Exam Review: Ancient Rome and the Scientific Revolution |
Ancient Rome Government Connection- Ancient Rome’s government is considered to be the foundation of the United States’ government today. Many of their ideas are beneficial to how things in a government should function without giving too much power to an individual or a group, except for the Senate. They created the Judicial, Legislative, and Executive Branches, which are all present in our current democracy. The changes that we have made have made the system function better and prevented the US from corruption.
The Laws of the Twelve Tables (450 BC)
* * * Table I. 1. If anyone summons a man before the magistrate, he must go. If the man summoned does not go, let the one summoning him call the bystanders to witness and then take him by force. 2. If he shirks or runs away, let the summoner lay hands on him. 6-9. When the litigants settle their case by compromise, let the magistrate announce it. If they do not compromise, let them state each his own side of the case, in the comitium of the forum before noon. Afterwards let them talk it out together, while both are present. After noon, in case either party has failed to appear, let the magistrate pronounce judgment in favor of the one who is present. If both are present the trial may last until sunset but no later. Table II. 2. He whose witness has failed to appear may summon him by loud calls before his house every third day. Table III. 1. One who has confessed a debt, or against whom judgment has been pronounced, shall have thirty days to pay it in. After that forcible seizure of his person is allowed. The creditor shall bring him before the magistrate. Unless he pays the amount of the judgment or some one in the presence of the magistrate interferes in his behalf as protector the creditor so shall take him home and fasten him in stocks or fetters. He shall fasten him with not less than fifteen pounds of weight or, if he choose, with more. If the prisoner choose, he may furnish his own food. If he does not, the creditor must give him a pound of meal daily; if he choose he may give him more. 3. Against a foreigner the right in property shall be valid forever. Table IV. 1. A dreadfully deformed child shall be quickly killed. 2. If a father sell his son three times, the son shall be free from his father. 5. A child born after ten months since the father's death will not be admitted into a legal inheritance. Table V. 1. Females should remain in guardianship even when they have attained their majority. Table VI. 1. When one makes a bond and a conveyance of property, as he has made formal declaration so let it be binding. Table VII. 1. Let them keep the road in order. If they have not paved it, a man may drive his team where he likes. 9. Should a tree on a neighbor's farm be bent crooked by the wind and lean over your farm, you may take legal action for removal of that tree. 10. A man might gather up fruit that was falling down onto another man's farm. Table VIII. 2. If one has maimed a limb and does not compromise with the injured person, let there be retaliation. If one has broken a bone of a freeman with his hand or with a cudgel, let him pay a penalty of three hundred coins. If he has broken the bone of a slave, let him have one hundred and fifty coins. If one is guilty of insult, the penalty shall be twenty-five coins. 3. If one is slain while committing theft by night, he is rightly slain. 4. If a patron shall have devised any deceit against his client, let him be accursed. 10. Any person who destroys by burning any building or heap of corn deposited alongside a house shall be bound, scourged, and put to death by burning at the stake provided that he has committed the said misdeed with malice aforethought; but if he shall have committed it by accident, that is, by negligence, it is ordained that he repair the damage or, if he be too poor to be competent for such punishment, he shall receive a lighter punishment. 23. A person who had been found guilty of giving false witness shall be hurled down from the Tarpeian Rock. 26. No person shall hold meetings by night in the city. Table IX. 4. The penalty shall be capital for a judge or arbiter legally appointed who has been found guilty of receiving a bribe for giving a decision. 5. Treason: he who shall have roused up a public enemy or handed over a citizen to a public enemy must suffer capital punishment. 6. Putting to death of any man, whosoever he might be unconvicted is forbidden. Table X. 1. None is to bury or burn a corpse in the city. 3. The women shall not tear their faces nor wail on account of the funeral. Table XI. 1. Marriages should not take place between plebeians and patricians. Table XII. 5. Whatever the people had last ordained should be held as binding by law. In order to avoid giving assent to this proposal the conspirators hastened the execution of their designs. Therefore the plots which had previously been formed separately, often by groups of two or three, were united in a general conspiracy, since even the populace no longer were pleased with present conditions, but both secretly and openly rebelled at his tyranny and cried out for defenders of their liberty. On the admission of foreigners to the Senate, a placard was posted: 'God bless the commonwealth! Let no one consent to point out the House to a newly made Senator.' The following verses too were repeated