There had been frequent assemblies of the whole senate, within a small compass of time, about this difficulty, but without any certain issue; the poor commonalty, therefore, perceiving there was likely to be no redress of their grievances, on a sudden collected in a body, and, encouraging each other in their resolution, forsook the city, with one accord, and seizing the hill which is now called the Holy Mount, sat down by the river Anio, without committing any sort of violence or seditious outrage, but merely exclaiming, as they went along, that they had this long time past been, in fact, expelled and excluded from the city by the cruelty of the rich; that Italy would everywhere afford them the benefit of air and water and a place of burial, which was all they could expect in the city, unless it were, perhaps, the privilege of being wounded and killed in time of war for the defence of their creditors. The senate, apprehending the consequences, sent the most moderate and popular men of their own order to treat with them.
Mennenius Agrippa, their chief spokesman, after much entreaty to the people, and much plain-speaking on behalf of the senate, concluded, at length, with the celebrated fable. “It once happened,“ he said, “that all the other members of a man mutinied against the stomach, which they accused as the only idle, uncontributing part in the whole body, while the rest were put to hardships and the expense of much labour to supply and minister to its appetites. The stomach, however, merely ridiculed the silliness of the members, who appeared not to be aware that the stomach certainly does receive the general nourishment, but only to return it again, and redistribute it amongst the rest. Such is the case,” he said, “ye citizens, between you and the senate. The counsels and plans that are there duly digested, convey and secure to all of you your proper benefit and support.”
A reconciliation ensued, the senate acceding to the request of the people for the annual election of five protectors for those in need of succor, the same that are now called the tribunes of the people; and the first two they pitched upon were Junius Brutus and Sicinnius Vellutus, their leaders in the secession.
tl;dr:
The poor people of Rome keep petitioning to the senate for their grievances, yet nothing is done. So they essentially get together and just leave. They go to a nearby hill outside the city and stage a sort of sit-down-protest. The Senate panics because a huge chuck of their citizens basically just ‘quit,’ so they send someone out to convince the plebs to come back. He gives a great speech, the plebs agree to go back, and in return the senate creates a new type of government office, reserved exclusively for plebs: the Tribune of the People.
Source:
Plutarch, John Dryden, and Arthur Hugh Clough. "Coriolanus." Plutarch's Lives. New York: Modern Library, 2001. 294-95. Print.
Further Reading:
[Agrippa Menenius Lanatus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_Menenius_Lanatus_(consul_503_BC)
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