fact--already excited, was filled with the uproar of the angry
plebeians. Many confined for debt broke from their prison houses, and
ran from all quarters into the crowds to claim protection. The majesty
of the consuls was insufficient to preserve order, and while the
discord was rapidly increasing, horsemen rushed into the gates
announcing that an enemy was actually upon them, marching to besiege
the city. The plebeians saw that their opportunity had arrived, and
when proud Appius Claudius called upon them to enroll their names for
the war, they refused the summons, saying that the patricians might
fight their own battles; that for themselves it was better to perish
together at home rather than to go to the field and die separated.
Threatened with war beyond the gates, and with riot at home, the
patricians were forced to promise to redress the civil grievances. It
was ordered that no one could seize or sell the goods of a soldier
while he was in camp, or arrest his children or grandchildren, and that
no one should detain a citizen in prison or in chains, so as to hinder
him from enlisting in the army. When this was known, the released
prisoners volunteered in numbers, and entered upon the war with
enthusiasm. The legions were victorious, and when peace was declared,
the plebeians anxiously looked for the ratification of the promises
made to them.
Their expectations were disappointed. They had, however, seen their
power, and were determined to act upon their new knowledge. Without
undue haste, they protected their homes on the Aventine, and retreated
the next year to a mountain across the Anio, about three miles from the
city, to a spot which afterwards held a place in the memories of the
Romans similar to that which the green meadow on the Thames called
Runnymede has held in British history since the June day when King John
met his commons there, and gave them the great charter of their
liberties.
The plebeians said calmly that they would no longer be imposed upon;
that not one of them would thereafter enlist for a war until the public
faith were made good. They reiterated the declaration that the lords
might fight their own battles, so that the perils of conflict should
lie where its advantages were. When the situation of affairs was
thoroughly understood, Rome was on fire with anxiety, and the enforced
suspense filled the citizens with fear lest an external enemy should
take the opportunity for a successful onset upon the city. Meanwhile
the poor secessionists fortified their camp, but carefully refrained
from actual war. The people left in the city feared the senators, and
the senators in turn dreaded the citizens lest they should do them
violence. It was a time of panic and suspense. After consultation, good
counsels prevailed in the senate, and it was resolved to send an
embassy to the despised and down-trodden plebeians, who now seemed,
however, to hold the balance of power, and to treat for peace, for
there could be no security until the secessionists had returned to
their homes.
The spokesman on the occasion was Menenius Agrippa Lanatus, who was
popular with the people and had a reputation for eloquence. In the
course of his argument he related the famous apologue which Shakespeare
has so admirably used in his first Roman play. He said:
"At a time when all the parts of the body did not, as now, agree
together, but the several members had each its own scheme, its own
language, the other parts, indignant that every thing was procured for
the belly by their care, labor, and service, and that it, remaining
quiet in the centre, did nothing but enjoy the pleasures afforded it,
conspired that the hands should not convey food to the mouth, nor the
mouth receive it when presented, nor the teeth chew it. They wished by
these measures to subdue the belly by famine, but, to their dismay,
they found that they themselves and the entire body were reduced to the
last degree of emaciation. It then became apparent that the service of
the belly was by no means a slothful one; that it did not so much
receive nourishment as supply it, sending to all parts of the body that
blood by which the entire system lived in vigor."
Lanatus then applied the fable to the body politic, showing that all
the citizens must work in unity if its greatest welfare is to be
attained. The address of this good man had its desired effect, and the
people were at last willing to listen to a proposition for their
return. It was settled that there should be a general release of all
those who had been handed over to their creditors, and a cancelling of
debts, and that two of the plebeians should be selected as their
protectors, with power to veto objectionable laws, their persons being
as inviolable at all times as were those of the sacred messengers of
the gods. These demands, showing that the plebeians did not seek
political power, were agreed to, the Valerian laws were reaffirmed, and
a solemn treaty was concluded, each party swearing for itself and its
posterity, with all the formality of representatives of foreign
nations. The two leaders of the commons, Caius Licinius and Lucius
Albinius, were elected the first Tribunes of the People, as the new
officers were called, with two Ædiles to aid them. [Footnote: The
duties of the ædiles were various, and at first they were simple
assistants of the tribunes. _Ædes_ means house or temple, and the
ædiles seem to have derived their name from the fact that they had the
care of the temple of Ceres, goddess of agriculture, a very important
divinity in Rome as well as in Greece.] They were not to leave the city
during their term of office; their doors being open day and night, that
all who needed their protection might have access to them. The hill
upon which this treaty had been concluded was ever after known as the
Sacred Mount; its top was enclosed and consecrated, an altar being
built upon it, on which sacrifices were offered to Jupiter, the god of
terror and deliverance, who had allowed the commons to return home in
safety, though they had gone out in trepidation. Henceforth the commons
were to be protected; they were better fitted to share the honors as
well as the benefits of their country, and the threatened dissolution
of the nation was averted.
