The ''lex Aternia Tarpeia'' was a Roman law, introduced by the

consuls A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

Aulus Aternius Varus } Aulus Aternius Varus Fontinalis ( 454–449 BC) was consul in 454 BC, with Spurius Tarpeius Montanus Capitolinus. The consuls of the previous year, Titus Romilius and Gaius Veturius Cicurinus had defeated the Aequi at Mount Algidus, but were ...

and

Spurius Tarpeius Montanus Capitolinus Spurius Tarpeius Montanus Capitolinus was consul in 454 BC, with Aulus Aternius Varus. Consul The consuls of the previous year, Titus Romilius and Gaius Veturius Cicurinus had defeated the Aequi at Mount Algidus, but were now prosecuted for hav ...

in 454 BC, and passed during their year of office. The law concerned the regulation of payments for fines and penalties.''Cambridge Ancient History'', vol. VII, part 2, p. 123.

Background

The law was promulgated against a background of tensions between the plebeian and patrician orders. The year after their successful campaign against the Aequi, the consuls Titus Romilius Rocus Vaticanus and

Gaius Veturius Cicurinus Gaius Veturius Cicurinus was a Roman consul in 455 BC with Titus Romilius Rocus Vaticanus. His term saw continued divisions between the plebeians and the patricians. His father was named Publius Veturius Cicurinus, possibly identifying him ...

were prosecuted by Gaius Calvius Cicero, one of the tribunes of the plebs, on the grounds that

the soldiers The Soldiers is a singing trio consisting of serving British Army soldiers, whose debut album, ''Coming Home'', was released on 26 October 2009, and who have since continued their singing career whilst remaining full-time army personnel. Signe ...

had been deprived of their spoils. Romilius was fined 10,000 '' asses'', and Veturius 15,000. The ''lex Aternia Tarpeia'' was introduced in order to regulate such fines.

Provisions

The law drew upon

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

precedent, as Solon's laws allowed fines levied in livestock to be transmuted into coinage. After the prosecution of Romilius and Veterius, Roman emissaries were sent to study Greek law; according to tradition, they went to Athens, but they may instead have drawn on the laws of

Magna Graecia Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these re ...

, a region of Greek colonies in southern Italy. The best known result of this commission was the establishment of the

Decemvirs The decemviri or decemvirs (Latin for "ten men") were some of the several 10-man commissions established by the Roman Republic. The most important were those of the two Decemvirates, formally the " decemvirate with consular power for writing ...

, who held power from 451 to 449, and established the Twelve Tables of Roman law. The ''lex Aternia Tarpeia'' seems to have been an earlier result of the commission's findings. It is not mentioned by

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...

Dionysius The name Dionysius (; el, Διονύσιος ''Dionysios'', "of Dionysus"; la, Dionysius) was common in classical and post-classical times. Etymologically it is a nominalized adjective formed with a -ios suffix from the stem Dionys- of the name ...

, but was described by

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

Aulus Gellius Aulus Gellius (c. 125after 180 AD) was a Roman author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome. He is famous for his ''Attic Nights'', a commonplace book, or ...

, and is alluded to by Pliny. Before the new law, fines had generally been levied in livestock; for minor offences, fines ranged from two sheep up to thirty oxen. Dionysius mentions a maximum fine of two oxen and thirty sheep, although Gellius gives the reverse.Dionysius, x. 50.Gellius, ''Attic Nights'', xi. 1. The value of fines was naturally dependent on the quality of the livestock, which could be highly inconsistent. The ''lex Aternia Tarpeia'' is said to have addressed this defect by establishing an equivalence scale: ten ''asses'' for a sheep, and one hundred for an ox. Some scholars suggest that the law did no more than regulate the maximum fine, or ''suprema multa'', and that the change from fines of property to fines in bronze was the result of the ''lex Julia Papiria'', a law passed in 430 BC.

Notes

References

{{reflist

Bibliography

Marcus Tullius Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

, ''

De Republica ''De re publica'' (''On the Commonwealth''; see below) is a dialogue on Roman politics by Cicero, written in six books between 54 and 51 BC. The work does not survive in a complete state, and large parts are missing. The surviving sections derive ...

''. *

Dionysius of Halicarnassus Dionysius of Halicarnassus ( grc, Διονύσιος Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἁλικαρνασσεύς, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary sty ...

, ''Romaike Archaiologia'' (Roman Antiquities). * Titus Livius (

), ''

History of Rome The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced m ...

''. * Gaius Plinius Secundus (

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

), '' Historia Naturalis'' (Natural History). *

, ''Noctes Atticae'' (Attic Nights). * Barthold Georg Niebuhr, ''The History of Rome'', Julius Charles Hare and Connop Thirlwall, trans., John Smith, Cambridge (1828). * ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'' is an English language encyclopedia first published in 1842. The second, improved and enlarged, edition appeared in 1848, and there were many revised editions up to 1890. The encyclopedia covered law ...

'', William Smith, ed., Little, Brown, and Company, Boston (1859). * F.W. Walbank, A.E. Astin, M.W. Frederiksen, and R.M. Ogilvie, ''The Cambridge Ancient History'', Cambridge University Press (1990).

External links