Lex Publilia (471 BC)

The lex Publilia, also known as the Publilian Rogation, was a law traditionally passed in 471 BC, transferring the election of the tribunes of the plebs to the comitia tributa, thereby freeing their election from the direct influence of the Senate and patrician magistrates.

In 473 BC, the tribune Gnaeus Genucius ordered the arrest and trial of Gnaeus Manlius Vulso and Lucius Furius Medullinus, the consuls of the previous year, for having used their power to obstruct agrarian reforms. Genucius was already hated by the patricians; Titus Genucius, probably his brother, having brought to trial Titus Menenius Lanatus, who as consul in 477 had failed to intervene to prevent the disaster at the Cremera, and Spurius Servilius Priscus Structus, who during his consulship in 476 had nearly lost his entire army due to his recklessness. Before their trial, Manlius and Furius appeared in public in mourning dress, bewailing their fates, which they claimed had already been ordained by the tyranny of the plebeian tribunes, which rendered anyone elected to high office little more than sacrificial animals. Their appeal to their supporters succeeded, for on the day of the trial Genucius was found murdered in his house.

The new consuls, Lucius Aemilius Mamercus and Vopiscus Julius Iulus, were ordered to levy troops as a distraction from the murder, and the other tribunes were too fearful to intervene. When a former centurion named Volero Publilius refused to be enlisted as a common soldier, the consuls had him arrested and ordered him to be scourged by the lictors. Breaking free, Publilius appealed to the crowd for protection, and suddenly the tables were turned against the consuls, who fled for their lives and took refuge in the Curia Hostilia. Faced with the prospect of imminent revolt, the Senate refrained from taking any further action against the plebeians, and Publilius was elected tribune for the following year.

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