 Salvete! Some fancy new pieces of art have appeared, if you haven't seen them yet: the final covers for the Amiculus Omnibus (left) and the variant Volume III cover (right). Also, I have confirmed the delivery date for the Amiculus Coin: December 29! Everything is chugging along for Amiculus's final lap around the track, and it's still early days yet! |  |
For more information on Amiculus doings, you can check out my newsletter. Now, we proceed to the first segment of this Roman Debauchery Fun Fact Series:
Decline And Fall of the Roman Republic
Part I: Here Comes The New Boss
The original shirts v. skins: one of the many plebeian revolts of ancient Rome. The basic conflict of the Roman Republic, much like the basic conflict of any government, was the haves against the have-nots. In this case, it was the wealthy, hereditary elite patrician class against the commoners, or plebeians.
The conflict began almost as soon as the last Roman king was kicked out in 509 B.C. The patricians controlled the Senate, and the plebeians served as soldiers in Rome's armies. During wartime, plebeian farms had no one to run them, and patricians would provide loans to pleb families to keep them running. However, these loans often came with usurous interest, and if a family could not repay, it was within the patricians' rights to seize the farm, and carry the family away into slavery. Many plebs were impoverished, beaten, enslaved and even murdered by their wealthy creditors.
In 494 B.C., Under these conditions, the plebs revolted, and refused to fight Rome's wars. The patricians ultimately allowed the plebs into the Senate as tribunes, offices created to protect the interests of the plebs, and order was restored.
The conflict began almost as soon as the last Roman king was kicked out in 509 B.C. The patricians controlled the Senate, and the plebeians served as soldiers in Rome's armies. During wartime, plebeian farms had no one to run them, and patricians would provide loans to pleb families to keep them running. However, these loans often came with usurous interest, and if a family could not repay, it was within the patricians' rights to seize the farm, and carry the family away into slavery. Many plebs were impoverished, beaten, enslaved and even murdered by their wealthy creditors.
In 494 B.C., Under these conditions, the plebs revolted, and refused to fight Rome's wars. The patricians ultimately allowed the plebs into the Senate as tribunes, offices created to protect the interests of the plebs, and order was restored.
"Aaghh! Jeez, okay, we'll abolish late fees for library books, too! Whatever you want!" For about five minutes, actually. This did nothing to address the debt situation, or the fact that wealthy Romans could enslave poor Romans for not paying their bills. Patricians and plebeians continued their "Conflict of the Orders" for the next two hundred years, the former to maintain or claw back their dominance, the latter to achieve political parity.
Each time there was a conflict, the plebeians mutinied or threatened to do so until the Senate acquiesced. This resulted in significant changes to Roman law, such as the Lex Licinia Sextia in 367 B.C., which opened all state and senatorial offices to the plebs. (It still didn't abolish enslavement for debt, though - that didn't happen for another 40 years.)
The Conflict of the Orders finally ended in 287 B.C. with the Lex Hortensia, removing the last patrician check on plebeian power and giving them full political equality.
Each time there was a conflict, the plebeians mutinied or threatened to do so until the Senate acquiesced. This resulted in significant changes to Roman law, such as the Lex Licinia Sextia in 367 B.C., which opened all state and senatorial offices to the plebs. (It still didn't abolish enslavement for debt, though - that didn't happen for another 40 years.)
The Conflict of the Orders finally ended in 287 B.C. with the Lex Hortensia, removing the last patrician check on plebeian power and giving them full political equality.
However, in all this time that the plebs and the patricians were fighting, a funny thing was happening to the Senate. The plebs were getting increased representation, this much was true. However, this did nothing to change the fact that it was still controlled entirely by the rich. The pleb families in the Senate had become nobility themselves over the centuries, growing wealthy through their office and through intermarriage with the patrician class. The enormous wealth senators enjoyed kept campaigns for the Senate prohibitively expensive, making it very difficult, if not impossible, for poorer plebeian families to compete with incumbents for office. Increasingly insulated from the plight of their class, the Senatorial plebs became less and less interested in representing their interests and more interested in maintaining their hold on power. Thus, even though the patricians were defeated, this victory disguised a new hybrid patrician-plebeian aristocracy more entrenched than the first, and that the financial situation of Rome's common people had barely budged.
"Yes, yes...the plight of the poor is all very...something (urp)...you know what I (burp) mean - actually, hold that thought, I feel the sudden urge to vomit - Pleb boy! Bring my sick bucket!"
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