Towards the end of the year, Lanatus, the successful intercessor, died,
and it was found that his poverty was so great that none but the most
ordinary funeral could be afforded. Thereupon the plebeians contributed
enough to give him a splendid burial; but the sum was afterwards
presented to his children, because the senate decreed that the funeral
expenses should be defrayed by the state. (B.C. 494.)
VII.
HOW THE HEROES FOUGHT FOR A HUNDRED YEARS.
There is a long story connected with the young stripling who, at the
battle of Lake Regillus received the oaken crown for saving the life of
a Roman citizen. The century after that event was filled with wars with
the neighboring peoples, and in one of them this same Caius Marcius
fought so bravely at the taking of the Latin town of Corioli that he
was ever after known as Coriolanus (B.C. 493). He was a proud
patrician, and on one occasion when he was candidate for the office of
consul, behaved with so much unnecessary haughtiness toward the
plebeians that they refused him their votes. [Footnote: The whole
interesting story is found in Plutarch's Lives, and in Shakespeare's
play which bears the hero's name.] After a while a famine came to
Rome,--famines often came there,--and though in a former emergency of
the kind Coriolanus had himself obtained corn and beef for the people,
he was now so irritated by his defeat that when a contribution of grain
arrived from Syracuse, in Sicily (B.C. 491), he actually advocated that
it should not be distributed among the people unless they would consent
to give up their tribunes which had been assured to them by the laws of
the Sacred Mount! This enraged the plebeians very much, and they caused
Coriolanus to be summoned for trial before the comitia of the tribes,
which body, in spite of his acknowledged services to the state,
condemned him to exile. When he heard this sentence, Coriolanus angrily
determined to cast in his lot with his old enemies the Volscians, and
raised an army for them with which he marched victoriously towards
Rome. As he went, he destroyed the property of the plebeians, but
preserved that of the patricians. The people were in the direst state
of anxious fear, and some of the senators were sent out to plead with
the dreaded warrior for the safety of the city. These venerable
ambassadors were repelled with scorn. Again, the sacred priests and
augurs were deputed to make the petition, this time in the name of the
gods of the people; but, alas, they too entreated in vain. Then it was
remembered that the stern man had always reverenced his mother, and she
with an array of matrons, accompanied by the little ones of Coriolanus,
went out to add their efforts to those which had failed. As they
appeared, Coriolanus exclaimed, as Shakespeare put it:
"I melt, and am not
Of stronger earth than others.--My mother bows;
As if Olympus to a molehill should
In supplication nod; and my young boy
Hath an aspect of intercession, which,
Great Nature cries: 'Deny not.' Let the Volsces
Plow Rome and harrow Italy; I'll never
Be such a gosling to obey instinct; but stand,
As if a man were author of himself,
And knew no other kin!"*
The strong man is finally melted, however, by the soft influences of
the women, and as he yields, says to them:
"Ladies, you deserve
To have a temple built you; all the swords
In Italy, and her confederate arms,
Could not have made this peace!"
A temple was accordingly built in memory of this event, and in honor of
Feminine Fortune, at the request of the women of Rome, for the senate
had decreed that any wish they might express should be gratified. As
for Coriolanus, he is said to have lived long in banishment, bewailing
his misfortune, and saying that exile bore heavily on an old man. The
entire story, heroic and tragic as it is related to us, is not
substantiated, and we do not really know whether if true it should be
assigned to the year 488 B.C., or to a date a score of years later.
During all the century we are now considering, the plebeians were
slowly gaining ground in their attempts to improve their political
condition, though they did not fail to meet rebuffs, and though they
were many times unjustly treated by their proud opponents. These
efforts at home were complicated, too, by the fact that nearly all the
time there was war with one or another of the adjoining nations.
Treaties were made at this period with some of the neighboring peoples,
by a good friend of the plebeians, Spurius Cassius, who was consul in
the year 486, and these to a certain extent repaired the losses that
had followed the war with Porsena after the fall of the Tarquins.
Cassius tried to strengthen the state internally, too, by dividing
certain lands among the people, and by requiring rents to be paid for
other tracts, and setting the receipts aside to pay the commons when
they should be called out as soldiers. This is known as the first of
the many Agrarian Laws (_ager_, a meadow, a field) that are recorded in
Roman history, though something of the same nature is said to have
existed in the days of Servius Tullius.
