Servian constitution

The Servian constitution is the military and political organization of ancient Rome attributed by Roman tradition to the semi-legendary sixth king of Rome, Servius Tullius (578–534 BC). Most of the Servian reforms extended voting rights to certain groups, in particular to Rome's citizen-commoners who were minor landholders or landless citizens hitherto disqualified from voting by ancestry, status or ethnicity—collectively, the plebs as distinguished from the hereditary patricians. These reforms thus redefined the fiscal and military obligations of all Roman citizens. The so-called Servian constitution probably represents a long-drawn, complex and piecemeal process extending from Servius' predecessors, Ancus Marcius and Tarquinius Priscus, to his successor Tarquinius Superbus, and into the Middle and Late Republic. Rome's military and territorial expansion and the consequent changes in its population made franchise regulation and reform an ongoing necessity. The wholesale attribution of these measures to Servius "cannot be taken at face value".

The Servian constitution introduced two elements into the Roman system of government: a census of every male citizen, to establish his wealth, tax liabilities, military obligation, and the weight of his vote; and the comitia centuriata, an assembly with electoral, legislative and judicial powers. Both institutions are foundational for Roman republicanism. By entrusting the military defense of the state to all citizens, the Servian reform created interdependency among the social classes; in its organization of voting tribes, it inextricably allied political and military life and opened up a "political space" for republican participation. To the Augustan historian Livy, the military service rendered by plebeians was thus a form of public service on a par with patrician duty in the Senate. Even so, census rank depended on property value, and under the Servian constitution no citizen assessed at a worth of less than 11,000 asses (or 12,500, depending on the source) was admitted to the regular army.

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