So last time we left of the infant republic had successfully got through it’s first year, but there were more challenges to follow external threats from the Etruscan’s but more problematically class divisions that threatened to rip the republic apart from the inside.

Tarquin after his defeat at Siva Arsia now turned to Lars Porsena the king of Clusium for aid repeating his old speech about how the spread of democracy could challenge monarchs everywhere, it must have been good speech as it worked again and Porsena raised an army to march on Rome. Now there are 2 accounts of what happened next, I won’t go too much into the Roman legend as it is most certainly fictional as some of the events could come straight out of Assassins Creed or 300, but short version in this account Porsena is repulsed by the valor of the Romans (the tale of Horatius at the bridge comes from this account) and besieges the city to no avail and withdraws.

The accepted historical account is that Porsena did capture the city of Rome which is supported by archeological evidence and population migration from the time and install a puppet government with his son in charge, demonstrating that Porsena captured the city for his own reasons not for his fellow Etruscan king. But his son was eventually overthrown by a Rome/Latin alliance which again made Rome a free republic once again. A consequence of this war was now the Latins had come out stronger and more united and Rome was weakened so now a conflict between the Latins who hated being dominated by Rome was inevitable. So the Latins who now sensed Roman weakness seceded from the Romans and declared war hoping to end these upstarts for good. The conflict was decided at the battle of Lake Regillus which marked the first instance of a Dictator being appointed to command a Roman army. I could be mistaken but the Roman office of a appointed dictator is unique in the ancient world, it was an extraordinary measure only used when the very existence of the republic itself was threatened, when there were was no time for debate and one single man had to act in the best interest of the state without all the red tape. The man appointed was Aulus Postumius Albus who lead the Romans to victory and established their dominance over the Latins for the next 100 years. Next in a display which would demonstrate the the honor the Romans had after the battle Aulus resigned the dictatorship and giving up absolute power and restoring the consulship to power, this precedent was followed all the way up until Julius Caeser showing the way the Roman mindset worked, the state was above all else.



Rome now found itself at peace, which normally meant it would find itself divided at home. The issue was that of debt in Roman society if a man was in debt and couldn’t pay he would become a slave to his creditor until he could pay, this was a problem as while you where a slave you earned no money meaning you were in bondage for life. This annoyed the plebs as many of them had incurred debts while fighting in defense of the state against the Latins and what was there reward? a life of slavery, the patricians did not help the matter with there “can’t do the time, don’t do the time crime” attitude. The matter came to a head when Rome was attacked by the Sabine’s, Volsci and the Aequi and when the senate called for men to be raised not a man stepped forward, the senate were outraged but in a act of shrewdness they appointed the much loved Manius Valerius Maximus who assured the plebs the matter of debt relief would be settled after Rome was safe, this satisfied the plebs and each threat was dealt with. But upon return to Rome the senate wouldn’t play ball and blocked any attempt at debt relief and in his outrage Manius resigned the dictatorship.

First secessio plebis

The plebs now decided to take matters into their own hands and in an event that would become known as the First secessio plebis, the plebs marched to a sacred mount, a hill on the outskirts of Rome and formed a fortified encampment refusing to return until their demands were met. This terrified pleb and patrician alike left in the city as now Rome was defenseless and wide open for attack so the patricians relented and sent envoys to the encampment.

The result of this didn’t actually directly settle the matter of debt relief, no the plebs got something much better as the famous office of the tribune of the plebs was formed, were now 2 men would be elected each year to act as a check on tyranny from the patricians the original power of the tribunes was only the right to free any pleb from patrician imprisonment but in later years the tribune of the plebs would become one of the most powerful offices in the ancient world with the power of veto over the consuls and senate.

Patrician addressing the plebs

That’s all for today! next time I’ll be discussing how the early republican armies fought and going into depth about the famous phalanx fighting style see you there.