Ten Commandments (Henry Lee Willet, 1965), Saint George, Arlington VA

Ezra read plainly from the book of the law of God, interpreting it so that all could understand what was read. (Nehemiah 8: 8)

Four hundred and fifty years before the birth of Christ, in the era of the Roman Republic, the two groups of people living in Rome were the Patricians and Plebeians. The Patricians were essentially the aristocratic families of Rome, concerned with the governance and administration of the City, whilst the Plebeians were the common folk, many of whom worked in service for the Patricians, enabling the great City to operate on a daily basis. The Patricians, as the intellectual and educated class, wrote and administered the law of the City, whilst the Plebeians were merely subject to it. It may seem peculiar to us with the benefit of hindsight, but the Plebeians, though bound by the law, were not aware of exactly what the law was or how it was to be kept, and so they  eventually demanded (and won) the chance for the law to be promulgated and explained to them, in order that being aware of it they might abide by it more fairly and conscientiously. The result of this was the publication of the first body of Roman laws, known as the Twelve Tables: great bronze tablets that were displayed in the public space of the Roman Forum, in order that the plebs, that is the people, might be able to see, read, and begin to understand the law under which they were to live their daily lives. Continue reading →