Part 3 (2/2)

When the year came to a close the Decemvirs neither resigned nor held Comitia for the election of successors, but continued to hold their power in defiance of the Senate and of the People. Next year (B.C. 449) the Sabines and aequians invaded the Roman territory, and two armies were dispatched against them, commanded by some of the Decemvirs. Appius remained at Rome to administer justice. But the soldiers fought with no spirit under the command of men whom they detested, and two acts of outrageous tyranny caused them to turn their arms against their hated masters. In the army fighting against the Sabines was a centurion named L. Sicinius Dentatus, the bravest of the brave. He had fought in 120 battles; he had slain eight of the enemy in single combat; had received 40 wounds, all in front; he had accompanied the triumphs of nine generals; and had war-crowns and other rewards innumerable. As Tribune of the Plebs four years before, he had taken an active part in opposing the Patricians, and was now suspected of plotting against the Decemvirs.

His death was accordingly resolved on, and he was sent with a company of soldiers as if to reconnoitre the enemy's position. But in a lonely spot they fell upon him and slew him, though not until he had destroyed most of the traitors. His comrades, who were told that he had fallen in an ambush of the enemy, discovered the foul treachery that had been practiced when they saw him surrounded by Roman soldiers who had evidently been slain by him. The Decemvirs prevented an immediate outbreak only by burying Dentatus with great pomp, but the troops were ready to rise in open mutiny upon the first provocation.

In the other army sent against the aequians there was a well-known centurion named Virginius. He had a beautiful daughter, betrothed to L.

Icilius, an eminent leader of the Plebeian order. The maiden had attracted the notice of the Decemvir Appius Claudius. He at first tried bribes and allurements, but when these failed he had recourse to an outrageous act of tyranny. One morning, as Virginia, attended by her nurse, was on the way to her school, which was in one of the booths surrounding the forum, M. Claudius, a client of Appius, laid hold of the damsel and claimed her as his slave. The cry of the nurse for help brought a crowd around them, and all parties went before the Decemvir.

In his presence Marcus repeated the tale he had learnt, a.s.serting that Virginia was the child of one of his female slaves, and had been imposed upon Virginius by his wife, who was childless. He farther stated that he would prove this to Virginius as soon as he returned to Rome, and he demanded that the girl should meantime be handed over to his custody.

Appius, fearing a riot, said that he would let the cause stand over till the next day, but that then, whether her father appeared or not, he should know how to maintain the laws. Straightway two friends of the family made all haste to the camp, which they reached the same evening.

Virginius immediately obtained leave of absence, and was already on his way to Rome, when the messenger of Appius arrived, instructing his colleagues to detain him. Early next morning Virginius and his daughter came into the forum with their garments rent. The father appealed to the people for aid, and the women in their company sobbed aloud. But, intent upon the gratification of his pa.s.sions, Appius cared not for the misery of the father and the girl, and hastened to give sentence, by which he consigned the maiden to his client. Appius, who had brought with him a large body of patricians and their clients, ordered his lictors to disperse the mob. The people drew back, leaving Virginius and his daughter alone before the judgment-seat. All help was gone. The unhappy father then prayed the Decemvir to be allowed to speak one word to the nurse in his daughter's hearing, in order to ascertain whether she was really his daughter. The request was granted. Virginius drew them both aside, and, s.n.a.t.c.hing up a butcher's-knife from one of the stalls, plunged it into his daughter's breast, exclaiming, ”There is no way but this to keep thee free.” In vain did Appius call out to stop him. The crowd made way for him, and, holding his b.l.o.o.d.y knife on high, he rushed to the gate of the city and hastened to the army. His comrades espoused his cause, expelled their commanders, and marched toward Rome. They were soon joined by the other army, to whom Numitorius and Icilius had carried the tidings. The Plebeians in the city flocked to them, and they all resolved to retire once more to the Sacred Mount.

This second secession extorted from the Patricians the second great charter of the Plebeian rights. The Patricians compelled the Decemvirs to resign, and sent L. Valerius and M. Horatius, two of the most eminent men of their order, to negotiate with the Plebeians. It was finally agreed that the Tribunes should be restored, that the authority of the Comitia Tributa should be recognized, and that the right of appeal to the people against the power of the supreme magistrates should be confirmed. The Plebeians now returned to the city, and elected, for the first time, ten Tribunes instead of five, a number which remained unchanged down to the latest times. Virginius, Icilius, and Numitorius were among the new Tribunes.

Two Consuls were elected in place of the Decemvirs, and the choice of the Comitia Centuriata naturally fell upon Valerius and Horatius. The new Consuls now redeemed their promises to the Plebeians by bringing forward the laws which are called after them, the Valerian and Horatian Laws. These celebrated laws enacted:

1. That every Roman citizen should have the right of appeal against the sentence of the supreme magistrate. This was, in fact, a solemn confirmation of the old law of Valerius Publicola, pa.s.sed in the first year of the republic. It was enacted again a third time in B.C. 300, on the proposal of M. Valerius, the Consul. These repeated enactments gave a still farther sanction to the law. In the same way the Great Charter of England was ratified several times.

