Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/38

 24 THE LATER ROYAL CONSTITUTION. than in the curtate assembly. There is, however, no evi- dence to show that this was the case during the royal period. Plebeians and Clients. — The reform nevertheless involved important political changes, because the military service was so closely connected with citizenship. The plebeians did not obtain political rights, but they became citizens and enjoyed most private rights. They probably became full owners of the public lands which they had formerly occu- pied. They enjoyed the right of commercial intercourse; and, while they did not have the right of intermarriage with the patricians, they could enter into legal marriages among themselves, and had as fathers the paternal author- ity, and their children were Roman citizens. The clients also were placed in the centuries as citizens, and attained a more independent position. They may have become the owners of the lands which they had received from their patrons. While the original constitution was based on relationship, or clanship, the Servian military organization was based mainly on the possession of land; and, in establishing a certain gradation of duties, it introduced a plutocratic prin- ciple which became operative when the centuries began to exercise political rights. III. The Progress of Eome and the Abolition of THE Monarchy. Extension and Improvements of the City. — The city of the Tities, Bamnes, and Luceres (urhs quattuor regionum) had continued to prosper ; and Servius is supposed to have built a new ring wall, of which the present remnants are probably a restoration. It included the Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Viminal, Quirinal, Capitoline, and Palatine hills. The