Sixth Grade Social Studies: The Roman Republic: Senate, Tribunes, and the Twelve Tables
In 509 BCE, the citizens of Rome overthrew their Etruscan monarch and founded a republic dedicated to preventing any single individual from holding absolute power.
The Overthrow of the Monarchy and Birth of the Republic
According to Roman historical tradition, the seventh and final king of Rome was Tarquin the Proud (Tarquinius Superbus), a cruel Etruscan tyrant who executed senators and oppressed the people.
The Expulsion of Tarquin (509 BCE)
In 509 BCE, following the assault of the noblewoman Lucretia by Tarquin's son Sextus, the Roman aristocracy rebelled. Led by Lucius Junius Brutus, the citizens drove the Tarquin dynasty from the city, tore down royal emblems, and took a solemn oath (Sacramentum) swearing that Rome would never again be ruled by a king. They established a new government termed the Res Publica (literally "public affair" or "commonwealth"), giving rise to the Roman Republic.
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| STRUCTURE OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC |
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| [EXECUTIVE BRANCH: MAGISTRATES] |
| - 2 Consuls: Supreme commanders of army and state; 1-year term; VETO. |
| - Praetors: Supreme judicial judges and secondary military commanders. |
| - Aediles: Supervised public games, grain supply, and infrastructure. |
| - Quaestors: Managed financial treasuries and public tax accounting. |
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| [DELIBERATIVE & ADVISORY BRANCH: THE SENATE] |
| - 300 patricians serving for life; controlled finances and diplomacy. |
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| [LEGISLATIVE BRANCH: POPULAR ASSEMBLIES & TRIBUNES] |
| - Centuriate Assembly: Military voting blocks; elected Consuls/Praetors.|
| - Tribal Assembly / Plebeian Council: Elected Tribunes; passed plebiscites.|
| - 10 Tribunes of the Plebs: Sacrosanct protectors; held the VETO power. |
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The Conflict of the Orders: Patricians vs. Plebeians
From its inception, the Republic was divided by a social struggle between two distinct classes: the Patricians and the Plebeians.
Patricians: The Aristocratic Elite
The Patricians (from patres, meaning "fathers") were a small, wealthy aristocracy comprising less than ten percent of the population. They claimed descent from the original founding senators appointed by Romulus. Patricians controlled the vast majority of fertile land, held monopolies on religious priesthoods, and reserved all government offices for their own class.
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| PATRICIANS VERSUS PLEBEIANS |
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| PATRICIAN ARISTOCRACY | PLEBEIAN COMMONERS |
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| - Wealthy landowning nobility | - Common farmers, shopkeepers, |
| - Monopolized the Senate and the | artisans, merchants, laborers. |
| highest magistracies (Consuls) | - Bore the burden of military draft|
| - Interpreted unwritten laws | - Subject to debt bondage (*nexum*)|
| - Forbade marriage to plebeians | - Excluded from political offices |
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Plebeians: The Great Majority
The Plebeians (the Plebs) made up over ninety percent of Roman society. They were ordinary free citizens: small peasant farmers, urban craftsmen, shopkeepers, and merchants. Although they paid taxes and formed the infantry backbone of the Roman army, plebeians had no voice in government, were subject to debt bondage (nexum) if their farms failed while serving in wars, and were legally forbidden from marrying patricians.
The First Secession of the Plebs (494 BCE)
In 494 BCE, facing debt slavery and continuous military conscription without political representation, the plebeians organized a mass strike. As enemy armies approached Rome, the plebeian soldiers refused to fight; they marched out of the city and encamped on the Sacred Mount (Mons Sacer), threatening to found their own rival city. Panicked by the loss of their military workforce, the patricians conceded political reforms, initiating the two-century Conflict of the Orders.
The Office of the Tribune and the Power of Veto
As a result of the Secession, the plebeians were granted their own representative magistrates: the Tribunes of the Plebs (Tribuni Plebis).
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| THE POWERS OF THE PLEBEIAN TRIBUNE |
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| 1. SACROSANCTITY (*Sacrosanctitas*): |
| The person of a Tribune was legally and religiously holy. Anyone |
| who physically struck, threatened, or harmed a Tribune was declared|
| *Homo Sacer*—an outlaw cursed by the gods who could be killed by |
| any citizen with impunity. |
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| 2. THE VETO POWER (*Intercessio*): |
| A Tribune could halt any government decree, senatorial debate, or |
| consular military order simply by uttering the Latin word **VETO** |
| ("I forbid!"). |
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| 3. AUXILIUM: |
| The legal duty to physically rescue any plebeian citizen being |
| abused, arrested, or mistreated by a patrician magistrate. |
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Originally two and later expanded to ten, Tribunes were elected annually by the Plebeian Council (Concilium Plebis). They possessed the power of Veto (Latin for "I forbid"). A Tribune could step between a magistrate and an ordinary citizen, blocking arrests, judicial trials, and Senate decrees. Furthermore, Tribunes were declared sacrosanct: touching or harming a Tribune was a capital crime, ensuring they could defend the common people without fear of retribution.
The Twelve Tables: Codified Written Law (450 BCE)
Prior to the mid-fifth century BCE, Roman laws were unwritten, memorized and interpreted secretly by patrician priests and judges to the disadvantage of plebeians. The plebeians demanded that the laws be written down and posted publicly.
