During the fifth and fourth centuries of the Roman Republic, Rome faced internal class conflict. Patricians, the noble class, held claim to certain social and political rights and privileges that plebeians, a group which consisted of the largest portion of Roman citizens, wanted extended to their class, as well. This conflict is known as the “Struggle of the Orders.” During the “Struggle,” plebeians slowly made gains into obtaining more rights and more political power for their class. A few key events are especially critical to what the plebeians finally achieved. These significant events are the first secession that led to the creation of the tribuni plebis and the concilium plebis, the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia, the passage of a law that made it legal for patricians and plebeians to intermarry, and finally, the passage of the lex Hortensia during the last secession.

The first secession of the plebs was a critical event in the “Struggle of the Orders” because of what it created for the plebeians. During a secession, plebeians needed for service in the military would depart outside of the walls of Rome and hold out until leaders addressed their complaints. This proved to be a very effective strategy because the plebeians made up the bulk of the military, which Rome depended on during times of war. As a result of their first secession, the Roman plebeians won the right to elect their own leaders, the tribuni plebis, a ten man tribune of the plebs. The tribune of the plebs was created to address the problems of the plebeian class and protect them against abuses by patrician magistrates. Such a group had never existed before; prior to the tribune, plebeians were at the mercy of magistrates. This new sphere of protection makes the creation of the tribunes an important success for the plebeian class. Auxilium, the giving of aid, was an important role of the tribune of the plebs and provided support for plebeians who would have before faced abuse. The tribunes had authority in their role and could involve themselves physically to free a plebeian from an official or stop an official from seizing the plebeian. As time went on, the tribunes gained powers and functions that extended their role beyond leadership and protection. Eventually, tribunes of the plebs were able to block or veto official actions that they determined unlawful or improper, call together the senate to address plebeian concerns, and propose actual legislation. They could call together the concilium plebis, or plebeian assembly, to elect leaders or rule on the passage of laws. When a law was vetoed, only a dictator could override it, so this power gave the plebeian class important authority. The ability of the tribunes to propose and prevent legislation protected plebeians from laws that would be unjust to them. The development of the tribunes of the plebs and its gradual increase in authority to protect plebeians makes the first secession and the creation of the tribunes of the plebs an important event of the “Struggle.”

Another critical event of the “Struggle of the Orders” was the creation and passage of the lex Licinia Sextia. The significance of this event is demonstrated in what the laws gave to the plebeians. Created by two tribunes of the plebs, Gaius Licinius Stolo and Lucius Sextius Lateranus, the laws addressed concerns of property, debt, and office holding. The most critical laws were the ones about office holding. The lex Licinia Sextia established the office of consul as the highest office in Rome and allowed plebeians to hold that highest office. This law would later be strengthened by a man named Lucius Genucius who would establish that at least one of the consuls had to be plebeian. In theory, having a plebeian in office would mean having plebeian issues better addressed than they would otherwise be by a patrician. This event is an important element in the “Struggle” because it ended with the plebeians gaining considerably more power than before the conflict began not only because they could become consul, but because serving as consul meant that they could also serve in the Senate. The lex Licinia Sextia also established in law and in writing the plebeian right to hold high office, which eliminated some of the longstanding superiority of the patrician class. No longer were patricians so distinctively politically privileged.

The passage of a law that allowed patricians and plebeians to intermarry was another critical element of the “Struggle of the Orders.” Previously, in Table XI of the Law of the Twelve Tables, intermarriage between the two classes was forbidden. This law fixed people within their class and limited social mobility. In the mid-fifth century, around 445 BC, patricians and plebeians gained the right to intermarry. Obtaining the right to intermarry is critical because plebeians could thereafter marry into the patrician class and increase the social standing of them and their family, as well as obtain powers and privileges once denied to them. Not only did the law provide benefit for the plebeian class, but for patricians, too. Impoverished Roman aristocrats could marry into a rich plebeian family for financial support. What also makes this law one of the most critical events in the “Struggle” is that eventually there was no significant difference between the patricians and the plebeians at the top of society; both groups had similar interests and similar goals. The extension of the right to intermarry also signals a change in the way people thought about social class and about the rights of people born into a certain high or low status.

During the plebs third and final secession of the “Struggle of the Orders,” dictator Quintus Hortensius supported a law known as the lex Hortensia. Its passage is another critical event of the “Struggle of the Orders.” The lex Hortensia established that any law enacted by the concilium plebis, the plebeian assembly, had to be recognized by every Roman citizen, not just by plebeians. This is a critical event of the “Struggle” because no longer did patricians or the senate have to approve a law for it to become binding. The concilium plebis did not need the approval of the senate to enact a law. The acceptance of the lex Hortensia represents a shift in the distribution of power that did not exist before the “Struggle,” and it shows that the plebeians were making gains in achieving the political and social rights once denied to them that the “Struggle” had begun for them to obtain. The passage of the lex Hortensia is the fulfillment of what the plebeians struggled for because not only did they finally have political power, but they had power that extended to the whole citizenry of Rome.

The “Struggle of the Orders” lasted over two centuries of the early Roman Republic. During those years, plebeians made increasing gains toward achieving political and social rights that had before been exclusive to the patrician class and denied them. Critical events made up the “Struggle” and slowly increased the power of the plebeians. The most crucial of these events are the first secession that led to the formation of the ten man tribuni plebis and the concilium plebis to serve the needs of the plebeian class, the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia that allowed plebeians to serve in the high office of consul, the passage of a law that made it legal for patricians and plebeians to intermarry, and finally the passage of the lex Hortensia during the last secession that made all laws passed by the plebeian assembly binding to the entire Roman population.