The Second Plebeian Secession

—Chrissie

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            Since the creation of the Roman Republic in the last decade of the sixth century BCE, the Roman people had prided themselves on having a representative government designed to prevent any one man from gaining too much power, and one that was answerable to the people. This was, as is often the case when such claims are made, a façade that covered an oligarchy. The Roman government was run by the Patricians, the upper-class Romans who could claim descent from the men of the first Senate. Everyone else was of the Plebeian order, a lower class whose performed most of the labor and served as the infantry in wars. In 494, the Plebs had forced the Patricians to recognize them and include them in governance with the First Plebeian Secession. Small improvements were made, but the Plebeians were still left as a lower class, unequal before the law and society.

            One of the most glaring examples of the inequality experienced by the Plebs was the fact that they were not allowed to know the laws. The Patricians kept the law to themselves, refusing to publically codify and publish it, and using that to their advantage. After some pushback and demonstrations from the Plebs, the Senate saw the value in codifying and publishing the laws. In 451 BCE, it was decided that the next year would be given over to a group of ten men, the Decemvirate, whose purpose was to run the state and write the laws. As 450 came to a close, they decided they were not quite finished, and so authorized another year for the committee, though all but one of the men were replaced. The one left was Appius Claudius, who took the opportunity to remain in power indefinitely. He became more and more tyrannical but was allowed to do so until he was challenged by a Plebeian named Virginius. Claudius tried to take the man’s daughter, Virginia, as his mistress, she refused. He then arranged that a client of his claim that the girl was his slave, and so without rights. Friends of the family took up her cause, defending her in court while they waited for her father to return from war, because the case could not be decided without his involvement.  When Virginius returned, he brought his daughter and all of the respected matrons of the family and their friends to vouch not only for the young woman’s free status but also her unsullied virtue. Appius Claudius, having the final say in the court, declared that she was a slave and should be turned over to her owner, his client who would then immediately give her to the Decemvir.  Virginius gave an impassioned speech about the tyranny that had been forced upon the Roman people, ending with the claim that the only way to preserve his daughter’s virtue was to kill her, which he did in front of the stunned crowd. This led the Plebs to remove themselves from the city, vowing not to return until the proper government had been restored, including the Tribunes. This tactic had worked a few decades previously, and would prove its worth again.

            The Patricians did not wait nearly as long to negotiate in this Second Plebeian Secession as they had in the First. Even they could recognize that Appius Claudius had overstepped his power and, if they did not act, they could be just as vulnerable as the Plebs. They removed the Decemvirs and scheduled new elections. New laws were put forth to give the Plebeians greater equality in social status and access to offices in which they could not previously serve. There was still a distinction between the two groups, but as Rome got involved in the larger Mediterranean world, the focus shifted from Patrician and Plebeian to Roman and not Roman. By the collapse of the Republic, the separation between the two groups was paid little attention except for a few priesthoods and snobbish families making marriage arrangements.