Cic. Fam. xv. 5. So Act. Verr. 9. Plin. vii. 16. xxxvii. 9. s. 46., for a precedent or example, Liv. iii. 51., a choice, Id. xxi. 3., or favour, Id. xxviii. 9., and among later writers for a peculiar or exclusive privilege.

When tribes are mentioned in the Comitia Centuriata, Liv. x. 13., it is supposed that, after the centuries were included in the tribes, the tribes first cast lots; and that the tribe which first came out was called PRÆROGATIVA TRIBUS; and then that the centuries of that tribe cast lots which should be the prærogativa centuria. * Others think that in this case the names of tribes and centuries are put promiscuously the one for the other. But Cicero calls centuria pars tribûs; and that which is remarkable, in the Comitia Tributa, pro Planc. 20.

Anciently the citizens gave their votes by word of mouth; and in creating magistrates, they seem to have each used this form, CONSULES, &C. NOMINO vel DICO, Liv. xxiv. 8, 9.; in passing laws, UTI ROGAS, VOLO vel JUBEO, Cic. de Legg. ii. 10. The will or command of the people was expressed by VELLE, and that of the senate by CENSERE, Sall. Jug. 21.; hence leges magistratusque ROGARE, to make, Liv. i. 17. Sometimes a person nominated to be consul, &c. by the prærogative century, declined accepting, Liv. v. 18. xxvi. 22. or the magistrate presiding disapproved of their choice, and made a speech to make them alter it. Whereupon the century was recalled by a herald to give its vote anew, (in suffragium revocata; thus, REDITE IN SUFFRAGIUM, Liv. ibid.) and the rest usually voted the same way with it (auctoritatem prærogativæ secuta sunt; eosdem consules cetera centuria sine variatione ullâ dixerunt, Liv. xxiv. 8, 9.). In the same manner, after a bill had been rejected by almost all the centuries, on a subsequent day (alteris comitiis), we find it unanimously enacted; as about declaring war on Philip, AB HAC ORATIONE IN SUFFRAGIUM MISSI, UT ROGARAT, BELLUM JUSSERUNT, Liv. xxxi. 8.

But in later times, that the people might have more liberty in voting, it was ordained by various laws, which were called LEGES TABELLARIÆ, that they should vote by ballot ["occultis de honore suffragiis, Cic. de Off. ii. 7."— T.] ; first in conferring honours, by the Gabinian law, made A. U. 614, Cic. de Amic. 12. Plin. Ep. iii. 20. ; two years after, at all trials except for treason, by the Cassian law, Cie. Brut. 25. 27.; in passing laws, by the Papirian law, A. U. 622, and lastly, by the Calian law, A. U. 630; also in trials for treason, which had been excepted by the Cassian law, Cic. de Legg. iii. 16. The purpose of these laws was to diminish the influence of the nobility, Ibid. & Cic. Planc. 6.

The centuries being called by a herald in their order, moved from the place where they stood, and went each of them into an enclosure (SEPTUM vel OVILE), which was a place surrounded with boards (locus tabulatis inclusus), and near the tribunal of the consul [Ovid. F. i. 52.]. Hence they were said to be intrò vocatæ, sc. in ovile, Liv. x. 13. There was a narrow passage to it raised from the ground, called PONS or PONTICULUS, by which each century went up one

See Hooke's Rom. Hist. vol. iii. p. 100. Liv. xxiv. 7. 9.”—T.

after another, Suet. Jul. 80. Hence old men at sixty (SEXAGENARII) were said DE PONTE DEJICI; and were called DEPONTANI, because after that age they were exempted from public business, Varro & Festus; to which Cicero alludes, Rosc. Am. 35. [ Ovid. F. v. 633.] But a very different cause is assigned for this phrase, both by Varro and Festus.

There were probably as many Pontes and Septa, or Ovilia, as there were tribes and centuries. Hence Cicero usually speaks of them in the plural; thus, Pontes Lex Maria fecit angustos, de Legg. iii. 17. Opera Clodianæ pontes occupârunt, Att. i. 14. Capio cum bonis viris impetum facit, pontes dejicit, ad Herenn. i. 12. Cùm Clodius in septa irruisset, pro Mil. 15. So, miseræ maculavit ovilia Roma, Lucan. Pharsal. ii. 197.

