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Land reform in the Roman republic was a system first attempted in the Roman Republic in 486 BC under the consulships of Spurius Cassius Vecellinus, and Proculus Verginius Tricostus Rutilus.
The first attempted land reforms in the Roman Republic occurred in 486 BC under the consulship of Spurius Cassius Vecellinus, and Proculus Verginius Tricostus Rutilus. After winning a war against the Hernici to the south, the consul Cassius attempted to pass a bill granting two-thirds of the Hernicians' land to the plebs, and Latin allies, with one half going to each. This bill would take some land owned by patricians and place it under public domain. The patricians immediately opposed this bill. Livy states this was the first and only proposal of land reform which did not immediately throw Rome into violence. The consul Verginius opposed this bill, and subsequently backed by the patricians. [1]
Now both consuls, backed by plebeian and patrician alike, vied for the neutral body of Romans. Verginius hurled accusations that Cassius was a secret ally of the Hernicians by allowing them to keep 1/3 of their lands. [1]
Verginius proposed the land be distributed only among the Roman citizens, and none should go to the Latin allies who assisted in taking it. Cassius replied by promising to give the Romans whatever Sicilian corn they received for free, yet this was seen as a bribe and only raised their suspicions of him. This move ruined his reputation and marked him for death. [1]
In 485 BC, Cassius' and Verginius' terms ended as consuls. Cassius was put to death. He was charged with treason by two quaestors, Caeso Fabius and Lucius Valerius. He was found guilty of this charge by the people and his house was burned to the ground. [1]
The plebeians quickly forgot about the land they had yet to receive when the patrician senate halted payment to the soldiers who fought in the following war against the Volscians and Æquans. The land was sold off by the consul Quintus Fabius and most likely bought up by the wealthier patrician class. [2] This event planted the seeds for hundreds of years of plebeian-patrician antagonism.
The Gracchi reforms were land reforms attempted in the Roman Republic in the 2nd century BC. They are explained in detail in the following articles:
The agrarian reform law required the transfer of land from the wealthy landowners to Rome's poorer citizens.
The Gracchian reform had no permanent effect, for they did nothing to change the conditions giving rise to land concentration in the first place. Some of the reform laws were soon repealed, while others continued but with weakened effects over time. Land problems plagued the Romans for all times thereafter. [3]
Appian adds that within 15 years, all of the progress done under the Gracchi had been overturned and the poor were in a much worse position than ever before, many reduced to unemployment. [4]
Under Cicero's term as Consul in 63 BC, Servilius Rullus proposed a land reform bill. Cicero opposed this and the Senate voted it down.
During Julius Caesar's first day as Consul in 59 BC, he proposed a bill similar to Rullus'. This is detailed in the article about the First Triumvirate.
Year 486 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Viscellinus and Rutilus. The denomination 486 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Spurius Cassius Vecellinus or Vicellinus was one of the most distinguished men of the early Roman Republic. He was three times consul, and celebrated two triumphs. He was the first magister equitum, and the author of the first agrarian law. The year following his last consulship, he was accused of aiming at regal power, and was put to death by the patricians.
The gens Cassia was a Roman family of great antiquity. The earliest members of this gens appearing in history may have been patrician, but all those appearing in later times were plebeians. The first of the Cassii to obtain the consulship was Spurius Cassius Vecellinus, in 502 BC. He proposed the first agrarian law, for which he was charged with aspiring to make himself king, and put to death by the patrician nobility. The Cassii were amongst the most prominent families of the later Republic, and they frequently held high office, lasting well into imperial times. Among their namesakes are the Via Cassia, the road to Arretium, and the village of Cassianum Hirpinum, originally an estate belonging to one of this family in the country of the Hirpini.
Agrarian laws were laws among the Romans regulating the division of the public lands, or ager publicus. In its broader definition, it can also refer to the agricultural laws relating to peasants and husbandmen, or to the general farming class of people of any society.
