The Rise of Rome (Penguin Classics)

by Plutarch

  15. So when Marcius displayed the scars he bore from the many battles in which for seventeen successive years he had covered himself with glory in defence of Rome, the people were put to shame by these proofs of his valour and agreed among themselves that they would elect him consul. But when the polling day arrived and Marcius made an ostentatious entry into the forum, escorted with great ceremony by the entire senate, while the patricians who surrounded him were clearly more determined than ever to secure a victory, the people’s momentary feelings of goodwill towards him quickly subsided and their mood changed to one of envy and resentment. These sentiments were strengthened still further by the fear that if a man who wielded so much influence among the patricians and was so intensely aristocratic in his sympathies should ever hold the chief office of state, he might deprive the people of every liberty that they possessed.

  For these reasons the people did not vote for Marcius. When the other candidates had been declared elected, the senators were bitterly indignant and felt that it was they rather than Marcius who had been humiliated, while he revealed that he was quite incapable of patience or self-control when faced with a reverse. He had always given free rein to the impulses of spirit and contentiousness in his nature, as if there were some inherent grandeur and nobility in these qualities, and had never allowed himself to be ruled by reason and discipline so as to develop the combination of gravity and restraint which is so indispensable a virtue for a statesman. He failed to understand that a man who aspires to play a part in public affairs must avoid above all things that tendency to obstinacy which is, in Plato’s phrase, the companion of solitude,53 but rather must mingle with men, and even cultivate the capacity to submit to injury which some people so contemptuously deride. Marcius, on the other hand, was always a simple man as well as an obstinate one, and believed that it is under all circumstances a brave man’s duty to bear down and overwhelm all opposition: it never occurred to him that it might be a symptom of effeminate weakness to be unable to restrain the anger which bursts out like an abscess from the wounded and suffering spirit, and so he went away full of indignation and rancour towards the people. The younger patricians, that section of the community which was most conscious of the nobility of its birth and most ostentatious in flaunting it, had always been fanatically devoted to Marcius and they now rallied to his support, although in a manner that did him no good, since their expressions of sympathy and indignation served only to make his resentment more bitter. They had long regarded him as their leader, and while on active service they found him a most congenial instructor in the art of war, since he inspired them to vie with one another in acts of courage, and to rejoice in their successes without envying those of others.

  16. Meanwhile, a large consignment of grain arrived in Rome. Much of this had been purchased in Italy, but an equal amount had been sent as a gift by Gelon, the tyrant of Syracuse.54 The people were greatly encouraged as they hoped that this windfall would put an end not only to the scarcity of food, but also to political strife. The senate was promptly assembled, and the people waited eagerly outside the doors to hear the result of the debate. They expected that the price of grain would now fall to a reasonable figure and that the gift to the state would be distributed free of charge, and indeed this was the course recommended by a number of the senators.

  But when Marcius rose to speak, he violently attacked those who upheld the people’s interests and denounced them as demagogues and traitors to the aristocracy. He argued that they were fostering to their own ultimate peril the pernicious seeds of insolence and insubordination which had been sown among the masses. They should never have allowed these to take root in the first place, and above all they should never have conceded to the people such a powerful magistracy as the tribunate. As it was, the masses had now become formidable. Every demand which they put forward was granted, and no decision was ever imposed upon them against their will: they defied the authority of the consuls and were governed only by their own champions of misrule, whom they dignified by the title of rulers. So for the senate to sit there and decree bounties and free distributions of grain for the whole population, exactly what is done by the most extreme exponents of democracy among the Greeks,55 would amount to nothing less than supporting them in their defiance of the constitution and would bring about the ruin of the whole state. ‘The people will not regard these concessions’, Marcius went on, ‘as a reward for the campaigns in which they refused to serve, nor for the secessions whereby they betrayed their country, nor for the slanders against the senate which they have been so ready to believe. The conclusion they will certainly draw is that you are handing out these doles and gratuities because you are afraid of them and want to flatter them, and you will then find that there will be no limits to their disobedience nor to the disputes and agitations they will stir up. In short, to take the step which you propose would be sheer madness. What we should do, if we have any sense, is to abolish the office of tribune outright, since its only effect is to undermine the authority of the consuls and cause dissension in the city. The truth is that Rome is no longer a single commonwealth as once it was. It has been broken in two, and I do not believe that the two parts will ever again be joined, or become of one mind, or cease to inflame and torment one another.’

