tribune of the plebs These magistrates came into being early in the Republic, when the Plebs was at complete loggerheads with the patricians. Elected by the tribal body of plebeians formed as the concilium plebis or comitia plebis tributa or Plebeian Assembly, they took an oath to defend the lives and property of members of the Plebs. By 450 b.c. there were ten tribunes of the plebs. By the time of Marius and Sulla these ten tribunes of the plebs had proven themselves a thorn in the side of the Senate rather than merely the patricians—and even though, by this time, they were themselves members of the Senate. A lex Atinia de tribunis plebis in senatum legendis of 149 b.c. had made tribunes of the plebs automatically members of the Senate upon election. Because they were not elected by the Whole People (that is, by patricians as well as plebeians), they had no power under Rome's unwritten constitution and were not magistrates in the same way as tribunes of the soldiers, quaestors, curule aediles, praetors, consuls, and censors; their magistracies were of the Plebs and their power in office resided in the oath the whole Plebs took to defend the sacrosanctity—the inviolability—of its elected tribunes. That the tribunes of the plebs were called tribunes was possibly due to the tribal organization of the Plebeian Assembly. The power of the tribunate of the plebs lay in the right of its officers to exercise a veto against almost any aspect of government: a tribune of the plebs could veto the actions or laws of his nine fellow tribunes, or any—or all!—other magistrates, including consuls and censors (witness how in 109 b.c. the censor Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, who had defied attempts to remove him from his office, yielded immediately when the tribune of the plebs Mamilius interposed his veto); he could veto the holding of an election; he could veto the passing of lex or plebiscitum; and he could veto decrees of the Senate, even in war and foreign affairs. Only a dictator (and perhaps an interrex) was not subject to the tribunician veto. Within his own Plebeian Assembly, the tribune of the plebs could even exercise the death penalty if his right to proceed in his duties was denied him.
During the early and middle years of the Republic, tribunes of the plebs were not members of the Senate. Then came the lex Atinia of 149 b.c., which meant that election as a tribune of the plebs became a way of entering the Senate without being approved by the censors; from that time on, men who had been expelled from the Senate by the censors often sought election as tribunes of the plebs in order to get back in again. The tribune of the plebs had no imperium, and the authority vested in the office did not extend past the first milestone. Custom dictated that a man serve only one term as a tribune of the plebs, entering office on the tenth day of December for one year. But custom was not legally binding, as Gaius Sempronius Gracchus proved when he successfully sought a second term in 122B.C. The real power of the office was vested in the sacrosanctitas (inviolability) of its holders, and intercessio, the right to interpose a veto. Tribunician contribution to government was in consequence more often obstructive than constructive.
tribune of the soldiers Two dozen young men, aged between about twenty-five and twenty-nine years, were elected each year by the Assembly of the (whole) People to serve as tribuni militum, or military tribunes. As they were elected by the Whole People, they were true magistrates. They were the legally elected officers of the consul's legions (four legions belonged to the consuls in office), and were posted to command them, six per legion. At times when the consuls had more than six legions in the field (as at Arausio) the tribunes of the soldiers were rationed out between them, not always equally in numbers per legion.
tribune of the Treasury Tribuni aerarii. There is a great deal of mystery about who the tribuni aerarii actually were. Originally they definitely were the army's paymasters, but by the middle of the Republic this task had been assumed by the quaestors. Yet at the time of Marius and Sulla, tribuni aerarii were numerous enough (and wealthy enough) to qualify for the Second Class in the Centuriate Assembly, having a census economic status not far inferior to the knights' minimum. Perhaps they were men descended from the original tribuni aerarii who simply clung to their old status to prove their antiquity. However, more likely, I think, that they were senior civil servants attached to the Treasury. Though the Senate and People of Rome frowned heavily upon bureaucracy and strenuously resisted any growth in numbers of public employees, there can be no doubt that once Rome's territorial possessions began to increase, one branch of the SPQR must have demanded more and more public officials of unelected nature. This branch was the Treasury (the aerarium). By the late Republic there must have been a fairly large number of senior civil servants administering the many departments and duties attached to the Treasury (and this increased dramatically after the time of Marius and Sulla). Money had to be exacted for many different taxes, at home and abroad; and money had to be found for everything from the purchase of public grain, to censors' building programs, to the army's pay, to minutiae like purchases of the urban praetor's pigs distributed throughout Rome at the Compitalia. While no doubt an elected magistrate issued orders about any or all of these items, he certainly did not concern himself with the mechanics implementing his orders. For these, there had to have been senior civil servants, men whose rank was distinctly higher than clerk or scribe; they probably came from respectable families and were probably well paid. The existence of a class of them can definitely be supposed at the time Cato Uticensis (in 64 b.c.) made such a nuisance of himself when appointed Treasury quaestor, for it was glaringly obvious that many years had elapsed since Treasury quaestors concerned themselves personally with the Treasury—and by 64 b.c. the Treasury was huge.
