The Roman assemblies from their origin to the end of the Republic

by George Willis Botsford

[15] L. L. v. 46, 55; Serv. in Aen. v. 560.

[16] P. 2, n. 6, and n. 1 above.

[17] Serv. ibid.

[18] Cf. Hülsen, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. iii. 1273.

[19] Proposed by Niebuhr, Röm. Gesch. i. 311 ff., English, i. 153 ff. In his opinion the three tribes were of different nationalities. His view, with or without the theory of national syncretism, has been accepted by many scholars, including Schwegler, Röm. Gesch. i. 480 ff., 497-514; Lange, Röm. Alt. i. 82 ff.; Peter, Gesch. Roms. i. 60; Madvig, Röm. Staat. i. 97 f.; Herzog, Röm. Staatsverf. i. 23 f. (with some reserve); Schiller, Röm. Alt. 621; Ihering, Geist des röm. Rechts, i. 309, 313; Genz, Patr. Rom, 89 ff.; Bernhöft, Röm. Königsz. 79; Puchta, Curs. d. Inst. i. 73; Soltau, Röm. Volksversamml. 46 f.; Kubitschek, Rom. trib. or. 4; Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. iii. 96 f.; Willems, Sén. Rom. i. 7; Schrader, Reallex. 801; Nissen, Templum, 145 f.; Ital. Landesk. ii. 496.

[20] Against the view that the three tribes were once independent communities are Volquardsen, in Rhein. Mus. xxxiii. 542 ff.; Meyer, Gesch. d. Alt. ii. 510; Lécrivain, in Daremberg et Saglio, Dict. ii. 1514 a; Holzapfel, in Beitr. z. alt. Gesch. i. 241, 249 ff.; Platner, Top. and Mon. of Anc. Rome, 33. Ihne, Hist. of Rome, i. 114, thinks they probably had reference only to the army. The double nature of many Roman institutions—a phenomenon on which scholars chiefly rely for their theory of a once existent two-tribe state—may better be explained by the union of the Sabines with the Romans after the institution of the three tribes; as this relatively later date would at the same time explain the six-fold character of various institutions. That the union took place at the beginning of the fifth century B.C. is believed by Pais, Storia di Roma, I. i. 277. Or the stated increase in the number of members of the vestals, augurs, pontiffs, and more particularly of senators, may be due to an ancient theory, dimly hinted at in the sources, of an admission of the second and third tribes successively to representation in these bodies; cf. Niebuhr, Röm. Gesch. i. 320 f., English, i. 157; Bloch, Orig. d. sén. 32 ff.

[21] Bormann, in Eran. Vind. 345-58, following a hint offered by Niese, Röm. Gesch. (1st ed. 1886) 585, has gone so far as to deny their existence, setting them down as an invention of Varro; but Holzapfel, in Beitr. z. alt. Gesch. i. 230 ff., proves that Cicero and other sources did not draw from Varro their information regarding the tribes. Against Bormann, see also Pais, ibid. I. i. 279, n. 1.

[22] That the primitive Roman tribes were in character substantially identical with the primitive Greek phylae cannot be doubted. Apparently the four Ionic phylae in Attica offered no resistance to dissolution at the hands of Cleisthenes; cf. Hdt. v. 66; Arist. Ath. Pol. 21. (For the best treatment of the Greek phylae, see Szanto, E., Ausgewählte Abhandlungen, 216-88, who maintains that the institution was artificial.) In like manner the three Roman tribes disappeared, leaving but scant traces; p. 7.

[23] Mantua, till late an Etruscan city, had three tribes; Serv. in Aen. x. 202. In this connection it is significant that Volnius, an Etruscan poet, declared the primitive tribal names to be Etruscan; Varro, L. L. v. 55. The information suggests the possibility that some Etruscan cities had these same tribes; cf. Fest. 285. 25; CIL. ix. 4204 (locality unknown). In fact these names can be ultimately traced to Etruscan gentilicia; Schulze, Lat. Eigennam. 218, 581. The triplet champions of Alba point to a division of this community into three tribes; Niebuhr, Röm. Gesch. i. 386; Schwegler, Röm. Gesch. i. 502. The story that T. Tatius was killed at Lavinium indicates the existence of a tomb of the hero in that place—a clear sign of a tribe of Tities there; Livy i. 14. 2; Dion. Hal. ii. 52; cf. Varro, L. L. v. 152. A trace of Ramnes is found at Ardea; Serv. in Aen. ix. 358. There were Ramnennii in Ostia (CIL. xiv. 1542) and Ramnii in Capua; ibid. x. 3772; Schulze, Lat. Eigennam. 218. The existence of a tribe of Luceres in Ardea is vouched for by Lucerus, its eponymous hero, king of that city; Fest. ep. 119; Pais, Storia di Roma, I. i. 279. The word in various forms occurs in certain Etruscan towns; Schulze, ibid. 182. These facts make it probable that some at least of the Latin as well as Etruscan cities had the same three tribes.

[24] The Etruscans had twelve cities in each of their three districts; Strabo v. 4. 3; Livy v. 33. Each city had three consecrated gates and three temples to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva; Serv. in Aen. i. 422. The Umbrians had three hundred cities in the Po valley, destroyed by the Etruscans; Pliny, N. H. iii. 14. 113. The Bruttians were organized in a confederation of twelve cities; Livy xxv. 1. 2. The Iapygians were divided into three branches (Polyb. iii. 88. 4), each of which comprised twelve smaller groups; Bloch, Orig. d. sén. 9 f.; Holzapfel, in Beitr. z. alt. Gesch. i. 245 ff., 252 f. The tripartite division also existed in many pagi which continued to historical time; Kornemann, in Klio, v. 83.