CHAPTER X.

CONTINUED STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE ORDERS. THE DECEMVIRATE. (470-449 B.C.)

§ 1. Progress of Plebeians: Colony of Antium: impeachment of second Appius. § 2. Great pestilence. § 3. Reform-bill of Terentilius Harsa. § 4. Violent scenes at Rome. § 5. Compromise: Triumvirs appointed to report upon Laws of Solon at Athens. § 6. Public Land on the Aventine parcelled out among Plebeians. § 7. Return of Triumviri. § 8. Appointment of Decemviri: their functions: third Appius Claudius their chief. § 9. Ten Tables completed. § 10. Resignation of first Decemvirs: successors elected, including Appius. § 11. Change in bearing of Appius: despotism of new Decemvirs. § 12. Two Tables added to Code. § 13. Appius and colleagues retain office for a second year. § 14. Wars break out with Equians and Sabines. § 15. Legend of Siccius Dentatus. § 16. Legend of Virginia. § 17. Second Secession to Mons Sacer: Decemvirs resign. § 18. L. Valerius and M. Horatius sent to negotiate between Senate and Plebeians: Ten Tribunes elected. § 19. Restoration of Consulship: Valerius and Horatius elected. § 20. Valerio-Horatian Laws. § 21. Triumph of new Consuls over Sabines and Equians. § 22. Appius impeached and dies in prison: Oppius executed: the rest pardoned. § 23. Attempt to re-elect Consuls and Tribunes.

§ 1. IT has been shown how the Patrician Burgesses endeavoured to wrest independence from the Plebs after the battle of Lake Regillus; and how the latter, ruined by constant wars with the neighbouring nations, compelled to make good their losses by borrowing money from patrician creditors, and liable to become. bondsmen in default of payment, at length deserted the city, and only returned on condition of being protected by Tribunes of their own; and how, lastly, by the firmness of Publilius Volero and Lætorius, they obtained the right of electing these Tribunes at their own assembly, the Comitia of the Tribes. It has also been shown that the great Consul Spurius Cassius endeavoured to relieve the commonalty by an Agrarian law, so as to better their condition permanently.

The execution of the Agrarian law was constantly evaded, as we have seen. But, on the conquest of Antium from the

Volscians in the year 468 B.C., a Colony was sent thither; and this was one of the first examples of a distribution of Public Land to poorer citizens, which answered two purposes, the improvement of their condition, and the defence of the place against the enemy.

Nor did the Tribunes, now made altogether independent of the Patricians, fail to assert their power. One of the first persons who felt the force of their arm was the second Appius Claudius. This Sabine noble, following his father's example, had, after the departure of the Fabii, led the opposition to the Publilian law. When he took the field against the Volscians, his soldiers would not fight; and the stern commander put to death every tenth man in his legions. For the acts of his consulship he was brought to trial by the Tribunes, M. Duillius and C. Sicinius. Seeing that the event was certain, the proud Patrician avoided humiliation by suicide."

§ 2. Nevertheless the border wars still continued, and the Plebeians still suffered much. To the evils of debt and want were added the horrors of pestilential disease, which visited the Roman territory several times at that period. In one year (B.c. 463) the two Consuls, two of the four Augurs, and the Curio Maximus, who was the Head of all the Patricians, were swept off: a fact which implies the death of a vast number of less distinguished persons. The government was administered by the Plebeian Ædiles, under the control of senatorial Interreges. The Volscians and Æquians ravaged the country up to the walls of Rome; and the safety of the city must be attributed to the Latins and Hernicans, not to the men of Rome.

§ 3. Meantime the Tribunes had in vain demanded a full execution of the Agrarian law. But in the year 462 B.C., one of the Sacred College, by name C. Terentilius Harsa, came forward with a bill, of which the object was to give the Plebeians a surer footing in the state. This man perceived that as long as the Consuls retained their almost despotic power, and were elected by the influence of the Patricians, this Order had it in their power to thwart all measures, even after they were passed, which

a So says Dionys. ix. 51: "morbo moritur," says Livy, ii. 61.

b Liv. iii. 6-8.

tended to advance the interests of the Plebeians. He therefore no longer demanded the execution of the Agrarian law, but proposed that a commission of Ten Men (decemviri) should be appointed to draw up constitutional laws for regulating the future relations of the Patricians and Plebeians.

§ 4. The Reform Bill of Terentilius was, as might be supposed, vehemently resisted by the Patrician Burgesses. But the Plebeians supported their champion no less warmly. For five consecutive years the same Tribunes were reëlected, and in vain endeavoured to carry the bill. This was one of the seasons which least fulfils the character which we have claimed for the Roman People, patience and temperance, combined with firmness in their demands. To prevent the Tribunes from carrying their law, the younger Patricians thronged to the Assemblies, and interfered with all proceedings; Terentilius, they said, was endeavouring to confound all distinction between the Orders. Some scenes occurred which seem to show that both sides were prepared for civil war.

