The most famous Roman republic has always been the latest. In it, the struggle between the different Roman orders had been perverted by the struggle of the different factions for their benefit. That is why we are talking to you today about the figure of the tribune of the plebs, an essential position in the Roman world. We already told you about two very special tribunes that gave way to what is known as the “Crisis of the Republic”.
However, we tend to forget, either due to lack of interest or ignorance of the youngest republic. The one in which the class struggle was shaping a closed oligarchic system that was reluctant to change. In its place, it was being replaced by a republic of a more open type in which the struggle between the patricians and plebeians had its fruits for the lower classes. These began to see how their interests began to be represented.
Jacques-Louis David heads this article. His work, exhibited in the Louvre Museum, dates from 1789 and is entitled «The lictors carry the corpses of his sons to Brutus». Seeing the date on which it occurred, we cannot help but think about the enormous ideological burden that it carries behind it. For David, the painting is representing the duty to the country, even if for this it is necessary to sacrifice the family. This makes a lot of sense if we talk about the French Revolution, but this has little to do with how the transfer of the Roman Monarchy to the Republic actually took place.
Rome and its area of influence in 509 BC Source: wikipedia.org
In the year 509 BC, an oligarchy tired of the excesses of the Rex and, above all, of his son, they decide to change the model by eliminating this figure from the equation. From this moment on, the almost absolute power that the monarch had became held by the figure of the Roman Senate formed by the patricians. In other words, power passed from the power of a single person to that of a few, specifically the most powerful, not thanks to trade, but to the possession of the land.
We cannot forget that this was the source of wealth in the Ancient Age. This is because the Mediterranean civilizations generally had a markedly agricultural character. Although trade was a central factor in the businesses of these towns, in the end the economic engine always ended up emerging from the land.
Be that as it may, this landowning group achieved full and uncontested power in the aforementioned year. In theory, its members came from the founding families of Rome, and that is why they deserved that privileged status. Below, the free men who had come to the city later received the name of plebs. Although they were not slaves, their political power was nil, even though some sectors stood out for their economic capacity and incipient commercial power. Despite not having any kind of political power, their names were included in the legion, so they had no choice but to join the Roman army. Depending on their level of income, they occupied a different position among the troops, following a clearly plutocratic system.
We thus attend to how the plebs served as the engine of Rome at the service of the patriciate. They also gave their blood in the war, despite the fact that they did not have any political rights and they also saw themselves stepped on by the Senate. The solution? Plunging Rome into a situation of internal instability.
The Republic of the Few: Rome Before the Tribune of the Plebs
Tito Livio considers that the introduction of the consul is a step forward in the public res Roman. It is not the rupture of the monarchy, but this annual judiciary with powers very similar to those of the rex. Now, you also have to understand something key: for the Romans, the republic did not mean a particular constitutional form. In fact, many authors call the monarchical period a republic as well, like Cicero. (Poma, 2009: 48).
This should not be confused with aversion to the monarchy. The terms that were ideologically opposed were the freed and the regnum (Poma, 2009: 48). However, this is a tradition that begins to be carried out from the fourth century BC. Although the analytical tradition usually tells us about the institutional change between both forms of government as something simple, this is a chimera.
In reality, the transfer between the two models was very slow and plagued by internal fights that devoured the city itself. These managed to give rise to positions such as Tribune of the Plebs, the central axis of this article thanks to the conflict between patricians and plebeians.
In reality, this conflict is going to focus on land ownership. However, it will end up affecting all levels of Roman society and, of course, its institutions. Sooner or later, not only the purely economic will be of interest, but the plebeians will demand access to the consulate and the priesthood from the patricians.
Despite their demands, entire generations of commoners will die without seeing their goals achieved. If in 509 a. C. the consuls are established and what is normally considered as the Republican Stage is given way, it will not be until 367 a. C. (Poma, 2009: 54) when commoners get access to the consulate. In that space of time the commoners will be getting a steady trickle of hits.
Jacques-Louis David, “The lictors bring to Brutus the corpses of their children” (1789) Louvre Museum.
