Etruscan Political System

1. Etruscan Political System • Independent, fortified city-states. • Formed small confederacies. • Had a strong military that dominated all the surrounding peoples. • By 6c BCE, the Etruscan military had conquered much of the Italian peninsula,including Rome and the island of Corsica.

2. ROMAN REPUBLIC • Was not a static institution but rather a continually evolving structure • Political participation and eligibility to run for office widened over time • Powers of various assemblies and elected officials also changed with time • But it also became increasingly corrupt

3. PATRICIANS • Original aristocracy of Rome • Had been distinguished citizens who advised Latin kings • Played leading role in overthrowing Etruscans • Control strengthened by institution of clientage • Client was a free man who pledged himself to a patrician (called patron) • Honor-bound to serve interests and obey wishes of patron • In return the client received favors • Originally used to create political bases for patricians • Wealth based primarily on ownershipof farmland and/or urban real estate • Originally possessed monopoly on membership in Senate and various elected offices

4. PLEBEIANS • Free men who could not trace their ancestry back to advisors of Latin kings • Did not become clients • Number swollen by immigrants who moved to Rome during Etruscan period • Many were well-off and served in the army under Etruscans • Etruscans had promoted their interests and protected their civil status • With overthrow of Etruscans they lost protector • Patricians would not let them share in government

5. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION • Result was long-term power struggle within Rome as patricians attempted to preserve their exalted status and monopoly of political power and plebeians tried to gain a share of power that corresponded to the contribution they made to Rome’s success and prosperity • Result was a blurring and mixing of original social distinctions and gradual emergence of a new hierarchy based on wealth • Parallel political evolution in which the patrician monopoly on government gave way to the domination of the wealthy (whether patrician or plebeian)

6. ROMAN CITIZENSHIP • Entitled a man to vote in elections • Could not be flogged as punishment • Entitled to the Roman trial process and had right of appeal • Originally, both parents had to be citizens for that person to be considered a citizen • Later, only a person’s father had to be a citizen to qualify his offspring as citizens

7. A NEW SYSTEM • By the late Republic, citizens divided into five classes and a large group known as the capite censi (Head Count) • Membership in a class was based on wealth determined by a “means test” given every five years • First Class was wealthiest, then Second Class, etc. • Political power determined by class membership • Only members of First Class could become senators and highest officials in Rome • By 100 BC, only 12 patrician families had means to be in First Class • Patricians still possessed certain social distinctions but their automatic and unquestioned domination of society and politics was a thing of the past • Historians don’t know precise economic criteria for membership in each class • But even the 5th class was wealthy enough to at least arm and equip itself and serve in army

8. POLITICS • Candidates for public office seldom offered a program and organized political parties did not exist • Men were generally elected by the amount of bribes they offered, the lavishness of their public entertainments, the prestige of their family name, and their family connections • They also saw nothing wrong in using their elected office to get richer and oppose every measure aimed at helping the poor • Such as cheap grain, distribution of free land, and cancellation of debts

9. THE HEAD COUNT • Too poor to arm and equip themselves for military service • Even after they became eligible for military service with the reforms of Gaius Marius, they were still considered as a group too poor to be included in the five classes • Most clients drawn from this group • Freed slaves with citizenship belonged to this group • Below them came non-citizen resident foreigners and slaves

10. SENATE • Most powerful governmental institution in Rome during the Republic • Made up of 300 members • Descended from the ancient advisory body to Septimontium kings

11. SOURCES OF POWER • Since most elected magistrates served one-year terms, while senators had lifetime terms, the Senate was the only governmental body that could maintain a continuous policy • Senators had to be members of the First Class • Only richest and most powerful men, with hordes of clients, sat in the Senate • Almost all candidates for elected office were selected from the Senate • Giving it indirect control over entire government • Elected officials returned to Senate once their term was up, making it a reservoir of political experience and wisdom

