The following individuals held the position of Tribune of the Plebs (Tribunus Plebis) during the Roman Republic, starting with the creation of the office in 493 BC.
|
|
Gnaeus Octavius was consul of the Roman Republic in 76 BC. His father Marcus Octavius was possibly either the Marcus who was the tribunus plebis in 133 BC, political opponent of Tiberius Gracchus, or the Marcus who was also tribunus plebis and brought forward a law raising the price at which corn was sold to the people. A member of the Plebeian gens Octavia, Gnaeus Octavius was elected Praetor by 79 BC at the latest. He may have been the praetor urbanus who introduced the Formula Octaviana, a law which provided for the restoration of property and money which had been obtained by violent acts, or by threats of violence.Brennan, pg.
|
|
Lucius Caesetius Flavus (fl. 1st century BC) was a Roman politician and tribune of the people (tribunus plebis). He is best known for his involvement in the diadem incident just before the assassination of Julius Caesar. As Caesar's power grew, someone placed a diadem on the statue of Caesar on the Rostra, implying he was now King.
|
|
Marcus Octavius is tribune of the Plebs in 133 BC, political opponent of Tiberius Gracchus, possibly son of Gnaeus Octavius, consul in 165 BC;. Marcus Octavius was a name used for men among the gens Octavia. Marcus was one of the four chief praenomina used by the Octavii, the other three being Gaius, Gnaeus and Lucius. The most known member was the tribunus plebis in 133 BC and colleague-turned-opponent of Tiberius Gracchus.
|
|
Bunson (1994), 80. Julius Caesar had been granted similar powers, wherein he was charged with supervising the morals of the state. However, this position did not extend to the censor's ability to hold a census and determine the Senate's roster. The office of the tribunus plebis began to lose its prestige due to Augustus's amassing of tribunal powers, so he revived its importance by making it a mandatory appointment for any plebeian desiring the praetorship.
|
|
A military tribune (Latin tribunus militum, "tribune of the soldiers", Greek chiliarchos, χιλίαρχος) was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion. Young men of Equestrian rank often served as military tribune as a stepping stone to the Senate.Dio, LXVII, 2. The tribunus militum should not be confused with the elected political office of tribune of the people (tribunus plebis) nor with that of tribunus militum consulari potestate.
|
|
Quintus Ancharius was a politician in the 1st century BCE in Ancient Rome. He was tribunus plebis in 59 . He took an active part in opposing the agrarian law of Julius Caesar, and in consequence of his services to the aristocracy of Rome was made praetor in 56, during which time he was a juror in the case of Publius Sestius under Lex Plautia Papiria. Ancharius received the province of Macedonia the following year, succeeding Lucius Piso.
|
|
As tribunus plebis in 44 BC, Canutius was violently opposed to Marcus Antonius, one of Caesar's closest allies. In the aftermath of Caesar's murder, a rift developed between Antonius and Octavianus, Caesar's grandnephew. Towards the end of October, Octavianus approached the city of Rome, and Canutius went out to meet him, in order to learn his intentions. Upon Octavianus declaring against Antonius, Canutius conducted him into the city, and spoke to the people on his behalf.
|
|
Gnaeus Ogulnius was a Roman politician in the early 3rd century BC. He served as tribunus plebis in 300 BC and as aedilis curulis in 296. He was a member of the plebeian gens Ogulnia. Livy accused Gnaeus and his brother, Quintus Ogulnius, of cravenly pandering to the lower classes with their proposal to increase the number of high priests and priests of the augurs, and to allow plebes to hold these offices for the first time (the proposal was dubbed the "Ogulnia Law").Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 10.6 During their career, they combated usury.
|
|
It might also be noted that Cicero's expression of this attitude is double-edged: like Marius and the Valerii Sorani, he was also a man from a municipium, and had to overcome the same obstructing biases that he adopts and expresses.Elizabeth Rawson, Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), p. 34 et passim. In 82 BC, the year of his death, Valerius Soranus was or had been a tribune of the people (tribunus plebis), a political office open only to those of plebeian rather than patrician birth.
