Unit 03: Class Structure and Gender Roles
Contents and layout ©1999 Joseph J. Hughes, Ph.D.
Revised 09 November 2000
Code of XII Tables senators (patres)
patricians nobiles
plebeians equestrians
Conflict of the Orders patron-client
Turia Arria
I. Women's role in early Rome
A. approach to study of women's role
1. prevailing theme in this class
a. will be discussed in conjunction with all themes
b. will be a paper opportunity for those interested
1). treatment of women in Roman times?
2). comparison of modern and Roman women?
2. we don't know all that much
a. general paucity of sources
b. men wrote most of the literature
3. your interpretations will be interesting
a. read the passages
b. be ready to talk
B. the mos maiorum on women
1. women defined only by family role
a. wives
b. mothers
c. daughters
2. always controlled by some man
a. father
b. husband
c. son or guardian (for widows)
3. pietas much prized
a. duty, devotion, loyalty
b. self-sacrifice for males
C. role models (useful for paper on women?)
1. Turia, the self-sacrificing wife of Q. Lucretius Vespillo
a. tracked down the murderers of her parents
b. unable to bear children
1). offered her husband a divorce
2). husband is irate at the suggestion
c. good wife in every other respect
1). spins wool, etc. like all other matronae
2). defers to her husband
d. goes over and above on numerous occasions
1). provides dowries for female relatives
2). saves husband with money and quick thinking
e. give Vespillo credit for appreciating his wife as a good person
2. Arria, the paragon of the -mos- -maiorum-
a. hides death of son from her husband
b. stabs herself first to assist husband's suicide
1). condemned to death by CCClavdivs
2). "Pætus, it does not hurt"
D. "scandalous" behavior (useful for paper on women?)
1. Sempronia, the educated debauchee
a. intelligent, pretty women considered dangerous
b. considered a sign of moral decline
2. negative traits attributed to women
a. luxury
b. lust/hysteria: backlash against strictures?
c. general uppityness (R 292 Oppian Law)
1). speech of Cato the elder
2). we'll meet him later
II. The class system at Rome
A. classes in the early Republic (L. res publica)
1. patricians (from L. pater)
a. considered "fathers" of the society at large
1). originally advisers of the king
2). therefore to be revered as an authority
b. movers and shakers of Roman society
1). owned much more land
2). also controlled political power
3). commanded army in time of war
c. possessed more privileges
1). could hold political office
2). could be senators
d. entrenched themselves in power
1). were a definite minority
2). could only be patrician by birth
3). tried to protect their privileges
2. plebeians (L. pleo "fill up")
a. looked upon as "children"
1). all of the stigma of being children
2). Cicero on aristocracy
3). their duty was to obey
4). proletarians = L. proles "offspring"
b. possessed fewer privileges
1). could not hold political office
2). could not marry patricians
3). legally inferior to patricians
c. not analogous to modern middle class
3. never really died out; only the names changed.
B. "conflict of the orders"
1. patricians' grip on control weakened slightly
a. we've seen the process in case of Coriolanus
b. bound to happen anywhere
2. plebeians agitated for more rights throughout early Republic
a. assisted by a few patricians
b. sources for "Conflict of the Orders" depressingly haphazard
1). amusing fables like that of Menenius Agrippa
2). dry legal documents
c. series of gradual, grudging concessions
3. plebeians gradually won rights down to 287 BC
a. establishment of tribuneship (tr. 492 BC)
b. right to marry patricians: lex Canuleia (445 BC)
c. codification of laws (451 BC, vide infra )
d. right to hold the consulship: lex Licinia Sextia (367 BC)
e. right of the People's Assembly to make laws: lex Hortensia (287 BC)
4. the new rights were basically theoretical
a. patricians still called the shots
b. real change was long in coming
c. THIS IS NOT A REAL DEMOCRACY!!!
C. law and the foundations of the class system
1. based first on the weight of the -mos- -maiorum-
a. the patrician landowners dominated the plebeian farmers
b. it worked, didn't it?
2. only later written into the laws (Code of XII Tables?, 451 BC)
a. laws designed to formalize the existing order
b. written primarily for benefit of upper classes
1). only the upper classes could interpret it
2). poor at the mercy of the upper classes
3. unequal justice for upper and lower classes
a. harsher penalties for the poor
1). not unlike today
2). explicit in the code
b. code of XII tables not that much of an advance in itself
1). tended to be obsessed with property rights (quoat)
2). still, it was written down
a). original perished in sack of Rome 390 BC
b). culled from quotations in other sources
3). antecedent of Roman contributions to law
a). often amended and superseded
b). never repealed
D. classes in the late Republic (consequence of Conflict of the Orders)
1. nobiles
a. result of "conflict of the orders"
1). intermarriage with wealthy plebeians
2). holders of the consulship (highest office)
3). the cream of the "senatorial" class
b. successor to patrician class
1). more open to men of ability
2). not protected by legal status
c. example of mos maiorum bending to necessary change
1). present system not working
2). admit up-and-coming people of lower birth
3). example of Roman genius
d. "aristocracy of wealth and office-holding"
2. senators (from L. senex)
a. political honor
1). must have held at least lowest political office
2). all nobiles automatically included
b. social prestige
1). also called patres ("fathers")
2). so rich they could devote themselves to state
3). not allowed to engage in business
c. formal advisory body to the elected officials
1). held most of the real clout
2). magistrates only served one year
d. gained more and more power over the years
1). government became more complicated
2). looked out for their own interests
3. equestrians
a. so-called from right to serve in the cavalry
b. two separate, but similar categories
1). possessors of lesser fortunes (400,000 HS)
2). concentrated on business
c. include two basic categories
1). members of Senatorial families who have never held office
2). domi nobiles: the big men and Senators from small towns
E. patron-client relationship (like The Godfather)
1. important all through Roman history
a. microcosm of following relationships
1). father-family
2). patrician-plebeian
3). Senate-people
4). Jupiter-universe
b. still exists all over the world today
2. obligations of patron (from L. -pater -)
a. serve as "father" to his plebeian clients
b. protect legal rights of his clients
c. provide limited financial assistance
3. obligations of client
a. early obligations
1). usually assist in political campaigns
2). serve under patron in wartime
b. later degraded into sycophantism
1). patrons could have higher-up patrons
2). Patronage over countries
F. recap of patriarchal stuff: good exam question someday?
1. paterfamilias : head of Roman nuclear family
2. patricians : originally the leading class at Rome
3. patres: another name for Senators
4. patronus: takes care of all his clients
5: Juppiter ("Shining Father"): father and leader of the Roman gods
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