Niebuhr's lectures on Roman history, Vol. 1 (of 3)Niebuhr, Barthold Georg
History
Niebuhr's lectures on Roman history, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Niebuhr, Barthold Georg
Rome -- History
Thus was an army now completely formed; and by this, together with the
horsemen, Servius caused the people to be represented. For the cavalry
he chose the three old double tribes, or six centuries of Tarquinius
Priscus; then twelve other centuries of the Plebes, which were the most
distinguished among the commonalty. In the six centuries was the entire
patrician body; which indeed had on the whole a very insignificant
number of votes, but, as we shall see by and by, the upperhand in
other respects. Within these, there was perfect equality; there was no
distinction of age: every century had a vote.
In the plebeian body, Servius Tullius selected from among those of
higher rank and greater wealth, two classes,--that of the former Latin
nobility, and that in which the rest were placed. To this noble class
he assigned the twelve other equestrian centuries, and that without
regard to property, with the exception perhaps of such persons as
were quite impoverished, a fact which must be particularly urged; for
according to the received opinion, they were deemed to have been the
richest. Had the knights at that time already been the richest, that is
to say, if we are to look upon them as having been in the same state as
after the war with Hannibal, what a senseless constitution would then
have been the result! All fortunes, between a million sesterces (the
sum which at the end of the second Punic war was the qualification of
this class) and 100,000, would not have been classified in any way; and
yet lower than that again in a great number of divisions. And we have
also the explicit testimony of Polybius, that the property standard was
of new introduction with regard to the knights, contrary to the old
system, in which birth was the qualification. Another proof, besides,
is the statement that, even as the censors registered a burgher of the
pale in the plebeian tribes, so did they likewise place a plebeian
in the equestrian body as a mark of distinction; which excludes a
classification according to property. In the reign of Augustus it was
indeed quite a different case. At that time, the most distinguished men
could not become knights without a certain amount of fortune.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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