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''Tribunus plebis'', rendered in English as ''tribune of the plebs'', ''tribune of the people'', or ''plebeian tribune'', was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of the Roman senate and magistrates. These tribunes had the power to convene and preside over the ''Concilium Plebis'', or people's assembly; to summon the senate; to propose legislation; and to intervene on behalf of plebeians in legal matters; but the most significant power of these tribunes was the power to veto the actions of the consuls and other magistrates, thus protecting the interests of the plebeians as a class. The tribunes of the plebs were sacrosanct, meaning that any assault on their person was prohibited by law. In imperial times, the powers of the tribunate were granted to the emperor as a matter of course, and the office itself lost its independence and most of its functions.〔''Oxford Classical Dictionary'', 2nd Ed. (1970), "Tribuni Plebis."〕 During the day the tribunes used to sit on the tribune benches on the Forum Romanum. ==Establishment of the tribunate== Fifteen years after the expulsion of the kings and establishment of the Roman Republic, the plebeians were burdened by the weight of crushing debt and unemployment. A series of clashes between the people and the ruling patricians in 495 and 494 BC brought the plebeians to the brink of revolt, and there was talk of assassinating the consuls. Instead, on the advice of Lucius Sicinius Vellutus, the plebeians seceded ''en masse'' to the ''Mons Sacer'' (the Sacred Mount), a hill outside of Rome.〔Titus Livius, ''Ab Urbe Condita'' ii. 23–32.〕 Panicked by this turn of events, the senate dispatched Agrippa Menenius Lanatus, a former consul who was well-liked by the plebeians, who considered him one of their own, as an envoy to the plebeians. Menenius was well-received, and told the fable of the belly and the limbs, likening the people to the limbs who chose not to support the belly, and thus starved themselves; just as the belly and the limbs, the city, he explained, could not survive without both the patricians and plebeians working in concert.〔Titus Livius, ''Ab Urbe Condita'' ii. 32.〕 The plebeians agreed to negotiate for their return to the city; and their condition was that special tribunes should be appointed to represent the plebeians, and to protect them from the power of the consuls. No member of the senatorial class would be eligible for this office (in practice, this meant that only plebeians were eligible for the tribunate), and the tribunes should be sacrosanct; any person who laid hands on one of the tribunes would be outlawed, and the whole body of the plebeians entitled to kill such person without fear of penalty. The senate agreeing to these terms, the people returned to the city.〔Titus Livius, ''Ab Urbe Condita'' ii. 33.〕 The first ''tribuni plebis'' were Lucius Albinius Paterculus and Gaius Licinius, appointed for the year 493 BC. Soon afterward, the tribunes themselves appointed Sicinius and two others as their colleagues.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tribune of the Plebs」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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