Twelve Tables of Roman Law

About the Author

According to the two primary ancient historians who discussed this period, the decemvirs nominated in 451 BCE were Appius (elected president of the body), Titus Genucius, Publius Sestius, Titus Veturius, Gaius Julius, Aulus Manlius, Servius Sulpicius, Publius Curiatius, Titus Romilius, and Spurius Postumius. Surprisingly little is known about each of these legislators, though the actions and the character of Appius, the most prominently mentioned and the leader of the dictatorial regime that developed from the decemvirate, are described. What is known about all of the men is that they were wealthy and powerful; nearly all were members of the patrician class (though that fact has been questioned by some modern historians), and many either had been previously elected consul or, like Appius and Titus Genucius, were nominated the year that the decemvirate was established. As such, each of these men had a vested interest in maintaining the influence and power of their order. The patricians held an enormous amount of power in the Roman Republic and had no desire, other than the maintenance of the public order and the continuing cooperation of the plebeians in military and economic affairs, to change the status quo.

Appius, nominated again as the leader of the second set of decemvirs the following year, is characterized in the writings of Livy and Dionysius as villainous in his attempts to maintain his power over the Roman people, personifying the cruelties that led in 449 BCE to the second secession of the plebs, which ended the reign of the decemvirate.