BOOK against him, that, not satisfied with agrarian laws, in which the tribunes had always found matter for civil quar384 B.C. rels, he had begun also to undermine the public credit,' agrees fully with the speeches which that historian, adopting the reports of the older narrators, puts into his mouth.2 Appian ascribes to Manlius a proposal according to which the debts were simply to be cancelled, or paid by the state from the proceeds of the sale of common land. Considered in this light, the report that Manlius sold his estates near Veii, and bestowed the proceeds upon four hundred poor plebeians, becomes especially significant. For if Manlius, like his successors Sextus and Licinius, wished to limit the possessions of the patricians in the common land for the benefit of the plebeians (a limitation which, as shown above, could refer only to newly acquired domains, especially therefore to domains in the district of Veii), it is possible that he began by giving the example and parcelling out his own possessions to poor occupiers. Perhaps Manlius freed from rents those of his clients who had settled on his land, making them practically freeholders. But such a proceeding was, in the eye of the nobility, treason to the interests of his own class, and deserved to be punished with inexorable severity. Results of the Manlius. 4 If this was the object of the nobility, it was soon shown murder of that they had protected their supposed interests only for a very short time at the expense of the noblest blood. For the moment the judicial murder of Manlius might intimidate the popular party; but where a whole people puts were added to the Roman territory. Agrarian agitations preceded and followed this measure.-Livy, vi. 5, 6. 'Livy, vi. 11: 'Non contentus agrariis legibus, quæ materia semper tribunis plebi seditionum fuisset, fidem moliri cœpit.' 2 Livy, vi. 14: 'Nec iam (patres) possidendis agris contentos esse,' and Livy, vi. 18, where Manlius addresses the plebeians: Quot enim clientes circa singulos fuistis patronos, tot nunc adversus unum hostem eritis.' 3 Appian, ii. 9. There are examples of land-owners who set their serfs free by making them freeholders of the land occupied by them, in order to promote the abolition of villenage. The Emperor of Russia did this recently on the grandest scale. forward claims indisputably equitable, it is not possible to repress them long by terror. Scarcely was Manlius murdered, than we see traces again of new struggles for improving the condition of the poor citizens. As a concession of the patricians, and to avoid more extensive demands, a commission was appointed in the following year to divide the Pomptine district among the people, and another to send a colony to Nepete.' CHAP. II. 384 B.C. debtors. Before any general measure could be proposed for the Relief of relief of debtors on a large scale, it was of course necessary to ascertain what was the amount of debts under which the people suffered. This could be done only by means of a new census, in which the real property of every citizen was noted down, after deducting his debts. Hence we find that in the year 380 B.c.2 disputes began on the election of censors, the tribunes insisting on the necessity of a new census, and the patricians endeavouring by all possible artifices and manoeuvres to prevent it. When at last an election had taken place, one of the censors died, and it was necessary to proceed with a new election. This, however, was declared vitiated, because an error had taken place in the formalities. To proceed to a third election would have been an act of impiety, as it was clear that the gods would not have any censors for this year. It was of no avail that the tribunes protested and complained of a religious trick and a perversion of right." Their threats to prevent a levying of troops were powerless when the Prænestines appeared before the gates of Rome and the common fatherland was in danger. The inquiry into the state of indebtedness had to be postponed, in spite of the opposition of the popular party. Two years later (378 B.C.) the same disputes about the Livy, vi. 27: Collegam suffici censori religio erat ;' and further on: Tertios (censores) creari, velut diis non accipientibus in eum annum censuram, religiosum fuit.' A good illustration of the meaning of religiosus; see pp. 118, 120. • Livy, vi. 27: Eam vero ludificationem plebis tribuni ferendam negabant: Fugere, senatum testes tabulas publicas census cuiusque, quia nolint conspici summam æris alieni, quæ indicatura sit, demersam partem a parte civitatis.' BOOK 384 F.C. Effects law. census were repeated, and again with the same result. The census was prevented, it is said, by an invasion of the Volscians into the Roman territory. With such pertinacity did the Roman patricians defend a position which became daily more and more untenable, and which was destined in a short time to yield to the indefatigable attacks of the popular party. During these long disputes the patrician class, as also that of the plebeians, underwent changes which altered the relative strength and character of parties. The number of the patricians was very much diminished. As a class which was not increased by new blood from without, the patricians paid for the privilege of forming an exclusive hereditary nobility by a continual diminution of their numbers, whereas the numbers of the plebeians were constantly increasing. The direct results of the Canuleian law which legalised marriage between patricians and plebeians could not operate effectually in increasing the patrician class to any great extent, as of course only a few of the prominent families of the plebs were admitted to relationship with the patricians. On the other hand, through such relationships a plebeian nobility was gradually formed, intimately connected with a number of patrician families. Thus the plebs gained leaders who could oppose the old conservative nobility with much greater energy than the former tribunes, supported by the plebs alone. The parties which always had existed among the patricians themselves became more marked, and the one which was favourable to reform joined the leaders of the plebs. That there was a party among the patricians well disposed to the people is seen by the proceedings of Manlius, who probably did not stand alone. Since the establishment of the consular tribuneship, plebeians had gradually been admitted into the senate, and the formation of a plebeian nobility had begun. Whilst thus a few plebeian families attained respec 1 Livy, vi. 31. CHAP. II. 381 B.C. of the tability, wealth, and power, the majority of the plebeians were, since the burning of the city by the Gauls, sunk in debt and poverty, and this situation had become a weapon in the hands of the party leaders. Whoever promised Condition relief from debt could be sure of the support of the mass of plebs. the people, who are most zealous in political reforms when they imagine they can gain material advantages by them. In the year 384 B.C., Manlius was put to death, and the reforms which he proposed were thrown out for the time. But only eight years later, in 376 в.C., a movement began, which not merely took up his projects for improving the material condition of the plebs, but aimed at a higher object, the complete equality of the two orders of citizens, an object which the leaders of the plebs had never lost sight of since the Terentilian rogations, but which it still took a severe struggle of several years to realise. BOOK 366 B.C. CHAPTER III. THE LICINIAN LAWS, 366 B.C. THE details of the constitutional struggle which led to the Licinian laws are lost to us, like most of the incidents in the early history of Rome which would contribute to make it attractive and interesting. In their place the annalists have preserved a number of irrelevant, contradictory, untrustworthy, and incredible statements, which it is impossible to work up into a smooth consistent narrative. We must therefore be satisfied if we can succeed in tracing so much of the leading outline of events as will enable us to understand the great reform effected by the Licinian laws. Among the prominent plebeian families which had at an early period turned to advantage the liberties gained by the plebeians, were the Licinii. A certain Licinius Calvus was one of the first tribunes, in the year 493 B.C. In the year 481 B.C. a Licinius was again elected as tribune, and if we had the complete list of these magistrates we should no doubt very frequently meet with the names of the Licinii. After the establishment of the consular tribuneship it was again a Licinius who, in 400 B.C., was the first plebeian raised to this dignity, and four years later, 396 B.C., we find a son of his in the same office. The Licinians had no doubt early gained wealth,' and therefore it may be readily supposed that they connected themselves by marriage with the noblest patrician houses. M. Fabius Ambustus, one of the consular tribunes who 1 Licinius Stolo is reported, soon after the passing of his laws, to have been in possession of 1,000 jugera of land. At a later period the Licinii belonged to the richest families in Rome. The rich Crassus was a Licinius. |