Volero Publilius

Volero Publilius was tribune of the plebs at Rome in 472 and 471 BC. During his time as tribune, he secured the passage of two important laws increasing the independence of his office.

The tribunes of the plebs had been created following the secession of the people in 494 BC. Burdened by crushing debt and angered by a series of clashes between the patricians and plebeians, in which the patricians held all of the political power, the plebeians deserted the city en masse and encamped upon the sacred mount. One of the concessions offered by the senate to end the standoff was the creation of a new office, tribune of the people, for which only plebeians would be eligible. These tribunes had the power to convene the concilium plebis, one of the three major assemblies of the Roman people, and to propose legislation before it; the power to intercede on behalf of a citizen who wished to appeal from the decision of a magistrate; and the power to veto, or block the actions of the senate and magistrates. The tribunes of the plebs were sacrosanct within the boundaries of Rome, and the entire body of the Roman people obliged to protect them from harm. The tribunes thus became the primary check on the power of the senate, as well as the protectors of the rights of the plebeians.

In 473 BC, the tribune Gnaeus Genucius attempted to bring the consuls of the preceding year to trial for having blocked multiple attempts to bring about agrarian reform. But on the morning of the trial he was found to have been murdered in his house, notwithstanding his sacrosanctity. Cowed by the murder of their colleague, the remaining tribunes failed to block a levy of soldiers. Tensions rose as the leaders of the patrician and plebeian factions each argued that the other side was depriving them of their liberty. Things came to a head when Volero Publilius, who had served as a centurion in the Roman army, was called to serve as a common soldier. He refused, and the consuls sent a lictor to arrest him. Publilius resisted, and a scuffle ensued in which the clothes were torn from Publilius' back; breaking free of the lictor, he appealed to the people to defend him.Niebuhr, vol. II, pp. 207–210 (Schmitz, trans.).

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