It is interesting to note that the date of Tarquinius's expulsion in 509 b. c. very nearly coincides with that of Hip-
Pias's overthrow in Athens. In place of tyranny, the Athenians created a democracy, whereas the Romans instituted a republican form of government. Together, these two systems formed a model for free peoples, or for people longing to be free, up to the present day. In modern times it is rather difficult to tell the difference between the two systems.
Both democracy and republicanism involved elected leaders rather than hereditary kings. At its beginnings, most power was in the hands of the wealthiest Roman landowners, known as patricians (puh-TRISH-uhnz). Citizenship in Rome, however, was not as exclusive as in Sparta or even Athens, a fact that no doubt helped lead to Rome's expansion.
Each year, the citizens elected two patricians as consul (KAHN-suhl), an office with responsibilities similar to that of the Athenian archon. But whereas the archons started out with a great deal of power that gradually declined with the establishment of democracy, the Romans from the beginning instituted a system of checks and balances to prevent consuls from gaining too much power. Not only did the consuls have to be elected every year, but one consul could overrule another by means of a veto (VEE-toh; Latin for “I forbid”).
Another part of the checks and balances were the various elected assemblies, the most important of which was the senate. Obviously, the Roman senate is the model for the U. S. Senate. Similarly, the government of the United States is built around a system of checks and balances not unlike those in Rome. For a long time, however, there was nothing to check the power of the 300-odd patricians who made up the senate. The patricians controlled public funds—thus giving it de facto [see sidebar, “Latin Expressions and Abbrieviations from Everyday Life”] authority over the consuls—and reserved the right to elect a dictator or absolute ruler in times of crisis. This system gave no representation to another group in Roman society: the plebeians (pleh-BEE-uhnz).
In modern English, the word “plebeian” usually refers to someone who is unsophisticated. The plebeians of Rome, however, were the vast majority of people, a group that included the middle class as well as the poor and working class. The plebeians became outraged that they were treated as second-class citizens. The patricians, fearing an uprising, allowed the creation of several important institutions.
There already existed a plebeian assembly—in fact, two of them. One was a tribal assembly and the other a body representing the military. Together they supposedly gave all the citizens of Rome a voice in the government. Only in 494 b. c., however, did the collective plebeian assembly gain real power through the creation of a new office. This was the position of tribune, who exercised veto power over the senate's decisions and thus saw to it that the plebeians were not overruled by the patricians.
An important theme that emerged in the early history of Rome was the rule of law. Rule of law meant a “government of laws and not of men.” Again, Americans can thank the plebeians, whose outrage at their unjust treatment by the Roman legal system led to the establishment of the “Twelve Tables” in 451 B. C. Up to that time, there was no written law. Judges made decisions based on the laws of the senate, as well as legal precedent or the previous rulings of judges. Since the plebeians were not allowed to know about the proceedings of the senate, this meant that they could be charged and punished for violations of laws that they did not even know existed. The Twelve Tables provided a clearly defined legal code, which gave citizens protection against the whims of judges.
World History
