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REPUBLIC] political system, was at first exclusively military in its nature and objects. It amounted, in fact, to the formation of a new and enlarged army on a new footing. In this force, excepting in the case of the centuries of the horsemen, no regard was paid either to the old clan divisions or to the semi-religious, semi political curiae. In its ranks were included all freeholders within the Roman territory, whether members or not of any of the old divisions, and the organization of this new army of assidui was not less independent of the old system with its clannish and religious traditions and forms. The unit was the centuria or company of 100 men; the centuriae were grouped in “classes” and drawn up in the order of the phalanx. The centuries in front were composed of the wealthier citizens, whose means enabled them to bear the cost of the complete equipments necessary for those who were to bear the brunt of the onset. These centuries formed the first class. Behind them stood the centuries of the second and third classes, less completely armed, but making up together with those of the first class the heavy armed infantry. In the rear were the centuries of the fourth and fifth classes, recruited from the poorer freeholders, and serving only as lights armed troops. The entire available body of freeholders was divided into two equal portions, a reserve corps of seniores and a corps of juniores for active service. Each of these corps consisted of 85 centuries for 8500 men, i.e. of two legions of about 4200 men each, the normal strength of a consular legion under the early Republic. It is noticeable also that the heavily-armed centuries of the three first classes in each of these legions represented a total of 3000 men, a number which agrees exactly with the number of heavy-armed troops in the legion as described by Polybius. Attached to the legions, but not included in them, were the companies of sappers and trumpeters. Lastly, to the six centuries of horsemen, which still retained the old tribal names, twelve more were added as a distinct body, and recruited from the wealthiest class of citizens. The four “tribes” also instituted by Servius were probably intended to serve as the bases for the levy of freeholders for the new army. As their names show, they corresponded with the natural local divisions of the city territory.

The last of these Etruscan lords to rule in Rome was Tarquin the Proud. He is described as a splendid and despotic monarch. His sway extended over Latium as far south as Circeii. Aristodemus, tyrant of Cumae, was his ally, and kinsmen of his own were princes at Collatia, at Gabii,

and at Tusculum. The Volscian highlanders were chastised, and Signia with its massive walls was built to hold them in check. In Rome itself the Capitoline temple and the great cloaca bore witness to his power. But his rule pressed heavily upon the Romans, and at the last, on the news of the foul wrong done by his son Sextus to a noble Roman matron, Lucretia, the indignant people rose in revolt. Tarquin, who was away besieging Ardea, was deposed; sentence of exile was passed upon him and upon all his race; and the

people swore that never again should a king rule in Rome. Freed from the tyrant, they chose for themselves two yearly magistrates who should exercise the supreme authority, and thus the Republic of Rome was founded. Three times the banished Tarquin strove desperately to recover the throne he had lost. First of all the men of Veii and Tarquinii marched to his aid, but were defeated in a pitched battle on the Roman frontier. A year later Lars Porsena, prince of Clusium, at the head of all the powers of Etruria, appeared before the gates of Rome, and closely besieged the city, until, moved by the valour of his foe, he granted honourable terms of peace and withdrew. Once again, by Lake Regillus, the Romans fought victoriously for their liberty against Tarquin’s son-in-law Mamilius, prince of Tusculum, and chief of the Latin name. Mamilius was slain; Tarquin in despair found a refuge at Cumae, and there soon afterwards died.

So, in brief, ran the story of the flight of the kings, as it was told by the chroniclers whose story Livy reports, though with explicit and repeated notes of reserve. Its details are most of them fabulous; it is crowded with inconsistencies and improbabilities; there are no trustworthy dates; the names even of the chief factors are probably fictitious, and the hand of the improver, Greek or Roman, is traceable throughout. But there is no room for doubting the main facts of the emancipation of Rome from the rule of alien princes and the final abolition of the kingly office.

is characteristic of Rome that the change from monarchy to republic should have been made with the least possible disturbance of existing forms. The title of king was retained, though only as that of a priestly officer
 * 509–265 (a) The Struggle between the Orders.—It

(rex sacrorum) to whom some of the religious functions of the former kings were transferred. The two annually elected consuls, or praetores, were regarded as joint heirs of the full kingly authority, and as holding the imperium, and the correlative right of taking the auspices, by direct transmission from the founder of the city. They were, it is true, elected or designated by a new assembly, by the army of landholders voting by their classes and centuries (comitia centuriata), and to this body was given also the right of passing laws; nevertheless it was still by a vote of the thirty curiae (lex curiata) that the supreme authority was formally conferred on the magistrates chosen by the centuries of landholders, and both the choice of magistrates and the passing of laws still required the sanction of the patrician senators (patrum auctoritas). Nor, lastly, were the legal prerogatives of the senate altered, although it is probable that before long plebeians were admitted to seats, if not to votes, and though its importance was gradually increased by the substitution of an annual magistracy for the lifelong rule of a single king. But the