Intracultural Discrimination? -Trey Hughes

What surprised me most about this story is this idea of "Intracultural Discrimination". At this time the Romans were very particular in marriage and keeping the patricians "pure". The line "Because no plebeian could have the auspices, and the reason why the decemvirs had put an end to intermarriage was to prevent the auspices from being vitiated through the uncertainty of descent." They were convinced that a person born into poverty and of a lower social status could in no way be a benefit to the council and would actually hinder the upper class if they intermingled. Even a "half breed" of a common person and wealthy person wasn't allowed.

This idea also brought to mind what is mentioned in other posts about Rome being the greatest city. When Rome is classified as the greatest city do the councilmen only look to the wealthy and claim to be the greatest city? The city obviously constitutes any citizen of the city and that includes the common people. How did they expect to be the greatest if they looked down on themselves?


P.S. I commented on Sydney and Breanna's post