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Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database



4527
Dionysius Of Halycarnassus, Roman Antiquities, 2.9


nan After Romulus had distinguished those of superior rank from their inferiors, he next established laws by which the duties of each were prescribed. The patricians were to be priests, magistrates and judges, and were to assist him in the management of public affairs, devoting themselves to the business of the city. The plebeians were excused from these duties, as being unacquainted with them and because of their small means wanting leisure to attend to them, but were to apply themselves to agriculture, the breeding of cattle and the exercise of gainful trades. This was to prevent them from engaging in seditions, as happens in other cities when either the magistrates mistreat the lowly, or the common people and the needy envy those in authority. <, He placed the plebeians as a trust in the hands of the patricians, by allowing every plebeian to choose for his patron any patrician whom he himself wished. In this he improved upon an ancient Greek custom that was in use among the Thessalians for a long time and among the Athenians in the beginning. For the former treated their clients with haughtiness, imposing on them duties unbecoming to free men; and whenever they disobeyed any of their commands, they beat them and misused them in all other respects as if had been slaves they had purchased. The Athenians called their clients thêtes or "hirelings," because they served for hire, and the Thessalians called theirs penestai or "toilers," by the very name reproaching them with their condition. <, But Romulus not only recommended the relationship by a handsome designation, calling this protection of the poor and lowly a "patronage," but he also assigned friendly offices to both parties, thus making the connexion between them a bond of kindness befitting fellow citizens. The regulations which he then instituted concerning patronage and which long continued in use among the Romans were as follows: It was the duty of the patricians to explain to their clients the laws, of which they were ignorant; to take the same care of them when absent as present, doing everything for them that fathers do for their sons with regard both to money and to the contracts that related to money; to bring suit on behalf of their clients when they were wronged in connexion with contracts, and to defend them against any who brought charges against them; and, to put the matter briefly, to secure for them both in private and in public affairs all that tranquillity of which they particularly stood in need. <


nan1.  After Romulus had distinguished those of superior rank from their inferiors, he next established laws by which the duties of each were prescribed. The patricians were to be priests, magistrates and judges, and were to assist him in the management of public affairs, devoting themselves to the business of the city. The plebeians were excused from these duties, as being unacquainted with them and because of their small means wanting leisure to attend to them, but were to apply themselves to agriculture, the breeding of cattle and the exercise of gainful trades. This was to prevent them from engaging in seditions, as happens in other cities when either the magistrates mistreat the lowly, or the common people and the needy envy those in authority.,2.  He placed the plebeians as a trust in the hands of the patricians, by allowing every plebeian to choose for his patron any patrician whom he himself wished. In this he improved upon an ancient Greek custom that was in use among the Thessalians for a long time and among the Athenians in the beginning. For the former treated their clients with haughtiness, imposing on them duties unbecoming to free men; and whenever they disobeyed any of their commands, they beat them and misused them in all other respects as if had been slaves they had purchased. The Athenians called their clients thêtes or "hirelings," because they served for hire, and the Thessalians called theirs penestai or "toilers," by the very name reproaching them with their condition.,3.  But Romulus not only recommended the relationship by a handsome designation, calling this protection of the poor and lowly a "patronage," but he also assigned friendly offices to both parties, thus making the connexion between them a bond of kindness befitting fellow citizens. The regulations which he then instituted concerning patronage and which long continued in use among the Romans were as follows: It was the duty of the patricians to explain to their clients the laws, of which they were ignorant; to take the same care of them when absent as present, doing everything for them that fathers do for their sons with regard both to money and to the contracts that related to money; to bring suit on behalf of their clients when they were wronged in connexion with contracts, and to defend them against any who brought charges against them; and, to put the matter briefly, to secure for them both in private and in public affairs all that tranquillity of which they particularly stood in need.


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appian, government, analysis of Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
aristotle Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
cassius dio, roman history, agrippa-maecenas debate Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
cicero (m. tullius cicero), de re publica Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
cicero (m. tullius cicero), government, analysis of Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
codex vaticanus graecus, government, analysis of Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
dicaearchus Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
dionysius of halicarnassus, government, analysis of Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
junius brutus, l. Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
monarchy, homonoia and' Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
plato Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
polybius, government, analysis of Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
republic, monarchy, transition from Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
romulus, plebs, people, relationship with Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
romulus Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51
tacitus (p. cornelius tacitus), government, analysis of Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51