Plems Romana, page 9
446 BC: THE ROMANS RALLY
And Livy was right: the following year, the old tensions reared their heads and troops could not be raised. This sent the inevitable signal to the leaders of the Volsci and the Aequi to combine forces with a devastating attack on Latium, from which they returned with much booty and without a response from the Roman army.
The fourth-time consul Titus Quinctius called a mass meeting and blasted the Roman people, stating that their trust in communal life had been poisoned by political discord and party strife, with the plebs in a state of permanent conflict in their desire for liberty and the patricians lusting for power, each side loathing the other’s official representatives.
Quinctius invited the plebs to consider what had just happened to them: the enemy had destroyed their farms and come within a short distance of Rome without response. Whose interests had been served by that? Could tribunes restore their losses? They could stick to their petty politics if they wanted to, he said, but ‘we shall soon be fighting in the streets of Rome and the Volsci will be climbing the Capitol – unless you give me the chance to take revenge upon these marauders, capture their camp and remove the threat from Rome!’
This magnificent speech was greeted with acclaim, troops were raised, and in three days they were in striking distance of the enemy; their victory was soon complete.
445 BC: SOCIAL MIXED MARRIAGE?
With the republican system restored, the tribune Canuleius at once put forward two controversial proposals: the first was to permit marriage between patricians and plebeians, and the second to allow one of the two consuls to be a plebeian. Both proposals were inevitably contested by the Senate.
The first, it was claimed, would contaminate the blood of ancient noble families – what child would know from which stock he really came? It would also threaten the ancient privilege of patrician families to take the auspices in order to reveal the will of the gods.
As for the second, if it was possible for one consul to be a plebeian, it followed there would soon be a demand for both consuls to be plebeian. Further, the most likely plebeians to be placed in that position would be the rabble-rousers – the sort that always refused to allow the levy of troops unless their proposals were passed, ‘as they are doing now, while we are being threatened by old enemies like the Volsci, Aequi and Veii’.
But Canuleius gave the Senate a history lesson, pointing out that none of the kings had been Romans, that Rome had always been happy to welcome in immigrants who could become senators and consuls, and that Rome had changed radically since its foundation – new priesthoods, new powers, new offices, and so on. How many of the senators sitting in front of him had originally been from an Alban or Sabine family – not noble birth at all?
As for mixed marriages, it had always been the privilege of families alone to make their own choice about those with whom to create an alliance. Did they want to turn Rome into two separate communities? Why not propose a ban on marriage between rich and poor?
‘I wonder you do not pass a law to stop a plebeian living next door to a nobleman, or walking in the same street, or going to the same party, or standing side by side with him in the Forum,’ he went on. To whom did the ultimate authority of the state belong: the Senate or the Roman people? Why did the people finish with the monarchy? Was it to give supreme authority to the Senate, or to achieve liberty for all?
The controversy raged on, but the Senate eventually yielded on the question of mixed marriage, hoping that the grateful plebs would forget about appointing consuls from among their own.
In the end, a compromise was reached. It was agreed to appoint at least three military tribunes (senior military officers; the number would vary from three to six) with consular authority, from both patricians and plebs alike, in place of the consuls. The question of the consuls was left up in the air (they continued to appear from time to time).
In fact, the three candidates returned were all patricians. As Livy comments, ‘The fact that plebeians had been allowed to stand was enough to satisfy the plebs. Such decency of feeling, such fairness and magnanimity characterized, on that occasion, the whole body of the Roman plebs. Where would you find it today in one single man?’
443 BC: CENSORS
The job of the censors was to classify the people’s status in accordance with their property and so define their role in the military, capacity to pay taxes and so on (p. 45). But the census had lapsed for many years and needed to be restored. This was clearly an enormous and very tiresome task, and the Senate decided it needed an official of its own, with its own staff, to ensure that the job was done and the records were safely kept.
This was an extremely important development because, knowing of Rome’s finances in detail, the censors alone could judge which projects were viable and which not.
439 BC: EXPLOITING A FAMINE
When a very serious famine hit Rome – some said it was a bad harvest, others that it was the pleasures of city life and the turmoil of the political situation that had called the plebs away from their farms – Lucius Minucius was appointed controller of supplies to purchase grain from wherever he could.
Having failed almost completely in that respect, he forced people to sell their stocks if they had a surplus, cut the slaves’ rations, and much else, but all that did was reveal how disastrous the situation was. Many of the poorest gave up and committed suicide.
Spurius Maelius, an extremely wealthy man, decided it was time to intervene. He purchased vast quantities of grain from Etruria, which he then distributed for free among the poor. This made him very popular, and he began to nurture political ambitions, some said, to restore the monarchy with himself as king.
Minucius meanwhile continued his work as controller of supplies, but in the process found evidence that Spurius was building up a store of arms in his house and talking to various people about the possibility of revolution. The Senate decided that the situation was so serious that it was necessary to appoint a dictator, and they turned to the now very aged Cincinnatus (p. 92) to repeat his role of many years before.
