Book
2: ‘Secession’ of the Plebeians
2.23 – Anger of the Common People: Debt Crisis
But a war with the Volscians was imminent, and the State was
torn with internal dissensions; the patricians and the plebeians were bitterly
hostile to one another, owing mainly to the desperate condition of the debtors.
They loudly complained that whilst fighting in the field for liberty and empire
they were oppressed and enslaved by their fellow-citizens at home; their
freedom was more secure in war than in peace, safer amongst the enemy than
amongst their own people. The discontent, which was becoming of itself
continually more embittered, was still further inflamed by the signal
misfortunes of one individual. An old man, bearing visible proofs of all the
evils he had suffered, suddenly appeared in the Forum. His clothing was covered
with filth, his personal appearance was made still more loathsome by a
corpse-like pallor and emaciation, his unkempt beard and hair made him look
like a savage. In spite of this disfigurement he was recognised by the pitying
bystanders; they said that he had been a centurion, and mentioned other
military distinctions he possessed. He bared his breast and showed the scars
which witnessed to many fights in which he had borne an honourable part. The
crowd had now almost grown to the dimensions of an Assembly of the people. He
was asked, "Whence came that garb, whence that disfigurement?" He
stated that whilst serving in the Sabine war he had not only lost the produce
of his land through the depredations of the enemy, but his farm had been burnt,
all his property plundered, his cattle driven away, the war-tax demanded when
he was least able to pay it, and he had got into debt. This debt had been
vastly increased through usury and had stripped him first of his father's and
grandfather's farm, then of his other property, and at last like a pestilence
had reached his person. He had been carried off by his creditor, not into
slavery only, but into an underground workshop, a living death. Then he showed
his back scored with recent marks of the lash.
On seeing and hearing all this a great outcry arose; the excitement was not
confined to the Forum, it spread everywhere throughout the City. Men who were
in bondage for debt and those who had been released rushed from all sides into
the public streets and invoked "the protection of the Quirites."
Every one was eager to join the malcontents, numerous bodies ran shouting
through all the streets to the Forum. Those of the senators who happened to be
in the Forum and fell in with the mob were in great danger of their lives. Open
violence would have been resorted to, had not the consuls, P. Servilius and Ap.
Claudius, promptly intervened to quell the outbreak. The crowd surged round
them, showed their chains and other marks of degradation. These, they said,
were their rewards for having served their country; they tauntingly reminded
the consuls of the various campaigns in which they had fought, and peremptorily
demanded rather than petitioned that the senate should be called together. Then
they closed round the Senate-house, determined to be themselves the arbiters
and directors of public policy. A very small number of senators, who happened
to be available, were got together by the consuls, the rest were afraid to go
even to the Forum, much more to the Senate-house. No business could be
transacted owing to the requisite number not being present. The people began to
think that they were being played with and put off, that the absent senators
were not kept away by accident or by fear, but in order to prevent any redress
of their grievances, and that the consuls themselves were shuffling and
laughing at their misery. Matters were reaching the point at which not even the
majesty of the consuls could keep the enraged people in check, when the
absentees, uncertain whether they ran the greater risk by staying away or
coming, at last entered the Senate-house. The House was now full, and a
division of opinion showed itself not only amongst the senators but even
between the two consuls. Appius, a man of passionate temperament, was of
opinion that the matter ought to be settled by a display of authority on the
part of the consuls; if one or two were brought up for trial, the rest would
calm down. Servilius, more inclined to gentle measures, thought that when men's
passions are aroused it was safer and easier to bend them than to break them...
In the midst of this debate Rome is attacked suddenly by the Volscians and a dictator, Manlius Valerius, is appointed, both to lead the military campaigns and to supersede the power of the bickering consuls. The narrative resumes with the Dictator’s triumph, the consul’s conspicuous ineptitude and a growing domestic upheaval.
The Dictator rode in triumph into the City. In addition to
the customary distinctions, a place was assigned in the Circus Maximus to him
and to his posterity, from which to view the Games, and the sella curulis was
placed there. After the subjugation of the Volscians, the territory of Velitrae
was annexed and a body of Roman citizens was sent out to colonise it. Some time
later, an engagement took place with the Aequi. The consul was reluctant to
fight as he would have to attack on unfavourable ground, but his soldiers
forced him into action. They accused him of protracting the war in order that
the Dictator's term of office might expire before they returned home, in which
case his promises would fall to the ground, as those of the consul had
previously done. They compelled him to march his army up the mountain at all
hazards; but owing to the cowardice of the enemy this unwise step resulted in
success. They were so astounded at the daring of the Romans that before they
came within range of their weapons they abandoned their camp, which was in a
very strong position, and dashed down into the valley in the rear. So the
victors gained a bloodless victory and ample spoil.
