Military Tribune - Republican Period

Republican Period

In the Republican period, there were six appointed to each legion. Authority was given to two at a time, and command rotated among the six. Tribunes were men of Senatorial status appointed by the Senate. To attain the position of tribune, one only needed to be a member of the ruling class — ability was not taken into account. By 311 BC the people acquired the right to elect sixteen tribunes of the soldiers, that is, four out of the six tribunes assigned to each of the four legions that formed the Roman Army. Previously these places had been for the most part in the gift of consuls or dictators.

Additionally, in the early Republic, another type of military tribunes were sometimes chosen in place of the annually elected consuls to be the heads of the Roman State. These are known in Latin as tribuni militum consulari potestate, "Military Tribunes with Consular Authority." At the time only Patricians could be chosen as Consuls, but both Patricians and Plebeians could be elected as tribunes with consular authority. Instead of the usual two consuls, between four and six military tribunes were elected for the year. The reasons for this choice are obscure, though Livy often cast the decision according to the class struggles he saw as endemic during this period, with patricians generally favoring consuls and plebs the military tribunes. The office of "consular tribune" eventually fell out of use after 366 BC.