Abstract:
Although nominally founded in 509 BC, many central features of Rome’s early Republic were formed much later during periods of intense state formation during the course of the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Perhaps the most important of these occurred during the middle of the 5th century BC where, with the promulgation of the Twelve Tables in 451/450 and the creation of the quaestorship in 446 BC, the so-called consular tribunate in 444 BC, and the censorship in 443 BC, in only 8 short years Rome experienced a dramatic socio-political transformation. Although still often viewed independently, since the mid of the 19th century scholarship has shown that many (if not all) of these developments are likely linked and can be viewed as part of a single set of reforms designed to organize Rome’s evolving population. The present paper will focus on the final two developments in this period, the creation of the censorship and the office of the consular tribunes, in an effort to draw out these links and make a few plausible suggestions about what they may tell us about the nature of Roman society during this period. In particular, the paper will argue for a reinterpretation of origins of these two offices which sees them not merely as part of a (possibly failed) compromise in the larger Struggle of the Orders, but as key developments in the creation of a unified Roman state.