He placed a picket around the city and summoned the people to an assembly. There he called upon his sidekick Servilius to instruct Spurius to present himself before the dictator. Spurius fled, calling upon the people to save him, but he was cut down. Cincinnatus then addressed the crowd, who were in some degree of turmoil, explaining why this had happened and accusing Spurius of imagining that he could buy power in Rome and reduce the Roman plebs to servitude by tossing them a biscuit.
426 BC: ENCOURAGING THE PLEBS TO UP THEIR GAME
After summoning a dictator Mamercus Aemilius to defeat a dangerous attack from the Etruscan settlements of Veii and Fidenae – dictators could be appointed whenever danger of any sort threatened – the generals staged a fabulous celebratory games, much enjoyed by both the Romans and their neighbours – who were impressed by the courtesy with which they were treated.
The tribunes, however, used this to attack the plebs. Why did they admire their political rivals (i.e. the military top brass) so much? Why did they remain enslaved to them, and not vote for plebeians to become military tribunes? ‘Aspiration must have something to aspire to,’ the plebs were lectured. It was high time they insisted they were just as good as anyone else.
As a result, more plebeian candidates put themselves forward, proposing measures such as land distribution, establishing new settlements, and taxing the wealthy who owned most of the public land.
417 BC: FOILING THE TRIBUNES
Two tribunes decided to demand that all the land that had been acquired by force of arms (as opposed to inherited) should be distributed among the plebs. Since virtually all of it had been obtained by the nobility long ago, the senators were in a quandary about how to respond.
Then the grandson of the hated decemvir Appius Claudius suggested that some of the senators do what his grandfather had: approach those tribunes who were new to the game and just wanted to curry favour with the wealthy – and who had not had that land redistribution idea – and point out that they had been left out in the cold by this initiative. Why did they not ingratiate themselves to the senators – especially the leading senators – and win their favour by trying to block it?
Six tribunes agreed. When the proposal for the redistribution of land was put to the people, the senators invited everyone to come to the rescue of the country and reject such a subversion of the natural order of things. The result? With the help of those tribunes, the resolution was not passed, despite the insults and abuse they received from their colleagues.
This was yet more evidence of the collusion between the Senate and the wealthier plebs.
414 BC: WHO OWNS THE LAND?
The military tribune Postumius was given command against the Aequi and soon forced his way into the town of Bolae, but then broke his promise to allow his men to keep the plunder. When he got back to Rome, he argued against a proposal that land should be given to the soldiers who had conquered it, and remarked, ‘If my men don’t keep their mouths shut on that matter, they had better look out for themselves.’
This did not go down well, and he was accused of treating his men like slaves – even threatening to punish them. A riot broke out, and efforts to quell it failed. Postumius was recalled and started handing out savage punishments. He was eventually stoned to death by his own men. An inquiry into the events was vetoed by the tribunes.
But the plebs’ frustration continued, not only because the elites had held on to their own land by force, but also because they refused to distribute even recently acquired land, which the plebs knew full well would eventually fall into the hands of the rich.
406 BC: A VITAL CONCESSION
Because Veii had insultingly told a Roman mission that had come to declare war on the town to take a running jump, Rome demanded reparations. This was refused, and the Senate demanded that war be declared, but the tribunes resisted, claiming that the Senate seemed keener on fighting the Roman plebs than anyone else; they were keeping their own citizens engaged in foreign battles when they could be quietly at home, dreaming of forbidden hopes – liberty, a farm of their own to cultivate, the distribution of public land, and voting as they wanted to. The tribunes persuaded some old campaigners to put in an appearance. They counted up the years of their service, pointed to their wounds and scars, and wondered if they really had any more blood to give for their country. The Senate dropped its demand.
Nonetheless, a force was sent against the Volsci, which was very successful. Further, instead of committing mass slaughter, the soldiers were told to put down their arms and take prisoners – 2,500 in all. When the general in charge had called in all the units that had been engaged in the battle, they were allowed to sack the town of Anxur, which was rich from a long period of prosperity. This immediately improved relations between the plebs and the patricians in Rome, and the Senate, without prompting from anyone else, issued a decree that soldiers would from now on be paid out of public funds. Up until then, no soldier had been paid for his service; it was his civic duty to serve, according to his ability to arm himself (p. 46). Sometimes booty was allotted after a successful battle (or he took it for himself); and doubtless local grandees helped out soldiers financially where necessary, local pride being at stake.
This lifesaver for the families of the poorer plebs was greeted with tremendous celebrations. But inevitably the tribunes, seeing it as a move by the Senate to win the favour of the plebs, took against it. Where was the money to come from? A tax on the people? What about long-retired soldiers?