There were public and private lands in Roman territory, just as there
are in the territory of the United States, and in those days, just as
in our own, there were "squatters," as they have been called in our
history, who settled upon public lands without right, and without
paying any thing to the government for the privileges they enjoyed.
Laws regulating the use and ownership of the public lands were passed
from time to time until Julius Cæsar (B.C. 59) enacted the last. They
had for their object the relief of poverty and the stopping of the
clamors of the poor, the settling of remote portions of territory, the
rewarding of soldiers, or the extension of the popularity of some
general or other leader. The plan was not efficient in developing the
country, because those to whom the land was allotted were often not at
all adapted to pursue agriculture successfully, and because the evils
of poverty are not to be met in that way.
It was a sign of the power of the people that this proposition of
Cassius should have been successful; but it irritated the patricians
exceedingly, because they had derived large wealth from the improper
use of the public lands. The following year consuls came into power who
were more in sympathy with the patricians, and they accused Cassius of
laying plans to be made king. His popularity was undermined, and his
reputation blasted. Finally he was declared guilty of treason by his
enemies, and condemned to be scourged and beheaded, while his house was
razed to the ground. For seven years after this one of the consuls was
always a member of the powerful family of the Fabii, which had been
influential in thus overthrowing Cassius. The Fabians had opposed the
laws dividing the lands, and they now refused to carry them out. The
result was that the commons, deprived of their rights, again went to
the extreme of refusing to fight for the state; and when on one
occasion they were brought face to face with an enemy, they refused to
conquer when they had victory in their hands. A little later they went
one step further, and attempted to stop entirely the raising of an
army. One of the patrician family just mentioned, Marcus Fabius, proved
too noble willingly to permit such strife between the classes to
interfere with the progress of the state, and determined to conciliate
the commons. He succeeded, and led them to battle, and, though his army
won victory, was himself killed in the combat (B.C. 481). The other
members of the family took up the cause, cared kindly for the wounded,
and thus still further ingratiated themselves with the army. The next
year (B.C. 480) another Fabian was consul, and he too determined to
stand up for the laws of Spurius Cassius. He was treated with scorn by
his fellow patricians, and finding that he could not carry out his
principles and live at peace in Rome, determined to exile himself.
Going out with his followers, he established a camp on the side of the
river Cremera, a few miles above Rome, and alone carried on a war
against the fortified city of Veii. The unequal strife was continued
for two years; but then the brave family was completely cut off. There
was not a member left, excepting one who seems to have refused to
renounce the former opinions of the family, and had remained at Rome
[Footnote: The Fabii were cut off on the Cremera on the 16th of July, a
day afterwards marked by a terrible battle on the Allia, in which the
Gauls defeated the Romans.] (B.C. 477). He became the ancestor of the
Fabii of after-history.
The support thus received from the aristocratic Fabii encouraged the
commons, and the sacrifice of the family exasperated them. They felt
anew that it was possible for them to exert some power in the state,
and they promptly accused one of the consuls, Titus Menenius, of
treason, because he had allowed his army to lie inactive near Cremera
while the Fabii were cut off before him. Menenius was found guilty, and
died of vexation and shame. The aristocrats now attempted to frighten
the commons by treachery and assassination, and succeeded, until one,
Volero Publilius, arose and took their part. He boldly proposed a law
by which the tribunes of the people, instead of being chosen by the
comitia of the centuries, in which, as we have seen, the aristocrats
had the advantage, should be chosen by the comitia of the tribes, in
which there was no such inferiority of the commons. Though violently
opposed by the patricians, this law was passed, in the year 471 B.C.
Other measures were, however, still necessary to give the plebeians a
satisfactory position in the state.