Some think that each tribe and century voted in its own ovile, Serv. in Virg. Ecl. i. 34. But this does not seem consistent with what we read in other authors.

At the entrance of the pons, each citizen received from certain officers, called DIRIBITORES, or distributores, ballots (tabula vel tabella), on which, if magistrates were to be created, were inscribed the names of the candidates, not the whole names, but only the initial letters, Cic. pro Dom. 43.; and they seem to have received as many tablets as there were candidates. We read of other tables being given in than were distributed, which must have been brought from home, Suet. Jul. 80.; but as no regard was paid to them, this seldom happened. The same thing took place, also, under the Emperors, when the right of electing magistrates was transferred from the people to the senate, Plin. Ep. iv. 25.

If a law was to be passed, or any thing to be ordered, as in a trial, or in declaring war, &c. they received two tablets; on the one were the letters U. R. i. e. UTI ROGAS, sc. volo vel jubeo, I am for the law and on the other, A. for ANTIQUO, i. e. Antiqua probo, nihil novi statui volo, I like the old way, I am against the law. Hence antiquare legem, to reject it.

Of these tablets every one threw which he pleased into a chest (in cistam) at the entrance of the ovile, which was pointed out to them by the ROGATORES, who asked for the ballots, and anciently for the votes, when they were given vivá voce, Cic. de Div. i. 17. ii. 35. Nat. D. ii. 4. Then certain persons, called CUSTODES, who observed that no fraud should be committed in casting lots and voting (in sortitione et suffragiis) took out (educebant) the ballots, and counted the votes by points marked on a tablet, which was called DIRIMERE suffragia, or DIREMPTIO suffragiorum, Lucan. v. 393.; whence omne punctum ferre, for omnibus suffragiis renunciari, to gain every vote; and what pleased the majority, was declared by a herald to be the vote of that century. The person who told to the consul the vote of his century (qui centuriam suam rogavit, et ejus suffragium retulit; vel Consules a centuria sua creatos renunciavit, retulit) was called ROGATOR, Cic. ib. & de Orat. ii. 64. Thus all the centuries were called one after another, till a majority of centuries agreed in the same opinion; and what they judged was held to be ratified.

The Diribitores, Rogatores, and Custodes, were commonly persons of the first rank, and friends to the candidates, or favourers of the

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ELECTION OF MAGISTRATES PASSING OF LAWS.

law to be passed, who undertook these offices voluntarily, Cic. in Pis. 15. post red. in Sen. 11. Augustus is supposed to have selected 900 of the equestrian order to be Custodes or Rogatores (ad custodiendas cistas suffragiorum), Plin. xxxiii. 2. s. 7.

If the points of any century were equal, its vote was not declared, but was reckoned as nothing, except in trials, where the century which had not condemned was supposed to have acquitted.

The candidate who had most votes, was immediately called by the magistrate who presided; and, after a solemn prayer, and taking an oath, was declared to be elected (renunciatus est), by a herald, Cic. pro Leg. Manil. 1. pro Muren. 1. in Rull. ii. 2. Vell. ii. 92. Then he was conducted home by his friends and dependents with great pomp. It was esteemed very honourable to be named first, Cic. pro Leg. Manil. 1.

Those who were elected consuls, usually crowned the images of their ancestors with laurel, Cic. Mur. 41.

When one gained the vote of a century, he was said ferre centuriam, and non ferre vel perdere, to lose it; so ferre repulsam, to be rejected; but ferre suffragium vel tabellam, to vote: thus Meis comitiis non tabellam vindicem tacitæ libertatis, sed vocem vivam tulistis, Cic. in Rull. ii. 2. The magistrates created at the Comitia Centuriata were said fieri, creari, declarari, nominari, dici, renunciari, designari, rogari, &c.

In creating magistrates this addition used to be made, to denote the fulness of their right: UT QUI OPTIMA LEGE FUERINT; OPTIMO JURE; EO JURE, QUO QUI OPTIMO, Festus in OPTIMA LEX, Cic. in Rull. i. 11. Phil. xi. 12. Liv. ix. 34.