everywhere:The Gauls he dragged in triumph through the town Caesar has brought into the Senate house And changed their breeches for the purple gown.When Quintus Maximus, whom he had appointed consul in his place for three months, was entering the theater, and his lictor in the usual manner called attention to his arrival, a general shout was raised: 'He's no Consul!' After the removal of Caesetius and Marullus from office astribunes, they were bound to have not a few votes at the next elections of consuls. Some wrote on the base of Lucius Brutus' statue, 'Oh, that you were still alive' [1]; and on that of Caesar himself:Because he drove from Rome the royal race, Brutus was first made consul in their place. This man, because he put the consuls down, has been rewarded with a royal crown.More than sixty joined the conspiracy against him, led by Gaius Cassius and Decimus and Marcus Junius Brutus. At first they hesitated whether to form two divisions at the elections in the Field of Mars, so that while some hurled him from the bridge [2] as he summoned the tribes to vote, the rest might wait below and slay him; or to set upon him in the Sacred Way [3] or at the entrance to the theater. When, however, a meeting of the Senate was called for the ides of March in the Hall of Pompey [4], they readily gave that time and place the preference.Now Caesar's approaching murder was foretold to him by unmistakable signs. A few months before, when the settlers assigned to the colony at Capua by the Julian Law were demolishing some tombs of great antiquity, to build country houses, and plied their work with the greater vigor because as they rummaged about they found a quantity of vases of ancient workmanship, there was discovered in a tomb, which was said to be that of Capys, the founder of Capua, a bronze tablet, inscribed with Greek words and characters to this effect: 'Whenever the bones of Capys shall be discovered, it will come to pass that a descendant of his shall be slain at the hands of his kindred, and presently avenged at heavy cost to Italy.' And let no one think this tale a myth or a lie, for it is vouched for by Cornelius Balbus, an intimate friend of Caesar [5]. Shortly before his death, as he was told, the herds of horses which he had dedicated to the river Rubico when he crossed it, and had let loose without a keeper, stubbornly refused to graze and wept copiously. Again, when he was offering sacrifice, the soothsayer Spurinna warned him to beware of danger, which would come not later than the ides of March. On the day before the ides of that month a little bird called the king-bird flew into the Hall of Pompey with a sprig of laurel, pursued by others of various kinds from the grove hard by, which tore it to pieces in the hall. In fact the very night before his murder he dreamt now that he was flying above the clouds, and now that he was clasping the hand of Jupiter; and his wife Calpurnia thought that the pediment of their house fell, and that her husband was stabbed in her arms; and on a sudden the door of the room flew open of its own accord. Both for these reasons and because of poor health he hesitated for a long time whether to stay at home and put off what he had planned to do in the Senate. But at last, urged by Decimus Brutus not to disappoint the full meeting, which had for some time been waiting for him, he went forth almost at the end of the fifth hour. [6] When a note revealing the plot was handed him by some one on the way, he put it with others which he held in his left hand, intending to read them presently. Then, after many victims had been slain, and he could not get favorable omens, he entered the House in defiance of portents, laughing at Spurinna and calling him a false prophet, because the ides of March were come without bringing him harm. Spurinna replied that they had of a truth come, but they had not gone. As he took his seat, the conspirators gathered about him as if to pay their respects, and straightway Tillius Cimber [7], who had assumed the lead, came nearer as though to ask something. When Caesar with a gesture put him off to another time, Cimber caught his toga by both shoulders. As Caesar cried, 'Why, this is violence!', one of the Cascas [8] stabbed him from one side just below the throat. Caesar caught Casca's arm and ran it through with his stylus, but as he tried to leap to his feet, he was stopped by another wound. When he saw that he was beset on every side by drawn daggers, he muffled his head in his robe, and at the same time drew down its lap to his feet with his left hand, in order to fall more decently, with the lower part of his body also covered. And in this wise he was stabbed with three and twenty wounds, uttering not a word, but merely a groan at the first stroke, though some have written that when Marcus Brutus rushed at him, he said in Greek, 'You too, my child?' All the conspirators made off, and he lay there lifeless for some time, until finally three common slaves put him on a litter and carried him home, with one arm hanging down. And of so many wounds none, in the opinion of the physician Antistius, would have proved mortal except the second one in the breast. -Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus First-hand account of the assassination of Julius Caesar The Romans - Government of Rome
