudius,—who later displayed a certain eccentricity in good as well as evil that belied the usual conservative traits of the aristocracy,—and in the Quinctii and Manlii, who were the acknowledged supporters of a sort of iron military discipline to be applied in their relations with the lower classes. From all this it will be seen that only by a movement bordering on a general revolution could a new political adjustment be brought about that would insure an amendment in the social condition of the plebeians.
[495-457 B.C.]
According to the chronology, often faulty, of tradition, the distress of the plebeians and their consequent dissatisfaction had already, in the year 495 B.C., reached a momentous pitch. In 494 the plebs consented to serve only under the dictator Manius Valerius, beloved of the people, who conducted the first enlistments and met later with success in the field. But when his proposals looking to a modification of the laws against debtors fell through in the senate, the patience of the plebeians was at an end. Valerius, who was rightfully incensed, resigned his office; and the consuls of that year wishing to continue the war, the plebeian portion of the army withdrew from the main body and the patrician city, and under the conduct of their officers retired to the so-called “Sacred Mount” on the peninsula formed three Roman miles from Rome by the junction of the Anio and the Tiber.
This move was actuated by a desire on the part of the plebeians to cut themselves completely off from the rest of the people and establish themselves as an independent body at an entirely new point. The seriousness of the situation finally obliged the patricians and the senate to yield; and negotiations ensued, the effects of which were felt even as late as the imperial epoch.
The new compact between the two branches of the Roman population, to which was given an international form, provided that the plebeians residing in the state should be organised into an independent body, having their own official representatives that were to rival in power those of the patricians. In opposition to the consuls were placed two plebeian tribunes (usually called “people’s tribunes”) who were later increased in number to four, and after 457 to ten; who were appointed, according to all probability, by the state assemblies of the plebeians. Guardians of the community in the true sense of the word, their ædiles being ever at the service of the plebeians as police and general administration agents, these chosen tribunes had the right and duty to protect their fellow plebeians against injustice and maladministration on the part of the consuls, to resolutely uphold the right of appeal—in a word, to interfere whenever the interests of the plebeians seemed to be endangered. They were powerless only against the dictator and the military jurisdiction or imperium of the consuls outside the city. In Rome they had the right to prevent, by making prompt and personal protest, the execution of any patrician order whereat a citizen might take offence; and also to block or veto any patrician measure recommended to the citizen body, which was found to be unjust. This was called the right of intercession, or the veto of the plebeian tribunes.
From these circumstances it ensued that no tribune could, after the 10th of December, the date of accession to office, pass a single night outside the city during the whole official year;[20] his house, moreover, having to stand open night and day as a refuge for any who might need protection. To insure them perfect security in the performance of their duties the persons of the plebeian tribunes were declared “doubly sacred” and as such unassailable and inviolable. Whoever committed an attack on these personages was said to fall under the malediction of the gods and was, even according to earthly laws, adjudged guilty of a crime punishable with death. Hence every patrician, consuls included, who in any way infringed the tribunes’ rights, or offered them personal indignity could be held to strict account; in serious cases even arrested and brought before the tribunes themselves, who had power to inflict a penalty of fines or death. From their judgment however it was possible to appeal to the plebeian assemblies.