12. LIMITS AND STRENGTHS • Also had limits of power since it was an advisory body, not a legislature • Did not possess initiative • Could not convene itself or initiate discussion • However, once a senator’s advice was requested, he was free to talk about anything he wanted • Opinions were requested of each senator in set order • Process continued until a viable proposal was produced • After a passing vote, itwas a senatus consult (decree of the Senate) • Senate did reign supreme in certain areas • Controlled treasury • Declared war and appointed military commanders • Appointed provincial governors and regulated affairs • Had right, in times of civil emergency, to override all other bodies of government and establish martial law • Senatus consultum de republica defenda

13. ELECTED OFFICIALS • Consuls • 2 elected each year • Dual chief executives • Censors • 2 elected ever 5 years • Kept and updated voting lists • Conducted means test for class membership and Senate • Praetors • 6 elected each year • Served as state’s attorneys • Quaestors • 12 elected each year • Oversaw financial matters • Aediles • 4 elected each year • Organized public ceremonies

14. POWER TO THE PEOPLE? • Members of the Head Count also held political power (at least in theory) • Their assemblies, the Centuriate Assembly and Tribal Assembly, held the power to elect magistrates, ratify treaties, and pass laws • Yet the structure of these assemblies was rigged to give the wealthy good control of them too • These were the same men who already controlled the Senate and monopolized elected offices

15. CENTURIATE ASSEMBLY • Every citizen in Rome belonged to it • Regardless of economic status • Its main job was to elected magistrates • Voting in assembly was not done on individual basis • All citizens were divided into voting units called centuries • Each century had one vote in Assembly • Centuries were not equal in size • Entire Head Count in Rome (300-500,000 people) were lumped together in one century • The wealthy divided into numerous small centuries • Whenever a vote was taken, the wealthy, given their control of the majority of centuries, always won

16. TRIBAL ASSEMBLY • Primary function was to pass laws • Voting also not done on an individual basis • Done according to tribe • 35 in all; each having one vote • Rich and poor fairly equally distributed in each tribe • Two stumbling blocks • Many members of Head Count did not attend meetings because that meant taking off work • Attendance at Assembly therefore tended to be dominated by the wealthy and their clients • Assembly could not do anything without the collaboration of a tribune • Who only could introduce legislation • Any tribune of the ten could veto legislative proposal • All ten had to agree before a bill became law • Not hard for wealthy to find one tribune to do their dirty work for them

17. BIG CITY/BIG PROBLEMS • Rome had a population of close to one million people and no police force or army garrison to keep the peace • Majority of these people were Head Count, freed slaves, and slaves • Frequently formed “mobs” and rioted

18. PRIVATE ARMIES • Mobs were generally unarmed and relied on sticks and stones as weapons • Wealthy could obtain permission from Senate to issue weapons to their clients in an emergency • Wealthy also had knowledge of strategy, tactics and logistics • Kept poor down with private armies • Only a small step from using private armies to keep the peace to using them to weaken or eliminate a rival or advance a program

19. CROWDED CITY • Rome had a huge population crammed together in a high density in a small geographic area • Streets were narrow and winding • Rich lived in mansions on Palatine Hill or in suburbs • Most other Romans lived in small flats in rickety wooden apartment buildings • In lower part of city • Subject to periodic floods, collapsing buildings, and almost daily fires

20. SLUMS • Apartment buildings were poorly constructed and designed • Flats were poorly lit, poorly ventilated, and unheated • Water had to be carried in from public fountains • Not connected to the sewer system • Most of Rome was an appalling slum • But landlords like Cicero made good incomes from their property • Rents were 100-150 sesterces a month • Some reformers proposed suspending rents for a time to help the poor • Always blocked by wealthy landlords

21. LABOR FORCE • Most economic activity in Rome revolved around supplying its population with food and other necessities and construction • Many workers were slaves or men from slave origins • Advantages of slaves • Slaves were cheap • Most came from the East and had highly-developed skills • They provided a stable labor force

22. HARD LIVES • Freeborn Romans of the Head Count were mostly displaced small farmers • Generally performed unskilled labor on irregular basis • Most Romans only worked periodically at unskilled jobs for low pay • Yet they continued to pour into Rome because it was even worse out in the countryside • Lived hard lives, dependent on the voluntary generosity of the wealthy and occasional part-time employment