Domestic History of Early Republic I

Chronology

• Based on fasti (list of magistrates, esp. consuls)
  • Odd names for a later fiction
  • Some obvious "fudging" of minor problems
• Sack of Rome=386 BC
  • 390 BC acc. to Late Republican ("Varronian")
  • Greek "synchronism"
  • Not according to fasti (4 yrs. short)
• Some minor difficulties in 400s BC
• Foundation of Republic
  • 507 BC acc. to early Greek tradition
  • 509 BC acc. to "Varronian" tradition

  Early Republican Rome

  • Very small
  • pomerium
  • domus vs. militia
    • "home" vs. "military service"
  • Very rudimentary "state"
    • Mainly involved in warfare
      • Some legal decisions also

  Three Elements of Early State

  • Magistrates
  • Senate
  • Assemblies

  Magistrates

  • Elected by assemblies
  • Senior magistates have imperium
    • imperium is old power of kings
    • Used to command armies
    • Its use restricted within pomerium
  • Colleges
    • Negative prevails over positive
    • Prevents tyranny through rivalry
  • Annual tenure
  • No pay
    • Only wealthy landowners hold office

  Consuls

  • Chief magistrates at start of Rep.
    • Replace kings
  • Only two
  • "Eponymous" (year named after them)
    • "In the consulship of X and Y"
  • Command Roman armies

  Dictators

  • Regular office
    • Bad associations of word in English come from tyrannical use of the office in Late Republc
  • Not proper magistrate
  • Used to prevent split command among quarreling consuls during military emergency
  • Office first appointed in 490s BC
    • Appointed by a consul
    • One consul sometimes appointed his colleague
  • Stood above regular magistrates, who continued in office
  • Held only six-month tenure
  • Office later used to provide stand-in for absent consuls
    • for holding elections
    • for performing religious duties
  • Office fell into abeyance after 200 BC
    • Not needed once there were large numbers of magistrates
    • Office felt to be out of sync with oligarchic form of government

  Censors

  • Peculiar office
    • Violates normal rules for magistrates
  • Instituted in 443 or 435 BC
  • Two
  • Hold census, let out contracts, enroll senators
  • Hold office 18 mos.
  • Elected every five years

  Quaestors

• Have no imperium
• Financial officials
• Start as aids to consuls
• Elected starting 447 BC
• More created over time
• Each mag. with imperium has one

Senate

• Body of ex-magistrates
• Derived from old council of kings
  • "Senator" derived from "elder" (senex)
• Called into session by a magistrate
• Its decrees not laws
  • Its advice hard to ignore
• Eventually gains control over provinc. assignments, state finances

Assemblies

• Very limited powers of deliberation
  • Called into session by mag.
  • Could only accept/reject proposal of mag.
  • Public feeling sounded out in contio (informal assembly)
• Voting by units
  • Units of unequal numbers of members
  • Each unit has one vote determined by majority of its voters
• Powers:
  • Elect magistrates
  • Vote on laws
  • Determine legal cases

Centuriate Assembly (comitia centuriata)

• Originally based on organization of army
• 193 "centuries" each with one vote
  • Originally a military unit of 100 men
  • As attested in the centuriate assembly, centuries could have hugely different numbers of voters
• Arrangements become fossilized, real army changes
• Based on census qualifications
  • New census conducted every five years by censors
  • Five census classes based on wealth
    • Higher classes had:
      • higher minimum qualifications
      • higher obligations in terms of mil. equip.
    • 187 centuries divided among the five classes
      • a few extra for special military functions give a total of 193 centuries
    • First census class plus cavalry control half of votes (later reduced to just under half)
    • Everyone who doesn't meet min. qual. for mil. service (majority of pop.) votes in one century
• Powers:
  • Elect mags. with imperium
    • Basically the soldiery elect their senior commanders
  • Pass laws
  • Decide capital trials

Tribal assembly

• Voting units: geographical tribes
  • Number of tribes for Rome itself always four
  • 20 rural tribes at start of Republic
  • Number of rural tribes increases as Rome annexes territory
  • Final total of 31 rural tribes reached in 242 BC
• Powers:
  • Elect mags. w/out imperium
  • Decide non-capital trials (those involving a fine)