High School Literature 2.4 Rome Becomes a Republic BC

Rome as a Republic From the Founding of Rome in c. 753 B.C. to c. 509 B.C., Rome was a monarchy, ruled by kings. By 509 the Romans expelled their Etruscan kings and established the Roman Republic. Having witnessed the problems of monarchy on their own land, and aristocracy and democracy among the Greeks, the Romans opted for a mixed form of government, with 3 branches. Rather than creating a government that was primarily a democracy in which all citizens participated equally, as was ancient Athens, or an aristocracy, a form of government in which power is in the hands of a small privileged ruling class, as did ancient Sparta, or a monarchy, a form of government where the power resides with one individual, Rome mixed these forms of government and create a Roman constitution.

Three Elements of Government The Roman constitution mixed these three elements creating three separate branches of government. The democratic element took the form of the legislative assemblies, the aristocratic element took the form of the Senate, and the monarchical element took the form of the many term-limited consuls. The Constitution of the Roman Republic was a set of guidelines and principles passed down mainly by imitating the personal and civic virtues of their ancestors. The constitution or this code of conduct was largely unwritten and evolved over time. This formed a moral core for political and private education in Rome.

Roman Government

Consuls: The Romans invented the new position of consul by 181 B.C. It was limited to men of at least 43 years of age. It conferred a limited term of absolute power split between 2 men or 2 consuls and was limited to a single year. Ten years were supposed to elapse before serving as consul a second time. Consuls carried on the functions of the former kings, holding supreme civil and military authority in Republican Rome. At the end of their year in office, the ex-consuls became senators for life. Consuls were responsible for war, justice, and finance. Later, subordinate magistrates, like the quaestors, took over some of the consul's functions and power. Each consul could negate the other and was supposed to heed the advice of the Senate. A consul could be tried for misdeeds after his single-year term in office.

Consul & Lictors The consul wore the toga carried a scepter and was preceded by 12 lictors in a procession while sitting on a special raised chair in the Senate. Lictors were officials who served the Roman magistrates and preceded them in single file, carrying the fasces on their shoulders. One of the jobs of the lictors was the inflicting of punishments on citizens, which was sometimes done with the fasces. fasces

Fasces The fasces were bundles of rods or sticks with an axe secured in the middle, which means that however much they may have symbolically been carried, they were capable of inflicting a beating or killing. The rods were 5 feet long and 6-8 inches thick; wrapped with red thongs. It is thought that the fasces came from the Etruscans, but the evidence is inconclusive. They were carried as symbols of power before consuls with the number of fasces-bearing lictors symbolizing the importance of the officials. Processional ranks were indicated by the number of lictors preceeding those in attendance. Twenty-four lictors preceeded the dictator, twelve preceeded a counsul, and 2 walked before the praetor.

Fasces

Fasces seen on monuments around the world.

Twelve Tables The earliest attempt by the Romans to create a CODE OF LAW is called the Twelve Tables. It is the earliest surviving piece of literature coming from the Romans. It was written in an effort to provide legal and social protection and civil rights between the privileged class (patricians) and the common people (plebeians). A commission of ten men was appointed (ca. 455 B.C.) to draw up a code of law which would be binding on both parties and which the magistrates (the 2 consuls) would have to enforce.

Twelve Tables Continued… The commission produced many statutes that were already customary law and filled ten tables. Many of the plebeians or common people called for additional laws that had been neglected. A second commission of ten was therefore appointed (450 B.C.) and two additional tablets were drawn up. The original tables were to have been inscribed on bronze and were probably destroyed when the Gauls sacked and burned Rome in the invasion of 387 B.C. The Twelve Tables were set up in the Forum and displayed by the Romans like copies of treaties with Carthage.

Twelve Tables Displayed in Forum The Twelve Tables provides us with a look into the workings of an agrarian society. It provides examples of the operations of daily life, the main bonds which held the society together and allows it to operate. They are divided into the following categories; the clan (genos, gens), patronage (patron/client), and the inherent (and inherited) right of the patricians to leadership (in war, religion, law, and government).

What was on the 12 Tables TABLE I Procedure: for courts and trials TABLE II Trials, continued. TABLE III Debt TABLE IV Rights of fathers (paterfamilias) over the family TABLE V Legal guardianship and inheritance laws TABLE VI Acquisition and possession TABLE VII Land rights TABLE VIII Torts and delicts (Laws of injury) TABLE IX Public law TABLE X Sacred law TABLE XI Supplement I TABLE XII Supplement II