Shortly after the founding of the Republic, this conflict led to a secession from Rome by the Plebeians to the Sacred Mount at a time of war.
The most fundamental change, however, was the granting of tribunicia potestas (tribunician power) in which tribunes of the plebs could veto unfavorable legislation.
Unable to earn a sufficient income, many turned to the patricians for aid, which left them open to abuse and even enslavement.
[1][2] During the 5th century BC, there were a number of unsuccessful attempts to reform Roman agrarian laws to distribute newly conquered territories amongst the plebs.
In 471 BC, the Lex Publilia was passed, marking an important reform shifting practical power from the patricians to the plebeians.
Concerns that the patricians would attempt to influence future elections in this manner, or by obtaining the office themselves to prevent the plebeian tribunes from exercising their powers, led to the passage of the Lex Trebonia, forbidding the plebeian tribunes from co-opting their colleagues in the future.
Ultimately, a compromise was reached, and while the consulship remained closed to the plebeians, consular command authority (imperium) was granted to a select number of military tribunes.
Starting around the year 400 BC, a series of wars were fought against several neighboring tribes (in particular the Aequi, the Volsci, the Latins, and the Veii).
The disenfranchised plebeians, who made up significant portion of the army, grew restless from bloodshed while the patrician aristocracy enjoyed the fruits of the resulting conquests.
In 471 BC, a law was passed due to the efforts of the Tribune Volero Publilius,[8] which allowed the plebeians to organize by tribe, rather than by curia.
[8] During the regal period, the king nominated two equestrians to serve as his assistants, and after the overthrow of the monarchy, the Consuls retained this authority.
Before these laws were passed, tribunes could only interpose the sacrosanct of their person (intercessio) to veto acts of the Senate, assemblies, or magistrates.
Around the middle of the 4th century BC, however, the Plebeian Assembly enacted the "Ovinian Plebiscite" (plebiscitum Ovinium),[16] which gave the power to appoint new senators to the Roman censors.
[17] Several factors made it difficult for individuals from unknown families to be elected to high office, in particular the very presence of a long-standing nobility, as this appealed to the deeply rooted Roman respect for the past.
It was the dominance of the long-standing patrician nobility which ultimately forced the plebeians to wage their long struggle for political power.
The Plebeians seceded to the Janiculum Hill, and to end the secession, a dictator named Quintus Hortensius was appointed.
[25] The traditional account was long accepted as factual, but it has a number of problems and inconsistencies, and almost every element of the story is controversial today.
Another point of difficulty is the apparent absence of armed revolt; as the history of the late Republic shows, similar types of grievances tended to lead to bloodshed rather quickly, yet Livy's account seems to entail debate mostly, with the occasional threat of secessio.
None of this is helped by our basic uncertainty as to who the plebs actually were; many of them are known to have been wealthy landowners, and the "lower class" label dates from the late Republic.
[26][page needed] Some scholars, such as Richard E. Mitchell, have even argued that there was no conflict at all, the Romans of the late Republic having interpreted events of their distant past as if they were comparable to the class struggles of their own time.