After the expulsion of the kings, Rome was ruled by its aristocrats (patricians) who abused their privileges. This led to a struggle between the people (plebeians) and the aristocrats which is referred to as the Conflict of the Orders or the Struggle of the Orders. In resolving the conflict between plebeians and patricians, by the time of the lex Hortensia (named after a plebeian dictator) in 287, the aristocrats had given up most of their privileges, although they retained vestigial and religious privileges.After the expulsion of the last king, Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud), monarchy was abolished in Rome. In its place were 2 annually-elected magistrates called consuls, who served throughout the Republic, except when there was a dictator (or military tribune with consular powers) or a 10-man decemvirate.This article looks at events leading to the laws referred to as the 12 Tablets which were codified in 449 B.C.
The magistrates, judges and priests of the new republic all came from the patrician order, or upper class. Unlike the patricians, the lower class plebeians may have suffered under this early Republican structure more than they had under monarchy, since they now had, in effect, many rulers. During the first few centuries of the Republic the number of chafing plebeians increased. This was partly because their numbers naturally increased and partly because neighboring Latin tribes granted citizenship by treaty with Rome, were enrolled in the Roman tribes.
"Gaius Terentilius Harsa was a tribune of the plebs that year. Thinking that the absence of the consuls afforded a good opportunity for tribunitian agitation, he spent several days in haranguing the plebeians on the overbearing arrogance of the patricians. In particular he inveighed against the authority of the consuls as excessive and intolerable in a free commonwealth, for whilst in name it was less invidious, in reality it was almost more harsh and oppressive than that of the kings had been, for now, he said, they had two masters instead of one, with uncontrolled, unlimited powers, who, with nothing to curb their licence, directed all the threats and penalties of the laws against the plebeians."
Livy 3.9
The plebeians were oppressed by hunger, poverty and powerlessness. Allotments of land didn't solve the problems of poor farmers whose tiny plots stopped producing when overworked. Some plebeians whose land was sacked by the Gauls couldn't afford to rebuild, so they were forced to borrow. Interest rates were exorbitant, but since land couldn't be used for security, farmers in need of loans had to enter into contracts (nexa), pledging personal service. Farmers who defaulted (addicti), could be sold into slavery or even killed. Grain shortages led to famine which repeatedly (among others: 496, 492, 486, 477, 476, 456 and 453 B.C.) compounded the problems of the poor.
Some patricians were making a profit and gaining slaves, even if the people to whom they lent money defaulted, but Rome was more than just the patricians. It was becoming the main power in Italy and would soon become the dominant Mediterranean power, so what it needed was a fighting force. Since there weren't enough patricians to do all the fighting the young republic engaged in with its neighbors, the patricians soon realized they needed strong, healthy, young plebeian bodies to defend Rome.
