Plebeians, << plih BEE uhnz, >> were commoners in the early Roman Republic. The plebeians included freed slaves, peasant farmers, and dependents of patricians (aristocrats). It is not known how the difference between plebeians and patricians first arose, but it existed by the early 500’s B.C. Plebeians who owned property served in the army and, like the rest of their class, were denied many rights. For many years, they could not hold public office, vote on laws, or become priests. They were forbidden to marry persons not of their class. Judges often treated the plebeians unfairly.
Early in the 400’s B.C., the plebeians threatened to refuse to fight unless they were allowed to choose their own tribunes (officials). The plebeians were given the right to elect tribunes who could veto (reject) unfair acts of judges and lawmakers. Later, in 445 B.C., the plebeians received the right to marry patricians. In 367 B.C., they were allowed to run for the office of consul (chief government official). By 300 B.C., they had been declared eligible for the priesthoods and other offices. In 287 B.C., the comitia tributa (assembly of all the people–plebeians and patricians alike) was given the power to make laws that bound everyone.
Wealthy plebeians then began joining the patricians to form a new upper class. But tribunes and the comitia remained to protect the poor classes of Rome until the end of the republic, in 27 B.C.
