well as the rest; [t] which gave the tribunes a great authority; that they should create no magistrate, from whom it might not be allowed to appeal, and that every private man should be empowered to kill with impunity whoever should oppose this ordinance; that the person of the tribunes should be again declared more sacred and inviolable than ever. Their power, in short, extended very far, and reached even to the consuls themselves, whom they pretended they had a right to imprison, [u] as they publicly declared, upon an occasion when the senate had recourse to their authority to reduce the consuls to their duty, who refused to obey them. After the people had thus confirmed their authority, they still went on to form new projects, which the tribunes, out of zeal or complaisance, did not fail to second with great warmth. They spared no pains to open to themselves the way to all posts of dignity, and especially the consulship, which was the first office of the state, in which the greatest part of the public authority resided, and which was reserved for the Patricians alone. After long and hot disputes, at last they obtained it, and upon the occasion of a slight adventure.. I beg leave here to tell the story, as it is one of the most beautiful and most natural to be found in Livy. [x] Fabius Ambustus had married his eldest daughter to Serv. Sulpicius, a patrician, and the younger to a young a young plebeian, named Licinius Stolo. One day, as the latter was visiting her eldest sister and they were talking together, Sulpicius, who was then tribune of the soldiers with consular power, coming home, the lictor struck the door with the rod he carried in his hand, according to custom, and made a great noise. The younger daughter, who was unacquainted with the custom, having expressed some fright upon the occasion, her elder sister laughed at her simplicity, and wondered she did not know what it meant. As the smallest trifles often make an impression upon the sex, the younger was highly offended at the mirth of her sister. The multitude of followers, who attended the military tribune, and expected his orders, without doubt made her consider the fortune of her elder sister as far superior to her own; and a secret jealousy, which is apt to occasion an uneasiness at seeing our relations in a station above us, made her repent of being married as she was. Whilst this uneasiness hung upon her, her father coming in, and finding her very sorrowful, desired to know the reason. But as she could not discover it, without seeming to want friendship for her sister, and respect for her husband, she declined telling him for some time. Fabius at last, by kind expressions and caresses, drew the secret from her, and she ingeniously owned, that the cause of her grief was the being married into a family, which was incapable of any post of honour or authority. Her father comforted her, and bad her not be uneasy, for she should soon see the same dignity in her family, as made her percuteret. Cum ad id, moris ejus vidisset, percunctatus satin' salva, avertentem doloris causam (quippe nec satis piam adversùs sororem nec admodum in virum honorifi cam) elicuit, comitersciscitando, u fateretur eam esse causam doloris quod juncta impari esset, nupta i domo, quam nec honos nes grati intrare posset. Consolans inde fili am Ambustus, bonum änimum ha bere jussit; eosdem prope diem do mi visuram honores, quos apud so rorem viderat, Liv. 1. 6. n. 34 title him to the highest dignities in the state, they seized upon the favourable opportunity which the present conjuncture afforded them, and, after several disputes with the patricians, they at last forced them to admit the plebeians, to the consulship. L. Sextius was the first man upon whom this honour was conferred. After this victory, nothing remained inaccessible to the people. The offices of prætor, and censor, and even the dictatorship and priesthood, were all offered and granted them; [y] the senate rightly judging, that after they had been reduced to grant them the consulship, it would be to no purpose to dispute any thing else with them. And thus the people, who were little less than slaves under the kings, and clients without power under the patricians, became by degrees equal to their patrons, and their associates in all the honours and employments of the commonwealth. CHARACTER THE THIRD. The reciprocal Moderation of the Senate and People in their Disputes. The disputes between the people and senate concerning public employments, continued very long, and were carried on with such a warmth and vigour, as made them seem impossible to be terminated but by he ruin of one of the parties. The tribunes of the people, who were usually very hot and passionate, perpetually animated the multitude by bitter inectives against the consuls and senate. Upon the ffair of prohibiting marriages between the patri [y] Senatu, oùm in summis im- præturâ tendente. Liv. 1. 8. n. 15. "language, and have the same figure of men, as they ❝have. Can any thing be more insulting and dis"graceful, than to declare one part of the city unworthy of being allied to the patricians, as though "they were polluted and impure? And as to digni"ties, has the republic any cause to be dissatisfied "with the service of the plebeians, in all the offices "confided to them? There is now nothing wanting "to them but the consulship. And in that for the "future they ought to believe their safety and li"berty consist; nor, till they have obtained it, can "they hold themselves really free, or that they have "actually thrown off the yoke of servitude and ty"ranny [z]. The senators were sometimes no less transported with violence and passion. [a] Whatever was granted to the people in confirmation of their liberty, was looked upon as so much lost to them. [b] And though they owned that the younger part of their body were frequently too warm and zealous, yet, if one side or [x] Ecquid sentitis in quanto contemtu vivatis? Lucis vobis hu jus partem, si liceat, adimant. Quod spiratis, quod vocem mittitis, quòd formas hominum habetis, indignantur..... An esse ulla major aut insignior contumelia potest, quàm partem civitatis, velut contaminatam, indignam connubio haberi ? Liv. liv. 4. n. 3, and 4. Nullius eorum (qui ex plebe creati sint tribuni militum) populum Romanum poenituisse. Consula, tum superesse plebeiis. Eam esse arcem libertatis, id columen. Si ò perventum sit, tum populum Romanum verè exactos ex urbe reges, & stabilem libertatem suam existi maturum. Liv. lib. 6. n. 37. [a] Quicquid libertati plebis caveretur, id patres decedere suis opibus credebant. Liv. lib. 3. n. 55. [b] Seniores patrum, ut nimis feroces suos credere juvenes esse, ita malle, si modus excedendus esset, suis quàm adversariis superesse animos. Adeò moderatio tuendæ libertatis, dum æquari velle simulando ita se quisque extollit, ut deprimat alium, in difficili est; cavendoque ne metuant homines, metuendos ultrò se efficiunt; & injuriam à nobis repulsam, tanquam aut facere aut pati necesse sit, injungimus aliis. Ibid, n. 65. other served between the two parties to keep the balance in so just an equilibrium, as not to incline to one side more than the other; every one insensibly endeavour, ing to raise himself, in order to depress his adversary, and to make himself formidable, that he may be under no apprehension from him, as if there was no medium betwixt doing and receiving an injury. It must be owned however, to the glory of the Roman people, that this disposition. [c] which seemed ready to have recourse to the last extremities, and break out into bloody seditions, the usual source and cause of the ruin of great empires, was long restrained, and in a manner suspended, partly by the wisdom of the senators, and partly by the patience of the people; and for above six hundred years, as we have already observed, these domestic disputes never degenerated into civil wars. There were always grave and discreet men in the senate, zealous for the public good [d], and alikę avoiding the two opposite extremes, either of betray ing the interests of the senate to gain the favour of the people, or of irritating and provoking the people by declaring too warmly for the senate; who managed so as to induce both parties to a reconciliation, and by prudent condescensions to prevent the fatal consequences, which too obstinate a resistance must have inevitably induced. |