Reformation: The Overthrow of Roman Monarchy

The exile of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was the culmination of a power struggle dating back to the foundation of the City.

When Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last king of Rome was overthrown, it was not by an act of Revolution, but one of Reformation. The Kings of Rome were never absolutists. When Romulus founded Rome and made himself king, he did so not alone, but with the aid of 3300 men. These men, Romulus divided and established into the Comitia Curiata and from the most esteemed of the Curiata he drew 100 of the most esteemed men and named them the patres conscripti, the Conscript Fathers, the Senate of Rome.

From the foundation of Rome then, government was divided into three portions, first was the King, then the Senate and finally the People, in the body of the Curiata. Fair to say that on the establishment of the government, the power of Romulus was very great and that the Senate lesser and the Curiata an appendage of the Senate. We can surmise that the Comitia Curiata was likely the instrument of the Senate because we know that Senators themselves sat as chiefs within the Curiata. The Curiata was divided into 300 blocs with one chief assigned to each bloc. On this basis alone, Senators controlled 100 votes, a full third, of the votes. The other 200 blocs were given over to lesser nobility. Men of means and rank, but held not the prestige and authority necessary to be enrolled directly into the Senate.

Romulus King and founder, dared not to rule alone. The power of the aristocracy was great, and when united, likely exceeded Romulus’ own authority. It is telling that when Romulus achieved apotheosis, taken into the heavens by Mars, rumors swirled around that it was a conspiracy of the Senate which had him killed. Enmity existed between the Crown and the nobility and the nobility held the political strength to be accused of deposing their King, even if by underhanded means.

We see further the strength of the united Senate in the interregnum. The institution of the Kingship is done away with entirely and the powers of the King are rotated among the august members of the Senate. To the Senators and aristocracy of Rome, Romulus was King because he was Romulus. That is to say, Kingship was an honor granted to Romulus for his status as founder of the city. Kingship as an institution had not entered into the minds of Senate, or if it had, it had been dismissed.

For a year, the Senate governed Rome, shifting the powers and authority of the King every five days to another member of the Senate. I do not believe that the individual Senator who held the powers of King acted in anyway like Romulus. As king, I do not doubt he was limited to two main purposes: acting as chief priest for the sacred rites of the city and as a cypher for which to launder the decrees and will of the Senate.

Here, in the first ages, a Roman Republic was founded. But this Republic was not established on some great Revolution of the mind. The aristocracy had not lived in a state of darkened ignorance only to be ignited by the fires of liberty. From the day the Pomerium was plowed, their status entitled them to a share of the government of Rome and when the time was opportune, they reformed the government of Rome to further their interests.

It was only at the insistence of the plebeians, who believed themselves now oppressed by the Senate, that a new King was chosen. But here, the Senate did not fully relinquish its new found authority, for it decreed that the King was to be chosen and ratified by them. Romulus could claim that he was King by his own merits and held authority in his own right. No more. All other Kings were King by the choice of the Senate and the held authority by the consent of the Senate.

Many of the Kings of Rome resented this and did what they could to subdue the power of the Senate. New patres were added to the rolls to dilute the vote of the old Senators. The plebian masses were granted rights and privileges to act as a popular check against the aristocratic Senate. It was under the sixth King, Servius Tullius, that an entirely new legislative body was created, the Comitia Centuriata, in an attempt to counterbalance the Senators and their control of the Comitia Curiata.

Changes in government never took on a great Revolutionary character. Always, they were born of political considerations, attempts by the Senate and King to counterbalance one another’s powers, with the People held between them.

So it was the same with the deposition and exile of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. Superbus was proud and respected not the Senate, even when it was the Senate who helped overthrow his predecessor Servius Tullius and granted him, Superbus, the Crown. He continued to undermine the power and prestige of the aristocracy. So great was his arrogance, that one of his sons, Sextus Tarquinius believed himself able to impose himself on the daughters of Senators like common plebeians or slaves.

The aristocracy of Rome, outraged and threatened with irrelevance, did what they have done before, and strike down Tarquinius Superbus and replaced him with one of their own. They chose not to kill him, but rather enlisted the remaining body of the public against the King as the Kings had long done against the Senate. Together then, the Senate and People of Rome stripped Tarquinius Superbus of his authority and banished him and his family.

No longer, however, wishing to maintain the same state of affairs, with King and Senate against each other, the Senate reformed the Kingly office transforming it into a more direct instrument of Senatoral will, just as they had attempted in wake of Romulus’ death. Here though, they were more clever, for the Senate understood that without the support of the plebeians of Rome, any government would likely revert to an independent King, as it had done the first time. Rather than issue the grant of Kingship in the Senate’s name alone, they allow the People a share in deciding who holds Kingly authority, by giving the Comitia Centuriata the authority to make and unmake Kings, whom they have renamed Consuls. They divide the political powers of the King in two and place an expiration on their powers of one year. They do not, however, grant the Consuls the Kingly authority of Chief Priest. The power to appoint a chief priest is kept totally within the aristocracy. The office of chief priest, which the People have no say over, maintains its life tenure and even the title of King: Rex Sacrorum.

In all these offices, only members of the aristocracy are allowed. In the centuries long contest between the Senate and King, the Senate has won. The Reformation is complete.