리키니우스-섹스티우스 법의 배경과 영향에 관한 재평가

Abstract

The Licinian-Sextian laws have been generally regarded as such a landmark in the political and constitutional history of the early Roman Republic. One takes them as a plebeian victory, while the other takes them as a victory of the patrician-plebeian nobility, namely a failure of the plebeians. This paper aims to reappraise the nature and historical significance of these laws as well as to show the problems of the existing opinions by re-examining their backgrounds and influences. The beginning of the event in question was related to the administrative reorganization of the government carried out by Rome in the early 4th century BCE. The new administrative reform thoroughly excluded the wealthy plebeians, to whom political participation had only been legally allowed. It should be remembered that what the two plebeian tribunes wanted was not a revival of the consulships, but a place for the plebeians among the consulships that the nobles tried to revive. The wealthy plebeians, unable to carry their points, again framed their argument as a struggle between the patricians and the plebeians, that is, a ‘Struggle of the Orders’, rather than a struggle between the patricians and the wealthy plebeians to gain the support of the ordinary plebeians. By highlighting the land and debt problems, they succeeded in attracting the participation of the common people, who had been indifferent to the political conflicts over the restoration of the consulship. The fact that the legislation, which was introduced as a protest from the wealthy plebeians against the patrician-led administrative reform, was passed through the collective support of the common people, proves that the ‘Struggle of the Orders’ is still valid as a framework for understanding the laws of the two tribunes. The Licinian-Sextian laws, which once again legally permitted the political participation of the wealthy plebeians, certainly contributed both to the formation of an oligarchic nobility made up of the moderate patricians and the wealthy and ambitious plebeians, and to the growth of the senate as an important institution of this new class. However, arguments that have emphasized only the formation of the patrician-plebeian nobility have overlooked the political influence of the ordinary plebeians who played a decisive role in the passage of the laws. By not only declaring the principle of power sharing between the patricians and the plebeians, but also reaffirming the importance of political communication between leaders and supporters, the Licinian-Sextian laws served to show the future direction for the plebeian assembly as well as the senate to grow into the important decision-making bodies of the Roman Republic that they became.