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

COMIT1A. CO0IITIA1. 331
act, unless they were anthorisvd by the senate and to have the whole populus as a witness to such an
people. The sovereign people or populus, however, act, which perhaps consisted in an oral declaration.
was not the same at all times. In the earliest The populus thus did not vote upon the validity
times of Rome the populus consisted of the patri- or invalidity of a will, but solely acted the part of
cians (or patres) only, the plebs and the clients a witness. (Gellius, xv. 27; Theophil. ii. 10.)
forming no part of the populus, but being without Assemblies for the express purpose of making the
the pale of the state. The original populus was populus witness to a will were in the earliest times
divided into thirty curiae, and the assembly of held twice ill every year (Gaius, ii. ~ 101); but
these curiae, or the comitia curiata, therefore, were this custom afterwards fell into desuetude. (Gaius,
the only assembly in which the populus was re- ii. ~ 103.) A fourth business transacted in the
presented. A kind of amalgamation of the patri- comitia calata was the detestatio sacroruzm, which
cians and the plebs afterwards appeared in the was in all probability an act connected with the
comitia of the centuries, instituted by king Servius testamenti factio, that is, a solemn declaration, by
Tullius, and henceforth the term populus was ap- which the heir was enjoined to undertake the sacra
plied to the united patricians and plebeians assem- privata of the testator along with the reception of
bled in the comitia centuriata. But Servius had his property. (Gellius, xv. 27, comp. vi. 12;) It
also made a local division of the whole Roman ter- has already been observed that originally only the
ritory into thirty tribes, which held their meetings members of the curiae formed the comitia calata,
in assemblies called comZitia tributa, which, in the so that they were the same as the comitia curiata,
course of time, acquired the character of national in this respect; but from the words of Gellius
assemblies, so that the people thus assembled were (eouum autem alia esse curiatca, alia celnturiata), it
likewise designated by the term populus. We is clear that after the time of Servius Tullius, there
shall examine in order the nature, power, and busi- must have been two kinds of comitia calata, the
ness of each of these different comitia.' one convened according to curiae by a lictor, and
I. COMnITIA CALATA. These and the comitia the other according to centuries by a cornicen. As
curiata were the only assemblies that met and were regards the business of the latter, we have no inrecognized at Rome previous to the time of Servius formation whatever, though it is not impossible,
Tullius, and inasmuch as the populus of which that in them all announcements respecting the
they consisted was the same as the populus in the calendar were made by the pontiffs, as this was a
comnitia curiata, they might also be called comitia matter of interest to the whole people, and not to
curiata but they differed in their objects, in the the populus alone (Macrob. and Serv. 11. cc.);
porsons presiding at them, and in the place of and it may further be, that in the calata centuriata
meeting. The comitia calata were held under the the testamenta of plebeians were laid before the
presidency of the college of pontiffs (Gellius, xv. assembled people; as in the calata curiata, they
27), who also convened them. They derived their were laid before the assembled curies.
name calata (from calare, i. e. vocale) from the cir- II. COMITIA CURIIATA (EKXlrai ea cppacrrptC
cumstance that the attendants or servants of the or pa-rpLaec) were of far greater importance than
pontiffs, who were probably employed in calling the comitia calata, inasmuch as the populus here
them together, were termed calatores. (Serv. ad was not present in a mere passive capacity, but
Virg. Georg. i. 268.) Their place of meeting was had to decide by its votes as to whether a
probably always on the Capitol in front of the measure brought before it was to be adopted
curia Calabra, which seems to have been an official or rejected. As the populus was at first only
building of the pontiffs, and to have been destined the body of real citizens, that is, the patrifor this purpose. (Paul. Diac. p. 49, ed. Miiller; cians, or those contained in the curiae, none but
Varro, De Ling. Lot. v. 1. p. 24.) With regard members of the curiae, that is, patricians, had a
to the functions of the comitia calata, all writers right to take part in these assemblies. It is a
are agreed that the people assembled acted merely disputed point, as to whether the clients of the
a passive part, that they met only for the purpose patricians had a right to vote in the comitia curiata;
of hearing what was announced, and of being wit- but it is highly probable that, when they appeared
nesses to the actions there performed. One of the in them, they could not act any other part than
things which were made known to the people in that of listeners and spectators. They were conthese comitia, was that on the calends of every vened, in the kingly period, by the king himself,
month it was proclaimed on what day of the new or by his tribunns celerum, and in the king's abmonth the nones fell, and perhaps also the ides sence by the praefectus urbi. (Liv. i. 59.) After
as well as the nature of the other days, namely, the death of a king the comitia were held by the
whether they were fasti or nefasti, comitiales, interrex. In the republican period, the president
feriae, &c., because all these things were known was always one of the high patrician magistrates,
in the early times to the pontiffs exclusively. (Liv. viz. a consul, praetor or dictator. (Cic. De Leg.
ix. 46; Macrob. Sat.: i. 15; Serv. ad Aen, viii. Agr. ii. 11, 12; Liv. ix. 38.) They were called
654; Varro, De Ling. Lat. vi. 4.) Another func- together by lictors or heralds. (Gellius, xv. 27;
tion of the comitia calata was the inauguration of Dionys. ii. 7.) The votes were given by curiae,
the flamines, and after the banishment of the kings, each curia having one collective vote; but within
also that of the rex sacrorum. (Gellius, 1. c.) A a curia each citizen belonging to it had an indethird business which was transacted in them was pendent vote, and the majority of the members of
the testamentifactio, or the making of a will. The a curia determined the vote of the whole curia.
object of this was probably to prevent, after the (Gell. I. c.; Liv. i. 43; Dionys. ii. 14, iv. 20, 84,
death of the testator, any dispute concerning his v. 6.) Now as the curiae were thirty in number,
will, to which the whole assembly of the populus it was impossible to obtain a simple majority,
had been a witness; and it is not improbable that, which must always have consisted of 16 curiae.
as the art of writing was not sufficiently known in How matters were decided in case of 15 curiae
those times, it was thought a matter of importance voting for and 15 against a measure, is quite un