WS.

We find among all early peoples that the laws are at first the unwritten
ones of custom and precedent. The laws at Rome, thus far, had been
interpreted according to the wishes and traditions of the patricians
only. A change was demanded. This was obtained by the TERENTILIAN
ROGATION, a proposal made in 461 by Gaius Terentilius Harsa, a Tribune,
to the effect that the laws thereafter be written. The patrician
families, led by one Kaeso Quinctius, made bitter opposition. Kaeso
himself, son of the famous Cincinnatus, was impeached by the Tribune and
fled from the city.

Finally it was arranged that the Comitia Centuriata should select from
the people at large ten men, called the DECEMVIRATE, to hold office for
one year, to direct the government and supersede all other magistrates,
and especially to draw up a code of laws to be submitted to the people
for approval. A commission of three patricians was sent to Athens to
examine the laws of that city, which was now (454) at the height of
its prosperity. Two years were spent by this commission, and upon their
return in 452 the above mentioned Decemvirate was appointed.

The laws drawn up by this board were approved, engraved on ten tables of
copper, and placed in the Forum in front of the Senate-House. Two more
tables were added the next year. These TWELVE TABLES were the only Roman
code.

The DECEMVIRI should have resigned as soon as these laws were approved,
but they neglected to do so, and began to act in a cruel and tyrannical
manner. The people, growing uneasy under their injustice, finally
rebelled when one of the Decemviri, Appius Claudius, passed a sentence
that brought an innocent maiden, Virginia, into his power. Her father,
Virginius, saved his daughter's honor by stabbing her to the heart, and
fleeing to the camp called upon the soldiers to put down such wicked
government.

A second time the army deserted its leaders, and seceded to the SACRED
MOUNT, where they nominated their own Tribunes. Then, marching into the
city, they compelled the Decemviri to resign.

The TWELVE TABLES have not been preserved, except in fragments, and we
know but little of their exact contents. The position of the debtor
was apparently made more endurable. The absolute control of the _pater
familias_ over his family was abolished. The close connection heretofore
existing between the clients and patrons was gradually relaxed, the
former became less dependent upon the latter, and