When a law was passed, it was said PERFERRI; the centuries which voted for it, were said LEGEM JUBERE, V. ROGATIONEM ACCIPERE, Liv. ii. 57. iii. 15. 63. & alibi passim; those who voted against it, ANTIQUARE, VETARE, V. NON ACCIPERE. Lex ROGATUR, dum fertur; ABROGATUR, dum tollitur; DEROGATUR legi, v. de lege, cum per novam legem aliquid veteri legi detrahitur; SUBROGATUR, cum aliquid adjicitur; OBROGATUR, cum nová lege infirmatur, Ulpian and Festus. Ubi duæ contrariæ leges sunt, semper antiquæ obrogat nova, the new law invalidates the old, Liv. ix. 34.

Two clauses commonly used to be added to all laws:- 1. SI QUID

JUS NON FUIT ROGARI, UT EJUS HAC LEGE NIHIL ESSET ROGATUM: 2. SI QUID CONTRA ALIAS LEGES EJUS LEGIS ERGO LATUM ESSET, UT EI, QUI EAM LEGEM ROGASSET, IMPUNE ESSET, Cic. Att. iii. 23.; which clause (caput) Cicero calls TRANSLATITIUM, in the law of Clodius against himself, because it was transferred from ancient laws, Ibid.

This sanction used also to be annexed, NE QUIS PER SATURAM ABROGATO; i. e. per legem in qua conjunctim multis de rebus unâ rogatione populus consulebatur, Festus. Hence Exquirere sententias per saturam, i. e. passim, sine certo ordine, by the gross or lump, Sall. Jug. 29. In many laws this sanction was added, QUI ALITER Vel SECUS FAXIT V. FECERIT, SACER ESTO: i. e. ut caput ejus, cum bonis vel familia, alicui deorum consecraretur v. sacrum esset: that it might be lawful to kill the transgressor with impunity, Liv. ii. 8. iii. 55. Cic. pro Balb. 14.

When a law was passed, it was engraven on brass, and carried to the treasury. It used also to be fixed up in public, in a place where

it might be easily read (unde de plano, i. e. from the ground, legi posset). Hence, In Capitolio legum æra liquefacta, Cic. Cat. iii. 8. Nec verba minacia fixo are legebantur, Ovid. Met. i. 3. Fixit leges pretio atque refixit, made and unmade, Virg. En. vi. 622. Cic. Phil. xiii. 3. Fam. xii. 1.

After the year of the city 598, when the consuls first began to enter on their office on the first day of January, the comitia for their election were held about the end of July, or the beginning of August, unless they were delayed by the intercession of the magistrates, or by inauspicious omens. In the time of the first Punic war, the consuls entered on their office on the ides of March, and were created in January or February, Liv. passim. The prætors were always elected after the consuls, sometimes on the same day, Liv. x. 22., or the day after, or at the distance of several days, Id. From the time of their election, till they entered on their office, they were called DESIGNATI.

The comitia for enacting laws or for trials might be held on any legal day.

COMITIA TRIBUTA.

IN the Comitia Tributa the people voted divided into tribes, according to their regions or wards (ex regionibus et locis), A. Gell. xv. 27.

The name of tribes was derived either from their original number three (a numero ternario), or from paying tribute (a tributo), Liv. i. 43., or, as others think, from TρITTÙS, tertia pars tribûs apud Athenienses, Eolicè TρITTÙS, unde TRIbus. [See p. 60.]

The three tribes were called RAMNENSES or Ramnes, TATIENSES or Titienses [or Tities], and LUCERES. The first tribe was named from Romulus, and included the Roman citizens who occupied the Palatine hill; the second from Titus Tatius, and included the Sabines who possessed the Capitoline hill; and the third from one Lucumo, a Tuscan, or rather from the grove (a luco) which Romulus turned into a sanctuary, (asylum retulit, Virg. Æn. viii. 342.) and included all foreigners except the Sabines. Each of these tribes at

