Dear EDITOR:
This, paraphrased from Livy, is for Kristine Dillon.
The Patricians of Rome wore a distinctive gold ring as a symbol
of their class. Unlike our elites, they stood in the forefront of
battle.
Dear EDITOR:
This, paraphrased from Livy, is for Kristine Dillon.
The Patricians of Rome wore a distinctive gold ring as a symbol of their class. Unlike our elites, they stood in the forefront of battle. After his victories at Lake Trasimene and Cannae, Hannibal demonstrated the injury to Rome by making a chest-high pile of knight’s rings on the floor of the Carthaginian Senate. The aristocracy was forced to recruit new members from among the commons in order to have enough men to fill the administrative offices of the state.
In the eighth year of the war with Hannibal (210 BC), the consuls Marcellus and Laevinus decreed a levy of oarsmen for the fleets of Rome. This edict was greeted with a roar of protest. For years the people had been drained dry by taxation; they had nothing left but the land, and that was stripped bare. Any silver or copper money a man might have had been taken from him. They could not be compelled by any force to give what they had not got.
Next day, the consuls called a meeting of the Senate. They began by speaking at length on the justice of the people’s objection. “It is the Senate’s duty,” said Leavinus “to give the lead in shouldering all heavy and disagreeable burdens. I suggest that we senators bring into the treasury all our gold, silver, and coined bronze leaving only a ring for himself and a bulla for his son. When the country is sound, it preserves private property easily enough; betray what belongs to the commonwealth, and you will seek in vain to keep safe what is your own.”
This proposal met with such enthusiastic acceptance that the consuls were actually thanked for making it. The Senate was adjourned, and everybody proceeded to bring his silver, gold, and bronze money to the treasury. Such was the competition to be among the first on the books that the commissioners were hardly able to receive the contributions or the clerks to record them. The Senate’s unanimous example was followed by the knights, and the knights‚ example by the commons. Thus, with no official compulsion, the state found itself in want neither of crews for the fleet nor money to pay them with.
When the fortunes of Rome improved, the contributions were paid back: first commons, then knights, then senators.
Ms. Dillon, will you please explain why union members have chosen to stand so far from the main body of society that you would think it just and proper that they should have their own representation in our City Council?
Stuart Allen, Gilroy
Submitted Thursday, April 22 to ed****@****ic.com
