Written Assignment Unit 4: How the economic and political differences between the

patricians and the plebeian classes ultimately led to a plebeian revolt. Include in your
discussion the results of the first revolt or secession.

University of the People

HIST 1421-01: AY2023-T1 Greek and Roman Civilization

David Laird Iii, Instructor

September 26, 2022

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Introduction

I will go into the history of the partnership between the patricians and the peasants in their conquest of
the monarchs in this assignment. After they had defeated the monarchs, I would next go through their
political rights and benefits related to the partnership. The disparities between them will then be
identified, along with the reasons why these discrepancies finally caused a revolution between the two
factions. The concerns raised in the essay and any takeaways from the narrative will then be used to
build a conclusion.

Body

The plebeians and the patricians had worked together to topple the kings' administration. A
collaborative approach would seem to require an equitable distribution of all advantages, privileges,
and rewards from such an accomplishment, but their triumphs revealed a different reality. Members of
thearistocracy, the social elite layer of Roman society, were referred to as patricians. On the other
side, the plebeians were ordinary citizens in the society of ancient Rome.

A full Roman citizen was endowed with citizenship rights, which were further split into private and
public privileges. The 'commercium,' which was the right of property and contract, was at the bottom
of that hierarchy. This implied that they had the same rights to property and commerce as any other
Roman citizen. Additionally, they had received the "conubium," which allowed them to legally wed a
member of the nobility. They were also granted the "suffragium," or the right to vote, in the
assemblies of the centuries and the tribes. The patricians imposed rules and limitations on the
"honors," or the right to hold office, and attached terms and conditions to them.

They went about doing so in a convoluted and indirect manner, making it a challenging if not
impossible task for the plebeians. The plebeians had already achieved enormous achievement, but
author Morey argues that "there was still something further for them to achieve, in order to attain full
equality in the state." They were eligible for election to the lower-level positions of the selected
tribunes of the people and aediles, but not to the higher-level positions of consuls and quaestors.
(Wikipedia contributors, 2022)

The patricians manipulated economic power via political influence. Rome had a republican
government, but it was an aristocratic one rather than a democratic one. The aristocratic class, who
acted in a self-centered and tyrannical way, held the major authority instead of the general populace.
Due to the uneven distribution of the land, the plebeians could only use it for a modest fee. They were
denied their fair part of the very land they had helped to conquer, even though it was public property,
belonged to everyone, and might have been utilized to ease their suffering. Due to the loss of their
possessions during the conflict, the plebeians were forced to become a class of debtors by having to

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borrow money from the wealthy patricians. Failure to pay led to their arrest, incarceration, and
transformation into the slave of their creditor, where they were now subject to chains, shackles, and
slavery. (Morey 1901)

Thus, it is clear that the plebeians had good reason to revolt. The severe rule of debt, according to
Morey: "was what initially incited the plebeians to rebel." They "determined that they would no
longer serve in the army and left the patricians to fight their own wars," with genuine
definitivedecisiveness. In order to build an independent city, they abandoned their general and
marched in full force to a peak beyond the Anio that they dubbed the Sacred Mount (Mons Sacer).
(Morey, 1901)

Then they established the new position of tribune of the people, which picked two tribunes from from
the plebeians themselves and assigned two aediles to serve as their assistants. They established a
plebeian assembly to speak to the populace on their interests in order to take up a position in the state
that they had never previously occupied. The unfairness in the partition of the public lands was
corrected by Spurius Cassius' Agrarian Law. Even though he was ultimately killed for his valiant
deeds, his power and impact on Roman history are immeasurable.

Conclusion

One may easily relate with the historical specifics of the fight between the patricians and plebeians.
Any form of exploitation or oppression inevitably results in resistance, revolt, or rebellion. The
therapy given to the plebeians is one for which it is not difficult to predict the reaction. They must
have felt taken advantage of when, despite their best efforts, the patricians continued to assert their
social supremacy, despite the fact that the advantages they had attained depended on the efforts of the
vastly outnumbered plebeians. It was a reflection of a situation in which the patricians had used the
plebeians to obtain control over them. Even if it may have been latent, a reaction to such offensive
behavior was unavoidable. If, following peaceful petitions, an equal share of all rights and privileges
was not granted, or not exhibiting any symptoms of forthcoming, the same reaction would have
occurred in twenty-first-century socio-political settings. Leaders and countries of all eras should heed
the lessons in this book.

References:

Morey, W. C. (1901). Outlines of Roman History, The Struggle for Political Equality.

Chapter 6. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from

http://www.forumromanum.org/history/morey06.html

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Morey, W. C. (1901). Outlines of Roman History, The Struggle for Political Equality.

Chapter 7. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from

http://www.forumromanum.org/history/morey07.html

Morey, W. C. (1901). Outlines of Roman History, The Struggle for Political Equality.

Chapter 8. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from

http://www.forumromanum.org/history/morey08.html

Morey, W. C. (1901). Outlines of Roman History, The Struggle for Political Equality.

Chapter 9. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from

http://www.forumromanum.org/history/morey09.html

Wikipedia contributors. (2022, August 21). Cursus honorum. Wikipedia. Retrieved

September 26, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursus_honorum