The Two Great Republics: Rome and the United States — John Shaqi
The Two Great Republics: Rome and the United StatesLewis, James
History
The Two Great Republics: Rome and the United States
Lewis, James
Rome -- Politics and government -- 510-30 B.C.; United States -- Politics and government
The final working out of this matter may be summed up by saying that
the poorer class of the plebeians furnished most of the soldiers for
the campaign, stood most of the expense, suffered nearly all the
losses both of life and property, were excluded from any share in the
land captured in the war, and as a culmination saw their taxes yearly
increased on account of the fact that the patricians, who monopolized
the public land, succeeded in dodging the payment of rent and in
evading the payment of taxes.
It was these conditions which brought about the remarkable spectacle
of what may be well designated the first recorded strike in history--a
strike in the Roman army. In 495 B.C. the Roman citizens were summoned
to take the field for another military campaign. They refused to obey.
One of the consuls, Publius Servilius, however, induced them to make
the campaign by suspending some of the laws bearing most heavily upon
the poor and by releasing all persons in prison for debt. But hardly
had the army returned from a victorious campaign than the other
consul, Appius Claudius, as a reward for their victory began to
enforce the debtor laws with extraordinary severity.
Once more, in the following year, the plebeians were induced to take
the field, mainly on account of the popularity of the dictator
appointed for the management of this campaign, Marius Valerius, and
his promise that upon the termination of the campaign permanent
reforms would be made in the law. Again the Roman army was victorious,
and again the patricians broke faith with the plebeians and refused
to carry out their promised reforms.
The next scene in this conflict is one almost without parallel, either
in ancient or modern history. The plebeians, disgusted by the
selfishness and perfidy of the patricians, determined to abandon Rome
to the patrician order and to found a new city for themselves upon the
"Sacred Mount," a hill situated between the Tiber and the Anio. The
patricians, thunderstruck by this unexpected movement, and being far
more in need of the plebeians than the plebeians were of them,
immediately made sufficient concessions to the plebeians to induce
them to return to Rome.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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