Daniel Ward
Republican and Imperial Rome
Midterm Essay One
John Locke once wrote,” Things of this world are in so constant a flux that nothing remains long in the same state.” The constitution of the Roman Republic was a political construct designed to deal with the social and political fluctuation. Its loose framework allowed it to evolve through Rome’s humble origins to its dominance of the known world. The evolution of the constitution proved to be a parallel for the rise of Rome. Rome’s story is of a group taking countless outside influences and through forging a collective identity from these external forces.
According to the legend, the Roman Republic was founded as the elites ousted their last king from power. The removal of the monarchy paved the way for the patricians to build a new government. However, the original design of the constitution gave the patricians the lion’s share of influence. For example, only a member of the elites could hold an all-important consulship. The plebeians lacked any real representation in this early system as policy was dictated by the elites. The result was an untenable situation that was defined as the “Struggle of the Orders.”
The political dominance of the patricians would be challenged by the plebeians during the First Secession of the Plebs. In 494 B.C.E., the
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Dixon writes, “Women were praised above all for being good wives and husbands.” Stories were passed down about Cornelia that worked to mythologize her into this ideal model of femininity. In Plutarch’s Life, a story is told how the widowed Cornelia nobly refused the marriage proposal of King Ptolemy VIII of Egypt. Stories like this work in the similar vein of myths about a figure like George Washington. The point of the story is to create an exemplary figure that we aspire to. In this case, Cornelia’s refusal of Ptolemy’s proposal as a moral example to the women of