BOOK The real offence the exception of his wealth possessed no means of influence, who appears not to have had numerous adherents, and to have led no party,-how could such a man be suspected of aiming at the overthrow of the republic, and at the restoration of the regal power in his own person? And if it be granted that he did this, if it be granted that he had collected partisans, arms, and mercenaries,' would he in that case have exposed himself unarmed to the dagger of a fanatical enemy? Would he have gone to the Forum without a retinue of trusty followers, and without concerting plans for resistance or attack? If proofs could have been produced of a treasonable conspiracy, it would have been easy to bring the simple plebeian to justice, and the people would not have spared an enemy of their freedom. But the people were convinced of his innocence. Intimidated at the moment by the display of dictatorial authority, they soon recovered spirit and courage to force the perpetrator of the bloody deed into exile; and the patricians were compelled to sacrifice to the popular vengeance the man who had acted as their champion, and whom they continued to praise as the deliverer of his country. It is true, Sp. Mælius was not altogether innocent in of Mælius. the eye of the patricians; no doubt he had committed a crime which, by their code, was punishable with death. What this crime was we can guess with tolerable accuracy. Just then was the time when, after severe struggles, the plebeians had been declared eligible for the office of consular tribunes. In spite of this concession, the patricians strained every nerve to reduce this right to nothing in practice, and, as we have seen, they succeeded so far that, during forty-four years, none but patricians were raised to this office. What means they used to attain this end, we have already hinted." Now, however, in their proceedings against Sp. Mælius, we discover, if we are not mistaken, a new method of con This is what Zonaras imagines, who says (vii. 20): önλa тe knopíσato kal φρουρούς. 2 See p. 214. XII. trolling the elections, and a very effective one for keeping CHAP. off plebeian candidates. The crime of Sp. Mælius was, we may be sure, no other than this, that by his wealth. and generosity he had acquired great popularity among the people, and that at an election of military tribunes he was in a fair way of gaining for himself the votes of the centuries. This fully explains why he was so obnoxious to the enemies of popular rights, and why he shared the fate and the opprobrium of Sp. Cassius and M. Manlius, the forerunners, like himself, of the Gracchi. BOOK II. The cen sorship made a separate office. Duties of the censorship. CHAPTER XIII. THE CENSORSHIP, 445 B.C. THE reform of the year 445 B.c. was followed, as appears most probable, by the establishment of the censorship' as a separate office. For, the plebeians being admitted to the office of consular tribunes, it was in the interest of the patricians to weaken this office by separating from it a certain class of functions, and constituting for them a new purely patrician office. Till now the consuls had from time to time held the census, by which they not only regulated the military ser vices of every citizen, but also revised periodically the general assembly of centuries. The nomination of new senators had also till now been one of the functions of the consuls. On them depended, therefore, the rank and consideration of every single citizen in the state. These important privileges the patricians had no intention of relinquishing when they were compelled to admit the right of the plebeians to the office of consular tribunes. That part of the former consular power, therefore, which referred to the nomination of senators and to the holding of the census was not transferred to the consular tribunes; but a new patrician office, the censorship, was established for its exercise. The censors were to be two in number, and the term of their office was to range over five years. 1 Becker, Röm. Alterth., ii. part 2, p. 191 ff. 2 According to Livy (iv. 8), Dionysius (xi. 63), Zonaras (vii. 19), the censorship was established two years later (443 B.C.) and was in no way connected with the constitutional changes of 445, which introduced the office of consular tribunes. Schwegler (Röm. Gesch., iii. 117) has satisfactorily shown that they are mistaken, and that the censorship was part of the reform of 445. XIII. It is not easy to decide with accuracy what were the offi- CHAP. cial duties of the censors in the first period of their existence. No doubt many duties were in course of time added which were foreign to the first censors, especially when, with the increase of wealth, the finances of the state became more complicated and more important, and when Rome became not only more powerful, but richer and more luxurious. From this time the administration of the state domains, the farming out of the indirect taxes, and the management of public works constituted alone an office of the greatest importance. A special branch of the duties of the censors was that of watching over the preservation of public morals, or rather of the customs and habits of the good old time, a duty which they vainly endeavoured to discharge by all sorts of restrictions on expenditure and luxurious living. These censorial functions, which are generally much overvalued in their practical effect and usefulness, were probably due to the gradual development and increasing dignity of the office, and not contemplated at the time of its establishment. Yet the censorship ranked, even from the beginning, in dignity and importance, next to the consulship; and in those years when military tribunes, and not consuls, were chosen, the censorship ranked first. Nor can it be supposed that an office especially instituted to protect the most important privileges of the patricians could be thought lightly of.2 aspect of After the establishment of the offices of military tribunes General and censors, a long pause took place in the further development of the constitution. The plebeians having suc 1 Becker, Röm. Alterth., ii. part 2, p. 196, Anm. 479, 480. 2 Livy's narrative (iv. 18) is unquestionably incorrect. According to his account the office was not considered at first dignified (minime consularis), but only troublesome (operosa), and therefore avoided by the first men in the state. This statement is refuted by what we know of the character of the censorship, and by the fact that the first censors, L. Papirius and L. Sempronius, were viri consulares. It is not uncommon in political and private transactions for a man to depreciate a thing which he wishes to obtain or has obtained from another. The statement of Livy looks very much like such an intentional misrepresentation. affairs. BOOK Predominance of the patricians. Patrician policy. Limitation of the months. ceeded in doubling the number of the quæstors from two to four in the year 421 B.C., and in securing their own eligibility for this office, directed their attention, not so much to obtain new privileges by new laws, as to try the working of their legally acquired privileges, and to make the constitution a reality. Year after year the question had now to be discussed and settled, whether for the ensuing period of office consuls or military tribunes should be elected. The first object of the senate always was to try to obtain the election of consuls, and it succeeded in this twenty times during thirty-five years, from 444 B.C. till 409 B.C. When the aristocracy felt compelled to yield to the pressure of the tribunes, and to give their consent to the election of consular tribunes, no stone was left unturned to have only patricians elected to the office. With what obstinacy and with what success they persisted in this perfidious and illegal practice may be seen from the fact already referred to, that, till the year 400, i.e. in four and forty years, during which period consular tribunes were elected twenty-three times, no plebeian ever filled that office. The patrician policy during the whole of this period bears an undignified character. It is the policy of shrewdness and of meanness; still more, it is a continued and systematic violation of the law, a sham constitutionalism, such as we see so frequently in the present day. Not only the positive law, but also the honour, the well-being, and even the safety of the state, were sacrificed to the interests of a party whose day was past, whose strength was undermined, and the continuance of whose privileges had become unendurable and injurious to the state. In spite of the apparent exhaustion of the plebs, it is censorship clear that they only needed time to recover themselves to eighteen before again trying their strength. The stifled fire flickered up again afresh from time to time. The plebeians submitted to their fate with indignation and impatience, and the nobility, although all-powerful for the moment, received 1 See p. 213. |