Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1150' TRIBUNUS. TRIBUNUS.
the plebs, but -in the course of time their power have been elected by that body of the Roman citiincreased to such a degree that it surpassed that zens which they represented, yet the subject is inof all other magistrates, and the tribunes then, volved in considerable obscurity. Cicero (Firagt.
as Niebuhr (i. p, 614) iemarks, became a ma- Cornol. 1. c.) states that they were elected by the
gistracy. for the whole Roman people ill opposition comitia of the curies; the same is implied in the
to the senate and the oligarchical elements in accounts of Dionysius (I. c.) and Livy (ii. 56)', ac-.
general, although they had nothing to do with cording to whom. the comitia of the tribes did not.
the administration or the goverlnment. During obtain this right till the Lex Publilia (472 B. C.;
the latter period of the republic they became true Liv. ii. 56; Dionys. x. 41). Niebuhr thinks (i.
tyrants, and Niebuhr justly compares their college, p. 618) that down to the Publilian law they were
isuch as it was in later times, to the national con- elected by the centuries, the classes of which they
yention of France during the first revolution. But represented in their number, and that the curies, as
potwithstanding the great and numerous abuses Dionysius himself mentions in another place (vi.
which were made of the tribunitian power by in- 90), had nothing to do with the election except to.
dividuals, the greatest historians and statesmen sanction it. The election in the comitia of the,
ponfcss that the greatness of Rome and its long centuries however does not remove the difficulties,
dpration is in a great measure attributable to the whence Glittling (p. 289) is inclined to think that.
institution of this office. the tribunes before the expiration of their office
As regards the number of the tribunes of the appointed their successors, after a previ::us conpeople, all the ancient writers agree (see the pas- sultation with the plebeians. The necessity of the
sages in Niebuhr, i. n. 1356), that at first they sanction by the curies cannot be doubted, but it.
were only two, though the accounts differ as to the appears to have ceased even some time before the
names of the first tribunes. Soonafterwards, how- Publilian law. (Niebuhr, ii. p. 190.) After this
ever, the number of tribunes was increased to five, time it is never heard of again, and-the election of
one being taken from each of the five classes. (As- the tribunes was left entirely to the comitia tributea,
con. in Cio. Corn. p. 56, ed. Orelli; Zonar. vii. 15.) which were convoked and held for this purpse by
When this increase took place is quite uncertain. the old tribunes previously to the expiration of their.
According to Dionysius (vi. 89) three new tribunes office. (Liv. ii. 56, &c.; Dionys. ix. 43, 49.) One
were added immediately after the appointment of of the old tribunes was appointed by lot to preside
the first two. Cicero (Fs'nagi. Corsel. p. 451, at the election. (Iiv. iii. 64; Appian, (e Bell. Civ.
Orelli) states, that the year after the institution of i. 14.) As the meeting could not be prolonged after
the tribunes their number was increased to ten; sunset, and the business was to be completed in
according to Livy (ii. 33) the first two tribunes one day, it sometimes happened that it was obliged
irnmmediately after their appointment elected them- to break. up before the election was conmpleted, and
selves thr. e new colleagues; according to Piso (ap. that those who were elected filled up the legitimate
Liv. ii. 58) there were only two tribunes down to number of the coll:ge by cooptatio. (Liv. 1. c.) But
the time of the Publilian laws. It would b.e hope- in order to prevent this irregularity the tribune
less to attempt to ascertain what was really the L. Trebonius in 448 B. c. got an ordinance pass-d,
case; thus much only is certain, that the number according to which the college of the tribunes
was not increased to ten till the year 457 B.C., should never be completed by cooptatio, but the
and that then twvo were taken from each of the elections should be continued on the second dayc,
five classes. (Liv. iii. 30; Dionys. x. 30.) This if they were not. completed on the first, till the
number appears to have remained unaltered down number ten was made up. (Liv. iii. 64, 65, v. 10;
to the end of the empire. comp. Niebuhr, ii. p. 383.) The place where the
The time when the tribunes were elected was, election of the tribunes was held was originally
according to Dionysius (vi. 89), always on the 10th and lawfully the Forum, afterwards also the
of December, although it is evident from Cicero Campus Ma'tius, and sometimes the area of the
(ad ASt. i. 1) that in his time at least the election Capitol.
took place a. d. XVI. Kal. Sextil. (17th of July.) We now proceed to trace the gradual growth of
It is almost superfluous to state that none but ple- the tribunitian power. Although its original chabeians were eligible to the office of tribune; hence racter was merely auxilium or 0BoOEta against pawhen towards the end of the republic patricians trician magistrates, the plebeians appear early to
wished to obtain the office, they were obliged first have regarded their tribunes also as mediators or
to renounce their own order and to, become ple- arbitrators in matters among themselves. This
beians [PATRICII, p. 876]; hence also. under the statement of Lydus (de ]lIayist. i. 38, 44; Dionys.
empire it was thought that the princeps should not vii. 58) has been pointed out by Walter (Gesch. d..
be tribune because he was a patrician. (Dion MRssm. Reclcts, p. 85). The whole power possessed
Cass. liii. 17, 32.) But the influence which be- by the college of tribunes was designated by the
longed to this office was too great for the emperors nIame tribzniciae potestas, and extended at no time
not to covet it. Hence Augustus received the tri- further than one mile beyond the gates of the city;
bunitia potestas for life. (Suet. Astg. 27; Tacit. at a greater distance than this they came under
Annal. i. 2; compare Suet. Tiber.,9, 23, Iesp. 12, Tit. the inmperium of the magistrates, like every other
6.) During the republic, however, the old regula- citizen. (Liv. iii. 20; Dionys. viii. 87.) As they
tion remained in force even after the tribunes had were the public guardians, it was necessary that
ceased to be the protectors of the plebs alone. The every one should have access to them and at any
only instance in which patricians were elected to time; hence the doors of their houses were open
the tribunleship is mentioned by Livy (iii. 65), day and night for all who were in need of help and
and this was probably the consequence of an protection, which they were empowered to afford
attempt to divide the- tribuneship between the against any one, even against the highest magistwo orders. Although nothing appears to be more trates.. For the same reason a tribune was. lo;
natural than that the tribunes should originally allowed to be absent from the city for a whole day,