Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/405

 CHAP. VII. THE PLEBS ENTER THE CITY. 399 This class, rich, liaughty, and prudent as well, who could not have been jDleased with disturbances, and must have feared them, who had much to lose if Rome fell, and much to gain if it prospered, was a natural mediator between the two hostile orders. It does not appear that the plebs felt any repugnance at seeing distinctions of wealth established among them. Thirty-six years after the establishment of the tribuneship, the number of tribunes was increased to ten, that there might be two for each of the five classes. The plebs, then, accepted and clung to the division which Servius had established. And even the poorer portion, which was not comprised in the classes, made no complaint ; it left the privileges to the wealthier, and did not demand its share of the tribunes. As to the patricians, they had little fear of the im- portance which wealth assumed, for they also were rich. Wiser or more fortunate than the Eupati'ids of Athens, who were annihilated on the day that the direc- tion of aflfuirs fell to the rich, the patricians never neg- lected agricultixre, or commerce, or even manufactures. To increase their fortunes was always their great care. Labor, frugality, and good speculations were always their virtues. Besides, every victory over an enemy, every conquest, increased their possessions; and so they saw no great evil in uniting power and wealth. The habits and character of the nobles were such that they could not feel contempt for a rich man even though he was a plebeian. The rich plebeian ap- pioached them, lived with them, and many relations of interest and friendship were established. This per- petual contact brought about a change of ideas. The plebeian made the patrician understand, little by little, the wishes and the rights of his class. The patrician