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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §11.45.1-11.45.3

Valerian-Horatian Laws on Plebiscites Binding All Citizens

Passage 845 of 962 · Greek

Summary

Consuls Valerius and Horatius, keeping their promises to the plebeians, passed laws in the centuriate assembly, including one that made decrees of the tribal assembly equally binding on all Romans, thereby ending the long-standing disputes between the patricians and plebeians.

§11.45.1οἱ δὲ μετὰ τὴν κατάλυσιν τῆς δεκαδαρχίας τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν πρῶτοι παρὰ τοῦ δήμου λαβόντες ἐπὶ τῆς λοχίτιδος ἐκκλησίας, ὥσπερ ἔφην, Λεύκιος Οὐαλέριος Ποτῖτος καὶ Μάρκος Ὁράτιος Βαρβᾶτος, αὐτοί τε δημοτικοὶ τὰς φύσεις ὄντες καὶ παρὰ τῶν προγόνων ταύτην διαδεδεγμένοι τὴν πολιτείαν, τὰς ὑποσχέσεις φυλάττοντες, ἃς ἐποιήσαντο πρὸς τοὺς δημοτικούς, ὅτʼ ἀποθέσθαι τὰ ὅπλα συνέπειθον αὐτούς, ὡς πάντα τὰ συμφέροντα τῷ δήμῳ πολιτευσόμενοι, νόμους ἐκύρωσαν ἐν ἐκκλησίαις λοχίτισι, δυσχεραινόντων μὲν τῶν πατρικίων, αἰδουμένων δʼ ἀντιλέγειν, ἄλλους τέ τινας, οὓς οὐ δέομαι γράφειν, καὶ τὸν κελεύοντα τοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου τεθέντας ἐν ταῖς φυλετικαῖς ἐκκλησίαις νόμους ἅπασι κεῖσθαι Ῥωμαίοις ἐξ ἴσου, τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχοντας δύναμιν τοῖς ἐν ταῖς λοχίτισιν ἐκκλησίαις τεθησομένοις.
After the dissolution of the decemvirate, Lucius Valerius Potitus and Marcus Horatius Barbatus, who, as I have said, were the first to receive the consular power from the people in the centuriate assembly, being themselves popular in their dispositions and having inherited this political principle from their ancestors, kept the promises which they had made to the plebeians when they persuaded them to lay down their arms, to the effect that they would conduct all public affairs for the benefit of the people, and ratified laws in the centuriate assemblies, while the patricians were displeased but ashamed to speak against them. These laws included certain others which I do not need to record, and one in particular ordering that the laws passed by the people in the tribal assemblies should be equally binding on all Romans, having the same force as those which should be passed in the centuriate assemblies.
τιμωρίαι δὲ προσέκειντο τοῖς καταλύουσιν ἢ παραβαίνουσι τὸν νόμον, §11.45.2ἐὰν ἁλῶσι, θάνατος καὶ δήμευσις τῆς οὐσίας.
Penalties were attached for those who should abrogate or violate this law, namely, death and confiscation of property if they should be convicted.
οὗτος ὁ νόμος ἐξέβαλε τὰς ἀμφισβητήσεις τῶν πατρικίων, ἃς ἐποιοῦντο πρὸς τοὺς δημοτικοὺς πρότερον, οὐκ ἀξιοῦντες τοῖς ὑπʼ ἐκείνων τεθεῖσι νόμοις πειθαρχεῖν, οὐδʼ ὅλως τὰ ἐν ταῖς φυλετικαῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἐπικυρούμενα κοινὰ τῆς πόλεως ἁπάσης δόγματα νομίζοντες, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸ μόνοις ἐκείνοις ἴδιον· ὅ τι δʼ ἂν ἡ λοχῖτις ἐκκλησία γνῷ, τοῦθʼ ἡγούμενοι σφίσι τʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις πολίταις τετάχθαι.
This law put an end to the disputes of the patricians which they had formerly carried on against the plebeians, since they had not deigned to obey the laws enacted by them, nor indeed did they consider the decrees ratified in the tribal assemblies to be common to the whole state, but thought them peculiar to the plebeians alone; whereas they believed that whatever the centuriate assembly should decide was ordained both for themselves and for the other citizens.
§11.45.3εἴρηται δὲ καὶ πρότερον, ὅτι ἐν μὲν ταῖς φυλετικαῖς ἐκκλησίαις οἱ δημοτικοὶ καὶ πένητες ἐκράτουν τῶν πατρικίων, ἐν δὲ ταῖς λοχίτισιν ἐκκλησίαις οἱ πατρίκιοι παρὰ πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων ἐλάττους ὄντες περιῆσαν τῶν δημοτικῶν.
For it has been said before that in the tribal assemblies the plebeians and the poor prevailed over the patricians, but in the centuriate assemblies the patricians, though far fewer than the others, prevailed over the plebeians.

Notes

  1. §11.45.1ὡς πάντα τὰ συμφέροντα τῷ δήμῳ πολιτευσόμενοι — The particle ὡς with the future participle πολιτευσόμενοι (agreeing with the subject, the two consuls) expresses the subjective intention or the substance of the promise they made.
  2. §11.45.1τὸν κελεύοντα τοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου τεθέντας ἐν ταῖς φυλετικαῖς ἐκκλησίαις νόμους ἅπασι κεῖσθαι Ῥωμαίοις ἐξ ἴσου — The article τὸν implies the omitted singular νόμον, which is modified by the present participle κελεύοντα. The subject of the infinitive κεῖσθαι (to be established/applicable) is the accusative plural τοὺς ... νόμους, which is further modified by ἔχοντας agreeing in gender, number, and case.
  3. §11.45.2ὅ τι δʼ ἂν ἡ λοχῖτις ἐκκλησία γνῷ, τοῦθʼ ἡγούμενοι σφίσι τʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις πολίταις τετάχθαι — The subject of the perfect passive infinitive τετάχθαι (to be ordained/prescribed) is the demonstrative pronoun τοῦτο, which refers back to the relative clause ὅ τι δʼ ἂν ἡ λοχῖτις ἐκκλησία γνῷ. The datives σφίσι τʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις πολίταις express the persons on whom the obligation is imposed.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §11.45.1-11.45.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:11.45.1-11.45.3

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