B.A. History (Hons.) Sem.

II
Social Formations and Cultural Patterns of the Ancient and Medieval World
Teacher: Dr. Richa Malhotra
Date: 23th March 2020

Dear Students,

Hope you all are fine and taking all precautions to stay safe and healthy. I have sent on two
online Sofo books in Hindi to Sofo WhatsApp group and email group, one by S.R. Goyal
and second by R.N. Tripathy.

Today, we are discussing unit I topic - Conflict of the Orders: Imperial Expansion and
Social Tension in the Roman Republic.

Important terms related with Conflict of Orders

• Patricians: In early Rome, the patricians (patricii) were a highly privileged aristocratic
class of Roman citizens; membership in this class was hereditary and could be achieved
only by birth until the end of the Republic. The name probably stems from the Latin
word patres, “fathers,” which was applied to the earliest members of the Roman Senate,
from whom the patrician clans claimed descent.
• Plebeians: The plebeians (plebei, from plebs, “common people”) were all the Roman
citizens who were not patricians. Originally, patricians were forbidden to marry
plebeians, so there was no possibility of movement from one order to another.
• Order – Groups
• Proletariat – Lowest class of citizens, property less citizens
• Secessio/ secession - Withdrawal or the threat of withdrawal from the Roman state
during times of crisis.
• Consul – highest official of Roman Republic
• Gentes – kinship group- clan
• Comitia - assembly
• Comitia Curiata – assembly of all Roman people
• Comitia Centuriata – assembly of all Roman citizens (Patricians and Plebeians)
• Comitia Tributa – assembly
• Councilium Plebis – assembly of Plebeians
• Tribunes – elected officials of Roman Republic
• Censors – one of the two powerful magistrates
• Decemvir - one of the ten magistrates to rule in Rome
• Aediles- junior magistrates
• Nexum- Debt bondage
• Assidui- Small peasants

Summary of the topic: The story of the conflict of Orders begins with the beginning of the
Republic in Rome in 509 BCE. The year 509 BCE, is important when the monarchy ended
and Republican form of government began which was ruled by senators and a constitution.
These senators were aristocrats (Patricians) who misused their privileges. They exploited
the people (Plebeians) who were oppressed, had no privileges, no political rights /voice and
were stricken with hunger, poverty and powerlessness. This conflict continued roughly from
494 BCE to 287 CE. This led to a struggle between the people (plebeians) and the aristocrats
(Patricians) that is called the Conflict of the Orders. The term "Orders" mean groups, it
refers to the patrician and plebeian groups of Roman citizens. To help resolve the conflict
between the orders, the patrician order gradually gave up most of their privileges and
gradually introduced various reforms (code of the Twelve Tables-450 BCE, Nexum
abolition -326BCE and Lex Hortensia- 287 BCE) but retained vestigial and religious one.

Conflict of the Orders: Patricians and Plebeians

During the time of the Roman Kingdom and the Roman Republic, Roman society was divided
between two important classes – the patricians and the plebeians. Originally, the patricians
were part of the ruling class and enjoyed greater privileges and rights than the plebeians.
Following the Conflict of the Orders, however, the distinction between patrician and plebeian
lost importance, as the plebeians (at least the wealthiest among them) could now aspire to
political power.
According to roman historian Livy, after Rome was founded, Romulus selected 100 men to
form the Roman Senate, which would govern the newly-formed city. By virtue of their rank,
these men were called ‘patres’ (meaning ‘fathers’), and their descendants formed the patrician
class. As the ruling class of Rome, the patricians enjoyed a variety of privileges. For example,
it was only members of the patricians who were allowed to hold political and religious offices.

Unlike the patricians, the origin of the plebeian class was not recorded by the ancient authors.
This is not surprising since in ancient period no one recorded the history of common people
and the plebeians were not part of Rome’s ruling elite but were members of the general
citizenry. The plebeians were powerless citizens of Rome and they wanted to change the status
quo. This resulted in the Conflict of the Orders, a struggle between the patrician and the
plebeian classes that lasted from 500 to 287 BC.

The Conflict of the Orders began as a result of the dissatisfaction felt by the plebeians regarding
the status quo in Rome. Till then, political power was monopolized by the patrician class. The
situation deteriorated further around the end of the 6 th century BC. In 509 BC, Tarquinius
Superbus, the last Roman king was deposed, and the Roman Republic was founded. One of the
consequences of this change from monarchy to republic was the increase in the power held by
the patricians. An example of this is the loss of access by the plebeians to public land (which
had been regal domain during the Roman Kingdom). In order to increase their wealth, the
patricians seized these lands and either rented them out, or had slaves work on them.