  17. These arguments and others in the same strain had a powerful effect upon the younger senators, so that Marcius succeeded to an extraordinary degree in inspiring them with his own passionate convictions. He also had most of the richest men on his side, and finally his supporters all cried out that he was the only man in Rome who would never be influenced either by the threat of force or the desire to flatter. In spite of this, however, some of the older senators opposed him, because they could foresee where his policy might lead them. And it led, in fact, straight to disaster. For the tribunes had been present at the debate, and as soon as they saw that Marcius’ motion was likely to be carried, they rushed out and joined the crowd, shouting out loudly and calling upon the people to rally to their aid. There followed a stormy meeting of the assembly, and when Marcius’ words were repeated in public the people were so carried away with fury that their first impulse was to break into the senate-house. However, the tribunes concentrated their attack on Marcius by laying a formal accusation against him, and he was then summoned by messenger to appear before the people and defend himself. When he contemptuously dismissed the officials who served this summons, the tribunes themselves went, accompanied by the aediles,56 to bring him by force, and began to lay hands on his person. Thereupon the patricians crowded round him, forced back the tribunes and actually struck the aediles.

  By this time nightfall put an end to the general tumult, but as soon as it was day the angry populace began to hurry in from all directions and gather in the forum. When the consuls57 saw this they became seriously alarmed for the city’s safety. They summoned a meeting of the senate and urged them to consider what sympathetic proposals and conciliatory resolutions they could put forward to appease and pacify the people. They appealed to the house to remember that this was no time for standing on their dignity or for a jealous assertion of their rights, but that they were facing a moment of great crisis in the affairs of Rome, which demanded a policy of moderation and humanity. The majority of the senators accepted this advice, whereupon the consuls went out and did their best to reason with the people and calm their indignation, answering dispassionately the charges which had been brought against the senate and rebuking the people for their own violence only in the mildest terms. On the question of the price of grain and the way in which it should be supplied, they declared that there would no longer be any cause for dispute.

  18. At this news the majority of the people allowed their anger to subside, and to judge from the serious and orderly attention with which they listened, they were well on the way to being won over. The tribunes then rose and announced that since the senate was now acting with such moderation, the people were prepared in their turn to make any reasonable con
cessions. They insisted, however, that Marcius should answer the following charges: Could he deny that he incited the senate to set aside the constitution and abolish the privileges of the people? Had he not refused to obey the people’s order that he should appear before them? And, finally, had he not insulted and beaten the aediles in the forum, and thereby done everything in his power to bring about a civil war by provoking his fellow-citizens to resort to arms? In making this demand they had two objects in mind. If Marcius were to curb his haughty temper, which would be quite contrary to his nature, and throw himself upon the people’s mercy, he would be publicly humiliated; if on the other hand he followed his normal instincts, he would do something which would make the breach irreparable. It was the second eventuality which they hoped for, and it turned out that they had correctly judged their opponent’s character.

  Marcius came and stood before the people as if he intended to offer a defence of his conduct, and his hearers listened to him in dead silence. But instead of the apologetic language which they had expected, he began to speak with an offensive bluntness, which soon developed into an outright attack upon the common people. At the same time both the tone of his voice and the expression on his face conveyed a fearlessness which betokened a total disdain and contempt for his audience, and at this the people lost all patience and began to show their mounting indignation and anger at his words. Thereupon Sicinius, the most outspoken of the tribunes, after conferring for a few moments with his colleagues, formally proclaimed that the tribunes of the people had condemned Marcius to death, and he ordered the aediles to take him immediately to the top of the Tarpeian Rock58 and throw him over the precipice. But when the aediles came to lay hands on him, many people even among the plebeians felt that this was a terrible and outrageous act, while the patricians, who were beside themselves with grief and horror, hurried to the rescue, crying out loudly as they ran. Some of them thrust away the officers who were arresting Marcius and got him into their midst; others stretched out their hands, since words or cries were lost amid the general tumult, to implore the people to show mercy. Before long the friends and relatives of the tribunes saw that it would be impossible to carry out his punishment, unless they were prepared to kill large numbers of patricians. They therefore persuaded the tribunes to revoke the cruel and unprecedented penalty which their sentence carried and not to use violence or put Marcius to death without a trial, but to hand him over and let his case by decided by the vote of the people. After this Sicinius, adopting a calmer tone, asked the patricians what they meant by snatching Marcius away from the people when a resolution had been passed to punish him. The patricians countered by asking, ‘What do you mean by dragging away one of the foremost men in Rome without a trial, to execute a barbarous and illegal sentence?’ ‘Well, on that score at least you will have no cause for complaint or grievance against the people,’ retorted Sicinius; ‘they agree to your request that the man should have his trial. As for you, Marcius, you are summoned to appear on the third market day from now to satisfy the citizens of your innocence, if you can, and they will then judge your case by vote.’

