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The concept of democracy
Political structure of rome in the late republic
Political structure of rome in the late republic
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The patricians and the plebians were residents of Rome. They were two different races of people (Rose, 1922, P. 1). The patricians were the aristocracy that generally lived in the city while the plebeians were the normal common people that generally lived in the country. Together they had fought together to over throw the last of the kings in ancient Rome. After the kings were thrown out of Rome the patricians took up the majority of the power. The plebeians were still entitled to vote but they could not sit in any of the offices of power or in the senate. Even though Rome was now calling itself a republic the truth is that it was only a republic for the aristocracy. (Morey, 1901 P. 1). Soon after the kings were over thrown it was obvious …show more content…
The plebeians were been constrained by the laws that the patricians were using. These laws were all hearsay with nothing written down and so the patricians used to often modify these laws to suit themselves on a case by case basis. As there was nothing write down about these laws it was impossible for the plebeians to contest the laws. The plebeians were unhappy and even though the Patricians made many concessions on all other laws and rules. It was only after the second secession and mass walk out of the plebeian people that the plebeians got equal rights to be treated as equal citizens with laws that they were able to study.
Conclusion
From this paper you can see some of the economic and political differences between the patricians and the plebeian classes that ultimately led to a plebeian revolt. You can see how the patricians abused the power to always give them an unfair advantage over the plebeian people. The truth is that the first government after the kings were banished should not be called a republican government but more of an Oligarchy government.
Reference:
Morey, W. C., (1901) Outlines of Roman History Chapter VII THE STRUGGLE FOR ECONOMIC RIGHTS. Retrieved 21/02/16 from
1. Tim Cornell, John Matthews, Atlas of the Roman World, Facts On File Inc, 1982. (pg.216)
Livy. The Early History of Rome: Books I-V of The History of Rome from its
Livy’s The Rise of Rome serves as the ultimate catalogue of Roman history, elaborating on the accomplishments of each king and set of consuls through the ages of its vast empire. In the first five books, Livy lays the groundwork for the history of Rome and sets forth a model for all of Rome to follow. For him, the “special and salutary benefit of the study of history is to behold evidence of every sort of behaviour set forth as on a splendid memorial; from it you may select for yourself and for your country what to emulate, from it what to avoid, whether basely begun or basely concluded.” (Livy 4). Livy, however, denies the general populace the right to make the same sort of conclusions that he made in constructing his histories. His biased representation of Romulus and Tarquin Superbus, two icons of Roman history, give the readers a definite model of what a Roman should be, instead of allowing them to come to their own conclusion.
4)Rosenstein, Nathan Stewart., and Robert Morstein-Marx. A Companion to the Roman Republic. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2006. Print.
Morey, William C. "Outlines of Roman History, Chapter 19." Forum Romanum. 1901. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. .
Antony Kamm ~ The Romans: An Introduction Second Edition, Published in 2008, pages 47, 93
Livy. The Rise of Rome: Books One to Five. Trans. T. J. Luce. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
In conclusion, although the plebeians seem to hold the right to affect the politics; they are not aware of the affects that might occur to them. For instance, by influencing Brutus and Antony, they indirectly put themselves in a position to be manipulated. Therefore, the biggest influence the citizens could have, would be none at all.
There is a fundamental difference between a democracy and a republic as it concerned the political entitlement of the citizenry. The citizens of a republic do not participate directly with governmental affairs. The citizens of a republic can however have a say in who does participate. The Roman republic has two prefect systems to prevent dictatorship which didn’t work.
Dio, Cassius. "Roman History - Book 50." 17 June 2011. University of Chicago. 31 October 2011 .
Marcel Le Glay, Jean-Louis Voisin, Yann Le Bohec. A History of Rome. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
It was only a tiny city-state, much like the city-states that were growing at the same time in Greece. The common citizens were called the plebs or plebeians. They marched out of Rome in a body and threatened to make a new city in 494 BC. In 350 BC the plebeians were admitted to the dictatorship. The Roman Senate has been called the "most distinguished and important political body, which has ever existed in the world."
Over time, ever-increasing taxation placed a massive burden on the Roman people with the majority of these taxes falling on the poorest members of society. The plight of the masses slowly ate away at the foundation of the Roman economy, especially following the final division of the empire in 395. The Roman economy in the West simply lost the ability to function in the face of overwhelming exterior and interior pressures”. This shows that to the author of this article, the economy played one of the bigger roles in the collapse of the Roman Empire. It also shows that the failing of the military, and the economic downfall were linked, the military gradually declined, and thus so did the economy of
Retrieved from http://www.roman- empire.net/society/society.html.
R. Bruce Hitcher. (2008). Globalization Avant La Lettre: Globalization and the History of the Roman Empire. New Global Studies: Vol. 2: Iss. 2, Article 2.