The patrician-plebeian conflict: the keys to inequality
As we said, the main cause was economic specifically the issues around the age publicus. This was public territory, which the Roman state ceded to private hands in order to put it to work (Roldán, 1981: 76). Despite this, the patricians will begin to use it as if it were their own, excluding the plebs. To this must be added the dismal performance of the land and the constant wars. This made the poorest peasants go bankrupt and ask for loans. The impossibility of paying these debts caused them to end up in a semi-slavery regime with those who had granted the loan: the patricians.
Those who did not live off the land also had problems. Artisans and merchants were plunged into a serious crisis due to the change of the trade poles in Lazio due to the constant wars.
As can be seen, there was practically everything among the “commoners”. More than a class, it could be said that they were a mixed bag where all the anti-patricians met. Without showing the economic force but the one of the work, they carried out a series of demands to the patrician class that were ignored.
It is true that there were voting mechanisms, the centuriate elections. In theory these could allow some voting power to commoners. However, it was a big lie, the system was so flawed that they were useless at all. For this reason, by not obtaining any concession from the patriciate, they took radical measures (Poma, 2009: 57).
The secessio of the Monte Sacro and the achievement of the tribune of the plebs
In the year 494 BC, while the patricians were trying to raise an army to confront the nearby towns, the commoners left the city. Because of this, the Roman economy and army literally sank. There was no longer any pillar to support the life of a privileged few, so the entire structure collapsed.
An agreement had to be reached. To negotiate, the consul Menenio Agrippa was sent, who, according to tradition, used a fable to convince them on his return. Obviously this was not gratuitous, the commoners saw a series of important demands fulfilled.
The most important of them all was the creation of a position that would watch over the plebeians and guarantee that their demands were met: the tribune of the plebs. Also, with a parallel importance, a proper assembly would be created for the plebeians, the concilium plebis. A fundamental position so that the commoners could determine their roadmap to follow in the government of Rome. Another kind of “magistracy” would be created, that of the plebeian aedile, whose mission was to take care of the plebeian treasury, kept in the temples of Ceres, Libero and Libera, on the Aventine.
Another version that has also reached us thanks to Tito Livio (Liv. II, 33, 3) speaks of the tribunes being created as a result of a special law.
All this was nothing more than the beginning of the patrician-plebeian conflict. He laid the groundwork for a confrontation that would last, according to tradition, until the year 287 BC with the lex Hortensia.
The attributions of the position
Before deciding what prerogatives they had, we must know how many and how they were chosen.
According to some authors such as Cicero or Dionysius of Halicarnassus, they were elected by the curiate assembly (Viñas, 2007: 172) (DH, IV, 89, 2). This makes no sense, since the tribune of the plebs was a real pain for the senators, who controlled these assemblies at will. Therefore, it makes more sense to think that it was initially in the conciliates plebiscite. Later it will be done in the tax assembly thanks to a law issued by Publilio Volerón. Such was the hatred of the patricians to the tribunes, that on campaign Appius Claudius insulted his men calling them “tribunes of the plebs” or “volerones” (Liv, II, 58, 9).
We do not know for sure how many Romans originally held the position of tribune of the plebs. If we follow Livy, one of the most reliable classical historians, there were two. However, in 471 a. C. the number was increased to five (ibidem) and later to 10 in the year 457 (Viñas, 2007: 173).
The Roman religion intervenes a lot in politics. In this way, in a religious act made by the plebs, the tribune becomes inviolable through a term known as sacrosanctites, that is, it is inviolable. This is not enough to prevent the figure of the tribune from being attacked by the senators, which is why the inviolability of the office is generally attributed to the Valerio-Horacias laws ratified by the senate.
However, his most important attribution is that of jus auxilii. Originally arose to defend the plebs from the consuls. Later, it will serve to annul everything that could contradict or harm commoner interests (Viñas, 2007, 175). For this, what is known as intercession. Due to all this, this position had a certain penal capacity. They punished all the offenses committed towards the plebs, and also towards their own figure due to the usual sacrosanctites.
In the year 376 a. C. the tribunes Licinius and Sextus they brought out three bills that managed to pass nine years later in the year 367 B.C. These laws required that one of the consuls be a commoner. Furthermore, from now on the age publicus would be more evenly distributed. East age it was exploitable land conquered by the troops during their military campaigns. Thus, they became part of the community. However, in practice they remained in the hands of the patriciate.
For its part, the Lex Ogulnia allowed access to priestly colleges by commoners. This happened in the year 300 a. C. A pivotal date…