The plebeians were oppressed by hunger, poverty, and powerlessness. Allotments of land didn't
solve the problems of poor farmers whose tiny plots stopped producing when overworked.
Some plebeians whose land had been sacked by the Gauls couldn't afford to rebuild, so they
were forced to borrow. Interest rates were exorbitant, but since land couldn't be used for
security, farmers in need of loans had to enter into contracts (nexa), pledging personal service.
Farmers who defaulted (addicti), could be sold into slavery or even killed. Grain shortages led
to famine, which repeatedly (among other years: 496, 492, 486, 477, 476, 456 and 453 B.C.)
compounded the problems of the poor.

Some patricians were making a profit and gaining slaves, even if the people to whom they lent
money defaulted. But Rome was more than just the patricians. It was becoming the main power
in Italy and would soon become the dominant Mediterranean power. What it needed was a
fighting force. Referring back to the similarity with Greece mentioned earlier, Greece had
needed its fighters, too, and made concessions to the lower classes in order to get bodies. Since
there weren't enough patricians in Rome to do all the fighting the young Roman Republic
engaged in with its neighbors, the patricians soon realized they needed strong, healthy, young
plebeian bodies to defend Rome. In the first few decades following the expulsion of the last
king, the plebeians had to create ways of dealing with problems caused or exacerbated by the
patricians like poverty, occasional famine and lack of political clout.

Their solution to at least the third problem was to set up their own separate, plebeian
assemblies, and secede. Since the patricians needed the physical bodies of the plebeians as
fighting men, the plebeian secession was a serious problem. The patricians had to yield to some
of the plebeian demands.

Codified Law

After inclusion in the ranks of the ruling class via the office of tribune and the vote, the next
step was for the plebeians to demand codified law. Without a written law, individual
magistrates could interpret tradition however they wished. This resulted in unfair and
seemingly arbitrary decisions. The plebeians insisted that this custom end. If laws were written
down, magistrates could no longer be so arbitrary. There is a tradition that in 454 B.C. three
commissioners went to Greece to study its written legal documents.

In 451, upon the return of the commission of three to Rome, a group of 10 men was established
to write down the laws. These 10, all patricians according to the ancient tradition (although one
appears to have had a plebeian name), were the Decemviri [decem=10; viri=men]. They
replaced the year's consuls and tribunes and were given additional powers. One of these extra
powers was that the Decemviri's decisions could not be appealed. The 10 men wrote down laws
on 10 tablets. At the end of their term, the first 10 men were replaced by another group of 10
in order to finish the task. This time, half the members may have been plebeian.

Cicero, writing some 3 centuries later, refers to the 2 new tablets, created by the second set
of Decemviri (Decemvirs), as "unjust laws." Not only were their laws unjust, but the
Decemvirs who wouldn't step down from office began to abuse their power. Although failure
to step down at the end of the year had always been a possibility with the consuls and dictators,
it hadn't happened. Appius Claudius, who had served on both decemvirates, acted despotically.
This early despotic Appius Claudius pursued and brought a fraudulent legal decision against a
free woman, Verginia, daughter of a high ranking soldier, Lucius Verginius. As a result of
Appius Claudius' lustful, self-serving actions, the plebeians seceded again. To restore order,
the Decemvirs finally abdicated, as they should have done earlier.

The 12 tablets were an important move in the direction of what we would call equal rights for
the plebeians, but there was still much to do. The law against intermarriage between the classes
was repealed in 445. When the plebeians proposed that they should be eligible for the highest
office, the consulship, the Senate wouldn't completely oblige, but instead created what we
might call a "separate, but equal" new office known as military tribune with consular power.
This office effectively meant plebeians could wield the same power as the patricians.
According to Cornell the "code" was a list of injunctions and prohibitions. There are specific
areas of concern: family, marriage, divorce, inheritance, property, assault, debt, debt-bondage
(nexum), freeing of slaves, summonses, funeral behaviour and more.

In the early years of the Roman Republic, patricians controlled all the religious and political
offices; plebeians had no right of appeal against decisions of the patrician government, since
no laws were codified or published. The struggle of the plebeians to gain rights and an
opportunity for advancement within Roman society and political structures is known as “the
conflict of orders.” The one advantage plebeians had over patricians lay in their numbers, and
they used this effectively through the strategy of secession (secessio), withdrawal or the threat
of withdrawal from the Roman state during times of crisis. Here are some of the major
landmarks in the conflict of orders, which was largely bloodless and free of violence:

• 494 BCE: traditional date of the First Secession of the Plebs, during which they
established their own assembly (Councilium Plebis) and elected their own
magistrates, the Tribunes and the Plebeian Aediles.
• 450 BCE: traditional date of the Law of the Twelve Tables, the first codification
of Roman law.
• 445 BCE: patricians and plebeians were permitted to intermarry.
• 367 BCE: plebeians became eligible for the consulship.
• 342 BCE: law passed making it mandatory that one of the two Consuls must be a
plebeian.
• 339 BCE: law passed making it mandatory that one of the two Censors must be a
plebeian.
• 300 BCE: half of the priesthoods (which were also state offices) must be plebeian.
• 287 BCE: Third Secession, won the concession that all plebiscites, measures
passed in the Councilium Plebis, had the force of laws for the whole Roman state.

