The story is told that twice the plebeians withdrew from the city and refused to return until their wrongs were removed. Then they compelled the nobles to draw up the laws in a roll called the Twelve Tables. At this time messengers were sent to Athens to examine the laws of the Greeks. The richer plebeians were also gradually admitted to all the offices of the Roman republic, and so became nobles themselves. GOVERNMENT AT ROME. The Romans had once been ruled by kings, but now their chief officers were consuls. Two consuls were chosen each year because the Romans feared that a single consul might make himself a king, or, at least, gain too much power. The real rulers of Rome, however, were the senators, the men who had held the prominent offices. There were assemblies of the people, but these generally did what the senators or other officers told them to do. Among the interesting officers of Rome was the censor, who drew up a list or census of the citizens and of their property. Another officer was the tribune, chosen in the beginning by the plebeians to protect them against the patricians. The tribune was not at first a member of the senate, but he was given a seat outside the door, and if a law was proposed that would injure the plebeians, he cried out, "Veto," which means "I forbid," and the law had to be dropped. This is the origin of our word "veto." HOW THE ROMANS TREATED THE ITALIANS. The Romans were wise in their dealings with the cities or tribes which they conquered. They not only sent out colonies of their fellow-citizens to occupy a part of the lands they had seized, but they also gave the conquered peoples a share in their government, and in some cases allowed them to act as citizens of Rome. These new Roman citizens helped the older Romans in their wars with other tribes. In this way Roman towns gradually spread over Italy. [Illustration: A ROMAN MILITARY STANDARD] QUESTIONS 1. What was the name of the dangerous neighbors of the Greeks in Sicily? Find Carthage on the map. Where did the Carthaginians come from originally? Find Phoenicia on the map. 2. Who were the dangerous neighbors of the Greeks in Italy? Find the Tiber and Rome on the map. 3. Tell the story of the capture of Rome by the Gauls. How long was this after the battle of Marathon? How long after the death of Socrates? How long before Alexander became king of Macedon? 4. Find the land of the Samnites on the map. Tell the story of the Caudine Forks. 5. What Greek king did the people of Tarentum call to Italy to help them against the Romans? What did he say after his second battle with the Romans? 6. After the defeat of Pyrrhus how much of Italy owned the Romans as masters? How did the Romans treat the Italians? 7. Explain how the early Roman ways of living differed from the ways of the Greeks.