[735] “Qui (optimates) non populi concessu, sed suis comitiis hoc sibi nomen adrogaverunt.”
[736] “Iubet enim tribunum plebis, qui eam legem tulerit, creare decemviros per tribus septemdecim, ut, quern novem tribus fecerint, is decemvir sit. Hic quaero, quam ob causam initium rerum ac legum suarum hinc duxerit, ut populus Romanus suffragio privaretur.... Etenim cum omnes potestates, imperia, curationes ab universo populo Romano proficisci convenit, tum eas profecto maxime, quae constituuntur ad populi fructum aliquem et commodum, in quo et universi deligant, quem populo Romano maxime consulturum putent, et unus quisque studio et suffragio suo viam sibi ad beneficium impetrandum munire possit. Hoc tribuno plebis potissimum venit in mentem, populum Romanum universum privare suffragiis, paucas tribus non certa condicione iuris, sed sortis beneficio fortuito ad usurpandam libertatem vocare;” cf. Imp. Pomp. 15. 44; 22. 64.
[737] Sest. 51. 109.
[738] P. 301 f.
[739] “Mihi quidem eae verae videntur opiniones, quae honestae, quae laudabiles, quae gloriosae, quae in senatu, quae ad populum, quae in omni coetu concilioque profitendae sint;” cf. Leg. iii. 19. 44, quoted p. 127.
[740] The writers not included in this discussion, as Nepos and the poets, contain nothing at variance with the results here reached. Gudeman’s article on Concilium in the Thes. ling. lat. iv. 44-8, in most respects excellent, still retains the groundless distinction between republican and imperial usage.
[741] It will suffice here to mention the elder Cato; Livy xxxix. 40. 6: “Si ius consuleres, peritissumus;” Cic. Senec. 11. 38: “Ius augurium, pontificium, civile tracto.” On the subject in general, see Pais, Stor. d. Rom. I. i. 68 and notes.
[742] For citations of other authors, see Gudeman, in Thes. ling. lat. iv. 45.
[743] All three passages are quoted, p. 130 f.
[744] The classification of comitial functions into elective, legislative, and judicial follows Cicero, Div. ii. 35. 74: “Ut comitiorum vel in iudiciis populi vel in iure legum vel in creandis magistratibus.” In this volume, accordingly, “legislative” refers not merely to law-making in the narrower sense, but also to the passing of resolutions on all affairs, domestic and foreign, including necessarily the lex de bello indicendo.