Political Power in Mid-Republican Rome tion,atwhatmightbesupposedtohavegoneoninwhatitwouldbesalu-
tarytoseeasarelativelymarginalandanomalousinstitution,theCuria;but
whereweshouldbelookingistothecentreofpowerinRome,theRostra,
theComitium,andtheForumasawhole.Theyear,onemightwellsay,
wasthecrucialmomentinthehistoryoftheRepublic,andnotonlybecause
ofthebreak-upoftheLatinLeague.Victorywassymbolized,aseveryone
knows,bythebringingtoRomeoftheprows(rostra)ofcapturedshipsfrom
Antium.ButtheywereusedtodecoratenottheCuria,whereweimagine
power to have lain, but the speakers’ platform on the opposite side of the
Comitium.ItwasfromtheRostrathatspeakerswouldaddressthesovereign
people,who gathered tovote originally in the Comitium, and then, after
..,inthewiderForum.
Wewillreturnlatertotheimportanceofthesymbolic,political,andfunc-
tional landscape which evolved around the Comitium, and in the Forum
areaasawhole.Itssignificanceliesaboveallinthefactthatthecitizenswho
gatheredtheredidsoinordertoexercisetheirsovereignpowersofvoting:
on legislation, in non-capital jurisdiction, and in (some) elections.That is
oneaspectofwhat‘‘theconflictoftheorders,’’asrepresentedinlaternarra-
tives,meant:thatistheassertionofsovereigncollectivevotingrights.Then
thereissomethingdifferent,andmuchmoredifficulttoassesshistorically,
becausewhollydependentonwhethertheavailablenarrativesofeventshave
anyclaimtoaccuracy:thatis,theactualcontentoflegislation,orproposed
legislation,onbroadsocialandeconomicissues,suchasdebt,nexum,orthe
useofpublicland(ager publicus).Thirdly,thereistheaspectwhichisthecen-
traltopicofHölkeskamp’sbook,andtheconcernofseveraloftheessaysin
Raaflaubetal.,namelytherightofplebeians(notdefinableinsocialoreco-
nomicterms,butsolelynegatively,asnon-patricians)toholdelectedoffice
(asconsul,praetor,orcensor)orhaveasharein(atleastmany)priesthoods.
Thesethreeissuescannotofcoursehavebeenwhollyunrelated.Butthey
arenonethelessnotthesame.TocallabookSocial Struggles in Archaic Rome:
New Perspectives on the Conflict of the Ordersistosuggestinadvancethatthe
questionofaccesstoofficewasitselfinsomewaya‘‘socialstruggle’’affect-
ing broad social classes definable in terms of wealth or occupation. Simi-
larly, Hölkeskamp can call his very learned, and very valuable, analysis of
thepolitical-militaryhistoryof Romefromto..,Die Entstehung
der Nobilitätonlybecause,asthetitleitselfimplies,heseestheperiodasthat
of the birth of a particular political order which is known and is beyond
seriousquestion:thatistosaythedominationofRomebyahomogeneous
‘‘patrician-plebeian’’nobilitas,oraristocracy.
Fromtimetotimeinwhatfollowsthediscussionwillinevitablyreturnto