Roman Republic: Rise and Challenges

1. The Republic Plebeian Reforms

2. 509 BC • Romans drive out last king • Leading families take power • Rule as the Senate • Model for our Senate

3. Consuls • Two senators were chosen as consuls • 1 year term, each could veto the other • Could not declare war by themselves • Responsible for public finances, justice and city administration

4. Patrician • Horsemen • Cavalry • Claim leadership over other Romans

5. Plebeian • Change in fighting techniques added plebeian infantrymen • “common man” in combat became very important • Small-farmer, plebeian soldiers win the right to be elected military tribunes

6. Debt Slavery • If a plebeian owed money, the patricians could demand that a plebeian work off his debts • Plebeians rebel and peasant soldiers used force to protest this form of punishment

7. Plebeian Reforms • Go on strike (farms shut down, stores close) • Demand more land • Demand abolition of debt

8. Military Tribunes • Could veto laws • Could initiate legislation • Share authority with consuls when in battle

9. Comitia Plebus (471 BC) • Name of law that created plebeian assembly • Could meet and express their opinions to military tribunes • Assemblies met to vote, but not to initiate action

10. Comitia Centuriata (450) • Military assembly of Patricians and Plebeians • Met to elect consuls • Vote on legislation • Decide if Rome should go to war

11. Censor • Two censors • Took the census • Collect taxes and organize military duties

12. Equites • Censors determined how much property people had • This determined what kind of equipment they had to have for war • Class of plebeians who could afford to own a horse and equipment

13. Three branches of gov’t • Executive (Consuls) • Legislative branch (Senate and Assemblies) • Judiciary (Praetor and jurors)

14. Praetor • In charge of judiciary branch of gov’t • Elected by military assembly • Jurors were expected to be honorable in their judgements

15. Twelve Tables (451-450) • Before this, laws were not written down • Laws connected to religious lore • Patricians interpreted the laws • Plebeians demanded laws be written down

16. Twelve Tables • Written on twelve bronze tablets • Open to legislative changes • 442 - intermarriage between plebeians and patricians

17. Jurors • Q: Who could be a juror in ancient Rome? • A: Only aristocrats, as they had the leisure time

18. Laws • Q: Why were the laws written down? • A: Plebeians did not like how arbitrary the laws were

19. Criminal Transgressions • Q: How were you punished if you broke the laws? • Often punished by exile rather than death • Vestals and those who consorted with the enemy were killed

20. Roman Law • Recognized supremacy of the father • Sell children into slavery • Tell them who to marry and divorce

21. Moderatio • What are exemplary examples of vice or virtue? • When moderation is observed, all is well in Rome • If not, disaster abounds

22. Problems in the Republic • Ambition of individuals • Patricians vs. Plebeians • Threat of outsiders

23. Moderation is the key • Cincinnatus (Moderatio) • Quinctius Capitolinus (Moderatio) • Appius Claudius (Immoderatio)

24. Cincinnatus • From plow to dictatorship • Trial of son, Caeso • Forced to live in a hovel • Not afraid to tell senators that limited power of individuals is what Rome needs

25. Speech of Cincinnatus • “Sunk as you are in a morass of impiety and crime, yet you continue to assert that you will get the law through before the year is out” • Courage, constancy, all the virtues which in civil or military life, were the true glory of manhood, had followed his son Caeso into banishment

26. Caeso, son of Cincinnatus • Plea for tribunes to have the power to legislate what the consuls can do by Terentillus • Caeso “Anyone who dared cross him soon found himself the worse for wear, or with his clothes stripped from his back” • Capitol charge and trial

27. Caeso’s Trial • Bail is set and Caeso is free until trial • Goes into exile • Father is forced to sell everything he owns and move across the river to live “like a banished man”

28. Appius Claudius • Abused his power as decemvir • Trial of Verginia • Father kills her to preserve her honor • Causes destruction of Verginia and himself

29. The Decemvirs (451 BC) • 10 men appointed to codify the laws • At first all patricians • Began to behave like tyrants

30. No less dreadful than rape of Lucretia • Appius Claudius attempted to seduce Verginia and declared her his slave • If people suffer inside the walls of Rome the worst horrors of a captured town, then why fight to protect the city? • Let the master through, to take possession of his slave

31. Quinctius Capitolinus • Challenges Romans to live up to their ancestors • Scolds patricians (who want excessive power) • Scolds plebeians (who want unchecked liberty)

32. Capitolinus • “Only tell me that you are sick at last of this state of affairs, that you are willing to go back to your old ways, like your fathers before you” • “I should like to please you, but I much prefer to save you”

33. Results of Speeches of Cincinnatus and Q. Capitolinus • Romans want to serve their country again • Each acts not for selfish reasons, but for good of his people • Sacrifice personal convenience for higher good