Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 - The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution

Political Power in Mid-Republican Rome 

thePeopleattemptedtoimposeappropriatebehaviouronthosewhomthey
elected.
IfweweretotakeFlaminius’lawasanaspectofthe‘‘conflictoftheorders,’’
we would be focusing on the second of the possible senses of the phrase
mentionedearlier:theactualcontentoflegislation,inthiscasealawforthe
distributionofconqueredlandtocitizens.Butasecondeffectofseeingthe
wholepoliticalstructurefromtheComitiumwouldbetofocusonanaspect
ofthefirstsense,theassertionofsovereigntybythepeople:thatis,theuse
oflegislation(plebiscita,i.e.,lawspassedbytheplebeianassembly—theconci-
lium plebis—orleges,lawspassedbytheotherassemblies),whethertoensure
the protection of the rights of citizens or to restrict within limits the ac-
tionswhichcouldbetakenbyoffice-holders,orthetermsunderwhichoffice
couldbeheld.Thereremainproblemsabouthow(orevenif)suchitemsof
legislationwereeffectiveatallbefore;and,ofcourse,intrinsicproblems
aboutdating,andtheapparentreduplicationoflaws,forexample,onprovoca-
tio(appeal). But even the most selective of tabulations will show howour
sourcesrepresentalongseriesof itemsof legislationashavingbeenpassed,
mainlybytribunes,inthefourthandthirdcenturies.Tableillustratescer-
taingeneraltendencies,andomitssomeparticularlycontroversialcases.The
conception which all of these acts of legislation, even the last-mentioned,
embody, is that the constitutional structure of the state, the conditions of
office-holding,andthedutiesofofficearefordeterminationbythePeople
viathemediumofleges.Thislatteraspectisalsoparticularlyclearinthecase
ofthetribunicianLexPapiria,ofuncertaindatebetweenand(Festus
L,basedonJ.D.Cloud’strans.):

Concerningthismatteritwasordainedbyalawofthetribuneofthe

plebs, Lucius Papirius, in thesewords: ‘‘whoever hereafter shall have

beenmadethepraetor,whoshallhavejurisdictionbetweencitizens,

lethimproposetothepeople[theelectionof]threemeninchargeof

capitalcases[tresviri capitales]),andthosethreemeninchargeofcapital

cases,whoever<hereafter>shallhavebeen<made>letthemenforce

thetakingofanoath,adjudicatecases’’etc.

Thelawlaysadutybothonfuturepraetorsandonthetresviri capitaleswhose
electiontheyaretoconduct.SoequallydoestheLexSilia,atribunicianlaw
of(probably)thesecondhalfofthethirdcentury,makingitanoffencefor
anymagistratetoaltertheestablishedweightsandmeasures(FestusL):
‘‘If any magistrate contrary to these rules with wrongful deceit shall have
madetheofficialweights,drymeasuresandvesselstoosmallortoolarge,or
shallhaveordered(thesethings)tobedone’’(trans.J.D.Cloud).