plēbs, plēbis [3/f]: the common people as opposed to the patriciī: the patricians, the nobles
The further you go back in history, the more difficult it
can be to establish a true account of events. However, that stories persist
suggest their initial importance in the Roman mind, but which have continued
until now.
Personally, I don’t think we learn from history; we make the
same mistakes again and again even though those mistakes are documented as
having been made thousands of years ago. The Secession of the Plebs is a case
in point; we appoint governments to lead us to avoid the danger of people
taking matters into their own hands when a government is not – or appears not
to be – acting in our interests.
The expression Secessiō Plēbis [Secession of the Plebs] can be put in more straightforward terms: the common people were sick of how they were being treated – and left the city. Some consider it to be the first General Strike comparing it to the 1926 General Strike in Britain. It was this action that led to the creation of the political office of Tribune of the Plebs.
No comments:
Post a Comment