"oo 
History of Rome, 
struggles between these two orders—the Patricians and Ple. 
beians. The Pafricians alone were at first admissible to the 
zreat governing body called the Semaze, and they kept in their 
hands all the high offices of state, the higher degrees of the 
priesthood, and the ownership of the public lands. The two 
orders were not allowed to intermarry, and the Plebeians, though 
‘hey were free and personally independent (with the important 
exception of compulsory service in war), had no political weight. 
This was the early state of things in the Roman civil world, and 
the Plebeians, as might be expected, soon began to strive after 
a share in the rights exclusively belonging to the Patricians. 
14. In Roman civil history we find three different legislative assemblies, 
vr all called Comrtia (co-mish‘i-a: meaning ‘‘comings-together”) 
Kata Cu- the Comitia Curia'ta, Comitia Centuria'ta, and Comitia 
" Tribu'ta. Of these the Comitia Curiata was the earliest, and 
was a solely patrician assembly, which elected the king, made the laws, and 
decided in all cases affecting the. life of a citizen. The powers of this assem- 
bly were soon transferred to the Comitia Centuriata, and. it became a mere 
form long before the end of the republic. . 
15. The Comitia Centuriata was the second in order of time, and came 
ve into existence under the monarchy. In this assembly the 
Somitie Cen- patricians and plebeians voted together, according to a dis- 
) tribution of power based upon wealth, ascertained by a cen- 
ss, Or register of citizens and their property, "The institution was a means 
of admitting a democratic element, while a decided aristocratic preponder- 
ance was secured, The Comitia Centuriata was for a time the sovereign 
assembly of the nation, and received the power of electing the king, and 
then (under the republic) the higher state officials, of repealing and enacting 
laws, and of deciding in cases of appeal from a judicial sentence,. As time 
went on these powers remained, with the right of declaring war and making 
peace, and with the exercise of the highest judicial functions, as in accusa- 
tions of treason, and in all appeals from Roman citizens on criminal matters. 
The influence of the Comitia Centuriata in the state was, however, gradu- 
ally superseded by that of the third, the great popular assembly, the Com- 
ia Tributa, 
16. The Comitia Tributa-—originally based upon a division of the whole 
sa m. People into /ocal tribes—in time became a solely plebeian 
ES Tri- gssembly, voting according to tribes, not man by man. In 
the course of time the powers of this body became very great, 
so that it could check all legislation initiated by the senate in the aristo- 
eratic Comitia Centuriata, and stop the whole machinery of the constitu- 
tion. 
17. The most famous part of the Roman constitution—the body which 
The Roman has given its name as a generic term to similar powerful as- 
Senate semblies— was the Senate, or Council of Elders, Founded in 
the monarchical times, it consisted at first of 300, and then of 
500 members, and became the great executive body of the Roman Republic, 
The members of the Senate were those citizens alone who had held at least