and it was for this purpose alone that they instituted the dictatorship.  From the sentence of this magistrate there was no appeal to the tribes or centuries, but the patricians kept their own privilege of being tried before the tribunal of the curiae. 19.  The power of the state was now usurped by a factious oligarchy, whose oppressions were more grievous than those of the worst tyrant; they at last became so intolerable, that the commonalty had recourse to arms, and fortified that part of the city which was exclusively inhabited by the plebeians, while others formed a camp on the Sacred Mount at some distance from Rome.  A tumult of this kind was called a secession; it threatened to terminate in a civil war, which would have been both long and doubtful; for the patricians and their clients were probably as numerous as the people.  A reconciliation was effected, and the plebeians placed under the protection of magistrates chosen from their own body, called tribunes of the people.

20.  The plebeians, having now authorised leaders, began to struggle for an equalization of rights, and the patricians resisted them with the most determined energy.  In this protracted contest the popular cause prevailed, though the patricians made use of the most violent means to secure their usurped powers.  The first triumph obtained by the people was the right to summon patricians before the comitia tributa, or assemblies of people in tribes; soon after they obtained the privilege of electing their tribunes at these comitia, instead of the centuria’ta; and finally, after a fierce opposition, the patricians were forced to consent that the state should be governed by a written code.

21.  The laws of the twelve tables did not alter the legal relations between the citizens; the struggle was renewed with greater violence than ever after the expulsion of the decem’viri, but finally terminated in the complete triumph of the people.  The Roman constitution became essentially democratical; the offices of the state were open to all the citizens; and although the difference between the patrician and plebeian families still subsisted, they soon ceased of themselves to be political parties.  From the time that equal rights were granted to all the citizens, Rome advanced rapidly in wealth and power; the subjugation of Italy was effected within the succeeding century, and that was soon followed by foreign conquests.

22.  In the early part of the struggle between the patricians and plebeians, the magistracy, named the censorship, was instituted.  The censors were designed at first merely to preside over the taking of the census, but they afterwards obtained the power of punishing, by a deprivation of civil rights, those who were guilty of any flagrant immorality.  The patricians retained exclusive possession of the censorship, long after the consulship had been opened to the plebeians.

23.  The senate,[11] which had been originally a patrician council, was gradually opened to the plebeians; when the free constitution was perfected, every person possessing a competent fortune that had held a superior magistracy, was enrolled as a senator at the census immediately succeeding the termination of his office.