|
|
Publius Servilius Rullus was a member of the Roman gens Servilia and in 40 BC a cavalry leader of Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus). He was probably a son of the tribunus plebis of the same name and is only mentioned in autumn 40 BC as cavalry leader of Octavian. In the winter 41/40 BC Octavian had won the Perusinian War against Lucius Antonius and Fulvia, who were the brother and the wife of the triumvir Mark Antony respectively. A half year later, in autumn 40 BC, Mark Antony returned from his sojourn in the East of the Roman Empire, but was not allowed to land with his fleet in the harbour of Brundisium.
|
|
This second episode is based on events that took place in 50 BC and 49 BC. Caesar's proconsulship in Gaul is about to expire, which would mean a loss of the office's immunity against prosecution by his political enemies. He had faced the same situation five years prior, but at that time his command had been extended with the help of his allies Pompey and Marcus Crassus. This time Caesar cannot count on his former allies, as Pompey has openly turned against him, and Crassus was killed in 53 BC at the battle of Carrhae. Caesar instead has to rely on Mark Antony for his political maneuvering: newly elected to the office of Tribune of the People (tribunus plebis), Mark Antony has veto power in the Roman Senate.
|
|
The events of the Mithridatic Wars survive only in the Periochae. The term “Mithridatic War” appears only once in Livy, in Periocha 100. The Third Mithridatic War was going so badly that the Senators of both parties combined to get the Lex Manilia passed by the Tribal Assembly removing command of the east from Lucullus and others and giving it instead to Pompey. The words of the Periocha are C. Manilius tribunus plebis magna indignatione nobilitatis legem tulit, ut Pompeio Mithridaticum bellum mandaretur, “Gaius Manilius, Tribune of the People, carried the law despite the great indignation of the nobility that the Mithridatic War be mandated to Pompey.” The “nobility” are the Senate, who usually had the privilege of mandates. There is a possible pun on “great,” as Pompey had received the title of “The Great” in the service of Sulla, the original recipient of the mandate.
|
|
Tribunus plebis, rendered in English as tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune, was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of the Roman Senate and magistrates. These tribunes had the power to convene and preside over the Concilium Plebis (people's assembly); to summon the senate; to propose legislation; and to intervene on behalf of plebeians in legal matters; but the most significant power was to veto the actions of the consuls and other magistrates, thus protecting the interests of the plebeians as a class. The tribunes of the plebs were sacrosanct, meaning that any assault on their person was punishable by death. In imperial times, the powers of the tribunate were granted to the emperor as a matter of course, and the office itself lost its independence and most of its functions.
|
|
The inscription in footnote 1 The Athenians awarded him a statue with an inscription in the Theater of Dionysus (IG II2 3286) offering a detailed account of his cursus honorum thus far.The Athenian inscription confirms and expands the one in Historia Augusta; see John Bodel, ed., Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History From Inscriptions. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006, , p. 89His career in office up to 112/113 is attested by the Athens inscription, 112 AD: CIL III, 550 = InscrAtt 3 = IG II, 3286 = Dessau 308 = IDRE 2, 365: decemvir stlitibus iudicandis/ sevir turmae equitum Romanorum/ praefectus Urbi feriarum Latinarum/ tribunus militum legionis II Adiutricis Piae Fidelis (95, in Pannonia Inferior)/ tribunus militum legionis V Macedonicae (96, in Moesia Inferior)/ tribunus militum legionis XXII Primigeniae Piae Fidelis (97, in Germania Superior)/ quaestor (101)/ ab actis senatus/ tribunus plebis (105)/ praetor (106)/ legatus legionis I Minerviae Piae Fidelis (106, in Germania Inferior)/ legatus Augusti pro praetore Pannoniae Inferioris (107)/ consul suffectus (108)/ septemvir epulonum (before 112)/ sodalis Augustalis (before 112)/ archon Athenis (112/13).
|
|