The plebeians grew increasingly displeased with this inequity and began making demands to
right these wrongs. The first important incident in the Conflict of the Orders occurred in 494
BC. In that year, Rome was at war with the Italic tribes. Instead of fighting the enemy, however,
the plebeians seceded from Rome to the Sacred Mountain outside the city. The patricians were
aware that the secession of the plebs would have dire consequences for Rome’s military might,
as there would not be enough fighting men to defend Rome. Therefore, they decided to
negotiate with the plebeians, which resulted in the plebeians being granted the right to elect
their own officials, who were known as the Plebeian Tribunes.

As the plebeians formed the majority of Rome’s citizenry, secession was a powerful weapon
at their disposal and was used several times more after 494 BC. Each time the plebeians
seceded, the patricians were forced to negotiate, and to concede to their demands. In 451 BC,
for example, the secession by the plebeians resulted in the appointment of the decemvirate, a
commission of ten men. Another secession occurred in 445 BC, which resulted in the passing
of the Canuleian Law. This law allowed the patricians and plebeians to inter marry.

Nevertheless, secession was not always necessary for the plebeians to obtain what they wanted.
Without the use of secession, the plebeians were still able to make demands on the patricians
and negotiate with them. In 367 BC, for instance, the plebeians won the right to be elected
consul, and the first consul from the plebeian class was chosen in the following year. From 300
BC onwards, the plebeians were also allowed to serve in the priesthoods. As the Conflict of the
Orders dragged on, the gap between the patricians and plebeians, in terms of privileges and
rights, decreased. As the Conflict of the Orders began with a plebeian secession, so was it ended
by another. In 287 BC, the plebeians seceded for the last time. The result of the secession was
the passing of the Hortensian Law, which made all resolutions passed by the Plebeian Council
binding on all Roman citizens, thus placing the plebeians, politically speaking, on equal footing
with the patricians.
Repercussions of the Conflict of Orders were:

 Breakdown of an aristocracy of birth

 Replacement of Patrician aristocracy with an aristocracy based
on the holding of political offices and land-based wealth.
 The assemblies of Roman citizens (comitia curiata, comitia
centuriata and comitia tribute), the councilium plebis and
tribunes have some voice in the affairs of the Roman state.
 New institutions were created but the old were not formally
abandoned.
 The senate coexisted with councilium plebis, comitia curiata and
comitia centuriata with comitia tribute and the consuls with the
tribunes.
 The hierarchical, class-based nature of Roman society was not
destroyed completely. The senate consisting of Patricians never
gave up its dominant position within the Roman state. The
Patricians retained its overall control over the decision making
process.
 The mid Republic had multiple centers of power which created
political chaos and instability amidst territorial expansion.
 The lives and the prospects of the poorer segments of society
did not improve much. New groups became powerful and
condition of common people remained largely the same.

Sources: Recommended reading list

• Anderson, P. (1988). Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism. London and New

York: Verso, (Rome) Part One/I/ Chapters 1, 4 (pp. 18-28 and 53-103).
• Scarre, C. and B. Fagan. (2008). Ancient Civilisations. New Jersey: Pearson,
(on Rome) Chapter 11, pp. 278-303.
• Bradley, K. (1994). Slavery and Society at Rome, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, Chapter 2, pp. 10-30.
• Brunt, P.A. (1966). “The Roman Mob,” Past and Present, No. 35, Dec. 1966,
pp. 3- 27
• Hopkins, K. (1978). Conquerors and Slaves. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1978, Chapter 2, pp. 99-132.
• Joshel, S. R. (2010). Slavery in the Roman World, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, Chapters 1, 2 and 5, pp.18-76 and 161-214.
• Scullard, H. H. A History of the Roman World, 753 to 146 BC. Routledge,
2008.
• फ़ारूकी, ए. (2015). प्राचीन और मध्यकालीन सामजिक संरचनाएं और संस्कृजियााँ ,
जिल्ली, मानक प्रकाशन.
• गोयल, एस. आर. (2011). जिश्व की प्राचीन सभ्यिाएं , बनारस, जिश्वजिद्यालय प्रकाशन.

Dr. Richa Malhotra, Associate Professor, Department of History, CVS

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