The United Plebs of Rome - Zelda Peach
"Why do you not enact a law that no plebeian shall live in the neighborhood of a patrician, or go along the same road, or take his place at the same banquet, or stand in the same Forum?" This quote is from the top of page five when Canuleius is talking about how dumb it is that the intermarriage of a plebeian and a patrician is illegal. He later goes on to say, "there is nothing for you to fight about, unless you delight in trying how far you can degrade us".
I find this debate really interesting as intermarriage normally refers to two people from different races getting married. But here, it is not talking about race, it is talking about one's societal position. This example shows to me just how strict Rome's views on social structure and one's place in that structure was. It was as if wealth (or not having it) was so defining that it became a key part of who you were, almost as if it were a race. Of course, this made me and I am sure loads of other people think of segregation and how even in our recent history we have had these very issues pop up. In our history's case, it was segregation against interracial marriages that people were arguing over. Here though, it is not even that, but just whether or not you were lucky enough to be born into a family with money. I like what Canuleius says later too, he uses the term "united plebs" and I think this phrase is very important. When a group stands united against a power for the right of something, whether it is the issue of intermarriage between plebeians and patricians or the right of marriage between different races, it sends a message to the leaders that time is running out. No matter how powerful the Roman senate and its patricians were, there is power in numbers and in people. As we see later down at the bottom of page five, "the controversy ended in the defeat of the patricians. They consented to the intermarriage law being passed". The plebeians, who stood together against the powerful patricians and the Senate won. I think that this reading was a great reminder that when you know something is right, you fight for it.
P.S I commented on Sophia and Dakota's blog post
I find this debate really interesting as intermarriage normally refers to two people from different races getting married. But here, it is not talking about race, it is talking about one's societal position. This example shows to me just how strict Rome's views on social structure and one's place in that structure was. It was as if wealth (or not having it) was so defining that it became a key part of who you were, almost as if it were a race. Of course, this made me and I am sure loads of other people think of segregation and how even in our recent history we have had these very issues pop up. In our history's case, it was segregation against interracial marriages that people were arguing over. Here though, it is not even that, but just whether or not you were lucky enough to be born into a family with money. I like what Canuleius says later too, he uses the term "united plebs" and I think this phrase is very important. When a group stands united against a power for the right of something, whether it is the issue of intermarriage between plebeians and patricians or the right of marriage between different races, it sends a message to the leaders that time is running out. No matter how powerful the Roman senate and its patricians were, there is power in numbers and in people. As we see later down at the bottom of page five, "the controversy ended in the defeat of the patricians. They consented to the intermarriage law being passed". The plebeians, who stood together against the powerful patricians and the Senate won. I think that this reading was a great reminder that when you know something is right, you fight for it.
P.S I commented on Sophia and Dakota's blog post
There is still so much class holdings even in the world today. Whether that be, like you said, between races or money. Take the royal family in England for example. This family is not allowed to just marry a commoner, even after all of these years. They are expected to marry someone of high social standards or someone with money. This is a constant building block game. You do what you have to do to make sure your family stays on top. This can be the same in America. Marriage has turned, in so many places, as a posistion of class, not love. Say we love someone of the opposing race, everyone around us will make sure it is as difficult as possible. We marry now to make us look good; not to make us happy.
ReplyDeleteIt is bizarre to think about how divided the patricians and plebeians were. These families were completely unwilling to marry anyone of lesser wealth. Canuleis is a fantastic speaker for the plebeians and fights for their basic rights while criticizing the horrific discrimination practiced by the patricians. This does mirror the segregation issue as you mentioned, but excels it in the absurdity of discrimination. They are literally from the same nation. People are quite literally trying to say who can marry who according to how much grain they can buy. I'm very thankful that I don't live in a time period such as this. I would likely go crazy.
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