Triballi, a people of Thrace, or, according to some, of Lower Mœsia. They were conquered by Philip the father of Alexander; and some ages after, they maintained a long war against the Roman emperors. Pliny.
Triboci, a people of Alsace in Gaul. Tacitus, Germania, ch. 28.
Tribulium, a town of Dalmatia.
Tribūni Plebis, magistrates at Rome, created in the year [♦]A.U.C. 261, when the people after a quarrel with the senators had retired to Mons Sacer. The two first were Caius Licinius and Lucius Albinius, but their number was soon after raised to five, and 37 years after to 10, which remained fixed. Their office was annual, and as the first had been created on the 4th of the ides of December, that day was ever after chosen for the election. Their power, though at first small, and granted by the patricians to appease the momentary seditions of the populace, soon became formidable, and the senators repented too late of having consented to elect magistrates, who not only preserved the rights of the people, but could summon assemblies, propose laws, stop the consultations of the senate, and even abolish their decrees by the word Veto. Their approbation was also necessary to confirm the senatus consulta, and this was done by affixing the letter T under it. If any irregularity happened in the state, their power was almost absolute; they criticized the conduct of all the public magistrates, and even dragged a consul to prison, if the measures he pursued were hostile to the peace of Rome. The dictator alone was their superior, but when that magistrate was elected, the office of tribune was not, like that of all other inferior magistrates, abolished while he continued at the head of the state. The people paid them so much deference, that their person was held sacred, and thence they were always called Sacrosancti. To strike them was a capital crime, and to interrupt them while they spoke in the assemblies, called for the immediate interference of power. The marks by which they were distinguished from other magistrates were not very conspicuous. They wore no particular dress, only a beadle called viator marched before them. They never sat in the senate, though, some time after, their office entitled them to the rank of senators. Yet, great as their power might appear, they received a heavy wound from their number, and as their consultations and resolutions were of no effect if they were not all unanimous, the senate often took advantage of their avarice, and by gaining one of them by bribes, they, as it were, suspended the authority of the rest. The office of tribune of the people, though at first deemed mean and servile, was afterwards one of the first steps that led to more honourable employments, and as no patrician was permitted to canvass for the tribuneship, we find many that descended among the plebeians to exercise that important office. From the power with which they were at last invested by the activity, the intrigues, and continual applications of those who were in office, they became almost absolute in the state, and it has been properly observed, that they caused far greater troubles than those which they were at first created to silence. Sylla, when raised to the dictatorship, gave a fatal blow to the authority of the tribunes, and by one of his decrees, they were no longer permitted to harangue and inflame the people; they could make no laws; no appeal lay to their tribunal; and such as had been tribunes were not permitted to solicit for the other offices of the state. This disgrace, however, was but momentary; at the death of the tyrant the tribunes recovered their privileges by means of Cotta and Pompey the Great. The office of tribune remained in full force till the age of Augustus, who, to make himself more absolute, and his person sacred, conferred the power and office upon himself, whence he was called tribunitiâ potestate donatus. His successors on the throne imitated his example, and as the emperor was the real and official tribune, such as were appointed to the office were merely nominal without power or privilege. Under Constantine the tribuneship was totally abolished. The tribunes were never permitted to sleep out of the city, except at the Feriæ Latinæ, when they went with other magistrates to offer sacrifices upon a mountain near Alba. Their houses were always open, and they received every complaint, and were ever ready to redress the wrongs of their constituents. Their authority was not extended beyond the walls of the city.——There were also other officers who bore the name of tribunes, such as the tribuni militum or militares, who commanded a division of the legions. They were empowered to decide all quarrels that might arise in the army; they took care of the camp, and gave the watchword. There were only three at first, chosen by Romulus, but the number was at last increased to six in every legion. After the expulsion of the Tarquins, they were chosen by the consuls; but afterwards the right of electing them was divided between the people and the consuls. They were generally of senatorian and equestrian families, and the former were called laticlavii, and the latter angusticlavii, from their peculiar dress. Those that were chosen by the consuls were called Rutuli, because the right of the consuls to elect them was confirmed by Rutulus, and those elected by the people were called Comitiati, because chosen in the Comitia. They wore a golden ring, and were in office no longer than six months. When the consuls were elected, it was usual to choose 14 tribunes from the knights, who had served five years in the army, and who were called juniores, and 10 from the people who had been in 10 campaigns, who were called seniores.——There were also some officers called tribuni militum consulari potestate, elected instead of consuls, A.U.C. 310. They were only three originally, but the number was afterwards increased to six or more, according to the will and pleasure of the people and the emergencies of the state. Part of them were plebeians, and the rest of patrician families. When they had subsisted for about 70 years, not without some interruption, the office was totally abolished, as the plebeians were admitted to share the consulship, and the consuls continued at the head of the state till the end of the commonwealth.——The tribuni cohortium prætorianarum were entrusted with the person of the emperor, which they guarded and protected.——The tribuni ærarii were officers chosen from among the people, who kept the money which was to be applied to defray the expenses of the army. The richest persons were always chosen, as much money was requisite for the pay of the soldiers. They were greatly distinguished in the state, and they shared with the senators and Roman knights the privileges of judging. They were abolished by Julius Cæsar, but Augustus re-established them, and created 200 more, to decide causes of smaller importance.——The tribuni celerum had the command of the guard which Romulus chose for the safety of his person. They were 100 in number, distinguished for their probity, their opulence, and their nobility.——The tribuni voluptatum were commissioned to take care of the amusements which were prepared for the people, and that nothing might be wanting in the exhibitions. This office was also honourable.
[♦] ‘U.C.’ replaced with ‘A.U.C.’
Tricala, a fortified place at the south of Sicily, between Selinus and Agrigentum. Silius Italicus, bk. 14, li. 271.
Tricasses, a people of Champagne in Gaul.
Tricastīni, a people of Gallia Narbonensis. Silius Italicus, bk. 3, li. 466.—Livy, bk. 21, ch. 31.
Triccæ, a town of Thessaly, where Æsculapius had a temple. The inhabitants went to the Trojan war. Livy, bk. 32, ch. 13.—Homer, Iliad.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 8.
Trichonium, a town of Ætolia.