The Roman Government

History 2015
By Evan Acosta
When Roman civilization first arose, the main kind of
Government system was to have one ruler (king) make all the laws and
to have power over everyone else in his kingdom (Polybius, 304). This
is the government system Rome started out using, but due to
corruption of leaders and complaints of citizens (Polybius, 308), Rome
as a whole decided to find a better way of Government in order to keep
their people strong, healthy, and happy.
All the citizens of Rome gathered in order to elect certain types
of officials (Polybius, 314). Two chief officials would be elected, whom
together had power for one year. At the end of the year, the citizens
would vote whether to keep one or both of them, or to elect new chief
officials. There were also officials elected that had less power, which
consisted of judges, magistrates, and tax collectors. To advise the chief
officials and keep them from making unwise decisions, a Senate of
over 600 men would get together to share opinions and also make new
laws.
Military tribunes were also elected at this time, which would
command soldiers to conquer nations, and defend their own. These
military tribunes chose their own men, and each tribune had around 4
or 5 thousand men, which make up a Roman legion (Polybius, 318319). The legion is divided into four class ranks, which in ascending
order of importance are, velites, hastati, principles, and triarii. The
triarii are the most important, so they only have 600 high quality
soldiers. Both the principles and hastate have 1200 men in each class,
and the rest of the legion is made up of the velites (Polybius, 322).
Each class wore different armor so they can easily be identified, and
each armor had certain advantages, such as being lightweight, strong,
or flexible.
If any man fails to do his duty, whether it be a soldier, tribune, or
even official, the Romans made up a special punishment. A tribune
(who is not guilty of crime) lightly touches the guilty man with his staff;
this is the cue for every man around to beat the guilty man to death
with clubs and stones. Even if the condemned man did escape, no one
went after him. He would already be bruised and beaten, and his
family was forced to refuse his entry into their home. This was the
greatest humiliation for a Roman, and usually the man who escaped
punishment would never be seen again.

The Romans had a very good system in order to prevent

corruption and keep everyone happy; they let their own people govern
and decide who would govern. This is why Rome was able to be the
worlds most powerful nation for so long, and was seen as virtually
undefeatable to their enemies. They planned for the future, and they
were completely successful.
Source: The Rise of the Roman Empire. Harmondsworth: Penguin,
1979. Print.