We jump into the year 400 BCE which has more excitement than you may have anticipated. Could this be the year we have evidence for a plebeian break-through into the important magisterial position of military tribune with consular power?

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Episode 153 – The Plebeians Push into Power

Now, as always with this period of Rome’s early republican history, we need to keep into mind that the extant records are sketchy and we’re relying on writers living centuries in the future for their interpretation of whatever information they could scrounge together. And yet, if we look at the names that are put forward for the top job in 400 BCE, we notice some folk we’ve never heard of before – not just individuals, but extended family groups (gens), which is worth considering in more depth. You know we can’t resist a good thorny mystery when it comes to the evidence!

What is the senate and how did it work?

The entry of Calvus into the position of military tribune with consular power is a bit of a cat amongst the pigeons. But it might be Livy’s details about Calvus’ position as a member of the senate that makes this even more intriguing. We consider what the structure of the very early senate might have been (largely in the absence of strong evidence from the period in question). Where did the senate come from? How did it emerge as a feature of the republic? What might make sense given the senate is later understood as an advisory body? Was there a third socio-political class in the early republic? We explore some potential scenarios.

Things to listen out for

• Our transition into nineteenth century German scholars


• The difference between segregation and what was happening in the early republic


• Discussion of the abuse of power by the powerful


• The character of our plebeian hero Calvus


• The tribune of soldiers


• The fragmentary writer Licinius Macer


• Updates on the state of play in Sicily and their conflict with Carthage


• Igor taking a short break????

Our Players for 400 BCE

Military Tribunes with Consular Power

• Publius Licinius P. f. P. n. Calvus Esquilinus (NOT a patrician?????)


• Publius Manlius M. f. Cn. n. Vulso (Pat)


• Lucius Titinius L. f. M’. n. Pansa Saccus (Not a patrician?????)


• Publius Maelius Sp. f. C. n. Capitolinus (Not a patrician?????)


• Spurius Furius L. f. Sp. n. Medullinus (Pat)


• Lucius Publilius L. f. Voler. n. Philo Vulscus (Not a patrician?????)

Our Sources

• Dr Rad reads Livy


• Dr G reads Diodorus Siculus; and Fasti Capitolini.


• 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.


• Mommsen, T. 1894-1908. Römische Geschichte


• Münzer, F. ‘Licinius 43’ in Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft


• 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.) Veii (University of Texas Press), 219-224.

Sound Credits

Our music is by the amazing Bettina Joy de Guzman. Sound effects courtesy of BBC Sounds and Orange Free Sound.

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A photograph of the Roman forum by Felix Bonfils in the 19th century. Source: Picryl.

Automated Transcript

Lightly edited for the Latin and our wonderful Australian accents!

Dr Rad 0:15
Welcome to the Partial Historians.

Dr G 0:19
We explore all the details of ancient Rome,

Dr Rad 0:23
everything from political scandals, the love affairs, the battles wage and when citizens turn against each other, I’m Dr Rad

Dr G 0:33
And I’m Dr G, we consider Rome as the Romans saw it, by reading different authors from the ancient past and comparing their stories.

Dr Rad 0:44
Join us as we trace the journey of Rome from the founding of the city.

Dr G 0:55
Hello and welcome to a brand new episode of the Partial Historians. I am Dr G.

Dr Rad 1:03
And I am Dr Rad.

Dr G 1:05
And we are super thrilled to be here for what is the cusp; the very moment of transition. We’re going to be talking about 400 BCE.

Dr Rad 1:18
I know. Do you remember when we were young and we started this podcast, and now we’re middle aged, and we not even at the better known parts of Roman history yet.

Dr G 1:27
Goodness me, oh, you know, I like being in these lands of Rome’s just developing. What is it? Why is it? Nobody really knows.

Dr Rad 1:38
I know. Yeah, well, it’s easy to do a bit of a recap of where we were at last time in ancient Rome. Dr, G, because in 401 we hit a momentous milestone for ancient Rome. That’s right after all this conflicting of the orders that we’ve had going on for, oh, I don’t know, maybe like 85 years. Maybe longer, plenty, actually, no, 95 years. Yeah, 95 years. After 95 years of having conflict of the orders dominating our narrative, we finally got a plebeian elected due to serve in 400 BCE as a military tribune with consular power, which, okay, it’s not the consulship, but it is the most powerful magistracy that will exist at this moment in time.

Dr G 2:30
And let’s not disparage this position, because a military tribune with consular power has all of the effective means of the consul role, plus all of the added bonus of the military, I suppose, which exactly the consul had already, I don’t know.

Dr Rad 2:50
Yeah, they just don’t get the snooty patrician ability to be like, we’re patrician and you’re not, and we do the religious rights in this particular realm, and you don’t, and we have fancy shoes and you don’t!

Dr G 3:06
Ah, it’s the fancy shoes that get you every time it is.

Dr Rad 3:10
Manolo Blahnik should be all over that one ancient Rome, yeah.

Dr G 3:16
Well, I think this is because it’s such a momentous occasion. I think we need to dive in because I’m not sure that our source material is necessarily agreeing with each other, Dr. Rad.

Dr Rad 3:29
Controversy. All right, let’s do it. Dr, G, let’s dive in to 400 BCE.

I’m dancing. I’m dancing.

Dr G 4:04
It’s 400 BCE, and we have six military tribunes with consular power.

Dr Rad 4:12
Alright. Dr, G, tell me who they are, because I believe there is some confusion around the names for this year.

Dr G 4:19
There may very well be, and I put it to you that there’s a whole bunch of names in here that don’t sound patrician. First of all, we have Publius Licinius Calvus Esquilinus, question mark, not a patrician. We haven’t had a Calvus before.

Dr Rad 4:39
No, this is definitely, this is the guy. THIS is the guy. Dr G, this is the one.

Dr G 4:44
Oh okay,