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Patricians and Plebeians at Rome Author(S): H Patricians and Plebeians at Rome Author(s): H. J. Rose Source: The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 12 (1922), pp. 106-133 Published by: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/296175 . Accessed: 08/05/2014 20:55 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Roman Studies. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 20:55:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS AT ROME. By PROFESSOR H. J. ROSE. It has been widely held since the days of Aretino (I369-1I444) and more scientificallysince those of Niebuhr,that the Patriciansand the Plebeians were in origin two differentpeoples or races. I pro- pose to show, firstly,that the Plebeians were never a people or a race at all; secondly,that the differencesto which attention has been drawnare differenceswithin the Patricianbody itself,the result of its developmentfrom at least three stocks. My groundsfor the formerview are largelynegative-the inadequacy of the arguments adduced by Niebuhr and his supporters,down to and including Binder and Piganiol; forthe latter,I thinkstrong positive arguments may be found,some of which,well observedbut ill interpreted,form the most respectableprops of the view which I discard. The older theories,including those of Niebuhr himself,of Ihne, and of Schwegler,largely cancel each other out, as Binder shows ; and, as he sensiblyremarks, they all have a tendencyto get rid of the ancient traditionby destructivecriticism and then adopt fragments of it for their own foundation.2 They all contain the supposition that there was in early Rome a blend of at least two peoples, the Sabines and the followersof Romulus of the tradition,or the montani and collini, or the original Romans, whoever they were, and conquered populationswho had become their serfsor tenants. As to the rights,if any,possessed by the conquered,their racial name, and their relation to the conquerors(whether as serfs,clientes, or other), these theoriesall differso widely that an impartialobserver is tempted to consider their very divergencyas constitutinga strong argumentagainst their validity. But setting all this aside, and especially the question of the names of the races involved,which seems quite hopeless of solution, we may divide the argumentsfor the general propositionthat the Patricians were one race and the Plebeians another,under three heads, topographical, juristic (or sociological), and religious. Archaeology,while it is invokedby most if not all theoristshere and elsewhere,can clearlygive only subsidiarysupport; it can, that is, give us some groundsfor saying that therewere or were not various races, or at least various types of culture, at Rome, but can hardl) be expected to let us know by what technical names these types Die Plebs. Leipzig 1909, p. i8i sqq. 2 Ibid. p. zo9. This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 20:55:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS AT ROME. I07 were distinguished. Philology again speaks with a very hesitating voice, and can hardlysay more than that the Latin language is not absolutelyhomogeneous, which no one supposed it was. Of the above classes of evidence, Binder relies mostly on the firstand second; Piganiol, while he uses them all, lays perhaps most stresson the second and third. His theory is, that the Plebeianswere Sabines, who werea Mediterraneanpeople; that the Patricians were northern invaders, whose immediate provenance was the Mons Albanus.1 I now proceed to reviewthe argumentsof these two writersin detail, not only because they are the latest2 with whom I am acquainted, but also because their verylearned and laborious works summarize the earlier theories as well as giving theirown. i. Topographicalarguments. Most theories of this type adopt in one formor another some such view as that of Niebuhr, namely that in very early times there existed (a) a communityon the Palatine, (b) a second communityon the Quirinal or the Quirinal and Capitol. These ultimately coalesced, thus including the Forum in the new combined city. It has been suggestedthat the Volcanal at the foot of the Arx marksthe site of some very ancient shrine erected to commemoratethis union. That the traditions, as given by Livy forinstance, declare Rome to have spread out from the Palatine by successive additions of neighbouring hills and valleys,is of course no argumentagainst this, forthere is no reason to imagine that their framershad any more knowledgeof the facts than we have, or indeed as much. We have thereforeonly the actual sites and what fragmentsof ritual or other evidence may be left, to guide us. That the Palatine settlementis the oldest, or at least one of the oldest, is hardly to be disputed.3 Its boundaries were still rememberedin the time of Tacitus 4; it containsthe sitesof the very earlyworship of Cacus and Caca ; it is the centreof the ceremonial of the Luperci; and it dominates the Forum Boarium with the great altar of Hercules, of whose importanceI shall have more to say later. The only really sound argumentthat can be urged against its priorityis that many of the earliest and most famous cults are not on it, but on the Capitol or in the Forum. For the Forum, I hope to show that the most importantof its cults,that of Vesta, is comparativelylate in the earliest form which we know anything about, and thereforemay well have arisen, and so displaced the worshipof Caca, afterRome as we know it came into existence,i.e., afterthe Seven Hills, or most of them,were united in one settlement I Essai sur les originesde Romie,Paris 1917; sum- replyto Binder's criticismof his earlierwvork on the mary on p. 313 sqq. stibject. 3The evidence is carefullyreviewed by Binder, 2Except Oberziner, Patsiziato e plebe, in Studi p. X sqq. di filologia,filosofia e storia, I913, which is in part a 4 Tac., Ann. xii, 2, 3. This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 20:55:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions io8 PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS AT ROME. with the Forum valley, more or less drained and reclaimed, for their central market-place. Assuming then that the Palatine was settled very early, what evidence have we that any other hill was also settled at as early a date ? And here I would mentionthat by settledI mean containing somethingof the nature of a tozvn. A mere hill-top fort, such as those which are scattered over a great part of Wales for example, may notoriouslyexist within a very short distance of another-half a mile or less; but a hill-top fort is not a settlement,but a watch-toweror at best a temporaryprotection against sudden raids. A permanent settlement implies a water-supply,access to the surroundingcountry, and in particularaccess to the scene of those activities (trade, farming,pasturage) from which the inhabitants get their livelihood. It also implies defensibility. If we start from the furthesthill down-stream,the Aventine, we must, I think,admit that the occupation of the Palatine put it nearly out of the question for any settlementof an independent and thereforepotentially hostile nature. The Palatini indeed could hardlycut the Auentinioff from water; but as the latter hill stands almoston a peninsula,a blockadewhich would preventits inhabitants gettingat the hinterlandwould have been veryeasy; while a counter- blockade, supposing the Auentini numerically stronger, would have called forthe servicesof a relativelylarge numberof men, if the Palatini were to be preventedboth fromcrossing the Forum valley (with look-outs on the Velia to give warning of the approach of raiders) and from driving their cattle out, or going to till their fields, across the Velabrum and around the Capitol. Moreover, although the Palatine originallywas doubtless less steeply scarped than now, it must always have been a decidedly steep hill on every side but that approached by the Velia, else why go to the trouble of cutting the Scalae Caci ? It thereforewould need relativelyfew men to defendit, leavingmore of the populationfree for raids on the cattle,lands or trade of the enemy; while the Aventinewould almost certainlyneed a larger garrison. In any hostilities,therefore, the Auentini would be doomed fromthe beginningto fail in the long run, given about equal numbersand courage. But in addition there is what appears to me to be a scrap of tradition of a time when the Aventinewas uninhabited. That is Ennius' statementthat Romulus' took his auspices fromit. Now, although there is an admirable view to-day fromthe terrace of the RistorantePalazzo dei Cesari, towards the Palatine, this would be quite unsuitablefor an augur,for it looksneither east nor south. The post of an augur was necessarilyone which commanded an uninter- rupted view; hence the precautionstaken to prevent any building 1 Annales84, Vahlen = Cic. de diuin, i, 107. This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 20:55:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS AT ROME. lO9 interferingwith the line of sightfrom the auguraculum on the Arx.1 What point on the Aventinewould furnishsuch a prospect? The top, no doubt; but as the top is rather flat,this presupposesthat therewere no buildingsat all to get in the way.
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