But the patricians were the first to pay the new tax, and, because silver coinage had not yet been invented, their wagons heaped with bronze bars lumbering towards the treasury made an impressive sight. This persuaded the wealthy plebeians ‘of leading rank and friends of the elite’ to do the same, and their example persuaded every pleb to pay up, according to their census-determined status (p. 45).
402 BC: MILITARY WINTER QUARTERS
The powerful town of Veii had appointed a king, against the wishes of the other Etruscan communities, and as a result was preparing to take on the Romans on their own. The Romans then took the unprecedented step of establishing winter quarters (p. 2) and laying siege to the town; prior to this, winter had always been a time for rest and recovery. This aroused the ire of the tribunes, who accused the Senate of engaging in politics by removing from Rome a substantial portion of the plebeian voters; they were effectively enslaving – and compromising yet further the liberty and freedom of – the ordinary people.
Appius Claudius was invited to put the tribunes in their place. He argued that they were like dishonest traders looking for work: their one aim in life seemed to be finding something wrong in the political situation so that they could be asked to put it right. They were rather like masters of families who absolutely refused to allow anyone else to make any suggestions about how they should treat their slaves. All the tribunes wanted to do was stop any productive cooperation between patricians and plebs.
Appius pointed out that soldiers were now being paid: that was fair, but surely a year’s pay should produce a year’s work? The soldiers were citizens, not mercenaries! Besides, Veii was now surrounded, its farms neglected, its cultivated land ruined. Was now really the time to retreat?
And consider the work the soldiers had already put in, surrounding Veii with ramparts, trenches, forts, earthworks, towers and so on. Should Rome abandon all that, just to have to start it again the next summer?
On top of that, he stressed, the soldiers must learn to be patient. They should take the long view of what was required for victory in these circumstances, just like hunters in the woods and mountains, tracking their prey whatever the weather. Their enemies must learn that, once the Roman army had laid siege to a city, there would be no going back.
The men of Rome must not allow the tribunes to sow dissension among the plebs, and let that dissension spread among the army. Or was it the case that liberty in Rome now meant no respect for the Senate and its officials, or for Rome’s laws, ancestral customs, their fathers’ institutions or military discipline?
This powerful speech won the day, and the war against Veii went ahead, but other cities joined Veii, fearing what would happen to them if Veii were defeated. The bitter fighting ground on – and off – for some ten years, until Veii fell to a strategy devised by the great Roman general Camillus. He opened up access for his troops right into the middle of the city, by tunnelling under and into it. In this way, Veii finally fell.
392 BC: DIVIDING UP THE PLUNDER
Veii was a fabulously rich city, and Camillus was aware that the plunder would be greater than that from all previous campaigns put together. So he wrote to the Senate to ask them what he should do about it.
The old senator Licinius proposed that any willing Roman could go to Veii and claim a share of it. This was opposed by Appius Claudius, who said that plunder should go into the public treasury to pay the troops, because every family would feel the benefit; idlers in Rome should not be allowed to get their hands on booty won by soldiers fighting for their country.
Licinius replied that a gift should be made of it to the plebs in return for everything they had put up with over the past ten years. The plebs were already being bled white with taxation; this war had taken the best years of their life; and what a man had won and taken home with his own hands was far more satisfying than a handout. This was finally agreed, since it would put the Senate on the side of the plebs, and thousands of Romans left for Veii to take advantage of it.
OMENS
When the fighting was over in Veii, Camillus found that the booty was vastly more than even he had expected and he prayed that, if his luck seemed excessive to the gods, he would be able to make up for it with the least hurt to himself or to Rome. But as he turned round, he tripped over, and this was seen as a sign that his wish would not be fulfilled.
Further, since the victory after such a length of time seemed like a gift from heaven, women crowded into the temples to thank the gods, while the Senate decreed a four-day victory celebration. Camillus rode into Rome on a chariot drawn by four white horses in a triumph on a scale never seen before, which seemed to make him something of a godlike figure and, some thought, was dangerously over the top for a mere human being. Two years later, Rome paid the devastating price.
TRANSFERRING A GOD
Among the goods that were transferred from Veii to Rome was the famous statue of the goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter, king of the gods. This was a job that required enormous care, and young soldiers, washed and dressed in white – and treating the whole operation with the greatest reverence – could hardly bring themselves to lay their hands on the statue, which Etruscan religion permitted only very few priests even to touch.
Then one of the soldiers asked, ‘Juno, do you want to go to Rome?’ The soldiers all confirmed that she nodded her head in agreement. Further, it required minimal power to remove her from her place, and she was so easy to transport that it seemed as if she was coming of her own free will. Undamaged, she was taken to the place reserved for her on the Aventine, where the temple dedicated to her by Camillus was built.
THE WOMEN’S GIFT TO APOLLO
Camillus had agreed to dedicate one-tenth of the plunder from Veii to the god Apollo. That presented a problem: it had already been divided up among the Roman people. It was decided that the people should calculate the value of the plunder they had taken and pay one-tenth of it into the treasury.