"With regard to the regal and priestly offices, it is evident that the full privileges of citizenship belong only to the first two tribes, and that the third, except as to the vestals, stands on a lower footing. Hence, as the whole body of the original citizens are called the patrician houses, the third tribe properly bears the name of the minor houses. The votes of the senators of this class were taken after those of the major houses. The distinguishing epithet answers to the difference in civil rights; which was so trifling between the first two tribes, that the error of Dionysius, in applying the name of minor houses to the second, falls to the ground of itself, as soon as it is pointed out. A certain precedency, indeed, the first tribe must have maintained. The name of the decem primi, which occurs in the Latin senate even before their great war with the Romans (Liv. viii. 3.), and in all the colonies and municipal towns, denotes, according to the simplest explanation, the ten who were the first in their respective decuries. There were ten such chiefs in the Roman senate likewise (Val. Max. i. 1. ut decem principum filii singulis Etruriæ populis traderentur: the same were also sent by the Romans on embassies; even to the plebeians during the secession :) the same undoubtedly who formed the decemvirate of the interrexes, one from each decury. Mention is also made by Dionysius (ix. 4.), of the penal judicature in capital causes having once been confined to the purest tribe : and whatever may be the exact state of the case as to this obscure point,- for that the Tities,

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DIVISION INTO REGIONS AND TRIBES.

first had its own tribune or commander (Tribunus vel præfectus), Dionys. iv. 14., and its own augur, Liv. x. 6.

Tarquinius Priscus doubled the number of tribes, retaining the same names; so that they were called Ramnenses primi and Ramnenses secundi, or posteriores, &c. Liv. i. 36.

But as the Luceres in a short time greatly exceeded the rest in number, Servius Tullius introduced a new arrangement, and distributed the citizens into tribes, not according to their extraction, but from their local situation.

He divided the city into four regions or wards, called PALATINA, SUBURBANA, COLLINA, and ESQUILINA, the inhabitants of which constituted as many tribes, and had their names from the wards which they inhabited. No one was permitted to remove from one ward to another, that the tribes might not be confounded, Dionys. iv. 14. On which account certain persons were appointed to take an account where every one dwelt, also of their age, fortune, &c. These were called city tribes (TRIBUS URBANE), and their number always remained the same.

Servius at the same time divided the Roman territory into fifteen parts (some say sixteen, and some seventeen), which were called country tribes (TRIBUS RUSTICE), Dionys. iv. 15.

In the year of the city 258, the number of tribes was made twentyone, Liv. ii. 21.* Here, for the first time, Livy directly takes notice of the number of tribes, although he alludes to the original institution of three tribes, x. 6. Dionysius says, that Servius instituted thirtyone tribes, iv. 15. But in the trial of Coriolanus, he only mentions twenty-one as having voted, vii. 64., the number of Livy, viii. 64.

The number of tribes was afterwards increased on account of the addition of new citizens at different times, Liv. vi. 5. vii. 15. viii. 17. ix. 20. x. 9. Epit. xix., to thirty-five, Liv. xxiii. 13. Ascon. in Cic. Verr. i. 5., which number continued to the end of the republic, Liv. i. 43.

After the admission of the Italian states to the freedom of the city, eight or ten new tribes are said to have been added; but this was of short continuance; for they were all soon distributed among the thirty-five old tribes.

For a considerable time, according to the institution of Servius Tullius, a tribe was nothing else but the inhabitants of a certain region or quarter in the city or country: but afterwards this was altered; and tribes came to be reckoned parts not of the city or

houses, must have exercised one over their own members, is indisputable; besides, as I have already noticed, there were two judges for capital causes; at all events, the account implies a tradition of the precedency of the high Ramnes: (celsi Ramnes, Hor. A. P. 342.)" - Nieb. i. p. 260.

By the admission of the Claudian or Crustumine tribe. Niebuhr (i. p. 360.) conjectures that a third part of their territory had been taken from the Romans by Porsenna, it being acknowledged that they were forced to cede that on the Etruscan bank of the Tiber, and thus an exact third of the original tribes disappeared.

+ This is an error: it should be thirty tribes; on which Niebuhr, i. p. 359., has the following remark: "No one will fail to perceive that the number of thirty plebeian tribes has a striking internal probability; because the patricians and the Latins, between whom the plebs stood in the middle, uniting the two, were both divided into thirty corporations.'