The Struggle of the Orders (509-287 BCE) and the Development of the Roman Constitution

  1. Introduction
    1. Roman expansion went parallel with changes on domestic front. In order to succeed in the former, Rome had to expand her citizen base, expand her manpower reserves.
    2. Social organization: individuals are members of (extended) families, under the power of the paterfamilias. Families are part of clans (gens, gentes), clans form tribes (curia, curiae).. In the broader scheme, there was a clear division between the patricians and the plebeians, a division that bordered on a caste system
    3. The conflict is comprehensible only in a society in which status is clear (the two orders being the patrician and plebeian) and only when the legal or established distribution of power does not correspond to the real political power of the various groups.
    4. The patriarchal system reflects the political and military realities of a more primitive, semi-nomadic or pastoral period
      1. Peasant husbandry was the primary occupation of the vast majority of the population.
      2. Urbanization had encouraged the development of a class whose wealth was primarily in moveable objects (traders, smiths, tanners, potters, etc.).
    5. The struggle is not a class struggle in the Marxian sense (both sides had wealthy and poor members). The issues were primarily political.
      1. The right of participation in government by the new and 'unlanded' (i.e., those with moveable wealth.
      2. The end of arbitrary acts of magistrates that particularly affected the urban dwellers who were probably outside the traditional patronage system.
  2. The problems facing the early republic in this connection
    1. Economic conditions: scholarly opinion varies on this point...
      1. Most ancient historians believe that the period, esp. that immediately following the expulsion of the kings, was one long economic depression. The evidence and the counter arguments:
        1. A dramatic drop in the number of imported Attic vases suggests a reduction of commercial contacts.
        2. Continuous warfare reduced agricultural production.
        3. The problem of extensive debt suggests impoverishment..
        4. Public distributions of food on two occasions suggests extensive famine.
      2. There is, on the other hand, evidence that suggests that this period witnessed a general rise in economic conditions
        1. Rome adopted the new hoplite military tactics.
        2. Colonization of conquered land
      3. The problem of debt --must understand ownership pattern:
        1. only the paterfamilias really owned anything.
        2. unable to put up real property, the man in need could pledge only his services (that might easily lead to a form of servitude) or his person (or the persons under his control) as collateral.
      4. The problem of land
        1. population tended to expand beyond the ability of the land to support it.
        2. the solution was the use of ager publicus (land that had been confiscated from Rome's defeated enemies).
      5. Arbitrary exercise of power by magistrates --judging by the demands made by the plebeians during the various secessions, this was the key issue for both the rich and poor plebeians.
        1. in particular, the plebeians demanded the right of appeal to the people in capital (life or death) questions.
        2. this suggest:
          1. there was no written law, but oral tradition; the latter was interpreted by the very class that was accused of abuse.
          2. there were no restrictions at all on the actions of the magistrates, particularly when campaigning.
          3. that the urban plebeians or those who were outside the traditional patronage and who lacked protectors, were particularly vulnerable
        3. It appears that it was the arbitrary actions of the magistrates that united the wealthy and poor plebeians and led to the demand for written law (450: the XII tables and ca. 300: ius civile Flavianum). The alliance is critical, for the wealthy plebeians provided the leadership needed to advance the case for all.
  3. The forces at work during the Struggle of the Orders (none of the following were significant during the regal period)
    1. The presence of a new economic class whose wealth was.
    2. Hoplite Reform
  4. Plebeian Organization
  5. The course of the 'struggle' is described in the textbook and need not be repeated here. More important is the following: Why did the process continue so long? And why did it end in 287?
    1. The plebeians had achieved all of their declared goads on several occasions only to find them undermined. By the time of the lex Hortensia (287), they were no longer disputed.
      1. Arbitrary acts hindered by the recognized powers of the plebeian officials, especially by the tribunes.
      2. The plebeian leader had been accepted into the magistracies which they sought (i.e., they had been coopted into the elite); the poorer plebeians lost their leaders.
      3. Land acquired by conquest was distributed among poorer Romans, easing the population pressure and providing the poor with resources to join the hoplite ranks.
    2. The gradual decline in number of patricians (from 53 to 29 families)
      1. typical of closed aristocracies is that they are not prolific breeders of legitimate children
      2. the wealthier classes in general bore greater burden in fighting and, as patricians, could not (by definition) be created anew. They gradually lost ground.
      3. Many patricians were prepared to break rank and cooperate with the plebeians in order to achieve personal successes (Appius Claudius)
  6. Consequences
    1. The successes achieved led to relative peace on the social and domestic front for the century and a half following 287. Moderation had been shown on both sides.
    2. A new nobility was created, consisting of those patrician and plebeian families and their descendants who had held the consulship. The new system was stable because it allowed for replenishment of the governing class by coopting the most active of plebeians. This new nobility was remarkably successful at ruling Rome.
  7. Final thoughts:
    1. Roman expansion certainly affected by the fear of invasion; the sack of the city by the Gauls in 390 and all to visible threats of Italic (Samnite) expansion into urbanized areas had a profound effect on the Roman ethos.
    2. Also driving expansion were the concerns of the plebeians.
      1. The wealthy plebeians perceived military triumphs as the method to acquire the prestige and clients they otherwise lacked. They, acting through the assemblies, encouraged miltary adventurism as a means to win personal glory and gain access to the highest offices. The patricians acting through the Senate generally act more cautiously: they have the most to lose.
      2. The poorer plebeians driven by the desire for booty and land.

 The Structure of the Roman Constitution