1.21 to 1.25

Tarquin finally induced his son-in-law, Octavius Mamilius, chief of all the Latins, to lead a revolt. In the famous battle of Lake Regillus, the Latins were crushed. According to legend the Romans were aided in this battle by Castor and Pollux. Patricians and Plebeians The young republic now set out on its long career of almost constant warfare and conquest. At the time it did not seem destined to rule the civilized world. It was only a tiny city-state, much like the city-states that were flourishing at the same time in Greece. Its area was less than 400 square miles and its population was perhaps 150,000. The government was in the hands of the wealthy and aristocratic citizens, called the patricians. They were supposed to be descendants of the three original tribes of Rome. The common citizens were called the plebs or plebeians. At first they had little to do with governing. Bit by bit, however, they tore down the barrier which separated the two orders. The internal history of the republic for the next three centuries is largely the story of how the plebeians wrested reform after reform from the patricians. In the early days of the republic the ruling power was divided between two patrician magistrates, elected for one year. These were called consuls. They were chosen by an assembly called the comitia centuriata. It was made up of divisions apportioned in such a way that votes of the patricians counted for much more than those of the far more numerous plebeians. The Senate, the most important political body, consisted of 300 men chosen by the consuls from the patricians. Thus shut out from office and political power, the plebeians were grievously oppressed by their wealthy fellow citizens. True, they were protected from the worst dangers of arbitrary power by the lex Valeria (Valerian law) passed in 509 BC. This law provided that whenever the life or rights of any citizen were at stake, he could appeal from the magistrates to the assembly of the people. However, they suffered from unjust debt laws and from unfair distribution of territory won by conquest.