From the very beginning of the city—and probably long before—the inhabitants were divided into two orders (exclusive of "slaves")—viz., householders and their dependents, better known perhaps as "patricians" (from pater, a father) and "clients" (i.e., " listeners," from eluere, listen"). The former alone possessed political—i,e„ burgess-rights. It was they who exclusively constituted the papaw ("the people"); the clients had no political existence whatever. How this latter class originated we do not know, but " superiors" and "inferiors" exist everywhere, and there Is really nothing wonderful in the phenomena, except the rigor of their political subjection, In a thriving community like the Roman, which seems to have always held a somewhat isolated and antagonistic position to the other Latin cantons, such as refu gees and the like, would be frequent; and these alien settlers, it is clear, never obtained (except under very special circumstances) the privileges of the original Roman That the clients formed a body essentially different front the plebs is not true, and seems based merely on the mythical account of what followed the destruction of Alba Loup by Tullus Hostilius, The name plebs (i.e„ "the multitudd," from the same root as I)ce), I fill, plenus, full; with which is perhaps connected the other Latin word ralgtA Zug. _folk), is doubtless, as its signification indicates, of later origin than cientes; but both are applicable to the same persons, who were called ''listeners," in reference to their being dependents on the different burgess-households, amid the " multitude," in reference to their want of political rights. The constitution of the state was simple. All the burgesses were politically on a footing of equality. From their own ranks was chosen the king or " leader" (rex), who was therefore nothing more than an ordinary burgess—a husbandman, a trader, a warrior, set over his fellows. But it must at the same time be observed that his authority was great, for the Roman state was based on the Roman household, and something of the absoluteness of the patria pottstas appears in the uneireumscribed nature of the regal powers. The rca' held his office for life; he consulted the national gods; he appointed the priests and priestesses; he called out the popules for war, and led the army in person; his command (imperimm) was not to be gainsaid, on which account on all official occasions he was preceded by '• messengers" or "summoners' (Tictores, from licere, summon," though commouly given from ligo, •' to hind"), bearing the "fasces" (axes and rods tied up together), the symbols of power and punishment; he had the keys of the public chest, and he was supreme judge in all civil and criminal suits. The Roman religion or cultes was from the first thoroughly subordinate to the authority of the state: and all that we can infer from the mph of Nunut is that Rome perhaps owed its colleges of augurs and pontiff to the wisdom of some enlightened sovereign who felt himself at times embarrassed in his decisions on matters of religions and puldie law, and recognized how valuable might be the aid afforded him by a body of sacred experts. We may rest certain that originally the sole pOwer was the regal, and that the subordinate magistracies found at a later time arose from a delegation of regal authority, rendered by the ceaseless increase of state business. "All the officials of the earliest period," says Mommsen (who has expounded this view with admirable sagacity in his chapter on the " Original Constitution of Rome"), "the extraordinary city-warden (werfectus vrbi, who doubtless governed in the absence of the re.v), as well as those who were probably Dominated regularly, the 'trackers of foul murder' (qucesior•e3 pirriciclii), and the 'leaders of division' (Ireland, from tribes, part) of the infantry (milites), and of tile cavalry (celeres), were mere royal commissioners, and not magistrates in the subsequent sense of the term." On the other hand, we may believe that the senates, or council of the elders, from its very nature, was as old an institution as the monarchy itself, Among the very first things the "citizen-king" would do, would be to choose out of the ranks of his fellow-bargesses a number of experienced men to assist him with their counsel; but it is to be observed that this body possessed no coercive or constraining powers. They gave their advice when the rex chose to ask it; that was all. Yet, as the tenure of their office was for life, they necessarily possessed great moral authority; and it was only when the king, the senate, and the community were at one in regard to any important matter—a war, for example—that it was held to be righteous, and likely to be favored by the gods. The burgesses, or householders, were divided into curiss—i.e., " wardships," connected probably with cure and curare, "to care for," rather than with pares, and the Sabine cures, as \ram thinks. Ten households formed-a Bens "clan" or "family"); 10 clans, or 100 households, formed a curia, or wardship ; and 10 wardships, or 100 clans, or 1000 households, formed the popeles, eicitas, or community. But as Rome was a synoikinmos of three cantons, the actual number of wards was 30, of clans 300, and of households 3,000. Every household had to furnish one foot-soldier (hence the Dame the "thousandth walker," from :nil, and co (9) " to go"), and every clan a horseman and a senator. Each ward was under the "care" of a special warden (the curio), had a priest of its own (the flamen curialls), and celebrated its own festivals. None but burgesses could bear arms in defense of the state (hence their designation, popeles, body," connected with populari, "to lay waste," and pope, priest, or priest's assistant, who felled the victim at the altar—the sacred butcher"). In the old litanies the blessing of Mars invoked upon the pilumnes poples (" the spear-armed warrior-hody"), and when the rex addressed them it was by the name of geirites ("lancemen," from gain's, or orris. a "lance," and eo, go"). The original Roman army, or legio (i.e., "the gathering"), was composed of three " hundreds" (centuries) of horsemen (celeres—i.e., " the swift," or jlexantes, wheelers"), under their divisional leaders (tritmni celerurn); and three "thousands" of footmen (atilites), also under divisional leaders (tribe ni mqi.tem), to whom are added a number of light-armed skirmishers ('relites), especially "archers" (arqui4.8). The rex, as we have said, was usually time gem, but as the cavalry force had a col. of its own (tnagister equiturn), it is probable that he placed himself at the head of the infantry. Military service was no doubt the prime duty of the Roman burgesses, but the king could impose upon them any labors that he reckoned necessary or advantageous to the welfare of tile state, such as the erection of public edifices, the tilling of the royal demesnes, the execution of royal commissions, or the building of the city walls.
