A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

35° The Early Republic
Livy ii. i8. When the first dictator was appointed at Rome, the
The tribunes
of the plebs.
Livy ii. 33.
A ncient
World, 342.
493 B.C.
Cicero, Republic,
ii. 34.
The comitia
tiibuta instituted,
471 B.C.
Dionysius
ix. 41.
The author
of this law
was Publilius
Volero;
A ncient
World, 343.
people, seeing the axes carried before him, were struck with
awe, so that they became more submissive and more
obedient to orders. Under the consuls a citizen oppressed
by one could ask the aid of the other; but under the dictator
there was no such means of assistance; neither was
there a right of appeal or any other resource except in
strict obedience.
II.
The Growth of Plebeian Rights
Then they began to consider a reconciliation, and among
the conditions it was allowed that the plebeians should
have their own magistrates, with inviolable privileges, who
should have the power of bringing common people aid
against the consuls, and that it should not be lawful for
any of the patricians to hold this office.
In this way two
tribunes of the plebs were created.
By the institution of two tribunes to appease the sedition
of the people, the power of the senate was lessened.
Still
it remained dignified and august, for it was still composed
of the wisest and bravest men, who protected their country
in peace and in war. Their authority was still strong because
in honor they were superior to their fellow-citizens.
This man, therefore, as soon as he was at liberty to
perform the functions of his office, . . . assembled the
people, and proposed a law concerning the election of the
tribunes, by which that election was to be transferred
from the assemblies of the curiae, called by the Romans
Comitia Curiata, to the assemblies of the tribes.
The difference
between them is this: in order to render valid the
resolutions taken in the assemblies of the curiae, it was
necessary that the senate should issue a decree, and that
the people, voting in their curiae, should confirm it, and