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\\nAfter spending many, many episodes on the events of 449 BCE, we are now flying through multiple years in ONE episode! Ah, the ups and downs of the early Republic. Tune in to find out what happened to Rome in 448, 447 and 446 BCE.
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\\nEpisode 120 - Rebels Without a Cause
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\\nThe Year 448 BCE
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\\nThis has to be one of the briefest and most mysterious years on record. Now that we are out of the decemvirate, there are two new consuls on the block \\u2013 neither of whom have held the position before. One may even have Etruscan ancestry. This may indicate that experienced and suitable candidates are hard to come by now that the members of the decemvirate are either dead or exiled. This pair of consuls are quite happy to sit on the fence between the patricians and plebeians and have an uneventful year.
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\\nSomething very unusual did take place in this year. Livy records that two patrician ex-consuls were elected to serve as tribunes of the plebs!
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\\nThere is some doubt about the accuracy of this claim, but Livy\\u2019s account tells us that some of the new tribunes consulted with the patricians when co-opting colleagues after the election fell short at the end of 449 BCE. What a world we live in! One of the tribunes is most displeased, and Lucius Trebonius pushes for a law that stipulates that elections need to continue until no fewer than ten tribune of the plebs are elected. Trebonius is given the cognomen \\u2018Asper\\u2019 (prickly or truculent) in recognition of his fight to keep patrician power in check.
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\\n A prickly pear, which seems like an apt image for Lucius Trebonius Asper. Image Courtesy of Ken Bosma on Flickr.
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\\nThe 447 BCE
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\\nThe new consuls, Geganius and Iulius, just want there to be less tension between the social orders in 447, but it is hard to keep everyone happy in this situation.
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\\nIn Livy, they manage to calm the plebeians down by suspending a levy for a war against the Volscians and Aequians (although Dr G has an inscription that indicates otherwise). After all, is this war really necessary? The enemies of Rome only want to fight when they sense that Rome is distracted by domestic turmoil, and there\\u2019s none of that around now\\u2026. Right? Right, guys?
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\\nUnfortunately for this consular duo, the young patricians are back on the scene and causing all sorts of trouble. They start with general abuse of the plebeians, but it quickly escalates to violence \\u2013 even against the tribunes themselves! With the Valerio-Horatian law about the sacrosanctity of tribunes having JUST been passed, you would think that the patricians would have to show more respect. Clearly all is not well in the city of Rome\\u2026 at least for plebeians!
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\\nJames Dean, who did not live in ancient Rome, but who embodies that rebellious spirit of the young patricians... in our imaginations!
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\\nOur Players
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\\nThe Consuls 448 BCE
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\\n* Lars (or Sp.) HERMINIUS \\u2013 Cortinesanus (Pat.) \\u2013 \\xa0\\xa0* T. VERGINIUS \\u2013 Tricostus Caeliomontanus (Pat.)
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\\nTribunes of the Plebs 448 BCE
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\\n* A Aternius - Varus Fontinalis (Pat.) \\u2013 Cos. 454* Sp. TARPEIUS Montanus Capitolinus (Pat.) \\u2013Cos.454* L. TREBONIUS Asper
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\\nOther Notables
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\\n* Lucius Valerius Potitus (Cos. 449)* Marcus Horatius Barbatus (Cos. 449)
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\\nThe Consuls 447 BCE
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\\n* M Geganius M. f. \\u2013 n. Macerinus (Pat.) - Cos. 443, 437* C. Iulius (-f. \\u2013 n. Iullus?) (Pat.) - Cos. 435, 434?
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