THE ROMAN ASSEMBLIES

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK. BOSTON. CHICAGO
ATLANTA. SAN FRANCISCO

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
LONDON. BOMBAY. CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO

THE
ROMAN ASSEMBLIES

FROM THEIR ORIGIN TO THE END
OF THE REPUBLIC

BY
GEORGE WILLIS BOTSFORD
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
AUTHOR OF “THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION,”
“A HISTORY OF GREECE,” “A HISTORY OF ROME,”
“AN ANCIENT HISTORY,” ETC.

New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1909
All rights reserved

Copyright, 1909,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1909.

Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

To
MY WIFE

Οὐ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ γε κρεῖσσον καὶ ἄρειον,

Ἢ ὅθ’ ὁμοφρονέοντε νοήμασιν οἶκον ἔχητον

Ἀνὴρ ἠδὲ γυνή· πόλλ’ ἄλγεα δυσμενέεσσι,

Χάρματα δ’ εὐμενέτησι· μάλιστα δέ τ’ ἔκλυον αὐτοί.

PREFACE

This volume is the first to offer in monographic form a detailed treatment of the popular assemblies of ancient Rome. Necessarily much of the material in it may be found in earlier works; but recent progress in the field, involving a reaction against certain theories of Niebuhr and Mommsen affecting the comitia, justifies a systematic presentation of existing knowledge of the subject. This task has required patient labor extending through many years. The known sources and practically all the modern authorities have been utilized. A determination to keep free from conventional ideas, so as to look at the sources freshly and with open mind, has brought views of the assemblies not found in other books. The reader is earnestly requested not to reject an interpretation because it seems new but to examine carefully the grounds on which it is given. In general the aim has been to follow a conservative historical method as opposed to the radical juristic, to build up generalizations on facts rather than to estimate sources by the criterion of a preconceived theory. The primary object of the volume, however, is not to defend a point of view but to serve as a book of study and reference for those who are interested in the history, law, and constitution of ancient Rome and in comparative institutional research.

In the preparation of the volume, I have been generously aided by my colleagues in Columbia University. To Professor William M. Sloane, Head of the Department of History, I owe a great debt of gratitude for kindly sympathy and encouragement in the work. It is an especial good fortune that the proofs have been read by Professor James C. Egbert. Many improvements are due to his scholarship and editorial experience. Professor George N. Olcott has advised me on various numismatic matters, and I am indebted to Dr. John L. Gerig for information on two or three etymologies. The proofs have also been read and corrections made by Dr. Richard R. Blews of Cornell University. It is a pleasure to remember gratefully these able friends who have helped me with their special knowledge, and to add the name of Mr. Frederic W. Erb of the Columbia University Library, whose courtesy has facilitated the borrowing of books for the study from other institutions.

Notwithstanding every effort to make the work accurate, mistakes and inconsistencies will doubtless be found in it, and I shall thankfully welcome suggestions from any reader for its further correction and improvement.

GEORGE WILLIS BOTSFORD.

Mount Vernon, New York, June 7, 1909.

CONTENTS

PAGES
PART I
Elements of the Comitial Constitution[1-118]
CHAPTER I
The Populus and its Earliest Political Divisions[1-15]
CHAPTER II
The Social Composition of the Primitive Populus[16-47]
CHAPTER III
The Thirty-five Tribes[48-65]
CHAPTER IV
The Centuries and the Classes[66-99]
CHAPTER V
The Auspices[100-118]
PART II
The Assemblies: Organization, Procedure, and Functions, Resolutions, Statutes, and Cases[119-477]
CHAPTER VI
Comitia and Concilium[119-138]
CHAPTER VII
The Contio[139-151]
CHAPTER VIII
The Calata Comitia[152-167]
CHAPTER IX
The Comitia Curiata[168-200]
CHAPTER X
The Organization of the Comitia Centuriata[201-228]
CHAPTER XI
The Functions of the Comitia Centuriata[229-261]
CHAPTER XII
The Comitia Tributa and the Rise of Popular Sovereignty, to 449[262-282]
CHAPTER XIII
The Comitia Tributa and the Rise of Popular Sovereignty, from 449 to 287[283-316]
CHAPTER XIV
The Judicial Functions of the Comitia Tributa, from 287 to the End of the Republic[317-329]
CHAPTER XV
Comitial Legislation, from Hortensius to the Gracchi[330-362]
CHAPTER XVI
Comitial Legislation, from the Gracchi to Sulla[363-411]
CHAPTER XVII
Comitial Legislation, from Sulla to the End of the Republic[412-461]
CHAPTER XVIII
The Composition and Preservation of Statutes, Comitial Procedure, and Comitial Days[462-472]
CHAPTER XIX
A Summary of Comitial History[473-477]
Bibliography[479-498]
Index[499-521]