Conflict of Orders

  • First Secession
    494 BCE

    First Secession

    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

    Lex Publilia

    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

    Second Secession

    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

    Valerio - Horatian Laws

    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

    Lex Trebonia

    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

    Third Secession

    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 Thus, this law was repealed.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

    Lex Licinia Sextia

    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

    Fourth Secession

    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

    Fifth Secession

    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

    Lex Hortensia

    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.