triclinium The dining room. By preference the family dining room was square in shape, and possessed three couches arranged to form a U. Standing in the doorway one looked into the hollow of the U; the couch on the left was called the lectus summits, the couch forming the middle or bottom of the U was the lectus medius, and the couch forming the right side was the lectus imus. Each couch was very broad, perhaps four or more feet (1.25 m), and at least twice that long. One end of the couch had a raised arm forming a head, the other end did not. In front of the couches, a little lower than the height of the couches, was a narrow table also forming a U. The male diners reclined on their left elbows, supported by bolsters; they were not shod, and could call for their feet to be washed. The host of the dinner reclined at the left end of the lectus medius, this being the bottom or armless end of it; the right-hand end of the same couch—its head—was the place where the most honored guest reclined, and was called the locus consularis. At the time of Marius and Sulla it was rare for women to recline alongside-the men unless the dinner party was a men's party and the women invited of low virtue. The women of the family sat on upright chairs inside the double U of couches and table; they entered the room with the first course and left as soon as the last course was cleared away. Normally they drank only -water, as women drinking wine were "loose."
[GC 1073.jpg]
triumph The greatest of days for the successful general was the day upon which he triumphed. By the time of Marius and Sulla, a general had to have been hailed on the field as imperator by his troops, after which he was obliged to petition the Senate to grant him his triumph; only the Senate could sanction it, and sometimes—though not often—unjustifiably withheld it. The triumph itself was a most imposing parade consisting of musicians, dancers, wagons filled with spoils, floats depicting scenes from the campaign, the Senate in procession, prisoners and liberated Romans, and the army. The parade began in the Villa Publica on the Campus Martius, and followed a prescribed route thereafter—a special gate in the Servian Walls called the Porta Triumphalis, into the Velabrum, the Forum Boarium, and the Circus Maximus, after which it went down the Via Triumphalis and turned-into the Via Sacra of the Forum Romanum. It terminated on the Capitol at the foot of the steps of the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The triumphing general and his lictors went into the temple and offered the god their laurels of victory, after which a triumphal feast was held in the temple.
tri
umphator The name given to the triumphing general.
tunic Tunica. The tunic was the basic item of clothing for almost all ancient Mediterranean peoples, including the Greeks and the Romans. As worn by a Roman of the time of Marius and Sulla, the tunic's body was rectangular in shape, without darts to confine it at the sides of the chest; the neck was probably cut on a curve for comfort rather than kept as a straight edge contiguous with the shoulders. The sleeves may have been woven as rectangular projections from the shoulders, or they may have been set in. It was not beyond the skill of ancient tailors to set in sleeves, and some people wore long sleeves, which had to be set in. The statues do not indicate that the tunics of men important enough to have statues were simply joined up the sides with a gap left at the top for the arms to go through. The sleeves of the tunics shown on statues of generals in particular look like proper short sleeves. The tunic was either belted with leather or girdled with a cord; the Roman tunic was always worn longer at the front than at the back by about three inches (75 mm). Those of the knight's census wore a narrow purple stripe down the right side of the tunic, those of the senator's census a wide purple stripe. The stripe may also have run down the left side of the tunic as well. I do not believe the stripe was a single one at mid-chest. A wall painting from Pompeii displaying a man wearing the toga praetexta shows a wide purple stripe going down the tunic from the right shoulder.
Tusculum A town on the Via Latina some fifteen miles from Rome. It was the first Latin town to receive the Roman citizenship, in 381 b.c., and was always unswervingly loyal to Rome. Cato the Censor came from Tusculum, where his family had possessed the Public Horse of Roman knighthood for at least three generations.
Vaticanus Both a plain, the Campus Vaticanus, and a hill, the Mons Vaticanus. They lay on the northern bank of the Tiber opposite the Campus Martius. At the time of Marius and Sulla, the plain was used for market gardening, the hill behind it for no published purpose.
