The Popular Participation and the Tribunician Activities in the Mid-Republican Rome - Concerning the Decisions for ‘War and Peace’ and the Military Levy

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· 발행기관 : 한국서양고대역사문화학회
· 수록지 정보 : 서양고대사연구 / 38호 / 149 ~ 179페이지
· 저자명 : 김경현

초록

The ultimate aim of this article is to discuss whether the ordinary Romans could exert some influences over decisions for war and peace, and the military levy in the middle Republic, and what political roles were performed by the plebeian tribunes who were initially appointed to defend the interests of the commons against magisterial oppression. The traditional view has regarded the populus as no more than nominal sovereignty in the political decision-making process. But some historical instances examined above, although they are very limited, may rather show that Polybios’ judgment that the people had the power of deliberating on the weighty matters of state should not be neglected lightly. To argue that the Roman ordinary citizens were the real sovereignty in the question of war and peace is not my intention. It should not be neglected, however, that Roman constitution allowed the people to exert some influences over the senatorial decisions to make war and peace. The institutional device to guarantee expression of political opinions by the plebeians is also found in the military levy. The Roman citizens who refused their enrolment were liable to severe penalties, since the annual recruitment implies compulsion. But refusal of conscription had been employed as a way of the plebeians’ expressing opinions. The military levy also allowed the ordinary citizens to claim any exemption. In the Mid-Republican Rome, the popular participation in the political process of making the decisions for war and peace, and the military levy seems to be authorized by the Roman constitution.
It is natural that this popular participation and influence lead to the tribunician involvement in the plebeian discontent and disobedience toward war and peace, and military levy. It should be remembered, however, that the tribunes were no longer representatives of just one section of the whole Roman people. Moreover, they should not be regarded only as a political instrument who exerted their inherent powers in behalf of the senate or the powerful individual politicians. After being accepted as the part of the Roman constitution by the middle Republic, the tribunes became an important constituent which could not be neglected in the Roman constitution. The political roles which the tribunes played in the matters such as the decisions of war and peace and the military levy would be to facilitate political conversation among three parts of the Roman constitution demonstrated by Polybios. It seems, in other words, that the tribunes acted as go-between who created the political balance among the people, the senate, and the magistrates.

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