In the year 460 B.C. the city was alarmed by hearing that the Capitol had been seized by a band of Sabines and exiled Romans, under the command of one Herdonius. Who these exiles were is uncertain. But we have seen, in the legend of Cincinnatus, that Kæso Quinctius, the son of that old hero, was an exile. It has been inferred, therefore, that he was among them, that the Tribunes had succeeded in banishing from the city the most violent of their opponents, and that these persons had not scrupled to associate themselves with Sabines to recover their homes. The Consul Valerius, aided by the Latins of Tusculum, levied an army to attack the insurgents, on condition that after success the law should be fully considered. The exiles were driven out, and Herdonius was killed. But the Consul fell in the assault; and the Patricians, led by old Cincinnatus, refused to fulfil his promises.

Then followed the danger of the Æquian invasion, to which the legend of Cincinnatus, as given above, refers. The stern old man used his dictatorial power quite as much to crush the Tribunes at home, as to conquer the enemies abroad.

The circumstances, as related in the legend, have already been given in the story of Cincinnatus.

One of the historians tells us that in this period of seditious violence, many of the leading Plebeians were assassinated, as the Tribune Genucius had been. Society was utterly disorganised. The two Orders were on the brink of civil war. It seemed as if Rome was to become the city of discord, not of law. Happily, there were moderate men in both Orders. Now, as at the time of the Secession, their voices prevailed, and a compromise was arranged.

§ 5. In the eighth year after the first promulgation of the Terentilian law, this compromise was made (454 B.C.). The law itself was no longer pressed by the Tribunes. The Patricians, on the other hand, so far gave way as to allow Three Men (triumviri) to be appointed, who were to travel into Greece, and bring back a copy of the laws of Solon, as well as the laws and institutes of any other Greek states, which they might deem good and useful. These were to be the groundwork of a new Code of Laws, such as should give fair and equal rights to both Orders, and restrain the arbitrary power of the Patrician Magistrates.

d

§ 6. Another concession made by the Patrician Lords was a small instalment of the Agrarian law. L. Icilius, Tribune of the Plebs, proposed that all the Aventine hill, being Public Land, should be made over to the Plebs, to be their quarter for ever, as the other hills were occupied by the Patricians and their Clients. This hill, it will be remembered, was consecrated to the goddess Diana, and though included in the walls of Servius, was yet not within the sacred limits (pomerium) of the patrician city. After some opposition, the Patricians suffered this Icilian law to pass, in hopes of soothing the anger of the Plebeians. The land was parcelled out into building-sites. But as there was not enough to give a separate plot to every plebeian householder that wished to live in the city, one allotment was assigned to several persons, who built a joint house in flats or stories, each of which was inhabited (as in Edinburgh and in most foreign towns) by a separate family.

d Chapt. iii. § 27.

These houses, or blocks of houses, jointly occupied by several families, were in Roman phrase called insula (the term isola is still so used), while the term domus was restricted to the mansion occupied by a single wealthy family.

§ 7. The three men who had been sent into Greece returned in the third year (452 B.C.). They found the city free from domestic strife, partly from the concessions already made, partly from expectation of what was now to follow, and partly from the effect of a pestilence which had broken out anew.

§ 8. So far did moderate counsels now prevail among the Patricians, that after some little delay they agreed to suspend the ordinary government by the Consuls and other officers, and in their stead to appoint a Council of Ten, who were during their existence to be entrusted with all the functions of government. But they were to have a double duty: they were not only an administrative, but also a legislative council. On the one hand, they were to conduct the government, administer justice, and command the armies. On the other, they were to draw up a Code of Laws, by which equal justice was to be dealt out to the whole Roman People, to Patricians and Plebeians alike, and by which the authority to be exercised by the Consuls, or chief magistrates, was to be clearly determined and settled.

This supreme Council of Ten, or Decemvirs, was first appointed in the year 451 B.C. They were all Patricians. At their head stood Appius Claudius and T. Genucius, who had already been chosen Consuls for this memorable year. This Appius Claudius, the third of his name, was son and grandson of those two patrician chiefs who had opposed the leaders of the Plebeians so vehemently in the matter of the tribunate. But he affected a different conduct from his sires. He was the most popular man of the whole council, and became in fact the sovereign of Rome. At first he used his great power well; and the first year's government of the Decemvirs was famed for justice and moderation.

§ 9. They also applied themselves diligently to their great work of law-making; and before the end of the year, had drawn up a Code of Ten Tables, which were posted in the Forum, that all citizens might examine them, and suggest amendments for the consideration of the Decemvirs. After due time thus spent, the Ten Tables were confirmed and made law at the Comitia of the Centuries. By this Code equal justice was to be administered to both Orders without distinction of persons.

§ 10. At the close of the year, the first Decemvirs laid down