historical and political thought in the seventeenth - RePub - Erasmus ...

Chapter 7. The mistress of life
After the deposition of Tarquinius Superbus the monarchy was abolished
and the consulate founded. The first consuls held royal power, but this power
soon dwindled due to the constant strife between the patricians and the plebeians.
140 The most important outcome of this strife was the institution of the
tribunate, an act that decisively altered the balance of power within Roman
society. It meant that although the Roman state was still a mixed constitution,
ultimate power now rested with the people, because their representatives, the
tribunes, could veto every decision made by the consuls or the Senate. Effectively,
Rome had become a democracy. 141
The installation of the tribunate was followed by the rule of the decem-virs,
who founded the Twelve Tables, 142 and the institution of the consular tribuneship.
143 With the institution of the consular tribuneship the higher levels of
government were now open for plebeians. 144 This meant a new alteration in
the balance of power, one that made the popular factor even more dominant.
Finally, after the last consular tribunes were forced to abdicate, the Romans
instituted the censors. 145 They formed an extra check on top of the already
existing laws and legal punishments on both the magistrates and the people.
With the founding of the censors, Rome’s constitution seems to have reached
its completion. 146
140 Ibidem, VIII.3, p. 233. ‘Consulatus est Regia potestas, eadem in duos collata & annuo imperii
spatio definita.’
141 Ibidem, X.6, pp. 264-65. ‘Itaque creatis Tribunis Democraticum planè Imperii Romani statum
factum esse statuimus … Mixtam enim Reipublicae formam neque hîc, neque alibi, necesse est agnoscere.’
The same change was noted, amongst others, by Ptolemy of Lucca (c.1236-1327) in his De regimine
principum (On the Government of Princes, c.1300). Millar, The Roman Republic in Political Thought, pp. 59-61.
142 Ibidem, XII.3-5, pp. 274-81.
143 This last office was the result of the manipulations of Gaius Canuleius, tribune of the plebs in
445 BC, who, in his quest for ultimate power, stirred the plebs against the patricians. Canuleius was
also responsible for the Lex Canuleia. This law allowed intermarriage between partrician and plebeian
families (forbidden under the laws of the Twelve Tables) and allowed that one of the two yearly elected
consuls to be a plebeian. See Livy, The History of Rome from its Foundation, IV.42-44.
144 Like Livy, Boxhorn traces the main cause leading to the emergence of the tribunate to the economic
hardship suffered by the plebs. The plebeians, who depended on farming for their livelihood,
formed the core of Rome’s army. But Rome fought so many wars, that the plebeians were unable to
cultivate and farm their land. Since they did not receive any pay for their service as soldiers, they were
left without any income to sustain themselves and their families or to pay their rents. The plebeians ran
into heavy debts, were forced to sell their land, and were ultimately enslaved by their creditors, who
were mostly of patrician origin. Boxhorn, Emblemata politica: accedunt dissertationes politicae de Romanorum
Imperio et quaedamaliae, IX.5, p. 251. By leaving the city, the plebs forced the patrician oligarchy to
give up their monopoly on holding administrative offices. Ibidem, X.3, p. 262.
145 The last consular tribunes were forced to abdicate because they were elected without the
approval of the gods. Thereafter the new consuls, Marcus Geganius Macerinus and Titus Quintius Capitolinus
instituted the censors.
146 Here, one is reminded of Machiavelli’s judgement of the institution of the censors in the Discorsi,
I.49.1-2, p. 129. ‘The evolution of the Roman republic shows clearly how difficult it is when establishing
a republic to provide all the laws that will keep it free. Despite the fact that many laws were established,
first by Romulus, then by Numa, Tullius, Hostilius, Servius, and finally by the ten citizens designated
for that task, nevertheless in the management of the town new needs were constantly discovered and it
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