Publius Valerius Publicola - Reforms During First Consulship, 509 BC

Reforms During First Consulship, 509 BC

After the death of Brutus, Publius Valerius Publicola was the lone Roman Consul, which he held without scheduling new elections. He started to build a magnificent new residence on top of the Velian Hill, which was conspicuously visible from the Senate building. When people began to comment that he was apparently going to reestablish the monarchy, Publicola stopped its construction, demolishing it in a single night. Publicola defended himself before an assembly of the people, having firstly lowered the fasces in the face of the assembly as a mark of respect: "I have just liberated Rome, bravely, but now I am slandered, like being either an Aquillius or a Vitellian. I am the bitterest enemy of the former kings, so I shouldn't be accused of wanting to be king." He volunteered to move his house to the foot rather than the peak of the Velian Hill, so as to diminish any suspicion levelled against him. His house was constructed at that site, where in later times was built the Temple of Victory.

Before the impending elections, Publicola repopulated the Senate, which had been severely reduced by the king and the recent war. Also, he wrote a series of popular laws:

• Any Roman could be appointed Consul.
• Decisions of the Consuls could be appealed.
• Anyone who seized an office without popular vote would suffer execution.
• Anyone who attempted to reestablish the monarchy could be executed by any citizen without trial. (This was the law invoked by the Liberatores as justification for their assassination of Julius Caesar)
• Needy Romans were exempt from taxation.
• Patricians would be punished more severely than plebs for disobeying a Consul.
• Control of the treasury was removed from the Consuls. It was physically moved to the temple of Saturn under the administration of appointed quaestors.

Publicola removed the ax heads of the traditional fasces as carried in the Pomerium, the sacred inner city of Rome. Because of these, Publicus Valerius was called the "friend of the people", or Publicola.