Licinio-Sextian rogations

The Licinio-Sextian rogations were a series of laws proposed by tribunes of the plebs, Gaius Licinius Stolo and Lucius Sextius Lateranus, enacted around 367 BC. Livy calls them rogatio – though he does refer to them at times as lex – as the plebeian assembly did not at the time have the power to enact leges (laws).

These laws provided for a limit on the interest rate of loans and a restriction on private ownership of land. A third law, which provided for one of the two consuls to be a plebeian, was rejected. Two of these laws were passed in 368 BC, after the two proponents had been elected and re-elected tribunes for nine consecutive years and had successfully prevented the election of patrician magistrates for five years (375–370 BC). In 367 BC, during their tenth tribunate, this law was passed. In the same year they also proposed a fourth law regarding the priests who were the custodians of the sacred Sibylline Books.

These and related laws (such as the Leges Genuciae) and the long struggle to pass them were part of the two hundred year conflict of the orders between the patrician aristocracy and the plebeians, who were most of the Roman populace. The conflict was one of the major influences on the internal politics of Rome during the first two centuries of the Roman Republic.

According to Livy, Gaius Licinius and Lucius Sextius proposed three bills before the Plebeian Council (the assembly of the plebeians) in 375 BC. Two of them concerned land and debt (which were two issues which greatly affected the plebeians) and the third concerned the termination of the military tribunes with consular power (often referred to as consular tribunes), who had periodically replaced the consuls as the heads of the Republic (444, 438, 434–32, 426–24, 422, 420–14, 408–394 and 391–76 BC), the restoration of consuls and the admission of plebeians to the consulship by providing that one of the two consuls was to be a plebeian. The latter proposal created fierce opposition by the patricians, who held vast political power by monopolising the consulship and the seats of the senate, thinking that, as aristocrats, this was their sole prerogative, and abhorred the idea of sharing power with the plebeians. They persuaded other plebeian tribunes to veto voting on this bill. In retaliation, Gaius Licinius and Lucius Sextius vetoed the election of the consular tribunes for five years, until 370 BC, when they relented because the Volscian town of Velitrae had attacked the territory of Rome and one of her allies. The election of consular tribunes resumed. With the soldiers engaged in the siege of Velitrae, the voting on the bills had to be postponed. Gaius Licinius and Lucius Sextius proposed a fourth bill regarding the sacred Sibylline Books.

In 368 BC the Roman troops came back from Velitrae. As the controversy dragged and given that with the return of the troops voting could be carried out, the patrician senate appointed Marcus Furius Camillus as dictator (a head of state with extraordinary powers appointed for a term of six months at times of crisis), who strongly opposed the bills and threatened the use of violence. However, he had to resign for unclear reasons. The plebeian tribunes put the bills to the vote of the Plebeian Council (the assembly of the plebeians). The bills on land and debt were passed, but the one on plebeian consuls was rejected. Livy wrote that "both the former [bills] would probably have been carried into law if [Gaius Licinius and Lucius Sextius] had not said that they were putting them en bloc." Another dictator was appointed, Publius Manlius Capitolinus. However, he appointed a plebeian as his lieutenant (master of the horse), much to the annoyance of the patricians, and supported the plebeians. When it was time for the election of the plebeian tribunes, Gaius Licinius and Lucius Sextius announced that they would not stand for reelection unless the plebeians "wanted the proposed measures carried as a whole." The two plebeian tribunes were re-elected (for the tenth time), which meant that the law of the consulship was now also carried. Then they carried the law on the sacred Sibylline Books. This, according to Livy, "was regarded as a further step towards opening the path to the consulship." However, he did not specify why. He also wrote "[t]he plebs, satisfied with their victory, made the concession to the patricians that for the present all mention of consuls should be dropped." Consular tribunes were elected for 367 BC.

In 367 BC Marcus Furius Camillus was again appointed as dictator, this time to fight Gauls who had got into territories near Rome. The senate, bruised by years of civic strife, carried the proposals of the plebeian tribunes and the two consuls were elected. In 366 BC Lucius Sextius Lateranus became the first plebeian consul. The patricians refused to confirm this, commotions broke out and the plebeians were close to seceding (see plebeian secessions). Marcus Furius, "however, quieted the disturbances by arranging a compromise; the nobility made a concession in the matter of a plebeian consul, the plebs gave way to the nobility on the appointment of a praetor to administer justice in the City who was to be a patrician. Thus after their long estrangement the two orders of the State were at length brought into harmony".

This law provided that the interest already paid on debts should be deducted from the principal and that the payment of the rest of the principal should be in three equal annual instalments.

Indebtedness was a major problem among the plebeians, particularly among small peasant farmers, and this led to conflicts with the patricians, who were the aristocracy, the owners of large landed estates and the creditors. Several laws regulating credit or the interest rates of credit to provide some relief for debtors were passed during the period of the Roman Republic.