In the year 458, the ancient tribe of the Æquians came down upon Rome,
and taking up a position upon Mount Algidus, just beyond Alba Longa,
repulsed an army sent against them, and surrounded its camp. We can
imagine the clattering of the hoofs on the hard stones of the Via
Latina as five anxious messengers, who had managed to escape before it
was too late, hurried to Rome to carry the disheartening news. All eyes
immediately turned in one direction for help. There lived just across
the Tiber a member of an old aristocratic family, one Lucius Quintius,
better known as Cincinnatus, because that name had been added to his
others to show that he wore his hair long and in curls. Lucius was
promptly appointed Dictator--that is, he was offered supreme authority
over all the state,--and messengers were sent to ask him to accept the
direction of affairs. He was found at work on his little farm, which
comprised only four jugera, either digging or plowing, and after he had
sent for his toga, or outer garment, which he had thrown off for
convenience in working, and had put it on, he listened to the message,
and accepted the responsibility. The next morning he appeared on the
forum by daylight, like an early rising farmer, and issued orders that
no one should attend to private business, but that all men of proper
age should meet him on the field of Mars by sunset with food sufficient
for five days. At the appointed hour the army was ready, and, so
rapidly did it march, that before midnight the camp of the enemy was
reached. The Æquians, not expecting such promptness, were astonished to
hear a great shout, and to find themselves shut up between two Roman
armies, both of which advanced and successfully hemmed them in. They
were thus forced to surrender, and Cincinnatus obliged them to pass
under the yoke, in token of subjugation. (_Sub_, under, _jugum_, a
yoke.) The yoke in this case was made of two spears fastened upright in
the ground with a third across them at the top. In the short space of
twenty-four hours, Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus raised an army, defeated
an enemy, and laid down his authority as dictator! It was decreed that
he should enter the city in triumph. He rode in his chariot through the
streets, the rejoicing inhabitants spreading tables in front of their
houses, laden with meat and drink for the soldiers. The defeated chiefs
walked before the victor, and after them followed the standards that
had been won, while still farther behind were the soldiers, bearing the
rich spoils. It was customary in those days for a conqueror to take
every thing from the poor people whom he had vanquished,--homes, lands,
cattle, wealth of every sort,--and then even to carry the men, women,
and children away into slavery themselves. Thus a subjugated country
became a desolation, unless the conquerors sent settlers to occupy the
vacant homes and cultivate the neglected farms. Bad and frightful as
war is now, it is not conducted on such terrible principles as were
followed in early times.
Though from time to time concessions were made to the commons, they
continued to feel that they were deprived of many of their just
political rights, and the antagonism remained lively between them and
the patricians. The distresses that they suffered were real, and
endured even for two centuries after the time assigned to Coriolanus.
We have now, indeed, arrived at a period of their sore trial, though it
was preceded by some events that seemed to promise them good. In the
year 454, Lucius Icilius, one of the tribunes of the people, managed to
have the whole of the Aventine Hill given up to them, and as it was,
after the Capitoline, the strongest of all the seven, their political
importance was of course increased. It was but a few years later (B.C.
451) when, according to tradition, after long and violent debates it
was decided that a commission should be sent to Athens, or to some
colony of the Greeks, to learn what they could from the principles of
government adopted by that ancient and wise people, which was then at
the very height of its prosperity and fame. After this commission had
made its report (in the year B.C. 450), all the important magistrates,
including the consuls, tribunes, and ædiles, were replaced by ten
patricians, known as Decemvirs (_decem_, ten, _vir_, a man), appointed
to prepare a new code of laws.
The chief of this body was an Appius Claudius, son of the haughty
patrician of the same name, and equally as haughty as he ever was. The
laws of Rome before this time had been in a mixed condition, partly
written and partly unwritten and traditional; but now all were to be
reduced to order, and incorporated with those two laws that could not
be touched--that giving the Aventine to the plebeians, and the sacred
law settled on the Roman Runnymede after the first secession to the
Sacred Mount. After a few months the ten men produced ten laws, which
were written out and set up in public places for the people to read and
criticise. Suggestions for alterations might be made, and if the ten
men approved them, they made them a part of their report, after which
all was submitted to the senate and the curiæ, and finally approved.
The whole code of laws was then engraved on ten tables of enduring
brass and put up in the comitium, where all might see them and have no
excuse for not obeying them.
We do not know exactly what all these laws were, but enough has come
down to us to make it clear that they were drawn up with great
fairness, because they met the expectations of the people; and this
shows, of course, that the political power of the plebeians was now
considerable, because ten patricians would not have made the laws fair,
unless there had been a strong influence exerted over them, obliging
them to be careful in their action. The ten had acted so well, indeed,
that it was thought safe and advisable to continue the government in
the same form for another year. This proved a mistake, for Appius
managed to gain so much influence that he was the only one of the
original ten who was re-elected, and he was able also to cause nine
others to be chosen with him who were weak men, whom he felt sure that
he could control. When the new decemvirs came into power, they soon
added two new laws to the original ten, and the whole are now known,
therefore, as the "Twelve Tables." The additional laws proved so
distasteful to the people that they were much irritated, and seemed
ready to revolt against the government on the slightest provocation.
The decemvirs became exceedingly ostentatious and haughty, too, in
their bearing, as well as tyrannical in their acts, so that the city
was all excitement and opposition to the government that a few weeks
before had been liked so well. Nothing was needed to bring about an
outbreak except a good excuse, and that was not long waited for.
Nations do not often have to wait long for a cause for fighting, if
they want to find one.