Whilst 401 BCE was a tense year inside ancient Rome, we can assure you that there will be a plebeian win to close the year. Victory at last!

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Episode 152 – Victory at Last!

Surrounded by Enemies

The Romans were facing war with several enemies, thanks to Capena and the Falerii joining their conflict with Veii. And they weren’t going to take the loss of Anxur lying down. This calls for the mother of all levies! The magistrates had to try and enlist any man they could get their hands on, young or old. Rome needed to make sure all her bases were covered at home and abroad.

The catch was that a larger army required an increase in funding. Rome was apparently paying soldiers now, right? The military tribunes with consular power came up with a genius plan – a war-tax! What form did this tax take? Crops? Bronze? Your first-born child? The only thing we can rule out is coinage, as the Romans were not using that yet.  

Regardless of the mode of payment, the people were distinctly displeased by this new policy. They were already having to work extra hard with so many men serving in the army. And of course, the tribunes of the plebs were NOT HAVING IT. This was a total scam.

Rome Just Can’t Get Enough

With the people all riled up over these issues, the elections for the tribunes of the plebs fell flat. Not enough men were elected to fill the positions. The patricians saw an opportunity to try to weasel their way into the office, but they didn’t get away with that. However, they did manage to convince the newly elected tribunes to co-opt some colleagues that had been given the patrician stamp of approval.

This was in direct conflict with the Trebonian Law of 448 BCE, which was meant to prevent anyone being co-opted. As luck would have it, one of the descendants of the original Trebonius who had championed this law was serving as tribune in 401, and he vigorously protested this violation.

The people were furious about these signs of corruption and the three tribunes who had colluded with the patricians knew they needed to come up with a distraction. Why not turn everyone’s attention to Sergius and Verginius? They had made such a mess of things in 402 BCE. They were the perfect scapegoats.

Conflict of the Orders?

Tensions remained high throughout 401 BCE as Sergius and Verginius were put on trial, the tribunes fought the war-tax and the men on the frontlines weren’t getting paid. Somewhere in this strange mixture of collusion and conflict between the patricians and plebeians, something momentous was brewing…

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Dr G and Dr Rad are celebrating the election of the first military tribune with consular power.

Touchdown!

Publius Licinius Calvus became the FIRST official plebeian to be elected as military tribune with consular power, set to serve in 400 BCE. Victory at last, Licinius, victory at last.  

We’re excited – can you tell?

If you want to know why he was the chosen one, you’ll need to tune in next time! The suspense….

Need to catch up on Sergius and Verginius’ epic bitch fight? Listen to our previous episode on 402 BCE.

Things to Look Out For:

• Clever use of diversions





• Laws being broken





• SO MANY potential anachronisms





• The spectre of the Gracchi appearing from the late Republic – again!

Suspiciously momentous events happening right at the end of the century

Our Players for 401 BCE

Military Tribunes with Consular Power

• L. Valerius L. f. P. n. Potitus (Pat) Cos. 392, Mil. Tr. c. p. 414, 406, 403, 398





• M. Furius L. f. L. Sp. n. Camillus (Pat) Mil. Tr. c. p. 398, 394, 386, 384, 381





• M’. Aemilius Mam. f. M. n. Mamercinus (or Mamercus) (Pat) Cos. 410, Mil. Tr. c. p. 405, 403





• Cn. Cornelius P. f. A. n. Cossus (Pat) Mil. Tr. c. p. 406. 404





• K. Fabius M. f. Q. n. Ambustus (Pat) Mil. Tr. c. y p. 404, 395, 390





• L. Iulius L. f. Vopisci n. Iulius (Pat) Mil. Tr. c. p. 397 [Paulus Sextus]

Tribune of the Plebs

• M. Acutius





• P. Curiatus





• C. Lacerius





• M. Metilius





• M. Minucius





• Cn. Trebonius

Our Sources

• Dr Rad reads Livy 5.10-12.





• Dr G reads Diodorus Siculus 14.44.1; and Fasti Capitolini.





• Arizza, M., Rossi, D. 2022. ‘The territory between Veii and Rome in the Archaic period: Rural structures as territorial markers of cultural frontiers’ Frontière.s, Revue d’archèologie, histoire et histoire de l’art Volume 6: 49-62. https://journals.openedition.org/frontieres/1297





• Bartolini, G., Michetti, L. M. 2019. ‘Veii During the Archaic Period (Sixth and Fifth Centuries BCE)’, in Tabolli, J, Cerasuolo, O. (eds.) Veii (University of Texas Press), 107-116.





• Bradley, G. 2020. Early Rome to 290 BC (Edinburgh University Press). Broughton, T. R. S., Patterson, M. L. 1951. The Magistrates of the Roman Republic Volume 1: 509 B.C. – 100 B.C. (The American Philological Association)





• Cornell, T. J. 1995. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC) (Taylor & Francis) Forsythe, G. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War(University of California Press) 





• Lomas, Kathryn (2018). The rise of Rome. History of the Ancient World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. doi:10.4159/9780674919938. ISBN978-0-674-65965-0. S2CID239349186.





• Ogilvie, R. M. 1965. A Commentary on Livy: Books 1-5 (Clarendon Press). 





• Raaflaub, K. A. 2006. Social struggles in archaic Rome: new perspectives on the conflict of the orders (2nd ed). (Wiley).





• Smith, C. 2019. ‘Furius Camillus and Veii’, in Taboli, J., Cerasuolo, O. (eds.)