Whilst these three wars were thus brought to a successful issue, the course
which domestic affairs were taking continued to be a source of anxiety to both
the patricians and the plebeians. The money-lenders possessed such influence
and had taken such skilful precautions that they rendered the commons and even
the Dictator himself powerless. After the consul Vetusius had returned,
Valerius introduced, as the very first business of the senate, the treatment of
the men who had been marching to victory, and moved a resolution as to what
decision they ought to come to with regard to the debtors. His motion was
negatived, on which he said, "I am not acceptable as an advocate of
concord. Depend upon it, you will very soon wish that the Roman plebs had
champions like me. As far as I am concerned, I will no longer encourage my
fellow-citizens in vain hopes nor will I be Dictator in vain. Internal
dissensions and foreign wars have made this office necessary to the
commonwealth; peace has now been secured abroad, at home it is made impossible.
I would rather be involved in the revolution as a private citizen than as
Dictator." So saying, he left the House and resigned his dictatorship. The
reason was quite clear to the plebs; he had resigned office because he was
indignant at the way they were treated. The non-fulfilment of his pledge was
not due to him, they considered that he had practically kept his word, and on
his way home they followed him with approving cheers.
2.32 – The
Crisis Comes to a Head: Plebeians to Sacred Mount
The senate now began to feel apprehensive lest on the disbandment of the army
there should be a recurrence of the secret conclaves and conspiracies. Although
the Dictator had actually conducted the enrolment, the soldiers had sworn
obedience to the consuls. Regarding them as still bound by their oath, the
senate ordered the legions to be marched out of the City on the pretext that
war had been recommenced by the Aequi. This step brought the revolution to a head.
It is said that the first idea was to put the consuls to death that the men
might be discharged from their oath; then, on learning that no religious
obligation could be dissolved by a crime, they decided, at the instigation of a
certain Sicinius, to ignore the consuls and withdraw to the Sacred Mount, which
lay on the other side of the Anio, three miles (N.E.) from the City. This is a
more generally accepted tradition than the one adopted by Piso that the
secession was made to the Aventine. There, without any commander in a regularly
entrenched camp, taking nothing with them but the necessaries of life, they
quietly maintained themselves for some days, neither receiving nor giving any
provocation. A great panic seized the City, mutual distrust led to a state of
universal suspense. Those plebeians who had been left by their comrades in the
City feared violence from the patricians; the patricians feared the plebeians
who still remained in the City, and could not make up their minds whether they
would rather have them go or stay. "How long," it was asked,
"would the multitude who had seceded remain quiet? What would happen if a
foreign war broke out in the meantime?" They felt that all their hopes
rested on concord amongst the citizens, and that this must be restored at any
cost.
Senate’s Plan: Menenius Agrippa
The senate decided, therefore, to send as their spokesman Menenius Agrippa, an
eloquent man, and acceptable to the plebs as being himself of plebeian origin.
He was admitted into the camp, and it is reported that he simply told them the
following fable in primitive and uncouth fashion. "In the days when all
the parts of the human body were not as now agreeing together, but each member
took its own course and spoke its own speech, the other members, indignant at
seeing that everything acquired by their care and labour and ministry went to
the belly, whilst it, undisturbed in the middle of them all, did nothing but
enjoy the pleasures provided for it, entered into a conspiracy; the hands were not
to bring food to the mouth, the mouth was not to accept it when offered, the
teeth were not to masticate it. Whilst, in their resentment, they were anxious
to coerce the belly by starving it, the members themselves wasted away, and the
whole body was reduced to the last stage of exhaustion. Then it became evident
that the belly rendered no idle service, and the nourishment it received was no
greater than that which it bestowed by returning to all parts of the body this
blood by which we live and are strong, equally distributed into the veins,
after being matured by the digestion of the food." By using this
comparison, and showing how the internal disaffection amongst the parts of the
body resembled the animosity of the plebeians against the patricians, he
succeeded in winning over his audience.
2.33 – Concessions:
the Tribunate Established
Negotiations were then entered upon for a reconciliation. An agreement was
arrived at, the terms being that the plebs should have its own magistrates,
whose persons were to be inviolable, and who should have the right of affording
protection against the consuls. And further, no patrician should be allowed to
hold that office. Two "tribunes of the plebs" were elected, C.
Licinius and
L. Albinus. These chose three colleagues. It is generally agreed that Sicinius,
the instigator of the secession, was amongst them, but who the other two were
is not settled. Some say that only two tribunes were created on the Sacred Hill
and that it was there that the lex sacrata was passed.