Tribuni plebis ou tribuni militum? Le tribunat originel dans la Haute République de Rome (Ve-IVe s. av. J.-C.)
(2011) Les études classiques — Vol. 79, n° 3-4, p. 347-360 (2011)
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- (en) According to the tradition transmitted by the narratives of Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Rome was, in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, a young Republic, the main characteristic of which was to be the duality of its society. Moreover, this social dualism patriciate/plebs would have been coupled with an institutional dualism consuls/tribunes of the plebs. Now recent studies (in particular those of T.P. Wiseman) tend to show that the consulate would definitively have been established only during the licinian-sextian reforms (367 BC). Under these conditions, the traditional representation of the tribunate makes no sense anymore. The present study aims at redefining the identity of the original tribunes, which in all probability would have been military leaders until consuls were definitely created. The various arguments tackled are the famous testimony of Varro (LL, 5, 81), the cases of opposition to the dilectus (military recruitment), the second secession of the plebs, the progressive increase of the tribunes number in a political and military perspective and, the last but not the least, a fundamental testimony of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (X, 43 and 45), which has often been forgotten.
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Meunier, N. (2011). Tribuni plebis ou tribuni militum? Le tribunat originel dans la Haute République de Rome (Ve-IVe s. av. J.-C.). Les études classiques, 79(3-4), 347-360. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/207002 (Original work published 2011)