The "foreign policy" of Rome seems to have been aggressive from the first, and this /character it retained as long as the aggrandizement of the state was possible. We have, it is true, no certain knowledge of the primitive struggles in which the enterprising and ambitious Roman burghers were-engaged, but it appears from the legend that at a very early period the neighboring Latin communities of Antenmre, Crustumerimn, FienInea, Medullia, Cmnina, Corniculum, Cameria, Collatia, were subjugated. The crisis of the Latin war, however, was undoubtedly the contest with*Albti Longa, in which that " sacred metropolis" of Latium was destroyed, and its leadership passed to the conqueror, How deadly the struggle between the two was, may be inferred from the tragic details in which the legend abounds. As a rule, on the subjugation of a canton, the conquered inhabitants were allowed to remain in their open hamlets, hut their capitolium was rated, their weekly market, their justice-court, their gods—everything, in short, strictly national—were removed to Rome, while they themselves were enrolled among the clients or plebs, But sowetiutes the inhabitants themselves, in whole or part, were transferred to Rome, and individuals or clans were even received into the ranks of the Roman burgesses, as in the case of Alba Longa. Some of the famous Roman genies claimed to be of Alban descent —the Servilii, Quint:Mil. Cloelii, Gegauii, Coriatii, and Metilii. The wars with the Etruscans of Fideme and Vcii—assigned, like the destruction of Alba Longo, to the reigu of Tullus llostilins—were apparently indecisive; those with the lIntuli and 'Volsci, however, were probably more fortunate; but uncertainty hangs like a thick mist over the ancient narrative. Even the story of the Tarquins, though it belongs to the later period of the monarchy, is in many of its details far from credible. .Both Niebuhr and Montmsen consider "Tarquin the proud" a historical personage, and without accepting literally all the circumstances of the tradition, believe the general outline—his character, his exactions, his expulsion, and his desperate efforts fcr the recovery of the throne—to be trustworthy. The memory of such a monarch was likely to be preserved by the very strength of the hatred he excited, and an act so daring as his expulsion (which was at the same time the death-knell of a system of government that had prevailed for ages) could hardly be a mere invention, though it might be overlapped with fold upon fold of picturesque fiction. The view taken by Napoleon I11. (see flisloire de „Tales Cesar, vol, i.). that the primitive monarchy bad served its purpose, and had consequently to (heap-. apear, is perhaps not CO erroneous as the oracular laurruage of the imperial author would lead us to suppose. The aristocracy or populas had become sc much more powerful than the individual rex, that they wished to possess de jure as well as de facto the supreme authority. The pride and tyranny of a Tarquin may very well have aided in furthering their designs.
Meanwhile a great internal change had taken place in Rome. This desig nated the Servian "reform of the constitution," although the expression is calculated to mislead, There was nothing directly political in the "reform." It was only a reform in the burgess-levy—i.e., in the mode of raising the army. Formerly, as we have seen, none hut burgesses could bear arms in defense of the state; but the increase of the general population. caused partly by the annexation of the conquered Latin communities, and partly by time, had totally altered the relation in which the non-burgesses, or plebs, originally stood to their political superiors. The plebs could, of course, acquire property and wealth, and could bequeath it just as legally as the populns• moreover, such of the Latin settlers as were wealthy and distinguished in their own communities, did not cease to be so when they were amalgamated with the Roman "multitude." It was therefore fell to be no longer judicious to-let the military burdens fall exclusively upon the old burgesses, while the rights of property were equally shared by the non-burgesses. Hence the new arrangement, known in Roman history as the formation of the condi ia centuri ate I. When or with whom the change originated it is impossible to say. The legend assigna it to Servins Tullius, predecessor of Tarquin the proud ; and it was in all proba bility the work of some kingly ruler who saw the necessity of reorganizing the national forces. That it cannot be regarded as a change brought about by party zeal. is obvious when we reflect that it conferred no rights, but cnly imposed duties on the plebeians, Its details were briefly as follows: Every Roman freeholder from the age of 17 to GO, whether patrician or plebeian, was made liable to serve in the army; hut he took his place according to the amount of his property. The freeholders were distributed into five classes (i.e., " summonings," from calare, to "summon" or "call out"), and these classes, all of whom were infantry, were again subdivided into cent aria ("buhdreds"). The first class, which required to possess propene 'slued at 100,000 aces. or an entire hide of land. furnished 82 hundreds;" the second. property valued at 75.000 aces, or of a hide of land, furnished 20 " hundreds:" the third, property valued at 50.000 aces, or hide of laud, furnished 20 "hundreds;" the fourth, property valued at 25.000 aces, or I. hide of land, furnished 20 "hundreds;" and the fifth, property valued at 12,500 aces, or hide of laud, furnished 32 "hundreds." A single "hundred" was, moreover, added from the ranks of the non-freeholders, or proletarii (mere children-begetters"), although it is possible that from the same order came the two "hundreds" of "horn blowers" (cornicines), and "trumpeters" (fib/e-rnes). attached to the fifth class. Thus the infantry "hundreds" amounted to 175. that is 17,500 men, besides whom were 18 "hun dreds" of equites (-• horsemen") chosen from the wealthiest burgesses and non-Iturgesses; so that the Roman army now numbered in all nearly 20,000 men. We have stated that the original design of this new arrangement was merely military, but it is easy to see 'that it would soon produce political results. Duties and rights are correlative. The former suggest the latter, and create a desire for their attainment. Hence the Servian military reform paved the way for the grand political struggle between the patricians and the plebeians. which commenced with the first year of the republic, and only terminated with its dissolution.