[737] They regulated the precedence of the comitia for elections and for laws (Cic. ad Att. i. 16, 13).
[738] Cic. in Pis. 4, 9; de Prov. Con. 19, 46; in Vat. 7, 18.
[739] Cic. Phil. ii. 32, 80 and 38, 99; ad Att. iv. 9, 1; 16, 7, etc. See Class. Rev. vii. p. 160.
[740] The exercise of the coercitio might of course be vetoed, and in this case the prohibition was of no avail. See Liv. ix. 34 (n. 7).
[741] p. 159.
[742] Liv. xliii. 16 (169 B.C., P. Rutilius tr. pl.) “C. Claudio diem dixit, quod contionem ab se avocasset.”
[743] ib. xxvii. 5 (210 B.C.). The consul declined to question the people on the nomination of a dictator, “quod suae potestatis esset,” and forbade the praetor to do so.
[744] p. 172.
[745] Cf. the story in Suet. Tib. 2, “Etiam virgo vestalis fratrem (App. Claudius, consul 143 B.C.) injussu populi triumphantem, adscenso simul curru, usque in Capitolium prosecuta est, ne vetare aut intercedere fas cuiquam tribunorum esset.”
[746] Liv. ix. 33-34. P. Sempronius, tribune, attempted to compel App. Claudius, who was trying to prolong his censorship beyond eighteen months, to abdicate. He tried to imprison the censor but was resisted by the veto of three colleagues.