THE STRUGGLE OF THE ITALIANS FOR CIVIC RIGHTS

Of the two cardinal notions that Roman libertas comprised, namely the republican constitution and the rights inherent in Roman citizenship, the former, on the showing of the extant evidence, was by far the more prominent in the presentation of libertas by politicians and political writers at Rome during the Late Republican period. Except on such occasions as those on which the Populares upheld the civic right of provocatio against magisterial action supported by a S.C. Ultimum, libertas as a political watchword in the struggle of factions in Rome meant in the first place a form of government, and not the rights and liberties of the individual citizen. This tendency in the conception of libertas is due, not to a slackening of the appreciation of personal freedom, but to the fact that, while the rights inherent in Roman citizenship seemed firmly established, the traditional form of republican government underwent a severe test, and as time went on it became more and more doubtful whether that form of government was adequate, and whether it would continue at all.

But unlike the politicians in the city of Rome who regarded libertas as a certain form of government, the Latins and Allies who rose against Rome to assert their freedom seem to have had in mind civic rights above all else.