Ancient Rome

1 . The early Republican Rome was characterized with the authority of paterfamilias . The father of the family held the sole rights to all the properties earned by the sons and right to sell the sons as slaves . The Roman aristocrats were called the patricians and the commoners plebeians . Plebeians being partly inspired by Greek merchants who brought home the over throw of aristocracy in some Greek cities organized themselves against the patricians and thus arose what was traditionally called `the Conflict of . Nevertheless they were united in facing the enemies from outside

p This relationship between the patricians and plebeians gave way to the forming of `the Twelve Table . Twelve copper tablets were designed to set rules for public , private and political behavior of Romans . Here are some examples

Regarding theft if a thief was a freeman he was flogged and then handed to the person from whom he stolen to repay what damage he 'd done , if necessary by working for him . If the thief however was a slave he was flogged and then thrown to his death off the cliff of the Capitoline Hill known as the Tarpeian Rock

No burials or cremations were allowed within the city walls

The maintainance of roads was the responsibility of those on whose property they bed

It was an offence to cast or have a which cast any spells on someone else

Marriage between patricians and plebeians was forbidden

To demonstrate in the streets against another person was forbidden . One was allowed to demonstrate for or against a particular cause , but not against a specific person

One was permitted to remove a branch from a neighbour 's tree which overhung one 's property

For the theft of crops there was the death penalty (clubbing to death

For slander there was the death penalty (clubbing to death

The levels of punishment for assault were also defined the level varied according to the status of the person who had committed the crime Harsher for a plebeian , milder for a patrician . And should the victim of the crime be a mere slave , the sentence was reduced yet further

The laws also distinguished between an intentional and an accidental killing

A father had to right to kill his deformed child

The historian Pliny the Elder tells us that the penalty for murder according to the Twelve Tables was less than that for stealing crops Mean while after the invasion of Gauls in 390 BC the Plebeian 's relationship with the patricians strained and some of the Patrician saw profit motive in supporting the Plebian cause . Thus the plebeians rose to prominence . With Rome 's rising power in Italy its saga of invasions continued . Prosperity with slave trade saw its ill effect in the Roman society . Gladiators were at the peak of popularity and the economy was becoming dependent on slave trade . This was also one of the reasons for the fall of Roman Empire

Cicero believed that Rome should remain as a nation of laws...