2. That the _Plebiscita_, or resolutions pa.s.sed by the Plebeians in the Comitia Tributa, should have the force of laws, and should be binding alike upon Patricians and Plebeians.

3. That the persons of the Tribunes, aediles, and other Plebeian magistrates should be sacred, and whoever injured them should be sold as a slave.

Virginius now accused Appius Claudius, who was thrown into prison to await his trial. But the proud Patrician, seeing that his condemnation was certain, put an end to his own life. Oppius, another of the Decemvirs, and the personal friend of Appius, was condemned and executed. The other Decemvirs were allowed to go into exile, but they were all declared guilty, and their property confiscated to the state.

The Twelve Tables were always regarded as the foundation of the Roman law, and long continued to be held in the highest estimation. But they probably did little more than fix in a written form a large body of customary law, though even this was a benefit to the Plebeians, as they were no longer subject to the arbitrary decisions of the Patrician magistrates. The Patricians still retained their exclusive privileges; and the eleventh table even gave the sanction of law to the old custom which prohibited all intermarriage (_connuubium_) between the two orders.

[Footnote 17: See note on p. 31. (Footnote 16 of this e-text--Transcriber)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: View in the neighborhood of Veii.]

CHAPTER VI.

FROM THE DECEMVIRATE TO THE CAPTURE OF ROME BY THE GAULS. B.C. 448-390.

The efforts of the leaders of the Plebeians were now directed to two subjects, the removal of the prohibition of intermarriage between the two orders, and the opening of the Consuls.h.i.+p to their own order. They attained the first object four years after the Decemvirate by the Lex Canuleia, proposed by Canuleius, one of the Tribunes (B.C. 445). But they did not carry this law without a third secession, in which they occupied the Janiculum. At the same time a compromise was effected with respect to the Consuls.h.i.+p. The Patricians agreed that the supreme power in the state should be intrusted to new officers bearing the t.i.tle of _Military Tribunes with Consular Power_, who might be chosen equally from Patricians and Plebeians. Their number varied in different years from three to six. In B.C. 444 three Military Tribunes were nominated for the first time. In the following year (443) two new magistrates, called _Censors_, were appointed. They were always to be chosen from the Patricians; and the reason of the inst.i.tution clearly was to deprive the Military Tribunes of some of the most important functions, which had been formerly discharged by the Consuls. The Censors originally held office for a period of five years, which was called a _l.u.s.trum_; but their tenure was limited to eighteen months, as early as ten years after its inst.i.tution (B.C. 443), by a law of the Dictator Mamercus aemilius, though they continued to be appointed only once in five years.[18]

Though the Military Tribunes could from their first inst.i.tution be chosen from either order, yet such was the influence of the Patricians in the Comitia of the Centuries that it was not till B.C. 400, or nearly forty years afterward, that any Plebeians were actually elected. In B.C.

421 the Quaestors.h.i.+p was also thrown open to them. The Quaestors were the paymasters of the state; and as the Censors had to fill up vacancies in the Senate from those who had held the office of Quaestor, the Plebeians thus became eligible for the Senate.

During these struggles between the two orders an event took place which is frequently referred to by later writers. In the year 440 B.C. there was a great famine at Rome. Sp. Maelius, one of the richest of the Plebeian knights, expended his fortune in buying up corn, which he sold to the poor at a small price, or distributed among them gratuitously.

The Patricians thought, or pretended to think, that he was aiming at kingly power: and in the following year (439) the aged Quintius Cincinnatus, who had saved the Roman army on Mount Algidus, was appointed Dictator. He nominated C. Servilius Ahala his Master of the Horse. During the night the Capitol and all the strong posts were garrisoned by the Patricians, and in the morning Cincinnatus appeared in the forum with a strong force, and summoned Maelius to appear before his tribunal. But seeing the fate which awaited him, he refused to go, whereupon Ahala rushed into the crowd and struck him dead upon the spot.

His property was confiscated, and his house was leveled to the ground.

The deed of Ahala is frequently mentioned by Cicero and other writers in terms of the highest admiration, but it was regarded by the Plebeians at the time as an act of murder. Ahala was brought to trial, and only escaped condemnation by a voluntary exile.

In their foreign wars the Romans continued to be successful, and, aided by their allies the Latins and Hernicans, they made steady progress in driving back their old enemies the Volscians and aequians. About this time they planted several colonies in the districts which they conquered. These Roman colonies differed widely from those of ancient Greece and of modern Europe. They were of the nature of garrisons established in conquered towns, and served both to strengthen and extend the power of Rome. The colonists received a portion of the conquered territory, and lived as a ruling cla.s.s among the old inhabitants, who retained the use of the land.

The Romans now renewed their wars with the Etruscans; and the capture of the important city of Veii was the first decisive advantage gained by the Republic. The hero of this period was Camillus, who stands out prominently as the greatest general of the infant Republic, who saved Rome from the Gauls, and whom later ages honored as a second Romulus.

<script>