Naturally the senatorial party opposed these radical proposals and got one of Tiberius's colleagues in the
Tribunate, Octavius, to interpose his veto, under the famous veto power granted to tribunes long before to check errant officials.
The letter deals with an event occurring in approximately 124 B.C.E., when Cornelia would have been in her sixties: Gaius Gracchus's decision to seek the
tribunate. Two excerpts are found in the manuscripts of the first-century B.C.E.
However, the play does not uphold Coriolanus's oligarchical ideal, but suggests the possibility of a balanced state where power could be shared, and the
tribunate appears to be the answer.
The Plebian struggle resulted in the formation of the
Tribunate of the Plebes, who were elected by Plebians only and they could "veto" (I forbid) any proposal of the Senate.
These men included consuls; ministers with and without portfolios; members of the Council of State, Senate, Corps Legislative,
Tribunate, and prefectures; and members of other state bureaus in Paris and the provinces.
This is why the Romans gave the nobles control of the Senate while assigning the
Tribunate to the plebes.
From 1800, when she encouraged Benjamin Constant to stand up for free speech in the
Tribunate, and was ostracized for her pains, she kept to her principles in mingled pride and dread.
The Senate was appointed by the First Consul and Bonaparte used its power as interpreter of the constitution to issue decrees without having to consult the sometimes troublesome State Council and
Tribunate. Just as the new constitution was submitted to a plebiscite (with a deliberately exaggerated yes' vote), so too was every revision of that constitution which was to give Bonaparte more personal power.
He alone had the power, through an intelligence equal to hers, to bring all her intelligence into play, to enhance it by competition, to kindle an eloquence, a depth of feeling and thought that she never revealed in all their brilliance except in his presence; neither was he ever himself except at Coppet." She used her alliances to further Constant's career, helped him draft anti-Napoleon statements when he became a member of the
tribunate, and thoroughly inspired and harangued him, encouraging him to write Adolphe, his superb, compact novel about a destructive love affair (described in a previous "Past Present" column, September 26, 1994) in which the hero's vacillation and cowardice destroy his beloved.
Norbanus at Mount Tifata near Capua (autumn 83), and wintered nearby; advanced north to Rome and defeated the Marians and their Samnite allies at the battle of the Colline Gate then just outside the city (spring 82); as dictator (82-81) and both dictator and consul (80) he carried out many reforms, strengthening the senate and the criminal courts, gutting the
tribunate's powers, and forcibly settling his veterans in Italy; retired suddenly from public life (79) and died on his estate in the Campania (78).
The humanist's late career is punctuated by a variety of attempts to promote the values of Cola di Rienzo's
tribunate, often more in spirit than by name, in a number of other arenas of power, from the papal court in Avignon to the imperial court in Prague.
