Terentilius

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gaius Terentilius Harsa, better known simply as Terentilius, was a plebeian tribune in Rome around 462 BC.

Terentilius agitated for a formal code of laws in the early days of the Roman Republic. He took advantage of the fact that the consuls were away on a campaign against the Volsci to pressure the Roman Senate, controlled by patricians, for the code.

The patricians made a show of making peace with Terentilius, but in fact had no intention of codifying the laws at his request. Ultimately, however, the agitation by Terentilius led to the passage of the Twelve Tables, the statute that formed the basis for all subsequent Roman law. The story of Terentilius comes to us from one source, book III of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita.