Ancient Rome : from the earliest times down to 476 A. D.

two officers, called CONSULS, were elected annually from the PATRICIANS, each of whom possessed supreme power, and acted as a salutary chec

nure of office never exceeded six months, and he must be a patrician. He exercised his authority only outside of the city walls. It was at t

d. We must not forget that, since it was on a property basis, it was under the control of the patricians, for the great

of the richest of the landed plebeians, and called them CONSCRIPTI. (Footnote: This is the origin of the phrase used by speakers a

ted. In this way it controlled the election of the Consuls, whose duties, we must remember, were those of generals and s

inted by the Consuls. These officers, called QUAESTóRES, manage

commerce. This was felt by all classes, but especially by the small landed plebeians whose fields had been devastated. They were obliged to mortgage thei

e privilege of collecting all import and other duties. These, in turn (called in later times Publicans), would extort all they could from the tax-payers, thus e

uls, who had charge of the levy of troops, were patricians, and naturally favored their own party. Hence we see that the cavalry service was at this

ity for rebelling against this unjust and cruel oppressio

er, those who had been set free were again thrown into prison. The next year the prisoners were again needed. At first they refused to obey, but were finally persuaded by the Dictator. But after a well-earned victory, upon their return to the

ons, and the plebeians received the right to choose annually, from their own numbers, two officers called TRIBúNI PLEBIS, who should look after their interests, and have

one attempted to stop them he was committing a capital crime. Thus, if the Consuls or Quaestors were inclined to press the law of

they were justified in giving the name of SACR

afterwards increased to f