Page:The City-State of the Greeks and Romans.djvu/220

196 could not resist its enemies, and, as their brethren had so often done in Greece, to leave the city and find a home elsewhere.

This must be what is indicated by the famous story of the Secession to the Sacred Mount. It was a strike on a grand scale, and in a State instead of a private undertaking. Such combinations to resist oppression, and to gain some control over the oppressing management, were not possible or needed in the same form as our strikes, which are the struggles of organised labour against organised private capital; but they occur both in Greek and Roman history in the sense of practical protests of one class against the domination of another. The plebs marched out to the Anio after refusing their services at a levy, intending to found a new city on the banks of that river. Rome was at the mercy of her enemies, helpless and deprived of that middle class which is the source of all political strength. But the plebs were helpless too. Where was the genius to be found who could overcome for them the tremendous difficulties in which they were placed? Cities could not be founded by any one who wished, without the aid of priests and religious lore, without the elements of cohesion in the form of king and gentes. Mutual perplexity brought mutual concession, as the story suggests; and the plebs returned to Rome to fight again for the old city, and also to fight a long series of political battles under leaders now definitely recognised by the whole State.

Perhaps there is no such singular event in ancient history as the establishment of the tribunate