The Patricians vs. The Plebeian: Economy and Politics The Patricians and Plebeians were the two major classes that formed the Roman Population. As both names suggest, the patricians were noble aristocratic men, while the patrician were just commoners. As in most ancient civilizations, the Romans lived in a state of aristocracy, wherein a few control all the wealth and power, while the common people was left to fend for themselves. These differences in economic status led to a series of conflicts, in which plebeians, composed of the majority of the population, demand equal rights.
Economically, the plebeians were in much less disadvantages. Although they had united with patricians to abolish kingship from Rome, plebeians were left with little to nothing after the wars. Soldiers return to their homes and lands and faced the destruction of the war. Moreover, with no means to
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Although not the lowest class in Ancient Rome, being only above the slaves, the plebs represented 99% of the population (history-talk.com, n.d.). United by their distress, plebeians revolted against patricians. They left the city of Rome and were decisive about founding their own city on the hill, which was eventually called the Mons Sacer, translated as Sacred Mount. Since plebeians composed the majority of the Roman army and the population of the Rome, patricians were left of with an empty city, closed stores and no defense system against their growing enemies. Economically and politically, patricians were about to lose all their wealth and power, no commoners equals no people to produce, which in turn equals no State to rule. Common sense fell upon the them, and the patricians were pushed to lift all the non-solved plebeian debts, along with releasing those imprisoned by the same accounts. This events were called the Secessio plebis, better known as the first Secession of the Plebs (Morey,