Roman Civilization

According to Roman Historical Tradition

• The Roman aristocracy led a revolution that threw the Etruscan monarchs out around 510 BCE.
• The aristocracy established a republican form of government in which 2 consules were elected every year to run the state, advised by the Senatus. (Other lesser magistracies were also elected offices).
• Although legally the Senate was only an advisory body, it effectively had far greater influence than the comitiae. The consent of the Comitiae was required before the consuls could declare war. The consuls had what we would consider extraordinary executive authority, but were limited in their power by the fact that they only held office for a year and that each had the right to veto the others decisions.
• Roman citizenship required sufficient economic resources to participate in the army. The comitiae were organized in a way that favored the influence of the wealthiest citizens.

• Membership in the Senate and eligibility for important elective office and priestly status required patrician status. The patricians were a hereditary aristocracy descended, Romans claimed, from the original patres conscripti. Citizens who were not of patrician birth were called the plebs or plebians ("common people").
• The plebians had two beefs with the patricians in Rome's early years. First, after the expulsion of the Etruscan monarchs, Rome's economy took a very bad tumble and folks who had been ordinary farmers found themselves seriously in debt. If a man couldn't pay his debts he legally aquired the status of a debt bondsman which was the effective equivalent of slavery.
• Second, after the expulsion of the Etruscan monarchs, Rome's neighbors in Latium became very antagonistic towards Rome. Plebian citizens found themselves frequently called to military service under the leadership of patricians.
• In 494 the plebians responded to this social crisis by calling a secessio. All the plebs left the city, climbed to the top of the Aventine hill (still outside the city walls) and told the patricians they could pound salt the next time the Latin neighbors attacked.
• This was the beginning of the two and a half century long conflict of the orders. Accordingy to Roman tradition there were 5 secessiones during this period. Each resulted in changes to the constitution which permitted the plebs greater access to political power.

• Eventually, the Roman aristocracy was transformed from an aristocracy of birth (patricians) to an aristocracy of birth and office (nobiles). If your grandfather had been consul you were nobile regardless of your families status as patrician or plebian.
• The greatest constitutional reforms of the 5th century were the establishment of the office of tribuni plebis, the writing down of Roman laws in the Twelve Tables and the revocation of a law forbidding marriage between patricians and plebians.
• The century also saw various attempts at dictatorship and the effective transfer of powers away from the consules and to military officers.
• During this of constitutional turmoil, Rome was also in almost constant war with its neighbors. Rome's superior, heavily armed infantry, supported by mounted equites, tended to win most of these battles. Where they couldn't outright win battles, the Romans begin to enter into treaties with their Latin neighbors and by the end of the century were recognized as the dominant city of Latium.
• The "Latin league" cities, however, continued to face severe threats from the surrounding Etruscan, Volsci, Aequi and Sabine peoples.
• By the end of the century, Rome had made successful onslaughts into Etruscan territory, and Etruria's days of dominance were at an end.