Plebs
In
Ancient Rome, the
plebs was the general body of Roman citizens, distinct from the privileged class of the
patricians. A member of the
plebs was known as a
plebeian (
Latin:
plebeius).
The true origin of the distinction between plebeians and
patricians is unknown; there is little evidence for any sort of a racial basis, nor many signs of a distinction during the
time of the kings. However, the populace of the city of Rome during the reigns of
Romulus,
Numa Pompilius, and
Tullus Hostilius were all called
patrician as they were the only inhabitants of Rome. It is during the reign of
Ancus Marcius that the
plebeians came to Rome from diplomatic alliances as secondary citizens. In any case, around the time of the foundation of the
Roman Republic, the plebeians were excluded from religious colleges and magistracies, and the law of the
Twelve Tables disallowed intermarriage (which was finally allowed by the
Lex Canuleia.) At the same time, plebeians were enrolled in the
gentes and tribes, served in the army, and could become military
tribunes.
Even so, the "
Conflict of the Orders" over the political status of the plebeians went on for the first two centuries of the Republic, ending with the formal equality of plebeians and patricians in
287 BC. The plebeians achieved this by developing their own organizations (the
concilium plebis), leaders (the
tribunes and plebeian
aediles), and as the ultimate weapon used the
secessio, by which the plebeians would literally leave Rome, effectively boycotting the city. This is recorded to have happened five times, although only the last (in 287) is believed to be accurately documented.
After this period, the wealthier plebeians were gradually incorporated into the Senatorial elite. The distinction between members of patrician families and members of wealthy senatorial plebeian families became essentially a legal, rather than a social one - at least one consul each year had to be a plebeian, and only plebeians had the right to act as
Tribune of the People and to vote in the
Plebeian Council. By the first century BC, many of the wealthiest and most prominent senatorial figures were actually plebeians, as many of the old patrician families died out.
Still later, during the
Empire the term was often used of anyone not in the senatorial or equestrian orders.
The word lives on in
plebe, the term for a
freshman at the
U.S. Military Academy,
U.S. Naval Academy,
Valley Forge Military Academy and the
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
In British and Australian English
pleb continues in use as a derogatory term for someone inferior, common or ignorant, who may be described as
being a pleb,
plebby or a
plebhead. In
Dutch it is used literal; someone may be part of the 'Plebs'. See also:
prole,
pikey.
*
Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, article Plebs
