Roman Republic: Rise and Challenges
E N D
Presentation Transcript
The Republic Plebeian Reforms
509 BC • Romans drive out last king • Leading families take power • Rule as the Senate • Model for our Senate
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
Patrician • Horsemen • Cavalry • Claim leadership over other Romans
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
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
Plebeian Reforms • Go on strike (farms shut down, stores close) • Demand more land • Demand abolition of debt
Military Tribunes • Could veto laws • Could initiate legislation • Share authority with consuls when in battle
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
Comitia Centuriata (450) • Military assembly of Patricians and Plebeians • Met to elect consuls • Vote on legislation • Decide if Rome should go to war
Censor • Two censors • Took the census • Collect taxes and organize military duties
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
Three branches of gov’t • Executive (Consuls) • Legislative branch (Senate and Assemblies) • Judiciary (Praetor and jurors)
Praetor • In charge of judiciary branch of gov’t • Elected by military assembly • Jurors were expected to be honorable in their judgements
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
Twelve Tables • Written on twelve bronze tablets • Open to legislative changes • 442 - intermarriage between plebeians and patricians
Jurors • Q: Who could be a juror in ancient Rome? • A: Only aristocrats, as they had the leisure time
Laws • Q: Why were the laws written down? • A: Plebeians did not like how arbitrary the laws were
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
Roman Law • Recognized supremacy of the father • Sell children into slavery • Tell them who to marry and divorce
Moderatio • What are exemplary examples of vice or virtue? • When moderation is observed, all is well in Rome • If not, disaster abounds
Problems in the Republic • Ambition of individuals • Patricians vs. Plebeians • Threat of outsiders
Moderation is the key • Cincinnatus (Moderatio) • Quinctius Capitolinus (Moderatio) • Appius Claudius (Immoderatio)
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
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
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
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”
Appius Claudius • Abused his power as decemvir • Trial of Verginia • Father kills her to preserve her honor • Causes destruction of Verginia and himself
The Decemvirs (451 BC) • 10 men appointed to codify the laws • At first all patricians • Began to behave like tyrants
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
Quinctius Capitolinus • Challenges Romans to live up to their ancestors • Scolds patricians (who want excessive power) • Scolds plebeians (who want unchecked liberty)
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”
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
