Conflict of Orders

First Secession

494 BCE

There was increasing frustration in the populace regarding debt and power struggles. After there was nothing done to fix these problems, the plebeians went onto Mons Sacer (Sacred Mountain) and stayed until the patricians passed laws concerning debt collectors and made the Tribune of the Plebs.

Lex Publilia

471 BCE

A law that isolated the voting for the tribune of the plebs to the comitia tributa (Tribal Assembly), freeing it from the influence of the patricians.

Second Secession

449 BCE

The peasants were furious that the decemviri (ten men) were not giving up power, so they again withdrew to the Sacer Mons. Afterwards, the decemviri resigned and the peasants regained the right to appeal and the tribune of the plebs.

Valerio - Horatian Laws

449 BCE

These were three laws passed by the consuls in response to the second secession which restored the right to appeal to the people and reinstated the power of the plebeians.

Lex Trebonia

448 BCE

After an event in which the five elected plebeians were pressured to co-opt patricians as tribunes, this law was created. It forbid tribunes from co-opting others to fill empty positions in order to prevent this from happening again.

Third Secession

445 BCE

In a time of external threats from their enemies, the plebeians went on a military strike in order to withdraw the law of prohibiting intermarriages between plebeians and patricians. Thus, this law was repealed.

Lex Licinia Sextia

367 BCE

These were a series of laws proposed by the tribunes Gaius Licinius Stolo and Lucius Sextius Lateranus. One of these laws, that was rejected the first time, called for one of the consuls to be a plebeian. This specific law was most likely the cause of the concession of 366 BCE.

Fourth Secession

342 BCE

The tribune Lucius Genucius proposed a law to allow plebeians to have the right to one of the consuls. In order to pass this, the fourth secession occurred. It was a military revolt that resulted in this law being passed.

Fifth Secession

287 BCE

The plebeians seceded to the Aventine Hill because after the war, they were not given any land as a reward. As a result of this, they had difficulty paying back their debt to the patricians.

Lex Hortensia

287 BCE

The lex hortensia was passed by the newly appointed dictator Quintus Hortensius. This law ensured that any law passed by the tribunes was enforced on all citizens. This law was a compromise to bring the plebeians back from the fifth secession.