The Impacts of Extension of Roman’s Citizenship

石雅馨

With the expansion of Rome， more and more people were eligible to possess some civic rights. The extension of citizenship was a significant change that paved the way for the prosperity of Roman Empire. Some people may argue that sharing the citizenship with others was not the voluntary process and Romans were forced to make this concession by brutal revolts， while others may claim that Roman had the initiative to extend their citizenship and the extension was a kind of political strategy. No matter what resulted in the spread of citizenship， its contribution to the Romans further development could not be ignored.

The extension of Romans citizenship went through a long period of time. Generally speaking， the people who were awarded the citizenship could be divided into two parts. On the one hand， in Rome， lots of slaves were released by lords or by the forced laws. After being reborn as free men， they regained their citizenship. On the other hand， Roman also granted certain rights to the defeated people from other polis. After a serious of conquest， more and more vanquished people asked for the citizenship by violence in order to get involved into the Roman society. As a result， the ancient Rome introduced many policies to pacify the foreigners by taking care of their interests and granting them several civic rights.

Among all the measures released， one of the most distinguished policies was known as the Latin Rights. After the Latin War， the defeated people from Latium were granted three main rights??. First， Latins kept the right to have commercial relations and trade with Roman citizens on equal status and to use the same forms of contract as Roman citizens. Second， Latins could get married with local people in Rome. Third， Latins were allowed to migrate freely in the Rome.

From my point of view， the Latin Rights worked as an unprecedented foreign policy that benefitted not the people in Latin but also the ancient Rome. It seemed like a long progress of assimilation， in which was full of culture conflicts and conformity. This assimilation was largely promoted the development of the society from every aspect.

The policy could maintain the social stability and enlarged the ruling basement. Firstly， when the conquered people accepted the rights given by Roman Republic； they also agreed to be governed by the Roman Republic. The Latin Rights served as a legal binding， which insured the peaceful transition of dominations. In addition， the Latins who enjoyed the rights were different from other conquered people. When Latins owned this kind of special privileges， they also needed to take the corresponding responsibilities and duties. Supporting and contributing to the ancient Rome were parts of their moral obligations， which insured the stability of the society， too. Secondly， the policy promoted the mobilization of the society and encouraged more talented foreigners to participate in Roman affaires. The extension of citizenship was not arbitrary. According to the individuals intelligence and abilities， ancient Rome divided the foreigners into several levels. People in different classifications had different rights. People who could make more contributions would be given more rights and vice versa. Moreover， for better controlling the foreigners， the ancient Rome assigned some prestige Latins to manage them. Propelled by enjoying more citizenship， capable Latins would like to devote themselves to constructing ancient Rome. Hence， foreigners injected fresh blood to the ruling class and expand the ruling basement simultaneously.

This policy also stimulated the development of economy， and improved the peoples living standards both in Latin and ancient Rome. On the one hand， Romans economy was based on the agriculture. Labor and land were the most fundamental factors that determined agricultural development. After the expansion， more labors and more lands were gathered and could be redistributed. On the other hand， one of the rights acclaimed that the contracts between Latins and Romans were legally effective and Latins and Roman stayed in equal status during commercial intercourse. As the interests of businessmen in Latin were protected by the forceful rules， the businessmen were inclined to be more active in trading. As the result， the commerce and industry would be greatly promoted.

By giving citizenship， the ancient Rome blurred the distinctions between Latins and Romans， which helped Latins to be involved into the society more easily. To Latins， the Latin Rights was not only some beneficial items， but also an honor. The Latin Rights gave them a symbol of identity that Romans accepted them. So， the sense of identity encouraged Latins to work harder and loyally to the Romans dominators， which could consolidated the expansion and domination. It was the sense of the identity that made the Latins become the most devoted and closest ally. Although most of the southern polies supported the Hannibal， when the ancient Rome stayed in the adverse situation during the First Punic War， Latins insisted to uphold Rome until the end of the war. The Latin Rights gained the hearts of Latins and which remarked the “true” victory of ancient Rome.

The Latin Rights was a kind of new citizenship， which broke through the Greek narrow political system and limitations of thoughts. Compared with the ancient Greek， Roman knew more about how to run a nation. Greek perused the pure descent that they did not let the people from other polies to butt in their own world. Lacking of the new flood and the prevalent of diseases，the population of the Greece decreased a lot in the last few years and many social conflicts had shown up. People played a significant role in a nations development， since it was the source of labor and the driving force of economy. Therefore， when the population declined dramatically， the nations comprehensive strength would be weaker and weaker. Also， the hostile attitude towards other polies could accelerate the speed of declination. Greece held an inimical attitude towards the defeated people， because they were afraid that the defeated people would usurp the power. On the contrary， Romans were more generous. They were willing to embrace other cultures and assimilate the new migrants into their society. Taking advantage of the differences and making full use of the resource were the things， which distinguished Rome from other polies. Looking back to our own history， during the Ming Dynasty， the dominator of China also introduced many policies to recruit the traitors or minority people. The governors allowed them to stay in the central plains of China and gave them the rights of trading and other privileges. To some extent， this strategy had the same functions as the Latin Rights——maintain the stabilization of the society， promote the development of the economy， enrich the diversity of culture and assimilate enemies into loyal friends.

All the things mentioned above show that one of the most important factors for the development of the civilization is to embrace and accept other cultures. What we should do is breaking through the conservative opinions towards ancestry and stuffy creeds， trying to survive in the changeable world. Although the Latin Rights did challenge some old-fashioned ideas， there were still some limited aspects. The Latin Rights did not benefit all the members in the Latin； only the free men and educated men could share this privilege. The complete equality had not realized. Women and slaveries still had not involved in the society. Also， at the very beginning， different citizenship was given to different people， according to their contributions and feats. However， after several years some dominators of the Rome gave the rights to the polis without restrictions and standards， just according to their preferences and which ran counter to the original purpose and caused the instability of the society.

The policy was the result of an age， so it definitely contained some limitations of the age. However， it was still a great movement in the Romans history. The tolerant attitude and the unprecedented method attributed to the glory of Romans empire.

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