 In 287 BC , the Plebeians seceded to the Janiculum hill . To end the secession , a law ( the " Hortensian Law " ) was passed , which ended the requirement that the Patrician senators consent before a bill could be brought before the Plebeian Council for a vote . The ultimate significance of this law was in the fact that it robbed the Patricians of their final weapon over the Plebeians . The result was that the ultimate control over the state fell , not onto the shoulders of democracy , but onto the shoulders of the new Patricio @-@ Plebeian aristocracy . By the middle of the second century BC , the economic situation for the average Plebeian had declined significantly . Farmers became bankrupted , and soon masses of unemployed Plebeians began flooding into Rome , and thus into the ranks of the legislative assemblies , where their economic status usually led them to vote for the candidate who offered them the most . A new culture of dependency was emerging , which would look to any populist leader for relief . 
