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

Political Character of the Classical Roman Republic 

tocarryoutthedecision,triumviristillhadtobeelectedbythepeople.^23 New
coloniescertainlyinvolvedthefullprocedureofadecreeoftheSenatefol-
lowedbyaplebiscitumfortheelectionofthreemen(triumviri),conductedby
one of the praetors (Livy , , –; cf. , , –). But when in  the
tribuneoftheplebsC.Atiniuspassedalawtoestablishfivenewcitizencolo-
niesonthecoast(,,–),LivydoesnotexpresslystatethattheSenate
hadalreadyapproved,thoughitmayhavedoneso.Thebasicprinciplethat
RomanpubliclandinItalywasavailablefortheprofitoftheRomanpeople
hadbeenreflectedalreadyinthetribunicianlawpassedinbyFlaminius,
withoutpriorsenatorialassent,fortheviritanedistributionof landinthe
AgerGallicus.ItissurelysignificantthatPolybius,writinghissecondbook
longbeforethetribunateofTiberiusGracchus,sawthisasthebeginningof
thecorruptionofthepeople.^24 Asyettherewaslittleopenconflictovercolo-
niesortheuseofpublicland,thoughcattlebreederscouldbetriedbeforethe
people(,,),andatribuneofcouldpassalawtocompelthecensors
toleaseouttheAgerCampanus(,,).SevenyearslatertheSenategave
theurbanpraetor,P.CorneliusLentulus,thetaskofbuyingouttheprivate
landholderswhooccupiedlargepartsoftheAgerCampanus,andthusre-
storingittoeffectivepublicuse.Itisnoteworthythathehadabronzemap
ofthelandinquestionputupforpublicinspectionintheAtriumLibertatis
(Gran. Licin., – Flem.). But, at least down to the late s, newlycon-
queredlandwasstillavailablefordistributioninnorthernItaly(Livy,,
–).Itwastobewhenmajorconflictaroseovertheexistingstockofpublic
landinItalythattheRomanrevolutionbegan.^25
Equally,itwasforthepeopletoextendtheRomancitizenshipiftheyso
wished.Ouronlyillustrationofthelarge-scaleprocessbywhich(asitseems)
all the communities with the citizenshipwithout thevote gained the full
citizenship is the lawof  passed bya tribune to give the citizenship to
Formiae,Fundi,andArpinum.Fourothertribunesintercededbecausethere
hadbeennopriordecreeoftheSenatebutdesisted‘‘wheninstructedthat
itwastherightofthepeople,nottheSenate,togivethevotetowhomit
wished’’(,,–).ThisevidenceformsausefulcomplementtoPolybius’
observation,whichherelatestotheuseoftheveto,thatthetribunes’roleis
tocarryoutthewishesofthepeople(,,).

. Livy,,–,;,,–;,,.
. Pol.,,–;seeMRR,.Foradiscussionoftheviewthatthisremarkwas
insertedafter..,seeWalbank’scommentary.
. Forthebestexpositionofvariousrelatedthemes,seeP.A.Brunt,‘‘TheArmyand
theLandintheRomanRevolution,’’JRS():.