The First Plebeian Secession
-Chrissie

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People tend to think of Empire when they hear the word “Rome,” but Rome had nearly five centuries of loosely representative rule before succumbing to the tyranny of a dictator-turned-monarch. From its beginnings, the Roman Republic was highly stratified. The upper class, the Patricians, was characterized by their descent from the very first Senate, a group of one hundred men said to have been chosen by Rome’s founder, Romulus, to act as his advisors. The lower class was called the Plebeians, and they were defined quite simply: they did not have an ancestor included in that first Senate. They were counted as Roman citizens and so were able to vote, but they were not allowed to serve in many of the offices of government. Though a few were quite wealthy most Plebeians were relatively poor, working as artisans, shopkeepers, laborers, and servants in the urban areas and as small-holding free farmers in the rural areas. This last group was by far the largest portion of the Plebeians and the most important for the Roman state, as they fed the people and provided themselves and their sons for the Roman Army. When Rome went to war, the Plebeians acted as infantry and so bore the brunt of the casualties. Those who made it home from war often had little to show for it or may have even returned to face serious debt. Roman men were expected to volunteer their time for the protection of the state, and so were not paid, though they might collect some spoils of war along the way. Many returned home to find that their family had been unable to maintain the farm or family business and so were now destitute, with no aid from the state.

Such was the situation in the first half of the fifth century BCE, after invasions by the Gauls and a series of wars around the Italian peninsula left many Plebeians destitute and in debt slavery to their Patrician creditors. They petitioned the Senate for aid, emphasizing the importance of their class as soldiers and laborers, but were refused. In the face of that refusal, they sought a position in the government, to protect their own right and interests (the same reasons by which the Patricians had justified their overthrow of the king only a few decades prior) and were rejected out of hand.

This led to an era commonly referred to as “The Struggle of the Orders,” during which the Plebeians made their value known to the Patricians. This began with the First Plebeian Secession in 494 BCE. They removed themselves from the city, taking up residence on the nearby Sacred Mount. They then set about to create a new state for themselves by organizing a government and holding elections. Within a short time, they’d elected an assembly which was led by two men called Tribunes, whose power was similar to that of the Roman heads of state, the consuls. Their action left the Patricians without laborers, shopkeepers, and even domestic servants. Perhaps more importantly, it left them without most of the army, should the city be attacked. The Patricians met with the Plebeian assembly to negotiate, eventually conceding to their demands for involvement in the government and economic relief. The office of the Tribune of the Plebs was added to the Roman leadership, a magistracy that served to assure the Plebs were not abused and that their needs were met.

The Plebeians returned to the city, but remained in a second-class position. The Tribunes had the power to stop any laws that set out to hurt the Plebs, but any legislation they put forth did not apply to the Patricians. It would take another two generations and another secession before they could count themselves as (almost) equal in the eyes of the Roman State.