The gens Papiria was a patrician family at ancient Rome. According to tradition, the Papirii had already achieved prominence in the time of the kings, and the first Rex Sacrorum and Pontifex Maximus of the Republic were members of this gens. Lucius Papirius Mugillanus was the first of the Papirii to obtain the consulship in 444 BC. The patrician members of the family regularly occupied the highest offices of the Roman state down to the time of the Punic Wars. Their most famous member was Lucius Papirius Cursor, five times consul between 326 and 313 BC, who earned three triumphs during the Samnite Wars. Most of the Papirii who held office under the later Republic belonged to various plebeian branches of the family. Although the most illustrious Papirii flourished in the time of the Republic, a number of the family continued to hold high office during the first two centuries of the Empire.
The gens Marcia, occasionally written Martia, was one of the oldest and noblest houses at ancient Rome. They claimed descent from the second and fourth Roman Kings, and the first of the Marcii appearing in the history of the Republic would seem to have been patrician; but all of the families of the Marcii known in the later Republic were plebeian. The first to obtain the consulship was Gaius Marcius Rutilus in 357 BC, only a few years after the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia opened this office to the plebeians.
The gens Sempronia was one of the most ancient and noble houses of ancient Rome. Although the oldest branch of this gens was patrician, with Aulus Sempronius Atratinus obtaining the consulship in 497 BC, the thirteenth year of the Republic, but from the time of the Samnite Wars onward, most if not all of the Sempronii appearing in history were plebeians. Although the Sempronii were illustrious under the Republic, few of them attained any importance or notice in imperial times.
The gens Minucia was an ancient Roman family, which flourished from the earliest days of the Republic until imperial times. The gens was apparently of patrician origin, but was better known by its plebeian branches. The first of the Minucii to hold the consulship was Marcus Minucius Augurinus, elected consul in 497 BC.
The gens Verginia or Virginia was a prominent family at ancient Rome, which from an early period was divided into patrician and plebeian branches. The gens was of great antiquity. It frequently filled the highest honors of the state during the early years of the Republic. The first of the family who obtained the consulship was Opiter Verginius Tricostus in 502 BC, the seventh year of the Republic. The plebeian members of the family were also numbered amongst the early tribunes of the people.
The gens Lucretia was a prominent family of the Roman Republic. Originally patrician, the gens later included a number of plebeian families. The Lucretii were one of the most ancient gentes, and the second wife of Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome, was named Lucretia. The first of the Lucretii to obtain the consulship was Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus in 509 BC, the first year of the Republic.
Opiter Verginius Tricostus served as consul of the early Roman Republic in 502 BC, with Spurius Cassius Vecellinus. He was the first from the powerful Verginia family to obtain the consulship.
Caeso Fabius Vibulanus was consul of the Roman republic in 484, 481, and 479 BC. He had earlier held the office of quaestor parricidii in 485 BC in connection with the trial and execution of Spurius Cassius Vecellinus.
Proculus Verginius Tricostus Rutilus was a Roman statesman who served as Consul.
Titus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus was a Roman statesman who served as Consul in 496 BC. He was probably the (older) brother of Aulus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus, consul in 494 BC.
Aulus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus was a Roman Republican politician and general of the gens Verginia. He served as a Roman consul in 494 BC together with Titus Veturius Geminus Cicurinus.
Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus was a Roman statesman and general who served as consul six times. Titus Quinctius was a member of the gens Quinctia, one of the oldest patrician families in Rome.
Lucius Julius Iullus was a member of the ancient patrician gens Julia. He was one of the consular tribunes of 438 BC, magister equitum in 431, and consul in 430 BC.
The gens Villia was a plebeian family at Rome. Its members are mentioned in the first century of the Republic, but the only Villius who obtained the consulship was Publius Villius Tappulus, in BC 199.
Titus Verginius Tricostus Rutilus, was consul of the Roman Republic in 479 BC. He held the office with Caeso Fabius Vibulanus.