Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/291

* ROME. 2Go ROME. the Servian military reform paved the way for the great jiolitiial struggle between the pa- tricians and the plebeians, which commenced with the lirst year of the Kcpublic, ami only ter- minated with its dissolution. The Roman Repurlic khom Its Institution to THE AnOLITlON OF THE DecEMVIUATE — ( 1 ) IXTER- ,NAL IllSTOUY. According to the legend, the ex- pulsion of the Tarquins was brought about by .Junius Brutus and Taniuinius Collatinus, in re- venge for the outrage on the honor of Lueretia, and was followed by the abolition of the mon- archy. The date usually assigned to this event is B.C. 509. The story may safely be taken as evidence that it w'as an unbridled lust of power and self-gratification that brought ruin on the Romano-Tuscan dynasty. Of course, we can niaUe nothing definite out of the early years of the Republic. Dates and names, and even events, nnist go for very little. Valerius Publicola or Poplicola, Sp. Lucretius, M. Horatius. Lars Por- sena (q.v). of Clusium, Aulus Postuniius, with the stories of Horatius Codes and the battle of Lake Regillus, will not bear historical investiga- tion. We must content ourselves with the knowl- edge of tendencies and general results. The change from 'kings' to 'consuls' was not intended to dinnnish the administrative power of the su- preme rulers, but only to deprive them of the opportunity of doing harm; and this it elTectually succeeded in doing, by limiting their tenure of office to a year, and by numerous other restric- tions. (See Consul.)' It is believed to have been about this time, and in consequence of the new political changes, that the old assessors of the King, such as the quwstores parricidii, for- mally became standing magistrates instead of mere honorary counselors, and also that the priesthood became a more self-governing and ex- clusive body. During the regal period the priests were appointed by the King, but now the colleges of angurs and pontiffs began to fill up the vacan- cies in their ranks themselves, while the vestals and separate flaniiiws were nominated by the pontifical college, which chose a president (ponli- fcx maxim us) for the purpose. The opinions of the augurs and pontiffs became more and more legally binding. This is to be connected with the fact that in every possible way the patricians or old burgesses — now rapidly becoming a mere nohlesse — were seeking to rise on the ruins of the monarchy and to preserve separate institutions for the benefit of their own order, when they could with difiieulty longer exclude the plehs from participation in common civic privileges. In the details given us of the 'Servian reform' we can easily discern a spirit of compromise, the concessions made to the plebeians in the constitu- tion and powers of the comitia centuriata being partially counterbalanced by the new powers con- ferred on the old burgess body, the comitia curi- ata — viz. the right of confirming or rejecting the measures passed in the lower assembly. The character of the senate altered under the action of the same influences. Although it never had been formally a patrician body — although admis- sion to it under the kings was obtainable simply by the exercise of the royal prerogative — yet practically 299 out of the .300 senators had al- ways been patricians: but after the institution of the Republic, we are told that the blanks in the senate were filled up en masse from the ranks of the plebeians, so that of the .100 nienibers less than half were pains ('full burgesses'), while 104 were cuimcripli ('added to the roll"), wlienw the otlicial designation of the Kenators palrta [tt] vonscripli ('full biirgessi-s and enridled"). As yet, however, it is to be oljsereil, the plebe- ians were rigorously excluded from the magis- tracies. They enuhr vote, liut they had ini -.hare in the administration. None but patricians were eligible for the consulship, for the oilit-e of (pni-H- tor, or for any other executive function, while the priestly colleges rigidly closed their door* against the new burgesses. The struggle, there- fore, between the two orders went on with ever- increasing vicdence. One point eonies out very clearly from the narrative, that the estahlishmeii'l of the Repibli(' and the rc'eonslitution of the Imr- gess body, instead of allaying di.scontenl. only fostered it. Power virtually pa^seil into the hands of the capitalists, anil, though some of these were plebeians, yet they would seem to have preferred their personal money interests t» the interests of their order, and to have eo<"i|M.'rated with the patricians. The abu.se by these capital- ists of the o'lir piihlicus — the lands of a con- quered people taken from them, annexed to the Roman State, and let out originally to the patri- cians at a fixed rent I see ,onAHiAN I.awi — to- gether with the frightful severity of the law of debtor and cieditor. the elVeet oi" which was all but to ruin the small plebeian 'farmers.' who con- stituted perhaps the most numerous section of the burgesses, finally led to a great revolt of the plebs. known as the 'secession to the sacred hill.' the date assigned to which is B.c 404. f)n that occasion the ]debcian farmer-soldiers, who had just returned from a camjiaiLin af;:iiiist the Vol- scians, marched in military order out of Rome, under their plebeian ollieers. to a mount near the confiuence of the Anio with the Tiber, and threat- ened to found there a new city if the patricians did not grant them magistrates from their own order; the result was the institution of the fa- nmus plebeian tribunate — a sort of rival power to the patrician consulate. To the same period belong the irdiles (q.v.). A little later, the comitia Iributa emerged into political jironu- nence. This was really the same body of liurge--~e- as formed the comitia cciiluriatd. but with the important diU'erenee that the number of voles was not in proportion to a property classilication. The poor jdebeian was on a footin" of equality with the rich patrician; each gave liis vole, and nothing more. Hence, the comitia tribula vir- tually became a plebeian assembly, and when the plebiscita ('resolutions of the plebs' carried at these comitia) accpiired (by the Valerian law> passed after the abolition of the decemvirate) a legally binding cliaracter, the victory of the 'mul- titude' in the sphere of legislation was complete. From this time the term populu.i practically, though not formally, loses its exclusive signifi- cance; and when we speak of the Ronuin citizens, we mean indillercntly patricians and plelH'iaiis. The semi-historical traditions of this |H>riiid nnini-'- takably show that the institution of the triliunali' led to something very like a civil war between the two orders. Such is the real significance of the legends of Gains Marcius. surnamed Cnrinlaiiii.i (q.v.) : the surprise of the Capitol by the Sabine marauder. Appius Herdonius. at the head of a motley force of political outlaws, refugees, and slaves; the raigrati(ms of numerous Roman bur-