Venus Libitina Goddess of the life force, Venus had many aspects. Venus Libitina was concerned with the extinction of the life force. An underworld deity of great importance in Rome, her temple was located outside the Servian Walls, more or less at the central point of Rome's vast necropolis on the Campus Esquilinus. Its exact location is not known, but since I had to site it somewhere, I put it at the crossroads where the Via Labicana intersected with two important diverticula (ring roads). The temple precinct was large for a Roman temple, and had a grove of trees, presumably cypresses (associated with death). In this precinct Rome's undertakers and funeral directors had their headquarters, presumably operating from stalls or booths. The temple itself contained a register of Roman citizen deaths and was rich, thanks to the accumulation of the coins which had to be paid to register a death. Should there be no consul to employ them, the fasces of the consul were deposited on a special couch inside the temple; the axes which were inserted into his fasces only when he left the city were also kept in the temple. I imagine that Rome's burial clubs, of which there were many, were connected in some way to Venus Libitina.
Vesta A very old Roman goddess of numinous nature, having no mythology and no image. She was the hearth, and so had particular importance within the family unit and the home, where she was worshipped alongside the Di Penates and the Lar Familiaris. Her official, public cult was equally important, and was personally supervised by the Pontifex Maximus. Her temple in the Forum Romanum was very small, very old, and round in shape; it was adjacent to the Regia, the Well of Juturna and the residence of the Pontifex Maximus. A fire burned in the temple permanently, and could not be allowed to go out.
Vestal Virgins Vesta had her own priesthood, the college of six women called the Vestal Virgins. They were inducted at about seven or eight years of age, took vows of complete chastity, and served the goddess for thirty years, after which they were released from their vows and sent back into the community at large. Their service over, they could marry if they wished—though few did, as it was thought unlucky. Their chastity was Rome's luck; that is, the luck of the State. When a Vestal was deemed unchaste she was not judged and punished out of hand, but was formally brought to trial in a specially convened court. Her alleged lovers were also tried, but in a different court. If convicted, she was cast into an underground chamber dug for the purpose; it was sealed over, and she was left there to die. In Republican times the Vestal Virgins lived in the same State house as the Pontifex Maximus, though sequestered from him.
vexillum A flag or banner. via A main highway, road, or street.
villa A country residence, completely self-contained, and originally having an agricultural purpose—in other words, a farmstead. It was built around a peristyle or courtyard, had stables or farm buildings at its front, and the main dwelling at its back. Wealthy Romans of the late Republic began to build villas as vacation homes rather than as farmsteads, considerably changing the architectural nature (and grandeur) of the villa. Many holiday villas were on the seashore.
vir militaris See Military Man.
voting Roman voting was timocratic, in that the power of the vote was powerfully influenced by property status, and in that voting was not "one man, one vote" in style. Whether an individual voted in the Centuries or in the Tribes, his own personal vote could only influence the verdict of the Century or the Tribe in which he polled. Election outcomes were determined by the number of Century or Tribal votes going a particular way. Juridical voting was different. On a jury an individual did have a direct say in the outcome, as the jury contained an odd number of men and the decision was a majority one, not an unanimous one. It was timocratic, however, as a man of little property had little chance of jury duty.
Wooden Bridge The name always given to the Pons Sublicius, the oldest of the bridges spanning the Tiber at the city of Rome.
yoke The yoke was the crossbeam or tie which rested upon the necks of a pair of oxen or other animals in harness to draw a load. In human terms, it came to mean the mark of servility, of submission to the superiority and domination of others. There was a yoke for the young of both sexes to pass beneath inside the city of Rome, located somewhere on the Carinae; it was called the Tigillum, and perhaps signified submission to the seriousness of adult life. However, it was in military circumstances that the yoke came to have its greatest metaphorical significance. Very early Roman (or perhaps Etruscan) armies forced a defeated enemy to pass beneath the yoke; two spears were planted upright in the ground, and a third spear was placed from one top to the other to form a crosstie—the whole was too low for a man to pass beneath walking erect, he had to bend right over. Other peoples within Italy also adopted the custom, with the result that from time to time a Roman army was forced to pass beneath the yoke. To acquiesce to this was an intolerable humiliation; so much so, that the Senate and People back in Rome usually preferred to see an army stand and fight until the last man was dead, rather than sacrifice honor and dignitas by surrendering and passing beneath the yoke.
The Grass Crown Page 119