The lex Canuleia, or lex de conubio patrum et plebis, league, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, and his brother, was a law of the Roman Republic, passed in the year 445 Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus.[10][11] BC, restoring the right of conubium between patricians [1][2][3][4] Claudius then suggested that military tribunes with con- and plebeians. sular power might be elected from either order, instead of consuls; but he was not willing to bring the matter for- ward himself, delegating the distasteful matter to Titus 1 Canuleius’ first rogation Genucius, brother of the consul, who was of a mind to compromise with the plebeians. This proposal was well- Five years earlier, as part of the process of establishing received, and the first consular tribunes were elected for [10][12] the Twelve Tables of Roman law, the second decemvirate the following year, BC 444. had placed severe restrictions on the plebeian order, in- cluding a prohibition on the intermarriage of patricians [5][6] and plebeians. 3 In popular culture Gaius Canuleius, one of the tribunes of the plebs, pro- posed a rogatio repealing this law. The consuls, Mar- In the novel, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, set in an English cus Genucius Augurinus and Gaius Curtius Philo, vehe- boarding school in the late nineteenth and early twenti- mently opposed Canuleius, arguing that the tribune was eth centuries, the schoolmaster Mr. Chipping describes proposing nothing less than the breakdown of Rome’s so- the law to his Roman history class, suggesting a pun that cial and moral fabric, at a time when the city was faced could be used as a mnemonic device: with external threats.[lower-roman 1] Undeterred, Canuleius reminded the people of the many contributions of Romans of lowly birth, including several “So that, you see, if Miss Plebs wanted Mr. of the kings, and pointed out that the Senate had willingly Patrician to marry her, and he said he couldn't, given Roman citizenship to defeated enemies, even while she probably replied: 'Oh yes, you can, you [lower-roman 2][13] maintaining that the marriage of patricians and plebeians liar!' " (emphasis supplied). would be detrimental to the state. He then proposed that, in addition to restoring the right of connubium, the law should be changed to allow plebeians to hold the con- 4 Footnotes sulship; all but one of the other tribunes supported this measure.[8] [1] Specifically, a revolt at Ardea, Veientes raiding Roman An ill-chosen remark by the consul Curtius, to the effect territory, and increased activity at a fortification of the that the children of mixed marriages might incur the dis- Aequi and Volsci.[7] pleasure of the gods, thereby preventing the proper taking of auspices, inflamed the people to the extent at which the [2] The pun used by Mr. Chipping employs an older English consuls yielded to their demands, allowing a vote on Can- pronunciation of Latin, in which ei is pronounced as in uleius’ original rogatio. The prohibition on intermarriage height, rather than as in weight. between patricians and plebeians was thus repealed.[9]
2 Second proposal 5 See also
• The second question, however, permitting plebeians to Roman law stand for the consulship, was not brought to a vote. The senator Gaius Claudius Sabinus, brother of one of the • List of Roman laws decemvirs, argued vehemently against it, and urged that force be used against the tribunes when they obstructed a • List of legal Latin terms levy of troops unless the Senate agreed to consider the law. This radical escalation was prevented by his col- • Morganatic marriage
1 2 7 BIBLIOGRAPHY
6 References
[1] Livy, iv. 1–6.
[2] Broughton, vol. I, p. 52.
[3] Oxford Classical Dictionary, pp. 202, 650 (“Gaius Can- uleius”, “Law of Marriage”).
[4] Flower, pp. 210 ff.
[5] Livy, iv. 4.
[6] Dionysius, x. 60.
[7] Livy, iv. 1.
[8] Livy, iv. 3–5.
[9] Livy, iv. 6.
[10] Livy, iv. 7.
[11] Dionysius, xi. 60.
[12] Dionysius, xi. 60, 61.
[13] James Hilton, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Little, Brown, and Company (1934).
7 Bibliography
• Titus Livius (Livy), Ab Urbe Condita (The History of Rome from the Founding of the City). • Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romaike Archaiologia.
• T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Ro- man Republic, American Philological Association (1952). • Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd ed., N. G. L. Ham- mond and H. H. Scullard, eds., Clarendon Press (1970).
• Harriet I. Flower, Roman Republics, Princeton Uni- versity Press (2011), ISBN 1-4008-3116-4. 3
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