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

COMITIA. COMITIA. 337
citizens had to obey (Liv. xxxix. 15; Dion Cass. were elected by them, though the curule aediles
xxxvii. 27; Macrob. Sat. i. 16); 6. when any were elected at a different time from the plebeian
tumult or insurrection broke out in the city, as aediles and under the presidency of a consul.
happened now and then during the latter period (Gell. xiii. 1,5, vi. 9; Cic. p. IPlanc. 4, 20, 22, ad
of the republic. (Cic. p. Sext. 36.) In all these -Att. iv. 3, ad Fam. viii. 4; Liv. ix, 46, xxv. 2.)
cases, the assembly had to continue its business on At a still later time, the quaestors and tribunes of
some other day, sometimes on the next. The the soldiers, who had before been appointed by
only exception seems to have been in the case of the consuls, were appointed in the assemblies of the
the election of the censors, for if both could not be tribes. (Cic. ad Fae. vii. 30, in Vat. 5; Liv. iv.
elected on the same day, it was necessary to begin 54, vii. 5, ix. 30; Sall. Jazy. 63.) The proconsuls
the election afresh, and if one had been elected, to be sent into the provinces, and the prolongation
his election was not valid. (Liv. ix. 34.) of the imperium for a magistrate who was already
IV. COMITIA TRIBUTA (Kimc Vsa s(pXshrKi'). in a province, were likewise points which were
These assemblies likewise were called into existence determined by the tribes in later times. (Liv. viii,
by the constitution of Servius Tullius, who divided 23, 26, ix. 42, x. 22, xxvii. 22, xxix. 13, xxx.
the Roman territory into thirty local tribes. As these 27, xxxi. 50.) The inferior magistrates elected
divisions were originally a purely topographical ar- by the tribes are: -the triumviri capitales,
rangement, they were of little or no importance to triumviri monetales, the curatores viarum, decemthe state; but in the course of time, these local viri litibus judicandis, tribuni aerarii, magistri
divisions were formed into a political union, and the vicorulm et pagorum, praefecti annonae, duumviri
assemblies of the tribes became most formidable navales, quinqueviri muris turribusque reficiendis,
rivals of those of the centuries. The decision upon triumviri coloniae deducendae, triumviri, quatuorthe. question as to what portion of the Roman viri, &c., mensarii, and lastly, after the Domitian
population had the right to take part in the comitia law, B.c. 104, also the members of colleges of
tributa, depends upon the question, as to whether priests. The pontifex maximus had been elected
the tribes were instituted as a local organisation by the people from an earlier time. (Liv. xxv. 5;
of the whole people (patricians and plebeians), or Cic. de Leg. Agr. ii. 7.)
whether they were intended for the plebeians 2. Tle leislative power of the comitia tributa
only. Most modern writers have adopted the was at first very insignificant, for all they could
opinion of Niebuhr, that the patricians were not do was to pass resolutions and make regulations
considered as members of the tribes, and that ac. concerning the local affairs of the tribes, but they
cordingly, they had no right to take part in their did not in any way affect the state as a whole.
assemblies, until the time of the decemviral legis- But after a time when the tribes began to be the
lation. The question is not one that can be proved real representatives of the people, matters affecting
with satisfactory evidence; but at any rate no the whole people also were brought before them
sufficient argument has yet been brought forward by the tribunes, which, framed as resolutions, were
to upset Niebuhr's view, for the fact of patricians laid before the senate, where they might either be
and their clients being present at the place of sanctioned or rejected. This practice of the'tiineeting (Liv. ii. 56), for the purpose of disturbing buta comitia gradually acquired for them the right
the comitia tributa and preventing their coming to of taking the initiative in any measure, or the
a decision, does not prove that they possessed the right of originating measiures, until in B. c. 449
right of voting. After the time of the decemvirate, this right was recognised and sanctioned by a la'i
the patricians had the right of voting in the as- of L Valerius Publicola and M. Horatius Bi'rsemblies of the tribes, which were then also con- batus. (Liv. iii. 55, 67; Dionys. xi. 45.) This
vened by the higher magistrates. (Liv. iii. 71; law garve to the decrees passed by the tribes the
comp. TsIBUs.) power of a real lea, binding upon the whole people,
The assemblies of the tribes had originally provided they obtained the sanction of the senate
only a local power; they were intended to col- and the populus, that is, the people assembled in
lect the tributum, and to furnish the contingents the comitia curiata or in the cornitia centuriata.
for the army (Dionys. iv. 14, &c.); they may (Dionys. x. 4, 32.) At first the tribes acted with
further have discussed the internal affairs of each considerable moderation and modesty, discussing
tribe, such as the making or keeping up of roads, only those subjects which affected their own order
wells, and the like. But their influence gradually or individual plebeians, such as the amnesty after
increased, for the commonalty being more nume- the secession, plebeian magistrates, usury and the
rous than the patricians, and being in a state of like. In B. c. 339, the Publilian law enacted ut
growth and development, and guided by active plebiscite omnes Qairites tenesent. (Liv. viii. 12.)
land energetic tribunes, the internal administration This law was either a re-enactment of the one
of the tribes gradually assumed the character of an passed in B. c. 449, or contained a more detailed
administration of the internal affairs of the republic, specification of the cases in which plebiscita should
while the comitia of the centuries were more cal- be binding tupon the whole nation, or, lastly, it
culated to represent the state in its relations to made their validity independent of the sanction of
foreign countries. As the commonalty grew in other comitia, so that nothing would be required
strength, it made greater claims; each victory gave except the assent of the senate. In B. C. 287, the
it fresh courage, and thus the comitia tributa Hortensian law was passed, which seems to have
gradually acquired the following powers:- been only a revival and a confirmation of the two
1. The election qf tlse inferior magistrates, whose preceding laws, for it was framed in almost the
office it was to protect the commonalty or to super- same terms (Plin. H. N. xvi. 10; Gell. xv. 27
intend the affairs of the tribes. The Publilian Gaius, i. 3); but it may also be, that the Hortenlaw in B. c. 471, secured to the comitia tributa the sian law made the plebiscita independent of the
right of electing the tribunes of the plebs. (Liv. ii. sanction of the senate, so that henceforth the
5t; I)ionys. ix. 49.) In like manner, the aediles comitia tributa were quite independent in their
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