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School History of Rome, Abridged From General History of Rome by C. Puller
School History of Rome Abridged From General History of Rome by C Puller Author:Charles Merivale General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1877 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: It should be observed that at the same time that the decrees of the Comitia Tributa were made binding upon the whole Roman people, the patricians and their clients were inscribed upon the roll of the tribes. It is also worthy of remark that Valerius and Iloratius were the first Roman magistrates who actually bore the title of consuls. Previous to their time the chief officers of the state were called praetors. CHAPTER IX. CONTINTATION OF THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN PATRICIANS ASD PLEBEIANS. WARS WITH NEIGHBOURING NATIONS. Notwithstanding the progress which the plebeians had made in freeing their order from the oppression of the Roman aristocracy, there still remained very substantial differences between the political condition of the two classes. This inequality was mainly supported by the exclusive right to perform the ceremonies of religion still rigidly maintained by the patricians. It was accounted a profanation for any but a patrician to approach the altars of the presiding deities of Rome. Thus the pontifices and the augurs still belonged to the higher class, and without their sanction no votes could be given, no proceedings could be valid in the popular assemblies. Moreover, the consuls and the other curule magistrates were charged with certain sacred functions, and for this reason no plebeian had as yet been admitted to fill those high offices. It was no doubt in this direction that the plebeians looked for their next step in advance. They strongly resented the sharp line of demarcation which had been drawn by the decemvirs between the two orders, when they prohibited intermarriage between them. In...« less