From the time of Julius Caesar, 48BC, Rome and the Roman Empire was ruled by an Emperor. The Emperor was wise if he listened to the advice of the Senate but some chose to be dictators and do what they wanted rather than follow the Senate's advice. Before Julius Caesar took control in 48BC, the Roman Empire was not ruled by the Emperor but by two consuls who were elected by the citizens of Rome. Rome was then known as a Republic. Government in the time of the RepublicPeople were divided into different classes. There were Patricians, Plebeians and Slaves. Patricians were wealthy citizens of Rome. They usually lived in grand houses and had slaves to do their work for them. Because they were citizens of Rome they were allowed to go to the Assembly to vote. Plebeians were not wealthy but they were citizens of Rome. They were usually craftsmen or tradesmen and they worked for a living. Because they were citizens of Rome they were allowed to go to the Assembly to vote. Slaves had no money, no rights, no freedom and were not citizens of Rome. Because they were not citizens of Rome they were not allowed to go to the Assembly to vote. Citizens of Rome - Patricians and Plebeians met in the Assembly and voted for consuls, tribunes and magistrates. Women and slaves were not allowed in the Assembly and could not vote. ConsulsThe citizens of Rome voted for two consuls. They were elected to serve for one year. It was the Consuls job to govern Rome. They had to both agree on all decisions. After they had served their year they were replaced. They were not allowed to be consuls again for ten years. MagistratesThe citizens of Rome voted for a number of magistrates. It was the magistrates job to keep law and order and also to manage Rome's financial affairs. When magistrates retired they became senators and attended the Senate. TribunesThe citizens of Rome voted for tribunes. It was the tribunes job to make sure that the people were treated fairly. The Senators went to the Senate to discuss important government issues. Senators were retired magistrates and knew a lot about the government of Rome. It was the job of the senate to give advice to the two consuls. When Rome had an Emperor the senate still gave advice on governing Rome and the Empire. How was Rome Governed?
Rome, in its earliest days, was governed by kings. However, Ancient Rome was to develop its own form of government that allowed the Romans to govern themselves. In one sense, for a society that used its feared army to conquer other nations and reduced people to slavery, Rome was remarkably democratic when its own people were concerned. Citizens of Rome would gather at an assembly to elect their own officials. The chief officials of Rome were called consuls and there were two of them. The consuls governed for a year. If they did not live up to expectations, they could be voted out of office at the next election. Therefore, competence was rewarded and incompetence punished. In addition to consuls, there were other elected officials – judges, magistrates and tax collectors being some of them. Ten “Tribunes of the People” were also elected to look after the poor of Rome. The consuls could not be expected to know everything. They were advised by a Senate. This was made up of leading citizens of Rome and when they met, the Senate would discuss issues such as proposed new laws, financial issues affecting Rome etc. There were about 600 men in the Senate. They were usually from rich noble families and what they thought went a long way to determining Roman law. If elections were reasonably democratic, the role of the Senate was not. Most, if not all, decisions were in favour of the rich. Only the rich were in a position to use their wealth to influence decision-making within the Senate. However, very few people in lower social classes questioned this system. Many felt that the rich were there to do the work of the Senate and that it was not the place for those less well off. Another reason to favour the Senate was the simple fact that while it existed, Rome went on to become the greatest power in the Mediterranean and in Europe. From 509 BC to 27 BC, Rome was governed as a republic – this also coincided with Rome’s vast power. Many people logically believed – why change a good thing? When the Roman Empire started to grow and Rome became a more powerful city, a top government position became more and more attractive. Therefore, more and more ambitious men got involved in government. These men believed that Rome would be better served by one man governing the city and empire, as opposed to a group of elected officials. These sole rulers were called emperors. The story behind the first emperor involves one of Ancient Rome’s most famous stories. Julius Caesar wanted to control all of Rome and its empire. This would have led to the end of the system of government used in Ancient Rome for many years. When making a speech in the Senate to support his belief in a one-man rule, Caesar was murdered by Brutus who wanted to keep the old way going. This murder did not stop the problem as Caesar’s supporters started a civil war to try to force their wishes onto Rome. The war was long and costly. Exhaustion led to many Romans supporting Augustus, Caesar’s nephew. To many people he seemed to obvious choice to end the chaos Rome had descended into. Augustus was seen as a strong ruler and he became emperor in 27 BC, bringing to an end the republic of Rome. |
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