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

COMITIA. COMITIA. 339
after the comitia the augurs declared that some second (likewise seniores and juniores), two of the
formality had been neglected, the decree of the third, two of the fourth, and two of the fifth class.
assembly thereby became void, and persons who The equites were likewise divided according to
had been elected to an office were obliged to with- tribes and centuries (Dionys. vi. 13, vii. 72), and
draw. they seem to have voted with the first class, and
V. The comitia centluriata mixed swith the conzitia to have been in fact included in it, so as to be
tributea.- The Servian constitution was retained called centuries of the first class. (Cic. Phil. ii.
unaltered so long as no great change took place in 33, Liv. xliii. 16; Aurel. Vict. de Vir. Illustr. 57;
the republic, but when the coinage and the standard Val. Max. vi. 5. ~ 3.) The centuries of the cor.
of property had become altered, when the constitu- nicines, tubicines and fabri, which are no longer
tion of the army had been placed on a different mentioned, probably ceased to exist as distinct cenfooting, and above all, when the plebeians began turies. (Comp. Cic. de Re Publ. ii. 22.) Respect.
to be recognized as a great and essential element ing the manner in which the votes were given,
in the Roman state, it must have been found in- there are two opinions: according to the first, a
convenient to leave to the equites and the first whole tribe was chosen by lot to give its vote (10
class so great a preponderance in the comitia of the centuries) first, and according to the second, one
centuries, and it became necessary to secure more century of the first class, having been determined
power and influence to the democratic element by lot. If we adopt the former opinion, the votes
-which had grown in strength and was still growing. of the ten centuries contained in a tribe would have
It mav have been the intention to combine the been given one after another, and the majority, six,
comitia centuriata and tributa in such a manner would have constituted the result or vote of the
as to make only one assembly of them, but this tribe. Now as 18 out of the 35 tribes constituted
was not done. A change however took place, a majority, it is evident that 108 centuries might
though no writer mentions either the time when it have constituted a majority against the remaining
was made nor in what it consisted, so that we are 242. This is an absurdity of which we cannot
left to formn our opinion from incidental allusions. conceive the Romans to have been guilty.- The
First, as to the time of the change. From Livy voting by tribes, therefore, cannot be conceived as
(i. 43) and Dionysius (iv. 21) it would appear that rational, except in those cases in which the ten
the change did not take place till after the -com- centuries of every tribe were unanimous; this may
pletion of the 35 tribes, i. e after B. c. 241. Some have been the case very often, and when it was so,
modern writers, therefore, refer the change to the the tribus praerogativa was certainly the tribe
censorship of C. Flaminius, B. c. 220, who is said chosen by lot to give its unanimous vote first. But
to have made the constitution more democratic; if there was any difference of opinion among the
while Niebuhr and others date the change from centuries making up a tribe, the true majority could
the censorship of Q. Fabius and P. Decius, B. c. only be ascertained by choosing by lot one of the
304. But there is evidence that it must be assigned 70 centuriae of the first class to give its vote first,
to even an earlier date than this, for the (tribus) or rather it was decided by lot from which tribe
praerogativa is mentioned as early as B. C. 396 in the two centuries of the first class were to be taken
the election of the consular tribunes (Liv. v. 18), to. give their vote first. (Hence the plural praerowhere the pure comitia tributa cannot be meant, gativae, Pseud. Ascon. ad Cic. in Verr. p. 139;
and a centuria praerogativa is a thing unknown. Liv. x. 20.) The tribe, moreover, to which those
The question about the manner in which the centuries belonged which voted first, was itself likecombination of the two kinds of comitia was ef- wise called tribus praerogativa. Of the two cenfected, has been the subject of even much more turies, again, that of seniores gave its vote before
discussion aldl doubt than that about the time the juniores, and in the documents both were called
when it was brought about. The most probable of by the name of their tribe, as Gctleiia juniorunZ
the numerous opinions which have been advanced (Liv. xxvii. 6, i. e. the juniores of the first class in
on this subject is that of 0. Pantagathus (Fulv. the tribus Galeria), Aniensisjuniorumn (Liv. xxiv.
Ursinus, ad Liv. i. 43), which has been very ela- 7), Veturia juniorumn (Liv. xxvi. 22; comp. Cic.
borately worked out by Gottling. (Gescth. d. Ribs. p. Plane. 20, Phil. ii. 33, De Div. ii. 35). As soon
Staatsverf: pp. 380, &c., 506, &c.) Pantagathus as the praerogativa had voted, the renuntiatio took
believes that the citizens of each tribe were, divided place, and the remaining centuries then deliberated
into five property classes, each consisting of seniores whether they should vote the same way or not.
and jlniores, so that each of the 35 tribes con- When this was done all the centuries of the first
tained ten centuries, and all the tribes together tribe proceeded to vote at once (Dionys. iv. 21), for
350 centuries, a number which corresponds with there would not have been time for the 350 ceInthat of the days of a Roman lunar year. Accord- turies to vote one after another, as was done by
ing to this new arrangement, the five ancient the 193 centuries in the comitia centuriata. (Cic.
classes, divided into seniores and juniores, con- p. Plane. 20, in Verr. v. 15, p. Red. in Senat. 11,
tinued to exist as before (Liv. xliii. 16; Cic. ad Quit. 7; Liv. x. 9, 22, xxiv. 7, xxvi. 22,
Phil. ii. 33, p. Flacec. 7, de Re Publ. iv. 2, Acadcn. xxvii. 24; Suet. Caes. 19.)
ii. 33; Saell. Jug. 86), but henceforth they were These comitia of the centuries combined with
most closely united with the tribes, whereas before the tribes, were far more democratical than the
the tribes had been mere local divisions and en- comitia of the centuries; they continued to be
tirely independent of property. The union now held, and preserved their power along with the
effected was that the classes became subdivisions comitia tributa, even after the latter had acquired
of the tribes, and that accordingly centuries occur their supreme importance in the republic. During
both in the classes and in the tribes. (Cic. p. the time of the moral and political corruption of
Plance. 20, de Leg. Agr. ii. 2.) Each tribe con- the Romans, the latter appear to have been chiefly.tained ten centuries, two of the first class (one of attended by the populace, which was guided by
the seniores and one of the juniores), two of the the tribunes, and the wealthier and more respectz2