Page 137 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

landowners, advised them. Thus, the Roman state was an aristocratic republic controlled by a relatively small group of privileged people.
THE STRUGGLE OF THE ORDERS: SOCIAL DIVISIONS IN THE ROMAN REPUBLIC The most noticeable element in the social orga- nization of early Rome was the division between two groups—the patricians and the plebeians (pli-BEE- unz). The patrician class in Rome consisted of families who were descended from the original senators appointed during the period of the kings. Their initial prominence was probably due to their wealth as great landowners. Thus, the patricians constituted an aris- tocratic governing class. Only they could be consuls, magistrates, and senators. Through their patronage of large numbers of dependent clients, they could con- trol the centuriate assembly and many other facets of Roman life.
The plebeians constituted the considerably larger group of “independent, unprivileged, poorer, and vulner- able men” as well as nonpatrician large landowners, less wealthy landholders, craftspeople, merchants, and small farmers. Although they were citizens, they did not pos- sess the same rights as the patricians. Both patricians and plebeians could vote, but only the patricians could be elected to governmental offices. Both had the right to make legal contracts and marriages, but intermarriage between patricians and plebeians was forbidden. At the beginning of the fifth century B.C.E., the plebeians began a struggle to obtain both political and social equality with the patricians.
The plebeians’ first success came in 494 B.C.E., when they withdrew physically from the state. The patri- cians, realizing that they could not defend Rome by themselves, were forced to compromise. Two new offi- cials known as tribunes of the plebs were instituted (later the number was raised to five and then to ten). These tribunes were given the power to protect plebe- ians against arrest by patrician magistrates. Moreover, after a new popular assembly for plebeians only, called the council of the plebs, was created in 471 B.C.E., the tribunes became responsible for convoking it and plac- ing proposals before it. If adopted, these measures became plebiscita (pleb-i-SEE-tuh) (“it is the opinion of the plebs”), but they were binding only on the plebe- ians, not the patricians. Nevertheless, the council of the plebs gave the plebeians considerable political leverage. After 445 B.C.E., when a law allowed patricians and plebeians to intermarry, the division between the two groups became less important. In the fourth cen- tury B.C.E., the consulship was opened to plebeians. The
climax of the struggle between the orders came in 287 B.C.E. with the passage of a law that stipulated that all plebiscita passed by the council of the plebs had the force of law and were binding on the entire commu- nity, including patricians.
The struggle between the orders had a significant impact on the development of the Roman constitution. Plebeians achieved the right to hold the highest offices of state, to intermarry with the patricians, and to pass laws binding on the entire Roman community. Although the struggle had been long, the Romans had handled it by compromise, not violent revolution. The- oretically, by 287 B.C.E., all Roman citizens were equal under the law, and all could strive for political office. But in reality, as a result of the right of intermarriage, a select number of patrician and plebeian families formed a new senatorial aristocracy that came to domi- nate the political offices. The Roman republic had not become a democracy.
The Roman Conquest of Italy
At the beginning of the republic, Rome was surrounded by enemies, including the Etruscans to the north and the Sabines (SAY-bynz), Volscians (VOL-shunz), and Aequi (EYE-kwee or EE-kwy) to the east and south. The Latin communities on the plain of Latium posed an even more immediate threat. If we are to believe Livy, one of the chief ancient sources for the history of the early Roman republic, Rome was engaged in almost continu- ous warfare with its neighbors for the next hundred years.
In his account of these years, Livy provided a detailed narrative of Roman efforts. Many of Livy’s stories were legendary in character and indeed were modeled on events in Greek history. But Livy, writing in the first century B.C.E., used such stories to teach Romans the moral values and virtues that had made Rome great. These included tenacity, duty, courage, and especially discipline (see the box on p. 100). Indeed, Livy recounted stories of military leaders who exe- cuted their own sons for leaving their place in battle, a serious offense because the success of the hoplite infantry depended on maintaining a precise order. These stories had little basis in fact, but like the story of George Washington and the cherry tree in American history, they provided mythic images to reinforce Roman patriotism.
By 338 B.C.E., Rome had crushed the Latin states in Latium. During the next fifty years, the Romans waged a fierce struggle with the Samnites (SAM-nyts), a hill
The Roman Republic (ca. 509–264 B.C.E.) 99
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