The Roman Republic was known to its citizens as the Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR, the Senate and People of Rome). As the name implies, there was a constant tension between the senatorial aristocracy and the people. Nowhere was this tension and the state's efforts to accommodate it more evident than in the system of government that developed as Rome achieved political maturity.
Assemblies
The Roman Republican government was composed of several assemblies from which magistrates were drawn. Before the expulsion of Tarquin the Proud in 509 BCe, the kings of Rome had been advised and supported by a council made up of the men who controlled the most land. This body was known as the Senate and continued to be important throughout the history of the Roman Republic.
The Comitia Centuriata (Assembly of Centuries) was an important assembly of male citizens segregated into five electoral classes according to wealth. The wealthiest landowners were the first to vote and the proletarii (those who owned no land), were the last. The Comitia Centuriata passed laws presented to it by the annually elected senior magistrates. This assembly also included the Comitia Curiata, another assembly of the 30 divisions of citizens from the three clans: the Ramnes, Luceres, and Tities. The main function of the Comitia Curiata seems to have been to attend the inauguration of the king during the period of Etruscan rule. During the Roman period, it confirmed a magistrate's right to exercise the authority already granted to him by the Comitia Centuriata.
The Comitia Tributa (Assembly of Tribes) was an assembly that consisted of all the enfranchised people (those who had a right to vote) in the city who belonged to tribes, at least nominally. This assembly could pas laws on behalf of all the people including the aristocrats who owned land and the mass of ordinary folk.
Finally, the Concilium Plebis (Plebeian Tribal Council) was a tribal assembly much like the Comitia Tributa with the exception that aristocrats could not be members. It passed plebiscita (plebiscites), votes that had the force of law.
Magistrates
After Tarquin's removal, two men from the Senate were elected by the members of the Comitia Centuriata to become consuls, the chief magistrates of the Roman state. Consuls were elected annually; with the other lesser magistrates (discussed below), one colleague could veto (Latin for "I forbid") the decisions of the other, thereby acting as a check against abuse of power.
In addition to the regular, annual cursus honorum - the magistracies held consecutively - there was the extraordinary position of dictator. A dictator was appointed by the consuls for a specified period, originally six months. Such appointments were made in times of crisis, especially during wars.
Also elected annually by the Comitia Centuriata were the praetors. After the consuls, these officers were the next most powerful men in the state. Originally, there was only one, a patrician responsible for the administration of justice in Rome itself. After a short while, however, another was added whose primary responsibility became relations between Roman citizens and non-Romans. As Rome conquered foreign territories, more praetors were added. The number of praetors was increased to four in 227 BCE upon the conquest of Sicily and Sardinia, and then to six in 197 BCe, when Rome acquired Spain. Eventually, the power of the patricians was eroded to the point where the number of praetors grew so large that the position was no longer something special, and even plebeians won the right to stand for election.
The position of censor was established in the mid-fourth century BCE. Two censors were elected by the Comitia Centuriata to hold office together for five years. As former consuls, the major task facing these men was to draw up revised lists of citizens (the census). As Rome became more powerful, Roman citizenship became more attractive. The modern meaning of censor is derived from a secondary responsibility of the Roman officials, which was to oversee public morality.
Next down the ladder of elected officials in the Roman Republic were the Curulian aediles who were elected by the Comitia Tributa. Originally, there were two such officials. Later, their number was increased and they became responsible for such things as the maintenance of roads in the city, public executions, water, and official standards of measure.
The last of the originally patrician officers were the quaestors. They were elected annually by the Comitia Tributa and were charged with administering financial matters, always considered a rather sordid business. At first, there were two quaestors, but as the area of Roman influence expanded, more positions were added.
The People and Their Representatives
For all the continuing attempts to control tensions and curb individual abuse of power, the division of patricians and plebeians remained a division between rich and poor, between those with power and influence and those without. Early in the fifth century (494 BCE), in an attempt to correct that imbalance, the Concilium Plebis ( Plebeian Tribal Council) was established and membership was restricted to non-senatorial males. Two plebeian tribunes, who were given sacred immunity (like that of foreign diplomats today), were elected annually by the Concilium Plebis. The plebeian tribunes had the authority to veto decisions made by the consuls. Gradually, the number of plebeian tribunes was increased to ten. in time, they came to be very powerful interpreters of the people's wishes. This became especially true later in the fifth century BCE when decisions made by the Concilium Plebis no longer needed the Senate's approval.
Growth and Maturity of the Republic
For the next 400 years, the Roman Republic underwent great expansion and faced extreme danger. First, the Gauls (a Celtic people of Europe north of the Alps), crossed the mountains into Italy, forced to do so by an increasing population. Their leader Brennus is remembered at the Brenner Pass, one of the most important road and rail links today between Italy and the rest of Europe. Although Rome was besieged and sacked by the Gauls in 390 BCE, the city recovered and struck back. The Gauls were defeated and dispersed. This action marked Rome's first major expansion to the far north of the Italian Peninsula, a move that had more to do with responding to external military pressure than with economic need.
By the second century BCE, Sicily was fast becoming Rome's breadbasket, supplying the many thousands of tonnes of grain required annually to feed the city's inhabitants. approximately half of the grain was handed out to the people by the state, while the other half remained in the hands of entrepreneurs (negotiatores). There was also a constant and ever increasing need for cooking oil; southern Spain eventually became an important source of that essential commodity. This inevitably led to clashes with the Carthaginians, who were at that time the greatest maritime power in the western Mediterranean.
The Carthaginians were quite different from the Romans. In times of crisis, their gods demanded the sacrifice of infant sons. the Carthaginians came originally from Phoenecia (what is now Lebanon) and settled in North Africa. Above all, they were traders. Throughout much of their conflict with the Romans, from 264 BCE until the time of the final destruction of Carthage in 146 BCE, they maintained a commercial empire and effectively had control over Sicily and the Iberian Peninsula (present-day Spain and Portugal_.
At the same time that Rome was in conflict with Carthage, it was also expanding its dominion into the eastern Mediterranean, taking control of eastern Greek cities. In Italy, spurred on in part by a constant growing need for wine, produce, leather, and woolen goods, the Romans had already subdued many rival city-states and tribes, created towns that would support their interests, and encouraged other towns to prosper. Finally, and importantly, the great increase in military activity led to a massive increase in the trade in arms and armour.
Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.
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