Spurius Licinius was a

tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

in 481 BC. He sought to promote a proposed

agrarian law Agrarian laws (from the Latin ''ager'', meaning "land") were Roman law, laws among the Ancient Rome, Romans regulating the division of the public real property, lands, or ''ager publicus''. In its broader definition, it can also refer to the agric ...

by encouraging the

plebs In ancient Rome, the plebeians or plebs were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of the gro ...

to refuse to enrol for military service. However, in the face of foreign aggression, Licinius' suggestions became unpopular, and both the

consuls A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

and the other tribunes argued against Licinius, with the result that enrolment for military service was not hampered.

References

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

, ''

Ab urbe condita ''Ab urbe condita'' (; 'from the founding of Rome, founding of the City'), or (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is ...

'', 2.43 5th-century BC Romans Tribunes of the plebs {{AncientRome-bio-stub

See also

References