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| THE LAWS OF THE TWELVE TABLES (450 BCE) |
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| Carved onto twelve bronze tablets and displayed in the Roman Forum: |
| |
| - TABLE I & II: Civil court procedures, summons, and testimony. |
| - TABLE III: Debt and bankruptcy execution procedures. |
| - TABLE IV: Paternal authority (*Patria Potestas*) over sons. |
| - TABLE V & VI: Property ownership, estates, and guardianship. |
| - TABLE VII & VIII: Real property disputes, property torts, damages.|
| - TABLE IX: Public law; forbids execution without trial. |
| - TABLE X: Sacred law; bans burials/cremations within city. |
| - TABLE XI & XII: Supplemental; banned intermarriage (later repealed)|
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The Decemviri and the Forum Inscription
In 451 BCE, Rome suspended its normal magistracies and appointed a commission of ten men, the Decemviri, to draft a unified legal code. In 450 BCE, they produced the Twelve Tables, carved onto twelve bronze tablets and mounted in the Roman Forum for all citizens to read. The Twelve Tables covered court procedures, debt settlement, family relations, land property boundaries, and personal injuries. While some provisions were harsh—such as permitting creditors to cut up a debtor's body if debts were unpaid—the Twelve Tables established a vital legal precedent: the rule of law. All free citizens, regardless of wealth or aristocratic rank, were subject to the same written statutory laws.
The Lex Hortensia (287 BCE)
Over the following two centuries, the plebeians secured further political victories. In 367 BCE, the Lex Licinia Sextia mandated that at least one of the two annual Consuls must be a plebeian, opening the highest executive office and the Senate to commoners. The climax of the struggle came in 287 BCE with the passage of the Lex Hortensia, which decreed that laws passed by the Plebeian Council (plebiscites) possessed full binding legal force over all Roman citizens, including patricians, without requiring approval by the Senate.
The System of Checks and Balances
The government of the mature Roman Republic was admired by ancient political philosophers like Polybius, who praised it as a "mixed constitution" combining the strengths of monarchy (the Consuls), aristocracy (the Senate), and democracy (the Assemblies).
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| CHECKS AND BALANCES IN THE REPUBLIC |
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| MONARCHICAL | ARISTOCRATIC | DEMOCRATIC |
| (Consuls) | (Senate) | (Assemblies) |
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| 2 Consuls elected | 300 experienced Patrician | All adult male |
| for 1 year; veto | ex-magistrates; managed | citizens voted on |
| each other; lead | state treasury, tax revenue,| laws, war, peace, |
| armies in war. | foreign treaties, alliances.| and held trials. |
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| CHECK: Can be | CHECK: Cannot pass binding | CHECK: Agenda set |
| vetoed by Tribunes| laws; relies on Consuls to | by magistrates; |
| and checked by | execute foreign diplomacy | voting weighted by |
| Assemblies. | and military policies. | wealth centuries. |
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Executive: The Two Consuls
At the head of the executive branch stood two Consuls, elected annually by the Centuriate Assembly. The Consuls commanded the legions in wartime, enforced laws, served as chief diplomats, and presided over the Senate. To prevent monarchy, their power was checked: terms were limited to a single year, and each Consul held the power of veto over the other's decisions. In times of severe military emergency, the Consuls could appoint a single Dictator, who held absolute executive authority for a maximum term of six months.
Deliberative: The Roman Senate
The Roman Senate consisted of roughly 300 wealthy former magistrates who served lifetime appointments. While the Senate was technically an advisory body that issued non-binding decrees (senatus consulta), in practice it held enormous power: it managed state expenditures, directed foreign alliances, dispatched provincial governors, and controlled public lands.
Legislative: The Assemblies and Tribunes
The legislative branch consisted of popular assemblies of citizens: the Centuriate Assembly (organized by military centuries, which elected Consuls and Praetors and declared war) and the Tribal Assembly (organized by geographic residence, which elected minor magistrates and enacted civil laws). The Ten Tribunes of the Plebs protected the public interest with their veto power, ensuring that aristocratic senators could not govern as unchecked autocrats.
Review Exercises
Exercise 1: Describe the events of 509 BCE that led to the expulsion of Tarquin the Proud and the founding of the Roman Republic (Res Publica).
Exercise 2: Explain the causes of the Conflict of the Orders between the Patricians and Plebeians, detailing the role and powers of the Tribunes of the Plebs.
Exercise 3: Describe the historical significance of the Twelve Tables, explaining how written law established the principle of equal justice in the Roman Republic.
Solutions
Solution 1: In 509 BCE, Roman aristocrats led by Lucius Junius Brutus overthrew the tyrannical Etruscan king Tarquin the Proud following the violation of Lucretia. The citizens took a solemn oath swearing never to allow a monarch to rule Rome again. They created the Res Publica (the Republic), a representative government characterized by annual elections, divided executive authority between two Consuls, and checks against autocracy.
Solution 2: The Conflict of the Orders arose because wealthy Patricians monopolized political offices, held exclusive seats in the Senate, and controlled unwritten laws, while Plebeian commoners who formed the military infantry suffered from heavy taxes, debt bondage (nexum), and political exclusion. In 494 BCE, the plebeians went on strike (Secession), forcing patricians to create the Tribunes of the Plebs—sacrosanct officials who had the power of Veto ("I forbid") to protect commoners from magistrate abuses.
Solution 3: Carved onto twelve bronze tablets in 450 BCE and displayed in the Forum, the Twelve Tables represented Rome's first written legal code. Previously, unwritten customary laws were interpreted by patrician judges to favor the rich. Writing and publishing the laws established the rule of law, ensuring that legal procedures, property protections, debt processes, and court rights were public and binding upon all citizens equally.