like many other faults less frequently observed, from the division of the early Commonwealth between the two great classes of its citizens; in consequence of which, the Consul, on the one hand, considered himself as belonging to the Patricians, and the Tribune, on the other, felt himself bound to the Plebeians, rather than to all his fellow-citizens. Either would, therefore, push his powers to their extreme limit, believing the interests of his order to be his first duty, and, further, that these depended more upon his boldness than his moderation. It is only at rare intervals that any proof is given of greater wisdom, on either side; such men as Valerius Publicola and Marcus Duilius being few and far between in Roman history. Another of the same stamp appears just now, in the person of Mamercus Æmilius, a Patrician of the highest birth and reputation, who was appointed Dictator, for the second time, about five years after the death of Mælius.50 Desirous, as the historian remarks, of doing something in peace to distinguish his dictatorship, Æmilius carried a law through the Centuries and the upper assemblies, to reduce the term of the censorship from five years to eighteen months; as if the office, though only nine years old, were already become dangerous to the personal liberties of the citizens. That it might so speedily increase in authority will be evident, on recollection that the control of the Census was actually the control of taxation and of rank; each man, or rather 51 50 A. C. 434. Liv., IV. 17, 23. 51 "In pace aliquid operis edere, quod monimentum esset dictaturæ, cupiens," etc. Liv., IV. 24. each class, being held by the Censors to a different rate of contribution and a different position amongst the Centuries. The Censors in office at the time when Æmilius proposed his law showed what their powers were, by removing him, as soon as he resigned his dictatorship, from his Tribe, and imposing an enormous sum upon him as an Erarian, that is, as one of the class received, as a body, into the assembly of the Tribes, without being admitted to any Tribe of the one-and-twenty, in particular. So extravagant an abuse of authority could not fail to provoke redress, as well from the Plebeians as from the Patricians, to whom Æmilius belonged. The mark of the Censors, as a sentence of the sort was styled, could be effaced, as soon as the term of those who made it expired; and Æmilius was not only relieved of his pecuniary burdens and restored to his former honors, but was afterwards elevated to the dictatorship,52 in which he had proved his wisdom and his forbearance. None of the Plebeians were nearly so prominent during these comparatively quiet years. Whether it were from depression of spirit or of influence, their ability to carry forward the great work committed in part to them was often a power like that of the citizens in the play, that they had no power to do.53 Sometimes, however, the leaves were stirred, and the shoots encouraged, as by a more cheerful breeze. A law, for instance, was put forward by the Trib 52 Liv., IV. 31. 53 Coriolanus, Act II. sc. 3. unes of the second year after the deposition of Æmilius, to prohibit the candidate from wearing a whiter robe than usual; of which the intention is expressly stated to have been the counteraction of the ambition or the intrigue of the Patricians.54 A year later, the Tribunes, being called upon by the Senate to oblige the Consuls to appoint a Dictator, were able, for once at least, to play the part of superior magistrates, and to declare it fit for the Consuls, as their inferiors, to obey the Senate.55 But again the frost set in. The Tribunes quarrelled with one another, and the interference of one or two amongst them was sufficient to hinder the projects of the rest; 56 while some or all complained of the pusillanimity of their constituents and the sinking condition of their common liberties.57 The troubles amongst the Plebeians extended even to the lower classes; and the rumors of a conspiracy amongst the slaves 58 sound as if hardship and violence were even more general than they had been. Meanwhile the old struggles for the public lands revived; but to these, as to the various trials in which the judicial powers of the people were often exercised and sometimes strained, it seems unnecessary to pay any particular attention. Most of the actors in these changing scenes are too far removed for us to hear their voices or learn with any advantage the characters and the principles they sustain. Of one or two only can we get a little clearer view. Publius Postumius, for example, is seen to be an ill-minded Patrician, who, being in command of an army, as Consular Tribune, obtained some easy victories over the Equian forces, whose spoils, though promised, he afterwards refused to his men. While his campaign continued, it was proposed in Rome to settle the soldiers in the town and territory their arms had won; at which, Postumius, being called, it is said, to the city, to conduct the opposition excited by the project, came back in haste, and declared in open assembly of the Tribes, that he would scourge his men like slaves, if any of them dared to stir in favor of the scheme. The Consular Tribune had gone too far. Blamed by Patricians, and stung by the reproaches of the Plebeian Tribunes, he returned to his camp, where his words had already raised a mutiny, in endeavouring to quiet which, he was stoned and slain. His murderers were brought to trial, and some of them punished; but though sentence was pronounced upon a few only, the people murmured that the laws against them were swifter of execution than the laws for them.59 Among all the advocates of an Agrarian law during these passing years, none seems to have been more active than Marcus Mænius, in his tribuneship, four years after the murder of Postumius. He stood 59 Liv., IV. 49-51. This was in A. C. 413-412. The name of Publius is from the Fasti. alone in behalf of the poorer Plebeians, resisting, in spite of nine colleagues against him, the consular levy, and determined to resist it, until, as he said, the unjust occupants of the public lands should surrender them. His exertions, of course, were fruitless; yet he acquired so much popularity by them for himself, that he appears to have been tempted to seek the consular tribuneship for the following year.60 The Patricians were sufficiently alarmed by his pretensions to contrive that the elections should be held for Consuls, who could be chosen only from themselves. However Mænius bore his disappointment, the Plebeians were mortified, even to resentment, at being again outwitted.61 More than thirty years had gone by since the first Consular Tribunes were chosen, and not one of the number, beginning or succeeding, had yet been a Plebeian. The first amends to the neglected or impracticable privileges of the Plebeians came through the medium of another magistracy. This was the quæstorship, to one part of which allusion has been made in mentioning the Quæstors of Parricide; the other part, so to speak, being in the hands of Quæstors of the Classes 62 or the Treasury. These latter, two in number, like the former, acted as the treasurers of the Commonwealth, under the directions of the Senate, and in the city; and, at about the present period of our history, were increased by two more, appointed to serve as paymasters to the army, under the author 60 Liv., IV. 53. 62 Plut., Publ., 12. See Niebuhr's Hist., Vol. II. p. 195. |