  19. The patricians were content to accept this solution for the moment and returned to their homes with a feeling of satisfaction, taking Marcius with them. But during the period which elapsed before the third market day – which the Romans hold every ninth day and so call nundinae – an expedition was sent against the city of Antium, and this encouraged them to hope that the trial might never take place after all. They calculated that the campaign might last long enough for the people to become amenable, and that their anger might be appeased or subside altogether once their minds were taken up by the war. However, a settlement was soon reached with the people of Antium and the citizens returned home. The patricians were now filled with alarm and held frequent meetings to discuss how they could avoid surrendering Marcius without at the same time giving the popular leaders the excuse to stir up new disorders. Appius Claudius,59 who was generally regarded as one of the bitterest opponents of the popular cause in Rome, solemnly declared that the senate would not only destroy itself but would utterly betray its duty to the state if it allowed the people to use their voting powers to pass judgement on patricians. On the other hand, the older senators and those most sympathetic to the claims of the people contended that they would not use this power harshly or severely, but would show their moderation and humanity once it was granted them. They considered that it was not a question of the people’s despising the senate, but of believing that they were despised by it, and hence that they would feel themselves so much honoured and compensated by the privilege of being able to try a senator that they would lay aside their resentment as soon as this prerogative came into their hands.

  20. Accordingly, when Marcius saw that the senate was torn between its regard for himself and its fear of the people, he asked the tribunes what were the terms of the accusation against him, and on what charge he would be tried if they brought him before the people. They told him that he was to be charged with aiming at tyranny, and that they would prove him guilty of attempting to set himself up as an absolute ruler. At this he rose to his feet and declared that he would immediately appear before the people to defend himself on that score, that he offered himself freely to any form of trial, and that if convicted he would submit to any form of punishment. ‘But’, he went on, ‘be sure that you confine yourselves to the charge you have mentioned, and do not go back on your word to the senate.’ The tribunes agreed and it was upon these conditions that the trial took place.

  But when the people assembled, the tribunes’ first move was to insist that the votes should be cast not by centuries but by tribes.60 By this manoeuvre they ensured that the well-to-do and reputable citizens who served the state in its wars would be outnumbered by the poorest classes, who cared nothing for considerations of honour but liked to meddle in politics. Secondly, they ignored the charge of aiming at tyranny, which was impossible to prove, and repeated their attack upon the speech which Marcius had made in the senate, when he had opposed the reduction of the price of grain and urged that the tribunate should be abolished. But they also introduced a new charge into the indictment, which concerned the distribution of the spoils captured at Antium. They alleged that Marcius had not paid into the public treasury the money raised from the sale of the plunder, but had divided it among the volunteers who had taken part in the operation with him. It was this accusation which disconcerted Marcius more than any other. He had never expected it, and for the moment was completely at a loss for a reply which would convince the people. Instead, he began to praise the soldiers who had fought in the campaign, but this served only to provoke an uproar among those citizens who had not, and who were far more numerous. Finally, when the people came to vote he was condemned by a majority of three tribes and was sentenced to perpetual banishment.

  The news of Marcius’ condemnation was greeted with an outburst of public rejoicing such as had never been witnessed even for a victory over a foreign enemy, and the people departed to their homes in a mood of triumph, while the senators were correspondingly downcast and despondent. They bitterly regretted that they had not done everything in their power to oppose the trial, whatever the consequences, rather than allow the people to assume such authority and then abuse it so outrageously. At this moment there was no need for any of the privileges of dress or other signs of rank to distinguish the two classes: it was clear at once that the exultant look belonged to the plebeians and the downcast to the patricians.

  21. The only exception was Marcius himself, who was neither dismayed nor humbled by the news. In his outward appearance, demeanour and expression he appeared to be the only man among all the patricians upon whom his misfortunes made no impression. But this apparent composure was based neither upon logic, equanimity, nor any intention of enduring his fate meekly. It was the product of a concentrated fury and indignation, which, although this is not generally understood, is really an expression of intense pain. For when
grief turns to anger, it is devoured, so to speak, by the flame which it generates, and any notion of humility or passive acceptance is utterly cast out. And so, just as a sick man seems to burn with fever, so the angry man seems to be full of energy, because he is suffering from a kind of inflammation, a swelling and a throbbing of the spirit. This was Marcius’ state of mind, as was soon made apparent by his behaviour.